КОГНИТИВНЫЙ АТТРАКТОР ТЕКСТОВОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА СТИЛИСТИЧЕСКОЙ КОНВЕРГЕНЦИИ

Introduction

There is a widely held common view that stylistic convergence is a type of foregrounding determined as a meeting of stylistic devices fulfilling a certain stylistic function [1, P.100]. In the text in the places of stylistic convergence we deal not only with meeting of stylistic devices but with their consolidation, with forming a kind of a mechanism functioning as a whole. Such consolidation makes us think about the basis of their convergence.

In this connection we should quote S. Balli, who stated, that constant usage of the  language proves that our thought tirelessly assimilates, associates, compares and contrasts the language elements and no matter how different they can be, they interact, cooperate with each other, being mutually  attracted and pushed away and never stay isolated: such continuous game of activity results in formation of an entity, always permanent, always reversible, but real [2, P. 30].

Method

According to the lingua-synergetic paradigm, in self-organization of such conglomeration systems an important role is played by the points of bifurcation (the moments of uncertainty, when the choice of future development of the system occurs) [6, P. 15] (bifurcate –divide into two brunches, etc. [9, P. 80]).  Such points of bifurcation in the process of formation of the converged textual space are the moments when verbal elements to embody the author’s message are being chosen, when the vector of the semantic development of the converged text is being determined.

Discussion

I. R. Galperin defines stylistic devices as models, patterns of the language which have no concrete content, they are vessels into which new contents are poured [7, P. 27], they are a kind of “containers” for certain contents. The metaphor of a container means an idea of “empty space”, with the help of this conceptual metaphor many complex phenomena can be explained [4, P. 489].

So, the moment of “filling the containers” with a concrete content in the textual places of stylistic convergence can be considered as a point of bifurcation because any form or vessel can contain different substances. “But for every form it is possible to determine an amplitude of content fluctuation. Such content fluctuations contained in a form are named the functions of the form” [7, P. 137-142]. As becomes obvious, we can speak about the fluctuations (fluctuate – be irregular [9, P. 330]) of the contents “imprisoned” in a stylistic device. In the aspect of synergetics the moment when the writer chooses stylistic devices and fulfills them with concrete content to obtain a certain effect is the moment of passing the point of bifurcation. At such moments the role of a creative attractor is crucial, as it determines the structural-semantic relationships between the elements of the stylistic convergence.

Different types of creative attractors are singled out by scholars. One of them is semantic attractor, “the dominant sense of the text fragment which attracts and organizes and structures senses around  itself” [6, P. 299-303].  In our opinion, it is necessary to speak about one more type of the attractor in the places of stylistic convergence, that is a cognitive attractor. It is singled out according to certain cognitive mechanisms lying in the basis of the stylistic convergence formation.                                                                            

It is suggested here to use the term “cognitive attractor of the stylistic convergence” for the sense evolution bar (or pole) which has creative  potential and which determines sense development and the interrelations between the elements of the stylistic convergence and which contains the inner algorithm of its interpretation according to the cognitive mechanism on which stylistic convergence depends.

It should be noted, that in this research we deal with both semantic and cognitive attractors. We use the term “semantic attractor” when we speak about a concrete dominant sense of the converged text. Cognitive attractor unlike the semantic one is “emancipated” of that concrete dominant sense of the message.  The research of cognitive mechanisms shows that converged textual places can be built on the cognitive mechanisms of contrast or gradation, an expansion or assimilation etc. It follows then that such cognitive attractors as contrasting attractor, gradation attractor, assimilation attractor and others can be singled out.

The following is the example:

Thousands of families are exchanging the business-suit-and-necktie life of formal cities for the open-sport-shirt-and-sandal life of the Coachella Valley, which includes Indio, heart of the date palm [11, P. 168].

