ЕРЕВАНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ
YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY
____________________________________________
СТУДЕНЧЕСКОЕ НАУЧНОЕ ОБЩЕСТВО
STUDENT SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY
ISSN 1829-4367
СБОРНИК НАУЧНЫХ СТАТЕЙ СНО ЕГУ
МАТЕРИАЛЫ ЕЖЕГОДНОЙ НАУЧНОЙ СЕССИИ 2015 ГОДА
COLLECTION OF SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES OF YSU SSS
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC SESSION OF 2015
1.3 (13)
Общественные науки (Армянская,
романо-германская и русская филология)
Social Sciences (Armenian,
Romance-Germanic and Russian Philology)
ЕРЕВАН - YEREVAN
ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО ЕГУ - YSU PRESS
2016
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ԵՐԵՎԱՆԻ ՊԵՏԱԿԱՆ ՀԱՄԱԼՍԱՐԱՆ
ՈՒՍԱՆՈՂԱԿԱՆ ԳԻՏԱԿԱՆ ԸՆԿԵՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ
ISSN 1829-4367
ԵՊՀ ՈՒԳԸ ԳԻՏԱԿԱՆ ՀՈԴՎԱԾՆԵՐԻ
ԺՈՂՈՎԱԾՈՒ
2015 Թ. ՏԱՐԵԿԱՆ ԳԻՏԱԿԱՆ ՆՍՏԱՇՐՋԱՆԻ ՆՅՈՒԹԵՐ
1.3 (13)
Հասարակական գիտություններ
(Հայ, ռոմանագերմանական և ռուս բանասիրություն)
ԵՐԵՎԱՆ
ԵՊՀ ՀՐԱՏԱՐԱԿՉՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ
2016
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Հրատարակվում է ԵՊՀ գիտական խորհրդի որոշմամբ
Издается по решению Ученого совета ЕГУ
Published by the resolution of the Academic Council of YSU
Խմբագրական խորհուրդ`
բ.գ.դ., պրոֆ., ՀՀ ԳԱԱ
թղթ. անդամ Ս. Գասպարյան
բ.գ.դ., պրոֆ. Ս. Մուրադյան
բ.գ.դ., պրոֆ. Ժ. Քալանթարյան
բ.գ.դ., պրոֆ. Ե. Երզնկյան
բ.գ.դ., պրոֆ. Շ. Պարոնյան
բ.գ.դ., պրոֆ. Յու. Գաբրիելյան
բ.գ.դ., պրոֆ. Վ. Հարությունյան
բ.գ.դ., դոց. Ա. Առաքելյան
բ.գ.թ., դոց. Ռ. Առաքելյան
Редакционная коллегия:
д.ф.н., проф., член-корр.
НАН РА С. Гаспарян
д.ф.н., проф. С. Мурадян
д.ф.н., проф. Ж. Калантарян
д.ф.н., проф. Е. Ерзнкян
д.ф.н., проф. Ш. Паронян
д.ф.н., проф. Ю. Габриелян
д.ф.н., проф. В. Арутюнян
д.ф.н., доц. А. Аракелян
к.ф.н., доц. Р. Аракелян
Editorial Board
DSc, Prof., Associate member of
NAS RA S. Gasparyan
DSc, Prof. S. Muradyan
DSc, Prof. Zh. Kalantaryan
DSc, Prof. Y. Yerznkyan
DSc, Prof. Sh. Paronyan
DSc, Prof. Y. Gabrielyan
DSc, Prof. V. Harutyunyan
DSc, Associate Prof. A. Arakelyan
PhD, Associate Prof. R. Arakelyan
Հրատարակիչ՝ ԵՊՀ հրատարակչություն
Հասցե՝ ՀՀ, ք. Երևան, Ալ. Մանուկյան 1, (+374 10) 55 55 70, [email protected]
Հրատարակության նախապատրաստող ստորաբաժանում՝ ԵՊՀ ուսանողական գիտական ընկերություն
Հասցե՝ ՀՀ, ք. Երևան, Ալ. Մանուկյան 1, (+374 60) 71 01 94,
Էլ. փոստ՝ [email protected]
ԵՊՀ ՈՒԳԸ հրատարակումների կայք՝ www.ssspub.ysu.am.
