D. U. Ashurova m. R. Galieva cognitive linguistics

8.3. Cognitive Principle of Linguistic Economy

Another cognitive principle of presenting information in the text is linguistic economy. The term introduced by A. Martinet (1955) denotes one of the basic laws of language, its tendency to economize on verbal signs. Linguistic economy is realized at every language level: morphological (shan’t, isn’t, don’t); lexical (prof, lab, ad, USA, INO, CIS); syntactical (elliptical sentences, one member sentences).

Most relevant is the principle of linguistic economy in the oral type of speech characterized by various means of linguistic economy. Of morphological means the colloquial language commonly uses various contracted forms – I’ll, he’d, she’s, don’t. At the lexical level, there are a lot of shortened words and expressions – fridge (refrigirator), doc (doctor), comp (computer), ad (adverticement), morning (good morning), bye (good-bye). As for syntactical level, it abounds in various forms of linguistic economy: elliptical sentences, one-member sentences, unfinished sentences. The tendency for linguistic economy in the colloquial language can be explained by the main communicative principles formulated by G. Grice: be brief, speak to the point, express yourself clearly, etc.
It should be noted that the principle of linguistic economy in different text types plays different roles. Particularly important is this principle for the newspaper texts. It is explained by the specific conditions of newspaper publications: the restriction of time and space. The principal function of newspaper articles, particularly brief news, is to inform the reader. Therefore it states facts without giving comments and detailed descriptions. But the main means of linguistic economy in the newspaper style is the use of abbreviations of various kinds: names of the countries and cities, political organizations, companies and firms, public and state bodies and figures: UK (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), NY (New York), UNO (United Nations Organization), BBC (British Broadcasting Company), P.M. (Prime Minister), M.P. (Member of Parliament).
Scientific texts, being very extensive on the whole, are also characterized by the use of shortened words: prof, doc, lab, fig. One peculiar feature characteristic of a scientific text is the use of “individual abbreviations”. Surely, this type of abbreviations is supposed to be introduced and explained: SD (stylistic device), FS (functional style), OE (Old English), COD (Coincise Oxford Dictionary).
At the level of the text, viz. literary text there are stylistic devices based on the principle of linguistic economy. To such we refer: antonomasia, allusion, metaphor, metonymy. In other words, all stylistic devices which are built on the mechanism of conceptual integration are characterized by the brevity of form and depth of content. Thus, the use of a single allusive name can substitute many a page of extensive and detailed descriptions. For instance, the name Aladdin used in “Sister Carrie” by Th. Dreiser refers us to a tale from “Arabian Nights”. The allusive name activates literary knowledge structures and draws a parallel between Aladdin who happened to find a magic lamp capable of granting wishes and Droue who accidentally discovered a talented actress in the ordinary girl.
The cause and effect of linguistic economy in the literary text are accounted for by such distinctive features of this text type as implicitness and ambiguity. It is implicitness that generates a vast array of associations in the text. Very often the words used in the literary text convey a great amount of implicit information. The decoding of this information is a priority task of text interpretation inasmuch as implicit information compared to explicit information is considered to be more conceptually important.