3.1 Music Discourse and Colloquialism

There are three features that, according to the classic research made by E. Zemskaya, characterize colloquial language: dependence on the extralinguistic situation; use of non-verbal means; oral use (Земская et al, 1981, p. 5-6). Moreover, there are three extralinguistic factors that define colloquialism: its unpreparedness, naturalness of the communication act and immediate participation of speakers in it. These features of colloquial language define its distinctness on all the levels of language, and we would like to address them throughout our research.

Of course, the colloquial language drastically differs from music discourse in specialized media in terms of its usual communicative situation since it requires immediate presence of its both sides at the same place and at the same time. (Though Internet media could partly reconstruct the canonical speech situation by using efficient feedback services.) At the same time, any media could easily imitate the unpreparedness and naturalness of the communication act with special rhetoric or stylistic devices.

Although, most importantly, both colloquial language and music discourse in specialized media are highly dependent on the extralinguistic situation. Previously we have mentioned the meaning of referential functions of language in music journalism which emphasizes this dependence. We also have to add that the majority of texts published on music media have secondary nature, which means that they describe other texts rather than developing certain ideas. This fact increases the natural language dependence on the extralinguistic situation that seemingly influences its stylistics.

The description of colloquial language also overlaps with the description of colloquial discourse accomplished by E. Paducheva who points out three features of it: deicticity, expressiveness and dialogue (Падучева, 2010, p. 336). Music discourse in specialized media apparently shares these specifics with colloquial discourse for certain reasons: it is extremely dependent on extralinguistic situation and thereby on deixis; music journalism naturally requires high level of expressiveness since it deals with music, which is sometimes described as “pure expression”; it is a dialogue between a journalist and a reader.

Finally, music discourse imitates the canonical speech situation, adopts some features of colloquial language for certain communication purposes and shares the fundamental characteristics of colloquial discourse.

3.2 Deicticity

Acts of referring, as N. Arutyunova put it, help us link the utterances to the actual world (Арутюнова, 1982) and demonstrate the crucial dependence of the language on the extralinguistic reality. There are three types of referring known to linguists: absolute, contextual and deictic. The last type of referring is the most significant for our project since it is used very frequently in music discourse. While other types of referring are usual for any types of texts, deictic referring is immediately connected with colloquial language because it also presupposes the reconstruction of canonical speech situation.

The most important devices of deictic referring are so-called proper deictic elements - language expressions and signs that “actualize the components of a speech situation” (Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь: Дейксис, 1990). According to K. Buhler, deictic signs are opposed to nominative ones because they, unlike the latter, do not classify objects and facts, but only point to them (Бюлер, 2000, p. 103). In accordance with three basic conditions of canonical communicative situation, Buhler distinguishes three types of deictic elements: personal and objective (1), locative (2) and temporal (3). He also classifies deictic elements by the linguistic pointing mechanism they obtain: graphic (a), anaphoric (b) and imaginative (c).

Our own observations prove that music discourse intensively applies the broad spectrum of deictic elements.

1. “Про это (1b) уже сто раз написали, но повторимся: никогда еще женский рэп не на английском не был таким (1a) хлестким и дерзким - не в бровь, а в морду. Вроде бы уходящие из моды басовитые аранжировки обрели новую жизнь и новую силу с этими (1a) рефренами, с этим (1a) едким флоу. Буря и натиск, сила и дерзость. Это (1b) реально прорыв: Alyona Alyona букируют европейские фестивали, про нее (1b) пишет американский глянец, она (1b) примерно везде (2c).” (Афиша.Музыка) [“They wrote about that (1b) plenty of times, but we won't hesitate repeating: non-anglophone rap has never been that (1a) reckless and scathing - it hits the nail on the head. Bassy arrangements that were seemingly going out of date were revitalised with these (1a) refrains and this (1a) vitriol flow. Storm and stress, power and impudence. That (1b) is a real breakthrough: European festivals book Alyona Alyona, American glamour writes about her (1b), she is nearly everywhere (2c)”.]

2. “Это (1b) может звучать как попытка оправдать артиста: мол, смотрите, вот (1c) он такой классный и правильный, а не как эти ваши (1c) герои кальян-рэпа и покорители прямой бочки. Но нет. <...> Кажется, артисту тут (2c) интереснее поделиться наболевшим, чем заставить танцевать пару миллионов человек.” (The Flow) [“That (1b) could sound like an attempt to justify the artist: see, they say, that (1c) is him, so cool and classy and unlike these (1c) heroes of hookah rap and conquerors of a steady beat. Alas. <...> It seems that here (2c) the artists is more interested in sharing his thoughts than making a few millions of people dance.”]

Obviously, deicticity is one of the key language instruments in the mini-review #1. The demonstrative pronouns “этот” (this) and “такой” (this) allow a speaker to avoid precise nominations and, consequently, precise characterisation of music phenomena. The personal pronoun “она” (she) and the demonstrative pronoun “это” (this) fulfill the anaphoric function. At the same time, “secondary” deictic elements help a journalist to imitate the canonical communicative situation. It is supposed that a speaker and a reader are both acquainted with the subject of the review so there is no need for the former to be precise. In that case a speaker simply points to the objects that are practically not present in the communicative situation, namely particular music phenomena. Imaginative deicticity as well as colloquial lexis and syntax helps a journalist to engage a reader into a natural dialogue. Zemskaya also notes that colloquial language is characterized by the sheer use of pronouns as “pointing words” or as means that provide “continuity within the syntactical structure of utterances” (1979, p. 36). The pronoun “это” (“Это реально прорыв”) in the first example plays the role of such “continuity mean”.

