STRUCTURAL TYPES OF POLYVOCATIVES AND THEIR FUNCTIONAL FEATURES IN EPISTOLARY TEXTS

Background. An important genre-forming structural element of epistolary text is the indication of an addressee, which can come in a direct, address, metatextual or indirect address. Various ways of the addressee indication in the letter seeking to establish contact between the parties of epistolary communication, are united by the term epistolary vocative. If the addresser multiply names their addressee within one letter, such addresses build a system of address nominations that are qualified in our research as a polyvocative. Keeping in mind the fact that such systems (polyvocatives) are very diverse and arranged in a specific way, the relevance of our linguistic research lies in their exploration and classification. Purpose. We seek to describe the structural types of the epistolary polyvocative and explore thereupon its main functions. Methods. A descriptive method was used to define the system of the letter’s constructive features and to form the core of polyvocatives. Epistolary vocative typology building, and the description of its components’ vocabulary were done by means of linguistic modeling. Results. We have identified three structural types of the polyvocative: framed, scattered and combined. The framed polyvocative consists of two addresses, the first of which commonly opens the letter and the last one accompanies the final etiquette formula and the addresser’s signature. The framed polyvocative can be doubling (both addresses are similar), reduced (the second address does not contain certain components of the first one), expanded (the second address contains extra components) and modified (the components are totally different). The scattered polyvocative contains two or more addresses spread over epistolary text, in which case the last address does not belong to the letter ending. The scattered polyvocative can be homogeneous (containing one-type addresses) or heterogeneous (containing various types of address). The combined polyvocative comprises three and more addresses; it combines the features of the framed and scattered polyvocatives and unites their functions. Discussion. The major function of the framed polyvocative is the phatic one, i. e., establishing contact between communicators through the initial address and contact termination at the end of the letter. The scattered polyvocative seeks to maintain contact throughout the whole communication process; besides, it can also perform emotional and aesthetic functions. The components of the scattered polyvocative may mark the utterances that embody in the letter various speech genres (apology, gratitude, compliment, request etc.). This way, they can divide and integrate the text. Further research perspectives are related to exploring pragmatic traits of the epistolary polyvocative at large and its separate types in letters that function in various areas of communication.

polyvocatives found in their letters were selected and chosen for analysis. Results and discussion. A polyvocative is referred to a set of addresses used by the addresser not only to establish contact with their addressee, but also to verbally maintain this contact, ensure its continuation in time. In one-sided written communication (an addresseraddressee interaction), if it is impossible to observe the addressee's response, the letter author naturally anticipates for a reliable and ongoing contact with the addressee -the contact which is ensured (in the simplest way) through doubling the address or its multiple use with certain variations. This is the reason for different structural types of the polyvocative as such, as well as for the diversity of its constituents in separate vocative unite which build this or that element of a multiple written address -from an individual anthroponym or appellative to a multi-component vocative structure of any complexity.
The polyvocative unites the primary and secondary addressee nomination in epistolary text; hence, the lexical content of its components is determined by the essence and functions of these two nominations. The primary nomination seeks to identify the letter receiver (an anthroponym being the most reliable identifier) and to establish contact, to enhance which it is common to use lexemes with positive connotation; the secondary nomination seeks to maintain the established contact, that's why, it is most frequently implemented through appellatives, substantives, non-determined anthroponyms etc. Epistolary polyvocative typology is based on the following background: 1) the number of addresses as polyvocative components; 2) the place of these addresses in the letter; 3) the level of polivocative's lexical content equivalence; 4) the correlation between the first address and other components of the polyvocative.
Depending on the structure and place of epistolary polyvocative's components in the letter, we distinguish between its three constructive types: 1) a framed polyvocative, which consists of two addresses that create a frame and contains the letter in between; 2) a scattered polyvocative, which is composed of two and more (sometimes even more than ten) separate vocatives spread over the letter in a specific way; 3) a combined polyvocative, which is composed of at least three addresses, the first of which serves as a means to establish contact between communicators, while the last is used at the end of the letter and commonly accompanies the final etiquette formula.
