Echo questions functioning in English conversational discourse: strategies and tactics

Abstract

The article aims at investigating functional peculiarities of echo questions and developing a typology of the corresponding strategies and tactics. To this end, cognitive, contextual and discourse analyses are employed drawing on the data from English fiction and films of the 20th and 21st centuries. The novelty of the study lies in viewing echo questions both as a means of building a mental model of the communicative context and an object of its influence when realizing the speaker’s communicative intention. Based on the correlation between the components of the communicative act (as suggested by R. Jacobson) and the functions performed by echo questions, the article singles out four types of strategies. The information-cognitive strategy is employed to construct a mental context model on the basis of the interlocutor’s utterance and background knowledge. Strategies influencing the addressee of the echo question involve the directive strategy (eliciting desired behaviour or communicative action from the interlocutor) and the argumentative strategy (changing the interlocutor’s point of view). The evaluative strategy makes it possible for the speaker to express his/her attitudes and emotions while the metacommunicative strategy concerns the ways the conversation unfolds (in terms of the communicative contact, turn-taking, topic negotiation and change, social status, time and the actual words and formulations used). The results presented in the paper may be used in future research detailing the interrelation between echo questions and specific nonverbal means strategically employed in conversational discourse.

Authors and Affiliations

Н. С. Стрельченко

Keywords

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  • EP ID EP447454
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How To Cite

Н. С. Стрельченко (2016). Echo questions functioning in English conversational discourse: strategies and tactics. Науковий вісник Дрогобицького державного педагогічного університету імені Івана Франка. Серія: Філологічні науки (мовознавство), 5(2), 122-125. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-447454