WEB-ресурс научно-практических конференций

Ваврінчік Р.Я.

Закарпатська філія Київського славістичного університету, Україна

PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCES IN RECENT NEWSPAPER FEATURE ARTICLES

On the threshold of the 21 ^st century functionalism became one of the most widely applied and researched aspects of linguistic studies. This direction has defined the approach to language study in many respects. It has progressed from treating the language as merely a system to acknowledging it as the functioning and operating entity of mental and linguistic awareness with the help of which a person acquires the ability to categorize the world, to experience it and to exist inside of it. Description of the language from the communicative-functional point of view aims to reveal the interrelation between the functional type of a sentence, or an utterance, and the purport of the communication, as well as its logical components and communicative intention. The principles of the Speech Acts Theory (SAT), a discipline that was elaborated and developed by John L. Austin starting from 1939 serve as guidelines to the analysis of diverse kinds of communication. SAT is a logical-linguistic theory that studies pragmatics and the structure of the speech acts as the units of lingual communication and lingual activity in general [4] . The object of the SAT is a speech act (further – SA), a minimal unit of speech communication, a situationally and intentionally stipulated speech utterance of a speaker, directed at the addressee and at a certain reaction or a result [7, p. 55]. The SAT concentrates on communicative teleology (intentionality) of a speech act treating the illocutionary force of the utterance as a priority concept. The basic notions and components of a speech act are: addresser, addressee, locution, illocution (consisting of the illocutionary point and the illocutionary force), and the perlocutionary effect [4; 6 – 7] .

The present article aims to describe and justify that performative utterances make up a relevant part of the linguistic means which serve to present a subjective point of view in a newspaper. As a semantic-pragmatic phenomenon a performative utterance presents equivalence of saying something with doing something; to say an utterance with certain intention means to complete an action with a certain effect [4]. The effect being sought by a journalist in the course of communication with his reader is to cause certain mental, spiritual, social and mood changes. Unlike news, analytics or other ‘unbiased’ writings the features are ‘featuring’ journalist`s personal opinion in order to persuade, convince, influence, to impose a certain attitude, etc.

The material of our investigation consists of British newspapers The Times and The Daily Telegraph. The analysis of 45 feature articles published in 2009 – 2010 has been conducted.

On the basis of what is considered to be the object of SAT mass media texts may hardly seem to fit into the framework of the functional-communicational approach. This is true in relation to news items, analytics and other ‘hard news’ materials (swift and accurate coverage of the events). But as it was asserted by the researchers in the field of medialinguistics T.  Dobrosklonskaya , G. Solganik , I.  Tokareva , D. Crystal, T. Dijk , N. Fairclough [ 1 ; 8 – 12 ] certain newspaper texts – like feature articles – do correspond to the above mentioned definition of a speech act in the part which deals with the addresser, addressee, and expectation of a reaction. Obviously, the addresser`s role is allotted to the journalist, or a famous person whose opinion is highly valued by the community, or a specialist in a certain field of knowledge. The addressee is not one person; it is common to refer to a reader as to a mass addressee. With the perlocutionary effect that is being expected in the course of this type of communication we mean persuading a reader to change his\her mind in some issues, influencing his\her worldview, sometimes prompting to some actions.

Mass media texts retaining the author`s subjective opinion and evaluation surely represent a discourse, as they are always dynamic and up-to-date. Moreover, they are perceived by the participants of the communication in the context of current events [1] . This approach may also be supported by the definition of discourse formulated by prof . Poluzhyn : « Discourse is the unity of the process of speech activity and its result, the text » [ 10 , p. 90] . Whereas mass media texts may be regarded as the fusion of all functional styles of the language they give room for the function of information to be actualized in the same degree as the function of impact by exploiting all available means of a language: those which influence the recipient`s cognitive , emotive and axiological spheres.

Features group represents a new direction in mass media presentation – infotainment (information plus entertainment ) , that is, all kinds of issue-related materials which are not always related to the news. In the features the artistic and aesthetic effects are being put at the forefront. Feature article combines the function of impact with the function of communication, and such a format of providing information gives the addresser a good opportunity to express his/her opinion and evaluation. It starts, as a rule, with a lead to grasp the reader's attention and then uses conversational tone to present the reader some information as well as to evoke an emotional response. Feature articles appeal to the emotions and feelings of the average person , they inform, they present events, facts and phenomena of social life. Moreover, the very act of communication which occurs in these journalistic writings has a goal-oriented character, and the goal is no other than to reach the reader`s mind. Such orientation towards the reader is manifested in certain conversational patterns, which are as a rule used in communicating with friends or good acquaintances. With the help of performative constructions a reader is being convinced that he/she is no less than the ultimate addressee of an article. Performative utterances, whether explicit or implicit, support the author`s friendly, trusted role in communication.

