The communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism (a study of the 20th-21th century English prose)

Ph.D. in Philology, Senior Lecturer

Annotation

communicative pessimism speaker interaction

The article highlights the issue of pessimism as a personal factor of communicative interaction which manifests itself in the speaker's communicative behaviour. Our analysis provides an explanation for the structure of the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism. It has been proved that the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism comprises the participants of communication, their personal characteristics and psychological roles; the background of communication (time, place and sphere of communication); the mode of communication (style and tonality of communication).

It has beenfound out that pessimistic communicative style is characterized by pessimistic communicative tonality, which as a basic feature of communication indicates the attitude of the communicators to each other, to the circumstances and the subject of speech. Pessimistic communicative tonality is characterized by a specific emotional-axiological language code in the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism. This work has demonstrated that pessimistic communicative style is polychronic, proxemically variable, direct/ indirect, person-oriented, inductive, intuitive, expanded/laconic, which is proved by a range of verbal and non-verbal signals. With all the findings, we are not yet in position to offer explanations for cognitive and linguocultural aspects of the phenomenon of pessimism.

Key words: pessimism, pessimistic utterance, communication, communicative situation, pessimistic communicative style, pessimistic communicative tonality.

Анотація

Бойчук Валентина Михайлівна, кандидат філологічних наук, старший викладач Луцький педагогічний коледж

КОМУНІКАТИВНА СИТУАЦІЯ РЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ ПЕСИМІЗМУ МОВЦЯ (НА МАТЕРІАЛІ АНГЛОМОВНОЇ ПРОЗИ ХХ-ХХІ СТОЛІТЬ)

Стаття присвячена висвітленню особливостей песимізму як особистісного чинника комунікативно-мовленнєвої взаємодії. Зважаючи на той факт, що мовленнєва діяльність відбувається в конкретній комунікативній ситуації, встановлено, що комунікативна ситуація реалізації песимізму мовця включає особистісні характеристики й психологічні ролі учасників спілкування. Індивідуальні, соціальні та фізіологічні фактори є основою для формування предметно-подійного фону інтеракції, який включає сферу, місце та час спілкування. З'ясовано, що песимістичний комунікативний стиль вирізняється низкою диференційних ознак, серед яких чільне місце належить песимістичній комунікативній тональності, яка відображає ставлення учасників спілкування один до одного й до предмета і обставин мовлення.

Ключові слова: песимізм, песимістичне висловлення, комунікація, комунікативна ситуація, песимістичний комунікативний стиль, песимістична комунікативна тональність.

Introduction

Speech activity takes place in a specific communicative situation, which determines the speech and non-speech actions of communicators and facilitates the actualization of their personal characteristics. Communicators' awareness of the situation in which communication takes place, their views of each other, their communication experience and background knowledge, i. e external context, provides rapport between communicators and effective communication. The heterogeneity of external context is determined by the existence of the context of situation and background knowledge. The context of situation is understood as communicators' knowledge about the communicative situation. Basing ourselves on the definitions of the communicative situation, which are accepted in the theory of communication and linguistics [3, p. 7-22; 12, p. 42], we consider that the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism is a model of contact in which the speech and non-speech actions of at least two participants of interaction are indicated. These actions are determined by the set of extralingual and lingual conditions.

Theoretical background

During the last decades the fundamental changes in social consciousness gave a particular resonance to the problem of pessimism. Though a number of philosophical, psychological and social studies [9; 13; 15; 17] are devoted to pessimism, only a few researches focus on particular linguistic aspects of this phenomenon (linguistic expression, communicative and strategic potential, tonality) [4; 5; 8; 14; 16]. The relevance of our research is determined by the scientific interest to the study of language in close relationship with the anthropological, psychological and social factors that characterize its speakers.

The purpose of this research is to reveal the main characteristics of the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism. The specific research objectives are as follows: 1) to find out the structure of the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism; 2) to identify main features of pessimistic communicative style and pessimistic communicative tonality. The research material comprises textual fragments containing pessimistic utterances (PU). They are selected by continuous sampling from the XX-XXI centuries English prose and analyzed using Tropes V8.4 software.

Results and discussion

The structure of the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism comprises 1) the participants of communication, their personal characteristics and psychological roles; 2) the background of communication (time, place and sphere of communication); 3) the mode of communication (style and tonality of communication).

The results of this research show that there are two participants of communication in the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism. One of them (the pessimist) demonstrates a tendency to pessimistic perception of reality and verbal and non-verbal expression of his/her 1) pessimistic dispositions (dispositional pessimism) (16 % of all the PU analyzed), 2) pessimistic attributions (pessimism as an attributional style) (32% PU), 3) pessimistic expectations (defensive pessimism) (27% PU), 4) pessimistic mood (situational pessimism) (25% PU).