Framed polyvocative implies two addresses, one of which opens the letter, and another one accompanies its final etiquette formula and signature and closes the letter. A typical example of such structure are O. Suvorov's letters to G. Potyomkin, which start with a vocative Светлейший Князь Милостивый Государь! 3 and end with the same indication of the mentioned addressee Светлейший Князь Милостивый Государь! 4 , the final formula being Вашей Светлости всенижайший слуга 5 and the signature saying Александр Суворов 6 (O. Suvorov to G. Potyomkin, 24.08.1777). This vocative may come in different variant; to be more specific, in Suvorov's letters to O. Ilovaysky they are as follows: the first vocative is Милостивый Государь мой Алексей Иванович! 7 , the second one does not contain a name and a patronymic: Милостивый Государь мой! 8 (O. Suvorov to O. Ilovaysky, 18.07.1783). I. Babel's letter to his wife starts with the address Тату (Tatu), and the second vocative accompanies the final etiquette formula: Целую тебя, моя душа, прошло всего два дня, и вот ты уже кажешься мне чудной и доброй 9 (I. Babel to T. Kashirina, 27.03.1926). As a rule, this type of polyvocative is objectively motivated by the ethic norms of written communication, which are not supposed to be violated for no reason.
Depending on the correlation between the primary and the secondary addressee nomination in its component, the framed polyvocative can be doubling (the second address repeats the first one: милый брат ... милый брат (dear brother … dear brother)), reduced ( the first address are omitted in the second one: дорогая Аня ... Аня (dear Anya … Anya)), expanded (something is added to the second address: мама ... милая мама (mother … dear mother)) and modified (the components of the polivocative are totally different: дорогой Пётр Ильич ... голубчик (dear Petr Ilyich … darling). The modified polyvocative also allows for a partial replacement of the vocative construction components. Replacement may affect both a dependent, and a core component of a word combination. Here are the examples of the modified polyvocative with a replaced determinant: милый ІП (sweet NP (hereinafter: N -name, P -patronymic)) ... дорогой ІП (dear NP); друг мой ІП ... милый ІП (my friend NP … dear NP); многоуважаемая ІП ... добрейшая ІП (reverend NP … kindest NP) etc. In the modified polyvocative, the anthroponym clearly indicating the addressee (it is essential for contact establishment) is regularly found in the first component of the framed polyvocative and is often omitted or replaced with an appellative in the second one, when the contact has been established, for instance: дорогая Люсенька … мой друг (dear Lusenka … my friend) (M. Bulgakov to O. Bulgakova, 30.05.1938).
The framed nature of the polyvocative is connected primarily with its functional intention: the first address, whether it is located at the beginning or (more rarely) in the middle of the letter, serves to establish contact between communicators; the second address, which accompanies the final etiquette formula and precedes the signature, serves to terminate contact. Comparing to the framed polyvocative, the scattered one has a higher potential for maintaining contact between the addresser and the addressee.
Scattered polyvocative is a type of polyvocative whereby the components are found in different places of the text but are not included into its final formula. The scattered polyvocative may comprise only two components, if the second one does not close the message, but immediately follows the first one (as we can see, for instance, in one of the letters by K. Paustovsky: Валюха, сегодня получил твоё письмо из Москвы, написанное в день приезда. Спасибо, зверь ... 10 (K. Paustovsky to V. Navashina)) or is found anywhere in the middle of the letter and just maintains communicators' contact. As we can infer from the explored material, the number of the scattered polyvocative components may vary and even exceed twenty addresses per one letter. In case the number of the scattered polyvocative components rises, its quantitative traits more strongly correlate with the letter's qualitative features, its style and pragmatics. The motivation to resort to the scattered polyvocative may be either objective, when the letter size is very big and entails the need to point out to the addressee, or subjective -related to addresser's emotions, or both at the same time. The scattered polyvocative is divided into two types: homogeneous, which consists of one class of addresses, anthroponyms or appellatives, and heterogeneous, which includes both anthroponyms, and proper names, particularly, various susbtantivates.