Same applies to the second example. The demonstrative pronoun “вот” (that) that is mostly used in spoken language and is usually accompanied by a pointing gesture is used in the review alongside with disrespectful colloquial expression “эти ваши” (these). This expression also refers to the intertext and fulfills the function of imaginative deicticity: the names of artists implied are not explicated so this reference serves as a phatic element that allows a speaker to contact a reader and maintain the friendly and slightly ironic tone of communication (Энциклопедия Кругосвет, n.d.).

Locative deicticity (see “тут” (here) in the second example and “везде” (everywhere) in the first example) are commonly used in music discourse:

3. “Большой альбом - большая рецензия с обзором на каждый из треков, чтобы вы понимали, где тут филлер, а где - важные для карьеры канадца песни. <...> А здесь всё начинает разгоняться. (О песне на альбоме - прим. С.К.) <...> Если хотели услышать ответку Kanye West и Pusha T - вам сюда.” (The Flow) [“A big album requires a big review with detailed analysis of every track that would let you understand where is a filler here, and where are the songs which are important for the discography of the Canadian. <...> And here everything starts to speed up. <...> If you wanted to hear an answer to Kanye West and Pusha T - welcome here.”]

The bolded words point to the objects described in the review (“вам сюда” (welcome here)) or fulfill the anaphoric function (“тут” (here) - in the album; “здесь” (here) - in the song) and, moreover, launch one of the most important conceptual metaphors of music discourse “music is space”, which helps to structure temporal experience in spatial terms so to simplify it.

Finally, we would like to demonstrate several examples of temporal deicticity. We have to note that, unlike regular colloquial discourse, music discourse utilizes wider temporal deicticity and refers to an “epoch” or another broader period of time rather than a certain day or moment.

4. (The Flow)

4.1. “Он максимально самобытен - а это сегодня не менее ценно, чем большой хит за плечами.” [“He is extremely authentic, and today it is as valuable as having a big hit under your belt”.]

4.2. “Теперь попробуйте сказать, что у Ивана нет яиц.” [“Now try to say that Ivan doesn't have balls.”]

4.3. “Сейчас он так же зовет самых разных людей, от давнего протеже Kid Cudi до совсем новой звездочки своего лейбла…” [“Now, again, he calls various people from his former protege Kid Cudi to the new star of his label…”.]

To sum up our brief analysis, we could say that deictic elements allow speakers to reconstruct the canonical communicative situation within music discourse, establish the natural dialogue with a reader and bring the language of music journalism closer to colloquialism.

3.3 Expressiveness

There are different linguistic mechanisms that could help to imitate the canonical communicative situation in the written text and most of them are connected with so-called egocentric elements of language which reflect the linguistic view of the world that is organised around a speaker. Besides deicticity, E. Paducheva considers expressiveness one of the most important components of egocentrism in language. According to I. Arnold, expressiveness is “a feature of a text or a part of a text that conveys a meaning with increased intensity expressing the inner state of a speaker and results in emotional, logical stress”. First of all, expressiveness allows a speaker to formulate a point of view and convey his evaluation of a speech subject, which is very important for music discourse in specialized seeing as music journalism is connected with music criticism and musicology and also requires estimation of a speech subject (Курышева, 2007, p. 211). The means of language that fulfill the expressive functions are usually called expressives.

Expressives exist on various levels of language: phonetic (euphony, aspiration), morphological (diminutive affixes, non-affixal word building), lexical (expressive lexis, use of synonyms), syntactical (word order, ellipsis) and textual (foregrounding, compositional parallelism). Our observations prove that music discourse is primarily characterized by using expressive lexis, but it also often addresses morphological and syntactical expressives which brings it closer to colloquialism.

3.3.1 Expressiveness in Lexis

Word usage is the clearest illustration of the attitude of a speaker towards a speech subject. Music discourse in specialized media deals with taste and evaluation of art most of the time and, unsurprisingly, lexical expressiveness is crucial for music journalism.

5. “Ник позволил себе петь по 3 часа в день, а всё остальное время сходил с ума и стебал остальных участников группы, потягивая красное вино, подбадривая себя тем, что красное вино офигенно действует на связки.” (Music Box) [“Nick allowed himself singing for three hours a day and spent the rest of the time going crazy and trolling other bandmates while sipping red wine and cheering himself up by saying that red wine is awesome for chords.”]

Zemskaya points out that on the lexical level colloquial expressiveness is usually characterized by the exaggeration of the estimation, which is also applicable for music discourse. The idiom “сходить с ума” (going crazy) is used in the fifth example instead of “развлекаться” (having fun) or веселиться (“enjoy oneself”). This choice of a synonym demonstrates the ironical attitude of a speaker towards a subject and the absence of a formal distance between them. Colloquial tone of the communication is supported by jargon (“стебать” (trolling), “офигенно” (awesome)) and word “потягивать” (sipping), marked by Ushakov as “presumptuous”.

Slightly disrespectful attitude of a speaker towards musicians or other characters is typical of music media rooted in rock and hip-hop culture and adopted the principles of these styles' aesthetics.

