Colloquial and everyday phraseological units in Saltykov-Shchedrin's prose

In the arsenal of artistic and visual means of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, colloquial and everyday phraseological units occupy a large place. The writer's extensive use of colloquial vocabulary, primarily stable phrases, was determined by the expressiveness of folk expressions, their colorfulness and imagery.

Creatively developing the traditions of N. V. Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin turns to folk speech as an inexhaustible source of accuracy, accuracy and colorfulness of the language. Semantic ambiguity, increased expressiveness and figurativeness of phraseological units helped the author of "Mr. Golovlevs" to express his attitude to the depicted with the greatest force: love for the people and hatred for those who parasitize at their expense.

Constant faith in the people did not prevent Saltykov-Shchedrin from angrily ridiculing its negative aspects, which led to a one-sided interpretation of the great writer's artistic talent as exclusively satirical. The works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, which poetize the high moral character traits of a Russian person (religiosity, compassion for the disadvantaged, kindness, etc.), were hushed up by critics. Meanwhile, the positive characters of the writer are representatives of the working people. Their souls are wide open to goodness, truth, and light.

Shchedrin uses words and phrases of lively folk speech when describing characters, their environment, and in journalistic arguments about what is described. For example, "The second story of the chief clerk "from the series" Provincial Essays", which opened the chronicle of Russian public life created by the writer, begins with the words: "But we had a mayor (...) truly a footed goose... " And more: "Our superiors all had a great attachment to him, because, in fact, he did not go out of his will and did everything exactly: go, he says, into the mud - he goes into the mud, if he finds an opportunity, he will pull a rope out of the sand, but he will strangle someone with it" (Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. Collected Works: In 10 volumes, Moscow, 1988. Vol. 1. p. 48; further-only volume and pages). Not much seems to be said about the character, but the portrait

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it turned out to be complete: neither subtract nor add. The colloquial phrase goose-footed is a rascal, a trickster, and a rope made of sand is a whip-so they say about a miser and a quirky person who is capable of anything.

In the same series, in the essay "Luzgin", the phraseological unit is used to describe the advantages of family life: "- If you want to ride like cheese in butter and if you are aware of the ability to be cheese, then it is butter - married life! " (1, 323). To ride like cheese in butter means to live in contentment, having everything in abundance.

Setting out his credo, which consists in the statement that "in good lies all the power of life, in good lies all its meaning" (3, 13), Shchedrin writes:

"Therefore, if you see a person who is impatient of any injustice, even if it does not concern him personally, who considers someone else's grief as his own grief, someone else's misfortune as his own misfortune, whose warm heart responds to every good initiative, every word of the soul, and whose body is close to more than one shirt, but even for your neighbor, do not rush to talk about him: here is a flighty, obstinate and discourteous man who pokes his nose where no one asks him! " (3: 12-13).

The expressiveness of what is said is determined not only by the parallelism in the arrangement of subordinate clauses, sound recording (the definition is similar in sound to the defined word: consider your own grief, every word, poke your nose), but also by the presence of colloquial phraseological units: your shirt is closer to the body; poke your nose where it is not asked.

Words included in phraseological usage often undergo morphological changes: the verb is used in the form of a participle, gerund, or verbal noun. Here are some illustrations of what has been said: "Such, for example, are all the so-called liberal moods, about which one should once and for all say to oneself that these moods are transient, not worth a penny" (3, 373); " Having penetrated into certain spheres, from which, as from a certain reservoir, a large-water river of pompadour pours out on Russia. Fedenka, without putting things off in a long box, blurted out a sharp phrase, like that excessive centralization is ruining Russia, that it is necessary to decentralize, that is, emancipate the pompadours, strengthening their power... "(2, 181-182); " What will posterity say about us! It will say: these were the people by whose grace we are still engaged in pounding the water, when we would already be in the very center of the pie if they had completed the preliminary work in a timely and steady manner " (3,445). The colloquial phrase to pound water (in a mortar) means to waste time. The writer uses it in a truncated form, and replaces the verb with a verbal noun, which gives the utterance freshness and brightness.

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Phraseology in the form of an adverbial turn serves not only to clarify the expressed thought. At the same time, it enlivens the sentence and increases its emotional impact on the reader. For example, while ridiculing the cowardice and verbiage of liberals and retrogrades that are not much different from them, Shchedrin in" Diary of a Provincial in St. Petersburg " somewhat modifies the colloquial expression show someone a cookie in your pocket (about a cowardly, timid expression of disagreement or threat), which gives the proposal a greater expression: "In a word, question after question, there were so many of them that when the question came to the queue about how happy or unhappy a person is who, without showing a cookie in his pocket, can freely express opinions about the activities of the bailiffs (in my opinion, this phenomenon also has the right to the attention of statistics), then Prokop threw up his hands and was so frightened that he even spoke in French "(4, 210).