The homogeneous scattered polyvocative with an anthroponym dominant comprises individual anthroponyms in a certain form or anthroponyms accompanied by attributes.  .. (sweet N … N … N … N …) etc. In the initial vocative construction, the anthroponym may be accompanied by several attributes, e.g.: мой дорогой, мой неоценённый, мой, мой и мой Евгений Петрович ... Евгений Петрович ... Евгений Петрович ... 11 (І. Gorbachevsky to Ye. Obolensky, 22.03.1862). This sounds reasonable: at the moment of contact establishment, and addresser makes compliments to the addressee, uses emotionally-charged adjectives to highlight their positive traits and deliver own positive judgement of these traits, through which they create favorable conditions for further interaction. The next thing left to do is to maintain contact, for which purpose it is enough to call the addressee by name. the first component of the scattered polyvocative of this type bears a much higher functional load than other ones: except for a phatic, it performs an emotional and expressive function, which is determined by the semantics of typical attributes; other polyvocative components help maintain contact between communicators.
However, the homogeneous polyvocative with the anthroponym dominant quite often combines anthroponyms with attributes in various positions. Attributes may be both repeated and varied; the addressee's name may be determined not only by adjectival extenders, but also by appellatives, which creates a huge number of the most diverse combinations. Within one such nomination system, attributes or the forms of anthroponym often change, e.g.: Танюша, радость моя ... Танушка моя ... Тань-Тань ... 12 (K. Paustovsky to T. Paustovska, 18.05.1953). This polyvocative is dynamic, it explicates a high emotional tension between communicators and ensures the established level of emotional contact throughout the whole process of communication.
The homogeneous scattered polyvocative with the appellative dominant contains a multiply repeated lexeme (probably, with various extenders) or different lexemes that name the addressee. The repetition of the same appellative in the letter is a quite rare phenomenon. This polyvocative more frequently combines various appellatives, in which case, as a rule, at least a part of the has dependent words, e.g.: милая моя жёнка ... ангел кротости и красоты ... мой друг ... 13 (O. Pushkin to N. Pushkina, 2.10.1835). The scattered polyvocative of this type is ultimately personalized: on one hand, this way of addressee nomination is preferred by only a couple of epistolary writers, particularly, a lot of examples can be found in epistolary texts by O. Pushkin and A. Chekhov; on the other hand, even in these authors, appellative predominates and the correspondence with a limited circle of addressees, who they have the closest relationships with. The homogeneous polyvocative with the appellative dominant performs not only a phatic and emotional function, but also an aesthetic one, as it is characterized by figurativeness, includes epithets, metaphors, occasionalism, which reflects the addresser's creative approach to language.
The heterogeneous scattered polyvocative often combines the most diverse ways of addressee nomination and implies a combination of the anthroponym, appellative and substantivized adjective as well as various vocative constructions built on their basis. The dominant of this polyvocative can be represented by the component which predominates in terms of quantity; at the same time, to convey various emotional meanings that describe the details of addresseraddressee interpersonal relationships, it is equally important to choose the appropriate appellative and to prioritize a certain form of the anthroponym. The nature of the lexical dominant is determined by the addresser's attitude toward the addressee and usus accepted in their communication; it is one of the means by which the letters targeting the same respondent are united into the entire epistolary discourse.
The distribution of the scattered polyvocative components over the letter follow the rules of building epistolary text; particularly, intertextual addresses can mark those conversational units that embody in the letter such speech genres as apology, gratitude, compliment, request.
Combined polyvocative has the features of both framed, and scattered polyvocatives. It serves a frame which contains several addresses that form the scattered vocative. In other words, it is the framed scattered polyvocative, which consists of three and more addresses the last of which closes the main body of the message. Generally speaking, the combined polyvocative is motivated both objectively (the letter meets the ethic norms of written communication), and subjectively (at the same time, it can be emotionally charged).
