The semantic evolution of the Latin loan word "sic" from 19th-century usage to modern Internet communication

Shuiskaya Yuliya Viktorovna ORCID: 0000-0002-6752-3063 Doctor of Philology Professor; Department of Journalism, Media Communications and Advertising; Griboyedov Moscow University 66a Zeleny ave., office 311, Moscow, 111396, Russia shujskaya@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Yakovenko Danil Dmitrievich Graduate student; Faculty of Journalism; A.S. Griboyedov Moscow University 111396, Russia, city, Moscow, ave. Green, 66A uselessracoon@mail.ru

Russian Russian language's lexical system is of great interest due to the active introduction of borrowings throughout all periods of the Russian language's development. O.A. Frolova notes that "depending on the measure of semantic assimilation, two groups of borrowings can be distinguished.: 1) words that have practically not undergone reinterpretation; 2) words in the semantics of which certain changes have occurred (selectivity of meaning, narrowing of meaning, expansion of meaning, acquisition of a new meaning)" ^{[1, p. 284]}. At the same time, the semantic change in the meaning of those borrowed words that are written in non-Cyrillic graphics and retain the semantic aura of "alienness" and "otherness" is practically unexplored.

The relevance of the study of borrowed words is due not only to their constant entry into the language and the development of the meaning of long-borrowed words, but also to the significant proportion of borrowings that is characteristic of modern Russian. The migration of borrowed words from one functional style to another is also of great interest: for example, some words that originally formed part of the scientific style were transferred to the journalistic style. Of great interest is the further development of the semantics of borrowed vocabulary in an Internet language that borrows barbarisms and reinterprets them.

Borrowed words that retain their original spelling can be considered barbarisms. Systematizing various definitions of the concept of "barbarism", D.E. Khokhonin and K.V. Ovsyannikova point out that "barbarisms can act as neologisms (if they express new concepts), exoticism (if they nominate cultural reality), jargon (if they penetrate into the communication of a separate socio-professional group), foreign language inclusions (in the form of stable phrases in a foreign language)" ^{[2, p. 11]}. Among the barbarisms, such Latin borrowings as "et cetera", "cito", "ego", "nihil" are considered. I.V. Zubenko, I.E. Masneva, N.N. Skokova point to the penetration of Latinisms into all functional styles of the Russian language, especially into scientific speech: "Up to In the 18th century, Latin was the language of science: students of the first European universities studied there, scientists and philosophers wrote their works, and defended their dissertations. It was through the educational system that the existing cultural, social and ancestral traditions were consolidated and maintained. ... Latinisms, along with words derived from the Greek language, form the basis of scientific terminology in any field of knowledge" ^{[3, p. 164]}.

Among Latin loanwords, the word “sic” (so) occupies a special place, which is traditionally written in the original graphics. This borrowed word has not previously attracted the attention of researchers of barbarisms and Latinisms in the Russian language. Meanwhile, this word is characterized by significant dynamics in semantics, and the purpose of this study is to trace these dynamic changes. The scientific novelty is due to the absence in Russian linguistics of an analysis of the dynamics of the meaning of this Latin loan and tracing its migration from a scientific style to a journalistic one.

Russian Russian Dictionary defines the object of research as a dynamic change in the semantics of a borrowed word with its transfer from one functional style of the Russian language to another, and the subject of the study is the contexts of the use of the word “sic”, identified using the National Corpus of the Russian language ^[4]. The object of the study is the context of the use of the word "sic".

According to the dictionary, "sic" means "so, in such a (following) way, that's how ... yes, let ... as a result of this, under such circumstances ... just like that, without consequences ... so-so, more or less" ^{[5, p. 707]}. The first uses of this word in Russian-language texts are recorded by the National Corpus of the Russian language in documents of the XVIII century and the beginning of the XIX century: for the first time in Russian literature, "sic" is present in the text of V.K. Trediakovsky "The True Policy of noble and noble persons [translation of the book by N. Remon de Cours from French]", where this word is marked with typos and typos: this shows that the author of the original text made a mistake and it is impossible to decipher his mistake – so, the word "sic" marks the indecipherable word "civility" ("courtesy? Honesty? amorous?"): "But although excessive honesty [sic!] the least blasphemy is worthy of its foundation; however, it is more to be feared in the reasoning of those who leave." It should be noted that, most likely, this element was introduced not by the author of the original text, but by the author of the commentary, who prepared this text for publication at a later date.

