THE STRUCTURE OF A SYMBOL AND SYMBOLIZATION MECHANISMS IN FICTION

Abstract

Summary. The purpose of this article is to systemize the views on the nature of the main structural elements of a symbol that exist in contemporary philological studies, and to uncover symbolization mechanisms that can be found in a work of fiction. The subject of the study is the structure of a literary verbal symbol. The object – symbolization mechanisms used in a literary text. The research was conducted using general academic methods of systematization and description, as well as the linguo-cognitive analysis method and the associated methods of contextual and cultural analysis. Results. This study systemizes the views of researchers on the nature of the signifier and the signified in a symbol, some of which were reflected on critically. It substantiates why a symbol’s signifier can be viewed as a literary image and the signified as a concept. The article shows the role of profiling in creating a literary image as a signifying symbol and describes the mechanisms of symbolization. Conclusion. A symbol represents a special kind of sign, the signifier and signified of which have a perfect (intangible) nature. The signifier of a symbol is an image, and the signified, in its rationalized part, a concept. The connection between the signifier and the signified in a symbol is motivated and based on combining the relations of similarity and adjacency. The same relations link the elements inside the signified. A symbolic meaning is tied to the literary image of an object, not the word that names it. However, the verbal expression of a symbol can flesh out this image by profiling it.