Verbal and non-verbal aspects of the love strategy implementation in modern English discourse

Abstract

The article focuses on the study of the functioning of verbal and non-verbal components of communication in the English-language marital discourse in communicative situations “first acquaintance”, “flirting”, “declaration of love” and “marriage proposal”. The aspects of communication of the subjects differ depending on the types of lovers that were identified on the basis of the illustrative material studied: these are representatives of romantic, pragmatic and manic types of lovers as well as subjects of ludus love. It has been established that romantic lovers are characterized by high expressiveness in the process of communication both at the verbal and non-verbal levels; the pragmatic type of lovers is characterized by a lack of creativity in expressing feelings of love, consistency of speech and formality in communication; a manic lover is prone to manipulation and emotional blackmail; the subjects of ludus love in the process of flirting resort to banter, jokes, puns, the use of nicknames, ironic expressions, as well as non-verbal components of communication to reduce the social distance in the relationship with the object of love. The article takes into account the influence of the age component on the communication of lovers in pre-matrimonial and matrimonial types of discourse as a result of comparing the characteristics of three age groups of lovers, namely, teenagers aged 13 to 19, adults aged 20 to 40 and lovers aged 40+. Common and distinctive characteristics of the use of verbal and non-verbal components of communication for the specified types of speakers have been clarified.