Tautology

TAUTOLOGY (Greek - tautologéō - “I say the same thing”) is a term of ancient stylistics denoting the repetition of unambiguous or the same words. Ancient stylistics subsumes the verbosity of speech under three concepts: perissology - the accumulation of words of the same meaning, for example. synonyms; macrology - burdening speech with unnecessary explanations, for example. subordinate clauses; tautology is a literal repetition of the same words. The latest stylistics applies a general designation to all these concepts - tautology. An example of a tautology from Celtic poetry, which generally widely uses tautology as artistic device: “...For in battle, in struggle and in battle, it seemed to him that they were equal...” “It is easier to fall from the spear of strength, courage and combat dexterity than from the spear of shame, shame and reproach” (“Irish Sagas” ", trans. A. Smirnova).
Thanks to the features semantic development language (see Semantics), in particular due to the weakening of the original meaning, change social assessment and oblivion of the etymology of the word, T. is possible in a language in a number of cases, without being perceived as such: “black ink” (as there can be “colored ink”), etc. Hence the possibility of a number of rhetorical and stylistic figures built on T. Especially great value acquires T. in systems rhythmic speech, built on parallelism.

Literary encyclopedia. - At 11 t.; M.: Publishing House of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Fritsche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .

Tautology

TAUTOLOGY- repetition of the same words, expressions, etc., as, for example, in the epic about the Nightingale the Robber:

Near Chernigov there are black and black silushkas,

Black, black, like a black crow.

Tautology is an extremely common technique in the so-called. oral epic with its loving recording of details and long-term retention of the listeners' attention on the latter. The abundance of tautologies in works of folk literature is undoubtedly also associated with the special “singing” nature of their performance, in which tautologies served to fill “musical” “time”. Tautologies sometimes have such a rhythmic character in literature. This is, for example, quite obvious in famous poem Balmont: “I caught the departing shadows with a dream,” where appropriately placed tautologies give the rhythm of ascent. See, for example, the stanza:

“I caught the departing shadows in my dreams,

“The fading shadows of the fading day.

“I climbed the tower, and the steps trembled,

“And the steps shook under my feet.”

The importance of tautology for identifying and maintaining a certain emotional mood is great. Thus, prayers, spells, etc. are replete with tautologies, where repetition affirms the persistence of prayer, the inevitability of expected results, etc. In verse. Lermontov’s “Gratitude” (1840), the tautological “for everything, for everything” of the first verse (“For everything, for everything I thank you”) immediately determines the entire richness of this verse. Indeed, this first verse itself is only the first step gradation (see this word), because after it, gradually growing, there are individual moments of Lermontov’s terrible “gratitude” to God “for the secret torment of passions...”, “for the bitterness of tears...”, “for the revenge of enemies and the slander of friends ...”, “for the heat of the soul wasted in the desert...”. But, despite the fact that the specified first verse being first gradation level, should be, by its position, its weakest member, namely it condenses in itself all other moments of gradation, and the latter ultimately returns to him in the verse that concludes it, where the poet thanks God:

For everything I was deceived in life.

It is this meaning of the first, weak member of the gradation, as the main one, that is immediately revealed by the tautology “for everything, for everything” that begins the first verse...

The above-mentioned importance of tautology in folk literature for fixing the listener’s attention on certain details of the description, narration, etc., can also be found in literature. Gogol, for example, often uses tautologies in order to deliberately dwell on some insignificant detail in contrast to evoke a feeling of comicality in relation to what is being depicted. Let us at least remember the description of Bekeshi Iv. Iv. in “The Tale of How Yves Quarreled.” Iv. with Iv. Nick.". “Nice bekesha at Yves. Yves... And what a smile! Ugh, you are an abyss, what a joke..." or the tautological: " Wonderful man Iv. Iv.”, which begins individual moments of Iv’s characterization. Iv., and to strengthen the tautologies in the form of proof of the “beauty” of Iv. Iv. followed by a description of his house, then his love for children, etc. The purely sounding side of tautologies gives reason to use them as rhymes. In accordance with the instructions of Valery Bryusov (see his “Experiments”), these rhymes, which repeat the same word, should be distinguished from rhymes homonymous(see “Homonym”. Examples of tautological rhymes in Pushkin (given by Bryusov):

1) The guests came ashore,

Tsar Saltan invites them to visit.

2) Woman, what kind of boots...

Where do you see the boots?