The communicative partner of the pessimist is the person who 1) shares the pessimistic views (8% of all the reponsive utterances analyzed), 2) demonstrates a life-affirming world view (28% of the reponsive utterances), 3) tries to persuade the pessimist of the unreasonableness and futility of a pessimistic world view (30% of reponsive utterances), 4) is indifferent to the interlocutor's pessimistic attitudes (34% of reponsive utterances). The following fragment serves as an example:

The would-be cherub's rosy, cheery demeanor sank to an ashy, astonished expression, “Holy monkeys, Mr. Sunday! How can you not believe in God? ”

“Watch the news kid, it's a scary world. And when you get older and you realize your life is constantly the pits; it's hard to imagine there being a God. ”

“Have you ever stopped to think that maybe people are unhappy because they aren't paying attention to the right things? ” His tone clearly requested a response; yet Sunday remained silent. Instead of taking the hint that Sunday did not want to talk, Gabriel continued, “Haveyou ever really been happy?” [19, p. 22].

In this fragment the pessimist demonstrates strong pessimistic dispositions that are verbally explicated by the lexemes-identifiers of pessimism and communicative markers of pessimism and non-verbally shown by the refusal to continue communication.

Another participant of the communicative act, a sick boy named Gabriel, tries to convince his interlocutor of the unreasonableness and futility of a pessimistic world view. He is outraged and surprised by his disbelief (How can you not believe in God? Holy monkeys, Mr Sunday!) and hopelessness (maybe people are unhappy because they aren't paying attention to the right things?); endeavours to arouse interest by focusing on the experience of the interlocutor (Have you ever really been happy?').

Using a range of non-verbal means of communication, such as kinesic (facial) (an ashy, astonished expression), phonatory (His tone clearly requested a response), and ignoring the interlocutor's behavioral reactions (Instead of taking the hint that Sunday did not want to talk, Gabriel continued), Gabriel reinforces his desire to change the communicative partner's pessimistic attitudes.

The investigation shows that of all the background factors of communication (time, place and sphere of communication), time is the basic one as it is decisive in terms of the communicative purpose of the pessimistic speaker. The time factor integrates three basic dimensions - social (permanent social cataclysms, economic crises, social conflicts) (39% of all the fragments analyzed), individual (problems in private life, loss of work, social status, savings and income, stresses, failures) (43% of fragments analyzed) and physiological (illness, mental disorders, age) (18% of fragments analyzed), which contribute to the formation of the pessimistic speaker as a personality in which the traits that reflect a negative world perception and lead to destructive consequences are differentiated and integrated. The close links between these aspects create a certain symbiosis of cause-effect relationships that can be traced in the investigated communicative situations. For example:

“Any response to the letter writing campaign?” she asked, keen to change the subject.

“Not much,” said Sophie. “We've had support from a few trade union branches and some individuals. Nothing from the MPs yet though.”

Even the usually irrepressible Sophie sounded pessimistic.

“It doesn't look good. The police are trying to get an injunction. They could go into the mosque any time” [18].

As it can be seen from the fragment, the pessimistic mood of the speaker is caused by a number of social and political reasons, having a definite place in the structure of the temporal continuum. The inability to obtain support from trade unions and politicians at a certain point of time causes the situational pessimism, which is explicated verbally and non-verbally within the illustrated communicative situation.

Personal problems that appear in the period of experiencing a personal crisis, form an individual dimension of the time factor, which determines the communicative aim of the pessimistic speaker. The spontaneousness of this communicative aim depends on the circumstances of the situation. For example:

“We found each other millions of years ago, Julian. ”

“Yes, yes, I know. I feel that too, but really, ordinary really, since Covent Garden it's only two days. ”

“I'll meditate on that.”

“Well, meditate properly. Bradley, you couldn't leave me, what nonsense are you talking.”

“No, I couldn't leave you, my utter darling, but you could leave me. I don't mean anything about doubting your love. It's just that whatever miracle made us will automatically also break us. We are for breaking, our smash is what it's for ” [21].

The illusory shift of time limits as a result of the experience of last love (We found each other millions of years ago, Julian) does not cause the loss of touch with reality, which allows the speaker to look critically and at the same time pessimistically at the situation, caused by a significant difference in age and the nature of social bonds. The desires to share feelings and get support from the interlocutor are expressed by negative projections, predictions and expectations (you could leave me; I's just that whatever miracle made us will automatically also break us; We are for breaking, our smash is what it's for).

The physiological aspect is another reason for the pessimistic outlook of the speaker, for example:

“Do you know what a poem is, Esther?"

“No, what?” I would say.

“Apiece of dust.”

Then just as he was smiling and starting to look proud, I would say, “So are the cadavers you cut up. So are the people you think you're curing. They're dust as dust as dust. I reckon a good poem lasts a whole lot longer than a hundred of those people put together” [22].

In this fragment, the heroine of Sylvia Plath's novel “The Bell Jar”, Esther, who periodically suffers from the attacks of mental illness, perceives the surrounding reality rather painfully and pessimistically, expressing disbelief, hopelessness, annoyance, frustration. The device of intertextuality (the allusive use of the lexical unit dust (a source text Book ofEcclesiastes 3:20.) accentuates the pessimism of the heroine.

