Specificity of Film Quote Use and Functioning in Speech of Various Genres: Corpus-Assisted Study

Abstract

Statement of the problem. This paper aims to identify the features of use and functioning of famous film quotes from Hollywood movies in the context of everyday communication, Internet communication, media discourse, TV discourse, blogs. Results. The study shows possible meanings that film quotes acquire in various contexts, identifies their functions based on their contextual semantics, and describes transformations that film quotes undergo. The main methods of research are corpus analysis, contextual analysis used along with the method of interpretation, and quantitative methods. The analysis of the contextual surrounding of quotes is carried out on the material of texts presented in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). Conclusion. The results of the study showed that film quotes are capable of full integration into the subject of a new text, staying connected to the original context. Film quotes establish new connections in situational contexts, have semantic variability, influence the target audience of a text, create an emotional effect. Film quotes also can be transformed by means of extension, reduction or partial replacement, while remaining recognizable. Quantitative methods of analysis allowed to calculate frequency of use of the film quotes in texts of various genres. The corpus-assisted approach provided, along with the available quick results conveniently represented, extensive, reliable, and diverse material for analysis.