E.N. Gekkina
senior researcher at the Institute linguistic research RAS,
Candidate of Philological Sciences
PLEONASM (Greek – excess).
1. A means of lexical expressiveness, based on the use in a sentence or text of words that are close in meaning, creating semantic redundancy.
Pleonasm is found in folklore: once upon a time, sadness-longing, path-path, sea-okiyan. This product is also widely used in fiction, usually for the purpose of specifying the details of the story or enhancing emotions and assessments: Extremely strange indeed! - said the official, - the place completely smooth like a freshly baked pancake. Yes, incredibly smooth! (N. Gogol, “The Nose”); The old fear seized him again everything, from head to toe (F. Dostoevsky, “Crime and Punishment”); – I didn't see you whole week, I didn't hear you so long. I I passionately want, I thirsty your voice. Speak.(A. Chekhov, “Ionych”).
2. A type of lexical error associated with a violation of the norms of lexical compatibility, when words that are unnecessary from a semantic point of view are used in a phrase or sentence. For example, in the sentence They ensured the rhythmic and uninterrupted operation of the enterprise definitions express similar meanings; here one of them is sufficient. Author's inscription on the cover of the book Dedicated to my dad – Sergei Mikhailovich pleonastic; Enough Dedicated to my dad...
Typical examples of non-normative pleonasm are phrases in which the meaning of one word repeats the meaning of another: more important (more redundant, since more important means “more important”), first premiere (premiere is enough - “the first presentation of a play, film or performance piece of music"), atmospheric air (enough air - “a mixture of gases that forms the Earth’s atmosphere”), ultimately(Right ultimately or enough in the end), go back(the verb return indicates movement back, in the opposite direction), import from abroad(it is enough to import - “import from abroad”).
Some pleonastic phrases have become entrenched in the language and are not considered erroneous, For example: go down, go up, time period, exhibition exhibit(Latin exhibitus means "on display"), people's democracy(democracy translated from Greek means “power of the people”).
In fiction and journalism, non-normative lexical redundancy can act as a means of speech characterization of characters: – Here you are laugh And bare your teeth, - said Vasya, - and I really, Marya Vasilievna, warmly love you adore And I love (M. Zoshchenko, “Love”).
TAUTOLOGY (Greek - the same and - word) - a type of pleonasm; the use of cognate words in a sentence or text.
Tautology is found in proverbs and sayings: Friendship is friendship, A service by service; Live life– don’t cross the field; Free will ; in phraseological units: walk around, jam-packed, eat .
Expressively colored tautological combinations are characteristic of folklore: Soon the fairy tale takes its toll, not soon the job is done; let's sit, bitter grief .
The deliberate use of cognate words serves as a means of lexical expressiveness in fiction and journalism: “ Gorky laughing mine I'll laugh "(N. Gogol); " How the mind is smart, How business wise, // How fear is terrible, How darkness is dark!// How life is alive! How death is fatal! // How youth young girl ! "(Z. Ezrohi), " Law There is law "(from the newspaper).
Tautology is lexical error, if the use of cognate words is not justified by stylistic purposes and is random: put together, dance a dance, have a sportsmanlike attitude towards sports, confirm a statement. Usually an unintentional tautology is spoken of as follows: oil oil.
How does pleonasm differ from tautology?
- With tautology, not only words of similar meaning are repeated, but also words with the same root; with pleonasm, only the first is repeated - verbal redundancy, as far as I remember.
Eg. , something like “unique unique” is a tautology, “the best” is one of the types of pleonasm. - Pleonasm is a figure of speech containing redundant words (from other Greek #960;#955;#949;#959;#957;#945;#963;#956;#972;#962; - excessive , excess). An example of this is my previous sentence. The combination “in itself” is clearly superfluous here, since even without it it is clear where the redundant words are “contained”. Or here's a more striking example - the picture just above. Since the abbreviation "VAZ" already contains the word "automobile" (VAZ - "Volzhsky Automobile Plant"), the newly invented word "AvtoVAZ" is one hundred percent pleonasm.