In the sense of a reference to the original spelling and a note of an error or typo present in the quoted speech, the word "sic" is also used in a document from the end of the 18th century, "Materials on the persecution of Novikov, his arrest and investigation", dating back to 1784-1792: "the cross of St. Andrew the First-Called was found in his papers, which he specifically mentions He explained this in the paragraph below, but also hides about wearing it in order to avoid legal condemnation for unauthorized use of this (sic) order. ... Like cash for a patch (sic), a had and used his former bank bonds and suffered interest deductions on them." As can be seen from the above text, the word "sic" is used in it as a marker of descriptions – "patches" instead of "salaries", for example, as well as to indicate verbatim quoting of the words of a witness or defendant, and, most likely, was also introduced by the commentator of the text.

The word "sic", usually enclosed in parentheses and accompanied by an exclamation mark, is thus a marker of an error or typo that is present inside the quotation and from which the author of the framework text explicitly distances himself. In this sense, it became established in the discourse of the second half of the 19th century, where it can already be traced to the use of it by the author of the text in which someone else's word is embedded.:

The poster read: Otello, il moro di Venezia, tragedia di Guglielmo SK (sic!) akspearo — tradotta e ridotta per la scena da Garcano... (A.A. Grigoriev. The great tragedian).

Mr. Gedenstrom (in his book "Excerpts about Siberia", St. Petersburg, 1830), among other things, says that "The Yakut region is one of those few countries where enlightenment or the expansion of human concepts (sic) (p. 94) is more harmful than useful. (I.A. Goncharov. Frigate Pallada).

At the same time, in a number of contexts, “sic” takes on the meaning not of pointing out a typo, but of an implicit expression of disagreement with the word used. So, in F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot", in chapter VIII of Part II, a newspaper article is quoted dedicated to Prince Myshkin, the author of which expresses with the help of "sic" disagreement with the very idea of the possibility of a cure for idiocy, which is revealed in the following phrase:

Our offspring, about six months ago, shod in foreign-style boots and shivering in an unlined overcoat, returned to Russia in winter from Switzerland, where he was treated for idiocy (sic!) I must admit that he was lucky, so he, not to mention his interesting illness, which he was treated for in Switzerland (well, is it possible to be treated for idiocy, imagine that?!!), could prove the fidelity of the Russian proverb: happiness is a well-known category of people! ^{[6, p. 399]}

It is in Dostoevsky's novel that the first context of the use of "sic" is noted, not in the sense of indicating an error or typo, but in the sense of "I disagree with this term used by another subject, and this is noted in the text." Further in the history of the development of the word “sic”, according to the NCRE, with an abundance of examples where “sic” indicates a spelling or stylistic error, contexts of using “sic” to express implicit disagreement with a certain term or word form begin to occur sporadically.:

That's what we should cherish, that's what we should be happy about.… This prejudice is (sic!) popular. He alone proves that we can still leave the pan-European path (K.N. Leontiev. The leading articles of the Warsaw Diary of 1880).

The use of “sic“ throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries indicates the coexistence of the scientific function of ”sic" in the discourse along with the expressive one. So, in the context of the NKRR from the latest journalism, we see:

Trends persist: for example, the word "coordinated" (sic!) is still used instead of "cardinal" (Natalia Belyushina. The celebration of abyrvalga (06/28/2013) // "Snob", 2013)

The first is Denis Davydov (sic), a 35–year-old scammer who earns a drink as a courier, a graduate of VGIK, all of whose friends dream of getting out of "this country" (Olga Bragina. Je t’aime. Moi non plus // Litera_Dnepr, 2012).

The development of the expressive and emotional meaning of “sic”, noted in the texts of the second half of the 19th - 20th century, is noted in the discourse of Internet communication. It is possible to note a change in the semantics of borrowing caused by the need for self-determination and separation of individual marginalized subcultural strata of the Internet ^[7], as well as acting as a kind of social "detector" for adherents of certain cultures, social strata or age category. N.A. Mishankina points out that "the processes taking place in modern society and the life of an individual a person as a representative of this society is embodied in a new communicative format, undergoing transformations. Once upon a time, the invention of writing gave an impetus to the development of science as a whole, as it allowed us to "grasp" and fix the "temporal" nature of language, linguistic information, translating it into spatial coordinates and making it possible to refer to it again. Now Internet communication also allows us to record communication and social interactions of people, which is why this area attracts the attention of humanities scientists" ^{[8, p. 74]}.

