Tsapenko L. English Detective Story: Pragma-Stylistic and Lingual-Synergetic Aspects. Manuscript

The dissertation is focused on the study of the English detective story within the framework of its speech-stylistic realization, communicative-and-pragmatic tasks of its meaning expression as well as self-organization of the detective story plot. The nature and essence of the detective story, its social sources have been described. Also the characteristics of the story were specified. The research presents the systemic definition from a linguistic perspective. The thesis advances the classification of stories according to the types of lingual-stylistic expressive means functioning in their texts. In this way the study reveals the specifics of the vocabulary typical of the English detective story, defining the leading role of the corporate and professional vocabulary in the analysed texts, which is mostly based on stylistically neutral lexis. The use of corporate and professional vocabulary in stories greatly simplifies the process in informing the addressee about the essence of the crime and the course of its investigation being one of the pragmatic goals of the story. Among the expressive means, lexical and syntactic stylistic devices were thoroughly analysed. The paper presents the study of the stylistic expressive means as types of foregrounding (convergence, cohesion, antithesis, the effect of defeated expectancy), identifies their functional role in drawing the addressee’s attention to the described events, actions and circumstances, engaged in creating the intrigue of the detective story. The research analyzes different types of connotations and exemplifies the specificity of the use of their emotional, evaluative and expressive types in the detective stories. For the purpose of the comprehensive study, embracing both pragma-stylistic and synergetic aspects of the English detective story, a complex methodological technique was employed. It comprises the analysis of the goals and functions of the story narration, their pragmatic realization in the text with the help of compositional and communicative stylistic means as well as the analysis of the detective story within the framework of the self-organization of its genre. The methodology elaborated in the dissertation implements an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the detective story. It is an organic synthesis of synergetic and traditional linguistic techniques. In the context of lingual-synergetic studies, the study of synergetic processes in the formation of a detective story is considered to be a new direction. It is viewed as a complex system (self-organization of its structure and composition). The obtained results support the relevance of applying the synergetic notions to the study of the formation and dynamics of a detective story. The key notions of synergetics can be realized when studying the development of the plot line, the inconsistencies of the story composition and the informational processes modelling of the investigation versions.