genre, stylistic and thematic characteristics of ...

НАУЧНЫЕ ДОСТИЖЕНИЯ И ОТКРЫТИЯ 2018

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УДК 81’42:811.11

GENRE, STYLISTIC AND THEMATIC CHARACTERISTICS OF COLLOQUIAL STYLE: TEENAGE DISCOURSE PhD Teacher

Students Prep HS3, Korolyov, Russia Abstract: The paper looks into the characteristics of teenage discourse based on the main characters of two authors, British and American, who work in the field of bibliotherapy (the fictional text provides healing by means of reading; that is, inspiring young people to overcome difficulties). We examine the genre and stylistic features of a teenage discourse, such as lexical, semantic, phonetic and graphic characteristics of the rural British English, the Northern English dialect depicted in the language of a male teenager in THE TRUE TALE OF THE MONSTER BILLY DEAN by David Almond. In this novel the thematic component is represented by the following recurrent concepts or frames: EDUCATION, NATURE OF THE "SELF", COMING OF AGE, ADAPTATION TO CHANGE, RELATIONS BETWEEN OPPOSITES (LIFE AND DEATH, PAST AND FUTURE, REALITY AND FICTION). The expressive lexis, for example, metaphors, teenage slang and colloquialisms, illustrate youth in crisis and the challenges of growing up. The other novel we analyze is CHASING REDBIRD by Sharon Creech; here we examine the discourse features of a female teenager, including the thematic components of Themes such as FAMILY, OVERCOMING DEPRESSION, and TEENAGE ROMANCE. The analysis of the conversations of fictional characters created by British and American authors is used to build generalizations about the characteristics of language and style of teenagers. The stylistic and genre components highlight the colloquial style used to depict the personal life of a male and female teenagers, who confront the evils of society, including corruption, unkindness, and family issues. Key words: colloquial style, speech genre, functional style, stylistics, discourse, discourse analysis, dialect, phonetics, semantics, lexis, slang, teenage discourse ЖАНРОВО-СТИЛИСТИЧЕСКИЕ И ТЕМАТИЧЕСКИЕ ПРИЗНАКИ РАЗГОВОРНОГО СТИЛЯ: РЕЧЕВОЙ ЖАНР ПОДРОСТКА

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НАУЧНЫЕ ДОСТИЖЕНИЯ И ОТКРЫТИЯ 2018 Пеньков Борис Викторович, Пихур Людмила Борисовна, Агапов Артём Борисович, Бородулина Александра Викторовна, Осипова Василиса Александровна, Пискленова Полина Вадимовна, Савенкова Мария Игоревна

Аннотация: Рассматриваются социолингвистическое и жанрово-стилистическое своеобразие разговорной речи на примере речевого жанра подростка в произведениях современных британских и американских авторов. В качестве иллюстративного материала использованы произведения: Дэвида Алмонда The True Tale Of The Monster Billy Dean («Правдивая история о чудовище по имени Билли Дин»), британского автора детских, подростковых и молодёжных романов, лауреата Премии имени Ханса Кристиана Андерсена, и повесть американской писательницы Шарон Крич Chasing Redbird («Тропа журавушки»). Рассматриваются тематические характеристики данного речевого жанра. Языковые особенности речи ребёнка в кризисной ситуации, взросление и переживания подростка отображаются через набор специфических лексико-семантических средств, характерных для разговорного стиля, выражающего внутренний мир мальчика и девочки, восприятие кризисных явлений общества – коррупции, агрессии и проблем в семье. У Алмонда, например, речевой жанр подростка проявляется благодаря лексико-семантическим, фонетическим и графическим элементам, в том числе, северноанглийских диалектов, в обсуждении Тем: «Образование», «Природа личности», «Взросление», «Адаптация к переменам», «Отношения между противоположностями» («Жизни и смерти», «Прошлого и будущего», «Реальности и вымысла»). В повести Крич, речь главного персонажа задействует компоненты разговорного стиля и отражает внутренний мир девочки-подростка с помощью основных Тем, например, «Семьи», «Преодоления депрессии» и «Подростковой любви», а также сопутствующих Темы: «Баланс личного и общественного», «Взросление», «Адаптация к переменам», «Самовосприятие», «Отношения между противоположностями» – «Жизнь и смерть», «Прошлое, настоящее и будущее», «Реальность и вымысел». Оба произведения с помощью эмоциональной разговорной лексики (метафор, сленга и коллоквиализмов) вдохновляют молодое поколение преодолевать трудности. Компоненты разговорного стиля выступают в качестве жанрово-стилистических маркеров речевого жанра подростка, а также речевого жанра ученика школы. Ключевые слова: разговорный стиль, речевой жанр, функциональный стиль, дискурс, анализ дискурса, диалект, лексика, семантика, речь подростка, подростковый дискурс We employ descriptive methods [1, pp. 206-207; 2, pp. 110-111; 3, pp. 121-122] to analyze the colloquial language of teenagers portrayed in fictional texts. The classification of lexical and semantic elements and the differentiation of thematic and conceptual discourse markers [4, pp. 2-4; 5, pp. 41-42; 5, p. 37] used by authors to develop their literary characters is one of available resources (along with actual discourse from real life) for theoretical understanding and appreciation of a vast scope of components in the speech genre and style of contemporary teenagers. The discourse features of this variety of language is part of what we consider the high school language and style with its major subdivisions into student, teacher and administrative genre and stylistic varieties. In other words, the teenage discourse is part of student discourse, which includes conversational lexical and semantic features with universal characteristics of the colloquial and low-colloquial style [6, pp. 38-39; 7, pp. 245-247; 8, p. 247; 9, p. 140; 10, pp. 14-15]. The uniqueness of the teenage discourse is in its conversational features visible on all levels of the language and characterized in terms of discourse markers or features, which index this variety of speech genre and which allow us to classify text with such components as belonging to this genre and stylistic variety of discourse. We look into the thematic constituent of the teenage discourse through the study of a set of related themes represented in a literary work in the context of the approach called qualitative data analysis. In view of IV международный научно-практический конкурс | МЦНС «НАУКА И ПРОСВЕЩЕНИЕ»