Sometimes the satirist updates the structure of a stable phrase, spreading it with members of the sentence related to a particular word. As a result, the expressive capabilities of phraseology increase. In the phrase to add fuel to the fire, the supplement is used with the definition: "- So he, brothers, will screw us all up! "the stupid people guessed, and this fear was enough to add fuel to the extinguished fire" (2: 351-352). In the same way, a proverb is changed in one of the laws written by the mayor of Glupov during his seminary years: "Let every cricket know its proper pole" (2: 397). In Dahl's Dictionary, this proverb is formulated more simply, without definitions: "Know your cricket pole."

The introduction of new words allows us to concretize the generalized meaning of a phraseological unit, apply it to a well-defined situation: "Pompadour got confused and started breeding some clerical nonsense on beans" (2, 62). Growing beans means engaging in idle talk. The author's addition "some clerical nonsense" specifies the phraseology, making it an effective means of characterizing the mayor.

Along with definitions and additions, other circumstances of the course of action are often introduced that give the statement a more dynamic character: "Favori pricked up his ears purely" (2, 103); "They were looking for the prince and did not get lost in three pines ..." (2, 300); " What is the mother in the world gave birth" (2, 222).

In some cases, the writer replaces one of the structure components with another one that is close in value. As a result, phraseology is refreshed and sounds more expressive. In this way, phrases like sleepy flies and crocodile tears are transformed: "They wandered around the city like poisoned flies..." (2, 336). " Menander Stouche-

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I was interested in it. Not having had time to control his "unbridled praise", he was so irritated by his "brazen" efforts to get into the tone of the moment ("all this is one crocodile pretense!" - state Councilor Rastopyrius said about him) that he was forced to give way to other, more skillful figures" (4, 350).

Verbs that are part of a phrase are often updated. About the plans of the mayor Ferdyshchenko to make a trip to the vicinity of Glupov, which had no attractions other than dung heaps, the chronicler reports: "He imagined that the grasses would become greener and the flowers would bloom brighter as soon as he left for the pasture. ( ... ) and cherished his plan more than the apple of his eye" (2, 365). And here is an example of a modification of the same phraseological unit (take care as the apple of your eye): "But we just want to create, and therefore we keep our "freshness" more than the apple of our eye" (3, 69).

The police officer, recommending a new pompadour to the favorite instead of the previous one, says: "What are you afraid of? (...) In vain, sir! he's like this: he won't hurt a fly!" (2: 58). Here, the colloquial and everyday phraseology will not offend a fly is somewhat modified, drawing the image of a meek, harmless person.

Less frequently, the subject is changed: "But do not believe that smile, for I know for certain that mice are scratching at his heart "(4: 307).

When truncating a phraseological unit, Shchedrin retains the key phrase in it, which becomes even more expressive in the new lexical environment. It is on this principle that colloquial and everyday utterances are curtailed: don't eat an egg (about something that doesn't matter, doesn't deserve attention), keep a tight rein (keep someone in strict obedience, treat someone very strictly and harshly), the reins of government (high power, management), some proverbs, for example, an affectionate calf sucks two queens.

About the career of Molchalin, the hero of the satirical cycle "Gentlemen of the Molchalins", Shchedrin writes: "Obviously, he suffered his own way and managed to become so necessary that he, mainly before others, was entrusted with sensitive cases about the eaten egg" (3, 385).

Uncomfortable for a Russian person abroad; according to the writer: "Everywhere he feels in some unusual position, everywhere he wonders, where did the hedgehog mittens go? and everywhere his heart aches. It hurts not because the ironclad mittens have left indelibly grateful memories in his mind, but because after the question of where these mittens have gone, another question arises in his mind: come on, do you need them? " (7, 182).

The plan of Mlado-Smorchkovsky to become a city mayor... and perhaps the answer was as follows: "... first, to leave from-

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second, to show up to your superiors and frankly explain to them your views and assumptions, and, third, to declare a resolute intention not to let go of the reins as long as at least one enemy remains present " (3, 35).

And here is an example of truncating the proverb when describing the central character of the story " Senile Grief...": "Probably, his father was also of a well-loving disposition and felt good in the role of an affectionate calf - and this greatly helped the young Kashirin" (4, 358).