Pleonasms are so common in colloquial speech that we sometimes stop noticing them. “Five rubles of money” or “price list” are pleonasms - in the first case there is an extra word “money” (since it is already clear that five rubles is money), in the second - “prices” (the word “price list” means “directory prices"; for some reason the expression "price list" is used quite often in trade - it can be found even in the documents of very reputable companies).
But the most common pleonasm is, of course, the phrase “we have no other alternative.” The word "alternative" translated from Latin means a situation in which one must choose one of two mutually exclusive possibilities. That is, we already choose one of two; in other words, there can only be one alternative.
The main reason for the appearance of pleonasms is the writer’s ignorance of the exact meaning of the words he uses, especially if they were borrowed from foreign languages. The words “alternative” and “price list” are prime examples of this. Other pleonasms are also often found, for example, “memorable plaque” (“memorial” means “memorable”), “vacancy” (the word “vacancy” means vacant work position), “the most optimal” (the meaning of the word “optimal” is “the most favorable”), “thirty builders gathered” (the word “builder” includes the meaning of the word “man”).
Surely many of you, without thinking at all, use phrases like “go back” in your speech. You should not add the word “back” to it, since the verb “return” itself already contains the direction of movement.
A few more examples of pleonasms: “fell down”, “gesticulated with his hands”, “nostalgia for the homeland”, “main priority”, “incriminate guilt”, “a hackneyed banality”. This also includes combinations: “period of time”, “month of March”, “first acquaintance”, “nod your head”, “every minute of time”, “blink your eyes” (there is an option “blink your eyes” :), “among the number other things", "hair depilation", "true truth", "caress gently"...
Or the fairly common computer pleonasm “taking screenshots from the monitor screen.” "Screenshot" is a screenshot (Russian tracing paper with English word screenshot).
While not everyone knows the meaning of the word “pleonasm,” almost everyone has heard of tautology.
Tautology is the repetition of the same words (from other Greek #964;#945;#965;#964;#959;#955;#959;#947;#943;#945;, tauto - that the same thing, logos - word). The most famous example: “oil oil,” that is, a phrase containing several words that clarify each other. They often use such tautological combinations as “an accident happened”, “to run at a run”, “to ask a question”, “to resume again”, “earned salary”.
Or an example of a tautological rhyme:
The guests came ashore
Tsar Saltan invites them to visit.But this is Pushkin - he can do it :).
I recently had real case: the TV mechanic, when asked over the phone “when will he finally come?” (to repair the TV), replied that he “will come when he comes!”
In general, fellow submariners, be mutually literate.
- TAUTOLOGY is the repetition of words of the same root or similar meaning without clarification or change of meaning. The most famous examples: oil, dance a dance, an accident happened, run, ask a question, give a gift, a rectangular square and beef... As the great Gogol said: I will laugh with my bitter laughter...
But the great Gogol is also a kind of tautology, or rather, a pleonasm. PLEONASM is a concept bordering on tautology, a figure of speech containing unambiguous, often redundant words. Sometimes it is used as a stylistic device to give expressiveness to speech. There is a pseudoscientific opinion that the tautology is not a gross stylistic error. And pleonasm was invented by philologists, it’s linguists who joke like that...
Yes, tautology and pleonasm are almost the same thing. But there are subtle differences that separate these concepts. If tautology is an identity, then pleonasm is precisely verbal redundancy.
A memorable souvenir it would seem different words. But the fact is that the word souvenir already has a memorable meaning.
My autobiography, and whose else could it be if the literal translation of this word is my biography? Only mine...
To resume again, here comments are generally unnecessary.Once Gorky, reading the manuscript of a novice author, came across the phrase in it: Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. Alexey Maksimovich underlined the phrase, and made a caustic note in the margins of the manuscript: Is it possible to poke someone else’s nose? . It turns out that we have pleonasm clean water. But that’s what we often say ourselves, right?
