Shpak O. The Communicative Category CONTACT in Modern English Discourse

The paper focuses on the communicative category CONTACT. The analysis of data employs linguistic findings of the ways and means of contact in different situations of the institutional and non-institutional types of discourse. The dissertation is based on theoretical and methodological principles of functional and communicative linguistics and discourse studies. The scientific novelty of the research is determined by the systemic analysis of the communicative category CONTACT as a hyperdiscursive, culturally specific category regulating speakers' activity; the paper seeks to identify phatic and informational content in the phases of contact; to reveal the essence of communicative unison and communicative dissonance; to determine cultural specificity of contact in different types of discourse . The theoretical significance of the paper is determined by its contribution to the functional and communicative linguistics and discourse studies. The practical value of the obtained results lies in the possibility to apply them in teaching stylistics of the English language ("Functional Styles"), cultural studies ("Great Britain and the USA: Countries and People"), English grammar ("Pragmatics"), general linguistics ("Language and Society", "Language and Thought"), in courses "Typology of Discourse", "Non-verbal Communication", "Intercultural Communication", as well as in the process of writing research papers of different levels and handbooks.