SEMANTIC POTENTIAL OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS IN ARTISTIC DISCOURSE (BASED ON THE NOVEL OF D. SCHWANITZ “DER CAMPUS”)

Abstract

The article is devoted to clarifying the semantic potential of phraseological units in artistic discourse. The phenomenon is considered on the scandalous novel of D. Schwanitz “Der Campus”, which was published in 1995 and is a national bestseller. The concept of a phraseological unit is interpreted broadly – a stable word combination of the German language with a complete or partial reinterpretation of the meaning of its components. The conducted analysis makes it possible to confirm the fact that the semantic potential of phraseological units is relatively powerful and wide against the background of the usual meanings of the elements, is crystallized in the river-bed of German, Swiss and indirectly British culture, whose influence on the formation of the writer’s worldview is undeniable. Here we add the proportional semantic connection of phraseological units with a certain context. The latter is identical to an expression that makes it possible to accurately establish the meaning of a phraseological unit or its components. Two types of contexts are distinguished: linguistic and speech. The linguistic context appeals to the constant environment of individual reinterpreted words in the semanticstructural composition of the phraseological unit, the speech context – to the communicative act in which the phraseological unit functions. Attention is focused to a greater extent on the linguistic context, differentiated into permanent, variable and stable. We have installed that a permanent context is characterized by phraseological conjunctions (idioms), a variable one is characterized by phraseological conjunctions (idioms), and a stable one is characterized by phraseological unity (phrases). The semantic potential of phraseological units in artistic discourse goes far beyond the usual meanings, is distinguished by a higher degree of generalization, expressiveness (negative meaning), emotionality, evaluativeness, and tropeicity. Semantic subtypes of phraseological units are the subject/communicative situation; emotional condition; emotional behavior; human character traits; respect for the Christian God and faith in Him; curses; degree of symptom manifestation; finiteness; duration of action; the speakerʼs attitude to the statement; negation, etc.