КВАНТИТАТИВНЫЕ УСТОЙЧИВЫЕ СРАВНЕНИЯ С КОМПОНЕНТОМ ДЕНЬГИ В СОВРЕМЕННОМ РУССКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ НА ФОНЕ СЛАВЯНСКИХ ЯЗЫКОВ

Introductory Remarks

Ideographic group of set comparisons that describe the amount of money is located at the intersection of two ideographic fields – the field of quantifying evaluation and the field of "wealth/poverty".

Quantitative phraseology of the Russian language has always been the object of research in Russian linguistics, among other things it has been contrasted with other Slavic languages [1], [4], [7]. The verbalization of such concepts as "wealth" and "poverty" in phraseology of Russian and other languages has been the object of numerous researches, a great number of theses and scientific articles, however, the vast majority of such studies is focused on the comparison of Russian as opposed to Germanic and Romanic language groups (the works [5], [9], [11], [21], [23] et al.)

Phraseological fields “wealth/poverty” and ideographic group of “having a lot/little” money are presented very well in Slavic languages. For example, in Serbian: имати пуне џепове пара – have pockets full of money, златна кока – the golden hen, лежати на парама – to lie on money, не зна шта ће са парама – does not know what to do with money, имати пара за бацање – have the money to waste, бити шворц – to be penniless, бити мршав са парама – to be “lean” on money (short of money), нема ни кучета ни мачета – to have neither a puppy nor a kitten, нема пас за шта да уједе кога – a dog has nothing to bite, го као црквени миш – naked (poor) as a church mouse [20]. In the Czech language there are such idioms as: mít oteklou šrajtofli – have a tight purse, mohl by penězi dláždit – can cobble the road with money, nevědět co s penězi – not to know what to do with money, ten si peníze snad tiskne – as if he prints money, topit se v penězích – to sink in money etc. (Čermák 1983; [28]. The Ukrainian language describes the amount of money with such quantitative idioms as без ліку – without limits; кури не клюють – hens would not peck; свині не їдять – pigs would not eat; хоч лопатою горни (греби, загрібай) – you can lift them with a shovel; аж кишить – swarms with it; до біса – a helluva lot; як маку – as much as there is poppy; як піску морського – as much as there is sand; хоч греблю гати – can build up a dam with it,  як кіт наплакав – cat’s crying; як у кота сліз – cat’s tears; крапля в морі – a drop in the ocean. In the Polish language: złoty deszcz (golden rain), strumieñ złota (ray of gold), wielkie (duże) pieniędzy (with money), pieniądze oknem wlaza (drzwiami i oknami płyną) – money are climbing through the windows (floating through doors and windows) etc. (Krzyżanowski 1969-1972, Doroszewski 1973, Scorupka 1967).

This research encompasses only one class of phraseology – set comparisons (hereinafter – SС) which describe the amount of money a person has and which can be found in all Slavic languages.

Telia V. indicates that SC reflect "the system of images-standards typical for a particular linguo-cultural community" [24, p. 241]. Images-standards and the peculiarities of their use are always directly related to the life of the representatives of a nation, their history, traditions, mindset etc. Images-standards help us to assess the surrounding reality and see people's attitude towards it, people's traits, to the world of things, nature, and so on.

Purpose, Method and Study Data

The purpose of this article is to identify the system of images-standards of set comparisons in the modern Russian language contrasted with their Slavic correspondences, distinguishing universal and national-specific objects of comparisons, and describing trends in the use of set comparisons related to money in the modern Russian language.

We analyse the usage of certain SC in the Russian language, adhering to the following algorithm: 1) the structure of ideographic group "amount of money someone has" according to the lexicographical sources; 2) functioning of SC in the contexts of contemporary fiction, periodicals and the Internet; 3) reflection of SC in the consciousness of modern Russian language speakers; 4) comparison of SC standards of the Russian language to their analogues in other Slavic languages.

Study data is based on dictionaries of set comparisons in the Russian language by Ogoltseva V., Mokienko V., Mokienko V., Nikitina N. and Lebedeva L., materials of the "Russian National Corpus" (hereinafter – RNC), Internet forums and sites, the results of survey of the Russian language speakers.

