Emotive function of the interrogative sentences in direct character’s speech (based on the novel by D. Steel "Message from nam")

Results and discussions

emotional interrogative sentence character novel steel

Expression of emotions through character's direct speech. Characters' speech is a specific type of narration, directly transmitting the message of the personage from the perspective of others. Deviations from the literary norm are often allowed in direct speech of the character. M. Danilko (2012) supposes that set by the author, “this `irregularity' in combination with the extensive use of lexical and syntactical means, reflecting the emotionality and expressiveness of spoken language, creates a feeling of its immediacy, spontaneity, and ease”. In other words, it constructs the natural atmosphere of human communication.

This indicates that the initial character's speech is full of subtextual information and is characterized by a small degree of predictability regarding the further functioning of the speaker, which, in turn, activates the reader's perception of the artistic text. The speaking person declares him/herself by the speech act and direct identification of the subject of speech in his/her own speech segment is absent.

Since the speech statement is always a bilateral act, producedby someone andintended for someone,achar- acteristic feature and a prerequisite for the functioning of the initial dialogical replica is its direction outward to the communication partner, which causes the latter to be declared in the direct speech of the character.

It is interesting that N.A. Berezovska-Savchuk (2017: 101) supposes that emotionality is a predictable, conscious feature of speech that causes the use of such language tools that purposefully give it emotionality to influence the recipient. One of such tools is a question that both can have a positive or negative effect on the addressee, and show the speaker's emotions. We agree with N.A. Berezovska-Savchuk, but we think that this feature of speech may not always be predictable, especially if the communicants are new to each other.

Thus, direct speech is one of the indicators of the character's expressed emotional state. These can be emotions expressed both explicitly and implicitly depending on various factors of the act of communication.

The emotive function of interrogative sentences in character's direct speech in the novel “Message from Nam” by D. Steel

What are the questions for? To receive information, to control the communicative situation, to express one's interest in the second/other communicant/s, his/her/their problems, views and opinions, to clarify one's own point of view, to check the awareness of the second/other communicant/s about the topic of communication (so-called examination questions), to support the subsequent dialogue/polylogue (rhetorical questions are often used for this).

We support A. Athanasiadou (1991), who claims that putting forward the questions affects information in the communicative process. And since there is a polysemy of a word in a speech act, only verbal forms are not enough to determine its meaning and, therefore, the meaning of the question itself is partially dependent on the rules that exist for managing social relations. For successful communication, each of the communicants should be able to predict each other's behaviour and reaction to a particular remark. This is regulated by the norms of behaviour and social roles of the communicants.

Interrogative sentences are an integral part of direct speech. I.B. Britan (2005: 96) writes that “in a work of fiction interrogative constructions can play a characterological function, i.e. act as a means of speech characteristics of the hero”.

Table 1

Correlation of types of interrogative sentences in Paxton Andrews' direct speech in the novel “Message from Nam” by D. Steel

In the novel by D. Steel “Message from Nam” (1990) the protagonist (a young woman) is trying to find answers to the questions: What is the purpose of this war? Why do people fly there to fight even after the end of their conscription for army service? Why is the United States even waging this war?

It was made an attempt by D. Steel to create the image of a young American woman who fights for peace. This image is revealed with the help of the heroine's direct speech. D. Steel depicts the psychological portrait of Paxton Andrews through her inner and direct speech (which is the object of our research) and thus reveals her emotional characteristics during 12 years of her life. As M. Orap (2016: 184) states “...personality's emotional and volitional traits demonstrate correlations with all elements of the internal structure of speech experience - the ability of speech (speech and linguistic readiness), speech competence (cognitive competence, sense of language and linguistic competence), speaking skills (general skills, creative speech abilities) and speech activity (motives of speech, language skills, characteristics of values and cognitive schemes). This suggests that a person's emotional characteristics permeate the entire structure of speech experience, affecting all aspects of its functioning”.

In our study we identified general, special, disjunctive, alternative, negative, and independent elliptical questions. The correlation of these types of questions is presented in Table 1. To general questions we referred examination questions, indirect request, cause questions for further information, questions stimulating the course of further reflections of the speaker, questions with indirect sense of motivation, questions-assumption. To special questions we referred information-seeking questions, examination questions, questions that embody surprise at a self-evident fact, rhetorical questions. Examination questions are used in both general and special questions because they show different emotions of the protagonist in diverse communicative situations.

