WEB-ресурс научно-практических конференций

Melnyk V.O.

Chernivtsi National Yuri Fedkovych University

GENDER CORRELATIONS OF INANIMATE NOUNS IN THE TEXT OF A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

The problem of gender in the English language is treated with two approaches. The former states that in Modern English there is no category of gender as there are no formal means of its expression, whereas the latter holds that gender in Modern English is a lexico -grammatical, syntactical or even a social category. The object of investigation is the influence of poetic discourse on the choice of language means and their dependability on the cultural environment of the discourse. The subject of investigation is the semantic connection between the inanimate nouns with the pronouns they correlate with and their dependability on the literary tradition. The actuality of the paper is conditioned by the explicit analysis of the correlation of inanimate nouns with the respective pronouns in poetic discourse.

The category of gender in general can be manifested in a language by a variety of different grammatical and lexical means or forms of expression. It is to be noted that when morphological gender distinctions disappeared the classification of nouns according to their gender was preserved. The division into genders remained, but the very character of the given category was changed – it came to be expressed not in the grammatical form but lexically and syntactically. In most poetic texts the syntactic way of expression is the most frequently occurring. In other words the category of gender is expressed by the obligatory correlation of nouns with the personal pronouns of the third person singular.

Consequently, we can state that the category of gender is a diachronic constant , i.e. it exists on every stage of language development. Synchronically it is the dominant way of its expression that changes with the changes in language structure, from morphological in Old English to syntactic in Modern English. It should be mentioned that such a shift is exclusively inner, as no change in the notion of gender in the worldview occurs [1, p. 381].

As it was mentioned above in English the personal pronouns of the third person singular serve as specific gender classifiers of nouns, being potentially reflected on each entry of the noun in speech. Notably, these correlations do not necessarily depend on the lexical meaning of the noun, the shift in genders being possible and rather frequent. This shift is referred to as irregular correlations.

If we speak about irregular correlation, i.e. the use of a pronoun of one gender to correlate with a noun of another gender, we apply the term grammatical personifying transposition, which is very typical of English. This kind of transposition affects not only animate nouns, but also a wide range of inanimate nouns, being regulated in everyday language by cultural-historical traditions.

Apart from cultural-historical tradition we differentiate between two types of such transposition: upgrading and downgrading. Upgrading is observed when a non-personal animate noun or inanimate noun is turned, respectively, into he and she . In the reverse process, when animate personal nouns are referred to as it we speak about downgrading. [2, p. 36 ] Here we try to explicate the peculiarities of the above mentioned notions in the poetic discourse of drama as applied to inanimate nouns.

If A Midsummer Night's Dream can be said to convey a message, it is that the theater is nothing more than a shared dream. Consequently, exactly like in a dream, everything in the play comes to be alive, so all inanimate objects are personified.

We start with the most widely applied notion in the whole play – the notion of love . It appears in two aspects: when one of the characters speaks about his/her beloved, and when Love is regarded as a personificated feeling. In the former case it naturally appears to be masculine and correlate with the pronoun he if a woman is speaking, and to be feminine if applied in the words of a man: e.g.: Tie up my love' s tongue, bring him silently ( Titania speaking ) [3, p. 289]; When his love he doth espy, Let her shine as gloriously As the Venus of the sky ( speaking of Demetrius’ beloved ) [3, p. 290].

In the latter case, i.e. when characters speak of Love and do not associate it with a definite person, it appears to be masculine: e.g. And therefore is Love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguile. [3, p. 281]. This comes in contradiction to the genaral supposition that the reference of he is applied to the names of phenomena suggesting crude strength and fierceness. Here only childishness and na?vet? is implied.

Moreover, other inanimate notions, namely, sleep and duty , are masculine as well: e.g. Here is my bed : sleep give thee all his rest! [3, p. 286]; I love not to see wretchedness o'er charged And duty in his service perishing [3, p. 297]. The masculine character of the word duty can be possibly understood as the only one possible, since in the time of Shakespeare it was hard to imagine association of duty with feminine concept unless it was referred to family and marriage.

Thus, we may conclude that gender peculiarities of the inanimate nouns used in the play are determined by Shakespeare’s intention to present his play in the form of a dream. Moreover, we must keep in mind that his work is an example of poetic drama, thus personification is widely used in it transforming the inanimate nouns into animate.

References:

1. Садовник Н. В. Pronominal Transposition in Mithopoetic Texts // Наукові записки. Серія «Філологічна». Вип. 9. – Острог: Острозька академія , 2008. – С. 380-388.

2. Тимпко Л.А. Род как историческая и социолингвистическая категория. – М.: Из-во Моск . ун-та, 1985. – 46с.

3. Shakespeare W. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. // The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare. – Ware, Hertfordshire: The Wordsworth Poetry Library, 1994. – Pp.279-302.