Features of the Language Game in Liu Zhenyun’s Prose on the Example of the Novel “I am not Pan Jinlian”

Abstract

The paper discusses stylistic techniques and means of creating a language game on the example of the novel “I am not Pan Jinlian” (2012) by Liu Zhenyun. The emphasis is on the search for new orderings in the language game within the framework of the artistic universe. Studies of Liu Zhenyun’s artistic discourse today are included in various linguistic, literary and cultural landscapes, but they are fragmentary in nature and are presented, as a rule, on local material. The language, artistic features and idiosyncrasy of the writer can be considered practically unexplored, which determines the relevance of this study. The linguistic features of the language game in the works of Liu Zhenyun are consistently considered at three levels in this study. Metaphors, oxymorons, irony, etc. are analyzed at the level of the use of artistic means and techniques. At the structural and functional level, attention is focused on the formal structure and organization of the artistic fabric of the text, some stylistic and syntactic aspects of the language game, parallel constructions and techniques (zeugma, chiasm, anacoluf, parallelisms, ekphrasis, etc.) are analyzed. At the cognitive-discursive level, attention is paid primarily to the problem of the organization of the conceptual-semantic space of the text and the disclosure of its laws, as well as its integration and synthesis with non-linguistic sciences — philology, psychology, cultural studies, etc. The mixed methods used in the article allowed us to obtain results that are productive from the point of view of the possibilities of structuralfunctional and discursive analysis of artistic material. The obtained data and conclusions open up wide opportunities for further analysis of the language game in artistic discourse.