A combination of words with the same root, repetition of an already expressed meaning, different grammatical forms of one word, identical sounds, appearing in speech as special remedy artistic expression, linguistic habit or carelessness, irregularity. Lit. the term T. (from the Greek tauto “same” t logos “word”) is translated as identity or word identity. Tautological linguistic habits that are well-established in the speech and language of T. include such expressions as “willy-nilly”, “ like it or not", "criss-cross", etc. Also - expressions of a particularly high degree of quality: "kind-very-kind", "drunk-drunk", "rich-very rich". This also includes cases when the original figurative meaning of the main word in a frequency phrase of a tautological nature is forgotten: “white linen”, or “low bass”, “black ink”. T. most common as a combination of words with the same root - both as a means of expression, expressiveness of speech, and as an erroneous redundancy, incorrect use of words, for example, “hefty big guy” and “oil butter”. By the way, in special “instructive-tautological” constructions, speech situations, when someone protests against verbosity, repetitions of hackneyed truths are suitable for expressiveness and the same “butter”: “We don’t need to tell us that butter is butter (etc. .)". T. as a repetition of the grammatical forms of one word: “friendship is friendship, in service is service.” T. is considered more complex when there is a repetition of an already formally expressed meaning, that is, its intensification, strengthening. This type of T. repeats synonyms side by side and is often used in PR and advertising: “wonderful, excellent gift”, “suitable, correct solution", "wonderful, beautiful aroma." This T. is based on the fact that there is no complete synonymy of words in a language - there are always semantic differences, shades that enhance the impression. This T. is represented very widely in traditional folklore: "once upon a time ", "paths-roads", "mighty hero". Obvious negligence, tautological errors, indicating insufficient culture of speech - "empty" words, terms (excesses) in statements such as: "he has five children", "sell three PIECES cheesecakes in chocolate." Also - poor knowledge of the exact meaning of the words used, for example, "industrial industry" ("industry" is "industry"), "satirical caricature" ("caricature" is "satirical drawing"). ALOGISM, PLEONASM.
Dictionary of Logic
Tautology - in ordinary language: repetition of what has already been said. For example: “Life is life.” “If you’re unlucky, you won’t be so lucky.” T. is meaningless and empty, it does not carry any information, and people try to get rid of it as unnecessary ballast that clutters up speech and...
In ordinary language: repeating what has already been said. For example: “Life is life.” "If you're unlucky, you won't be so lucky." T. is meaningless and empty, it does not carry any information, and people try to get rid of it as unnecessary ballast, cluttering up speech and making communication difficult...
Philosophical Dictionary
(Greek tauto - the same; logos - word) - 1) an expression that repeats what was previously said in a different linguistic form; 2) T. in definition is a logical error, which consists in the fact that the concept being defined is defined through itself, i.e. the defining part of the definition repeats that...
Philosophical Dictionary
According to: 1) a definition repeating in a different form what was previously said; 2) in logic - a logical error in the definition of concepts, consisting in the fact that the definition is replaced by a change in the verbal form of the defined concept - the predicate only repeats in other words what is said in...
from Greek ?????? – the same one and????? – word) – 1) Truism, common place, an obvious truth. 2) An extreme case of a logical error of the petitio principii type, namely, idem per idem (“the same through the same” in definition, proof, etc.). 3) Logical. a law expressing the idempotency property of certain logical. operations, concepts (terms), truth values, etc. Therefore, the laws of idempotency are often called. also laws (or principles) of T. 4) A formula of propositional logic, true for any set of truth values of its variables (always true, or unconditionally true, or tautological, or identically true formula). This meaning of the term “T.”, introduced by Wittgenstein, was later expanded: T. began to be called in general logically true (see Logical truth, Laws of thought) formulas of classical. logical calculus - classical laws. logic. In accordance with 4), the concept of calculus is naturally attributed not to “pure” but to applied calculus, when the domain of change of variables (the domain of objects), or the universe, is fixed, although calculus does not depend on what this universe is. For example, in the calculus of predicates of the first stage with identity, the formula x = x (the law of reflexivity of identity) is T. The truth of this formula does not depend on whether we choose the set of natural numbers or the set of real numbers as the universe. numbers, or k.-l. another set. T. says something always true about any possible universe, i.e. about the elements (their properties and relationships) of any set of objects from a certain system of sets, in relation to which it only makes sense. The words “universum”, “any set”, etc. show that T. is a classical concept. logic. It is with this view. classic logics of T. form theoretical. the basis for any logically correct conclusions (see Identical truth). When the number of accepted truth values is more than two (with the so-called generalized system of truth values, which occurs, for example, in multi-valued logic), the so-called. such formulas which, for any set of truth values of variables from the accepted generalized system, retain the same selected (marked) value. T. in this sense are used, in particular, in proving the independence of axioms and rules of logical inference. calculus. Lit.: Wittgenstein L., Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, trans. from German, M., 1958; Church?., Introduction to Mathematical Logic, trans. from English, [vol.] 1, , 1960, § 15, 19, 23; Blanch? R., Introduction? la logique contemporaine, P., , p. 63–69. M. Novoselov. Moscow.
