Chapter VII

7.6. THE PRAGMATIC INTENTION “TO EXERT AN EMOTIONAL IMPACT”
One of the specific peculiarities of literary discourse is its orientation to the addressee’s emotional sphere. Emotiveness is one of the most important components of literary communication (Шаховский, 1987). In this connection the pragmatic intention of “emotional impact” is one of the main, and, as a rule, constant factors determining stylistic functioning of language units in a fi ctional text. It should be noted that this pragmatic intention is usually combined with other intentions. For instance, the above discussed pragmatic intention “to interest the reader” is inseparable from the emotional impact since “interest” as one of the innate emotions of a man is valid only on condition of emotional excitement (Додонов, 1978). In this respect it is worthy of note that emotionally charged language units, owing to sensuality of human psychics are more effective means of impact than various devices of logic.
The pragmatic intention of emotional impact is realized by the whole system of stylistic devices used in the text. But the dominant role belongs to a convergence of stylistic devices, that is the accumulation of many stylistic devices and expressive means of the language at a given point. It is accounted by the fact that emotions manifest themselves not separately; they come in a fl ow of words, one generating another (Изард,1980). The following quotation is illustrative in this respect:
Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid,
and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle
magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic
form to formless things, and to have music of their own as sweet as
that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as
words? (O.Wilde “The picture of Dorian Grey”, p.100).
The perception of the multifold notion “word” here is determined by a set of language means which are complexly interwoven. The statement produces a strong emotional impact which is achieved by means of the convergence of stylistic devices and expressive means. Practically, all types of stylistic means are in action here: lexical stylistic devices – epithet, metaphor, personifi cation; lexico-syntactical means – simile, antithesis; syntactical stylistic means – one member sentences, exclamatory sentences, parallel constructions, gradation, rhetorical question, anaphora, framing, and polysyndeton.
Particularly important here is the role of epithets which run through the entire extract forming a string of different attributes related to one and the same lexeme “word”. Such an abundance of epithets creates the effect of emotional gradation, and serves the purport of a comprehensive, emotional, evaluative characterization of the denotatum expressed by the lexeme “word”. The described notion is presented in a multitude of conceptual features both of positive and negative character: positive characteristics: clear, vivid, magic, subtle, musical, sweet, real; negative characteristics: terrible, cruel We have discussed the pragmatic intentions which are directly related to text pragmatics.
QUESTIONS AND TASKS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What does linguopragmatics study?
2. What aspects of linguopragmatics are most relevant for text
linguistics?
3. Why does the term “discourse” appear to be most appropriate
in discussing the pragmatic aspects of the text?
4. Formulate the notion of “communicative-pragmatic situation”.
5. Discuss the role of “the addresser’s” and “addressee’s” factors
in the literary discourse.
6. Defi ne the notion of a pragmatic intention.
7. What types of pragmatic intentions are distinguished?
8. How is the pragmatic intention “to attract the reader’s attention”
realized in literary discourse?
9. Characterize the pragmatic intention “to interest the reader” and explain
correlations between the categories of “interest” and “the new”.
10. In what ways is the pragmatic intention “to exert an emotional
impact” realized in literary discourse?