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DOI :10.30842/ielcp230690152229
M. Hnatyshak
LEXICO-SYNTACTIC MEANS OF COMPENSATION OF THE ELLIPTICAL SIMPLE SENTENCES IN THE TRAGEDIES OF SOPHOCLES
М. Гнатишак. Лексико-синтаксические средства компенсации эллиптических простых предложений в текстах трагедий Софокла
Рассмотрены пути компенсации эллиптических разноструктурных предложений в текстах трагедий «Царь Эдип», «Антигона» и «Эдип в Колоне». На основании синтаксических связей определены компенсаторные минимальные синтаксические единицы и синтаксические единицы-конструкции в диалогических партиях исследуемых трагедий. Проанализированы особенности перераспределения коммуникативной информации между эллиптированными и компенсаторными единицами в ситуативной речи.
Ключевые слова: эллипсис, простое осложненное предложение, смещение логического акцента, компенсация.
The phenomenon of ellipsis in Ancient Greek is described in Slaviatinskaya 2003; Sobolevskiy 2004; Schwyzer 1950; Gkikas 1991; Mparmpas 2002; Koutalopoulos 2004; Karapanagiotou 1902. However, most of the studies of ellipsis are based on modern languages (Bohatko 2005; Diundyk 1971; Kiuherian 1987; Skovo-rodnikov 1978). The researchers usually examine structural peculiarities of elliptical constructions while compensatory means are set aside. The present study claims that any ellipsis causes redistribution of information. Logical accent shifts to more weighty part of the phrase, which is closely connected with reduced elements via different types of syntactic relations: predication, subordination, and coordination.
Various types of syntactic units can be omitted and some of them have already been analyzed (Hnatyshak 2013: 199-204; 2015: 61-64; 2016: 84-90). The purpose of this paper is to discover the tendency of compensation of the elliptical simple sentences in the tragedies by Sophocles. The dialogues in these tragedies contain numerous instances of ellipsis in multi-structural syntaxemes. The objects of study are elliptical simple sentences, in particular the extended ones, and their means of compensation in the dialogues of the tragedies Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone.
The peculiarities of redistribution of the communicative information between the reduced and compensatory units in the situational tragedy speech are the subject of the present study.
According to I. Vykhovanets, the main syntactic unit is the sentence, which depends on context, speech situation and can be divided into two parts in terms of information structure: the 'given' (theme) and the 'new' (rheme, the communicative center of the phrase) (Vykhovanets 1993: 48). Different means of expression (including the logical accent) are used to emphasize the rheme. The logical accent is a universal mean for accentuation of the communicative centre of the utterance in spoken language. It ensures the concentration of attention on the main point of a sentence regardless of the word order. Such specific syntactic constructions include elliptical sentences from which less notional elements are removed (Vykhovanets 1993: 152).
The question of the syntactic nature of an elliptical sentence is debatable. An elliptical sentence is a predicative unit where some syntactic positions (or several parts of the sentence) are omitted, i.e. are neither spoken or written but reproduced in the conscience of the communicants (Kolomyytseva 2008: 258). There is no doubt that any compound word is more economical than its initial syntactical group on the level of linearity, graphical and sound representation. What is more, the choice of the shortened structure can be influenced by the purpose of the utterance, the genre of the work, the structure of the sentence or the paragraph. It should be taken into consideration that the speaker may use one expression and avoid another (Mykhalechyk 2009: 53). The emotive function also plays an important role every time the speaker expresses his attitude to the subject.
The elliptical structures were analyzed as follows: firstly, we reconstruct the elliptical simple sentence according to the previous information; secondly, we determine the compensatory part of a sentence, its function in the sentence and the result of the information redistribution in the text. As such sentences may differ in their size, we will examine them consistently starting with three-component ones.
For example, in Oedipus' words we reconstruct the three-component expanded simple sentence (ESS) from his previous cue: 01 Ssivov y' ovsiSo^ orcapY&vrov avsi^o^qv (O. R. 1035) - I have received terrible shame from childhood. 01 ro npo^ Bsrov, npo^
^n^po^ ^ naxpo^ [Ssivov ovsi8o<; avsi^o^qv]; ^paoov. (O. R. 1037) - from gods, from my mother, or from my father [have I received terrible shame]? Say it! The adverbial modifier, the prepositional combination of word-group npo^ Bsrov, npo^ ^ naxpo^, is
emphasized according to subordination (government). In such a way the author demonstrates Oedipus' wish to find out the origin of his misfortune.
From Oedipus' question: 01 ava^, s^ov KqSsu^a, nai MsvoiKsro^, xiv' ^iv ^ksk; xou Bsou ^axiv ^sprov; (O. R. 85-86) -my king, my people, Menoeceus' child, what rumor from god do you bring while arriving? - we restore ESS of the same structure in Creon's answer: KP soB^qv [^axiv ^sprov ^Kro]^ (O. R. 87) - good [rumor I bring while arriving]... According to subordination (agreement), the compensatory unit is the definitive - adjective soB^qv (good) with the semantic meaning quality corresponding to the norm. In A. Koutalopoulos' opinion (Koutalopoulos 2004: 222), Creon is not talking about the prophecy, confirming only that is positive. This good word said by Creon underlines hope because of Creon's happy face and his head decorated with a wreath.
