Interpretation of Foregrounding in English and Uzbek Literary Discourse

Abstract

This study aims to figure out one of the types of foregrounding and its usage in English and Uzbek literary discourse. The term foregrounding has its origin which is firmly linked with the Czech theorist Jan Mukarovsky: it is how Mukarovsky's original term” aktualisace” was rendered in English by his first translation. It refers to the range of stylistic effects that occur in literature, whether at the phonetic level (e.g., alliteration, rhyme), the grammatical level (e.g., inversion, ellipsis), or the semantic level (e.g., metaphor, irony). As Mukarovsky pointed out, foregrounding may occur in normal, everyday language, such as spoken discourse or journalistic prose, but it occurs at random with no systematic design. The paper outlines the cognitive stylistics as a new discipline, identifies stylistic functions of convergence as the cognitive principle of foregrounding.