Rumors: a Traditional Motif and Image in the Fictional Worldview

Abstract

One of the traditional images of the Russian linguistic worldview is reconstructed in the article. Based on the material of historical-detective novels about Erast Fandorin by B. Akunin and by the means of semantic analysis, three metaphorical patterns of rumors that significantly diversify the fictional world of the author were identified. The first one creates a movable picture of the physical movement of a living being or a liquid element, which, with varying degrees of activity captures the space ("rumors circulate / go / leak"). The second one is based on the idea of the extensive and intensive sound signal with a fixed source and spread limits, but, sooner or later, it always becomes silent ("Moscow was buzzing"; "they rustled in Europe"). The third one is controversial, it is either based on the understanding of rumors as a global and comprehensive speech act, which active subject is the whole space of communication ("the whole

Two “Characters” in the Russian Linguistic Worldview: “We” and “They”

“…Their instability can be explained by individual interpretation, which causes many different opinions on the same subject or phenomenon, disagreements among communicators. The communication participants understand the main essence, but deny the opponent's point of view, treating the concept as a phenomenological entity (Krapivkina, 2017: 216), as, for example, when comprehending "our (own)" and "alien (other)" in a peculiar situation of rumour spreading (Osetrova, 2016).…”