6. Rock-oriented magazines:

6.1. “Проект Sunburst, в который входят Максим Самосват, Владимир Насонов и прочие уважаемые личности, творчески переработал “Такую вот печаль”. <...> Не все знают, но в былинные времена, когда Кипелов в первый раз уже ушёл, а Булгаков ещё не нарисовался, Андрей был одним из кандидатов на место за микрофонной стойкой “Арии”.” (InRock) [“Sunburst project that includes Maxim Samosvat, Vladimir Nasonov and other highly regarded figures has remastered `Takaya vot pechal'. <...> Only a few people know that in the good old times when Kipelov had left for the first time, but Bulgakov had not showed up, Andrey was a candidate for the place behind the microphone in Aria.”]

6.2. “Jack White <...> выпустил новый альбом “Boarding House Reach”, что само по себе не является какой-либо сенсацией, поскольку парень жив-здоров...” (Guitarz Magazine) [“Jack White <...> released his new album “Boarding House Reach” which is not sensational by itself because the guy is as alive and kicking…”]

6.3. “Однако сам Gus G <...> держится бодрячком...” (Guitarz Magazine) [“Although Gus G himself <...> keeps kicking around…”].

The examples 6.1-6.3 shows that rock magazines are characterized by disrespectful and ironic attitude towards the characters of the texts. Thus, the author of the example 6.2 addresses Jack White in a very simple and careless way (“парень” (guy)) and uses colloquial expression “жив-здоров” (alive and kicking), whereas the author of the example 6.3 uses slangy phrase “держаться бодрячком” (keep kicking around) referring to the famous guitarist Gus G. At the same time in 6.1 the journalist applies the ironic colloquial term “нарисоваться” (show up) instead of “появиться” (appear) while talking about well-known musician A. Bulgakov. Here the additional ironic effect is created by the combination of words “прочие” (other) and “уважаемые личности” (highly regarded figures). The seemingly respectful attitude (“уважаемые”) fades away because of the use of the word “прочие” that conveys dismissive connotation and becomes replaced by irony. The reduction of the distance between a speaker and a character is apparently aimed at the creation of the friendly and familiar effect, the reinforcement of horizontal connections and destruction of vertical ones.

According to G. Knabe, rock culture itself appeared as a reaction to the need of “elimination of normativity of culture as an obligatory mean of prestige”, it had to help to overcome this culture and “plunge it in actual life” (Кнабе, 2006, p. 36). It seemed necessary to reconnect the cultural ideals with the daily routine of a regular person and reject the aestheticism for the sake of naturalness and simplicity. Our research demonstrates that this imperative principle also realizes in music journalism affiliated with rock culture within the form of irony or humour, reduction of the standard etiquette distance between a journalist and his characters.

That is also applicable for music journalism that is connected with hip hop culture:

7. “Помог и первый клип на “Рибки” - кичливый, эпатажный, всратый. В нем Алена в купальнике катается на гидроцикле, попивает коктейль и трэпует на фоне мультяшных задников.” (The Flow) [“The first music video for “Rybki” has also helped - braggadocious, flamboyant, batshit crazy. There you can see Alyona, dressed in bikini, riding a jet ski, sipping a cocktail and rapping while cartoons appear in the background.]

The author of the text addresses its character informally, just by her name: in Russian language culture it implies that he most likely knows her in person. Zemskaya notes that adult people in Russia usually use the name & patronym formula as a polite and neutral way to address someone, whereas in our case which could be presented as a dialogue between a journalist and a musician who both are young it would be the most appropriate to use the name & surname formula or just an official pseudonym (Alyona Alyona). Describing the actions of a character, the journalist utilized the colloquial and ironic verb “попивать” (sipping - see “потягивать” in the 5th example) and slang and rude adjective “всратый” (batshit crazy) to characterize a music video. The author also uses such epithetes as “эпатажный” (flamboyant) and “кичливый” (braggadocious) for that purpose, and the latter adjective obtains a bookish tone in this context (the phenomenon of great lexical diversity within music discourse would be analyzed below).

We have to note that informal irony is also typical of general music media. As far as most of them target primarily young audiences, these media also lean towards such “youth” music styles as rock and hip hop and, consequently, obtain the colloquial characteristics of style-oriented music media.

We would also like to analyze the lexical realisation of expressiveness in general music media:

8. General music media:

“Лучшая британская рок-группа из относительно новых умудряется выбивать искры там, где уже все давно вроде бы мертво. Промозглый постпанк с акцентом и наглой ноткой в голосе, танцевальные мотивы девяностых с щемящей гитарной мелодией, милейшая полуакустика в конце - повторение пройденного сто раз, да, но...”. (Афиша.Музыка) [“The best British rock band among relatively new ones finds a way to strike sparks where everything seems to be dead for ages. Bleak post-punk with an accent and perky notes in vocals, 90s dance motifs and melancholic guitar melody, the sweetest acoustics in the end. Yes, that is the repetition of something done before a hundred times, but…”]

“Пластинка хороша еще и тем, что каждый из четырех <...> треков - это совершенно самостоятельное произведение со своим сюжетом, в результате повествование вышло максимально насыщенным. Тут нет <...> однотонных гуделок, которыми порой грешат эмбиент-музыканты.” (Zvuki.ru) [“The album is also good because of the nature of all four tracks <...> which work as completely independent pieces of art with their own plots. The narrative turned out to be extremely intensive. Unlike many ambient musicians it does not commit a sin of <...> using monotonous droners.”]

