Verbalization of the personage’s cognitive activity in fictional discourse (a study of R. Galbraith’s novel ‘Career of Evil’)

Abstract

У статті розглядається вербалізація когнітивної діяльності персонажа в романі Р. Ґелбрейта "Кар'єра лиходія". Аналізується когнітивна взаємодія злочинця і детектива. Визначаються основні засоби і фокуси вербалізації персонажної когнітивної діяльності в романі. Ключові слова: когнітивна діяльність, мовна особистість, персонажний дискурс, концептуальна картина світу, категоризація, Я-концепція, інсайт. Bondarenko Ya. O. Verbalization of the Personage's Cognitive Activity in Fictional Discourse (A Study of R. Galbraith's Novel 'Career of Evil'). The article deals with verbalization of personage cognitive activity in R. Galbraith's novel 'Career of Evil'. The analysis conducted is focused on discourse of two charactersthe protagonist Cormoran Strike, a private detective, and his antagonist, a serial killer and an avenger, whose identity Strike has to reveal. The research is based primarily on the method of conceptual analysis. The criminal's pathological conceptual model of the world is analyzed in the paper. Within it such key concepts are singled out as REVENGE, DEATH and KILLING. Another conceptual reflection of the criminal's psychopathology is realized in the novel by means of such conceptual metaphors: POWER IS POSSESSION, KILLING IS INTIMACY, A WOMAN IS A PLAYTHING, KILLING IS AN ART, KILLING IS A GAME. The criminal's unrealistic, abnormally positive self-concept distorts his entire conceptual system and interferes with the processes of categorization and conceptualization. It also provokes magical thinking. The character's obsession with the concept of REVENGE motivates him to enter into a twisted psychological game with the detective. The cognitive activity of the detective, on the other hand, is focused on identifying the killer. A detailed analysis of the crime allows him to build a psychological profile of the criminal and narrow down the circle of suspects. At the same time, he is put off track by the criminal who is expertly using details of Strike's personal life, in particular, a personally significant precedent text, to confuse him, which provokes cognitive dissonance in Strike. However, one little detail overlooked by the criminal, as well as a random interplay of associations eventually lead to his insight into the killer's identity and allow him to solve the case. The research shows that the main means of verbalizing personage cognitive activity in R. Galbraith's novel 'Career of Evil' are conceptual metaphors and evaluative vocabulary, whereas the main focuses of verbalizing personage cognitive activity are metacognitive utterances, cognitive dissonance and insight.