In the succession of Ismene's and Antigone's utterances the omitted ESS i^spoq sxsi ^s can be reconstructed from Antigone's words with the interchange of personal pronouns ^s- os: AN i^spoq sxsi ^s (O. C. 1724) - I have a desire. 12 --xiq [i^spoq sxsi os]; (O. C. 1725) - what [desire do you have]? AN xav xBoviov soxiav i§siv [i^spoq sxsi ^s] (O. C. 1726) - to see the underground dwelling [I have a desire]. The analyzed syntactical construction is a part of the seven-component ESS which eliminates in two further cues: 12 xivoq [xav xBoviov soxiav i§siv [i^spoq sxsi os]; (O. C. 1727) - whose [uderground dwelling do you have a desire to see]? AN --rcaxpoq, xa^aiv'syro [xav xBoviov soxiav i§siv [i^spoq sxsi ^s] (O. C. 1728) -father's, unfortunate me [underground dwelling have I a desire to see]. Thus we can determine a few compensatory units. In the first case according to subordination (agreement) the logical accent shifts to the definitive - the interrogative pronoun xi^, which shows Ismene's desire to find out what exactly her sister wants to do. In the second case we receive the answer to this question through stress accentuation of the object - the infinitive i§siv with the seme visual perception according to subordination (government). In two other utterances according to subordination (government) the definitive -the interrogative pronoun in genetive case xivoq, as Ismene wants to know whose grave her sister is talking about. In Antigone's answer,
the author emphasizes the definitive - the noun rcaxpo? with the seme family relations according to subordination (government)
We reconstruct the three-component ESS in Oedipus' words due to syntactical parallelism: 01 sYro Y&p ^Ys^rov o^rov au rcs^ao^ai Kaivo?, roorcsp [s^avnxs rcpoxspov ^Ys^ovs?] o^ro rcaxpi (O. C. 1542-1543) - because now I turned out to be your new leader, as [you have earlier turned out to be leadersl for your father. Accentuating according to subordination (government) the indirect object - the attributive word-group o^ro naxpi, Oedipus asks his daughters to follow him to that sacred place where he is meant to die. He also affirms that he will take them there himself.
In the next examples we activate the four-component ESS, in particular in guard's cue from Creon's previous words: KP ^ Kai ^uvrq? Kai ^sysi^ op0ro? a (Ant., 403) - do you realize and say correctly the things you are talking about? OY [^uvin^i Kai op0ro? ^syro] xaux^v y' i§rov 0arcxouoav ov ou xov vsKpov ansina? (Ant., 404) - [I realize and say correctly]. On seeing her bury the body you forbade to. According to subordination the adverbial modifier of the reason is stressed. It is expressed with the participle i§rov (on seeing) with the seme visual perception.
Using the scholia of G. Mparmpas (Mparmpas 2002: 223), we reconstruct the omitted ESS from the previous context in Jokasta's utterance: X0 SoKqoi? ayvro^ ^oywv ^0s, 8arcxsi §8 Kai xo ^'vSikov (O. R.681-682) - wrong suspicion arose because of words and the unjust tortures. 10 a^oiv an' atixoiv [n^0s SoKqoi? aYvro? ^oywv]; (O. R.683) - to both of them [did the wrong suspicion arise because of words]? A. Koutalopoulos considers the phrase ^0s xo vsiKo? (argument arose) to be reduced (Koutalopoulos 2004: 291). According to subordination (government) the indirect object - the numeral a^oiv is logically stressed in order to emphasize the two characters who had an argument.
In the chain of examples, the five-component ESS is omitted. For instance, we reconstruct such unit in Oedipus' words from Tiresius' previous cue: KP avroYsv ^a? OoiPo? s^avro? ava^ ^iao^a x®pa?, w? xs0pa^svov x0ovi sv x^§', s^auvsiv av^Ksoxov xps^siv [^iao^a] (O. R. 96-98) - Phoebe, the lord, has clearly ordered us to expel the shame of this country, the shame which was born in this land, and not to grow pernicious [shame]. 01 rcoiro Ka0ap^ro [avroYsv OoiPo? u^a? s^auvsiv ^iao^a]; (O. R. 99) -in which way [has Phoebe ordered you to expel the shame]? As a result of ellipsis according to subordination (government), the compensatory unit is the adverbial modifier of manner - the
attributive word-group rcoiro KaBap^ro, which emphasizes Oedipus' desire to find out the way to rescue the city.
In Jocasta's cue, the accent shifts from the eliminated ESS to the negation ou 8^x' according to subordination (adjoining), i.e. the fact of servant's absence: 01 ^ Kav 86^oioi xuyxavsi xavuv naprov [o oiKsu^]; (O. R. 757) - does the servant happen to be at home now? 10 ou 8^x' [xuyxavsi xavuv naprov 86^oioi [o oiKsu<;]]^ (O. R. 758) - not a bit [the servant happens to be at home now]. Similar transformation takes place in Oedipus' words, who was so ashamed that he poked his eyes out: 01 ou 8^xa [xa xsKva ^v s^i^spa rcpoo^suosiv] xoi^ y' s^oioiv o^Ba^oit; rcoxs (O. R. 1377) - not a bit [it was desirable to see the children] never with my own eyes.