Colloquial hyperbole is frequently used in both texts. The author of the 8.1 example calls one of the many popular British rock bands “лучшая” (the best) and also utilizes the expressive colloquial phrase “сто раз” (a hundred times) and the epithet “милейший” (the sweetest) in the superlative form. The journalist also uses the expression “все давно <...> мертво” (everything <...> dead for ages) where all three words refer to the extreme realization of a certain quality. The position of the author also realizes in the choice of verbs as far as the colloquial and ironic “умудряться” (find a way) is used instead of the neutral “суметь” (manage to) or “смочь” (be able to) and emphasises the exceptional difficulty of the action described. The emotional attitude of a speaker towards a subject of his speech is also supported by the metaphor “выбивать искры” (strike sparks). The innovation in music is equated with a process that requires physical effort and is associated with specific primitive labour. Seeing as, according to Efremova's dictionary, “выбивать” means “to make sharp strikes, jolts” (2000), the author who speaks about the inventiveness of the band especially underlines the difficulty of their goal and links its achievement to the manual work. Thus, the journalist intensifies the impression one could get from the text and the positive evaluation of its subject.

At the same time, in the example 8.2 the author uses colloquial exaggeration by utilizing the adverbs of degree “совершенно” (completely) and “максимально” (extremely). Here the journalist also uses the colloquial occasional word “гуделка” (droner) and the verb “грешить” which turns out to be ironic in this context. These words also underline the very light-hearted and immediate attitude of a speaker towards a subject of the speech.

Style-oriented and general music media also utilize so-called Manichean dictionary with primitive dichotomous evaluation methods. Authors call music phenomena either good or bad whereas usually such oversimplification is considered to be a mauvais ton of art criticism or quality journalism. There are a lot of examples of such dichotomy in our research base: “звук чертовски хорош” (sound is damn good), “ему хорошо удаются” (he manages to do it well) (Zvuki.ru); “хорошая группа Mana Island” (a good band Mana Island), “хорошая группа Deerhoof” (a good band Deerhoof) (Афиша.Музыка); “GONE.Fludd хорош” (GONE.Fludd is good), “Drake очень хорош” (Drake is very good) (The Flow) etc, also see “лучший” (the best) and “хороший” good in the examples 8.1-8.2.

At the same time, we have to note that only academic music media defy expressive colloquial lexis and ironic attitude. Texts written by academic journalists tend to convey moderate expressiveness and rarely use evaluating structures.

3.3.2 Expressiveness in Word Building

Our research shows that the tendency towards word building and high level of expressiveness characterize the language of music journalism. In our analysis of expressive word building we use the classification of derivatives coined by N. Beketova which is based on the contraposition of a derivational base and an affix by the presence of stylistic markedness (Бекетова, 2010, p. 186), or the presence of proper linguistic expressiveness. We also have to note that in this chapter we focus on the derivative words that “primarily fulfill the expressive functions” (Земская, 1979, p. 125), whereas overall word building specifics of music discourse would be analyzed in details in the corresponding paragraph of the research.

Beketova has classified derivatives into four types:

? I type: the adjunction of a stylistically marked affix to a stylistically marked base;

? II type: the adjunction of a stylistically marked affix to a stylistically unmarked base;

? III type: the adjunction of a stylistically unmarked affix to a stylistically marked base;

? IV type: the adjunction of a stylistically unmarked affix to a stylistically unmarked base, or the contextual model.

The resulting constructions are also divided into two types: those which change the part of speech of the derivational base (transpositional) and those which do not (modificational). In music discourse modificational constructions are usually represented by adjectives with colloquial evaluative suffix “-оват-” (-ish-) which reflects the approximate level of the evaluation and the little degree of the realization of a given quality (see examples 9.1-9.4). The nouns with expressive suffixes “-юг-” (very big), “-ин-” (very big), “-ишк-” (small, or -y-) etc. also represent the modificational constructions that are very typical of colloquial language (see examples 9.5-9.8)..

9. -

Тесноватый (tightish), пошловатый (quite trivial, trivial+ish), чудаковатый (queerish). (The Flow)

Фриковатый (freakish), мрачноватый (noirish). (Афиша.Музыка)

Простоватый (gullish). (InRock)

Суховатый (dryish), рыхловатый (quite friable, frieable+ish). (Zvuki.ru)

Журналюги (damn journalists), рощица (small coppice), рыбина (big fish). (Music Box) Сказочка (little fairytale), гонфладдовщина (GONE.Fludd+ness) stuff), трескотня (crackling). (Афиша.Музыка)

Хаусец (classy house music), мдмашка (little piece of MDMA), ипишка (little EP). (The Flow) Болотце (small swamp), дядька (old guy). (Guitarz Magazine)

The most illustrative markers of expressiveness in music discourse are transpositional constructions, usually colloquial or simply rude, which could be also classified as slang words or jargon. These expressives are very frequent in the language of the hip-hop media The Flow:

10-

Приставучий (needy), прихаусованный (housy), нежданчик (oopsie), упороз (dwamness). (The Flow) The last example is the most unusual among others. The word “упороз” (dwamness) is probably derivative from the colloquial, slang word “упоротый” (dwam) and is built with a “medical” “-оз-” (-osis-) which conveys the “illness” connotation that brings the negative evaluation to the meaning of the word. Thus, the word “упороз” has to be understood as “sickness caused by drug intoxication”. The expressive word building of the III type, or the adjunction of a stylistically unmarked affix to a stylistically marked base, is rare for the language of music journalism. The only corresponding examples were found in the texts published in The Flow.

