Connector Structure “A + Generalization Marker”: Semantics and Textual Role

This article presents a description of a specific emerging group of Russian connectors structured as “A + generalization marker,” including phrases such as ‘a voobshche’ [and generally, ‘a v osnovnom’ [and mainly], ‘a v ostalnom’ [and in the rest], ‘a v printsipe’ [and in principle], and ‘a v tselom’ [and overall]. It is demonstrated that the formation of these units is significantly influenced by the semantics of the comparative conjunction ‘a’. The combination “A + generalizer” is characterized by the thematic position within the utterance, which correlates with the established role of the conjunction ‘a’ as a “thematizer” noted by linguists. Additionally, the lexically fixed unit ‘a tak’ (and so) is associated with this group, possessing broader combinatorial possibilities. Two types of contexts for the use of the “A + generalization marker” connectors are identified: 1) pairwise comparison at a superficial level; 2) cancellation of the preceding text without pairwise comparison. In the left context, these connectors are preceded by descriptions of individual details, while the right context presents a general statement that excludes the particulars mentioned in the left context. Paradoxically, significant portions of text are often dedicated to these details, which are later deemed unimportant. This, presumably, allows for the presentation of the situation in accordance with the communicative postulate of completeness.

connector, comparative conjunction, conjunction concretizer, generalization marker, semantics of insignificance