Pragmatic features of using predicative adjectives

Oleksandra Deichakivska

doi:https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.82.10.2

Deichakivska, O. (2024). Pragmatic features of using predicative adjectives. Amazonia Investiga, 13(82), 27-42. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.82.10.2

Прагматичні особливості вживання предикативних прикметників

Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor, Associate Professor at the Department of English Philology, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: KTA-1833-2024

The article examines predicative adjectives as components of the speech acts of apology and gratitude, as well as the speech act of compliment. The examples show the importance of the speech acts of apology, gratitude, and compliment; the general characteristics and multi-intentionality of these acts are presented. Peculiarities of the language implementation of apology, gratitude, and compliment when using the structure Vcop+Adj are highlighted. Ways of implementing the contact-establishing strategy by using expressive speech acts of apology, gratitude, praise, and compliment are demonstrated. Since all considered speech acts aim to change the addressee's psychological state, their components are predicative adjectives belonging to the group of expressives. According to their position in the discourse, the speech acts of apology, gratitude, praise, and compliment are mostly initial acts. All considered speech acts suggest that predicative adjectives are modified by various intensifiers that occur in different syntactic structures. They can be expressed using a direct speech act, whose linguistic semantics corresponds to the illocutionary force of the speech act, and using an indirect speech act, realized with the help of speech forms whose illocutionary force does not align with their semantics.

Keywords: predicative adjectives, expressives, class of predicates, interactive communication, poly-intentionality of the speech act.

У статті розглянуто предикативні прикметники як складові мовленнєвого акту вибачення, вдячності, як компоненти мовленнєвого акту компліменту. На прикладах показано вагомість мовленнєвого акту вибачення, вдячності, мовленнєвого акту компліменту; представлена загальна характеристика та поліінтенційність мовленнєвого акту вибачення, вдячності, мовленнєвого акту компліменту. Виокремлено особливості мовної реалізації вибачення, вдячності, компліменту під час уживання структури Vcop+Adj. Показано шляхи реалізації контактно-встановлювальної стратегії шляхом використання експресивних мовленнєвих актів вибачення, вдячності, похвали, компліменту. Оскільки усі розглянуті мовленнєві акти, спрямовані на зміну психологічного стану адресата і компонентами їх є предикативні прикметники, що належать до групи експресивів. Мовленнєві акти вибачення, вдячності, похвали, компліменту, за позицією в дискурсі, є переважно ініціальними актами. Всі розглянуті мовленнєві акти дають можливість говорити про те, що модифікуються предикативні прикметники різноманітними інтенсифікаторами, які трапляються у різних синтаксичних структурах; можуть виражатися засобами прямого мовленнєвого акту, чия мовна семантика відповідає ілокутивній силі мовленнєвого акту та засобами непрямого мовленнєвого акту, що реалізуватися за допомогою мовних форм, чия ілокутивна сила не збігається з його семантикою.

Ключові слова: предикативні прикметники, експресиви, клас предикатів, інтерактивне спілкування, поліінтенційність мовленнєвого акту.

Language changes over time, never stands still, and reacts to everything that happens around it. To describe this world, language tries to put words together in such a way and finds a way to present words so that they are consistent and logical (Hladush & Pavliuk, 2019).

Language is a multi-level system, and its existence is determined by the constant change of elements. Speaking about the quantitative and qualitative changes in the language, we claim that its most sensitive level is the lexical-semantic level, where the units undergo semantic restructuring, archaization, neologization, and stylistic marking. Therefore, in recent years, there has been increased interest among lexicological studies in the mechanisms of improving the means of lexical nomination, in the development of the lexical composition of the language, in the lexical fund in general, and in the manifestation of trends in the development of individual lexemes and semantic structures (Boiko & Khomych, 2011).

The emergence of new approaches to the study of semantic properties is due to the development of modern linguistic science, nominative units through communicative implementation, and the disclosure of linguistic laws. Important in this matter is the study of the factors that allow the same words to acquire the ability to express different judgments of speakers about objects. An indicator of the uniqueness of a language is its property, which is manifested in the possibility of its lexical potential to actualize shades for specific cases of using words from its stock.

In the foreign language learning program, grammar holds a central place. Without this knowledge, effective communication is impossible, both in written and spoken forms (Kovtun, 2021).

Adjectives occupy a special position among other linguistic units. They have neither a specific reference nor their own subject area.

Describing the features of objects and phenomena, adjectives are important components of the semantic structure of a sentence. Emotionality and expressiveness are the main pragmatic properties of adjectives. An adjective, which can affect a person's interpersonal relationships during communication, is of great importance in terms of information. Adjectives are important for social affiliation, identity building, and for expressing an individual's attitude toward the surrounding world. The pragmatic features of using predicative adjectives are important for the emotional expressiveness of the message and for understanding its linguistic state.

