Учебное пособие 1773

Scientific Newsletter of Voronezh State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering

cases that makes 40% of the total number of the lexical items of the analyzed LSG. It should be noted that LSG “Profession, Specialty, Occupation, Nature of Activity and Related Actions” is subdivided into two subgroups: “The general designations of musical and artistic activity” which includes the lexical item the musician meaning the creative specialist who is engaged in musical art, and “The names of musicians-instrumentalists” which consists of such lexical items as the musician (“the actor playing a musical instrument and also the person who plays music, is engaged in such activity” [1**]) and the violinist. Music acts as the key part of person’s moral life and the means of deidentification of the true essence of the person [25, p. 80]. The nominations of people, whose activity is connected with playing music, have polar estimates. On the one hand, the musician, the violinist is presented as the gifted person belonging to the social elite, influencing moods and aspirations of people, increasing their spiritual culture. On the other hand, people of this profession are represented as worthless people, neglecting public foundations, norms of morals, causing feeling of contempt. By the intellectual-and-emotional criterion the lexical item admirer (1 token) is allocated in L.N. Tolstoy’s story; it reflects the approving attitude to music.

The special attention must be paid to the analysis of the lexical item the violinist at the syntagmatic level. The violinist is presented as a subject (the violinist played in concerts) and as an object of action (to have pleasure to play a violin [with a violinist], to employ a violinist from the theater). The semantical-and-axiological analysis allowed to establish that the violinist as a subject is a worthy, highly moral character. The musician, playing a violin, promotes improvement, spiritual, moral consciousness. The violinist as an object, on the contrary, is perceived as the petty, immoral person causing rejection and neglect.

The influence of the musical vocabulary is aestheticized by the means of emotional and psychological lexicon which reflects both positive and negative emotions of the literary characters. (The term "emotional and psychological vocabulary" was introduced by Professor Fomina Z. Ye. in doctoral studies "Emotional and evaluative vocabulary of modern German language", 1996, Moscow, Russian Academy of Sciences). In accordance with the classification of verbalized emotions, developed and described Z.Ye. Fomina (1996, 2006), we highlight in our study the positively and negatively marked emotions. The prepotent verbalized positive emotions are:

˗joy: she was delighted, felt relaxed, cheerful;

˗happiness: happy;

˗love: she loved very much, I loved, felt for;

˗pleasure: have pleasure, there was a look of pleasure on her face, to devote herself passionately to the piano, was engaged tastefully in the arrangement, are very happy;

˗pacification: a weak, pathetic and blissful smile, this certain absolute melting. Among the negative emotions are noted:

˗jealousy: was jealous;

˗fear: was afraid;

˗sufferings: suffered;

˗pretense: that false indifferent air, the false air, I pretended to be.

According to the above classification of Z.Ye. Fomina we also stand out also the neutral lexicon is allocated: arranged the lectern, turned pages, arrived with the violin, sat at the piano, approached the piano, was standing in the corner of a grand piano, was sent to the conservatory, played in concerts, etc.

Despite the numerous examples of the negative words-emotions connected with music (pretense, sufferings, jealousy, fear), music causes, both in the performer, and in the listener, various positive emotional feelings (joy, pleasure, happiness, love) that testifies to the vital, pacifying, creative influence of music. This regularity reflects the writer’s attitude to music as to the manifestation of the beauty. L.N. Tolstoy treated music with immense awe, was an admirer and an expert of this art form.

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The narration of the main hero, Pozdnyshev, is full of the estimated lexical items. Torn apart by the feeling of jealousy and mistrust, suspecting his wife of the intimate close with the violinist, he gives the negative estimated characteristics which are submitted by various linguistic means:

˗verbs: sparkled, slipped, pretended to be;

˗adjectives: worthless, false, weak, pathetic, blissful;

˗adverbs: purposely, somehow especially;

˗pronouns: this, someone;

˗interjections: well;

˗prefixes: semi- (the semi-professional, semi-public person);

˗particles: not (not the professional musician, not the person)

˗exclamations: And now!, No, he is not a person!, my wife! What an absurd!, etc. There are few positive estimates which are expressed by such parts of speech, as:

˗adverbs: safely;

˗adjectives: relaxed, cheerful, reputable, respectable.

