DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE ANALYSIS OF THE IMPERSONAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH

Аннотация

The article aims at analysing the functional potential of the impersonal sentence structures in fiction, assuming that the type of the sentence structure under study objectivises a certain cognitive substratum. Having the Cognitive Grammar theory developed by R.W. Langacker as the theoretical assumptions' basis, as well as considering research into the cognitive nature of the impersonal structure subject, the article aims at detecting the constituent of the canonical event model which is profiled by the impersonal structure subject. It follows from the research undertaken that the specific function of the impersonal sentence structure is coding of the setting. Here lies the principal distinction of the structures under study from the canonical ones. The capacity of the impersonal structure to code the setting stipulates one of its discursive properties described in the article. Besides, the setting parameters relevant for it to take part of a participant (trajector) in the event model are dwelt upon. Keywords: impersonal sentence, canonical event model, impersonality, cognitive substratum, profile-setting, figure-ground. РАЗЛИЧНЫЕ ПОДХОДЫ К АНАЛИЗУ БЕЗЛИЧНЫХ ПРЕДЛОЖЕНИЙ В АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ Аннотация. Целью статьи является анализ функционального потенциала безличных предложений в художественной литературе, предполагая, что тип изучаемой структуры предложения объективирует определенный когнитивный субстрат. Имея в качестве основы теоретических положений теорию когнитивной грамматики, разработанную Р. У. Лангакером, а также рассматривая исследования когнитивной природы субъекта безличной структуры, статья направлена на выявление составляющей канонической модели события, которая профилируется субъектом безличной структуры. Из проведенного исследования следует, что специфической функцией безличной структуры предложения является кодирование обстановки. В этом заключается принципиальное отличие изучаемых структур от канонических. Способность безличной структуры кодировать обстановку обуславливает одно из ее дискурсивных свойств, описанных в статье. Кроме того, рассматриваются параметры обстановки, значимые 372 ResearchBib IF - 11.01, ISSN: 3030-3753, Valume 2 Issue 1 для того, чтобы она могла выступать в качестве участника (траектора) в модели события. Ключевые слова: безличное предложение, каноническая модель событий, безличность, когнитивный субстрат, постановка профиля, фигура-фон. Introduction. The cognitive nature of grammar, its outstanding contribution to organizing and structuring the lexicon has been widely recognized by the researchers. Though the massive segment of recent grammar research focuses on the structural side of grammar (see the Generative Grammar approach), the principle assumption of the Cognitive Grammar approach leads to better understanding of the mechanisms of grammatical structures having the constitution they have in languages. From the cognitive perspective, the grammatical structures are deemed as meaningful constructing patterns which project (1) human perception of the world, on the one hand, and (2) cognitive processing of the perceived, on the other hand. Thus, we accept and follow the principal assumption of the cognitive grammar that all valid grammatical constructs have some kind of conceptual import” [26, P. 282], though the claimed above conceptual import projected in the grammatical entities could be described as highly abstract [28, P. 87]. Cognitive approach in grammar is a vast field nowadays which is united by the above-mentioned principle guideline that all the units of the language are meaningful, so it does not accept any purely structural and otherwise meaningless entities in natural languages, including sentence patterns. Notwithstanding the fact that the cognitive approach has been applied to grammatical entities of various description widely in recent years (an outline of different approaches towards grammar see in: [7]), syntax has rarely been in focus. Among presumably the most recent research into the field, we could mention N.N Boldyrev [8], A.V. Kravchenko [22], V. Kapatinski [21], L.A. Furs [12], [13], [14], S.Y. Rakhmankulova [9], [10], [11]; O.A. Berezina [2] and a few others. The outline of some basic assumptions of R. Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar The key notion in R. Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar is imagery, which is explained in terms of the speaker’s ability of construing the event or situation alternatively at the mental representation level, which is manifested in diverse patterns of further grammatical coding [24]. Thus, it could be taken as the principle assumption that the cumulative semantics of a linguistic unit embraces not only the denotative meaning, but also its mental constructing pattern, while the grammar rules ought to be considered “constructional schemas” [28, R 91]. Lexicon and grammar are conventional imagery repositories of the respective languages, therefore if in one language a particular meaning is verbalized as cold, or as have