Peredon N. Verbal and Nonverbal Means Implementing Strategies and Tactics Used by Participants in the Communicative Situation of “Reconciliation” (Using English-Language Source Material)

Thе thesis presents a complex study of the communicative behaviour of participants in the communicative situation of “reconciliation” in the process of informal speech interaction. In the modern world, the problem of constructive conflict resolution is so urgent that its solution is perceived as one of the most important factors for general well-being in society. For this reason, the study of conflicts and their successful overcoming has become a well-recognized academic discipline in recent years. The relevance of this research is highlighted by the significance of studying the speech behavior of representatives of the English linguo-culture who participate in the communicative situation of “reconciliation” which is aimed at restoring harmonious relations. The social and political demands of the present as well as the insufficient coverage of the issue in modern linguistics have been taken into account while conducting the research. The communicative situation of “reconciliation” has been defined as the complex of the circumstances of communication and the interlocutors’ inner states at the final stage of conflict interaction. The situation is characterized by the attempts of one interlocutor / interlocutors to restore harmonious relations. It has been determined that the participants in the communicative situation of “reconciliation” are the initiator of reconciliation, the object of reconciliation and the mediator. The situations in which the initiative for resolving the conflict belongs to the speaker whose behaviour has caused the conflict situation have been studied. On the basis of it, the communicative roles of the participants in the communicative situation under study have been defined. The initiator of reconciliation is the interlocutor who is seeking to initiate restoring harmonious relations because his harmful deed has caused certain moral or / and physical harm to his communication partner. The object of reconciliation is the interlocutor who has suffered from the conflict caused by the initiator’s inappropriate behaviour. The mediator is the optional interlocutor who facilitates communication between the two parties to a conflict and helps them reconcile with each other. Complex analysis has made it possible to single out and classify the strategies and tactics used by the participants in the communicative situation of “reconciliation”. It has been established that the basic factors which characterize the actions of the initiator of reconciliation are a cooperative mood, and gaining personal influence over the object of reconciliation, with the goal of restoring harmonious interaction. To achieve this, he/she uses the cooperative-persuasive strategy which is implemented by the tactics falling into three groups: the tactics of presenting the initiator’s stand in the current communicative situation, the tactics of rational reasoning and the tactics of emotional reasoning. The communicative behaviour of the object of reconciliation is represented by one of the following strategies: cooperative strategy, neutral strategy and confrontation strategy. The basic determinant for the choice of a strategy is the goal which the object of reconciliation has. The choice of the cooperative strategy can be explained by the willingness of the object of reconciliation to restore harmonious relations with his offender. This strategy is represented by two groups of tactics: the tactics of explicit consent, and the tactics of implicit consent. The neutral strategy is used by the object of reconciliation when he/she is hesitant about taking any immediate decisions on the further development of relations with the initiator of reconciliation. The confrontation strategy indicates the unwillingness to reconcile and maintain relations with the communication partner. The mediator’s contribution to successful conflict resolution has been studied. It has been found that the mediator uses a persuasive strategy while interacting with one or both participants in the communicative situation of “reconciliation”. This strategy is implemented by a certain set of tactics. The typical lexico-semantic items, syntactic units, linguo-stylistic means as well as nonverbal means representing communicative behaviour of each of the participants in the communicative situation under study have been detected and described. The analyzed data show that nonverbal clusters are a characteristic feature of the communicative behaviour of the initiator of reconciliation and the object of reconciliation, the use of which strengthens further the effects of nonverbal interaction. Key words: communicative situation of “reconciliation”, initiator of reconciliation, object of reconciliation, mediator, communicative strategy, communicative tactic, verbal (lexico-semantic, syntactic and linguo-stylistic) means, nonverbal means of communication.