Creative Functions of Neographisms in Modern Russian Poetry (The Metagraphemic Aspect)

Abstract

In this article we study the creative functions of neographisms —words that have a deviant orthographic representation. From the point of view of the poetical function of language, neographisms are schemas that have stylistically relevant deviations from the graphical standard as well as a certain artistic assignment in a concrete text. Non-conventional forms are created by intentional rule-breaking, through non-traditional transliteration of foreign words, or by the insertion of elements of different semiotic systems in the process of word-formation. We also take into account the metagraphemic characteristics of textual elements that have deviant orthographic forms, that is, variations concerning the type, size, or form of a printed text, the iconic use of punctuation marks, individual manners of articulating textual elements, and various ways of topographical text arrangement. We attempt to outline the most productive ways of creating neographisms in literary texts and to determine the functions of neographisms in the holistic structure of the analyzed poetical texts.