The external lexicon, under which the Z. Ye. Fomina (1996, 2006) understands the characteristics of the external signs of human explicating his outside world vs. a portrait of a person's appearance (from the Latin. exterior - external). It is of great importance in the characteristic of the literary characters because it helps to describe the characters’ appearances. So, the violinist has the red lips and bent-up big white fingers. The appearance of the hero is symptomatic; everything in him attracts and bewitches women. Getting under influence of its natural magnetism, and also being under impression of his musical talent, women

“lose mind” and are capable of giving in to a fleeting rush. So, Lisa’s severity and strictness

(shining eyes, this severity, strictness of expression) are changed with a pathetic, blissful smile and the reddened face after playing music with Trukhachevsky. Such features of appearance do not cause the benevolent attitude to them, and give rise to the opposite feelings.

The violinist’s ability to playing music belongs to the characterological lexicon (the term of Z.Ye. Fomina: 1996, 2006) which is used for his characteristic (this person, <…>, due to the undoubted great talent for music), the image of Lisa is added with her social status (the reputable woman, the respectable mother of the family).

The material of the story “The Kreutzer Sonata” of L.N. Tolstoy analyzed in linguoculturological aspect confirms the universality of the music esthetic function, its manifestation as the art, its professional playing and impact on thoughts and feelings of people, conceptualization of an inner world of the person. The high status of the people practicing music are pointed out with the mention of the institutions and actions connected with playing music (conservatory, theater, concert), and also their special abilities (a talent for music). The universal culturally significant meanings consist in the contradictory dialectics of human soul, in the antinomic perception of music. A person doubts, his soul is full of contradictions. He loves and hates, trusts and suspects of lie, rejoices and suffers, has the feeling of pacification and concern. Pieces of music contain all palette of emotions, force a listener to empathize, involve in the atmosphere created by music. The same melody can have absolutely different impact on the person during the different periods of his or her life.

The lexical items found in L.N. Tolstoy’s story “The Kreutzer Sonata” with a component “music” containing culturally significant meanings of the Russian linguocultural community represent two opposite views on influence of music – positive and negative. It is interesting to note that the stereotypic attitude to music as to the noble art giving pleasure (have pleasure to play the violin, loved music very much, etc.), catching with its beauty (felt for their, music admirers) in the individual author’s interpretation collapses. In his discourse the negative signs dominate, they are: the characteristic of the musician as a “semiprofessional, semi-public person” (not the professional musician, not the person, worthless person); his actions (slipped); the reactions of the main character (pretended to be, was jeal-

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ous, suffered) and the reactions of his wife (with that false indifferent air). Music is shown as a symbol of hatred, hostility, sufferings and lie.

Proceeding from the dependence of specifics of a certain linguoculture on the features of operating its cultural codes, we can claim that the representation of lexical items with the seme “music” as the elements of a cultural code, has its own features in the Russian linguoculture caused by the emotional perception of the world [27], the suggestive attitude to music, tendency to the radical qualification as realities of the inner and external world of a person, and his cultural values vs. priorities (either super positively or super negatively, the lack of averaging as the assessment measures) [27], the ontological specifics of the Russian life essence, a world order and world realization, the developed system of cultural and moral values, etc.

Bibliographic list

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2.Ahmetova N.A. Interpretacija muzyki v proze L.N. Tolstogo i tradicii roman-tizma /

N.A. Ahmetova // Vestnik Bashkirskogo universiteta. ‒ 2014. ‒ T. 19. ‒ № 1. – S. 150‒157.

3.Shopengaujer A. Mir kak volja i predstavlenie / A. Shopengaujer // Sobr. soch. v 6 tomah. – M.: TERRA, 1999. – T. 1. – 496 s.

4.Tolstoj L.N. Chto takoe iskusstvo? ‒ URL: http: //az .lib. ru/ t/ tolstoj _lew _ nikolaewich /text_1300.shtml (data obrashhenija: 13.09.2015).

5.Maslova V.A. Lingvokul'turologija: Ucheb. posobie dlja stud. vyssh. ucheb. zavedenij / V.A. Maslova. – M.: Izdatel'skij centr «Akademija», 2001. – 208 s.

6.Karasik V.I. Jazykovoj krug: lichnost', koncepty, diskurs / V.I. Karasik. – M.: Gnozis, 2004. – 390 s.

7.Hrolenko A.T. Osnovy lingvokul'torologii / A.T. Hrolenko. – M.: Flinta, 2009. – URL: http://profilib.com/chtenie/38631/aleksandr-khrolenko-osnovy-lingvokulturologii.php (data obrashhenija: 04.09.2015).

