Communicative-pragmatic typology of irony-effect with the strategic ambivalence within the english and ukrainian language traditions

Abstract.

COMMUNICATIVE-PRAGMATIC TYPOLOGY OF IRONY-EFFECT WITH THE STRATEGIC AMBIVALENCE WITHIN THE ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE TRADITIONS

Lubomira Hnatiuk

Department of Theory and Practice of Translation at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

Olena Dzherikh

Department of Theory and Practice of Translation at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

Abstract

Background: The research of ambivalence is an actual problem of modern linguistics because of active promotion of Strategic Ambiguity as one of the key pragmatic categories on the way to understand the complexity of the concept of communicative intentions of the speaker. Generalization of conceptual and terminological findings in the Hinting Strategy of ironical utterances allows to develop the appropriate models of their practical application in the interpersonal interaction.

Purpose: The purpose of the investigation is to determine the qualifying and classifying features of the irony-effect in order to demonstrate the importance of strategic ambiguity and propose a model for determining the strategically ambiguous communication.

The main task of the article is to investigate the strategic ambivalence as one of the key categories of pragmatics toward understanding the complexity of the concept of intention in the speaker's communication and analyze different types of strategic ambiguity in the ironic utterances as well as the mechanisms of optimization of interpersonal interaction on the factual material of English and Ukrainian languages. 

Results: In the research the term strategic ambivalence refers to those communicative situations where interlocutors use ambiguity purposefully to accomplish their goals. Strategic ambiguity may be particularly useful in the interpersonal interaction. Under the circumstances of the Hinting Strategy communicative acts are often intentionally ambiguous since they allow different interpretations to coexist and therefore they are more effective in the interpersonal interaction. The communicative acts within ironical utterances are unclear and ambiguous. Although clarity is usually considered desirable for interpersonal communication, ambiguity may be more effective under the circumstances of the Hinting Stategy. The strategic use of ambiguity minimizes the impolite speech acts. Another important benefit of the strategically ambiguous interpersonal communication is deniability. This characteristic is especially useful for preserving interpersonal conflicts and allowing people to save face, delaying conflicts, testing reactions to ideas, and avoiding personal responsibility for them. In this article we demonstrate the importance of strategic ambiguity and propose a model for determining the benefits of strategically ambiguous communication.

Discussion: This is followed by a discussion of the relationship between strategic ambiguity and effectiveness in the interpersonal interaction and pose questions for future investigations.

Keywords: ironic effect, the intention of the speaker, indirect communication strategy, the Hinting Strategy, strategic ambiguity, pragmatic implicature, strategic irony.

Vitae

Lubomira Hnatiuk, Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) in General Linguistics, Professor. Her areas of research interests include communicative linguistics, cognitive linguistics, comparative linguistics, pragmatics, intercultural studies and text linguistics.  

Correspondence: lhnatiuk@wp.pl 

Olena Dzherikh, PhD student in Cognitive Linguistics. Her scientific interests encompass the fields of conceptual linguistics, contrastive linguistics, contrastive semantics, bilingualism, intercultural studies, and text analysis.

Correspondence: o.dzherikh@donnu.edu.ua 

Article.

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