Therefore, the relevance of this research is determined by the general tendency of linguistic studies to examine the adjective as a part of the language, its structure, and semantics.

Scientists N. Boiko & T. Khomych (2011) attempted parametricity in the connoted structures of semantic lexical units of the language, conducted a multi-faceted holistic analysis of the intensity of meaning components; the basis of the study of intensive and parametric components in the modern linguistic paradigm is singled out; features are shown, and their interaction with other components of the semantics of connoted lexical units is analyzed; the place of intensive and parametric components in the semantic structure of the connoted word is determined; in the semantic structure functional-semantic types of connotations are distinguished from the intensively parametric component, semantic varieties are distinguished in the intensively-parametric component.

In the texts of television advertising, O. Ostroushko (2009) defined pragmatic guidelines for the use of adjectives: characteristics of the consumer, characteristics of the product as a whole, and selection of the quality of the advertised product. To strengthen the expressiveness of the compliment at the syntactic level, along with predicative adjectives, the use of adverbs, intensifiers, and interrogative pronouns is shown. Developed tasks aimed at forming a certain image, the image of the advertised product.

Several theoretical problems of the syntax of the modern language, taking into account current linguistic theories and ways of solving them, were considered by L. Ostrovska (2022). The main directions of modern syntax are characterized in a key that is relevant for today, in particular, semantic, expressive, generative, pragmatic, cognitive, and communicative, which present an anthropocentric scientific paradigm and are actively developing in world linguistics. Special attention is paid to the concept of functional-semantic syntax, in particular, the meaning is shown, which is important in the research of the syntactic structure of the language.

The opinion of such scientists as O. Bilous, R. Brunner, & O. Bilous (2022) is consistent with the need to "supplement constructively oriented syntax with a new perspective during the study of syntactic phenomena" and pointing out that the social purpose of language in speech activity is the correct use of sentences, and the essence of language cannot be reduced in any case to the construction of content-filled structures and syntactically correct structures. The central function of language is the communicative function, that is, the function of using language "as a means of understanding between people".

In addition to the main participants of speech communication, N. Lyhosherstova (2015) believes that a common fund of knowledge and ideas about the world, speech skills, and a certain subject of speech communication is necessary for the implementation of a speech act. The scientist proves that the main participants in speech communication are the addresser and the addressee, and the speech act is a unit of speech activity; determines the main features of a speech act: purposefulness (goal); intentionality (intentionality); conventionality (compliance with generally accepted rules of language use); proves that a purposeful speech act is a speech act, and he performs the act by the rules and principles of speech behavior accepted in society.

N. Andreichuk (2008) does not single out expressives as a separate class according to the meaning of the performative predicate verb but defines the type of speech act. To the class of commissives, the scientist refers to the expression of threats, to the class of behabitives: expressions of congratulations, apologies – reactions to the behavior of other people. I. Vykhovanets & K Horodenska (2004) submitted an alternative and showed the shortcomings of such a classification. The scientist singled out five illocutionary acts in an alternative proposal (representatives (assertives), commissives, directives, declaratives, expressives), taking into account the psychological state of the speaker and the illocutionary purpose.

E. Black made a classification of speech acts from different points of view: according to the status of the speaker and the listener, according to the type and methods of achieving illocutionary force. The scientist focuses on the study of individual speech acts, with the help of which it is possible to find the expression of speech acts and to study structures from the standpoint of their functioning – it is by such means that in the Vcop+Adj model, there can be predicative adjectives.

The whole structure expresses expressive speech acts when the predicative function has evaluation adjectives, which is shown by the analysis of the structural and semantic features of the Vcop+Adj structure. Most often, these are speech acts of expressing a compliment, gratitude, or apology.

The opinion of scientists in the context of different types of discourse regarding the content of expressives is interesting. Thus, E. Black (2006) proved that expressive acts perform a very strong interpersonal function and are such speech acts that reveal the position of the speaker in situations of expression of satisfaction, greeting, and expression of sympathy. They are much more likely to be encountered in fiction in character discourse than in narrative – in a literary work with a linear presentation of events and facts. With the help of predicative adjectives, the features of the components of the Vcop+Adj structure were considered, and O. Deychakivska (2020) proposed an expression of the speech act of a compliment. From the point of view of distinguishing between a sincere and a phatic compliment, the classification of J. Searle is presented within the framework of Brown's "theory of politeness", and the speech act is analyzed. The Vcop+Adj structure is presented by the speaker as a means of expressing a positive assessment, which includes approval, delight, and satisfaction. It has been proven that the incentive for a compliment is the property, appearance, inner world of the addressee, high or professional moral qualities of the interlocutor, positive character traits, and achievements, which include both an idea of the psychological characteristics of a person and knowledge of the informational thesaurus of the interlocutors, the specifics of communicative interaction, which from personal it depends entirely on the qualities of the communicators. O. Cherednichenko (2015) also supports the opinion of previous scientists that the structure Vcop+Adj is close to the central means of expression or even central to a particular speech act if we talk about expressives. In contrast to the peripheral – the central element is understood as the same element that most fully conveys the meaning, is the most frequent, is the best for a certain category, and is used in the case of explaining a certain category of other members.

