RHETORICAL STRUCTURE OF MIKHAIL LOMONOSOV’S SCIENTIFIC LANGUAGE

The article aims to analyze to what extent and for what purposes the theoretical propositions outlinedin Mikhail Lomonosov’s rhetorical works are applied in his natural science discourse. The material examined consistsof essays written in the genre of “discourse”. The relevance of this research lies in the text-oriented approach of contemporarystudies of scientifi c discourse, while its novelty stems from the lack of prior research on Lomonosov’s workfrom this perspective. It is shown that Lomonosov’s choice of a specifi c genre was infl uenced by extralinguistic factors,since he was to deliver a speech at a formal public meeting of the Academy of Sciences. The rhetorical structure ofthese works is evident in both the composition (including a panegyric-style introduction and conclusion) and the useof lexical and syntactic rhetorical elements throughout the text. The main categories of rhetorical techniques identifi edinclude “decorations”, “extension”, and “questioning”, with their functions being both merely rhetorical and supportiveof contact with the audience. The overall conclusion drawn is that the rhetorical form used to present information in the context of a formal public speech did not confl ict with the serious content of Lomonosov’s work and was compatible with the scientifi c discourse of the XVIII century.

Mikhail Lomonosov, scientifi c discourse, rhetoric, “discourse” genre, academic language