The dissertation is devoted to the establishment and analysis of pragmatic-communicative features of small talk and gossip as genres of phatic communication. The phenomena of small and gossip have been investigated in the depicted personage discourse, reproduced within the framework of a literary and film work. Phatic speech genres occupy an important place in sociocultural practice as everyday communicative processes contrived to seek sympathy, empathy, and solidarity with other communicants. The speaker wants his emotional state to be understood and sympathized with, he willingly comes into contact with strangers or unfamiliar people prepared to listen to him, for example, in a queue, on a train, etc. Such communication, which is informatively insignificant, nevertheless turns out to be the most important regulator of social life, a way of getting closer to others, introducing them into the speaker’s circle.
The theoretical foundations of the research include the scientific works in psycholinguistics (Sedov, 1997; Alshehre, 2017; Beck, 2010; McCarthy, 2003), sociolinguistics (Formanovskaya, 2006; Banda, 2005; Cook, 2012; Coupland, 2000, 2003; Ritchie, 2011), communicative linguistics (Batsevich, 2004; Vynokur, 2007; Matyukhina, 2014; Donovan, 2007; Drew, Chilton, 2014; Fine, 2002; Holba, 2008; Laver, 1981), cognitive linguistics (Zhuykova, 2020; Klimentova, 2014; Chernenko, 2007; Schneider, 1988; Ventola, 1979), linguistic and cultural studies (Morozova, 2019; Graham, 2013; Lewis, 1995; Maschler, Estlein, 2008; Miller, 2006), Speech act theory (Kivenko, 2018; Kuzmenko, 2014; Pocheptsov, 2001; Prykhodko, Prykhodchenko, 2023; Padilla, 2005) and other fields. The definitional analysis of the lexemes small talk and gossip reveals a common for both phenomena seme of lightness and allows us to contrast them according to the seme of politeness (small talk) vs. the seme of unkindness (gossip), triviality and standard (small talk) vs. the seme of intimacy (gossip). The differences in the concepts under analysis are revealed in the topic (gossip discusses the private life of a third person; small talk topics are much more varied (news, weather, music, hobbies, sports, gossip), as well as in their volume (small talk is longer). In addition, the relationships between the participants of these genres are different: small talk occurs between interlocutors of different degrees of familiarity; gossip is spread exclusively between well-acquainted people, and emphasizes close, trusting relationships between communicants. The essence of small talk is to show the speaker’s interest in the interlocutor and find common interests with him. Small talk is a pleasant, ethically and culturally determined conversation with a strict socio-cultural regulation of the thematic repertoire, which aims to establish a verbal contact, its development and ending. Typical small talk situations involve traditional etiquette situations of meeting and introducing strangers; the situation of waiting (at a bus stop, station, in the surgery, etc.); social events, presentations; accidental encounters with acquaintances. This paper offers a definition of small talk as a hypergenre of fictional discourse, polite communication on topics regulated by etiquette, which serves to strengthen social bonds and acquires variable pragmatic features depending on the degree of familiarity of the participants with each other in a particular speech situation. While the main pragmatic intention of not well acquainted communicants forced to spend time together is to avoid awkward silence, small talk among well-acquainted people at social events gives them the feeling of belonging to a narrow, elite social circle, to present themselves as an educated, knowledgeable, easy-to-communicate people, demonstrate artistry and entertainment skills. A complete small talk script includes greetings; congratulations, compliments, or showing interest in the affairs of the interlocutor; searching for common topics (in the case of a light acquaintance) or presenting oneself by reporting interesting news, a story, a joke, a piece of gossip, etc. (in the case of friendly relationship); expressing satisfaction with communication or gratitude for the invitation; discussion of the options for next meeting; farewell. However, in fictional discourse, small talk often appears in the form of small fragments, insertions, since the authors of fiction, as a rule, are more concerned with the meaningful communication of characters and the dynamic development of the plot. Gossiping has been defined as informative phatic genre that combines informing and having a good time, provides pleasure from communication, as well as feeling of belonging to a limited social circle. Gossip is collected, interpreted or distorted information that might be reliable or not, about the private life of a third person, including its assessment by the speaker.