So, having reviewed scientific sources, we claim that scientists have considered several theoretical problems of the syntax of the modern language, taking into account current linguistic theories and ways of solving them; the main features of the speech act are defined; it is proven that a speech act is a purposeful speech act, and it acts by the rules and principles of speech behavior accepted in society; a classification of speech acts is made from different points of view: according to the status of the speaker and the listener, according to the type and methods of achieving illocutionary force.

With the help of predicative adjectives, the peculiarities of the components of the Vcop+Adj structure were considered, and the expression of the speech act of the compliment was proposed. Scientists have focused on the study of individual speech acts, with the help of which it is possible to find the expression of speech acts and to study structures from the standpoint of their functioning – precisely by such means in the Vcop+Adj model, there can be predicative adjectives.

The pragmatic aspect of the use of predicative adjectives was not the subject of special study, although certain groups of predicative adjectives were added to one or another speech act – a list of means of expressing illocutionary force.

The purpose of the study is a comprehensive study of the pragmatic features of the use of predicative adjectives and their syntagmatic and pragmatic characteristics.

This research is developed under a qualitative approach with a descriptive-analytical design, based on pragmatic and structural linguistics procedures. The object of study is predicative adjectives in their communicative function, specifically in expressive speech acts (apologies, gratitude, and compliments). The study adopts a functional perspective of language, analyzing the object from its form, structure, and pragmatic function.

The study is structured in three complementary analytical levels. At the genetic level, the genesis of the linguistic forms under study is traced; at the structural level, the relationships between components of the linguistic system are analyzed; and at the functional level, the communicative purpose of the studied structures is examined.

The corpus was constituted from a continuous sample of English literary works, play scripts, conversation transcripts, journalistic texts, scientific literature from English-speaking countries, and lexicographic sources. Material selection was specifically focused on the presence of "Vcop+Adj" structures in contexts of apology acts, expressions of gratitude, and compliment formulation. Special attention was paid to cases presenting adjectival complementation through subordinate clauses, infinitives, and inflections.

The research employs an integrated combination of theoretical and empirical methods. Theoretical methods include deduction and induction for theoretical processing of material, as well as synthesis and analysis for theoretical foundation and findings classification. Regarding empirical methods, linguistic description was used for classifying functional properties, systematizing semantic characteristics, and analyzing syntactic structures. The structural analysis comprised the transformational study of "Vcop+Adj" structures, distributional analysis of linguistic patterns, and identification of characteristic models.

The pragmatic-semantic analysis focused on identifying communicative tactics, analyzing politeness strategies, and evaluating communicative intentionality. Meanwhile, contextual analysis examined extralinguistic factors, evaluated situational contexts, and analyzed pragmatic presuppositions. Conversational analysis centered on studying dialogic interactions, analyzing participants' "communicative face," and evaluating status maintenance or change strategies.

The analytical procedure was developed in three main phases. The preparatory phase included exhaustive documentation of sources, systematic recording of excerpts, and initial categorization of structures. During the analytical phase, we proceeded with the identification of "Vcop+Adj" structures, their classification according to speech act type, analysis of discursive position, evaluation of intensifiers, and analysis of pragmatic characteristics. The interpretative phase contemplated the analysis of structural equivalences, identification of connotative semes, evaluation of communicative functions, and analysis of politeness strategies.

The interpretive validity of the study is supported by empirical data that evidence specific patterns in the use of the analyzed structures. For instance, the low frequency of indirect apologies was confirmed, while the predominance of direct apologies is explained by the clear expression of the desire to obtain forgiveness. The analyzed examples revealed the syncretic nature of the predicative adjective "sorry," and it was found that the type of discourse with predicative adjective serves as an explanation of the temporal and deictic design of the structure components.

Quality control was implemented through a comprehensive system that includes rigorous documentation of sources, certification of excerpts, and verification of transcriptions. Analytical verification comprised systematic review of classifications, checking interpretative coherence, and validation of pragmatic analysis. The entire analytical process was documented in detail to ensure consistency in the application of criteria.

The study presents limitations inherent to its nature, focusing specifically on expressive speech acts that require psychological and situational presupposition, as well as the existence of shared knowledge between interlocutors. The findings will serve as a basis for future studies on predicative adjective complementation, analysis from the cognitive paradigm, and comparisons between verbal and adjectival complementation.