Conversational structures are also made more picturesque in other ways. In some cases, the phraseology is explained by a specific example, in particular, a full bowl (wealthy, rich-about the house): "Before my eyes, not only every day, but every hour, every minute, the painstaking process by which the so-called full bowl is created took place. I have seen this full cup in all its forms: in barns filled with all kinds of bread, in cellars and storerooms, in barnyards, in fruit orchards, and so on " (6: 299).

In others, it is used both figuratively and literally at the same time, as in the case of the expression breakneck (very fast):

"We just don't want to run headlong, because if everyone runs and breaks their heads, what can happen but untimely death?" (4: 48).

Third , only in the literal sense. Colorful figure of Basilisk Borodavkin in a dream: "He even slept with only one eye, which caused considerable embarrassment to his wife, who, despite twenty-five years of cohabitation, could not see his other, wide-awake, perfectly round and curiously fixed eye without shuddering" (2, 370). In the four-volume "Dictionary of the Russian Language "(Moscow, 1982, vol. P.) on page 441 we read: "nedremannoe oko (iron.) - about vigilant, vigilant supervision, observation." Shchedrin expands the phrase, and most importantly, applies it in the literal sense, which gives the scene an extraordinary picturesqueness.

Shchedrin's favorite technique is the so - called gradation-the arrangement of words or phrases, in which each subsequent one contains an increasing semantic or emotionally expressive meaning. In this series of synonyms, phraseological units are introduced that give the gradation a special expression: "It was obvious that he was going to read us a predica, but with such an expectation that he would both rant and grow beans, and we would listen and learn" (5, 121).

In a conversation between two teenagers, a boy without pants answers his interlocutor: "Yes, it's boring. You mumble, you make a fuss, you choke on your saliva" (7: 35). Sometimes the synonym series consists exclusively of phraseological units, which gives the utterance a special dynamism: "For

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a two-kopeck man ran the risk of being bent into a ram's horn, erased into tobacco, and thrown where the raven did not put his bones! " (7, 110).

Often, to increase the expressiveness of the text, antonyms are introduced in addition to colloquial phraseological units: "On the contrary, the adviser of the state chamber could not only disdain murderers, but simply had the right to sit idly by and, as they say, wait for the weather by the sea - and neither his right hand nor his shuytsa were impoverished" (3, 319).. And another similar example: "They are exhausted day and night here, digging in a certain mess, in which they themselves will not understand anything else, except that the devil will break his leg here someday" (3, 367).

Shchedrin often resorts to such a method of reviving and updating the meaning of widely used phrases as the convergence of distant, seemingly incongruous speech means: book words with colloquial words, official and clerical vocabulary with literary ones, etc. So, in" Diary of a Provincial in St. Petersburg", describing the retrograde Peter Ivanovich Drakin, the writer uses a rough colloquial expression not only in the Russian language, but also in the it came out with a snout (not suitable, not suitable) in relation to one of the most poetic images of ancient mythology - Eurydice: "He is a small, easy-going person, and his artistic requirements in this sense are very moderate. There would be Eurydice, and there, whether she came out with a snout or not, is irrelevant for him " (4, 301).

In the story "Senile Grief...", the head of Medusa (a winged monster in ancient Greek mythology in the form of a woman with snakes instead of hair) is compared with the filthy snout of a philistine: "He looked at his "friends" with instinctive horror, as if the terrible head of Medusa was standing in front of him, and not the filthy snout of a Poltava philistine stuffed with dumplings" (4, 392). In both examples, the vocabulary of ancient mythology sets off and sharpens the perception of colloquial words.

To explain to the reader the meaning of some colloquial phraseological units, Shchedrin sometimes creates colorful sketches: "Take for example at least one such expression: bend into a ram's horn. What do you need to do to fulfill this threat? It is necessary to bend the person almost four times, and moreover so that his head rests on the stomach, and then the legs over the head would be thrown on his back. Only then is a fairly regular ring formed, wrapped around itself and representing the semblance of a ram's horn. Is such an enterprise possible? "you can't honestly say that. I am sure that a person will die immediately, as soon as they begin to bend his head with the effort that is necessary for such an operation " (3, 95).