Dictionaries of set comparisons in the Russian language record the following units that are of interest to us: денег у кого как грязи – he has as much money as there is dirt; денег у кого как щепок – he has as much money as there are chips; деньги – не навоз: сегодня нет, а завтра – воз – money is no manure: today you're short, tomorrow – got a lot. Moreover, part of the units used to describe both a large or small amount of something and to talk about money: много у кого чего как у дурака махорки – some have as much as a fool tobacco; чего как кот наплакал – cat's tears.

Materials taken from RNC and the Internet allow us to extend this ideographic group due to such quantitative SC like денег как мусора – as much money as there is rubbish, денег как дров – as much money as there is wood, денег как у дурака фантиков – he has as much money as a fool wrappers, денег как у латыша – he has as little money as a Latvian.

A survey was conducted to determine the representation of the ideographic group of SC in linguistic consciousness of Russians. We questioned 100 people aged 18-83 (40 of them – students of the Philology Department), 48 men, 52 women. The majority of informants have higher liberal arts education, 25 people hold a degree in natural sciences, 12 people – in technical sciences. By occupation these are university professors, doctors, advertising specialists, businessmen, engineers, architects and publishing experts.

Informants were asked to answer the following question: what comparisons can be used to characterize the person's financial position in which a) one has a lot of money (he has as much money as ...), b) one has little money (he has as little money as...)

Results of the Survey

The survey results run as follows (the number in brackets indicates the number of identical reactions, each informant provided several expressions):

А) About a large amount of money: one has as much as как грязи (42) – as there is dirt (42), как у дурака фантиков (14) – as a fool wrappers (14), как у олигарха (10) – as a magnate, как у Абрамовича (4) – as Abramovich (Russian businessman and investor), как у Рокфеллера (4) – as Rockefeller (4), как у миллионера (4) – as a millionaire (4), как блох, как у собаки блох (4) –as there are fleas, as a dog has fleas (4), как у дурака махорки (2) – as a fool tobacco, как снега зимой (2) – as there is snow in winter (2), как у султана – as the sultan, как у нефтяного магната – as an oil tycoon, как у Кащея – as Koshchei (in Russian folklore it is a bony, emaciated old man, rich and wicked, who knows the secret of eternal life), как у богача – as a rich man, как у банкира – as a banker, как у дядюшки Сэма – as uncle Sam, как у Скруджа – as Scrooge, как у Филиппа Киркорова – as Philip Kirkorov (popular Russian pop singer of Bulgarian-Armenian origin), как дерьма – as crap, как в арбузе семечек – as there are seeds in a watermelon, как у Чубайса – as Chubais (a Russian politician and businessman who was responsible for privatization in Russia as an influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administration in the early 1990s), как в банке – as a bank, как у мытаря – as a tax collector, как у министра – as a minister, как гора – as a mountain, как воды в колодце – as there is water in the well, как сена – as there is hay.

B) About a small amount of money: someone has as little money as кот наплакал (43) – there are cat's tears (43), у нищего (13) – as a beggar (13), у нищеброда – as a dedbeat, как у последнего голодранца (4) – as the poorest pauper (4), как у бомжа (4) – as a homeless (4), воды в решете – as there is water in a sieve, как у козла молока – as there is goat's milk, как у птички – as a bird has, как у латыша – у него хрен да душа (у латыша – ни гроша) – as a Latvian or even a less – his bills are always a mess (as Latvian bloke - he is always broke), как у большинства народа – as poor as most people, как у погорельца – as a fire victim, как правды – as there is truth, как у студента – as poor as a student, как волос у лысого на голове – as there is hair on a bald head.

Russian Set Comparisons Contrasted with Other Slavic Languages

The criteria that define a set comparison include the following: the expression is recorded in the dictionary; it is repeated more than three times in respondent’s surveys.

Thus, we can consider the following 13 units to be set comparisons in the modern Russian language: денег у кого как грязи – he has as much money as there is dirt; денег у кого как щепок – he has as much money as there are chips; деньги – не навоз: сегодня нет, а завтра – воз – money is no manure: today you're short, tomorrow – got a lot; как у дурака махорки – as a fool tobacco; денег как у дурака фантиков – he has as much money as a fool wrappers; денег как мусора – as much money as there is rubbish; денег как дров – as much money as there is wood; денег как у латыша – he has as little money as a Latvian; денег как кот наплакал – cat's tears; как у Абрамовича – as Abramovich (Russian businessman and investor); как у Рокфеллера – as Rockefeller; у нищего – has as little money as a beggar; как у бомжа – as a homeless.