The desire to earn forgiveness is the essence of the speech act of apology (in addition to the recognition of a negative attitude on the part of the speaker towards the committed action), which is often accompanied by an attempt to justify one's behavior in the relationship with the interlocutor to restore the lost balance with him. The speaker tries to reach an understanding with those whom he offended. A compensatory, typical retrospective act is a speech act of apology, which refers to the violation of past social agreements (Deichakivska, 2024).

It is the speech act that is aimed at correcting the situation. Its purpose is to restore social harmony due to the harm done to someone or the probable, real offense of a person.

The theory of politeness by P. Brown & S. Levinson (1978) is important, which at its core contains the concept of negative and positive "face", as well as the concept of negative politeness and positive politeness. Negative politeness strategies include apologetic statements. By taking the blame for a negative act, the speaker expresses his desire to free himself from guilt and expresses his respect for the addressee. The addressee puts himself in a vulnerable position, showing responsibility for the negative action taken, thereby threatening his "face".

Positive politeness consists of expressing approval and showing interest in the personality of the partner and his actions, negative politeness, on the other hand, aims to soften and avoid such speech acts that could threaten a person's status (critical remarks, orders, direct requests to the interlocutor) (Kozak et al., 2023).

J. Searle (1976) does not fully share the opinion that the speech act of apology "strengthens the face" of the addressee and "destroys the face" of the speaker. The scientist claims that apologizing for a minor offense contributes to the positive image of the addressee, not just the addressee because the speaker declares himself as a polite person by apologizing for a minor offense.

The speaker can reduce his authority by admitting guilt if there is a good reason to apologize, thereby raising the authority of the partner with whom he communicates and, at this moment, allowing him to decide the fate of their future relationship.

A standard example of expressive speech acts is an apology. Their illocutionary purpose is to express, in terms of sincerity, the named state of the speaker, which is closely related to the state of things indicated in the sentence (Celik & Kapukaya, 2022).

Feelings of remorse and regret are characteristic of the speech act of apology. The speaker takes responsibility for the occurrence of an unfavorable state of affairs, which is the social function of an apology. Therefore, an apology is always accompanied by a state of remorse (Norrick, 1978).

An apology is a multi-intentional type of speech activity. Depending on the implementation of strategies of additional intentions, stereotypical apology strategies can be grouped into several varieties. Therefore, an apology includes recognition of responsibility, an explanation, a promise not to commit malefactive actions in the future, a request, offer to compensate for the damage caused – along with the concept of forgiveness.

With this approach, one speaks of an apology expressed by predicative adjectives. Most often, we come across cases when the speaker, apologizing, admits the fact of committing an action:

1) Recognition of responsibility – insult to the listener:

2) Introducing an imbalance in the relationship – accompanied by an explanation of what exactly led to the act:

«– It was getting so late. I was afraid you were not coming.
– I’m sorry, some tiresome people came around after the play, and I couldn’t get rid of them» (Maugham, 1985, p. 87);

3) Malefactive character – the speaker emphasizes the impossibility of avoiding the situation, forced to take such an action that will cause an imbalance in the relationship between the communicators:

«– I am sorry to disappoint you, my friends, but it is clear to me from this manuscript, which I had not examined in many years, that a group of pilgrims traveled back to Wallachia from Sveti Georgi about 1478» (Kostova, 2005, p. 729).

An apology on the part of the speaker is not superfluous, therefore, the information received is unexpected for the listeners, which to some extent concerns their professional competence. However, determining how useful the facts about which the individuals learned can be, the subsequent story of the addressee about those facts only proves that the malefactive action was forced, and the very nature of this action is a softened apology.

When the speech act of apologizing occurs with the use of a synonymous phrase with the predicative adjective afraid, we observe similar apologetic strategies.

This construction is most often used in the case when the listener, when addressed by the speaker, does not guess what they will be apologizing for, and then the apology is followed by an explanation.

«– I’m afraid I can’t pay you the two hundred pounds I owe you right away» (Maugham, 1985, p. 112).

The addressee informs the listener that at the time of the conversation, he is unable to pay the amount he owes.

«– I’m afraid, I shall have to go in a minute, she said. I’m late already» (Maugham, 1985, p. 176).

The speaker simultaneously informs and apologizes that since he is already late, he is going to leave the listener.

However, the predicative adjective afraid can indicate a performed malefactive action.

«– This is an unusual party for me. I haven’t even seen the host. I live over there – ... and this man Gatsby sent over his chauffeur with an invitation.

The interlocutor, who will be interrogated, explains (since he can't find the host) how strange the party is. The host did not realize for some time that he was not recognized because he had previously spoken with the guest and apologized for the inconvenience caused and for his inattention.

Peculiarities of the linguistic implementation of an apology when using the Vcop+Adj structure.

The most frequent (taking into account the poly-intentional character) means of expressing the direct speech act of apology in the English language are simple elliptical sentences and complete uncommon sentences containing the adjective "sorry". The adjective "sorry" itself is used in conversation with strangers or the case of a very minor offense. We will give examples that illustrate such situations: «– Sorry to steal in like this. Your gate out there’s locked.