Pain and bitterness permeate the lines of the writer about the presence in the Russian language of utterances generated by many years of oppression of the people, the violation of basic human rights by the powerful of this world: "Above the forehead

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ears don't grow!"; "Know your cricket pole"; "The fifth wheel in the chariot" - who was the first to invent this monstrous comparison?" (4,421)." Each of these aphorisms was established on human bones, is imprinted with blood, and has behind it a whole legend of asceticism, protests, screams, and deaths. Each of them is striking in its extreme incongruity, covered up, for the sake of decency, by some vulgar accuracy, but look at this vulgarity more deeply, and you will probably see a whole martyrology at the bottom of it" (4, 417).

In Shchedrin's works we meet literary heroes of other writers, his predecessors and contemporaries: Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol, Ostrovsky, Sukhovo-Kobylin. Some of them are even the main characters of the satirist's novels and essays, for example, "Modern Idyll" and "Messrs. Molchalins". Acting in other social and domestic conditions, they act in accordance with the main character traits that they were endowed with by their creators. At the same time, new features appear in their behavior, which are inherent in their nature, but were not fully revealed earlier and therefore did not catch the reader's eye. No wonder Dostoevsky admitted that only with the appearance of "Messrs. Molchalins" did he "properly understand one of the most striking types" of Griboyedov's comedy (Dostoevsky F. M. Poly. collected works: In 30 vols. l., 1981. Vol. 23. p. 144).

In the same way, Shchedrin treats colloquial and everyday phraseological units creatively. Like literary characters of other authors, they find a second life in the works of the great satirist. Updated and enlivened by a number of techniques that we have discussed, folk sayings become brighter, more colorful, and increase the expressiveness of the writer's style.

Based on some of them, Shchedrin creates essentially completely new ones, no less expressive than those that served as their model. These are phrases created based on the "shoulder" aphorisms-show Kuzkin's mother (to whom; rude, simple - used as an expression of a threat to someone), etc. In addition to this expression, which is recorded in dictionaries of the Russian language, in Shchedrin's works we find a number of others in which the key words are Kuzkin and his relatives, but the semantics remain the same: "You know what Kuzkin's mother's name is-and that's enough... "(3,484); " The merchant Kolupaev will hear about your self-praise, yes quibus auxiliis (with whose help? - lat.) and will ask: do you know, robyata, what Kuzka's sister's name is? And you will have to answer this question in good conscience " (7: 17).

In the essays "Abroad", a boy without pants tells a Boy in pants that his uncle Kuzma exchanged his own father for a male dog (7, 36).

Equally diverse are the variants of the phraseology " Where Makar te-

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lat didn't drive." In the " Dictionary of the Russian Language "(Vol. II. p. 216), it is accompanied by the mark iron. and it is interpreted as extremely far away, in a very remote and remote place. The irony of the utterance is emphasized by the semantics of the name Makar - from the Greek: happy, blissful.

Saltykov-Shchedrin uses this "shoulder" phraseology both in the traditional form and in the transformed form, without changing its meaning: "As an abstract term, Tashkent is a country that lies everywhere where the teeth are beaten and where the legend of Makar, who does not chase calves, has the right to citizenship" (3, 90);"I'm the only one left, poor Makar "(3, 397); " His metress cheated on him, and because of that I have to make friends with Makarov's calves! What it looks like! " (3, 400);

"Good-bye! One of these days I will dive there, from where there is only one road: to the place where Makar did not chase calves!" (5, 418); "- Well, there, looking at the person. If a person is not recorded in the belly book, they will forgive him, but if something is more important than expectations , they will determine him to be a shepherd, and together with Makar they will be ordered to graze calves " (5, 543). "And, first of all, the following: : what good would it be, however, if the Sarmatians and Scythians drove Makarov's calves here?" (7,289).

Such expressions become particularly colorful when used in combination with foreign words or in a number of other colloquial household phraseological units that are close in meaning. For example: "The expressions: bend them into a ram's horn, wipe them off the face of the earth, uproot them, throw them where Makar did not drive the calves-were never taken seriously by him. (...) He was convinced that even in a simple conversation, it was not superfluous to avoid them, so that somehow by mistake, due to the unfortunate lapsus linguae (slips of the tongue. - Lat.), in fact, you can't bend someone into a ram's horn " (5, 285).

Or: "But there is not the slightest hint that' here they cut, shave, and open the blood', nor 'the ram's horn', nor 'Makar who does not drive calves' - nothing!" (3, 480).

Saltykov-Shchedrin's methods of using colloquial and everyday phraseological units are diverse. Like other lexical means of a language, they perform a semantic and emotional function in its works. From the vast treasury of the great Russian language, Shchedrin chose the necessary words and stable combinations, using them to achieve accurate and imaginative artistic speech.

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