COGNITIVE MECHANISM OF COMPRESSION IN ENGLISH APHORISM

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the cognitive mechanism of compression of English aphorisms. The approaches to the definition of the concept of speech compression are outlined. An interpretive and conceptual analysis of the texts of English aphorisms using synergetics has shown that compression in aphorisms causes an increase in the role of background knowledge required by the recipient to understand the author’s implication. The innuendo, which arises as a result of compression, involves the active participation of the recipient in decoding the content. Thus, the compression mechanism works at the formal level as a tool for the text compression, and at the content level as a means of encoding information in the form of compact, compressed structures, increasing the importance of implication. The use of the apparatus of synergetics enabled us to understand the deep mechanism of speech compression of an aphorism. Structurally, the English language aphorism consists of two elements: a certain opinion and the author’s reasoning on this subject. These elements may not always be fully expressed, but they are always present in the aphorism. A typical compositional feature of the aphorism is that these elements may be in conflict. This determines the specificity of the selforganization of the English aphorism at all levels. But the two-part text of the aphorism is a reflection of its deeper cognitive characteristics, which give rise to its self-organization. It is here that the parameter of order manifests itself at the cognitive level and generates its manifestation at other levels. From a cognitive point of view, there is a comparison of two objects (concepts) in two parts of the aphorism. When implication is used, there is a comparison of explicit and implicit information. The study showed that, in English aphorisms, compression occurs at different language levels, in particular, lingvostylistics (means of imagery, such as metaphor, metonymy, etc.), at the level of syntax (ellipsis), and others. However, the most significant mechanism of cognitive compression in aphorisms is the one based on implications, with the possible implication of culturally significant texts or linguistic units, linguistic and cultural realities, as well as general background knowledge.