11. Жоповзрывной (butthurt), поехавший (cookoo), трэш-явление (trashy thing). (The Flow)

The rude and colloquial epithet “жоповзрывной” (butthurt) is constructed via the fusion of two bases marked with expressiveness, namely from the expression “взрывать жопу” (to explode a butt), which means to annoy, to make angry. The participle “поехавший” (cookoo) that derives from the slang word “поехать” (see colloquial “крыша поехала” (blow one's roof)). The expressive core of the compound word “трэш-явление” (trashy thing) is a slang loan word “трэш” (trash) which means “extreme absurdity or nonsense”.

Thus, in the example 11 derivational base serves as an expressiveness source while affix is either absent or stylistically neutral.

The majority of the examples of contextual word building (type IV) in our research base were provided by academic music media:

12-

Помпезно-праздничный (pompously festive), новоджазовый (new jazz), модерн-академическая (modern academic). (Muzykalnaya Zhizn')

Антивокальный (anti-vocal), прослышиваемость (sound transparency), девочковый (girly). (Classical Music News)

The results of our research could be demonstrated in the following table:



Table 3 Word building models in music media

	Academic music meda	Style-oriented media	General music media	Professional / hobby media	Total
	M.Z.	C.M.N.	Flow	InRock	Afisha	Zvuki	G.M.	M.B.
I	1	0	6	1	3	2	1	5	19
II	2	11	4	0	4	3	2	2	28
III	1	5	9	3	1	1	0	3	23
IV	5	4	2	2	1	2	1	1	18
Total	9	20	21	6	9	8	4	11	88
	29	27	17	15
Freq.	562	358	452	575	171	163	392	456	393
	421	479	167	439

NB: Frequency of use (“Freq.”) is calculated as: a number of examples divided by the total number of words in the texts referring to a certain part of the research base.

We could draw several conclusions from the data collected:

? General music media are the most “creative” among others in terms of word building. Media of this type not only apply expressive word building more frequently, than others (Zvuki.ru and Afisha hold the first and the second place in the frequency rating), but also address all types of expressive word building (general music media is the only type of music media where both magazines apply all types of expressive word building).

? General music media tend to use the second type of expressive word building significantly more frequently, than others:

Table 3.1. The II type of expressive word building in music media.

	Academic music meda	Style-oriented media	General music media	Professional / hobby media
II	13	4	7	4
Freq.	940	3236	406	1647



? The second and fourth types of expressive word building proved to be the most fitting for academic music media which usually avoid stylistically marked lexis and tend to use stylistically unmarked bases.

? Style-oriented music media use the third type of expressive word building more frequently, than others; that is probably connected with the fact that languages of both The Flow and InRock are very “colloquialized” and expressive in terms of lexis.

Table 3.2 The II type of expressive word building in music media

	Academic music meda	Style-oriented media	General music media	Professional / hobby media
III	6	12	2	3
Freq.	2036	1078	1422	2195

? At the same time, surprisingly, InRock proved to be the most “uncreative” music media with the least frequency rate. Professional music media, oriented towards rock music, also turned out to be third in the overall rating.

? Overall, the second type of expressive word building is the most popular in music discourse.

3.3.3 Expressiveness in Syntax

The expressiveness that is typical of colloquial language in general realizes on the level of syntax with such devices as parcelling, ellipsis, paralipsis etc. (Кожина et al, 2018, pp. 261-262). Khazagerov and Lobanov note that such syntactical devices were first of all developed in the spoken language and were later adopted by the written discourse (Хазагеров & Лобанов, 2004, p. 246). The language of music journalism is, as shown above, tends to imitate colloquial language and also frequently adopts its syntactical expressive structures.

So-called disposition devices shape a specific group of syntactical expressives typical of colloquial language and also popular in the language of music journalism. These devices are divided into two types: transposition devices (inversion) and disjuncture devices (parcelling, parenthesis) (Хазагеров & Лобанов, 2004, p.271).

O. Alexandrova classifies parentheses into three groups by the meaning they convey. Referring parentheses are used to refer to any fact or opinion that was or was not mentioned in the text. Exemplification parentheses fulfill explicative functions by providing the examples or other additional facts to the information given in the main part of the sentence. Deliberation parentheses reflect the speaker's evaluation of the facts mentioned in the text.

The expressive function of a parenthetical construction is immediately connected with its position in a sentence; parenthesis “invades the structure of a sentence and destroys the linear connections within it” (Александрова, 2009, p. 30). Thus, parenthesis allows a speaker to express his or her attitude towards a certain fact or detail that is represented by a certain component of the sentence and underline certain fragments within it. We also have to mention that parenthesis could include only one word or a short phrase and thereby could affect the general rhythm of a sentence.

In music journalism parenthesis is sometimes used as a figure of “instant evaluation”; it could contain the metatextual commentary, a remark made aside on the matter of the main part of the sentence, as one could see in the example 13.1 below. On one hand, parenthesis distinguishes the personal opinion from the facts there, while, on the other hand, it refutes these facts (expressive is marked with colloquial objection “вообще-то…” (actually)). In the example 13.2 parenthesis is also used as an evaluative instrument and, moreover, underlines the inversion: the violation of word order as well as parenthesis itself fulfills the emphatic function here.