Ya. Zundelovich. Literary Encyclopedia: Dictionary literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925

Synonyms:

See what “Tautology” is in other dictionaries:

Tautology... Spelling dictionary-reference book

- (Greek, from tauto the same, and logos the word). Expressing the same idea with different meaning words; unnecessary repetition in others of expressions that have already been said before. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910.… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

IN ordinary language: repeating what has already been said. For example: “A table is a table.” T. is meaningless and empty, it does not carry any information, and people try to get rid of it as unnecessary ballast, cluttering up speech and making communication difficult.... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

Tautology: Tautology (rhetoric) (from other Greek ταυτολογία) is a rhetorical figure, which is a repetition of the same or similar words. Tautology (logic) is an identically true statement, invariant... ... Wikipedia

Repetition, error, butter, statement, circle, judgment Dictionary of Russian synonyms. tautology oil (colloquial) Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 2011… Dictionary of synonyms

Tautology- Tautology ♦ Tautologie A proposition that is always true - either because the predicate only repeats the subject (“God is God”), or because it remains true regardless of its content and even regardless true meaning… … Philosophical Dictionary Sponville

Tautology- TAUTOLOGY repetition of the same words, expressions, etc., as, for example, in the epic about the Nightingale the Robber: Near Chernigov, the strength is black, black, as black as a crow. Tautology is an extremely common technique in the so-called ... Dictionary of literary terms

tautology- and, f. tautologie f. 1. Repeated designation of an already named concept with a word or expression that does not clarify the meaning of the expressed concept (used as stylistic device). BAS 1. If one common place is not enough, then let’s get down to the tautology of this... ... Historical Dictionary Gallicisms of the Russian language

- (from the Greek tauto is the same word and logos), meaningful redundancy of a statement, manifested in the combination or repetition of the same or similar words in meaning (true truth, entirely and completely); can intensify emotional... Modern encyclopedia

- (from the Greek tauto the same and logos word) ..1) combination or repetition of the same or similar words (true truth, entirely and completely, clearer than clear)2)] Explicit circle in definition, proof and etc. (lat. idem per idem that ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

from Greek ?????? – the same one and????? – word) – 1) Truism, common place, an obvious truth. 2) Extreme case logical error of the petitio principii type, namely, idem per idem (“the same through the same” in definition, proof, etc.). 3) Logical. a law expressing the idempotency property of certain logical. operations, concepts (terms), truth values, etc. Therefore, the laws of idempotency are often called. also laws (or principles) of T. 4) A formula of propositional logic, true for any set of truth values of its variables (always true, or unconditionally true, or tautological, or identically true formula). This meaning of the term “T.”, introduced by Wittgenstein, was later expanded: T. began to be called in general logically true (see Logical truth, Laws of thought) formulas of classical. logical calculus - classical laws. logic. In accordance with 4), the concept of calculus is naturally attributed not to “pure” but to applied calculus, when the domain of change of variables (the domain of objects), or the universe, is fixed, although calculus does not depend on what this universe is. For example, in the calculus of predicates of the first stage with identity, the formula x = x (the law of reflexivity of identity) is T. The truth of this formula does not depend on whether we choose the set as the universe natural numbers or set is valid. numbers, or k.-l. another set. T. says something always true about any possible universe, i.e. about the elements (their properties and relationships) of any set of objects from a certain system of sets, in relation to which it only makes sense. The words “universum”, “any set”, etc. show that T. is a classical concept. logic. It is with this view. classic logics of T. form theoretical. the basis for any logically correct conclusions (see Identical truth). When the number of accepted truth values is more than two (with the so-called generalized system of truth values, which occurs, for example, in multi-valued logic), the so-called. such formulas which, for any set of truth values of variables from the accepted generalized system, retain the same selected (marked) value. T. in this sense are used, in particular, in proving the independence of axioms and rules of logical inference. calculus. Lit.: Wittgenstein L., Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, trans. from German, M., 1958; Church?., Introduction to mathematical logic, trans. from English, [vol.] 1, , 1960, § 15, 19, 23; Blanch? R., Introduction? la logique contemporaine, P., , p. 63–69. M. Novoselov. Moscow.

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The meaning of the word TAUTOLOGY in the Popular Explanatory Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language

TAUTOLOGY

And, well. , book

1) Repetition of the same thing in other words, which does not clarify the meaning and is usually verbal negligence, for example. : solar energy- this is the energy of the sun; dead corpse; the best; universal love of all people; satirical caricature (caricature - ‘satirical drawing’); a memorable souvenir (a souvenir is a ‘memory gift’); in the month of June (June ‘first summer month’) .

Here we will force nature to bow to us with a bow to the ground. “Bow” is an obvious tautology (Isakovsky).

