The Communicative Acts Of Sympathy And Condolence In English And Bulgarian– Pragmalinguistic Aspects
The Communicative Acts Of Sympathy And Condolence In English And Bulgarian– Pragmalinguistic Aspects

Summary/Abstract: The present paper dwells on the speech acts of sympathy and condolence in English and Bulgarian and more precisely, on a set of certain phrases typical for both languages which reveal disparities in their grammatical, semantic and pragmatic structures. In particular, a distinction is made between two main phrases, namely, My sympathies [+/- complement] and My condolences [+/- complement] in two sets of modern TV series (Bulgarian and British). It investigates the communicative acts into the group of expressive speech acts which can manifest a specific psychological state and attitude on the part of the speaker. The article also sheds light on the way native speakers of English use sympathy and condolence in utterances in comparison with their counterparts in Bulgarian with regards to their illocutionary nature. A further point of examination and speculation is the context of the speech situation, which in turn, may reveal cultural and psychological distinctions in a cross-linguistic study.

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