Parentheses in the examples 13.3 and 13.4 serve as direct addresses to a reader, unlike those in the example 13.1 which function indirectly. These structures appear amidst the description process and allow to maintain the dialogue and the natural tone of communication within the discourse. Colloquial lexis also provides parentheses with corresponding tone: see the second-person imperative “не пробуй” (do not try) in the example 13.3 and the third-person imperative “поищите” (look for) with colloquial particle “-ка” (now) that underlines the informal nature of the request. Here we could address the Shklovsky's cinematographic metaphor and consider parenthesis a montage instrument that helps a speaker to switch from one point of view to another or to change any other aspect of a text in an abrupt way.

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“С песен - вообще-то вполне стандартных поп-мелодий - сняли кожный и мышечный покров”. (Афиша.Музыка) [“The songs - actually, just standard pop melodies - lost their skin and muscular covering”.]

“По голосу - звонкому, красочному - это колыбельные русского севера”. (Афиша.Музыка) [“The voice - clear and beautiful - is a North Russian lullaby.”]

“ <...> был представлен “Both Sides of the Sky” с ранее неиздававшимися записями (только не пробуй искать там новые композиции).” (Guitarz Magazine) [“<...> “Both Sides of the Sky” was presented along with previously unreleased recordings (do not even try to look for new compositions there).”]

“Не без влияний (поищите-ка сами), но ни на кого из вдохновителей не похожий.” (InRock) [“Rather under influence of many bands (you better look up for them yourself), but no similar to any of their inspirators.”]

Using the classification of parentheses coined by O. Alexandrova, we could assume that deliberation parenthesis (see 13.1-13.2) and referring parenthesis (see 13.3-13.4) are the most characteristic for the language of music journalism. Exemplification parentheses are also sometimes used in music journalism to specify or give an example. For instance, there is a common figure of music criticism that supposes a description of the band members in the brackets after the name of the band is mentioned, or vice versa.

13.5. “А с аранжировками помогли Сергей Сершень (украинская группа Morton) и Алексей Марков (Distant Sun, Starsoup, Garage Dayz).” (InRock)

[“Sergey Sershen' (Ukrainian band Morton) and Alexey Markov (Distant Sun, Starsoup, Garage Dayz) helped with arrangements.”]

Parcelling is another disjuncture device which, on one hand, imitates the fragmentariness and abruptness of colloquial language and, on the other hand, adopts its tone and thereby serves as an expressive. It divides a phrase into certain rhythmical units in accordance with a given author's idea and emphasizes certain parts of an initial sentence while destroying the regular structures of the written syntax and reconstructing the spoken one.

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“Вот мурманская группа “Деревянные киты” - идеальный пример. По звуку это ладный дрим-поп, сплошное музыкальное северное сияние. По голосу - звонкому, красочному - это колыбельные русского севера. Вместе - один из самых сильных эмоциональных опытов для местного слушателя.” (Афиша.Музыка) [“The band from Murmansk called “Деревянные киты” (“Derevyannye kity”) is a great example. The sound is a nice dream pop, it is just a musical north light. The voice - clear and beautiful - is a North Russian lullaby. Altogether it is the most emotional experience for a local listener.”]

“Но история Alyona Alyona - это, простите за избитость формулировки, подтверждение того, что чудеса случаются. Что девушке не обязательно подпадать под какие-то там стандарты внешности, чтобы заниматься рэпом. Что женский рэп - это не обязательно скучно. Что можно жить в селе и разбираться в актуальной музыке получше столичных хайпхантеров.” (The Flow) [“But the story of Alyona Alyona, excuse me the triteness of the phrase, proves that miracles are real. That women do not have to follow certain beauty standards to rap. That female hip hop is not boring. That one could live in a village and be more aware of modern music trends than hype hunters from the capital.”]

The examples 14.1-14.2 demonstrate not only the use of disposition devices in the language of music journalism but also the use of so-called addition devices that provide the speech with a confident, firm and convincing tone (Хазагеров & Лобанов, 2004, pp. 255-256). In both cases the initial phrase is divided into four parts where the first part is the main one and the next three are dependent ones. These parts somehow specify, generalize or complement the contents of the main part and also could be arranged in various ways. In both examples parcelling is supported by the parallel structures marked with anaphora: “по звуку это”, “по голосу это”, “вместе это” (14.1) and the conjunction “что” (14.2).

There is also another group of devices which are very typical of colloquial language and at the same time very common for the language of music journalism. Those are reduction devices, namely ellipsis and paralipsis.

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“Материал “I Can Do It Again” - органичный, гармоничный, безупречный…” (InRock) [“The material of “I Can Do It Again” is harmonious, seamless and flawless…”]

“Кстати, о MusicMan…” (Guitarz Magazine) [“By the way, about MusicMan…”]

“Ну а дальше додумайте сами…” (Music Box) [“Well, think about it yourself…”]

The paralipsis in the example 15.1 fulfills the expressive function. The omission dots prove that the row of epithets could actually be continued and thereby this understatement additionally evaluates the subject of the sentence. In other examples paralipsis allows a speaker to reconstruct the dialogue within the text. In the example 15.2 paralipsis is “filled” by a reader who is already acquainted with the subject of the speech, it launches the associative flow that is connected with this subject. In the example 15.3 the speaker addresses a reader in a straight-forward way with the colloquial introduction “ну а” (well, ...) and also urges one to “fill” the understated part. You could observe the use of ellipsis in the example 14.3 where this device fulfills its usual dynamical function, “provide the text with a tempo” (Хазагеров & Лобанов, 2004, p. 250).

