SENSE STRUCTURE OF L. CAPUANA’S NOVEL OF VERISM “THE MARQUIS OF ROCCAVERDINE”

Abstract

The article focuses on sense field in L. Capuana’s novel of verism “The Marquis of Roccaverdine”. The main regularities of quantization information in the novel of verism have been established. Such regularities depend on factors that counteract the openness of information dissemination channels. Two factors have been identified that create the coherence of the sense field at the global semantic level: polarized evaluation and isotopy.

It has been shown that the novel's sense field has a nucleus (dominant and background), a pre-nuclear zone, and a periphery. The nature of the nucleus (dominant or background) determines the evaluation (negative or positive), which is predominantly stable and extends to the pre-nuclear zone (dwelling, household items) and the peripheral zone (natural phenomena). The dominant nucleus is forming by referent-subjects (characters from the upper classes) and has a negative evaluation (as an expression of the author's idea of depicting the crisis of the nobility in Sicily in the post-unification period). The background nucleus is forming by referent-subjects (characters from the lower and lower-middle classes) and has a positive evaluation.

The other factor that creates the coherence of the sense field at the global semantic level is isotopy. The semantic component of tropes (similes, personifications, gradations) and verbs of speech is characterized by regularity and recurrence, forming isotopies at the global semantic level. Within the novel, two sets of semantic components can be identified that are used in all elements of the novel's plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution): 1) semantic component of tropes expressing destruction and uncontrollability; 2) verbs of speech with an emotional component expressing anger, rage.