The study of memoir texts in modern ‘linguistics: a brief analytical overview

Abstract

The goal of this article is to present a brief analytical overview of the modern linguistic studies of memoir texts. The object of this research is the scientific works of the linguists of two recent decades dedicated to memoirs. The subject is the polemical questions in the linguistic descriptions of memoir texts. The article examines the problem of identification of genre status of memoirs and systematization of genre forming attributes of the memoir texts. Various approaches towards their classification are described. Special attention is given to the aspects of studying memoirs in modern linguistics. The key research method is the traditional for linguistics analytical-descriptive method for reviewing the scientific literature on the topic. The author proves heightened attention of the Russian linguistics towards studying memoir texts. It is revealed that the Russian scholars attribute memoirs to the documental, documental-fictional, or documental-publicistic genres, as well as propose various approaches towards their classification, which is substantiated by different interpretation of the concept of “memoirs”. It is also determined that multiple research of memoir texts are cross-disciplinary; however major attention is paid to linguopragmatic and linguopersonological aspects. Emphasis is placed on the memoirs of prominent writers, politicians, and military officers. The author acknowledges that the study of memoir texts in the linguoimagological aspect is promising. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that the acquired results give a systematic perspective on the problem of linguistic research of memoir literature as the Russian national heritage.