Structural characterization of chiasmatic constructs in Russian and French

Abstract

This article represents the author's experience in the comparative study of one of the figures of expressive syntax - chiasmatic constructions, functioning in fiction texts. The object of study in this study are chiasmas extracted from texts of fiction in Russian and French, the subject – linguopragmatic characteristics of chiasmatic constructions. Chiasmatic construction, or the figure of crossing, is one of the most complex and multifaceted rhetorical figures. Its appearance is the result of the interaction and fusion of several syntactic structures; this includes expressive constructions of syntactic parallelism, repetition, antithesis or contraposition, and inversion. The name itself comes from the peculiarities of the structure of the chiasmus, in which the second part is an inverse repetition of the first, such an intersection of parts generates a figure similar to the letter "x" - hence the ancient Greek name of the structure. Such constructions are individual, occurring mostly in winged sayings, phraseological units, fiction prose and most often in poetry. The conclusions and provisions developed in these studies, due to their theoretical value and significance, allow us to see the specificity of this figure of expressive syntax. At the same time, the analysis of the corresponding literature and the requirements for scientific research put forward by the time itself and the changes taking place in the society, which are naturally reflected in the language and in its functional stratification, testify to the necessity of the research directed to the complex illumination of problems of the syntax of a fiction text in the comparative aspect.