LINGUISTIC MEANS OF REPRESENTING STIGMA IN A LITERARY TEXT (BASED ON THE WORKS OF F.M. DOSTOEVSKY)

Abstract

The article examines linguistic means of representing stigmatization as a social phenomenon involving the labeling (marking) and exclusion of an individual or a social group distinguished from the community by a particular characteristic.

The aim of the study is to identify the lexical, phraseological, syntactic, and stylistic means used to construct the image of a stigmatized character in a literary text, to determine the role of such a character in revealing the artistic worldview created by the author, and to characterize the author's individual linguistic features.

The objectives of the research include collecting and systematizing the material for analysis, examining it from the perspective of the linguistic means employed, identifying the role of the stigmatized character in conveying the ideological and aesthetic content of the literary work, and determining the specificity of the author's approach to depicting situations of stigmatization.

The scientific novelty and significance of the study lie in the examination of the phenomenon of stigmatization in Dostoevsky’s works from the perspective of its linguistic representation, as well as in the investigation of stigmatization as a discursive practice.

The practical significance of the research is determined by the possibility of applying its findings in the teaching of Dostoevsky’s works at schools and universities, as well as in the study of linguistic means of stigmatization as a discursive practice in various spheres of communication.

The study employs the methods of continuous sampling, description and classification, and discourse analysis.

The research material consists of the texts of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels written in the 1860s and 1870s. The analysis identified a number of characters who may be regarded as stigmatized, including Sonya Marmeladova, Prince Myshkin, Nastasya Filippovna, Ilyusha Snegiryov, and others. In portraying such characters, the author employs characteristic lexical groups (“laughter,” “rumours,” “emotional reaction,” etc.), phraseological units (e.g., “yellow ticket”), stylistically marked colloquial and substandard vocabulary, syntactic devices with pronounced implicit meanings, and other linguistic means. The linguistic representation of stigmatized characters contributes to the disclosure of their inner world, which, in turn, accounts for the psychological depth of Dostoevsky’s works. In general, this aspect of character construction may be regarded as an individual authorial technique of artistic representation.

The findings of the study contribute to the fields of linguopoetics, discourse studies, and communication theory. The main provisions of the research may be applied in the analysis and identification of manifestations of stigmatization in various spheres of social communication.