Pragmatic-Semantic Analysis of Palindromes in Russian, Arabic, and Chinese Linguocultures

Abstract

The present study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of palindromic constructions across three typologically distinct languages: Russian, Arabic, and Chinese. The research problem stems from the paucity of comprehensive scholarship addressing both universal and language-specific mechanisms underlying the functioning of symmetrical texts, as well as their determination by specific linguistic structures and the cultural codes of different ethnic groups. The corpus comprises 212 palindromic units drawn from lexicographic sources alongside samples from folkloric, religious, and literary discourses. The investigation identifies the dominant communicative intents associated with palindromic forms. While the ludic component and gnomic nature prove to be cross-linguistic universals, significant divergences emerge upon closer scrutiny. In the Russian tradition, palindromes gravitate toward comic effect and existential assertion; conversely, Arabic specimens are characterized by direct didacticism and moral appraisal, whereas Chinese examples serve contemplative meditation and ontological modeling of the universe. A crucial distinction is established regarding the semiotic function of form: within Chinese palindromy, structure acts as a direct microcosm mirroring the cosmic order, while in Russian and Arabic traditions, formal symmetry functions primarily as an intensifier of affect or a marker conferring sacred status upon the utterance. The findings enable the classification of palindromes according to formal properties, addressee typology, syntactic-semantic architecture, and crosscultural parallels, thereby opening new avenues for the diachronic and synchronic study of symmetrical texts.