Pleonasm as a Communicative Phenomenon in the Aspects of Linguistics, Information Theory and Logic

Abstract

The relevance of the study is driven by the need for a comprehensive analysis of pleonasms from the perspectives of linguistics, information theory, and logic to develop criteria for their differentiation as either normative or erroneous phenomena. The research materials include works by contemporary Ukrainian linguists, as well as examples from spontaneous oral speech and media texts. The goal of the study is to determine the status of pleonastic constructions within the logical and linguistic structures of an utterance.

The methodological framework of the study is based on the linguistic description method with its inherent techniques of external and internal interpretation; componential and distributive analyses were also applied.

The scientific novelty of the study lies in clarifying the concept of "pleonasm" through the prism of linguistics, information theory, and logic. A classification of pleonasms is presented, which accounts for their intensional, extensional, and pragmatic characteristics.

Results. An objective assessment of pleonasm requires the integration of semantic, logical, and pragmatic levels of analysis. It has been established that from a linguostylistic perspective, pleonasms serve as an expressive tool appropriate for literary discourse, whereas in scientific and official-business styles, they are primarily classified as deviations. The study highlights the need for broader research into pleonastic constructions as functionally justified phenomena within media texts and spontaneous oral speech.

To eliminate terminological ambiguity, it is proposed to differentiate the following concepts: tautology is defined as the lexical repetition of cognate words, while pleonasm is defined as linguistic redundancy (the use of semantically related or partially identical units within a single syntactic construction).

Conclusions. Within the semantic approach, pleonasm is treated as a manifestation of semantic reduction (the partial loss of a word’s semes). The application of information theory has allowed for the projection of the concept of redundancy onto pleonasm, enabling the evaluation of such constructions depending on the context — either as anormative or as communicatively justified. From the standpoint of formal logic, pleonasms are defined as structurally redundant units that violate the principle of economy as a fundamental principle of rational thinking, although they do not directly create logical contradictions.

Consequently, the ultimate assessment of pleonastic phenomena depends on the analytical priority – whether they are viewed as a logical structure or as a unit of a communicative act.