Typology of communicative tactics in english presentational discourse (based on clothing inscriptions).
Abstract
This study examines English clothing inscriptions as a genre of presentational discourse within modern pragmalinguistics and discourse analysis. This research is motivated by the growing importance of visualisation in contemporary culture and by the increasing role of clothing as a powerful medium of communication, in which the verbal component (textual print) performs informative, social identity, and symbolic functions. Presentational discourse appears as a semiotic system reflecting an individual’s desire for self-presentation and social image construction, which intensifies scholarly interest in analysing the strategies and tactics of its representation. The aim of the article is to develop a comprehensive typology of communicative tactics in English presentational discourse (based on clothing inscriptions) and to determine their pragmatic potential in the modern media space. The study employs a combination of pragmatic analysis, discourse analysis, and quantitative methods. The empirical data comprise 300 English clothing microtexts, collected via continuous sampling from global brands, reflecting current communicative trends. The findings indicate that communicative tactics serve as multifunctional tools for identity construction. Based on the analysis, 12 tactics have been identified and systematised, with the constative and command tactics dominant, reflecting the priority of direct, categorical influence. The study shows that its theoretical significance lies in deepening understanding of the mechanisms of linguistic self-presentation, while its practical relevance offers significant potential for interdisciplinary research in linguoculturology and sociolinguistics. The conclusions emphasise that clothing inscriptions are a powerful means of meaning-making, as they not only transmit the wearer’s subjective reflections but also shape social perceptions of identity, status, and values, playing an important role in constructing presentational discourse.
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ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL
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