Emotive-evaluative potential of Ukrainian paralingual phraseological units: usage and individual manifestations

Abstract

Background. At the current stage of linguistic development, researchers’ attention is focused on the problems of verbalizing the human emotional world, identifying traditions of speech objectification of emotional-psychological states and reactions. Researchers are examining theoretical approaches to the description of the category of emotivity, vocabulary denoting emotions and feelings. The necessity of studying phraseological units as means of objectifying the human emotional sphere is conditioned by the fragmentary investigation of this problem. Simultaneously, phrasemes belong to distinctive verbalizers of human emotional-psychological states and reactions; they emphasize the ethnic nature and peculiarities of linguistic thinking via individual's emotional sphere. The relevance of the topic is associated with the importance of studying structural-semantic and expressive features of paralingual phraseological units of the Ukrainian language used in M. Kotsiubynskyi’s literary discourse.

Methods. The research employed the method of componential analysis, which is related to the description of structural and semantic features of emotive-evaluative paralingual phraseological units of the Ukrainian language used in lexicographic works and M. Kotsiubynskyi’s literary discourse; the method of contextual analysis for identifying the expressive potential of usage and individually marked paralingual phraseological units of the Ukrainian language functioning in the writer’s literary texts.

Results. The composition of paralingual phraseological units of the Ukrainian language that objectify emotional, emotive-evaluative states of communicants has been identified. Paralingual phrasemes are represented in usage and M. Kotsiubynskyi’s literary discourse by two macrogroups (kinematic and phonational paralingual phraseological units). Within kinematic paralingual phraseological units, certain groups have been distinguished (mimic (indicating certain mouth configuration or lip position), myrimic (denoting eye movements, characterizing gaze peculiarities), gestural (objectifying varieties of indicative, descriptive, symbolic, reinforcing gestures), pantomimic (indicating body movements, gaits; illustrating pose specificity)). Phonational phraseological units include a macrogroup of paralingual stable expressions whose emotive-evaluative semantic specificity is connected with all prosodic characteristics, vocal manifestations of human speech (evaluations of speech tempo, voice timbre, melodics (changes in voice pitch, strength, sound intensity, their modifications and deviations from norms)). It has been determined that the emotive-evaluative potential of kinematic-phonational phraseological units in M. Kotsiubynskyi’s literary discourse manifests in providing integral portrait characteristics of characters, in realizing contextually motivated semantic plans of phrasemes aimed at reproducing character relationships via their value orientations, reactions to external environmental fragments and internal states, emotions and feelings.

Discussion and conclusions. The analysis of dictionary definitions revealed sufficiently complete and expressive characteristics of the emotive-evaluative component in semantic structures of paralingual phraseological units, fixation and actualization of emotive-evaluative semes in usage. In M. Kotsiubynskyi’s literary discourse phrasemes serve as means of emphasizing existentially marked contexts, emotive-evaluative character portrayal, text fragment expressivization, acquiring additional semantic and stylistic loads, objectifying the dynamism of plot events, reality of spontaneous dialogues; performing artistic-communicative, emotive, evaluative, expressive, symbolic, figurative-stylistic functions, as well as the function of laconism, economy of speech messages in live dialogues.

Information about the author:

Boiko Nadiia Ivanivna – Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of Ukrainian Language, Literature, Cultural Studies, and Journalism at Mykola Gogol State University in Nizhyn

E-mail: bni_bni52@ukr.net