Scientific terms as a part of comparative tropes of modern Russian prose

Abstract

Modern Russian prose is characterized by the active use of scientific terms from different fields of knowledge, which act as images of comparison for comparative tropes. Such tropes are marked by stylistic emphasis, as they contain new information for the addressee. Comparative tropes are defined as metaphors and similes of various structural types. The purpose of our work is to analyze the use of scientific terms as images of comparison for comparative constructions and determine their functions in the texts of modern Russian prose. The material for the study is the works of E. Vodolazkin, A. Ivanov, A. Ilichevsky, A. Matveeva, V. Pelevin, D. Rubina, A. Salnikova, O. Slavnikova, M. Stepnova, O. Vasyakina and others. The article discusses terms in tropes representing different fields of science: physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, biology, physiology, linguistics, literary criticism, art history, and computer science. The most active in the comparative tropes of modern prose are biological, medical, physical and computer terms. The productivity of these terms is associated with the rapid development of these areas of knowledge and their role in modern society. Regarding parts of speech, most of them are substantives. By metaphorizing, terms are subject to determinologization. In prose texts, terms often have distributors that clarify, specify or modify the image of comparison. In modern prose, scientific terms as part of tropes perform a number of functions: the function of figurative characteristics of a person, object or phenomenon, the evaluative function, the text-forming and conceptualizing functions. Scientific terms as part of metaphors and similes replenish and update the literature language.