Speech act of approval as a separate component of a positive assessment speech act

Abstract

The classification of speech acts is one of the most urgent problems of modern linguistic pragmatics. Although there were many attempts to determine the types of speech acts, based on the totality of the linguistic and extra-linguistic components, as well as their implementation, the clear distinctions of function space of acts are absent still. Besides, there are disputes about the existence of a particular type of speech act against the background of a clear division absence concerning functional features. Modern scientists, in contrast to the linguistic pragmatics classics, tend to consider speech acts in interaction, as the acts do not occur virtually in a pure form. We agree with the fact that an act of the communication process interacting with a context, is supplemented by shading values. Due to this, some speech acts seem to lose its primary importance and begin to be considered within the contiguous acts. These acts include the act of approval, which is still considered by some works, as a component of a complement or praise. We used the following methods in our scientific work: apperceive method, aspect, hermeneutic, critical, holographic and problem analysis. We proved that the approval is a separate element of the positive-evaluation acts of expressive element class, based on three important points. First of all, having considered the addressee and the object of positive assessment speech acts, we concluded that in contrast to flattery, praise and a complement, an interlocutor is not an object of approval but some decision or an action. Secondly, we found the works of scholars, who proved the existence of a disapproval speech act. Comparing the approval and disapproval, we concluded that the act of approval performs a specific function, and also has the right to an independent existence. Thirdly, we reviewed the approval in terms of sincerity category, and found the examples and situations in which the approval is not a sincere one. We described the difference between insincere approval and flattery. Thus, proving that an act of approval exists as a separate component of positive assessment speech acts, we distinguished its functional and proved that taking into account the context factor and the factor of combinatorial features, you may clearly define the functional capacity of approval speech acts.