The Grammatical Organization of the Record: A Discursive Aspect (Based on Records of 1917 and 1918-1933 of the State Archive of Tomsk Oblast)

The aim of the article is to identify quantitative characteristics of the grammatical organization of the text of the record in the aspect of the "discontinuity" of a discursive unity due to a change in social reality in the period from 1917 to 1933. Methodologically, the research is based on Michel Foucault's thesis on the "discontinuity" of discursive formations within a discursive unity. Preserving the unity of the basic function and transforming in the aspect of language specificity, document discourse allows us to argue this thesis. The discursive approach makes it possible to reflect on the repercussions of social processes in the document corpus in a new way. Despite the function of fixing the sequence of real social events and their documentary proof, the record is scarcely investigated in this aspect. The leading methodological approach is discourse analysis; the main method is automated content analysis. The material for analysis is the corpus of the records of Tomsk Governorate People's Assembly dated by 1917 (25 documents, 91,686 word usages) and the records of Tomsk institutions' meetings dated from 1918 to 1933 (126 documents, 41,630 word usages). In the course of the study, it was revealed that the corpora have significant differences it terms of grammatical organization. In some ways, the corpus of 1918-1933 corresponds to a greater extent to the norms of modern official style: it contains fewer verbal lexis and pronouns, but has more impersonal verbs. At the same time, in the corpus of 1917, the modality of duty is expressed more consistently. On the one hand, one can speak about the greater manifestation of various modalities in the texts of the first corpus that is expressed in a more frequent use of modal particles. On the other hand, the analysis identified the parameters by which the corpora demonstrate a significant similarity. This similarity is based on common language patterns. Non-derivative original prepositions dominate in both corpora. The most frequent are prepositions v/vo. Coordinating conjunctions are used more often than subordinating ones. This corresponds to the general common language trends. Consequently, it can be confirmed that the grammatical organization of the records dated by different historical periods demonstrates the "discontinuity" of the discursive unity and the corpora study can be considered as different discursive formations. First of all, this "discontinuity" is caused by the changed social reality which reduced the manifestation of the personal element in the document text. The records dated by 1917 have a more detailed stenographic character. The texts record practically verbatim all discussions of members of Tomsk Governorate People's Assembly, their discussions on controversial issues concerning even the speaking order. The records dated by 1918-1933 are predominantly summaries of cases and decisions made by participants of meetings.

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