It seems that pleonasm is not always a stylistic error, but also a means of speech, giving it expressiveness or any desired shade. But when we hear, read or pronounce phrases like: We will have an exam session in January or There are twenty-five students in our class, there is a clear redundancy that is better to deal with. Because January is by definition a month, and a person and a student in a single context with a class are a duplicate search.
This also includes such masterpieces as five rubles of money and a price list: five rubles is clear that this is money, and the word price list means a price directory.
Or:
commemorative plaque (memorial = memorial),
free vacancy (vacancy = vacant position),
most optimal (optimal = the best),
hot hot dog (hot = hot)...Without a tautology, which teachers often accuse us of, you won’t get far either. Proverbs and sayings, phraseological units literally flourish precisely thanks to the duplication of words of the same root. See for yourself:
friendship is friendship, and service is service;
living life is not a field to cross;
free will;
to walk;
jam-packed;
let's eat...What about the Russian fairy tales you know from childhood? The sayings and jokes of Russian folklore are a complete tautology: soon the tale is told, but not soon the deed is done, sit back, bitter grief...
Watch your words, avoiding gross mistakes like the month of April, but on the other hand, you should not miss the opportunity to color your speech with bright phrases, using pleonasms to the point. Great (and not so great) poets and writers have sinned with them:
How smart the mind is, how efficient the work is,
How terrible is fear, how dark is the darkness!
How life is alive! How deadly death is!
How young is youth! (Z. Ezrohi) - Yes, tautology and pleonasm are almost the same thing. But there are subtle differences that separate these concepts. If tautology is an identity, then pleonasm is precisely verbal redundancy.)
The term “pleonasm” comes from ancient stylistics and grammar. Ancient authors give different assessments of pleonasm. Quintilian, Donatus, Diomedes define pleonasm as overloading of speech with unnecessary words, therefore as a stylistic defect. On the contrary, Dionysius of Halicarnassus defines this figure as the enrichment of speech with words that at first glance are superfluous, but in reality give it clarity, strength, rhythm, persuasiveness, pathos, which are not feasible in laconic speech.
Stylistic figures close to pleonasm are tautology and, in part, periphrasis. Relationship between terms pleonasm And tautology is understood differently by linguists. Pleonasm is a linguistic term, tautology is both linguistic and logical (although in logic this word is used in a completely different sense).
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PLEONASM and TAUTOLOGY
Unified State Exam 2018. Russian language. New building 20. Pleonasm
Because there are no mistakes 15. Pleonasm. Russian language lesson
Subtitles
Friends, I immediately want to reassure many of you. Pleonasm is not a soreness or a curse. Of course, many have heard about tautology. But there is less information about pleonasm. Although tautology is a type of pleonasm. So: are pleonasm and tautology in speech good or bad? If you think that oil is oily and full house are acceptable expressions in oral speech , then there is no point in watching the story any further. If you think these are gross mistakes, then, of course, watch the story to the end. So, today we are talking about pleonasm and tautology. After watching the story, you will be one of those few people whose speech will immediately improve. Even many trainers in speech technique and oratory skills do not know about pleonasms. Not to mention school teachers and university professors. And you will know! Some of the examples that I will give you today, I heard in the stories of one lady who calls herself a public speaking coach. I understand perfectly well that it is impossible to know everything in the world, but telling the coach “facial expressions” or “back of the head” is already too much. So, what is pleonasm? Pleonasm is a speech excess from the point of view of the semantic completeness of the utterance. There is a duplication of meaning in it. Remember when I said “completely sold out” at the very beginning? This is a clear example. The very word “sold out” already means a filled hall. Therefore, “full” is a superfluous word in this case. As a matter of fact, an educated person has no right to use pleonasms in his speech. I will give many examples so that you can better understand the principle. So, I had a dream. One word “dreamed” is enough. “In a dream” is