At the same time, parenthesis and parcelling could work not only as rhetorical devices or expressives, but also stylistic instruments that organize a text in a colloquial way or imitate the colloquial discourse. According to the research made by A. Kibrik and V. Podlesskaya, the latter is characterized by several “retrospective discursive units”, sometimes also called “afterthoughts”, which refer to postpositive explications. The authors have classified afterthoughts into three groups: echo (эхо), augment (приращение) and parcelling. Though parcelling is the most popular type of afterthought in the music discourse, the examples of echoes and augments also could be found in music journalism.

Echo:

““ye” - апогей такого подхода, кэмповый альбом, где артисты используются как музыкальные инструменты.” (The Flow) [“ye” is the peak of such an approach, a camp album, where artists are used as musical instruments.”]

“...взгляните, как <...> себя чувствует Lil Pump, заокеанский коллега, у которого Face многому научился.” (The Flow) [...look what <...> happens with Lil Pump, an oversea colleague, who taught Face a lot of things.]

Augment:

“И выход тоже нашелся -- уж какой есть.” (The Flow) [“And the way out had been found - just as it is.”]

“...музыка звучала бы иначе -- если бы вообще звучала.” (The Flow) [“...music would sound differently - if it would sound at all.”]

As one could see, all of these examples are attributed to the hip-hop magazine The Flow that, according to our research, tends to imitate colloquial discourse much more intensely than other music media as far as it is connected with “street culture” and its slang. The Flow's journalists also frequently use the colloquial syntactic structures, whereas authors from other media only address colloquial lexis.

Nonetheless, echo is rarely used even within the very “colloquialized” language of The Flow. As a type of afterthought echo refers to postpositive explication that maintains the morphosyntactic markers of the explicated part of the clause. In both 16.1 and 16.2 examples echoes explicate the antecedent nouns: “апогей” (peak) > “альбом” (album); “Lil Pump” > “коллега” (colleague).

Augment is a type of afterthought that serves as a postpositive addition to the antecedent part of the clause which does not maintain its morphosyntactic characteristics. In music discourse it is mostly used as an expressive, or a special rhetorical device, rather than a proper colloquial marker. In spoken language augment is used as a spontaneous addition made by a speaker in the situation when, for instance, one suddenly remembered an important detail that, according to grammatical rules, had to be put in the first part of the sentence which has already been finished. Whereas in the music discourse this addition is made deliberately and is marked with a dash; it fulfills a certain rhythmic function and also underlines the meaning of the added part of the sentence. Thus, in the example 17.1 augment adds the missing attribute that is also characterized by the expressive colloquial phrase “какой есть” (just as it is, or just any). In the example 17.2 author adds the conditional clause at the end of the sentence to question the probability of the fact that was described previously and also underlines it with a dash. (The group of rhetoric devices that fulfill dialogue function are also frequently used in music discourse. Rhetoric questions, exclamations, addresses and hypophora are also rooted in spoken and colloquial language and linked to canonical communicative situation. We would review these devices later in the corresponding paragraph.)

Finally, music discourse is actually characterized by the use of various syntactical expressives typical of colloquial language such as parenthesis, parcelling, paralipsis, ellipsis and parallel constructions. The specific functioning of these devices within the texts also proves that the language of music journalism is strongly connected with colloquialism.

3.4 Dialogue

Dialogue is one of the key characteristics of colloquial discourse as far as the latter supposes the intention of a speaker to provoke a reaction in a receiver. According to Bakhtin, dialogue is inevitable in any kind of utterances, but its “genetically primary and direct embodiment” could be found in the very “natural colloquial communication” (Матвеева, 2010, p. 91).

At the same time, L. Duskaeva points out that dialogue is an “ontological feature of media discourse” that shapes its communicative strategy (2012, p. 4). Duskaeva claims that the dialogue of media discourse is most evident in its general “answerability”; journalists tend to anticipate certain reactions from their audiences and construct their text in accordance with them.

Music journalists use different devices that allow them to imitate the dialogue within their texts. In a broad sense, deictic elements could also be counted as such devices since they help to reconstruct the canonical communicative situation. The same applies to syntactic expressives such as paralipsis that suppose speech interaction, namely `filling' of the understated part of the phrase (see example 15 analyzed above). There is also a special group of rhetorical devices that support the dialogue within the text such as rhetorical question, apostrophe and hypophora which are frequently utilized by music journalists.

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“В чем уникальность Тейпа? Многие другие популярные альбомы этого года, проходящие по тегу “хип-хоп”, были кроссоверами, открывающими для хип-хопа дорогу в новую поп-музыку. Примеры вы сами без труда вспомните: Элджей, Lizer или GONE.Fludd.” (The Flow) [“What is so unique about Tape? Many other popular albums of this year that had a hip-hop tag were crossovers which opened the way into new pop music for hip hop. You could recall the examples yourself: Элджей, Lizer or GONE.Fludd.”]