The existence of the mode of communication (communicative style and communicative tonality) as structural component of the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism is determined by the fact that style characterizes any personal behavior of semiotic nature [1, p. 320] and is related to a specific human community that uses a well-established and intelligible range of verbal and non-verbal means of communication [7, p. 109].

Communicative style, as a linguistically marked term, is used to denote 1) the dominant mode of communication in most communicative situations [11, p. 97], 2) a mental phenomenon, presented in the mind as a set of communicative norms, rules and communicative concepts, which manifests itself in the lingual form in a specific communicative behavior of native speakers [6, p. 38], 3) individual stable form of communicative behavior of a person, which is observed under all conditions of communication: in business and personal relationships, in the process of psychological influence on people, while solving interpersonal and individual conflicts, etc. [2], 4) the mode of discursive (verbal and non-verbal) behavior based on the duad to “to win/to lose” [10, p. 76]. A common invariant feature of these definitions is the understanding of the communicative style as a form (type, manner, mode) of communicative behavior of a person whose specificity is expressed in interpersonal contacts.

Communicative style is characterized by the following features: communicative tonality (optimistic/pessimistic), temporality (polychronicity/monochronicity of communicative actions), spatial communicative distance (setting/breaking the boundaries of the personal field), the directness of the expression of one's intentions (direct/indirect style), statusness (person-oriented/status-oriented style), argumentativity (deductive/inductive style), rationality (rational/intuitive style), expressiveness (expanded/laconic style), etc. [6, p. 38].

The study has revealed that pessimistic communicative style is characterized by the pessimistic communicative tonality, which as a basic feature of communication indicates the attitude of the communicators to each other, to the circumstances and the subject of speech. The pessimistic communicative tonality is characterized by a specific emotional-axiological language code [2] in the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism. The pessimistic tonality is formed by the lexemes-identifiers of pessimism and other lexical and phraseological means of its actualization.

Verbal and non-verbal means of representation of the speaker's pessimism contribute to the intensification of the pessimistic tonality within the communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism. For example:

“Could it be said that you are happy to see Sulivan & Levil do so,” Daniel said with a touch of bitterness in his voice, “rather than cause a scandal to your family name?” He could see that he had touched a raw nerve and Enid glanced away guilty. “Not that it matters anymore,” he continued pessimistically. “Captain Mort will probably remain free from the law. And free from the punishment he so richly deserves for the murders of so many people in the past” [23].

The following means of creating the pessimistic tonality are observed in the given fragment: 1) the lexeme-identifier of pessimism pessimistically (the average number of lexical tonality according to the sentiment analysis -1); 2) the non-verbal means of representation of the speaker's pessimism a touch of bitterness in his voice (the average number of lexical tonality -0.5); 3) the rhetorical question, which indicates the speaker's desire to express his attitude to the utterance and emotionally influence the listener: Could it be said that you are happy to see Sulivan & Levil do so /.../rather than cause a scandal to your family name? (the average number of lexical tonality -0.5); 4) the metaphor he had touched a raw nerve (the average number of lexical tonality 0); 5) the lexical unit probably that indicates the speaker's doubts about the future (the average number of lexical tonality 0).The results of the sentiment analysis confirm that the average lexical tonality of this fragment ranges from 0 to -1, which points at a negative, pessimistic communicative tonality of the fragment.

As to the other features (temporality, spatial communicative distance, the directness of the expression of one's intentions, statusness, argumentativity, rationality, expressiveness) the pessimistic communicative style is polychronic, proxemically variable, direct/indirect, person-oriented, inductive, intuitive, expanded/laconic, which is proved by a range of verbal and non-verbal signals. For example:

Daniel struggled. His face contorted in reconciling buriedfeelings with what he had just said. “You're right. They did want that. But I guess I lost them because that is what happens in the city. Life loses its direction. Good things get swallowed up or die out in the mad rush that goes on. There are good people down there - look at you - but it seems to me as if you are all caught up in a monstrous and destructive machine that is destroying the environment there as up here and chewing up people and discarding them as it moves along” [20, p. 93].

The dominant features of the pessimistic communicative style in this communicative situation are 1) the concentration of speech actions on one communicative partner (verbal signals - You're right, look at you); 2) the metaphorical expression of pessimistic attitudes: Good things get swallowed up or die out in the mad rush that goes on; Life loses its direction; 3) egocentric orientation of communication (verbal signals - deictic elements I, me), 4) verbal inductivity - the movement from separate facts to generalizations and conclusions in the linear sequence of utterance production; 5) expansion - the pessimistic utterance is represented by a paragraph.

The variability of the basic features of the pessimistic communicative style in different communicative situations of realization of the speaker's pessimism testifies to the decisive influence of a personal factor on communicative behavior.

Conclusions

The communicative situation of realization of the speaker's pessimism embraces personal characteristics, motives and behavioral reactions of the participants of communication. It is determined by individual, social and physiological factors that are integrated within a certain time continuum, and is characterized by pessimistic tonality and pessimistic communicative style.

With all the findings, the current study needs to be further developed. The prospects touch upon the investigation of the phenomenon of pessimism in cognitive and linguocultural aspects.

Література