USAGE AND LANGUAGE FASHION: META-DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS AS IT IS NOW COMMONLY/TYPICALLY SAID/REFERRED TO AND AS IT IS NOW FASHIONABLE TO SAY

Abstract

Тhe paper discusses Russian constructions “as it is now commonly/typically said/referred to” and “as it is now fashionable to say”. These constructions function as metacommunicative comments that direct the attention of the participants of the discourse to the lexical choice of the speaker. Based on the semantics of the constructions, it can be assumed that it is important for the speaker to emphasize that the chosen way of reference, from their point of view, is either generally accepted or fashionable, i.e. more prestigious. However, the analysis of the data of the Russian National Corpus suggests the presence of additional pragmatic meanings that these constructions bring to the utterance: they mark the choice of a more prestigious way of naming an object, emphasize fi gurative reference or the appearance of a cliché, as well as the desire to distance oneself from the generally accepted way of referring to an object. In addition, the analysis makes it possible to supplement K. Hyland’s taxonomy, which includes metadiscursive markers aimed at the text and markers aimed at the addressee, with a third group – metadiscursive markers aimed at the speaker. Since these constructions refl ect the speaker’s refl ections on his own speech, the use of the constructions “as it is now commonly/typically said/referred to” and “as it is now fashionable to say” is associated with the subjectivization of discourse and self-presentation of the speaker.