8.Lihachev D.S. Konceptosfera russkogo jazyka / D.S. Lihachev // Izvestija Rossijskoj Akademii nauk. Serija literatury i jazyka. – M.: Nauka, 1993. – T. 52. – № 1. – S. 3–9.

9.Fomina Z.E.. Konovalova Ju.S. Gerontologicheskie kategorii «Molodost'» i «Starost'» v anglo-amerikanskih jazykovyh refleksijah v aspekte idiosinkrazii /Z.E. Fomina, Ju.S. Konovalova // Nauchnyj vestnik Voronezh. gos. arh.-stroit. un-ta. Sovre-mennye lingvisticheskie i metodiko-didakticheskie issledovanija. – 2011. – vyp. 2 (16). – S. 2743.

10.Fomina Z.E. Osobennosti konceptualizacii fenomena «Chislo» v nemeckom jazykovom soznanii (na materiale nemeckih chislovyh frazeologizmov). /Z.E. Fomina // Nauchnyj vestnik Voronezh. gos. arh.-stroit. un-ta. Sovremennye lingvisticheskie i metodiko-didakticheskie issledovanija. – 2013. – vyp. 1 (19). – S.40-56.

11.Abaeva E.S. Lingvokul'turologicheskij aspekt koncepta ‘sud'ba’ v anglijskom, russkom i francuzskom jazykah / E.S. Abaeva: avtoref. dis. ... kand. filol. nauk: 10.02.20. – Moskva, 2007. – 19 s.

12.Krongauz M.A. Semantika / M.A. Krongauz. – M.: Akademija, 2005. – 352 s.

13.Dibrova E.I. Ocherki po leksikologii anglijskogo jazyka / E.I. Dibrova. ‒ Mo-skva, 2004. ‒ S. 88.

14.Bezkorovajnaja G.T. Semanticheskie polja kak sposob sistematizacii leksicheskih edinic: popytka obobshhenija osnovnyh polozhenij teorii polja / G.T. Bezkorovajnaja // Vestnik Dnepropetrovskogo universiteta im. Al'freda Nobelja. – Serija: Filologiche-skie nauki. – 2012. ‒ № 1 (3). ‒ S. 172‒180.

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15.Shevchenko O.G. Fenomen muzyki i duhovnaja kul'tura lichnosti / O.G. Shevchenko // Lichnost'slovosocium : materialy VIII Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf.: v 2 ch. – Minsk: Parkus pljus, 2008. – Ch. 2. – S. 148–150.

16.Dzhanseitova S.S. Muzyka kak fenomen kul'tury / S.S. Dzhanseitova, G.K. Shashaeva, N.S. Bekmoldinov // Nauka i mir. – 2014. – № 2 (6). – T. 3. – S. 227–230.

17.Ajazbekova S.Sh. Kartina mira jetnosa: Korkut-ata i filosofija muzyki kazahov: Monografija / S.Sh. Ajazbekova. – Izd. 2-oe. – Astana, 2011. – 284 s.

18.Droshnev D.D. Rol' muzykal'noj leksiki v tvorchestve V.F. Odoevskogo: semanticheskij, kognitivnyj, stilisticheskij aspekty / D.D. Droshnev: dis. ... kand. filol. nauk: 10.02.01. – Moskva, 2014. – 214 s.

19.Dolgushina M.Ju. Muzyka kak fenomen hudozhestvennoj kul'tury / M.Ju. Dolgushina // Analitika kul'turologii : jelektron. zhurn. – 2009. – № 14. – URL: http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/muzyka-kak-fenomen-hudozhestvennoy- kultury#ixzz30qzpDQky (data obrashhenija: 12.04.2014).

20.Jappinen O. Zhenshhina za fortepiano. Muzyka i zhenstvennost' kak ugroza v povesti L'va Tolstogo. – URL: http://tutkielmat.uta.fi/pdf/gradu01691.pdf (data obrashhenija: 13.09.2015).

21.Isaeva E. Kak graf Tolstoj slyshal Bethovena ili Pochemu vse-taki «Krejcero-va sonata» / E. Isaeva // Muzykal'nyj zhurnal «Izrail' XXI». – 2012. – № 32. – URL: http://www.21israel-music.com/Kreizerova_sonata.htm (data obrashhenija: 16.12.2014).

