Pragmatic Potential of Nicknames in the Novels by Yu Hua

Abstract

This article is aimed at identifying a complex of pragmatic, emotional and value meanings of nicknames that allow the writer to influence the reader. The study is based on three novels by Yu Hua – Brothers, To Live, and Chronicle of a Blood Merchant – and their Russian translations. Twenty-five fragments were analysed; the specificity of the main characters’ nicknames was identified in terms of the pragmatic function they perform. It is shown that the process of integration ↔ separation and extraction ↔ filling (the rules of language unit use are being constantly updated and changed) of unique linguistic phenomena – nicknames – is inherently pragmatic. The article presents the author’s concept of nicknames, demonstrates the difference between nicknames and common names (social, family-related) and emphasizes the practical importance of nicknames (distribution, communication, symbolic figure, cultural characteristics) in prose. The novelty of the study lies in describing the pragmatic functionality of nicknames in different contextual environments, which reveals the degree of productivity and creative potential of nicknames, highlights the close relationship of nicknames with the characteristics of the time period and heritage of traditional culture, as well as points out the role of nicknames (as cultural symbols) in achieving balance in group communication. As a result, the author identified the specificity of the origin of nicknames and the potential variability of their evaluation, which causes differences in the understanding of their true meaning. Therefore, studying the intrinsic functionality of nicknames as a vastly preferable and popular form of naming in literary works, public life and other spheres of society is essential.