Hierarchical thematic structure of oral spontaneous text: Ethnic variability

The article considers the variability of the hierarchical thematic structure of a spontaneous text in Russian depending on the ethnic group of the bilinguals who generate the text. The hierarchical thematic structure proposed by the authors includes a set of thematic text blocks, their hierarchy, their recurrence or uniqueness among different speakers, semantic groups of vocabulary included in thematic blocks, and the hierarchy of these semantic blocks. Such a structure generally repeats the classical model of discourse structuring according to Teun A. van Dijk: macrostructure, themes, microthemes. The hypothesis of the study was that the proposed text model does not depend solely on the language used, but is assimilated along with the native culture. Thus, the problem of cultural determination of the hierarchical structure of the text generated by bilinguals on the same topic and in a common language is considered. The specific subject of research is the variability of the hierarchical thematic structure of texts spontaneously generated in Russian by bilinguals - Komi-Permyaks and Tatars - on the topic “I, myself’. The research material was spontaneous texts-monologues in Russian received from 22 Tatar and 23 Komi-Permyak informants; the total volume of texts is 10,523 words. In these texts, using van Dijk’s method of macro-propositional analysis, thematic blocks were identified; for each identified thematic block, a frequency dictionary of lexemes was automatically obtained using the PYMORPHY2 LIBRARY. The qualitative content of the blocks was analyzed by identifying semantic groups of nouns within the block, since it is nouns that are associated with the object categorization of the referent. The analysis of the texts showed that the thematic structure in the Russian-language texts of bilinguals has a core - the most frequent thematic blocks found in all life stories, and a non-nuclear zone, in which thematic blocks with different content are concentrated, and blocks that are unique for each of the studied groups of bilinguals. The specificity of the structure of texts in different groups of bilinguals is found already at the level of nuclear thematic blocks. An analysis of the semantic groups of lexis without referring them to thematic blocks does not reveal a stable structure of the text, since in each ethnic group it can participate in filling various blocks. However, such an analysis turns out to be indicative if the lexis within the thematic block is qualitatively considered: the semantics of lexical units shows the value orientations of the ethnic groups’ representatives. In general, the analysis of the texts demonstrates that the set of thematic blocks and their significance for the text reflect the social and psychological value of these “elements of life” for the ethnic group; a set of lexemes that implement thematic blocks indicates the categorization of this spheres of life, a culturally specific selection of obj ects and phenomena related to the topic. The bilingual ethnicity influences the hierarchical thematic structure of the text in their common language: Komi-Permyaks and Tatars generate texts with different structures. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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