Ways of softening categorical statements in dialogical communication

Abstract

The article analyzes language and speech methods for reducing the categoriality of statements in dialogical communication aimed at soft impact on the communicative partner, creating a friendly atmosphere of interaction, avoiding negative perlocutive effect, reducing emotional tension in dissonant dialogues, verbal aggression, etc. The role of extralinguistic factors as objective (subject matter of conversation, the standard of the situation, national specificity, etc.) and subjective (age, education, social status, communicants’ profession, etc.) has been defined. It has been proved that the functional-situational expediency of using linguistic and speech units in the process of communication is the criterion for establishing norms of speech behavior. Analysis of the linguistic material of the dialogues made it possible for researchers to conclude that such a strategy of speech influence, as the weakening of a categorical speech act, finds its implementation in evaluative, direct and indirect directive speech acts. It has been found that the standardized indirect statements are the most optimal way of softening categoriality in Russian. These statements allow the interactive agent to avoid applying the imperative, which contributes to the loss of the directive character of the speech act. The use of indirect statements, which are psychologically sparing, positively affects the communicative goal of the communicant. The subsystem of tasks for the formation of skills for softening the utterance categoriality of words has been presented. The latter is distinguished into four groups: a) the observation of dialogical unities and analysis of functioning in the remarks of language units – mitigators; b) the transformation of initial remarks – direct statements into indirect speech acts; c) the construction of response remarks – indirect statements; d) the construction of dialogues according to the certain speech patterns, models, situations. Knowledge and ability of foreign students to use in dialogical communication the ways of softening categorical statements promotes overcoming the difficulties of communication in generating speech in a foreign language, achieving illocutionary goals by creating a psychologically comfortable atmosphere of interaction, preventing negative reactions of communication partners.