She shook her head. Just pull on it. The padlock. I’m sorry» (Fowles, 2006, p. 36).

We see a situation where a guest apologizes briefly for "sneaking in" (since the gate was locked) into the yard. The listener explains that it was enough to pull the lock because the gate was not locked with a key.

But, in turn, also apologizes for the awkward situation the interlocutor got into. As a result, the balance of social relations is achieved.

A simple uncommon sentence "I'm sorry" – a short form of apology – sounds when, at the insistence of one of the interlocutors, acknowledges his acquaintance with a certain person, the addressee, during a conversation between people who are little acquainted, answers with a refusal. At the same time, the addressee, realizing that the lack of an apology can lead to an imbalance, asks the speaker to forgive him, realizing that the apology will be the path to reconciliation, and his refusal is a malefactive action.

– But you must. He is famous. He is beautiful. ...Mr. Richard Onslow Roper? One of your famous international entrepreneurs. Come.

In this example, let's pay attention to a double apology because the form of apology proves a sincere desire to earn forgiveness since the conversation is between people who have just met. All this speaks in favor of the factor of sincerity, which is at the center of statements that construct a certain situation.

In sentences, we often see intensifiers: so, terribly, very, awfully, when the speaker sincerely admits his guilt, which strengthens the effect of the speech act. This enables the speaker to realize his guilt and harmonize the relationship. It is characteristic of the English language that the closer the relationship between the interlocutors, the more necessary the use of the intensifier is.

The largest group of direct speech acts of apology in the English language are elliptical sentences and full sentences containing the adjective sorry (Cherednichenko, 2015, p. 275).

"I'm sorry" is a subject phrase with different pronouns and different subjunctive predicate tenses.

We usually come across the first-person singular pronoun when the adjective "sorry" is followed by a subordinate clause in the function of the subject.

We come across different time forms of the predicate and the subject in the third person singular, not in character discourse, namely in the case of using an apology in a narrative. In the case of character discourse, the subject is expressed in the first person singular with the help of a deictic element, and the predicate is expressed in the present tense.

When it comes to the speech act of gratitude associated with certain customary expressions, which is characteristic of many languages, it should be noted that linguists interpret gratitude as a speech act and consider it as a unit of speech etiquette. Such expressions in the English language are the phrases "Thank you" with various variations: "Thanks", "Thanks a lot", "My thanks", "Many thanks", etc.

The verb "thank" has all the characteristics of performative verbs, namely: the inadmissibility of the criterion of insincerity or sincerity, the equivalence of the action because the performative statement is true given its utterance), the simultaneity of the fact of reality and the fact of speech, naming oneself, the presence of powers in the speaker, the time of the performative verb coincides with the moment of speech, is a certain grammatical and lexical expression (the first actant must be expressed – the deictic element of the first person singular, and the verb must be in the first person singular of the present tense), the impossibility of using modal words or verbs that do not allow actions execution of the negative form of the statement, which makes it an ideal form in the phrase "I thank you" – a performative explicit statement, which makes it possible to consider the speech act of gratitude as a performative.

However, the performative paradigm of expressing gratitude formed by the expression "I thank you" is 1% of the actual material, and its elliptical variants are much more:

This shows that various means of expressing gratitude function in the English language, among which the construction Vcop+Adj stands out in addition to phrases that contain the verb "thank". The adjectives obliged, kind, and grateful are predicative adjectives that are used most often to express gratitude.

Within the content of the sentence, caused by the factor of sincerity regarding the state of affairs, expressives (the illocutionary purpose of which is to express the mental state of the speaker) convey the emotional state of the speaker. Therefore, gratitude belongs to the class of expressives. Expressions of gratitude are used precisely when the speaker wants the addressee to know that he is grateful to him for something – for something done or said. Expressing gratitude allows you to establish a sense of solidarity between interlocutors.

To satisfy the social norms of speech behavior to phatic acts, to evaluations devoid of any emotions, the definition of a speech act of gratitude belongs.

In the case of expressing gratitude, the sincerity factor attests to a positive assessment of the help provided, the expression of positive emotions, a valuable service in a difficult situation, or moral support.

Let's distinguish illocutionary goals, which implies the classification of gratitude as an expressive:

We distinguish between positive and negative politeness strategies, which depend on the realization of additional intentions: we are talking about the expression of positive feelings in the case of the positive politeness strategy, which demonstrates interest, certifies the common views of the communicators in the desire and interests of the listener to avoid misunderstanding.

Peculiarities of the linguistic embodiment of gratitude when using the Vcop+Adj structure. The sincerity factor.