22.Schmitt Nicole G. Arfa. Muzykal'nyj instrument ili nechto bol'shee? ‒ URL: http://seidr.woods.ru/harp.htm (data obrashhenija: 15.10.2015).

23.Petrova S.A. Intermedial'naja specifika povesti L. N. Tolstogo «Krejcerova sonata» / S.A. Petrova // Izvestija vysshih uchebnyh zavedenij. Povolzhskij region. Gumanitarnye nauki. – 2011. – № 1 (17). – S. 116–122.

24.Fomina Z.E. Jemocional'nye koncepty i ih verbal'naja reprezentacija v hudozhestvennoj kartine mira (na primere russkih, nemeckih, avstrijskih i shvejcarskih literaturnyh proizvedenij) / Z.E. Fomina // Nauchnyj vestnik Voronezh. gos. arh.-stroit. unta. Sovremennye lingvisticheskie i metodiko-didakticheskie issledovanija. – 2004. – vyp. 1 – S. 46–65.

25.Fomina Z.E. Osobennosti verbal'noj reprezentacii fenomena «Muzyka» v hudozhestvennom diskurse L.N. Tolstogo (na materiale proizvedenija «Krejcerova sonata») /

Z.E. Fomina, L.V. Korobko // Nauchnyj vestnik Voronezh. gos. arh.-stroit. un-ta. Sovremennye lingvisticheskie i metodiko-didakticheskie issledovanija. – 2015. – vyp. 1 (25). – S. 74–91.

26.Fomina Z.E. Innovacii v sfere russkogo kommunikativnogo povedenija kak social'no obuslovlennye refleksii novoj rossijskoj dejstvitel'nosti (Innovationen im Bereich des russischen kommunikativen Verhaltens als sozial beeinflusste Reflexionen neuer russischer Realität) /Z.E. Fomina // Nauchnyj vestnik Voronezh. gos. arh.-stroit. un-ta. Sovremennye lingvisticheskie i metodiko-didakticheskie issledovanija. – 2011. – vyp. 1 (15). – S. 166-179).

Analyzed sources

1*. Tolstoj L.N. Krejtserova sonata. Povesti. – M.: “Iskatel’press”, 2013. – S. 3–86.

Dictionaries used

1**. RSS – Russkij semanticheskij slovar’. Tolkovyj slovar’, sistematizirovannyj po klassam slov i znachenij / Pod obshh. red. N.YU. SHvedovoj. – URL:

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http://rusemantic.ru/dictionary/?word=%EC%F3%E7%FB%EA%E0&iblock_submit=start (data obrashheniya: 20.07.2015).

2**. MAS – Malyj akademicheskij slovar’ russkogo yazyka. – URL: http://www.classes.ru/all-russian/dictionary-russian-academ.htm (data obrashcheniya: 10.10.2015).

3**. Ozhegov S.I. Tolkovyj slovar’ russkogo yazyka : Ok. 100 000 slov, terminov i frazeologicheskih vyrazhenij / S.I. Ozhegov; Pod red. prof. L. I. Skvorcova. – 26-e izd., ispr. i dop. – M.: OOO “Izdatel’stvo Oniks”: OOO “Izdatel’stvo “Mir i Obrazovanie”, 2010. –

736 s.

UDC 655.535.5: 801

The State Educational Government-Financed Institution of Higher Professional Education of the City of Moscow

Moscow City Teacher Training University Language and Translation Studies Department, PhD in Philology ,senior lecturer Ludmila Alexandrovns Borbotko

e-mail: ludmilaborbotko@gmail.com

L.A. Borbotko

TYPOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF AUTHOR’S METATEXT IN THE PRINTED

VERSION OF A THEATRICAL TEXT

The article is devoted to the consideration of the typographic features of the printed text of dramatic works. Theatrical text is composed of characters’ monologues and dialogues and the author's metatext. The metatext in the printed version is definite to be graphically highlighted (italics, spacing, capitalization, graphemes) and is posed outside the boundaries of the characters’ dialogues, i.e. is considered as a visual support, especially for the reader. Another significant function that the graphical highlighting of the metatext realizes is representation of gender, social and professional status of the characters.

Keywords: theatrical discourse, dramatic text, theatrical text, script, typography, paralinguistics, the frame of the text, supragrapheme units, topographeme units.

