Self-Presentation Strategy in Small Talk: Evidence from English-Language Fiction

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dc.contributor.authorNatalia O. Bigunova
dc.contributor.authorIrina V. Bazarova
dc.date.accessioned2025-12-10T13:21:22Z
dc.date.available2025-12-10T13:21:22Z
dc.date.issued2025-12-02
dc.description.abstractThis study explores small talk in modern British and American fictional discourse, focusing on the ways in which communicative strategies and tactics shape the interaction of characters. The aim of the research is to identify the communicative strategies of fictional small talk, with special attention to the strategy of self-presentation. The objectives are: (1) to determine the strategic guidelines that govern small talk; (2) to identify the communicative tactics employed by characters to implement the strategy of selfpresentation; and (3) to describe the linguistic resources that verbalize these tactics. To meet these objectives, the study applies both general scientific and linguistic methods. Observation was used to identify characteristic features of phatic communication, while the descriptive method enabled their systematic classification. Within special linguistic methods, conversational and contextual analysis were employed, which made it possible to determine intentions of fictional characters engaged in small talk. In addition, stylistic and hermeneutic methods were used to examine the literary text. The empirical material consists of 340 episodes of fictional small talk drawn from contemporary English-language novels and films. The results reveal that participants in fictional small talk maneuver between two main strategic guidelines: (a) politeness, aimed at protecting the interlocutor’s “face,” and (b) self-presentation, aimed at portraying oneself favorably. Ten key communicative tactics of self-presentation have been identified: expressing opinion, platitude, advice, bragging, joke, quip, evasion, changing the subject, reporting news and rumours, and gossip. Each tactic is associated with specific linguistic markers. Expressing opinion relies on evaluative language, hedges, and rhetorical questions; platitudes are characterized by concise generalizations and formulaic expressions; advice is implemented through imperatives, modal verbs, and interrogatives; bragging employs hyperbole, intensifiers, and humble-brags; jokes exploit alogism, irony, and periphrasis; quips use sarcasm, emphatic structures, and rhetorical questions; evasion employs vagueness, hedges, and reformulations; topic change is facilitated by parenthetical words and imperatives; reporting news and rumours frequently involves verbs like hear or know in general questions; gossip relies on formulaic openers (If you ask me, Have you heard), evaluative lexis, and in-group alignment. The carried out conversational analysis shows that these tactics implement the strategy of selfpresentation: some highlight individuality and competence (opinions, advice, jokes, bragging, quips), others underscore solidarity and cooperation (platitudes, gossip, news-sharing), while still others preserve tact and harmony (evasion, topic change). Thus, small talk in fictional discourse emerges not as “empty talk,” but as a strategic practice where language is mobilized to construct identity, maintain relationships, and balance personal distinctiveness with social harmony.
dc.identifier.issn3041-217X (print)
dc.identifier.issn3041-2188 (online)
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir.duan.edu.ua/handle/123456789/6436
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherAlfred Nobel University
dc.subjectphatic communication
dc.subjectsmall talk
dc.subjectpoliteness
dc.subjectcommunicative strategy
dc.subjectcommunicative tactic
dc.subjectфатична комунікація
dc.subjectсвітська бесіда
dc.subjectввічливість
dc.subjectкомунікативна стратегія
dc.subjectкомунікативна тактика
dc.titleSelf-Presentation Strategy in Small Talk: Evidence from English-Language Fiction
dc.title.alternativeСтратегія самопрезентації у світській бесіді (на матеріалі англомовної художньої літератури) (англійською)
dc.typeArticle

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Alfred Nobel University Journal of Philology