From Table 1 it can be seen that special questions dominate Paxton Andrews' speech (45.9%). Paxton is very emotional in nature. The girl was still at school watching political events in the United States, including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, whose words «The torch has been passed to a new generation» became the epigraph to the novel. Paxton was outraged that her mother speculated that Kennedy was killed because of his progressive views on human rights. Here the girl used a special question, which is asked to clarify and obtain additional information about any detail, and a general question in elliptical form, which reflects the colloquial nature of speech and the excited state of the heroine:

How could anyone do such a thing? ... You think this is because of civil rights? ... You think that's why it happened? (Steel, 1990: 16-17).

Paxton's life changed a lot after her father's death. He seemed to have taken a piece of her to his grave, and she missed this part all her life. She always looked back, as if seeking approval from her father:

What about Daddy, George? He seemed to have come out okay, in spite of venturing up north to go to school with the Yankees (Steel, 1990: 24).

Having come to Vietnam after the absurd death of her lover there, Paxton, being a journalist, asks various types of questions about the meaning of this war to the soldiers fighting there and to the journalists who are there to cover the events. For example, special questions are often used. They contain a request aimed at obtaining information of a completely specific, objective feature. The required information is connected not with the modal predicative plane of the sentence, as in the case of a general question, but with its lexical semantic content. Since the lexical semantic content is very diverse, so must be the information request signals that orient the addressee to the nature of the required information. The role of such signals is performed by interrogative pronouns: what, which, when, how, etc., which usually occupy the initial position in a sentence and, thus, orient the recipient to the nature of the required information:

Why don't people see what's happening over there? (Steel, 1990: 104).

What's really going over there? (Steel, 1990: 148).

When do you think they're going to admit that and get out boys home? (Steel, 1990: 178).

Why did you come here? ...Why did you do it? (Steel, 1990: 182-183).

What's that all about? What's the point? (Steel, 1990: 191-192).

How many men have you saved since you've been here? (Steel 1990: 229).

So why the hell do you keep reenlisting? (Steel, 1990: 312).

In the examples above, one can see contractions (they're, don't, what's, you're) and vulgarism (why the hell), which are indicators of the colloquial speech and the indignant emotional state of the heroine.

In the final of the novel, direct speech with interrogative sentences is no longer so emotional - emotions are expressed non-verbally:

“How did you get there?” she asked, still confused and stunned as she stared at him, trying to be sure she hadn't dreamt it (Steel, 1990: 387).

Paxton cannot believe that after several years of futile attempts she has found Tony disappeared without a trace.

The second most frequent questions identified in our study were general questions (34.6%).

Young Paxton could not believe her ears that her mother wanted to return to the old order of the South of the USA. The girl is outraged, while she asks a general question, which is used to confirm or deny committing or not committing any action:

Do you think the slaves were `comfortable' too? (Steel, 1990: 17).

Using general questions, Paxton is trying to find out whether people at war in Vietnam believe that they are doing the right thing, and whether this war is worth the lost lives. Paxton lost two beloved men in this war, so in her questions one sees the motive to get negative answers to her questions:

Do you really believe that? (Steel, 1990: 206).

And is home what you're fighting for? (Steel, 1990: 227).

Is anyone ever the same again when they leave here? (Steel, 1990: 264).

Is it worth dying for? (Steel, 1990: 186).

In these examples, the expression of the heroine's negative emotions is felt.

Negative and independent elliptical questions occupy the third position in our study (7.1% and 6.8%). Close-ended questions of a negative nature are included. Presented in questions, negativity conveys the speaker's emotionality and is a kind of stimulant of the interlocutor's emotional response:

Don't you want to know why he really died? (Steel, 1990: 148).

Wouldn't he have said something if we weren't coming back? (Steel, 1990: 188).

These questions create an atmosphere of the character's sincere interest and emotional tension.

Independent elliptical questions are used to express a slight surprise or skepticism, but the reaction of the interlocutor is expected:

Saving your men from being killed by others? (Steel, 1990: 229).

Paxton is puzzled by the response of Captain Bill Quinn, who has been in Vietnam for a long time, killing the fighting Vietnamese to protect American soldiers.

Paxton returns to the United States after the death of Bill Quinn. The owner of the newspaper in which Paxton works, offers her to return home, to rest and write about anything, but not about the war. Paxton truly wonders why the Americans no longer want to read anything about the war and those heroic people who are fighting there:

And “Message from Nam”? (Steel, 1990: 267).

In the fourth place of prominence are disjunctive questions (4.5%). The text-forming status of disjunctive questions is determined by their connection with a replica-stimulus or a replica-reaction, which are elementary units on the relations of which the dialogical text is based. The text-forming status of disjunctive questions is also determined by logical-semantic relations with other components of a complex (monologue) replica, which consists of disjunctive structures. We'd like to add that the aim of this type of question is also to obtain the proof to the expressed supposition.

