Abstract
The new linguistic science lacunology has come into prominence recently. The lacunae studies embrace sociolinguistics, nonverbal semiotics and applied linguistics studies. The re-search of terms of lacunology (lacunicon) is devoted to empty places in the structure of the contrasting languages and the ways of zero verbalization in the written and oral discourse. The empty category of the category “lacunarity” has been studied by the Canadian transla-tors Jean Paul Vinay (1910-1999) and Jean Darbelnet (1904-1990), the Russian pioneers of lacu-nology Yuriy Sorokin (1936-2009) and Gulchera Bikova and their followers. The research has resulted in the cognitive mind mapping. It turned out that lacunarity has several vectors, e.g. lacunae of language (i), lacunae of speech (ii), lacunae of cognition (iii) to be further discussed in the article. The basic terms of lacunicon are described. These are a pause in syntagmatics, a linguistic gap in paradigmatics, a lacuna in both diachronic and synchronic regimes.
Highlights
Some elements of culture can be barely rendered from one language into another
At first lacunae were only terms of translation studies and stylistics (Vinay, & Darbelnet, 1958), later lacunology moved from the French-Canadian School (Paris/Montreal) to Russia, where lacunae were discussed by Yuriy Sorokin in many papers devoted to lacunology from 1981 to 2009 and Iryne Markovina in etnopsychological studies of lacunology (Russia) and by Igor Panasiuk (Germany) and other scientists (Sorokin, & Markovina, 2010, p. 8)
Bikova wrote on gaps and concepts, on the intralingual lacunarity, on “white spots” of the Russian semantic space, devoted her research to the problem of intralinguistic lacunarity, on lacunae of cognition and culture
Summary
Some elements of culture can be barely rendered from one language into another. The difficulties of translation are caused by vague or unclear elements, known as “zero equivalents”, lacunae, or gaps. The semantic vector of “reduction” was acquired later after reconsideration of the word with the meaning “laconic brevity”, “clarity wording” derived form of Greek Spartans from Laconinia, an ancient region of Spartan Greece The lacuna etymon has such close cognates as: lake, laconic, lacuna and near cognates lace, lactation, liquorice, laguna, and liquor which are correspondely lac-, liq-, lag- morphemes The meaning of those cognates is very close to such notions as (i) liquid (lake, river, water, milk), (ii) lacuna (hole, gap, reduction, shortening, compression), lack of something (defect of manuscript, misunderstanding, absence). Lacunarity, from the Latin word “lacuna” meaning “gap” or “lake” in the naïve worldview, is a specialized term to denote the result of reduction or elimination, zero equivalence. The birth of the word lacuna is dated to the year 1663, when Latin lacūna meant hole or pit, from lacūs (genitive lacūs) pond, lake (Barnhart, 1995, p. 418)
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