Pragmatic component in the eighteenth-century language of science (based on Mikhail Lomonosov’s texts)

The purpose of the study is to identify the linguistic means of implementing the pragmatic function of scientific texts. Mikhail Lomonosov’s letter to Euler dated 5 July 1748 and his dissertation De ratione quantitatis materiae et ponderis (Ratio of the quantity of matter and its weight). These texts match each other almost verbatim, but differ in their pragmatic intentions. The same scientific content is expressed by Lomonosov through different linguistic forms. The personal letter involves maintaining comfortable communication, therefore, he chooses language means that emphasize the closeness of the relationship and increase the status of the addressee, scientific reasoning takes the form of “I” statements, sometimes more emotional and categorical. The genre of scientific report involves the presentation of objective knowledge, therefore, Lomonosov uses linguistic means that reduce categoricity: “we” statements, passive voice, indefinite-personal constructions, and lexical indicators of incomplete confidence. Necessary pragmatic goals are achieved by restructuring the auxiliary apparatus of the texts, including discursive operators, and do not affect their content or lexical base. All this characterizes Lomonosov as a linguistic personality fully capable of implementing required pragmatic components of discursive practices by means of the Latin language.