Analyzing the speech act of gratitude from the point of view of sincerity, we note that gratitude is a reaction of benefit or good in the form of an assessment of the benefit that the speaker received as a result of what the listener did or said. That is why linguists single out phatic gratitude together with insincere or sincere gratitude, which is part of polite behavior social ritual and performs the function of harmonized communication between interlocutors.

Sincere gratitude is the emotion expressed by the addressee for the service received. Instead, insincere gratitude is associated with the service provided – with a hostile instruction of the addressee, with sarcasm and irony.

Etiquette or actual gratitude is observed when it is manifested automatically in stereotypical situations to a certain extent and includes a compliment, praise, gratitude for some minor service, recognition or approval of attention:

1) Gratitude for a compliment:

«When they came to the coffee he asked her whether he might offer her a liquer.

That’s very kind of you. Perhaps it’ll make me sleep better» (Maugham, 1985, pp. 79-80).

The examples illustrate phatic gratitude, which attests to the knowledge of generally accepted rules and is expressed in the course of everyday conversation.

We can observe sincere gratitude when there is an assessment of the usefulness of the degree of the performed action. Communication participants attach special importance to the expression of a positive personal attitude to mutual actions, especially when a lot of time, material resources, and effort were spent on a certain act, as a result of which they rate these actions particularly highly. In this case, the condition of sincerity is a means of expressing an emotional state and is not just an etiquette formula. Sincere gratitude is evidenced by all the examples; various intensifiers expressed by the speaker are used in the utterances and show how necessary the action is, how useful it is, and that it was performed by the listener.

Yes, sincere gratitude is rarely limited to the phrase "Thank you", especially in interpersonal relationships. This phrase is followed by an emotional and evaluative phrase: «I have to thank you from the bottom of my heart for returning my grandfather’s ring to me. It means an awful lot to me» (Tartt, 2013, p.154).

Another proof of sincere gratitude is attached after the expression of gratitude expressed by the verb "thank". In this example, it is expressed by the phrase "from the bottom of my heart", and we also see a sentence that emphasizes how important the beneficent action was, that it was the addressee who did it.

We conclude that the speech act of gratitude is expressed by several predicative adjectives strengthened by intensifiers, represented by messages and appeals, for which gratitude is expressed. In various types of sentences, the speech act of imperative and narrative adjectives is used, it conveys insincere and sincere, phatic gratitude. There are direct and indirect expressions of gratitude according to the way of expression. The speaker's gratitude to the listener certifies the speech act contributes to the cooperative course of interaction and emphasizes the recognition of the beneficence of his intentions or actions.

In response to the promise of actions, certain actions, approval, compliment, permission, and gratitude, are implemented as a reactive speech act.

Gratitude is a reactive speech act according to the position in the discourse since it is a reaction to certain actions of the addressee, that is, it is always compared to the previous part of the discourse.

Predicative adjectives as components of the speech act of a compliment. Compliment as a speech act. General characteristics. The poly-intentionality of the compliment.

There are many definitions of a compliment and different views on this speech act.

A compliment is an expression of positive appreciation that occurs in the utterance of someone higher in status and is generally expressed in everyday conversations among communicators of equal status. An atmosphere of trust is formed precisely through the exchange of compliments when one person can be sure of another person.

The scheme of interpretation of social positions, intentions, and actions is provided by the exchange conventions of communication participants – the behavior of partners becomes predictable and predictable. This allows the participants to avoid failures to mutually determine the perspectives of actions, that is, it is a cognitive function performed by compliments.

Compliments are used to level the course of conversation between communicators and to start a conversation. The addressee's inner world, positive character traits, appearance, high moral and professional qualities of the interlocutor or people close to him, property, and achievements are most often an incentive for a compliment.

Compliments are considered as politeness and a positive politeness strategy. A compliment made in the interests of the interlocutor contributes to the development of the relations between the communicators and involves the inclusion of the interlocutor in the subject's value system.

Expressing positive appreciation is the intention of a compliment. Values have certain emotions that accompany the evaluation (enjoyment). It affects the addressee's values and emotional state and creates the desired positive atmosphere.

The desire to verbalize positive emotions and positive thoughts towards the listener turns the compliment itself into a rather strong means of manipulation – the desire to make the listener dependent on complimentary actions, the intention to obtain certain concessions from the listener, the desire to incline the listener to continue certain actions.

The use of a compliment for the realization of such intentions includes – an idea of the psychological characteristics of a person, knowledge of the informational thesaurus of interlocutors, and the specifics of communicative interaction, which depends on the personal qualities of the communicators. These positions indicate the complex nature of the content of the compliment (intentional).

1) Showed admiration:

«I’m delighted you’re both so intelligent about him» (Fowles, 2006, p. 91).

3) Recognition of achievements, professional qualities:

«He’s always so much more aware of what he’s doing than you think» (Fowles, 2006, p. 89).

Peculiarities of linguistic means of expressing a compliment when using the structure Vcop+ Adj.