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Speech occupies an important place in a person’s life. With its help, people communicate, share and receive information. Therefore, it is important that the speech is understandable to the interlocutor. Below we will consider such a phenomenon in the Russian language as tautology. Most often this term is found in rhetoric and logic. What is a tautology?
What is tautology from the point of view of such a science as rhetoric? In general, this term is of Greek origin, the translation of which means “repetition of the same thing.” In rhetoric, a tautology is understood as a rhetorical figure that consists of words with the same root.
It is also the use of words that come from other languages, but mean the same thing. It is precisely because words have one meaning that it is undesirable to use such constructions in speech, because they do not carry any new information. Such designs can be used as a stylistic device, but there should not be too many of them.
What is tautology in logic? The concept of this term is slightly different: it denotes an expression that is true. Most often, tautology in logic occurs when a concept is explained using the same concept.
That is, the term itself is used in the explanation, and there is a repetition of the same words. But sometimes the laws of logic are formulated with the help of tautology. For example, “Does three divided by three equal three or not?” Therefore, in logic, tautology does not always “clog” speech.
There is one term similar to a tautology - this is pleonasm. Both of them denote redundancy in speech. But what is the difference between tautology and pleonasm? Despite the similar meaning, there are significant differences between them.
Pleonasm is the use in speech of words that have a similar lexical meaning within the same construction. For example, “The family went on vacation in November.” Most often, pleonasm can be found in folklore. But important feature that these words are not cognate, unlike tautologies.
Tautology is the use of words that have the same root or are borrowed from other languages with the same meaning. It is difficult not to use lexical repetitions in speech, because not all words can be found synonyms. Therefore, sometimes you have to use similar words.
Why is this phenomenon classified as a “speech weed”? Because it doesn't provide any new information. Listening to speech and reading texts that contain a lot of repetition is quite difficult. Therefore, to make it easier for you to convey information, you need to try to avoid frequent lexical repetitions.
The reason for the tautology is the low level of vocabulary. Therefore, reading fiction and classical literature increases your literacy level. You will also learn to correctly use synonyms in speech by enriching your vocabulary.
The following exercise will be useful - paraphrasing sentences by selecting synonyms for words. If you find it difficult, you can use a dictionary. This way you can make your speech clear and literate.
Some repetitions of words with the same root have become so firmly established in everyday speech that they are difficult to notice. An example of a tautology is the following expressions: “to do business”, “to make jam”, “snow-white snow”. They can be paraphrased as follows: “do something”, “make jam”, “beautiful snow”.
An example of a tautology, when words from other languages that have a similar meaning are used, is the expression “evening serenade”. The word "serenade" is of Italian origin and means evening song. Therefore it is better to replace given word to the "song".
What is tautology in literary speech? Lexical repetitions as a stylistic device are often used by authors to make the text more expressive. Most often this is used in poetic speech.
Lexical repetition is also found in prose and folklore. This is used to focus the reader’s attention on an event or detail.
An important issue is the correct spelling: tautology or taftology? It is correct to write a word with the consonant “B”, and to pronounce it with the emphasis on the third syllable.
A tautology is most often considered speech error, because repetitions of the same thing do not carry any semantic load. The exception is literature, and only when this repetition is needed to enhance the impression on the reader. You can improve your speech by reading more fiction.
The most difficult thing to control is tautologies with borrowed words. A dictionary will help you with this. Thanks to this, you will not only increase lexicon, but also expand your horizons. Try to choose synonyms for words more often, and then your speech will become beautiful, understandable and literate.
To each school years The word “tautology” is familiar. Too often literature teachers (and not only them) shamed careless students who used or oral speech expressions like “butter oil”. So often that I remember it for the rest of my life. And the conviction has become firmly ingrained that tautologies must be avoided at all costs.
The term “tautology” came into Russian from antiquity. The ancient Greeks used the word tautologeo to describe the situation when “the same thing is said.” This is his literal translation.
In antiquity, perissology was also distinguished - the repetition of synonyms or other words of the same meaning; and macrology - the presence of unnecessary explanations in speech. Modern science does not share these concepts and calls each of them a tautology. So, what is a tautology? And is it true that it only points to gross flaws in speech? Can it be appropriate in the text and not harm it?
This term is used by linguists to mean the repetition of the same words, words of the same root or similar in meaning, as well as expressions. For example: “Give back my books, my favorite books...”. Or: “The cold weather has arrived.” Or: “It is better to remain poor than to burn later in the hell of shame and shame.”
From the above examples it is clear that tautology is not always superfluous. And indeed it is. There are many cases that prove the justification and even irreplaceability of the use of tautology.
But more often, of course, it disfigures speech, making it illiterate and ugly. “Butter oil”, “pay a fee”, “an accident happened”, etc. Such and similar expressions sound quite bad...
Most likely in the old days simple people in Rus' they didn’t even know, and didn’t know, what a tautology was. But they actively used in their speech situations that can be defined by this term. Take, for example, the most popular folk “prelude”: “The fairy tale will soon be told, but the deed will not be done soon.” It has survived to this day and is perceived quite organically.
