Characters’ nomination according to external features in Ilf and Petrov’s “12 chairs”

Abstract

The paper presents the analysis of nomination according to the external features of the characters in the novel “The Twelve Chairs” by I. Ilf and Eu. Petrov. The characters’ nomination is understood as the main part of the anthroponymic system of the novel. The system of nominations denoting a person according to different aspects is viewed as a complex of multiple levels including several subsystems or semantic unities. One of them is a unity of nominations denoting characters according to their external features. Due to their semantic meaning the units can be divided into two groups: units denoting a person according to permanent physical characteristics (such as age, sex, appearance) and units denoting a person according to situational physiological state or condition. The nominations in question serve to present a vivid description of personages and to express the esthetic impression based on the analysis of physical, physiological and anthropological qualities and states visually perceived by the author of nomination. The article will also touch upon the ways the nominations are translated into English by native speaking translators.