Modern anthropocentric paradigm of scientific knowledge involves the study of theatrical discourse in the framework of developing the general theory of discourse. The growing interest of modern linguistics to the issues of social and cultural interpretations of linguistic entities, justifies the relevance of certain studies in this field. In this particular case, the units of author’s metatext as the examples of linguistic formations are considered from the viewpoint of typography, which is relevant for the adaptation of theatrical texts within the social institution of theater.

____________________

© Borbotko L.A., 2015

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The article will touch upon the typographical characteristics of the printed text of the play, which form the basis for adaptation and further implementation of dramatic works on the stage.

Theatrical discourse is defined as "the product of interactive activity of the participants in the communication within the subject area of theatre. The certain activity is aimed at establishing and maintaining the contact between professionals in the theatrical sphere with the audience to meet their aesthetic needs and entertain them by some of the works of stage speech involving artistic conditionality" [1, p. 19]. Theatrical discourse is carried out in pseudo-real living conditions, indicated by the playwright in the text of the play.

In turn, the text of the play as the basis of theatrical discourse involves representation on the stage – adaptation of the playwright’s idea, presented to the audience by the actors. Such a feature of theatrical discourse is reflected in the architectonics of the play itself. The main peculiarity of the dramatic text is its similarity with a scenario, as, representing the script, it includes the text of the actors’ parts, set design, manner of performance and chronotopical characteristics of the organization of the play. Thus, the text of the play consists of monologues and dialogues, which find their embodiment on the stage, and the author's metatext in its various forms.

Given article will consider a printed version of the text of the play (a script), which is subsequently transformed into the scenario of theatrical productions and studied by the theatre cast during rehearsals. The use of typeface plays an important role in the text of dramatic works. Polygraphic characteristics of the printed text of the play indicate paralinguistic parameters of written communication: the use of fonts of different size, different height of the letters, punctuation. The fonts are designed to replace intonation patterns, facial expressions, gestures and other paralinguistic elements of oral speech, but also to compensate for the uniformity of the printed word.

We need to emphasize again that the graphical design of the text of the play belongs to non-verbal (paralinguistic) means that accompany written speech [2, p. 5]. Nonverbal communication can also be defined as paragrapheme. Following E. E. Anisimova let us select three types of paragrapheme units depending on the mechanisms of their creation: singrapheme units (artistic and stylistic variation in punctuation marks); supragrapheme units (font variation); topographeme units (plane variation of the text).

In the theatrical text supragrapheme units are widespread (Characters of a play, highlighting of proper names in the examples of the author's metatext), due to the specific organization of plays and mandatory highlighting of the certain components (different types of author's metatext). Topographeme units are also widely used (the division of the text into the characters' text, and stage directions):

Enter MASON [1*, с. 73].

At the same time, the text font of a printed version of a play is a subsidiary means in relation to the verbal component, and adds some more expressive semantic nuances to the content of [1, p. 7].

The auxiliary paralinguistic means, in addition to font organization include spacing, lining, the use of italics (writing in capital letters):

The DOCTOR is on the phone [2*, с. 14].

The main function of such paralinguistic means is the emphasis of the author's thoughts. For example, "gaps serve as a means of visual pausing in the framework of the text and set the rhythm of reading the text" and italic highlighting of metatextual components allows to separate the author's notes regarding the staging from the main content of the play.

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Moreover, the italics focus on demonstration of poroacoustic characteristics of the actors' speech [1; p. 7]:

her voice stifled in tears [3*; с. 284].

We emphasize that the method of design of the printed material depends on its genre characteristics [3; p. 15]. Therefore, due to its genre identity the design of the dramatic text is based on strict canons. The location of the dramatic text as a whole and its separate parts on the page is constant and canonic.

It should be noted that the text in modern linguistics is considered as a semiotic object, which consists of a combination of symbolic systems – verbal and visual, having a complex effect on the recipient. This is true concerning the text of a play, which is paralinguistically active due to the use of paragrapheme units. Therefore, genre features determine the particular design model of the dramatic text according to the laws of typography, which is defined as "a type of graphic art, characterized by the originality of expressive means – of typesetting, fonts, visual elements and spaces between them [4; p. 13-14]". Theatrical text, divided into sections (in this case, the primary strata – the monologues and dialogues of the characters – and side text), acts as an "orientation machine for the reader" or the orienting system, which is "multi-faceted, and in a number of positions navigates the reader through the plot which is carried, transmitted, and stored" [3; p. 2]. The term "orientation" is considered as "directed informing", i.e. "the act of transmission of any information, which refers the reader to the information at another layer, to new information" [3; p. 47]. This kind of orientation has a signal that indicates the character. It generates a sequence of actions as perceived by the reader. It is important that the composition of the sections in the text is stable and constant [3; p. 71]. The author's stage directions act as means of orienting the reader in theatrical discourse. They are aimed at the division and structuring of the information transmitted by the playwright [3; p. 3].

