Derivative Preposition "V Protivoves": Constructions and Specifics of Functioning

Li Ol'ga Dmitrievna Senior Lecturer, Russian Language Department, Vladivostok State University 690014, Russia, Primorskii krai, g. Vladivostok, ul. Gogolya, 41, aud. 5516 write_ole@mail.ru

The processes of transition of significant words into official ones have been the object of research since the middle of the XX century. The monographic works of E. T. Cherkasova ^[13]; G. A. Shiganova ^[16]; M. V. Vsevolodova, O. V. Kukushkina, A. A. Polikarpov ^[2], Z. D. Popova ^[10], E. S. Sheremetyeva ^[15] are devoted to the study of the specifics of derived prepositions.

In recent scientific works, the issues of the functioning of service and semi-service words of various semantics and the degree of definition are considered ^{[3, 8, 14]}.

The qualification and description of such units is accompanied by a number of problems, since they are formed from words of various partial affiliation (noun, verb, adverb), have special syntactic properties and perform different functions in the sentence and text. The analysis of their semantic and syntactic specifics contributes to the understanding of evolutionary processes in language as a means of thinking and communication. The above facts determine the relevance of this work.

The object of this study is the preposition "in opposition".

During the collection of language material in the "National Corpus of the Russian Language", 736 occurrences were found in the main corpus and 479 in the newspaper when searching for "at a distance of 1 from the counterweight".

In dictionaries, "in contrast" is qualified as a preposition used with a noun in the dative case ^{[4; 5; 9]}.Some scientific works and lexicographic sources describe the homonymy of prepositional and adverbial forms:

"As opposed to' (what) is a preposition. It is used when referring to the relations of opposition, opposites. In contrast to ' - kach.-obst. Against, contrary to" ^{[16, p. 243]}.

"New dictionary of the Russian language. Explanatory-word-formation" T. F. Efremova: "in contrast to the I adverb. they are. characteristics. Opposing something to someone or something, opposing someone. II prep. with dates. It is used when referring to a person or an object opposed to someone or something, and corresponds in meaning to sl.: in contrast to someone or something" ^[4].

Adverbial forms (20 occurrences) were found in the collected material.

(1) Seeing the expansionist activity of Islam, the authorities seek to activate Orthodoxy in contrast [Elena Ivanitskaya, journalist. Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden are the guarantors of political correctness // Izvestia, 2005.12.26].

In examples of this type, the unit "as opposed to" cannot be attributed to the class of prepositions, since there is no defining feature of the prepositional function – the design of the connection of the noun with another significant word.

In addition, the material contains facts of the functioning of the unit as an element of a composite union "as opposed to the fact that" (11 occurrences).

(2) I wanted to show in a different way the conditions of upbringing of children in an average working family, as opposed to what we often depicted. [P. P. Bazhov. Separation of days (1944-1947)].

The analysis of such facts is not included in the objectives of this study.

In our work we rely on the works of M. A. Leonenko ^[6,7] and E. S. Sheremetyeva ^[15]. The methodology of the analysis of service units provides for the identification of syntactic constructions formed by them, the analysis of lexico-semantic and morphological specifics of the components of these structures.

The term "construction" means "a syntactic whole consisting of a certain number of interrelated components organized according to a certain formal syntactic model" ^{[15, p. 216]}. The relations between the components of the structures are formed by service units.

The preposition "as opposed to" has a contrary semantics and establishes appropriate relations between the components of the construction.

At the heart of the opposing relationship is the idea of opposition.

Juxtaposition is the process of comparing two objects and then denying one of them.

The object introduced by the preposition "as opposed to" seems to be less significant, since in most cases "he names a phenomenon about which information is already available" ^{[7, p. 198]}.

(3) Every year the spread of "Juu-do" in its pure form decreases, and in contrast to it, a new system of wrestling is developing ? freestyle wrestling <...> [M. Lukashov, S. Ivanov-Katansky. Literary analysis of the history of the development of jiu-jitsu in Russia and the USSR at the beginning of the 20th century (2003) // "Martial art of the planet", 2003.10.18].

The preposition introduces an anaphoric element of "him", referring the reader to the previous information about "Juu-do" as an obsolete sport.

The service unit "as opposed to" forms the relations of opposition in two types of constructions – binomial and trinomial.

In 97% of cases, the preposition forms three-term constructions.

Three-term constructions are syntactic structures in which the preposition establishes a connection with the common and right components, as well as with the left and right (parallel) components simultaneously.

Let's turn to the examples.

(4) In contrast to the Communist Party of Korea, Japanese intelligence organized its "opposition party [L. M. Zakovsky. We will destroy spies, saboteurs and pests to the end! (1937)]

Three communication lines are formed in the design: to organize an opposition party, an opposition party as opposed to the Communist Party of Korea, to organize as opposed to the Communist Party of Korea. The left component is the opposition party.

The common component is the verb organize. The right component is the Communist Party of Korea. The common component is associated with the phrase "opposition party" (to organize an opposition party) and establishes object relations.