2) lit. Repetition of words with identical meanings literary device, enhancing emotional impact speech. Examples of such a tautology: And I go single, but I go unmarried.

Don't be left behind. I am the prison guard, you are the guard. There is only one destiny. And one empty road was given to us in the emptiness (Tsvetaeva).

Synonyms:

pleon "azm (lit.), identity"ovie (special)

3) In logic: logical error in the definition of a concept, consisting in the fact that the definition is replaced by a change verbal form defined concept, e.g. : circle is geometric figure round shape.

Related words:

tautological

Etymology:

From Western European languages(French tautologie ‘tautology’, German Tautologie ‘tautology’< лат. tautologia ‘тавтология’ < греч. tautologia < tauto ‘то же самое’ и logos ‘слово’). В русском языке - с mid-19th V.

Encyclopedic commentary:

Tautology helps to increase the expressiveness of a text or statement; widespread in fiction, journalism, oratory, folklore, sometimes in colloquial speech and vernacular. As a stylistic device, it allows you to give speech characteristics literary character. [Borkin:] As a tribute to my delight, I dare to present... fireworks and sparklers of my own creation. May they clarify the night just as you enlighten the darkness of the dark kingdom (Chekhov). Tautology is often used in folklore poetic creativity: cries, bursts into tears; paths-roads; once upon a time. Can be presented in stable combinations in the form of repetition of different grammatical forms one word: clearer than clear; friendship is friendship, and service is service (pog.) or using synonymy: the true truth, entirely and completely. Based on the principle of tautology, composite lexical formations like willy-nilly, day-to-day, criss-cross, ways of expression high degree qualities: old-old, kind-very good, good-very good. There are phrases whose tautology is “removed” as a result of forgetting the original meaning of the word: white linen, black ink, low bass, monumental monument.

Popular explanatory and encyclopedic dictionary of the Russian language. 2012

How to use speech redundancy?

Speech impairment and speech redundancy not in all situations it turns out to be an error during writing works of art. It's even worse when a person uses

Pleonasms and tautologies are used in stylistics to enhance the effectiveness and inspiration of statements, as well as to highlight the aphorism of speech. Writers and humorists resort to these techniques to create a joke.

The main goal of speech redundancy and tautology in stylistics:

point out the poverty of speech and lack of education of certain characters;
enhance the semantic significance of the situation;
highlight a certain idea in the text;
tautological repetition emphasizes the richness or duration of the situation, for example: “We walked and walked”;
to emphasize with pleonasms the features of an object or its characteristics. Authors can use to clarify an excessive number of objects, for example: “And there are balls, balls, balls, balls everywhere...”;
Creation funny situations, for example: “Allow me not to allow.”

Tautology

Tautology is a thought represented by unfounded repetitions of the same words with the same root. There is such a thing as tautological rhyme - the repetition of one word in a modified form in poetic form.

Name trademark and the product name is pleonasm

Cognate words in one sentence creating a tautology are one of the common mistakes. Thus, in one sentence we are marking time. It's similar to .

In order to highlight a certain thought in a sentence, it is necessary to clear it of unnecessary things, that is, to get rid of tautology, examples: ... definitions may naturally follow, indicating that the productivity of the labor process at a certain stage of development technical process is determined by a completely definite pattern.

IN this proposal It's all confusing and too repetitive. We clear it of debris and get:
Labor productivity at to varying degrees the development of a technical process is determined by an objective pattern - this is a reasonable conclusion.

Not in all situations you should perceive words with the same root as a stylistic error. They do not always need to be replaced by synonyms in one judgment; in some situations this is impossible, the test may become impoverished.
A pair of words with the same root, which are mentioned in one passage of text, are stylistically justified when they are considered the only carriers of meaning. We have to come to terms with the fact that there is a tautology in the sentence, examples: they bloom on the bushes pink flowers, the team will be coached by the head coach.

In the Russian language, there are tautological combinations that are inevitable: a dictionary of Russian words, the foreman of two brigades, the investigators of the task force were conducting an investigation.

When authors are faced with such a problem as a combination of a Russian word and a foreign one, they do not understand exact meaning second, for example: little prodigy, leading leaders. Before you combine foreign words with others, you need to think about their meaning.

Tautology can be found in Russian folklore and proverbs. Writers deliberately use them for lexical expressiveness: friendship is friendship, and service is service; to walk; Living life is not a field to cross.

Pleonasm

This term has Greek roots and is translated as “excessive”, “excessive”.
Let's figure out what pleonasm is? It means an excess of words of the same meaning in one judgment.

