M.V. Lomonosov's Rhetorical Teaching on the Order of Words

Abstract

This article examines the role of Lomonosov rhetoric in the history of language, in particular, in the normalization of the Russian literary language of the first half of the XVIII century. This question is examined in the light of M.V. Lomonosov's rhetorical teaching on the order of words, set forth in both his textbooks of rhetoric: "A Brief Guide to Rhetoric" (1744) and "A Brief Guide to Eloquence" (1748). Lomonosov's theory of word order is considered in comparison with the concepts of word order in Russian grammatical works of the late XVIII - early XIX century. On this basis, the factors characteristic of each epoch for assessing the order of words in the linguistic structure of the Russian language and in its use are identified. It is concluded that M.V. Lomonosov's concept of word order is not grammatical, but rhetorical and stylistic, due primarily to the tasks of rethinking the linguistic structure of artistic speech when it is used for rhetorical purposes.

Extended abstract:

The article examines the role which Lomonosov’s rhetoric played in the history of the language, and in the process of introducing linguistic norms into the Russian literary language of the first half of the 18^th century, in particular. The topic is examined in the light of M.V. Lomonosov's rhetorical teaching on the word order which was set out in his two textbooks on rhetoric - A Short Guide to Rhetoric (1744) and A Short Guide to Eloquence (1748). The purpose of the present work is to show that M.V. Lomonosov's teaching on the word order received a certain stylistic interpretation and reflected the differentiation of the different schemes and variants of the positions of words which began to emerge in various genres of artistic and oratorical speech. Our hypothesis is that M.V. Lomonosov did not mean to introduce the word order standards the way they were put in the grammatical works of the late 18^th – early 19^th centuries. Russian grammar textbooks of the late 18^th - early 19^th centuries explained the norms of word order either by the communicative structure of the sentence or by the lexical and semantic characteristics of the word as a unit of the language system. Therefore, M.V. Lomonosov's theory of the word order and the subsequent grammar ideas cannot be considered equal. The research method of the current study is logical comparison. In our work we compared and contrasted the theoretical principles codified in M.V. Lomonosov’s Rhetoric and Russian Grammar and the grammatical theories of the late 18^th – early 19^th centuries. In particular, we examined I.I. Davydov’s special study on the topic, several sections in A.A Barsov’s and A.H. Vostokov’s grammar books, a part of N.I. Grech’s linguistic and philological study and some others. The scholars of that period focused their attention on the characteristics of the word order when the latter functioned as a definer of the communicative perspective of a sentence. The usage of such an approach was determined by the general state of the syntactic system of the Russian language in that period, by the formation of its syntactic norms and by the scholars’ wish to codify the norms in grammar reference books. The present study has made the first attempt to consider M.V. Lomonosov's teaching on the order of words in the context of the subsequent grammatical tradition, which explains its scientific novelty. The article makes a conclusion about the fundamental difference between the theories of word order in the grammar works of the late 18^th - early 19^th centuries and M.V. Lomonosov’s concept. Grammar studies of that period denied the existence of the stylistic plan in the interpretation of various word order schemes. The choice of word order was motivated and dictated by communicative tasks of the utterance. M.V. Lomonosov’s two books on rhetoric, however, describe the variants of the word order which are adapted to the expressive forms of an oratorical piece of work, which can convince the listener and affect them pathetically. These variants can also be found in poetic and prosaic forms, and M.V. Lomonosov emphasizes the fundamental possibility of using word order as a tool of expressive and stylistic ornamentation of any literary text. M.V. Lomonosov's concept of word order is not a grammatical one; it is a rhetorical and stylistic-based theory, which is primarily determined by the task to reconsider the linguistic structure of artistic speech when the latter is used for rhetorical purposes.