Familiarity mode of communicative behavior in cognitive-discursive lighting

Abstract

The article highlights the familiarity mode as cognitive-discursive phenomenon that is a component of national communicative behaviour. It postulates the distinction between the traditional linguistic and stylistic approach to understanding of familiarity and both modern cognitive-semiotic and discursive perspectives of investigating the object of study. Considering the previous research views of scholars who hold different scientific positions, the definition of the familiarity mode as a semiotic construct of language/communicative consciousness and a constituent of national communicative behaviour has been provided. Special attention is paid to the comparison of definitions of familiarity represented in lexicographic sources of the Ukrainian and German languages. Relevant vocabulary data material and some examples of conversational discursive practices allowed to highlight the cognitive-discursive nature of functioning and implementation of familiarity modus as one of the varieties of semiotic modes of communicative behaviour and to trace the specifics of the studied phenomenon in German communicative culture. The traditional differentiation of three levels of emotionally-expressive colouring of vocabulary and the corresponding separation of three styles of communication, including familiar one, have been considered separately. The implementation of the cognitive-semiotic familiarity mode within the neutral style of communication is regulated by the specifics of the discursive space in which the national communicative behaviour takes place, as well as social/status, gender, age, professional, special, etc. features of interlocutors. Cognitive-semiotic familiarity mode is related to a reduced style of communication, but in some cases may correlate with high style, which depends not only on the discursive space of a particular linguaculture, but also on the specific conditions and circumstances of speech interaction.