Text functions of the text connector ''кстати''

Text is one of the central notions in the modern linguistics. One of the basic categories is the category of connectivity. In this paper such a tool of realization of this category as the text connector is being considered. The text connector is a phenomenon, which is relatively new and far not fully investigated. Even in using and interpretation of this term and its synonyms (as in defining its extent) there are certain differences. In our research we follow the opinion of A.F. Priyatkina, who thinks that the text connector is a text unit, which serves for connecting the parts of the text (and it is not possible to mix it with other units performing the function of connecting, conjunctions, for instance). One of the ''typical'' examples of the text connector is the connector кстати. It's general meaning is being formulated as ''optional comment'' (факультативный комментарий - the term of M.V. Lyapon). Depending on the specificity of a concrete usage this general meaning may transform into one of the three contextually conditioned variants: 1) the optional comment proper, 2) contraposition, 3) summarization. In the last case there can be two realizations: a) the connector adds a sentence, which contains the information already mentioned in the text (as if making a loopback inside the text) - summarization with pre-text support; b) the connector adds a sentence, which contains new information - summarization without pre-text support. The minimal context for the connector кстати is two sentences (one from the left and one from the right). Кстати can also work as a phrase connector. In this function the word can add rather big text fragments, it signals about the importance of these fragments, and announces a new theme in the text. It focuses the attention of a reader on the following information (pragmatic function). Two formal realizations of this function are possible: кстати as a separate sentence and the construction кстати о + N₆. The last construction can be specifically used in the titles (this usage is in some way paradoxical, because normally, being used inside of a text, such constructions have strong left connection, the title has no left connection a priori). It is interesting to pay attention to the punctuation with кстати as a phrase connector: all stops of the end of the sentence (except the question mark) and the colon are possible. Thereby the functional possibilities of the word кстати are broad enough: it can play the role of the text connector (in three contextually conditioned variants), it can be used as a phrase connector (and to fulfill not only the connecting, but also the signal function), and have the structure кстати о + N₆, which is also a phrase connector and has a specific usage in the titles.

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