COOPERATIVE STRATEGIES AND TACTICS OF A PESSIMISTIC COMMUNICANT

Abstract

The article highlights cooperative strategies and tactics of a pessimistic communicant. It is revealed that communicative strategy, as one of the most important discourse-forming factors, is a characteristic feature of pessimistic discourse, which presupposes a communicative situation of pessimistic behavior, is represented by a complex system of lexical, syntactic, stylistic, pragmatic and non-verbal means of expressing the communicant’s pessimistic outlook and is characterized by certain goals, style, tonality and mode of communication. It is found out that cooperative communicative strategies (a strategy of tolerance and a defensive strategy) are the basis of pessimistic discourses, which harmonize relations between communicants. The strategy of tolerance is aimed at understanding, conflict resolution in the process of interaction, resistance to aggression, balancing the positions of interlocutors, leveling out the demonstration of brute force, explaining the threat and warning it. It is proved that the tactics of studied indifference, of consent and of justifying the actions of the interlocutor are main tactics implemented within the strategy of tolerance. The use of a defensive strategy in pessimistic discourse is conditioned by the needs of the interlocutor to level out the negative impact of excessive anxiety on behavior and activity. A defensive strategy is aimed at achieving a compromise by forming defensive mechanisms in case of failure. It is realized by tactics of maintaining low expectations, of critical assessment of the situation and by the tactic of negative predicting. The verbal markers of strategies and tactics of a pessimistic communicant are lexico-semantic, syntactic, stylistic and pragmatic means. The verbalization of the tactics is determined by the structure of a communicative situation and by the peculiarities of the personal behavioral responses of a pessimistic communicant. It is proved that the choice of cooperative strategies and tactics realizing the communicative intention of a pessimistic communicant is determined by typological features of pessimism as dispositional (a communicative strategy of tolerance) and defensive (a defensive communicative strategy) phenomenon.