As to the structural typology of the combined polyvocative, a significant role belongs to the correlation between the final address in the letter with the previous one. Based on the type of frame closure, it is possible to distinguish between two types of the combined polyvocative: a) the one with a doubling frame-closing component, i.e., a repetition at the end of the letter of the addressed that has been used earlier in the same letter -initial or non-initial; b) the one with a modification of the frame-closing component, i.e., the non-used earlier address as the final polyvocative component. The first type can be illustrated by the polyvocative found in V. Korolenko's letter to his daughter: Дорогая моя Сонюшка ... Сонюшка ... Сонюшка ... Ну, дорогая моя Сонюшка, до свидания 14 (V. Korolenko to S. Korolenko, 26.12.1914). The second type can be observed in one of the letters by O. Herzen, who calls his fiancée by name for four times and only once by name determined by the appellative; at the end of the letter, he uses the disjunctive vocative construction which indicate a special place the addressee occupies in the life of the author: Ангел мой Наташа ... Наташа ... Наташа ... Наташа ... друг, сестра, моя поэзия, моя святая 15 (O. Herzen to N. Zakhariina, 16-18.08.1837).
The combined polyvocative combines functionally significant features of the framed and scattered polyvocatives, but it has certain peculiarities. It unites big and more diverse lexical material. Comparing to other vocative formations, the combined polyvocative more completely and vividly illustrates structural and content-based potential of written address. Finally, this polyvocative gives more opportunities for implementing pragmatic intentions of the addresser who, when resorting to this element, obtains a bigger amount of effective means to express both personal relationships between the addresser and the addressee, and individual traits of each communicator.
Conclusions. To sum up, a polyvocative is a widely used element of written communication, which forms the letter's address and ensures contact between the addresser and the addressee in the distance communication setting. To the main types of epistolary polyvocatives belong framed, scattered and combined polyvocatives. The major function of the framed polyvocative is the phatic one, i.e., establishing contact between communicators through the initial address and contact termination at the end of the letter. The scattered polyvocative seeks to maintain contact throughout the whole communication process; besides, it can also perform emotional and aesthetic functions. The components of the scattered polyvocative may mark the utterances that embody in the letter various speech genres (apology, gratitude, compliment, request etc.). This way, they can divide and integrate the text. The combined polyvocative unites the structural and functional features of the framed and scattered polyvocatives. Further research perspectives are related to exploring pragmatic traits of the epistolary polyvocative at large and its separate types in letters that function in various areas of communication. Purpose. We seek to describe the structural types of the epistolary polyvocative and explore thereupon its main functions.
Methods. A descriptive method was used to define the system of the letter's constructive features and to form the core of polyvocatives. Epistolary vocative typology building, and the description of its components' vocabulary were done by means of linguistic modeling.
Results. We have identified three structural types of the polyvocative: framed, scattered and combined. The framed polyvocative consists of two addresses, the first of which commonly opens the letter and the last one accompanies the final etiquette formula and the addresser's signature. The framed polyvocative can be doubling (both addresses are similar), reduced (the second address does not contain certain components of the first one), expanded (the second address contains extra components) and modified (the components are totally different). The scattered polyvocative contains two or more addresses spread over epistolary text, in which case the last address does not belong to the letter ending. The scattered polyvocative can be homogeneous (containing one-type addresses) or heterogeneous (containing various types of address). The combined polyvocative comprises three and more addresses; it combines the features of the framed and scattered polyvocatives and unites their functions.
Discussion. The major function of the framed polyvocative is the phatic one, i. e., establishing contact between communicators through the initial address and contact termination at the end of the letter. The scattered polyvocative seeks to maintain contact throughout the whole communication process; besides, it can also perform emotional and aesthetic functions. The components of the scattered polyvocative may mark the utterances that embody in the letter various speech genres (apology, gratitude, compliment, request etc.). This way, they can divide and integrate the text. Further research perspectives are related to exploring pragmatic traits of the epistolary polyvocative at large and its separate types in letters that function in various areas of communication.