Ժողովածուն հրատարակվում է Հայաստանի երիտասարդական
հիմնադրամի ֆինանսական աջակցությամբ:
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Ofelia Avetisyan
GSPI, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Master’s student
Supervisor: PhD H. Isahakyan
Էլ. փոստ՝ [email protected]
THE SOUND-SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION OF THE CONCEPT
"FEAR" IN E.A. POE’S "THE RAVEN"
Edgar Allan Poe is an American writer, a follower of the American Romantic movement. He wrote both
prosaic and poetic works full of attempts to understand “the psychology of the abnormal mind as well as an
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obsession with death and decay” . In other words, in his works he reveals and describes the feelings of the
people in an abnormal state of mind, as madness or depression. “The Raven” is the crown of E. Poe’s
creations. It was first published in 1845. It brought fame to the author, and is widely popular up to now. This
poem is noteworthy not only for its plot, telling about the visit of a speaking Raven to the author, but also for
its phonetic and lexical representation. In this paper, we are going to examine one of the essential elements
of the poem, its main concept – “fear”, and its sound –symbolic representation.
"The Raven" is much spoken about. A lot of literary critics turned to it, trying to analyze the plot, or
give the psychoanalytic description of the hero, and spoke about the phonetic expressive means used by E.
Poe to make the poem more persuasive. However, the latter researches have only outlined the usage of
alliteration, assonance or consonance, whereas we will go further, clarifying the usage of each phoneme,
which seems to bear sound-symbolic value.
The fact, that the main concept of the poem is fear, is proved via such key words, as darkness,
mystery, grave, terror, shadow, grim, etc., constantly repeated throughout the poem, creating dreadful,
grave-like atmosphere. The loneliness of the poet and his reaction to the appearance of the Raven is
another proof. However, these clues are not the only ones. When analyzing a poem or a ballad we consider
not only the words and phrases used by the author, their semantic peculiarities, part-of-speech meaning
and the influence they have on the effect produced, but also the euphonic effect produced by the sounds.
Every literary work is also an oral composition, which consists of a sequence of sounds. And the effect,
which the author wished to produce, is achieved not only through the changes in pitch, intensity and
duration, but also through the usage of the proper sound combinations. The sound form of the literary work
together with the rhythm and content makes the desired impression. Thus, the frightening atmosphere is
created with use of proper sounds as well. However, this depends on the individual perception, and can be
subjective.
Here a special linguistic phenomenon, called sound symbolism, should be mentioned. It states that
certain sounds and sound combinations may awake certain images, thoughts, associations, perceptions,
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ideas . It is first observed in Ancient Chinese, where the meaning of some words was associated with
certain sounds. For instance, the words with the meaning “shutting, closing” tend to end in –p, the words
denoting movements with the sudden endpoint end in –k, the words meaning “dark, black, covered, blind,
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etc.” begin with m- . It is said to be due to synesthesia, i.e. the associations one has when pronouncing
this or that sound. In Ancient Greece the philosophers disputed on the topic of meaningfulness of sounds,
proposing two possible variants: either the connection between the sound form and the referent is arbitrary,
or there is a connection between the sound form and the features of the referent. However, another variant
was proposed by Plato, who suggested that those connections are arbitrary, but they are determined by the
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features of the referent and the features of the phonemes . Later, the sound symbolism developed into a
branch of science called phonosemantics.
Generally, the sound symbolic meaning of many phonemes is still not discovered and scientifically
proved. In fact, it is even said that not all the phonemes possess such a meaning. However, some of the
them, such as nasals (m, n, ŋ) or plosives (b, p, t, k) surely have some kind of emotional background.
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Particularly, the plosives are associated with positive feelings, and the nasals - with negative ones . It is
1
Siersema D., Rhyme and Reason, Malmberg, 1998, p. 307.
Galperin I.R., Stylistics, Moscow Higher School, Moscow, 1981, p.111.
Schuesser A., ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese, Hawaii, 2007, p. 27.
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Журавлев А.П., Звук и слово, Просвещение, Москва, 1991, с. 6.
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Auracher J., P Is for Happiness, N Is for Sadness: Universals in Sound Iconicity to Detect Emotions in Poetry, Taylor & Francis
Group, LLC, 2011, p. 7.
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said to be universal, as far as the experiments performed in different languages have come to prove it.
However, in our paper we will make an attempt to prove the opposite: in E. Poe’s “The Raven” the plosives
are frequently used, and their usage aims at creating the feeling of terror.
So, the concept "fear" is actualized in this poem not only through the lexical units, words and word
combinations, but also through the sounds and sound clusters. Here, several stylistic devices and
expressive means, used by E. Poe, should be named. To express the tension, fear, anxiety, despair,
excitement, irritation, terror the author uses a lot of stylistic devices and expressive means, such as
repetition, personification, alliteration, assonance, alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia.