(1)      Don’t get me wrong : China ’s currency policies have led to unhealthy artificial distortions in the Chinese and world economy. – SA of requesting, class: Directives [13]

The addressee is being asked not to misinterpret the author`s judgements concerning a very painful problem for the USA – China’s manipulating its currency in relation to the US dollar. According to the classification of performatives by Lipska  E., who distinguishes 5 classes of performatives the given speech act belongs to Directives class [ 3 , p. 7]. Other 4 classes are: Assertives (asserting, informing, reminding, announcing, etc.); Comissives (promising, swearing, assuring, etc.); Declaratives (naming, appointing, approving, forgiving, blaming, etc.) and Etiquettes (greeting, wishing, giving thanks, asking for excuse, etc.) [ 3 , p. 7 – 8].

The example (1) exploits the implicit performative in the imperative form. Although the performative frame I ask you , or I appeal to you is omitted, in practice such kinds of performatives are being recognized by means of transferring the utterance into indirect speech: “He asked me not to get him wrong”. This tool was offered by prof . Potcheptsov in [6, р . 436].

Those cases when the presence of a performative frame is absolutely necessary are stipulated by specific communicative goals: to make the speech more formal; to express additional meanings; to give evaluation to reliability of information; to emphasize the importance of the information [2].

In journalistic texts, and particularly in features, a very important role is allotted to the author's speech, as the author's position is active, open, with clear and definite evaluations. In the features it has a variety of stylistic, aesthetic and communicative functions.

(2) We had lots of proud promises that they were right behind us and now, over a weekend, they've all ratted. I tell you , if there's no amiable settlement to this it will go on as long as Northern Ireland . – SA of asserting, class: Assertives [14] .

With the help of author`s speech an element of human interest is being adduced to the story. Performative patterns provide the most efficient way to render author`s attitudes clearly, unambiguously, and explicitly. Moreover, this is one of the main functions of performatives : to name the illocutionary point while performing a speech act.

(3) Don’t go there is my advice. – SA of recommendation, class: Directives [ 1 3] .

Since the example (3) may very naturally be transferred into, I advise you not to go this utterance may be regarded performative .

(4) If this seems a depressing prospect, then let me offer one silver lining . – SA of offering, class: Directives [ 1 3] .

Except informing, a feature article also offers recommendations, advice, instructions; it may even prompt to action. Together with explicit performatives implicit and explicitly-modified patterns are also used in feature articles. Implicit performatives are characterized by the absence of a performative verb but they still remain capable of taking up the form of explicit performative and to fulfil the same function [3, p. 6].

(5) Ask Britain’s leading ceramics designer, Emma Bridgewater, why she came to Stoke-on-Trent to build her world-renowned business, and she will tell you it’s all about the history and culture of the city. – SA of suggesting, class: Directives [ 1 4] .

An explicitly-modified performative utterance is sometimes constructed with the help of a modal verb which undertakes to act on behalf of the 1 ^st person present tense active (may be conditional):

(6) “So I would say overcoming adversity was the biggest challenge I faced and the most gratifying thing to overcome”. – SA of informing, class: Assertives [ 1 4 ] .

         Therefore, the main function of performative utterances in features is to eliminate illocutionary ambiguity, which may arise from difficulty to grasp some aspects of the communicative act from the content of the propositional part of the utterance [ 3 , p. 9] . In mass media discourse, in particular in feature articles performative utterances act as indicators of the illocutionary type of a speech act. The given research reveals that on the one hand performative utterances play a very important role in providing opinions and evaluations in feature articles. The performative component of the analyzed examples prevents the reader from perceiving the information as true or false: it is made clear by the addresser that the point of view in the article is indeed subjective. On the other hand, out of 5 existing classes of performatives only Assertives and Directives are most actively used in features. Other classes ( Comissives , Etiquettes, and Declaratives) are employed more rarely. The domination of Assertives and Directives seems to be stipulated by the very nature of mass media communication: to make you believe in such state of things which the editorial board regards necessary and to make you act, or behave in the way they need.

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