Linguists distinguish between a sincere and a phatic compliment, as in the case of the speech act of "gratitude".

If a compliment approaches a ritualized speech expression used in stereotypical situations, then it is considered a phatic compliment.

We speak of an etiquette compliment when the compliment is expressed using an adjective. All qualitative adjectives have a degree of evaluation (except adjectives indicating size, temperature, color, weight, and relative adjectives are an exception), so we can talk about gradation: how emotional and expressive are the compliments expressed by adjectives.

The emotions felt by the speaker are amplified with the help of various intensifiers, complimenting the listener.

With this expression, one person wants to emphasize to the other that she looks very beautiful at the moment of communication and she likes to be complimented.

The status of the speaker and the listener is of great importance when giving a compliment. The listener's reaction is polite and positive, with an implicit desire to reduce possible exaggeration if the status of the interlocutors is the same.

It can also be an indirect compliment in the case of compliments – when it is combined with a complement, it is part of another compliment, and that is when the pragmatic and semantic content of the statement do not coincide.

An explicit compliment can be expressed as a reproach when it comes to an implicit compliment.

An implicit compliment is the negative semantics of predicative adjectives, which explicitly expresses reproach, a hidden expression of admiration.

Compliments, which generally occur in everyday conversations among communicators, express a positive assessment. An atmosphere of trust is created by exchanging compliments when partners can be confident in their relationship.

Conventions of exchange give communication participants a scheme of actions and intentions for the interpretation of social positions. Then, the behavior of the partners becomes predictable, which allows the participants to avoid failures and mutually determine the prospects of further actions, and then we can talk about the cognitive function of compliments.

A compliment made in the interests of the interlocutor contributes to the development of mutual relations between communicators and involves its inclusion in the subject's system of values.

Implementation of a contact-establishing strategy by using expressive speech acts of praise, compliment, and apology.

The contact-establishment strategy includes the tactics of showing interest in the interlocutor (except for the tactics of positive assessment) expressed with the help of cliché questions: How is it going? How are you?, parting questions, phrases like "you know", "you see", exclamations, and "mirror immediate assessment" by the addressee of the addressee's statement.

With the help of speech acts of praise and compliment, the tactics of this strategy are implemented, which include predicative adjectives. A compliment is most often a component of positive evaluation tactics, and when communicating with people you don't know very well, the speech act of a compliment has a formal character.

For example, a young clerk will "pour" compliments to the hosts who invited him to visit to assure the hosts of the sincerity of his words and win their favor.

The guest's words favorably received by the hostess testify to an example of a "mirror compliment".

This is followed by a compliment to the hostess, namely: a compliment to the play that took place on stage this season and the hostess's performance in this play.

«I never allow outsiders to come to rehearsals, but as you’re out accountant you almost belong to theatre, and I wouldn’t mind making an exception in your favor if it would amuse you to come».

«…Julia took a bundle of her latest photographs. She handed one to the young man. This s one is not so bad»

A contact-establishing strategy may not necessarily take place between strangers. When it is necessary to immediately react to the speaker's remark, a compliment implements this strategy in speech episodes that contribute to the establishment of mutually acceptable relations and testify to understanding sympathy in further relations and at the time of the conversation. In such cases, we observe a "mirror compliment".

The young couple exchange compliments, which should prove an undeniable, deep friendship and sympathy because they intend to spend the first days of their life together on the coast.

Even during the conversation of old acquaintances, compliments are heard to harmonize the relationship. For example, people who, for a long time, after a long separation, were united by friendly and warm relations, which were interrupted due to unforeseen circumstances, try to renew them. An old acquaintance proves to the woman that even though the children love their father more and more, she is a good mother.

In confirmation of her consent, the woman claims without objection that her husband, the father of their children, deserves to be loved.

When praise is an element of a contact-establishing strategy, it cannot be expressed to a third person. That is why we consider it a compliment to say good words to the father, even when he is not present during the conversation. This is how the addressee of praise conveys his positive mood, who hopes that the addressee shares his feelings, has an emotional impact on the interlocutor, hopes that his words will be properly appreciated and that the whole situation will contribute to maintaining a warm atmosphere in general.

«On the contrary I think you’re an excellent mother. You see that they’re well and happy».

«It’s unnecessary that one should be. I’m a human being and I treat them as human beings. A mother only does her children harm if she makes them the only concern of her life».

«I’ve noticed that. You’re their ideal of all that’s graceful and beautiful and wonderful» (Maugham, 1976, p. 165).

We note the statement about the beautiful mother as our interlocutor. The adjective "excellent" is used in the attributive function, which is similar to the above examples, but the whole phrase is in the predicative function. Further on in the text, we observe adjectives that, given the addressee's status and the element of exaggeration, are definitely regarded as praise.