The common component establishes a connection with the phrase "the Communist Party of Korea" using the preposition "in opposition" and implements the opposite relationship.The preposition "as opposed to" forms the relationship between the parallel components of the structure (the opposition party as opposed to the Communist Party of Korea).

Consider an example in which a common member of a three-term construction is a predicate noun.

(5) <...> others will put all the strength of their education and intelligence on the formation of the Red Army as opposed to his Volunteer Army [P. N. Krasnov. From the Double-headed Eagle to the Red Banner (book 2) (1922)].

Three lines of communication: the formation of the Red Army, the formation as opposed to the Volunteer Army, the Red Army as opposed to the Volunteer Army. In three-term constructions, one of the communication lines turns out to be stronger: the connection between the common component and the noun introduced by the preposition or the connection between parallel nouns.

An important role is played by the contact / distant position of the common component or the left component in relation to the preposition.

In the contact position, the communication line of the common component and the right component introduced by the preposition turns out to be stronger.

(6) The Warsaw Treaty Organization (at the place of signing) was created in opposition to the North Atlantic Bloc <...> [Vladislav Bykov, Olga Derkach. The Book of the Century (2000)].

In this case, the communication line "was created in opposition to the North Atlantic Bloc" stronger than the connection of the parallel components "Warsaw Pact Organization in opposition to the North Atlantic Bloc".In the case of a contact position of parallel members, the connection is stronger between these members:

(7) In contrast to Froebel, Kergomar solved many important issues of education and pedagogy from materialistic positions [History of Pedagogy (1981)].

In this case, the connection of parallel components (Kergomar as opposed to Froebel) is stronger than the connection of the common component with the right component of the structure (solver as opposed to Froebel).In addition, the preposition "in opposition" establishes relations of opposition in constructions of a different type ? binomial (3% of the facts studied).

Such a design is a structure consisting of left and right components, the relations between which are formalized by service units. At the same time, in such a construction, the verb is formally the main one (infinitive, finite form, attributive form). The verb takes the left position and enters into a relationship with the right component – the noun by means of a preposition.

(8) Evdokia held the steering wheel. The sun mercilessly shone through the wrinkles, and there was more monumental peasant hardness in her face than even then on the porch. She, as if in contrast to my thoughts, laughed, covering her mouth with her palm [O. M. Kuvaev. Someone has to purr (1975)].

The preposition establishes a connection: to laugh (the left component) as opposed to thoughts (the right component).

 (9) Sometimes the Mandelstams seemed to forget about their troubles and tried to have fun in contrast to them [Emma Gerstein. Near the poet (1985-1999)].

The preposition forms a communication line: to have fun as opposed to them (troubles).Being in a situation of emotional uplift (having fun) is contrasted with the difficult life situation of the Mandelstams (troubles).

The establishment of oppositional relations between a verb and a noun is possible, because, as M. A. Leonenko notes, opposition, like any other comparison, has no objective character: objects, actions, and signs are compared ^{[6, p. 209]}.

It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the sequence of components of the structure may be different. So, in sentences (8) and (9), the verb follows the preposition and the case word form introduced by it, but in the structure of the construction it occupies the left position.

The conducted research has shown that the functioning of trinomial and binomial constructions formed by a preposition is accompanied by a number of features.

Thus, it was found that distributors of formal components of the structure participate in the formation of oppositional relations.

(10) As it turned out later, in contrast to the weak American support for General Gaida, the Japanese provided powerful assistance to the midshipmen ? the only defenders of Rozanov. [V. P. Anichkov. Yekaterinburg – Vladivostok (1917-1922) (1934)].Formally, the words "support" and "help" enter into the relations of opposition, but the semantic centers of opposition are the distributors – the adjectives "weak" and "powerful".

(11) In contrast to the widespread neglect of teachers at that time, Komensky highly appreciated the social significance of their activities" [M. Shabaeva (ed.). History of Pedagogy (1981)].

In this case, the components "evaluated as opposed to attitude" are formally opposed, however, semantically relevant are the distributors "highly" and "disparagingly", "evaluated highly as opposed to disparaging attitude". (12) Now it is possible to create something new in contrast to the monocultural economy that we have developed" [collective.

Opinions // "Ogonyok", 2015].

In this example, the right component is extended by the subordinate clause "to the monocultural economy that we have developed." It is in the subordinate clause that the semantic center of opposition is located due to the predicate "formed": to create something new as opposed to what already exists earlier.

The shift of semantic opposition to distributors explains the following feature of functioning revealed by us – the elimination of the reference word of the right component of the construction.

In the examples listed below, the reference word of the right component does not carry a semantic load and is therefore absent.

(13) And he began to build an inner world in himself as opposed to an external, hostile one [Pavel Meilakhs. Apostate // "Zvezda", 2002].

(14) In contrast to the ceremonial, Van Eyck creates an intimate portrait [S. A. Eremeev. Lectures on the History of Art (1999)].

