THE СOMIC EFFECT IN THE WORKS OF MODERN ENGLISH PROSE WRITERS: COMMUNICATIVE AND PRAGMATIC ASPECTS

Abstract

The article deals with the investigation of the comic category functioning in belles-lettres prose discourse on the material of the brightest representative in modern English literature – Kurt Vonnegut. It is natural that the aspects of the comic category research, its types, genres, making techniques, various visual and expressive means of the language verbalization to produce a comic effect in various types of discourse, on the material of different languages and in other languages translation, ways of learning have developed actively in the second half of the XX – the beginning of the XXI century.

The topicality of this research is confirmed by the need of more detailed study of the comic category structural characteristics, the originality of its implementation and disclosure of its role in the writer’s works, the producing comic effect means (including language play and paradox) in such kinds of the comic as satire and irony. The aim of the article is to identify the peculiarities of the comic category functioning within the prose discourse.

The concepts of “comic” and “communicative situation” in modern Linguistics with an emphasis on their importance for the linguistic Poetics have been characterized. Typical examples of linguistic phenomena intentional playing of words by the author at certain levels have been analyzed. They are based on the violation of D. Hymes’ model parameters of the communicative situation. The stylistic features of the comic category functioning in fiction prose discourse have been revealed, which is a characteristic of the author’s individual style.

As a result of the analysis carried out on the material of K. Vonnegut’s stories we conclude that any dialogue is the complex interaction of communicants’ intentions. Comic situations are created by means of paradox and language play that can arise as the result of disparity between illocutive power of speech act and perlocutive effect.

The prospect of further investigation is to continue a detailed study of producing comic techniques means to examine the uniqueness and originality of K. Vonnegut’s creative method and the creative method of other prose writers whose Poetics is combined with satire and irony.