Examples: they saw a dead corpse; I met a dark brunette; he sat without words and was silent.
The above judgments are complicated by unnecessary clarifications. Like other forms of speech redundancy, pleonasm indicates the author’s lack of education. You need to analyze your vocabulary and learn to correct mistakes in a timely manner.

In Russian there is such a thesis as “imaginary pleonasm”. Writers use it deliberately to enhance the expressiveness of speech and the effect of perception.

Pleonastic combinations are used for folklore. Even earlier, authors used expressively colored pleonasms in stories, for example: sea-ocean, paths-paths, once upon a time.

Lapalissiades

One of the forms of speech redundancy is lapses of speech. They create the effect of humor in a tragic (inappropriate) situation,

For example:
The dead body lay there and showed no signs of life, the blind man saw absolutely nothing.

One of the main mistakes in writing speech redundancy appears - this is a manifestation of tautology and pleonasm. Such errors make the vocabulary appear scant and poor. But they are used in writing fiction, in order to give it bright colors.

Speech takes important place in a person's life. With its help, people communicate, share and receive information. Therefore, it is important that the speech is understandable to the interlocutor. Below we will consider such a phenomenon in the Russian language as tautology. Most often this term is found in rhetoric and logic. What is a tautology?

From the point of view of rhetoric and logic

What is tautology from the point of view of such a science as rhetoric? In general, this term has Greek origin, the translation of which means “repetition of the same thing.” In rhetoric, a tautology is understood as a rhetorical figure that consists of words with the same root.

It is also the use of words that come from other languages, but mean the same thing. It is precisely because words have one meaning that it is undesirable to use such constructions in speech, because they do not carry any new information. Such designs can be used as a stylistic device, but there should not be too many of them.

What is tautology in logic? The concept of this term is slightly different: it denotes an expression that is true. Most often, tautology in logic occurs when a concept is explained using the same concept.

That is, the term itself is used in the explanation, and there is a repetition of the same words. But sometimes the laws of logic are formulated with the help of tautology. For example, “Does three divided by three equal three or not?” Therefore, in logic, tautology does not always “clog” speech.

Comparison with pleonasm

There is one term similar to a tautology - this is pleonasm. Both of them denote redundancy in speech. But what is the difference between tautology and pleonasm? Despite the similar meaning, there are significant differences between them.

Pleonasm is the use in speech of words that have similar lexical meaning within one design. For example, “The family went on vacation in November.” Most often, pleonasm can be found in folklore. But important feature that these words are not cognate, unlike tautology.

Tautology is the use of words that have the same root or are borrowed from other languages with the same meaning. It is difficult not to use lexical repetitions in speech, because not all words can be found synonyms. Therefore sometimes you have to use similar words.

How to avoid tautology in speech

Why is this phenomenon classified as a “speech weed”? Because it doesn't provide any new information. Listening to speech and reading texts that contain a lot of repetition is quite difficult. Therefore, to make it easier for you to convey information, you need to try to avoid frequent lexical repetitions.

The reason for the tautology is low level vocabulary. Therefore, reading fiction and classical literature improves your literacy level. You will also learn to correctly use synonyms in speech by enriching your vocabulary.

The following exercise will be useful - paraphrasing sentences by selecting synonyms for words. If you find it difficult, you can use a dictionary. This way you can make your speech clear and literate.

Examples of lexical repetitions

Some repetitions of words with the same root have become so firmly established in everyday speech that they are difficult to notice. An example of a tautology is the following expressions: “to do business”, “to make jam”, “snow-white snow”. They can be paraphrased as follows: “do something”, “make jam”, “beautiful snow”.

An example of a tautology, when words from other languages that have a similar meaning are used, is the expression “evening serenade”. The word "serenade" is of Italian origin and means evening song. Therefore it is better to replace given word to the "song".

Lexical repetitions in artistic speech

What is a tautology in artistic speech? Lexical repetitions as a stylistic device are often used by authors to make the text more expressive. Most often this is used in poetic speech.

Lexical repetition is also found in prose and folklore. This is used to focus the reader’s attention on an event or detail.

An important issue is correct spelling: tautology or taftology? It is correct to write a word with the consonant “B”, and to pronounce it with the emphasis on the third syllable.

Tautology is most often considered a speech error, because repetitions of the same thing do not carry any semantic load. The exception is literature, and only when this repetition is needed to enhance the impression on the reader. You can improve your speech if you read more fiction.

The most difficult thing to control is tautologies with borrowed words. A dictionary will help you with this. Thanks to this, you will not only increase vocabulary, but also expand your horizons. Try to choose synonyms for words more often, and then your speech will become beautiful, understandable and literate.