Many disjunctive questions, including reactive and stimulating beginnings, are connected by creating a dialogical text in the vertical direction, with the property that is usually called “replication”.

Disjunctive questions, that include such text-forming loads, mean much more than a simple statement of fact. Firstly, they are indicators of enhancing the information content, and secondly, they contain a non-conventional form of impulse directed at the listener, inviting him/her to share the assessment that is given in these statements. Thus, the emotional impact on the recipient of the message is syncretically associated with the communicative attitude to the information content, which is carried out by means of disjunctive questions.

Paxton realizes that the Five O'Clock Follies in Vietnam provide false information deliberately. For Paxton, accustomed to writing only the truth, this propaganda causes resentment, which she expresses by means of disjunctive question with obscenities:

The Five O'Clock Follies surely are bullshit, aren't they? (Steel, 1990: 191).

Paxton is sympathetic to the words of Bill Quinn- that he is fed up with the lies, told by everyone and everywhere. She asks about the bombings, which happen very often in Vietnam: That happens a lot here, doesn't it? (Steel, 1990: 240).

Alternative questions are the least frequently used (1.1%). The purpose of the alternative question is to provide choices, to understand the area of interest of the interlocutor, to direct his/her way of thinking to the choice of alternatives. Youthful maximalism was often manifested in Paxton's speech and actions, so she rarely saw an alternative in difficult life situations. Paxton truly did not understand why she should sacrifice her dream for her mother and brother. She wanted to enter Radcliffe College. She had so many new ideas! Here an alternative question, which involves giving a choice between some phenomena or actions, is used:

Does that make it okay for me to go north to school, or do I have to stay here and bake cookies no matter what, just because I'm a woman? (Steel, 1990: 25).

Her mother's reaction to Paxton's wishes causes Paxton to protest.

Paxton, in a conversation with Sergeant Tony Campobello, says that journalist Ralph Johnson calls them both crazy, because by some chance, their meetings always ended in major quarrels and scandals. Paxton asked the sergeant:

Is that diagnosis, or a warning? (Steel, 1990: 305).

Paxton understands that Tony she and have a lot in common, despite their different social status, education and worldviews. With this question a spark of sympathy and emotional support for each other lights up between Paxton and Tony.

Conclusions

After analyzing the use of interrogative sentences in the direct speech of the main character of the novel “Message from Nam” by D. Steel, the following conclusions were made:

The interrogative sentence in the character's speech of artistic text has a high semantic-communicative potential. The speaker does not only ask a question, but also encourages the interlocutor to communicate. With the help of various interrogative sentences, the different emotions of characters are revealed: love, sympathy, anger, surprise, doubt, irritation, etc. Interrogative sentences help to transmit both information retrieval and various speech acts, such as guessing, perplexing or asking.

To achieve the main goal - intention, the speaker also uses a regulatory strategy, which is implemented primarily by obtaining the desired verbal response by programming the response of this intention with interrogative sentences. This function of the interrogative sentence is of great importance for successful communication.

We have identified a correlation of different types of interrogative sentences with the emotive function expression and the disclosure of the character's image in her direct speech.

Special questions make up almost half of all questions in the main character's direct speech (45.9%), general questions are represented by a smaller number (34.6%). Negative and independent elliptical questions, disjunctive and alternative questions are 7.1%, 6.8%, 4.5% and 1.1% respectively.

At the beginning of the story, questions in Paxton's speech are impulsive, with hints of indignation when it comes to her difficult relationship with her mother; with a sad tone when she recalls her dead father. Paxton's questions betrays her youthful maximalism, although she wants to seem adult and independent, but at the same time she cannot restrain her emotions. In Paxton's questions, joy is manifested when she is enrolled at Berkeley College. During the study at the college, Paxton's questions become calmer, but her impulsiveness is manifested in anti-war speeches with rhetorical questions. While working as a journalist in Vietnam during the war, Paxton very emotionally asks with the military, trying to understand what makes them return to this war again and again. In the final scene of the novel, when she at last finds her missing lover, her emotions are weakly manifested in the question in her direct speech, because they are expressed non-verbally.

Thus, through the use of interrogative sentences in the main character's direct speech, Danielle Steel creates her speech characteristic, reveals the emotional state, which also contributes to revealing the image of Paxton Andrews.

A possible topic of further research may be the functions of interrogative constructions in the inner speech of the characters in the artistic text.

Bibliography

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References

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