superfluous. Crowd of people. Back of the head. Facial expressions. Facial expressions are the movement of facial muscles. Full house. Lighter in weight. A useful skill. All skills are useful. Potential opportunities. Another alternative. Unpleasant incident. Are there any pleasant incidents? Real reality. Ridiculous absurdity. The month of September. We are talking not only about September, but also about any other month. Price list. Go back. Ultimately. It can be “ultimately” or simply “ultimately”. Your own autobiography. Demobilize from the army. Import from abroad. To import is to bring something from abroad. Free vacancy. Young prodigy. Meet for the first time. “Getting acquainted” means precisely the first meeting. I heard it with my own ears. I saw it with my own eyes. First premiere. The premiere is the first performance of a play or film. First debut. Illegal gangs. Are there any legal ones? Clenched fist. Folklore. This is also pure pleonasm. Free gift. Perhaps you saw a similar sign in stores during various promotions. "Buy anything and get a free gift." Some pleonasms have already been established in the language and are not considered erroneous. For example, go down, go up, people's democracy, walk. By the way, in the sentence: “She told me that she would be happy to meet me” there is pleonasm. It's "about that". Another example: a car was driving along the road towards the city. Remove two words from sentences and their meaning will not change. Korney Chukovsky in his book “Alive as Life” wrote: “Only ignorant people who do not know that emotion and feeling are synonyms allow themselves to say “emotional feelings” and the form “moral-ethical” could be introduced into use only by ignoramuses who do not know that moral means ethical. Well, is there at least something good in pleonasms? - In literature, especially fairy tales, pleonasms add expression. Once upon a time, sadness, path, sea, ocean - everything. These are pleonasms! Interesting fact. In the last scene of “Boris Godunov,” written by Pushkin himself, we read: “People! Maria Godunova and her son Fyodor poisoned themselves with poison! We saw their dead corpses!” Did Pushkin really overlook pleonasm? It's impossible to believe. It turns out that in the time of Boris Godunov the word “corpse” had several meanings: tree trunk, body, body, stump. Therefore, the expression “dead corpses” in those days was not a pleonasm. Now this is a speech error. Now about the tautology. Many people have heard about it. This is the use of cognate words in a sentence or text. Usually the example given is “oil”. An athlete is a person who plays sports using sports equipment. “Sport” appears three times in one sentence. It is clear that it is better to avoid tautologies in oral speech. But. No one can always speak perfectly. That’s why I personally (“I personally,” by the way, is also a pleonasm. It’s enough to say one word - “I”) am calm about tautology in oral speech. It's a different matter if we're talking about written text. Then, of course, it should be avoided. But. Sometimes they resort to it deliberately. A wondrous miracle, a wonderful miracle, friendship is friendship, and service is service. This is all also a tautology. But the right one. In the Russian language there are a number of exceptions to the rules. For example, cook jam, cover with a lid. There are quite a lot of such exceptions and they have already become entrenched in the language, having actually become the norm. In order to speak beautifully and competently, it is necessary not only to learn the rules of the language, but also to read a lot. Then your speech will naturally become richer and more varied. And you will get rid of endless repetitions. Pleonasm and tautology are two of the most unpleasant lexical errors, which immediately reveal a poor vocabulary and low speech culture. These are the pleonasms and tautologies. I wish you to avoid unnecessary repetitions in your speech, so that your speech becomes an example for others. If you liked the video, feel free to like it, share it with your friends and subscribe to the channel. Let me remind you that I hold meetings of the Oratory Club, where everyone has the opportunity to practice public speaking skills. Friends, everything in a person should be beautiful. Especially his speech!
Functions
In a number of cases, pleonasm is deliberately used to emotionally enhance the effect of a statement or to create a comic effect (both in written and oral speech). In folklore and poetry, pleonasm contributes to the melodiousness of speech, its emotional coloring and to create imagery (“path-path”, “pole-field”). However, more often it is a defect and is used unconsciously.