In this context phrase epithets the business-suit-and-necktie life of formal cities and the open-sport-shirt-and-sandal life of the Coachella Valley represent the constituents of the stylistic convergence and they are opposed to each other semantically. The interrelation of two elements takes place under the cognitive attractor “contrast”. The life of people dressed in suits with ties in big cities is opposed to the life of those who live at the seaside, usually dressed in shorts and sandals. The interaction of the elements represented by stylistic devices (phrase epithets) is realized under the influence of the cognitive attractor of contrast. The dominant sense in this converged text is the semantic attractor “the life of the Coachella Valley differs from the life of formal cities”.

We deal with the same cognitive attractor in the poetic text “The Price” by Ann Stevenson:

The fear of loneliness, the wish / to be alone; / love grown rank as seeding grass / in every room, / and anger at it, ranging at it, / storming down. // Also that four-walled chrysalis / and impediment, home; / that lamp and hearth, that easy fit / of bed to bone; / those children, too, sharp witness  / of all I’ve done // My dear, the ropes that bind us / are safe to hold; / the walls crush us keep us / from the cold. / I know the price and still I pay it, pay it; // Words, their furtive kiss, / illicit gold [10, P. 83].

The personage of the poem is a woman who tries to combine housework, bringing up children and writing poems. But poetry takes time and privacy which a married woman does not have and she thinks the comfort in her family is a kind of the price she pays for her inability to devote herself to poetry, which is “gold” to her. Her worries are represented by a number of stylistic devices.

The antithesis is used by the poet to reveal her inner conflict: on the one hand, she wants privacy, but on the other hand, she is afraid of being alone: “The fear of loneliness, the wish / to be alone”. A metaphor combined with a simile create an image of her affection towards her family (love grown rank as seeding grass). But the phrase grow rank has a negative connotation. It is used when the grass grows quickly and becomes weeds. Her love of the nearest is an obstacle to writing poems [8, P. 84]. A comfortable house is like a cocoon (Also that four-walled chrysalis / and impediment, home), it doesn’t allow her “to spread her wings”. Comfort is opposed to creation work which she seeks. The poems that the woman writes, she gets in exchange of happiness of family life [8, P. 84], they are called illicit gold and furtive kiss metaphorically.

In this context the textual converged space is built on the principle of contrast. The semantic fractal “the fear of loneliness, the wish to be alone” is represented by the stylistic devices gravitated by the cognitive attractor “contrast / juxtaposition”. 

Here is another example from emotive prose: “Andrew, I just can’t let you waste time and energy trying to fight gossip; it’s a Hydra-headed monster. Not all the combined armies in the world can stop women from talking” [12, P. 568].

Gossips are metaphorically called a Hydra-headed monster (monster – abnormally misshapen animal or plant; person or thing of extraordinary size, shape or qualities [9, P. 547]). The metaphor objectifies the sense “being of extraordinary size or quality”. The textual space of stylistic convergence is filled with other stylistic devices under the influence of the cognitive attractor of supplement (to supplement – make an addition or additions [9, P. 868]). The metaphor a Hydra-headed monster “has prepared place” for other constituents of the stylistic convergence, representing the same sense “gossips are a monster”. The metaphorical epithet Hydra-headed (monster) (Hydra – (Gr. Myth) great sea serpent with many heads that grew again if cut off [9, P. 418]) represents the idea of  impossibility to fight that monster, which is supported by the hyperbole Not all the combined armies in the world can stop women from talking. The formation of the textual space of stylistic convergence in the context can be compared with a competition of stylistic devices to objectify the concept “gossiping” under the influence of the cognitive attractor of supplement.

Conclusion

So far, we have dwelt with a cognitive attractor of a stylistic convergence as a sense bar / pole determining “behavior models” of stylistic devices as its constituents on the basis of the cognitive mechanisms of contrast and supplement. Unlike the semantic attractor the cognitive one is free from a concrete thought. The importance of revealing the cognitive attractor in the process of text interpretation is proved by the words of researchers according to which “sense development in its different moduses is regarded as more perfect sense understanding” [3, P. 6].