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such a framework of themes, the description of colloquial language includes the analysis of conceptual apparatus [11, pp. 47-48; 12, pp. 6-7; 13, p. 145; 14, p. 2]. The thematic analysis looks into the potential concepts used by prospective discourse participant [15, pp. 150-153]. The themes are shaped by the writer of the novel in such a way so that the patterns used could help the reader to condense the texts to a number of critical ideas. Accordingly, the analysis of the conversations of fictional characters is used to build generalizations about the characteristics of language and style of teenagers. It seems important to examine teenage characters portrayed not only in contemporary literature but also in novels within the past 50-70 years to reveal the genre and stylistic features used by authors to reproduce the language of teenagers throughout decades. Authors use well thought-out metaphors to depict how main characters think, how they value and experience social life or lack of it, how they assess their own actions and behavior of others in their community in comparison to the norm or a system of values or beliefs [16, p. 152; 17, pp. 150-151; 18, p. 33; 19, pp. 12-14; 20, pp. 149-153]. Metaphors facilitate the positive reception and enjoyment of the development process of the fictional character; help to introduce a problem and to show a solution to the problem by appealing to a set of values and beliefs. Metaphors are capable of encouraging change and improvement; that is, they convince the reader to understand the main character’s attitude to social issues by altering conceptual frameworks and shifting concepts from one sphere into another, structuring and restructuring reality; especially, when teenager is faced with a complex and obscure question and is pushed to make decisions and undergo physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual transformations. Therefore, the analysis of metaphors used by fictional characters enables us to differentiate semantic features (with linked associations and conceptual spheres) of teenage speech genre in general within a system of themes, which are elements of the teenage discourse. The first novel we would like to discuss here is THE TRUE TALE OF THE MONSTER BILLY DEAN by David Almond. Almond, who won the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award, inspires youth in crisis; his works are a great example of bibliotherapy that looks into the reading as a way of healing depression. In contrast to the colloquial features of a female main character described below, here we have a male character. Magical realism helps the author to represent the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical dimensions of boyhood. Written phonetically in the first person, the novel conveys thoughts and themes of a teenage speech genre. Billy Dean narrates himself using the rural British English and phonetic spelling. Spelling errors are graphical discourse features which point out the lack of formal education influencing his language, the spelling is mostly phonetic. The examples of such colloquial lexical features; namely, words spelled incorrectly, are the following: whale (while); who-liness (holiness). Almond uses lexis from the dialect called Geordie, the Northern English dialect of the Tyneside region of North East England (Tyneside, south Northumberland and northern parts of County Durham): He grew up with birds & mise as friends; He wos a secrit shy & thick & tungtied emptyheded thing. The system of values within the speech genre is revealed through Themes such as EDUCATION, NATURE OF THE "SELF", COMING OF AGE, ADAPTATION TO CHANGE, RELATIONS BETWEEN OPPOSITES (LIFE AND DEATH, PAST AND FUTURE, REALITY AND FICTION). The character is the product of the pervert society, of the cruel world and of the grotesque parents, mainly the boy’s father. Billy is a monster and that was not his fault – a baby in a hide-out and a bombed-out community in a fighting region create a drastic image of the failing society. The sadistic and brutal scenes in the novel are supported with violent details and metaphors. Billy is an illegitimate son kept by his parents till he is 13 in a room; that is, his freedoms are restricted. He is born when his town is bombed in a war, in a post apocalyptic setting. His mother loves Billy, even though is suppressed by his father, who is the violent priest and who goes away from the family. Billy comes into the criminal world, which hurts him, and he makes an effort to have a dialogue with the survivors of a devastated community in the context of continuous crime, corruption, cruelty, family problems, vice, dishonesty and unwww.naukaip.ru