Species
There are syntactic and semantic pleonasms.
Syntactic pleonasm is the result of excessive use of functional parts of speech, for example: “He told me about that that he was hired for another job” (“about that” can be omitted without losing the meaning) or “I know What he will come” (the conjunction “that” is optional when connecting a sentence with the verb phrase “I know”). Both sentences are grammatically correct, but the words “about” and “that” are considered pleonastic in this case.
Semantic pleonasm- more a question of style and use of grammar. Linguists often call it speech redundancy to avoid confusion with syntactic pleonasm, a more important phenomenon for theoretical linguistics. It can also take various shapes. In many cases of semantic pleonasm, the status of a word as pleonastic depends on the context. In contrast to semantic pleonasm, an oxymoron is formed by combining two words with opposite meanings.
Separate types of semantic pleonasm include: perissology(or synonymous repetition) and verbosity. In perissology, the semantic meaning of one word is included in another, for example:
- "We climbed up up the stairs";
- "Every buyer receives free gift»;
- « Another alternative No".
When verbose, sentences or phrases include words that do not increase the overall semantic load, for example:
- "He was walking in the direction to the house."
Also, redundancy is implicitly found in expressions containing abbreviations: “power line (TRK)” (power line), “system
In linguistics, the term “lexical pleonasm” (examples of it will be discussed later in the article) refers to figures of speech containing duplication of some semantic element. In addition, the same “excesses” include the use of several language forms, which have the same meaning in any completed segment of speech or text.
Close in essence to pleonasm is tautology, which we will also talk about later.
The most common violations in oral speech
In the process of communication, we often - sometimes out of a desire to be accurately understood, and sometimes for the sake of “beauty” - abuse linguistic excesses. “The main essence”, “in the month of December”, “to meet for the first time” - each of these phrases is a pleonasm. Examples of them are very frequent in everyday speech, in journalistic reviews, and in the mouths of officials giving interviews. Unfortunately, such contamination is a very common occurrence.
Pleonasms are especially common when using borrowed words, for example: free vacancy (“vacancy” is a “vacant position”), price list (“price list” is a price directory), most optimal (“optimal” is the most favorable) .
Surely many of you have repeatedly heard about “prospects for the future”, received a “memorable souvenir” or carried out “timekeeping” - all this vivid examples pleonasms included in the speech of undemanding citizens. But the word “prospects” already implies plans for the future, and a “souvenir” is already a keepsake, not to mention the word “timing”, translated as “measurement of time.”
Pleonasm: example sentences
Pleonasms in linguistics are divided into semantic and syntactic. If redundancy concerns the use of auxiliary parts of speech, then such a phenomenon is defined as syntactic pleonasm. Examples of unnecessary use of conjunctions are found not only in the writings of schoolchildren learning the basics of linguistics, but also in official documents.
“He did not hear what the employees said” (in this situation, “that” can be omitted without distorting the meaning of the sentence). The same redundancy is observed in the sentence: “I know that I will have to face problems” (the conjunction “that” is redundant in combination with the phrase “I know”).
Note that both sentences above are grammatically correct, but nonetheless suffer from redundancy.
What is perissology?
Perissology, the so-called synonymous repetition, is considered as a type of semantic pleonasm. It involves the use of combinations of words in which the meaning of one is already included in the other, as already mentioned above.
In business speech, such mistakes are very common:
- labor activity (work is activity);
- negotiation, training or labor process(but negotiations, study and work are already a process).
Even in laws you can find more than one pleonasm. Examples of such combinations of words are probably well-known to everyone: money (money is money), penalties (a fine is a punishment, that is, a sanction), legal possibilities (right means the possibility of something).
There are many similar pleonastic expressions that can be cited, and they gradually become fixed in the language, turning over time into normative ones.
What is a tautology?
