FUNCTIONS OF LEXICAL UNITS IN SEMANTIC SPACE OF LITERARY TEXT (BASED ON NOVELS BY JOHN MAXWELL COETZEE)

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the issue of functions of lexical units in a literary text. A literary text appeals with unique combination of content and sense, which is hidden beneath the linguistic surface and is subjected to interpretation. The most effective and interpretatively significant is the lexical level, i.e. the level of words whose meanings, while submerged in the linguistic environment of the text, acquire some new semantic value in relation to the content of the literary text. In this article lexical units are regarded as constituents of lexical structure that lays a foundation of formation of the semantic space of a literary text, i.e. the space of its meaning. Construction of the lexical structure of semantic space of a literary text is possible through selection of lexical units that correlate with generic peculiarities of the text. The definition of genre in relation to a literary text concerns the prevailing themes that are highlighted in the text and are specific for every single genre. Style is another important constituent of genre. It is defined as dominant style tendencies of author’s literary work, primarily pertaining to a range of techniques of text production. In this vein, author’s style is projected onto a literary text in the functional aspect, i.e. featuring peculiarities of functions of lexical units that guarantee cohesion and coherence of a literary text and realization of its unity of content and sense. In the present article functions of lexical units are seen as markers of individual author’s style, representing inherent for the author patterns of use of relevant lexical units in the course of text production. Determining these functions incorporates two stages, i.e. contextualization – locating words within microcontext and correlating them with macrotextual situation – and interpretation – correlating the functions of lexical units with the general perspective of text production, i.e. probable translation of elements of the author’s intention. Among the most commonly used functions in the semantic space of novels by John Maxwell Coetzee are descriptive, plot-designing and emotive.