In modern Internet discourse, the borrowing of “sic" demonstrates a significant expansion of the functional range. If in traditional use it performs mainly a proofreading function designed to draw attention to errors of the original source, then in digital communication it is used in the following guises:

1. Markers of irony and sarcasm. Netizens integrate “sic" into the text to express a critical attitude towards the quoted content, usually emphasizing the absurdity or illogic of the statement, even if it is factually correct. This function is especially common in the context of political and social discussions.

For example: "Abramovich's private project, with Abramovich's money, by the hands of Dutch architects and their own workers (sic!)" ^[8].

2. The element of metacommunication. In the Internet environment, this borrowing is used as a signal of the author's awareness of the non–standard or problematic nature of the quoted statement, which echoes the original meaning, and in addition creates an additional level of communication between the author and his audience.

For example: "It's not like his hw.

Will this build work?

- old ATX-PS 20+4 pin

- ASRock Q1900-ITX motherboard (sic!)

- Samsung DDR3-1333 RAM from a laptop, 2 and 4 giga slats

- old Samsung 971P monitor, DVI connection

- new Hitachi Ultrastar 7K4000 2TB hard drive

- well, and a PS/2 mouse with a keyboard, of course" ^[9]

3. A distancing tool. The use of “sic” allows the author to separate his own position from the quoted content, especially in cases where the latter contains controversial, radical or potentially offensive judgments, which is reflected in the use of borrowing as an element of metacommunication.

"Why do you need Hemingway when you can create your own? Cultural policy with a revolver. If I were a Western writer, I would be completely stunned by such a brazen invasion, disregard for traditions, institutions, authorship and the established order of things. And most importantly, which country? – America (sic!)" ^[10]

Of particular interest for in-depth research is the use of the borrowing “sic” in the space of the imageboard in particular and meme culture in general, where we can observe the most radical transformation of its semantics and pragmatics. On anonymous forums (such as 4chan, 2ch), the term has acquired the status of a mostly metalanguage element used in a number of cases: marking intentional distortions, creating multilevel irony and subversion of linguistic norms. In contrast to the traditional usage, which is intended only to indicate errors in the original, a special specificity of this term has emerged in the imageboard environment. He notes the communicative specifics of the imageboard space, "one of the places where inauthentic speech aggression has received the status of an accepted communication style has become imageboards (from English image "image", board "board"). Image boards are a type of online forums, the main feature of which is the absence of mandatory registration. Verbal aggression on image boards is not perceived as offensive, since it is carried out between like-minded people" ^{[11, p. 497]}.

It can be used to accompany intentionally distorted forms of words or expressions used, such as expressions and catch aphorisms, emphasizing their intentionally distorted nature. In addition, users use the term to form complex ironic or satirical constructions in which sic serves more as an indicator of meta–irony (sic!), signaling that the error and absurdity shown is a deliberate part of the user's initially chosen communication strategy. Also, in some languages ("Upyaka", which later developed into a separate layer of "padonk jargon"), the use of "sic" is observed as part of an element of a certain language game aimed at deconstructing and rethinking the conventional norms of written communication. It should be noted that the language of anonymous forums and image boards has generally been little studied, and its features are dotted in the study ^[12].

It should be noted that the transformation of the Latinism "sic" in the Internet environment reflects not only the semantic evolution of the term itself, but also broader linguistic processes characteristic of digital communication, such as the "democratization" and "liberation" of a linguistic unit, the general hybridization of communicative practices and, in general, the recontextualization inherent in it. modern language processes, which is revealed due to the transition of the spoken format to text communication.

"Sic” not only makes a semantic transition from a highly specialized academic term into mass use, which shows a general trend towards the transition of linguistic means from one style of communication to another in the digital space, but also demonstrates a mixture of academic and informal communication strategies, as well as acquires completely new meanings and functions that depend more on the communicative context. It differs from the original meaning of the word, and reflects the general tendency to transform any language units under the influence of the environment and the context used within the Internet environment.

The use of "sic" in the framework of the Internet environment and digital interaction clearly demonstrates how an academic tool is undergoing transformation into a kind of multifunctional element of a new language being formed on the web, as well as the Internet culture itself. Initially being an error marker, it has "evolved" into a tool used in creating irony, language play, and social stratification within a community. This transformation allows us to see an example of a general trend towards rethinking and adapting initially formal language constructions to a new environment, as well as embedding them in some informal digital environments (such as forums and image boards), where communication is most often based on language play and layered irony.