BETWEEN THE CAUSE AND THE PURPOSE (SEMANTICS AND FUNCTIONS OF AN «OBSOLETE» ZATEM CHTO-CONJUNCTION)

Abstract

The paper considers zatem chto-conjunction clauses within complex sentences on the one hand and as a part of question-answer unity in dialogues on the other hand, and studies the constructions organized by zatem chto-conjunction in diachronic and synchronic aspects. The paper pays special attention to dialogues organized with zach- em-question (denoting purpose) and zatem chto answer (denoting cause), and analyses semantic and pragmatic aspects of relationship between zatem chto-conjunction answer in comparison with potomu chto- and zatem chtoby- conjunctions answers. Explanatory dictionaries and academic grammars of 1950–1980 state that usage of zatem chto-conjunction gradually decreased in the dialogical speech of those decades and occurred in fiction as a mark of old or high style. The paper proves the idea that nowadays (2010–2020) active usage of zatem chto-conjunction in the spoken language dialogues results from its phonetic and structural parallelism with interrogative pronominal zachem-adverb and makes it possible to openly express speaker`s aggressiveness and demonstratively avoid answer- ing inappropriate questions. Conversely, in Russian poetry and philosophical essays of XIX–XXI centuries, zatem chto conjunction has been permanently functioning. It has been a preferable mean to choose for its rhetoric power and semantic broadness: zatem chto is able to carry both causal and causal arguing (explanation) meanings, i.e. to introduce argumentation in terms of cause and purpose.