(15) He was a proponent of positive eugenics, aimed at encouraging the productivity of the "best branch" of humanity, as opposed to negative <...> [Evgeny Pchelov. In search of genius: the eugenic movement in Soviet Russia // "Knowledge is power", 2013].

Next, we turn to the description of the role of constructions formed by the preposition "as opposed to" in the sentence and text.

The collected material showed that in a significant number of cases (266 in the main body and 180 in the newspaper), the preposition "as opposed to" and the right component of the constructions are distinguished intonationally, which is reflected in punctuation. The preposition and the right component can be separated by commas, dashes, brackets.

The punctuation marks are explained by their distinguishing function. Commas, dashes, brackets highlight particularly significant parts in the sentence, special significance is manifested in additional semantic load, in the transmission of additional messages ^{[1, p. 496]}

The preposition "as opposed to" and the components of constructions formed by it have a special meaning in the sentence, establish additional relationships, that is, they participate in the complication of the sentence, namely, they create a collapsed additional predicativity in the sentence.

Collapsed additional predicativity is one of the types of predicativity in which there is no syntactically expressed subject-predicate relationship. It takes place in substantive turns that allow the deployment of a subject-predicate construction ^{[11, p. 26]} The preposition "as opposed to" and the component introduced by it can be presented in the form of a sentence

Examples:

(16) The liberated peasants had little land, and she gave birth badly. The missing bread was imported almost every year by tens of thousands of pounds. The birth rate, however, in contrast to the yield, was high. [M. B. Baru. Cockroach on a rope // "Volga", 2016]

Possible transformation of the prepositional structure: the yield was low, but the birth rate was high

(17) Apparently, in contrast to the cautious quietness, official modesty of Soviet lyrics, the new time fell in love with a biting explosive poetic phrase. [Against the background of the thaw // lenta.ru , 2017.03].Possible transformation: the new age fell in love with a biting explosive poetic phrase, whereas (at that time) the Soviet lyrics were quiet and modest.

The preposition participates in the organization of opposition not only within one sentence, but also in the composition of the text, that is, it is a means of formal logical organization of the text and performs a text-forming function.

The "function of the reference link" linking the sentence with the preceding text is common for prepositions of oppositional semantics ^{[7, p. 200]}.

In the main body of the "National Corpus of the Russian Language", 177 facts of the use of the preposition "as opposed to" in the absolute beginning of the sentence were found, 112 in the newspaper corpus.

In most of these cases, the preposition and the formal right component introduced by it (the demonstrative or personal pronoun) are semantically correlated with the pretext. That is, the preposition "as opposed to" and the anaphoric pronoun introduced by it formalize a contrary relationship between the preceding part of the text (in which the semantic right component of the construction is enclosed) and the subsequent text, where the left component of the construction is represented.

For example:

(18) Having a huge numerical superiority at the beginning of the war, Napoleon gradually dispersed his forces and finally remained without reserves. In contrast, the Russian command rationally used reserves, was able to mobilize significant human and material resources and concentrate the main forces at a decisive moment and in a decisive place" [Viktor Bezotosny. "From the great to the ridiculous..." // "Knowledge is power", 2012].

The sentence "the Russian command rationally used reserves, was able to mobilize significant human and material resources and concentrate the main forces at the decisive moment and in the decisive place" takes a left position in relation to the preposition (inversion) and is opposed to the previous sentence, which describes the actions of Napoleon. The preposition creates a connection between statements and forms a contrary relationship between them.

More examples:

(19) Witte secured the establishment of a Special meeting at the Ministry of Finance on the needs of the agricultural industry. In contrast to him, the Minister of Internal Affairs V.K. Plehve formed his own provincial meetings on the same issue under the chairmanship of governors, "consisting of persons accustomed to express what the authorities want" (Witte) [A. Alekseev. The fate of the reformer in the era of cataclysms // "Science and Life", 2007].

(20) The real world, the world of people and circumstances surrounding us directly, the world of tasks set before us by God's Providence, is becoming gray, uninteresting and depressing for many today. In contrast, the fantasies of the virtual world "break through" into the real lives of people [Hieromonk Kirill (Zinkovsky). Some aspects of Christian austerity in the age of information wars // "Topical issues of modern science", 2018].

Thus, it can be concluded that the preposition "in opposition" establishes opposable relations in two types of constructions ? binomial and trinomial.

In three-term constructions, the preposition forms a connection between parallel components, as well as a common member of the construction (verb or predicate name) and the right component introduced by the preposition.

Binomial constructions are constructed according to the model of the usual verb phrase.

The distributors of the supporting words of constructions play an important role in creating opposable relations: semantic centers of opposition can be shifted to them, and formal components of the construction are eliminated

In the case of punctuation, the prepositional-case component of the construction participates in the complication of the sentence – the formation of additional predicativity.

In addition, the preposition "in contrast" participates in the creation of relations of opposition between parts of the text and performs a text-forming function.

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