Emotive Function of the Interrogative Sentences in Direct Character’s Speech (Based on the Novel by D. Steel “Message from Nam”)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the research of the emotive function of interrogative sentences in direct character’s speech in the artistic text based on the novel “Message from Nam” by American writer Danielle Steel. The aim of the article is to determine the factors thatinfluence the expression of the emotive function, which the interrogative sentence performs in the direct character’s speech.The research material is 266 interrogative sentences from the direct speech of the protagonist of the novel “Message from Nam” by Danielle Steel. Research methods include method of continuous sampling, elements of quantitative analysis, elements of psycholinguistic experiment and method of contextual-interpretative analysis used in Linguistics of Emotions. Character’s speech in the artistic text is analyzed as a specific type of presentation, directly recreating the message of the hero from the perspective of the other characters. An attempt was made to analyze different classifications of interrogative sentences.The authors of the article revealed the correlation of different types of interrogative sentences for the emotive function expression and the disclosure of the character’s image in her direct speech. It was calculated that 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. The conclusion was made that through the use of interrogative sentences in the protagonist’s direct speech D. Steel creates her speech characteristic, reveals the emotional state, which also contributes to the revealing of Paxton Andrews’ image. This study expands the research of interrogative constructions, direct speech and linguistic expression of emotions presented in the works of Ukrainian and foreign researchers.