Parcelling as a cognitive and semiotic phenomenon

In the present research, the phenomenon of parcelling is studied from the point of view of a cognitive-semiotic approach. The paper gives examples in two languages, Russian and French, not to compare them, but to illustrate the peculiarities of parcelling commonly found in both languages, as the research has shown. Parcelling is treated as a special visual graphic operation dividing a single sentence structure on constituents including a base and a parcelled fragment. To determine the operator of parcelling, the final singrapheme performing the segmentation, the term "parcellographeme" is used. The notion "parcelleme" is also introduced. It means a complex hybrid sign; its plan of expression is weaved with verbal and nonverbal semiotic systems interacting and complementing each other in verbal communication. This plexus of the two semiotic systems and the mixing of their sign qualities allow the sender to transmit the message in a compact form, and the recipient to recognize a wide range of con-textually determined meanings. On border of the base and the parcelled fragment, there is a conflict between punctuation, syntax and semantics demonstrating the ambivalent, destructive-constructive nature of parcelling. Parcellary detachment destroys the automatism of attention and focuses it on the detached segment and contributes to better memorization. Application of this kind of code expands the scope of transmitted information, providing an adequate recognition and interpretation. This violation of the correlation of the plans of expression and of content demonstrates the flexibility of this structure, its expressive, linguistic and creative potential, the ability to generate new meanings. It is determined that the use of parcelling is to control the distribution of attention of the recipient by the displacement of attention focus on the parcelled fragment. At the same time, the following processes are observed in a parcelleme: the redistribution of the focus of attention, its adjustment or disintegration to multiple focuses of attention. Choosing parcelled arrangement of the utterance, the subject believes that in this case and at this moment it is the best means able to present the reported situation in conformity with the author's perception. The focus is replaced on the object, attitude or aspect of the situation which is the most significant for the subject. Parcelled configuration of the text is more dynamic and has more perlo-cutionary effects on the addresser. The invariant model is determined with the meaning of an abstract schematic image constituting its equivalence to other parcellemes left after the deduction of all its variables or individual elements.

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