In the given example, we come across the adjective unnecessary – an adjective of deontic modality, which sounds like a response to praise. To reduce the qualifying value of praise, an adjective with a negative prefix is used. An overindulgence in praise can approach self-praise.

«Oh hell, don’t bother», said Bunny stridently. «if you don’t have to decline it and it doesn’t need a preposition it sounds good to me …

«I’d like to shаke your hand, stranger. … «Glad to meet you, yes, yes» (Tartt, 1992, p. 21).

A student who studied Greek at a different college than where he is currently studying tries to get to know students who study in the department of classical languages. He begins his attempt to solve the task they are discussing to help them with an apology, followed by a positive evaluation from one of the students.

The example demonstrates the combinability of speech acts, positive assessment – praise and compliment with other speech acts, in particular speech acts of thanks and apology.

In our review of the research, we found out that several theoretical problems of the syntax of the modern language were considered by scientists, taking into account modern linguistic theories and ways to solve them; the main features of the speech act are defined; it is proven that the speech act is a purposeful speech act that acts according to the rules and principles of speech behavior accepted in society; speech acts were classified from different points of view: according to the status of the speaker and the listener, according to the type and methods of achieving illocutionary force; with the help of predicative adjectives, the peculiarities of the components of the Vcop+Adj structure are considered, the expression of the speech act of a compliment is proposed. Scientists have focused on the study of individual speech acts, with the help of which it is possible to find expressions of speech acts and to investigate structures from the point of view of their functioning – it is with the help of such means that in the Vcop+Adj model, it is possible to be predicative adjectives.

The pragmatic aspect of the use of predicative adjectives was not the subject of special research, although certain groups of predicative adjectives were added to one or another speech act – the list of means of expressing illocutionary force. Therefore, predicative adjectives are considered by us as components of the speech act of apology, thanks, and components of the speech act of compliment.

Using examples, we show the importance of the speech act of apology, thanks, and the speech act of compliment; the general characteristics and multi-intentionality of the speech act of apology, thanks, and speech act of compliment are presented. Peculiarities of language implementation of apology, thanks, and compliment when using the structure Vcop+Adj are singled out.

Ways of implementing the strategy of establishing contact using expressive speech acts of apology, thanks, praise, and compliment are shown.

Predicative adjectives are considered as components of the speech act of apology, gratitude, components of the speech act of compliment The examples show the importance of the speech act of apology, gratitude, and speech act of compliment; the general characteristics and multi-intentionality of the speech act of apology, gratitude, speech act of compliment are presented. Peculiarities of language implementation of apology, gratitude, and compliment when using the structure Vcop+Adj are singled out.

Ways of implementing the contact-establishing strategy by using expressive speech acts of apology, gratitude, praise, and compliment are shown.

Since all considered speech acts are aimed at changing the psychological state of the addressee, and their components are predicative adjectives belonging to the group of expressives. Speech acts of apology, gratitude, praise, and compliment, according to their position in the discourse, are mostly initial acts. All considered speech acts make it possible to say that predicative adjectives are modified by various intensifiers that occur in different syntactic structures; they can be expressed using a direct speech act, whose linguistic semantics corresponds to the illocutionary force of the speech act, and using an indirect speech act, to be realized with the help of speech forms, the illocutionary force of which does not coincide with its semantics.

Speech acts of gratitude, apology, praise, and compliment occur in various (rebuke, promise) communicative situations and are not limited to highly specialized (judgment, reading a sermon) spheres, they can be classified as universal or primary speech acts, not institutional or secondary.

The fact that predicative adjectives belong to the most frequent linguistic means of expressing acts of thanks, apology, and compliment in the Vcop+Adj structure, together with nouns and verbs, indicates the importance of their use in interactive communication. Any adjective with evaluative connotations can potentially be used in this function.

As part of expressive speech acts, predicative adjectives act as tactics of manipulative strategy and protection and as tactics of communicative strategies of positive and negative politeness. In addition to the defense strategy, in all strategies, the most frequently used speech act is a compliment.

Since predicative adjectives in the composition of expressives are elements of communicative strategies, this makes it possible to characterize them as cognitive categories of the communication plan, where attention is focused on the speaker.

In the study, we considered the features of predicative adjectives as components of expressive speech acts, as well as communicative strategies; the importance of the functioning of predicative adjectives as expressive with the simultaneous inclusion of all predicative adjectives in the expressive class is characterized; a boundary is drawn between one or another character of the speech act. Therefore, a comprehensive study of the pragmatic features of the use of predicative adjectives and their syntagmatic and pragmatic characteristics was carried out.

Further research is needed to study the structural and semantic properties of predicative adjectives, in particular: predicative adjectives in the role of a mandatory syntactically dependent extension with that-clause; predicative adjectives in the function of a mandatory syntactically dependent component with a prepositional suffix; predicative adjectives with an infinitive in the function of mandatory syntactic expansion.

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