Speech Genre of <i>Congratulation</i> in Asymmetric Communication

Abstract

The article describes the pragmatic, semantic, and axiological features of the speech genre of congratulation complement in pedagogical discourse with asymmetric communicants. The research material included 170 fragments. The research revealed two groups based on semantic, axiological, pragmatic, and linguistic differences: personal informal internet congratulations made by teaching staff to students and formal public speeches given by university rectors and teaching staff to students published on official websites of universities. The analysis relied on the factor of formality / informality. The differences between formal and informal congratulations manifested themselves in the content, language, and tactics. Both types were detailed and poly-intentional. The informal congratulations touched upon the addressee's personality, hobbies, achievements, and character traits. The formal congratulations showed a much greater distance between the sender and the addressee. They focused on the addressee's status, not personality. The texts often reflected current events, e.g., in 2019–2020 they touched upon the COVID-2019 pandemic.