The poem begins with the scene where the main hero is sitting and napping, and his rest is disturbed
by a sudden "rapping at his chamber door". He supposes it is "some late visitor", and having calmed oneself
down, has a flashback, recollecting his beloved, Lenore, who has passed away. Then, the knock on the
door is repeated, and having grown more confident, the author opens the door, but finds no one behind it.
He feels embarrassed and hurries to close the door. However, the "tapping on his chamber door" goes on,
growing louder and more intense. The author thinks it is the window lattice and trying to find out what the
problem is, opens it, letting a raven in. The raven steps in like a royal, flies and perches on the bust of
Pallas. This fact amuses the hero, who turns to the raven, trying to talk to him, asking for his name. To his
astonishment, he gets the following answer: "Nevermore". The hero treats the raven as a friend who will
leave as soon as the morrow comes. However, the raven refuses, repeating the same word "nevermore".
The young man is confused: he supposes that the raven has learned that word from some "unhappy
master" who was followed by "unmerciful disaster". He gets nervous trying to understand what the bird
means by saying "nevermore": he implores it to tell him who has sent it and what it wants, but gets the
same answer- "nevermore". At last, the hero drives the bird out of his room and his life, but the raven "still is
sitting", throwing his shadow on the hero's soul.
The main concept of the poem is fear, which is represented in the linguistic levels- from phonetic to
the syntactic. The key words of the concept are as follows: dreary, sorrow, terrors, darkness, doubting,
grave, stern, ghastly, grim, ungainly, startled, fiery, horror, devil, demon, shadow. These words are used by
E. Poe to create the atmosphere of slight excitement that gradually grows into deep fear, fear of death and
darkness.
Although it is said to be rather difficult to differentiate the expressive sounds from the less expressive
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ones in literary texts as all the elements are equally expressive there but still there are several sounds
which are more noteworthy. Particularly, we have outlined 5 sounds bearing the sound-symbolic
importance. Those sounds are [t, d; s, g, r]. We have stopped our choice on these sounds as they are
frequently found not only in the text but also in the key words and do have persuasive effect on the reader
combined with the lexical meaning of words.
The first sounds we are interested in are [t, d]. We have grouped them unlike the other sounds as they
are usually used together and for the same purpose. These sounds, particularly [d], are found in the
majority of key words: dreary, darkness, doubting, dreaming, dreams, fiend, desert, undaunted, devil,
demon's, shadow. [d] is a voiced plosive consonant and [t] is a voiceless plosive. It has been experimentally
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proved that the plosive sounds tend to express positive meaning in the poetry . But here one can clearly
see that the usage of sounds [t, d] does not aim at expressing any positive feeling. In fact, the usage of the
plosives [d] and [t] combined with the lexical meaning of the words containing these sounds aims at
expressing a slight excitement in the beginning, ("Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak
and weary"), which later grows into fear, terror ("Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there
wondering, fearing, //Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before") and by the
end turns into despair (And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor//Shall be lifted
- nevermore!).
The second sound is [s] which is found in the following key words: sorrow, darkness, mystery, stern,
startled, sad soul. [s] is a voiceless fricative consonant. Its repetition resembles a wind-like sound due to
which the desired effect is reached. The frequent use of sound [s] aims at creating the feeling of anxiety.
"Startled at the stillness broken" in this verse the sound is repeated three times, thus the reader feels
just the same as the hero standing in front of the speaking raven.
The next important from the sound-symbolic point of view sound is [g]. It is mainly found in words
describing the raven: grave, ungainly, ghastly, grim, gaunt. Here, one of types of sound symbolism,
clustering, should be mentioned. Clustering, or phonosemantic association is the type which deals with
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similar sounds found in words with close referents . In other words, the same sound, found in 2 or more
1
Арнольд И.В., Стилистика современного английского языка, Просвещение, Ленинград, 1981, с. 208.
Auracher J., p. 7.
3
Magnus M., What is in a word: Studies in phonosemantics, Doctoral dissertation, University of Trondheim, Norway, 2001, available
at: http://www.trismegistos.com/Dissertation/dissertation.pdf, accessed on April 1, 2015.
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words denoting concepts close to each other, is said to bear a meaning. Here, the above mentioned words
can be unified under the concept "grim": they all refer to something dark and ominous. So, the sound [g]
found in all the above mentioned words becomes meaningful.