However, it should be noted that these comparisons are of varying frequency, not identical in their popularity in modern language. For example, colloquial disrespectful SC денег у кого как грязи – he has as much money as there is dirt is used to describe 'a disproportionately large amount of money someone possesses' [16, p. 91], [17, p. 155], [10, p. 283] is the most frequent. Its analogue in Serbian има као блата is used not only to talk about money, it has a wider co-occurrence. SC денег у кого как щепок словарь – he has as much money as there are chips is recorded in the dictionary as a rare expression [16, p. 502], [17, p. 769]. But this comparison is used in other Slavic languages, for example in Czech – peněz u koho jako třísek.

Playful Siberian proverb Деньги – не навоз: сегодня нет, а завтра – воз – money is no manure: today you're short, tomorrow – got a lot which implies that one day a person can have a lot and next day almost nothing [17, p. 423] is used in the Internet, but has a slightly different form Деньги, что навоз – сегодня нет, а завтра – воз – money is like manure: today you're short, tomorrow – got a lot (for example, www.tagilvariant.ru). Manure is used as a standard CS that indicates a large amount of money in the Slavic languages: in Czech mít peněz jako hnoje.

Dictionary records the vernacular ironic SC много у кого чего как у дурака махорки – some have as much as a fool tobacco 'about an amount of something a person possesses received unexpectedly for nothing and without effort' [17, p. 183]. Zimin V. and Spirin A. explain the origin of this SC the following way: "A fool often gets tobacco for his eccentricities, so he has a lot" [3, p. 250]. This expression is very common on forums and sites in the Internet, but only in relation to money.

A quantitative colloquial SC чего как (что) кот наплакал – cat's tears is used to talk 'about a pitifully small amount of something' [16, p. 191], [17, p. 298] and is widely used in the Internet in relation to money. Let us have a look at the frequency of its equivalents in other Slavic languages: Ukrainian – як кіт наплакав, Polish jak (co) kot napłakał. Grinyova A. notes that "some Russian and Polish expressions which have the structure of comparatives appeared because of a certain action/feature associated with a small animal or an insect. Set of components that describe these animals is somewhat wider than in Polish"[1, p.105]. In Polish: jak (co) pies napłakał (dog's tears), jak wesz nakaszła (what a louse has coughed). The symbolism of lice is related to the fact that the basis of this comparison is plurality, which creates a correlation between these insects and similar small objects, including money (coins) [2, vol. 2, p. 447, 492]; [2, vol. 1, p. 447-448]. Kuznetsova I. draws the following parallel in Slavic languages: in Lemko dialect of the Ukrainian language: мати пiнязи як циган уш (as much money as lice on a gypsy); Czech u mne jde o peníze jako u žebráka o veš (I deal with money like a beggar with lice) [8, p.120]. The responses of the Russian respondents have shown comparisons of money with fleas, for example как блох, как у собаки блох – he has as much money as there are fleas, as a dog has fleas, this expression is used to describe a large amount of money.

Analyzing possible versions of the expression origin как кот наплакал – cat's tears, Mokienko V. concludes that phraseological imagery can be seen as litotes (expressive understatement), based on the impossibility of cat's "crying". The scientist says that the origin of categorical expressiveness of phraseological units is often rooted in the oxymoron "impossibility formula," characteristic of national figurative thinking [14]. SC денег как кот наплакал – cat's tears is one of the most frequent in the modern Russian language and has received a humorous extension – денег как кот наплакал, а проблем как слон накакал – I have as little money as cat's tears and as many problems as elephant’s shit nobody clears. In this case we observe the explication of comparison through the expansion of context [15].