Unlike their unenlightened ancestors, the Russian classics probably knew what a tautology was. But they also sometimes loved to insert some kind of repetition into their immortal creation. Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Balmont, and many other literary “bisons” dabbled in this.
And the point is not at all that everything is forgiven to geniuses. In fact, sometimes there’s nowhere without a tautology. For example, in an example such as “Make jam”, it is not advisable to replace any of the words with others. Because you need to cook it (not fry it, don’t bake it or stew it) and it’s the jam (and not jam or marmalade). In the phrase “Falls down,” a tautology is needed to enhance the meaning. And in the expression “A wolf is a wolf” is necessary to emphasize the truth of the statement and the absurdity of any doubts about it.
The last of the above examples of the use of tautology is on the border of literature and logic, which, by the way, also actively uses this term in its arsenal.
What is a tautology from a logical point of view? This is an identically true statement. The same example, or similar ones: “Home is home”, “mother is mother”, “mine is mine” - are in in this case a good illustration.
Tautologies are also sometimes used to formulate logical laws. For example: “Four divided by two is two or not two?”, “Is zero equal to zero or not equal to zero?”, “Is it raining or not?”.
From all of the above, we can conclude that a tautology is not always a “weed”. It can also be a cultivated “plant”. If you use it carefully and competently, and not simply due to a vocabulary deficit, then it can look quite organic in the text.
Speech is one of the main tools in people's lives. With its help, they communicate and transmit information to each other. Politicians and public figures through communication convey to the public masses important information. However, there are many phenomena that spoil our speech, making it ugly and less informative. One such phenomenon is the repetition of words with the same root or tautology. We will talk about what this concept means in this article.
The term "tautology" was borrowed from Greek language, in which the word “ταὐτολόγος” is translated as “repeat the same thing.” This concept is widely used in two sciences: rhetoric and logic. Accordingly, it has two definitions.
In rhetoric, a tautology is understood as a rhetorical figure consisting of words with the same root. Another option for repetition is to use words that come from different languages, but having the same meaning. It is extremely undesirable to use such constructions in speech, since such statements do not provide any new information. The only exceptions are cases when tautology acts as a stylistic device. Then these constructions are used to give poetic expressiveness to speech.
The following expressions are an unjustified tautology:
In logic There is another definition of this concept. Here, a tautology is an expression that always remains true. Of course, depending on the section of logic, this term will be interpreted somewhat differently. Most often, this phenomenon occurs when they try to explain one concept through the same concept.
For example: “Problem-based learning is education“in which the teacher creates a problem situation and the students try to solve it on their own.”
In the above statement we find two tautological errors:
Agree, the above definition of the concept of “problem-based learning” does not help the reader to better understand its essence. That is why such mistakes should be avoided in speech.
Tautology must be distinguished from another similar phenomenon - pleonasm. Both of these concepts indicate presence of redundancy in speech. However, it is wrong to say that they are identical.
Pleonasm call a speech phenomenon characterized by the use of words with similar lexical meanings within the same utterance.
Example: “Katerina gave birth to a daughter in February.”
Most often, pleonasms are found in folklore works. It is important to remember that in this case the words do not have a common root.
Tautology the unintentional use of words with the same root or lexical units taken from different languages, but having same value. Examples:
Tautology is a fairly common mistake. However, text authors do not always manage to avoid lexical repetitions. Some words in the language do not have synonyms, so there is no choice but to use the same word.
As we have already said, in most cases the tautology does not carry with it no meaning. In other words, it's just verbal garbage. In addition, the constant repetition of cognate words simply clogs your oral and written speech. Read texts that consist of large quantity repetitions, very difficult and uninteresting.
The presence of unjustified repetitions in a person’s speech often indicates a low level of his vocabulary. In addition, this suggests that he does not know how to use synonyms in his speech. Of course, some expressions have become so deeply ingrained in our speech that we don’t even think about the fact that they repeat words with the same value.
For example:
To get rid of meaningless statements in your speech, it is recommended to read works of fiction more often. They'll let you expand your vocabulary. Also, learn to paraphrase sentences. Try to use synonymous words and expressions more often. If you find it difficult to find a synonym for a particular language unit, consult a dictionary.
Tautology in the Russian language is not uncommon. As mentioned above, in literary works she can perform as a means of expression. Below we will give several examples of repetitions taken from Russian literature and talk about their role in these passages.
I dreamed of catching the passing shadows,
The fading shadows of the fading day.
I climbed the tower, and the steps trembled,
And the steps shook under my feet.
This combination of repeated elements of the poem allows the author to create an uplifting effect. In addition, they create a unique melody of the poem that instantly captivates the reader.
The guests came ashore
Tsar Saltan invites them to visit.
Tautology is used not only in poetry, but also in prose works. This technique is often used in prayers or conspiracies. In this case, repeating the same words is a guarantee of results.
Thus, a tautology is a speech phenomenon characterized by repetition of cognate words. As a rule, using the same words makes the statement meaningless. However, in some cases the use of this technique is justified. For example, this technique is widely used by authors works of art to create the image they want.