The last sound under consideration is [r]. It is constantly repeated through the poem, and the following
key words contain this sound: mystery, dirges, fiery, terror. The name of the main heroine, Lenore, also
contains this sound. The main aim of the frequent usage of sound [r] is creating the internal rhyme:
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
However, there is another interesting point about the repetition of the sound [r]. Throughout the whole
poem the concept “fear” is clearly outlined by different means, particularly with the word nevermore. Poe
could have used word never, instead he used nevermore which contains two sounds [r]. The frequent usage
of this word and the repetition of sound [r] in each verse shows the appearance of fear in the character’s
soul in the beginning (more, evermore, etc.), deepens the fear in the middle, transforms it into despair by
the end. In the last part the author accepts the fact that he will never get rid of the raven, i.e. the demon
sent from the “Plutonian shore”.
What is interesting is that we have not come across any vowel sound bearing sound symbolic value. In
fact, their usage has another purpose. The important vowel sounds in the poem are [ei, ɔ, əu]. The sound
[ei] is found in the metaphor radiant maiden, which characterizes Lenore, the hero's lost beloved. Here, [ei]
is a means of expressing the beauty and brightness of the heroine. The other vowels are [ɔ] and [əu]. They
are found in the metaphor lost Lenore, which also characterizes the main heroine and at the same time
deepens the sadness and grief of the hero expressed via sound [l].
Thus, E. Poe uses different sounds, both vowel and consonants, to show the fear and anxiety of his
characters. The same sounds are used to express discomfort, worry, anxiety, fear, terror in different verses.
The vowel phonemes in this poem are used to deepen or prolong the negative feeling already expressed by
consonants means rather than to express it themselves. However, the vowels are used to express positive
feelings or to weaken the negative ones described earlier.
Օֆելիա Ավետիսյան
«ՎԱԽ» ՀԱՍԿԱՑՈՒՅԹԻ ՀՆՉՈՒՆԱՍԻՄՎՈԼԻԿ ՆԵՐԿԱՅԱՑՈՒՄԸ
Է.Ա. ՊՈՅԻ «ԱԳՌԱՎԸ» ԲԱՆԱՍՏԵՂԾՈՒԹՅՈՒՆՈՒՄ
Բանալի բառեր՝ ագռավ, հնչունային սիմվոլիզմ, «վախ» հասկացույթ
Հոդվածի նպատակն է` ցույց տալ «վախ» հասկացույթի հնչունական դրսևորումն Էդգար Պոյի «Ագռավը» բանաստեղծության մեջ: Վերջինումս «վախ» հասկացույթն արտահայտված էր ոչ միայն ոճական հնարների (անձնավորում, մակդիր, փոխաբերություն) և առանձին բառերի (մթություն, ահագնած, չարագուշակ և այլն) միջոցով, այլ
նաև որոշակի հնչյուններով: Հետաքրքիր է, որ հեղինակը բաղաձայնների միջոցով արտահայտել է վախը և նմանատիպ այլ զգացումները, իսկ ձայնավորներն օգտագործել է արդեն արտահայտված զգացումների սրացման,
ուժգնացման նպատակով:
Офелия Аветисян
ЗВУКО-СИМВОЛИЧЕСКОЕ ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЕ КОНЦЕПТА «СТРАХ»
В СТИХОТВОРЕНИИ Э.А. ПО «ВОРОН»
Ключевые слова: ворон, звуковой символизм, концепт "страх"
Цель данной статьи – показать фоносемнатическую актуализацию концепта «страх» в стихотворении
«Ворон» Эдгара По. В этом произведении концепт «страх» выражен не только посредством стилистических
приемов (персонификация, эпитет, метафора) и отдельных слов (мрак, испуганный, зловещий и т.п.), но и
отдельных звуков. Нами была замечена интересная деталь: автор использует согласные звуки для выражения
страха и подобных чувств, а гласные звуки – для усиления уже созданного впечатления.
Ofelia Avetisyan
THE SOUND-SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION OF CONCEPT «FEAR» IN
E.A. POE’S «THE RAVEN»
Keywords: "The Raven", sound symbolism, concept "fear"
The aim of the article is to trace the phonosemantic actualization of the concept “fear” in E. Poe’s “The Raven”.
Throughout the poem, the concept “fear” is presented not only via various stylistic devices (personification, epithet,
metaphor) and lexemes (darkness, startled, ominous, etc.), but also via certain sounds. It is noteworthy that the
consonant sounds are used to express the concept of fear and related feelings, whereas the vowel sounds and
diphthongs serve as the intensifiers of already expressed the fear-related feelings.
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