We resume the five-component part in servant's cue from Oedipus' previous words: 01 ^ yap 8(8rooiv ^8s ooi [xov nai8a];(O. R. 1173) - was it she to give you [the child]? ©E ^a^iox', ava^ [8(8rooiv ^8s ^oi[xov nai8a]] (O. R. 1173) - definitely, my king [she gave me the child]. Correspondingly, according to subordination (adjoining) the logical accent transfers to the adverb ^a^iox' in order to confirm trustworthiness of the answer to Oedipus' question about the infant.
In the texts studied, there are also cases of ellipsis of the six-component ESS. We reconstruct such sentence in messenger's utterance from Jocasta's question. As a result, the above-mentioned negation ou 8^x' is emphasized, i.e. the fact that Polybus is no longer in power: 10 oux o npsoPu^ n6^uPo<; syKpax^ sxi [soxi]; (O. R. 941) - isn 't old Polybus a king anymore? Ar ou 8^x' [o npsoPu^ n6AuPo<; syKpax^ sxi soxi], snsi viv Bavaxo^ sv xa^oi^ s^si (O. R. 942) - not a bit [old Polybus is not a king anymore], because death has taken him below ground.
We reconstruct Ismene's previous six-component phrase in Oedipus' cue, which is also reduced in her next answer: 12 soxai rcox' apa xouxo Ka8^sioiq Papoq (O. C. 409) - this will be the burden for the Cadmeans. 01 noiaq ^avsion^, w xskvov, ouva^aynq [soxai rcox' apa xouxo Ka8^sioiq Papoq]; (O. C. 410) -my child, under which circumstances [will this be the burden for the Cadmeans]? 12 xflq oflq un' opynq, ooiq oxav oxrooiv xa^oiq [soxai rcox' apa xouxo Ka8^sioiq Papoq] (O. C. 411) - [this will be the burden for the Cadmeans] because of your anger when they stand on your grave. Ellipsis results in two compensatory units according to subordination (government). So, in the first case the logical accent shifts to the adverbial modifier of reason represented by syntactic construction Genetivus absolutus noia^ ^avsion^ ouvaAA-ay^ in
order to emphasize Oedipus' desire to learn more about a new prophecy, namely about misfortune for the Cadmeans providing his inappropriate burial. In the second case, the author also stresses the modifier of reason - the prepositional word-group t^ tin' 6pyq<; as argumentation of the future Cadmeans' bad luck.
In Oedipus' monologue, we also reconstruct the six-component ESS from the microcontext: 01 dp' ouk a^sivov ^ cu Tav ©^Pai^ ^povro; rco^ro [a^sivov ^ cu Tav ©^Pai^ ^povro] y' (O. C. 791-793) - don't I know better about the things in Thebes than you do? Much [better do I know about the things in Thebes than you do]. Here according to subordination (adjoining) the modifier of manner - the adverb rco^ro (much) with the seme correspondence to the quality above the norm is stressed in order to maximally underline Oedipus' awareness of the current situation in his native town.
The following conclusions can be made: ellipsis in expanded simple sentences is regularly observed in the texts of the tragedies by Sophocles. Mainly the three-, four-, five- and six-component ESS are reduced. One case of elimination of the seven-component phrase is attested. The omission of these syntactic constructions leads to the shift of logical accent. Various parts of the sentence can be emphasized, mainly the modifiers (of reason, manner, place), definitives. Indirect objects and negations. The compensatory elements in the texts of the tragedies are represented by the minimal syntactic units (75%). These minimal syntactic units include pronouns, adverbs, and negations while the syntactical constructions are expressed with the attributive and prepositional word-groups. Compensatory means include subordination and its types: government, adjoining, and less often - agreement. As a result of ellipsis, tautology is avoided, while new information is stressed. Ellipsis is mainly observed in Oedipus', Ismene's and Jocasta's cues. The author achieves emphatic effect by accentuating the most important details which demonstrate the speaker's attitude towards the message.
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M. Hnatyshak. Lexico-syntactic means of compensation of the elliptical simple sentences in the tragedies of Sophocles
The present paper analyzes the ways of compensation in elliptical simple sentences of various structures in the tragedies 'Oedipus the King', 'Antigone' and 'Oedipus at Colonus'. The expanded elliptical sentences are reconstructed and the inventory of compensatory syntactic means is determined on the grounds of the corresponding syntactic links. Redistribution of communicative information between elliptical and compensatory items in situational speech is analyzed. As a result of ellipsis, tautology is avoided, the most important details, which demonstrate the speaker's attitude towards the message are stressed, and thus, the emphatic effect is achieved.
Key words: ellipsis, expanded simple sentence, shift of logical accent, compensation.