SC денег как у дурака фантиков – he has as much money as a fool wrappers is not recorded in dictionaries of set comparisons of the Russian language, but its frequency on forums and Internet sites is high, it was also found in the responses of informants. The imagery lying in the basis of this comparison is caused by a powerful (in Russian culture) concept of a fool according to Kovshova M. [6, p. 166]. A fool is happy about absolutely everything. "Everything has its value for a fool, although it might be incomprehensible to others, but things that are bright, unusual, different are of special value for him, because the fool himself is different" (ibid, 167). So, bright candy wrappers have value for a fool, he collects them in large quantities.

Quantitative SC денег как мусора – as much money as there is rubbish, денег как дров – as much money as there is wood are less commonly used in relation to money. Compare to Czech mít peněz jako smetí, Polish ma pieniędzy jak śmieci.

SC денег как у латыша – he has as little money as a Latvian is a truncation of a saying with a euphemistic replacement of a component: Денег как у латыша – только хрен да душа – as little money as a Latvian has – his bills are always a mess (Денег как у латыша – нет в кармане (за душою) ни гроша (ни шиша) – rich like a Latvian bloke – he is always broke). The saying probably reflects poor financial situation of Latvians before the revolution, though perhaps it simply rhymed well. Apart from the forums, the saying is found in modern poetry: "Как у латыша – хрен да душа, и в кармане нет ни гроша…Тут как не крути, нам не по пути, жизнь со мной не так хороша…" - "I am rich like a Latvian bloke – he is always broke…Whatever you do, we are different, too, living with me is no joke…" [2]. Compare it with the transformation (omitting the money component with euphemistic replacement) in the materials of RNC: "Now you don't defend Marxism, you protect a monarchy you've made up yourself or something else, and once again you're the aristoi, and I am like a Latvian bloke ... poor ... like all folks" [Vladimir Kornilov. Demobilization (1969-1971)]. Implication of the sayings into SC is a "progressive encoding of the original image of a phraseological unit" (Mokienko 1989: 131). Rhyme that might have generated it plays an important role in its explication.

SC денег как у нищего – has as little money as a beggar is not recorded in dictionaries of set comparisons of the Russian language. It appeared in colloquial speech, apparently, due to association with the SC беден как нищий – poor like a beggar. Similarly SC денег как у Рокфеллера – has as much money as Rockefeller appeared due to association with the SC богат как Рокфеллер – rich like Rockefeller. The standard of a contemporary who has a lot of money in the linguistic consciousness of native speakers of Russian is Roman Abramovich, that is how SC денег как у Абрамовича – as much money as Abramovich has appeared. Compare to Czech SC mít peněz jako Rotschild.

The emergence of such realia as бомж (the Russian police acronym for Of No Fixed Abode) – the homeless person led to the occurrence and frequent usage of SC денег как у бомжа – has as little money as a homeless person in the modern Russian language.

Slavic languages use various expressions as standards to talk about a large amount of money, for example: hay (see similar units in responses of the Russian informants), straw, pus and ice in Polish - ma pieniędzy jak siana (sieczki) , ma pieniędzy jak gnoju, jak lodu; sawdust, hedge rose and ship in Serbian - има као плеве, пун као шипак, пун као брод (these SC, except the last one, have a broad compatibility and are used not only in relation to money); shit, peel, cloth, change, clay, bits of iron, splinters in the Czech language – mít peněz jako sraček (/ jako šlupek / jako hadrů / jako babek), mít peněz jako hlíny, mít peněz jako želez, mít peněz jako třísek.

As rightly pointed by Mokienko V. "syncretism of inferiority and multiplicity concepts is one of the semantic universals of a quantitative field" (Mokienko 2005: 7).

Kuznetsova I. sees mythological roots in SC of Slavic languages that represent the correlation 'wool (hair, feathers) – wealth': Ukrainian грошей як у жаби пiр’я (волосся) – as much money as there are feathers on a frog (hair), Lemko dialect пiнязей як на долони волуйса; Czech má peněž jako (co) žaba chlupů (vlasů, peří), Serbian/Croatian: пун новаца као жаба длака, pun para kao žaba dlaka –  'to be poor, to have nothing at all' [8, p. 118]. This class of SC has no equivalents in the Russian language, despite the fact that the model itself – ironic denial of the existence of something through an assertion of something non-existent – is used in the Russian language, compare как волосья у бабы на коленке as much as there is hair on the woman's knee; у бабы ума as much as there is brain in the woman's head, что волос на яйце as there is hair on the egg and the like. See also single reactions in the questionnaires of native Russian speakers – денег как волос у лысого на голове as much money as there is hair on a bald head. Compare to the responses of Serbian informants: има пара као ћелав косе (like hair on a bald head) – 6 responses (out of ten people).

