Verbal and visual text characteristics as a condition for the formation of a character’s precedent status: A case study of Gorky’s ‘Old Izergil’

Abstract

Introduction. A literary character’s name can function not only as a unit of a verbal code but also as a distinct linguo-cultural sign possessing symbolic meaning. The purpose of this article is to analyze the interrelation between the textual dominants of a character’s speech portrait and elements of the cog- nitive base of native Russian speakers, as represented by precedent names. The relevance of the study is determined by the importance of investigating the core values of Russian linguistic culture through the lens of a precedent name, which is formed through linguistic transformations of the semantic structure of the original proper name and functions within the texts of modern discourses.
Materials and Methods. The study focuses on Maxim Gorky’s story ‘Old Izergil’, a text included in the standard school literature curriculum. The research methodology comprises several stages related to the analysis of textual characteristics and the determination of their connection to the perception invariant of precedent names. The study of the perception invariant underlying the precedent names of the story’s characters is carried out through contextual and statistical analysis of differential features found in the main subcorpus of the Russian National Corpus. The final stage of the work involves assessing the identified connection between the components of the precedent name’s structure and the textual characteristics from the perspective of the national, ethical, and cultural priorities of the Russian linguistic worldview. The article presents a comparative analysis of the textual characteristics and features of the precedent names of the characters Old Izergil, Danko, and Larra, as recorded in instances of their external and internal speech, as well as in the author’s descriptions.
Results. The analysis showed that the differential features of the precedent names Old Izergil and Danko are motivated by textual dominants, whereas the name of the character Larra does not achieve precedent status. The authors conclude that linguistic consciousness is selective: not all details of a speech portrait that are important from an artistic perspective are preserved in the cognitive base of native speakers. Only those features of a name that align with the values of the national mentality and the inner nature of the Russian person prove to be relevant.
Conclusions. Further research may continue the identification of conditions for the formation of a precedent status of literary characters’ names using the proposed comparative methodology.