Theories of the Ellipsis Functioning in the Speech Flow : Translational Aspect

Abstract

The article defines the nature of the ellipse as a linguistic phenomenon, defines its semantic and structural features, presents and analyzes the existing classifications, provides examples of the ellipse in fiction, and identifies the main ways of translating it into Ukrainian. In linguistic theory, the ellipse is associated with the process of removing one or more parts of speech in a sentence structure. In terms of dialogical and monologue speech, such structures are the norm, which is the impetus for the development of the theory of the structural-semantic independence of elliptical sentences in the conditions of speech flow.

The problem of the ellipse is one of the most difficult in linguistics of the text. The approach to solving this problem comprehensively requires not only linguistics but also philosophy, psychology, information and communication theories to be involved in this process, which would allow us to explore both the nature of the ellipse and the mechanisms of its generation and functioning in the texts and speech that explicates consciousness. The nature of the ellipse cannot be explained without analyzing the interaction of thinking and speech. The process of speech generation and its understanding also needs careful consideration. The more complex and diverse the semantic connections are, the more complex and varied the structure of speech unity is. The level of importance and significance of semantic relations for the disclosure of communicative intent depends on their level in the predictive structure of speech unity. A set of elliptical constructions in speech unity can vary from two or more.

Elliptical formations are classified on the basis of their interaction with speech unity and the interaction between the elliptical utterances themselves. Accordingly, there are: elliptical inclusions, fusions and clusters. They are capable of being carriers of the semantic structure of speech unity. The left-sided ligament can be single and multiple. In the first case there is an elliptical splicing and in the second - an elliptical cluster. Splashes do not have a left-hand connection with other elliptical statements, that is, the communicative orientation of the sender and the addressee occurs in such cases on a one-off basis.

The more complex and diverse the semantic connections are, the more complex and varied the structure of speech unity is. The level of importance and significance of semantic relations for the disclosure of communicative intent depends on their level in the predicative structure of speech unity. A set of elliptical constructions in speech unity can vary from two or more.

The removal of certain components of a sentence depends on the communicative load of the sentence members. First of all, the member of the sentence that carries a thematic load is removed. The very content of one or another component of the sentence causes information redundancy in the next part of the statement. Recovering a retrieved expression component results from two conditions: context indicates which component is missing, situational expression conditions hint at an elliptical component.

Ellipsis has been studied for a long time, creating theories on its explanation and functioning, each of them from different angles of view reveals the peculiarities and subtleties of this speech phenomenon. At first, scientists tried to discover the formulae of structures of incomplete sentences. The term incomplete sentence was adequate for this theory because the analysis was based on a comparison of reduced structures with complete sentences. The next stage was the study of these structures in comparison to the complete sentences, not only from the formal but also the substantive side of incomplete sentences. Then they began to study elliptical sentences as a linguistic norm, as structures that function in terms of dialogical and monologue unities in combination with other structures of these texts. If a member of a sentence is removed, the structure of the entire sentence is first restored, and then it is translated. Complexity, and sometimes inability to understand the meaning of elliptical sentences without context, is a major problem for their translation.