Analysis of Occasional Comparisons in Respondents' Answers

The results of the survey show that occasional (individual answers of the respondents) comparisons can be grouped into themed series, according to stereotypes existing in the minds of native speakers of Russian. So, judging by the reactions received, a lot of money can belong to members of certain professions or people involved in certain activity: oil magnates, bankers, ministers, tax collectors; comparison standards can be grouped according to social status: Sultan, millionaire, rich man have a lot of money; pauper, the poorest beggar, a student, a victims of fire have little money; according to the criterion of ethnicity Americans have a lot of money (as much as Uncle Sam), Russians have little money (like most people), compare to SC about a Latvian.

New proper names that are used as standard in SC of the modern Russian language are also of great interest: names of real people, our contemporaries: in addition to Abramovich, the responses contain the names of Philip Kirkorov, Chubais and the names of mythological characters: Koshchei and Scrooge. Koshchei is a rich and greedy character of Russian fairy tales. Scrooge originates from the American cartoon "DuckTales" about Uncle Scrooge (McDuck), a multi-billionaire and businessman who has three nephews, the ducklings. The animated series was popular in Russia in the 90s. This trend is common for all Slavic languages. The survey of the Serbian language speakers showed they also use proper names as standard SC in everyday speech to describe large amounts of money: има пара као Рокфелер, као Оназис (the names of Rockefeller and Greek millionaire Onassis), као Мишковић  (Mišković is a modern Serbian oligarch), као браћа Карић (Karić brothers are oligarchs from 90s).

Conclusion

SС describing the amount of money in the modern Russian language show the following trend: units that indicate a large amount of money make up the largest subgroup. SC как денег у кого как грязи – he has as much money as there is dirt, как у дурака фантиков – he has as much money as a fool wrappers, как кот наплакал – cat's tears, как у нищего – as a beggar are actively used. The emergence of new SC not recorded in dictionaries is caused by the emergence of new realia – денег как у бомжа – as little money as a homeless person has, как у Абрамовича – as much money as Abramovich has. Some SC exist due to the truncation of a proverb: денег как у латыша – as little money as a Latvian has. Individual units receive humorous rhymed expansion in speech: денег как кот наплакал, а проблем, как слон накакал – as little money as cat's tears and as many problems as elephant’s shit nobody clears. Analyzed ideographic group of SC in the Russian language is a dynamic open series like all SC systems in national languages.

Comparison with the units of an analyzed ideographic group in other Slavic languages showed that naming of units, realia that form a plurality, but, in speaker's opinion, have no value, can serve as standards used to describe a lot of money, as well as to refer to a large number of anything – dirt, hay, straw, clay, manure, sawdust, etc. Thematic groups of SC coincide in all Slavic languages: these are names of natural and domestic realia, names of persons, names of animals and insects. Full equivalents of some Russian SC can be found in other Slavic languages, for example: денег как кот наплакал – cat's tears, денег как грязи – as much money as there is dirt, денег как мусора – as much money as there is rubbish. Some Russian SC have no equivalent in Slavic languages, in particular those ones that indicate a complete lack of money and, for example, SC referring to body hair (on a palm, on a frog). Comparisons in the Serbian language are also of great interest – full as the ship, as a hedge rose. Imagery is based on common cognitive foundation of native speakers – it is assumed that there are a lot of flowers on a hedge rose, many passengers on a ship. Similarities in SC of the ideographic group we considered CSS can be explained by common natural realia, historically formed economic (peasant) lifestyle, genetic kinship of the Slavic languages. Differences in the selected images-standards are associated with socio-political factors (proper names of specific individuals), the presence of rhyme in a particular language (e.g, навоз-воз manure-cart (rhyme in Russian), как у латыша – хрен да душа (в кармане ни шиша) – as a Latvian bloke - he is always broke), by various mythological context.