Article

Name: On the limitations of the predicate in the pronoun Ya

Authors: Elena V. Markasova

Peking University, Beijing, China

Abstract: The purpose of the study is to check whether the grammatical and pragmatic restrictions on the use of predicates with negative connotation and semantics of external observation in the pronoun Ya, described in the 1980s, have been preserved in modern Russian. Long periods of turbulence in the life of society and crises of mass and personal identity had a number of consequences for different areas of language functioning. The increasing importance of self-reflection, the emergence of a fashion for positive self-presentation, the coarsening of speech, the revision of the previous attitude to modesty as a positive personality quality, as well as the mass fascination with psychology led to the weakening of these restrictions. Russian language materials include examples from the National Corpus of the Russian Language (the oral subcorpus and the “Social Networks” subcorpus), the General Internet Corpus of the Russian Language, as well as data from live speech and popular culture. An analysis of the cases of “I’m gloomy” and “I’m showing off” confirms the hypothesis. Predicates that were previously considered abnormal in the canonical situation are now actively used in speech. This is due to shifts in the Self-concept: the spread of self-observation practices, the legitimization of demonstrative behavior, and a focus on positive self-characterization. Thus, changes in mass psychology and discursive practices expand the possibilities of using predicates in the pronoun Ya, which were previously considered undesirable.

Keywords: predicate, pronoun, I-sphere, self-presentation, self-identification, pragmatics

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