On the integral description of speech genres (discussing the new research by V. V. Dementyev)

Vollständiger Abstract

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The paper discusses the theory of integral description of speech genres being developed by V. V. Dementyev. It argues that the key principles of this concept organically align with the study of complex self-developing systems (V. S. Stepin), which have become the focus of cutting-edge sciences in recent decades (biology, geology, cosmology, artificial intelligence, some social and humanitarian disciplines). It is stated that M. M. Bakhtin’s linguistic methodology involves the study of one of such systems: its upper level comprises forms and types of speech interaction, the middle level – forms of individual utterances, i.e. speech genres, and the lower level consists of language forms. The entire complex system is included in «emerging social communication». It is shown that V. V. Dementyev, systematizing genre notions and concepts (issues related to the middle level of complex integrity), goes to the adjacent – upper and lower – levels, thereby highlighting subsystems that have become the subject of study in the works of different scientific directions – structural-systemic linguistics, cognitive science, typological understanding of linguocultures, studying Internet communication, creating linguistic corpora, etc. According to this logic, the key task of the theory of speech genres is to determine the existing diverse subsystems of phenomena on the genre level of a complex system, considering their connections with each other, with subsystems of other levels as well as with the external environment. In the context of the issues discussed, the experience of stylistic research is summarized. When considering speech concepts, the heuristic potential of the holistic approach to their systematization is emphasized.