Alfred Nobel University Journal of Philology (Dec 2019)
PRAGMATIC EFFECT OF THE SPEECH-ACT REALIZATION OF BIBLICAL IMAGES-SYMBOLS IN FRANK PERETTI`S MYSTICAL THRILLERS
Abstract
The article deals with the specificity of the pragmatic effect of the speech-act realization of biblical images-symbols in the mystical thrillers by Frank Peretti, the American postmodernism writer, whose worldview is based on Protestantism (Christianity). Biblical images-symbols artistically embodied into the mystical thrillers are biblical intertexts. Implemented in literary texts by lexical means, the biblical imagessymbols as biblical intertexts embody archetypal (biblical) representations and, at the same time, author’s associations while expressing the most significant ideas and guidelines for fictional texts The pragmatic analysis of the speech acts made it possible to develop a typology of pragmatic (perlocutionary) effects of the speech-act realization where biblical images-symbols are artistically embodied. The pragmatic effect is revealed in such statements, as representative, directive, comissive, and expressive. The pragmatic effect can be successful or unsuccessful, and manifested in verbal, nonverbal, and mixed forms. The perlocutionary effect can be considered as successful if it reaches the speaker’s goal. The unsuccessful perlocutionary effect is a situation where the result of communication does not meet the expectations of the speaker. The verbal successful pragmatic effect is expressed by the verbal behavior of the addressee, which corresponds to the intentions of the interlocutor. This reaction may be explicit or implicit. The explicit reaction is the use of clichéd forms of communication that are acceptable to a particular social group. The implicit response is the concealment of the implicit meanings that underlie the recipient’s verbal response to a particular message. The nonverbal successful pragmatic effect is expressed by the nonverbal behavior of the addressee, who silently obeys the speech intention of the interlocutor. The mixed successful perlocutionary effect is manifested in both nonverbal and verbal speech behavior of the addressee, which corresponds to the intentions of the interlocutor. The verbal unsuccessful pragmatic effect is expressed by speech behavior of the addressee, that does not meet the intentions of the interlocutor. This reaction may be explicit or implicit too. The nonverbal unsuccessful pragmatic effect is expressed by the nonverbal behavior of the addressee. The mixed unsuccessful pragmatic effect is manifested simultaneously in the nonverbal and verbal speech behavior of the addressee, that does not meet the intention of the interlocutor, thus, the perlocutionary effect is exacerbated by both reactions. The analysis of the characters’ biblically-marked contexts, which implemented different types of speech acts, revealed the factors of success / failure of the perlocutive effect, which may be as follows: congruity / incongruity of participants of communication, expectedness (predictability)/ unexpectedness (unpredictability) of the results of communication, relevance / irrelevance of the communication situation, congruence / incongruence with the norms of culture of behavior.
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