Pleonasm is a special speech revolution in which there is a duplication of a certain element of meaning. In other words, several language forms with the same meaning can take place in an expression. This phenomenon can be present both in the finished segment of text or speech, and in the language expression itself.
Pleonasm, examples of which can be found in
colloquial speech every day, is a realization of the tendency toward message redundancy, which, in turn, helps to overcome obstacles that impede the correct understanding of the message (for example, communicative noise). In addition to preventing the negative impact of interference, pleonasm is a means of stylistic design of the message and
stylistic technique of poetic speech. Sometimes it is a language anomaly, when redundancy competes with
language savings. Such pleonasm is called tautology and indicates a low semantic and stylistic competence of the speaker. For example: a guard is the one who guards, and security is the occupation of the guards.
By its structure, pleonasm (examples clearly show this) is a duplication of a content plan unit, carried out by repeating a certain unit of the expression plan (reduction, tautology) or using units with a similar meaning (verbosity, synonymous repetition). It is contrasted with a reduction in the content plan — an ellipsis, default, or cliff. Pleonasm is often called reduplication - a repetition of a word or morpheme, which is a means of form and word formation.
Pleonasm is divided into obligatory, stable speech circulation, due to the language system, and optional, not caused by it. In turn, facultative pleonasms are divided into conventional (assigned to the norm of the language) and unconventional (created by the speaker or writer spontaneously).
If we talk about the concept of "mandatory pleonasm", examples of it are already present in the grammatical system. They are a repetition of certain grammatical meanings in the endings:
- coordination of the endings of the adjective and noun: red house;
- repetition of the grammatical meanings of the preposition or verb prefix: enter the room;
- Grammar constructions with double negation: no one called.
Conventional facultative pleonasms include sustained revolutions and expressions that are often found in colloquial speech. These include, for example, expressions such as “go down”, “heard with my own ears”, “dreamed in a dream”, “path-roads” and many others. Often, this group includes such combinations as “full,” “apparently-invisible,” “darkness-dark”. In addition, this includes combinations with cognates of verbs and nouns: “tell a fairy tale”, “grief to grieve”, “live life”.
Non-conventional facultative pleonasm (examples: “remember in the head”, “speak by mouth”, etc.) is used to create a certain stylistic effect. It is a trope often found in poetic speech.
In cases where pleonasm is not part of the language system and is not created specifically for artistic expression, its use is considered a stylistic error and condemned. The abundance of pleonasm is a feature of the conversation of a poorly educated person, which arises as a result of insufficient language proficiency or vocabulary poverty.