FUNCTIONING OF PERFORMATIVE COMMUNICATIVE ACTS IN UKRAINIAN EPISTOLARY

Abstract

The paper outlines the specifics of the functioning of performative utterances in Ukrainian epistolary. The interest in this issue is explained by the fact that performative acts as components of the epistolary text in the context of the representation of communicative interaction of addressees have not been studied in national linguistics so far. The article investigates the performative as a structural and semantic component of epistolary discourse, in particular, the semantics and communicative and pragmatic properties of performative acts in written correspondence. The achievement of the goal contributed to the further systematization and generalization of textual material and scientific studies that determine the genre-stylistic, structural-typological, communicative, and pragmatic specificity of different types of texts. In modern linguo-Ukrainian studies, performative is defined as an utterance equivalent to an action or deed. The canonical performative model contains the following components: the pronoun I + the predicate expressed by a verb with the meaning of speech action in the 1st person singular present tense of the active voice + the propositional part of the utterance, i.e. the semantic structure representing certain facts of reality relevant to the communication situation. Observations of epistolary discourse allow us to generalize that the letter contains descriptiveinformative and performative parts. This makes it possible to interpret a particular type of correspondence as a coherent communicative formation, the main component of which is a performative utterance or a group of them that perform a pragmatic and informative function. The author has identified and classified the most common types of performatives in epistolary discourse, which are an important means of communicative influence on the addressee. In particular, these are performative acts of notification, statement, request, speech rituals, refusal, alienation, order, suggestion, advice, promise, guarantee, and evaluation. Such studies deepen the study of linguistic units in the context of communicative and pragmatic analysis of national discourse and have further prospects in linguo-Ukrainian studies.