Examples of lexical errors - pleonasm - often include the use of words that not only have a similar meaning, but also sound the same roots. For example: “Solve unresolved problems,” “lean on your elbow,” “throw the door wide open,” or “resume activity again.” This phenomenon is called tautology. She blurs the impression of what was said and often betrays low level linguistic culture of the speaker.
But in speech there are also examples of the use of tautological expressions that have firmly entered our speech without causing any complaints: “black ink”, “white linen”, etc. Although I would especially like to note the rooted expression “today”, which is also tautology. The fact is that the word “today” can easily be decomposed into “this day,” that is, “on this day,” which means that we essentially say: “on this day.” Instead of this cumbersome phrase, it is better to say: “for today.”
Pleonasm can enhance speech
But our speech is not a dry set of rules. It lives and changes, so the desire for correctness should not be taken to the point of absurdity. It is impossible to painlessly remove from communication or from poetic lines stable constructions that formally represent pleonasm. Examples: “I saw it with my own eyes”, “he heard it with my own ears”, “I don’t know”, “I don’t know” or “live and live”, “sea-ocean”, “bitter grief”, “darkness” dark" and others.
The use of pleonasms in literature makes it possible to make the hero or his speech bright, rich and, paradoxically, not requiring additional descriptions. Just remember Chekhov’s non-commissioned officer Prishibeev with his “drowned dead corpse” or the heroes of Mikhail Zoshchenko’s stories who walked “on their own legs” to a “Negro operetta” or sat in line “to see a nervous doctor for nervous diseases.” This literary device is called lexical amplification.
Pleonasm cannot be judged unambiguously
As you can see, pleonasm and tautology, examples of which were given in the article, are very ambiguous phenomena. Redundancy, excessiveness, of course, should not be welcomed in an ordinary speech situation - it clogs speech and burdens it with words that do not carry additional information. But the conscious use of pleonasm as a literary device is completely justified.
Sometimes our speech is clogged tautology And pleonasm .
Tautology(from Greek tauto- the same thing logos- word) is the repetition of the same words or case forms of one word within a small text, or paragraph in writing, or a fragment of a speech, or even within one phrase.
An example from a student’s review of a journal article by Professor L.I. Skvortsov “What threatens the Russian literary language?»:
Author The articles are categorically against clogging the Russian language with foreign words. Author is of the opinion that if we use “foreign” words, then our culture will no longer be purely Russian. Author writes that the extinction of Rus' is already felt.
An example from a student’s response to a survey question: “What role does speech culture play in the legal profession?”
Everyone needs to improve their speech culture people but this is especially important for people who work with people: for lawyers, journalists, teachers, doctors, sellers.
To avoid tautology in your speech, it is enough to replace one of the identical words with another word or some pronoun. So, in the second example the form genitive case the noun (for people) should be replaced by a similar form of the demonstrative pronoun (for those).
Pleonasm(from Greek pleonasmos- excess) is a speech excess when one of the two words carries unnecessary, duplicative information.
There is such an episode from the biography of A.M. Gorky. While reading the manuscript of a story by one aspiring writer, he came across the following phrase: “ Don't poke his nose where it shouldn’t.” A.M . Gorky underlined this phrase and made the following note in the margin of the manuscript: “Is it possible to poke someone else’s nose?”
Other examples with pleonasm:
in December month (since December is the name of the month)
one hundred rubles money (since ruble is the name of a banknote)
twenty five people students (one of the last two words is redundant)
whites with meat (there are no whites without meat)
my autobiography(this foreign word itself, literally translated into Russian, means “my biography”)
price-list prices (literally translated into Russian, the word price list means “current price”).
A type of pleonasm is the use in one phrase of a 3rd person pronoun (he, she, it, they) after a noun in the role of the same member of a sentence (most often the subject).
For example:
Studies, she requires a lot of effort. Legend, she was created during the life of the artist Malevich(from a TV show).
Pronoun 3rd person here it is possible only in a new phrase.
For example:
It was a legend; it was created during the life of the artist Malevich.