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trustworthy strangers ready to abuse children. Sharon Creech, an American writer, in CHASING REDBIRD, uses discourse markers to describe the life and ambitions of a teenage girl Zinnia Taylor (Zinny). The Themes, which conceptualize the system of values and ideas, are the following: FAMILY, DEPRESSION, TEENAGE ROMANCE, and HUMOR. As for the Theme called FAMILY, we find the approving of family values; the significance of relatives is illustrated by realistic stylistic means. A juvenile girl wants to create her own identity, to develop her own “self”. She is on her voyage of self-discovery while living in the context of an American family on the family land in Kentucky (in the fictional place called Bybanks). This FAMILY Theme develops further as it is a real challenge for the teenager to bring change into her personal branding and her existence facing the daily routine filled with many siblings, a couple of brothers and three sisters; namely, May, Gretchen, Bonnie, Will, Sam, Ben as well as her parents and extended family residing in the vicinity, which includes Aunt Jessie, Uncle Nate and Cousin Rose. The Taylor family is in crisis, lacking a unifying self-image, with leadership issues and surrounded by inefficient community; all in all, such situation may develop into risks for the teenager, who is searching for her identity. Zinny puts the trail in order and in the in the meantime makes her different from her siblings by emerging with new diverse qualities. The simple project of working on the trail empowers her to escape from herd mentality and the excessive influence of her family. As a result her relatives and other people accept her new image and confirm her new enhanced status. The next central Theme in the speech genre is OVERCOMING DEPRESSION; that is, struggling with grief and coping with sad moments, which are the result of blaming herself for perhaps causing her cousin and her aunt to die by accident. The breakthrough into a new life with the help of finding a magic passageway, which leads her from the confines of the family's property to a fresh start and another location, is the victory over the misery of existence. Individuals are able to find different ways to mourn; specifically, before Aunt's death, the girl discovered a trail and after Aunt passed away Zinny pledged to finish the project. In contrast, to such a can do attitude, Uncle Nate chose to live in a world of deceptive beliefs to avoid the depressing reality; Aunt had tried to replace Rose with Zinny to deal with despair. Another Theme is TEENAGE ROMANCE, which illustrates the coming of age. Jake, a tall and attractive young man, a bit older than Zinny, inspires her to reveal her physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual potential. During the project of cleaning the trail, Zinny meets Jake and she is confused. After Aunt’s death Jake comes to see Zinny with gifts, demonstrates his love and empathy. These feelings also bring change in the way Zinny’s family perceives her. In conclusion, both female and male characters of the discussed novels demonstrate a number of genre and stylistic features which reflect teenage discourse. In both novels the authors depict how teenagers formulate their position at the societal level, where the leadership crisis and the failing community create risks for the future of the teenagers, as they may become wounded as a result of manipulation or harassment from other members of the flawed community. To describe and conceptualize the contemporary teen life, the process of coming of age, the authors develop a set of themes (for example, FAMILY, OVERCOMING DEPRESSION, TEENAGE ROMANCE, BALANCE OF PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY NEEDS, COMING OF AGE, ADAPTATION TO CHANGE, NATURE OF SELF, RELATIONS BETWEEN OPPOSITES). The authors rely on the sophisticated genre and stylistic features of the discussed variety of discourse, portraying the colloquial style of teenagers. The speech genre of teenagers is characterized by colloquial lexical and semantic markers, emotional lexis, phonetic and lexical representation of dialects to emphasize concepts and themes of the inner world of the boy and girl teenagers and the troubles of coming of age. References 1. Dupéré V. et al. Revisiting the Link Between Depression Symptoms and High School Dropout: Timing of Exposure Matters // Journal of Adolescent Health. – 2018. – Т. 62. – №. 2. – С. 205-211. 2. Joshi P. Identifying and investigating the “best” schools: a network-based analysis //Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. – 2018. – Т. 48. – №. 1. – С. 110-127. IV международный научно-практический конкурс | МЦНС «НАУКА И ПРОСВЕЩЕНИЕ»


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