Functional characteristics of kinesic communicative components in the English fairy-tale discourse

Abstract

The article is focused on the study of the organization of the English fairy-tale discourse, presenting a unique semiotic system, and kinesic components of communication manifested in it. The fairy-tale serves as a catalyst in the process of socialization of the personality. It is the first “gender ABC-book” for a child. It outlines explicitly the behavioral communicative patterns fixed in the society. In the article the situations of communicative interaction in the heterogeneous communicative dyad “woman – man” are analyzed. The gender parameters of the participants are taken into consideration. Based on the pragmatic settings of feminine fairy-tale discursive personalities, their strategic behavior is analyzed with the special attention to the functions of kinesic communicative components. In the communicative pair “woman – man” a gaze, smile, and head movements are most significant for female characters. They use these non-verbal components for the implementation of a cooperative or conflict communicative strategy and for the setting of the appropriate tone of communication. It has been established that the kinesic behavior of fairy-tale speakers is multifunctional: it may indicate a woman's willingness to interact or a desire to influence the interlocutor; due to kinesic communicative components, the contacts between speakers are established, and the necessary information is obtained from the communicative partner. They also can indicate the emotional state of the speakers. The analyzed functional and communicative characteristics of the kinesic components meet the expectations of the society regarding the performance of male and female gender roles.