“Проблема в том, что альбом и в плане звука, и в плане лирики никак не дополняет и не дооформляет образ Айлиш. Страшные сны? Достаточно было одной “bury a friend”. Жесткие тексты? “Bellyache” был жестче. Концепция? Она тут только в связи между песнями…” (Афиша.Музыка) [“The problem is that in terms of both sound and lyrics the album does not add anything to Eilish's image. Scary dreams? “bury a friend” was enough. Violent lyrics? “Bellyache” was more violent. Concept? It is only in the connections between the songs…”]

“Чего, по-вашему, больше всего боятся адепты тяжмета? Правильно, того, что их кумиры резко изменят направление <...>. А какой, по-вашему, самый страшный кошмар, видит во сне тот же ревностный адепт? Совершенно верно! То, что его кумиры подстригутся.” (Music Box) [“What, in your opinion, are the fans of heavy metal afraid of most of all? That's right! They are afraid of their idols changing their music styles. <...> And what, in your opinion, is the scariest nightmare of such a devoted fan? Exactly! It's his idols cutting off their hair.”]

“Возможно, ты очень удивишься, но у Джими Хендрикса продолжают выходить новые альбомы.” (Guitarz Magazine) [“Maybe you would be very surprised, but Jimi Hendrix continues releasing new albums.”]

Thus, the text that served as a source for the example 18.1 was arranged as a catechism; the integrity of its structure was provided by the rhetorical questions which opened various parts of the text. The speaker seemingly anticipates questions of a reader who opens a publication and simplifies the understanding and digestion of the text which automatically sounds more convincing; a reader feels engaged in the text. The example 18.1 is organized as a rhetorical argument: the question contains a thesis, the response to it contains an argument, whereas the last sentence is a demonstration. The demonstration also contains a direct address to a reader (“примеры вы без труда вспомните” (you could recall the examples yourself)) that helps to present the thought of a speaker as one that actually belongs to a reader.

The example 18.2 is organized in the same way. Here hypophora drives the introduction of particular theses which seemingly respond to reader's objections; the reader turns out to be an opponent of a speaker and tries to refute the latter. Thus, this device also provides a speech with persuasiveness and fulfills the expressive-appellative function.

The example 18.3 also presents a fictional dialogue between a reader and a speaker where the former is charged with the point of view of the latter. The colloquial tone of the communication is supported by the expressiveness of the speech (see the exclamatory sentence “Совершенно верно!” (Exactly!)) and the colloquial introduction “А какой…” (And what…). Moreover, the author duplicates the parenthetical word “по-вашему” (in your opinion), which is addressed to the reader and serves as an unnecessary specification as far as the addressee of a speech is apparent. This duplication underlines the dialogue nature of the text and its orientation towards a reader.

According to the results of our research, style-oriented and hobby music media intensively use various devices that help to orient a text towards a reader and somehow interact with him. The example 18.4 taken from Guitarz Magazine illustrates, firstly, the direct address of a speaker to a reader that is aimed at the anticipation of the reaction of the latter (note that this sentence holds a “strong position” as an opener). Secondly, the author uses the colloquial and expressive personal pronoun “ты” which is colloquial which is not typical of art journalism. It involves a reader in the text more efficiently than formal and polite “вы”.

3.5 Word Building

We have already demonstrated that music discourse is characterized by the intensive use of expressive models of word building typical of colloquial language. Moreover, the general orientation of music journalism towards colloquial discourse also justifies the use of specifically colloquial models of word building within music discourse.

Zemskaya claims that there are two basic word building models that are usual for colloquial language: derivational base clipping and univerbation (the process by which a fixed collocation of words becomes a single word) (Merriam-webster.com, 2020). Both of them often could be found in the language of music media:

19 Derivational base clipping.

Коммент (comment), дешифр (decoding) (The Flow)

Ботан (nerd) (Guitarz Magazine)

Дэт, дум (death metal, doom metal) (Music Box)

20 Univerbation.

Кричалка (chant), ответка (response to a diss), социалочка (piece of music oriented on social issues) (The Flow)

Личка (direct messages) (Афиша.Музыка)

Нетленка (timeless classic) (Guitarz Magazine)

Жрачка (chow down) (Music Box)

Half of the words built by clipping belong to common groups of colloquial lexis such as youth slang (“ботан” (nerd)), Internet slang (“коммент” (comment), “личка” (direct messages)), rude words (“жрачка” (chow)).

Another half of the words in the examples refer to the specific music slang: see “дэт” (death) - from “дэт-метал” (death metal), “нетленка” (timeless classic), derivative from “нетленное (произведение)”, “социалочка” (piece of music oriented on social issues), дешифр (“decoding” of music lyrics) and “ответка” (response to a “diss”, or a disrespectful commentary, - from hip hop slang).

Finally, our research proves that in music journalism word building fulfills not only expressive and evaluative functions, but also phatic (establishing the contact between members of certain social groups), stylistic (imitating spoken language or colloquial discourse) and creative (invention of new words). These functions are immediately connected with the expression of a personal point of view of a speaker and maintaining the informal tone of the communication.

3.6 Lexical Diversity

Analyzing the specifics of colloquial language, Zemskaya claims that lexical diversity is one of its crucial features (Земская, 1979, p. 27). Colloquial language mixes words from different and sometimes opposite lexical groups such as scientific lexis, poeticisms, slang and jargon. There are two key factors that motivate this diversity: the broad thematic spectrum of colloquial language and its naturalness. Zemskaya calls naturalness the central characteristic of colloquial language in general and points out three preconditions for the creation of a “natural” communicative situation: the absence of the orientation towards formal communication; informal connections between communicators; the absence of other elements that could violate the informal status of the communicative situation.

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