It is noteworthy that not only the text of the play itself, but also paratextual structures that form its frame, belong to orienting paralinguistic elements. For example, components of the title act as directions of identification, as they mark "the beginning of the orientation process in general and the beginning of each level, each stage and each act of this process" [3; p. 42]. Thus, the title is a pre-text unit, reflecting the conceptual and thematic basis of the text. The certain structural component of dramatic works "is characterized by a relative autonomy (autosemantics), but it is inseparable from the text" [5; p. 189]. The typography of the title should differ from the font of the text, for example, by allocating a larger font, using capital letters or bold font. The ultimate goal of the title is to transfer directions. This allocation emphasizes the contrast between the text field and the title:

MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION

ACT I

Summer afternoon in a cottage garden on the eastern slope of a hill a little south of Haslemere in Surrey. <…>[2*; с. 213].

The choice of such organization of the font is due to the fact that the reader first draws attention to the title, which is one of "the basic laws of visual perception" [3; p. 9]. However, we note a significant difference in the design of the general title of the play and headings, reflecting the division into acts and scenes. The font in which the name of the play is typed, is always different from other fonts used in the text, in size and design, indicating the dominant role of the title.

According to the categorization of the text parts after the name and the surname of the author, as well as the title the list of characters is presented which is consistent with such a

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category of theatrical discourse as ritualization [6; p. 92]. It may contain not only the names of the characters, but also information about their social status, family status, age, external data, etc. The list of characters can be introduced after various titles: native Latin Dramatis Personae (The characters of a play, an ovel or a narrative [7]), common of the seventeenth century plays (W. Shakespeare, J. The Lillo); The Characters of a Play – XVIII century (R. B. Sheridan); The Persons of a play – nineteenth century (O. Wilde); Characters – twentieth century (T. Stoppard). It is noteworthy that the list of actors is missing in the plays of Bernard Shaw due to the fact that the detailed exposition of the heroes is in settings – stage directions meant for the director and actors and put before acts (sometimes scenes) by the playwright. E. S. Kubryakova, offers to consider setting as a way of organizing the space of the stage, specified by the author of the play [8; p. 122]. To represent the characters special printing techniques are used: the names of the actors are on the left side of the page and are capitalized. Additional information about a particular character is given in italics (or a font other than the font of the main text field) after the character’s name:

Duke, living in banishment [4*; с. 22].

Punctuation marks are also relevant. In all cases, the name of the character is followed by a dot, colon, dot and dash, or comma. The choice of punctuation marks is by the author of the play. Definitely, each of the names of the characters is written on a new line.

Let us compare the printed versions of the list of characters in the following plays – “The Real Thing” by T. Stoppard and “An Ideal Husband” by O. Wilde.

THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY

The Earl of Cavesham, K.G. Viscount Goring, his son

Sir Robert Chiltern, Bart., Under-Secretary for Foreign

Affairs

Vicomte De Nanjac, Attaché at the French Embassy in

London

Mr. Montford

Mason, Butler to Sir Robert Chiltern

Phipps, Lord Goring’s Servant

James Footmen

Harold Footmen

Lady Chiltern

Lady Markby

The Countess of Basildon

Mrs. Marchmont

Miss Mabel Chiltern, Sir Robert Chiltern’s Sister

Mrs. Cheveley [1*; с. 7–8]

The list of characters in the play “An Ideal Husband” is an example of the presence of punctuation marks (commas) after the proper name in case of additional information given, and their absence, if only the name of the character is specified. In terms of content, this list of characters includes not only the names of the characters, but also additional information about their social status and family status, which is graphically highlighted in italics and separated by a comma from the character names: Phipps, Lord Goring’s Servant.

The arrangement of the names on the list of characters deserves special attention. If in modern plays the order in which the names of the characters are presented is based on the

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order they appear on the scene, the list of characters in XVII – XIX centuries' plays is structured not only according to the characters’ social status, but also their gender discrimination.

The formula of the social status of the individual, disclosed in the list of personalities of the play, is semiotic in nature. From the point of view of V. I. Karasik, this formula includes three components:

•status index characterizing the role characteristics of a person;

•status vector indicating equality or inequality between people;

•status representation, i.e., the deliberate exaltation of the speaker in order to express respect [9; p. 13].

The example above demonstrates the list of characters for the play by Oscar Wilde and makes it obvious that there was a division in the prevalence of the masculine half of the characters – the characters-men are always listed before female heroines regardless of their social status.

Let us point out that the reference to the social status of the characters is given after the names of the characters and is directly related to the expression of the "welfare" concept including social group characteristics, which is understood differently by the representatives of various communicative communities. At the same time, the relation to wellfare "is one of the features of identity of these communities" [9; p. 150]. The social status of the characters is reflected in the order they appear on the list.

Thus, at the beginning of the list the names of the characters bearing high social status (Earl, Viscount) are put, the last lines are given to the servants (Servant, Footmen), as well as episodic characters. It is noteworthy that the social stratification of society is reflected in the list of characters grammatically: through the use of the preposition to indicating a dependent position, in this case of the servant from his master (Butler to Sir Robert).

Let us consider the list of characters in the play “The Real Thing” by T. Stoppard.

C H A R A C T E R S

MAX, 40-ish CHARLOTTE, 35-ish HENRY, 40-ish ANNIE, 30-ish BILLY, 23-ish DEBBIE, 17 BRODIE, 25

[5*; с. 7]

This is an example of a list of characters (Characters) that clearly demonstrates the use of punctuation marks, particularly commas that are put before introducing additional information about characters. In the specific case some optional information about the age of heroes (35-ish, 17) is presented.

Only in two cases, the playwright denotes the exact age of characters (Debbie and Brody), while the information about the age of other characters is not relevant. This is proved by the use of the suffix -ish, assuming some vagueness and inaccuracy of meaning. This fact can be explained by the importance of the characters’ age while considering their behavior. Thus, Debbie goes through puberty, so that is the defining characteristic of her actions. At the same time, immaturity of Brody’s thoughts and actions correlates with his physical youth.

Let us mention that in some editions of the plays the information about the first night and subsequent theatre productions is published. In this case, opposite the names of the characters of the play, printed in capital letters, there are the names of the actors involved in the production. It is typical, for the most part of modern plays, staged immediately after the release of the printed edition:

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Series «Modern Linguistic and Methodical-and-Didactic Researches» Issue № 4 (11), 2015

Directed by Peter Wood [6*; с. 8]

As it has already been noted, the focus on a specific person (initially the director and actors and subsequently the audience), considering their linguistic and social experience determines the choice of the text structure made by the playwright as the Creator of the communicative message. Having considered the initial part of the text frame, we cannot but refer to the structures acting as final elements – epilogues. Often the epilogue as one type of the author's metatext implements bears a poetic function, which implies using expressive means and stylistic devices in the metatextual components to achieve greater expressiveness of the text. One would think the author of the metatext can also express himself in the change of its traditional forms.

For instance, plays by William Shakespeare are characterized by the implementation of the inserted text in the form of sonnets. An example is the sonnet that serves as an epilogue constituting the frame of the play “The Tempest”:

EPILOGUE

Spoken by PROSPERO

Now my charms are all o'erthrown, And what strength I have's mine own, Which is most faint. Now 'tis true,

I must be here confin'd by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got, And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands

With the help of your good hands.3

<…>[4*; с. 70]

The purpose of these metatext units placed on the periphery of the literary text is explained by the focus on a particular adressee, and the impact made on him for the purpose of introducing him to certain moral standards, meaningful for the society. The use of sonnets as an epilogue to the play is comparable with a moralité placed after the main text of the artistic prose of the French literary tales of the XVII century Morality play can be defined as a way of teaching morality, praising morality, which defines human relationships in general and the rules of conduct in society, in particular [10, p. 743], or "discourse of moral issues" [5; p.

3 ЭПИЛОГ (произносится актером, играющим Просперо)

Отрекся я от волшебства / Как все земные существа, / Своим я предоставлен силам. / На этом острове унылом / Меня оставить и проклясть / Иль взять в Неаполь - ваша власть. / Но, возвратив свои владенья /И дав обидчикам прощенье, / И я не вправе ли сейчас / Ждать милосердия от вас?

[http://lib.ru/SHAKESPEARE/burja.txt].

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