Interrogative utterance as a cohesive factor in «Waterland» by G. Swift

Gladkova K.

The article is focused on the problem of relation of two linguistic categories, interrogativity and text cohesion, in a literary text. The aim of the research is to study the role of interrogative utterances as a cohesive factor in «Waterland» by G. Swift. The author provides an analysis of interpretations of the key notions of the research, such as «question», «interrogative sentence», «question – response unity», «interrogative utterance». Interrogative utterance is considered to be a factor of text cohesion by its definition, as it presents the unity of question and an answer. The author assumes that formally developed explicit interrogative utterances contribute to formal cohesion, while implicitness and syntactical incompleteness stimulate implicit type of cohesion on the conceptual level of the novel. The analysis of the macro-level of the novel demonstrates that interrogative utterances function in the plot development; facilitate semantical cohesion between chapters, form thematical and conceptual unity of the literary text, and serve to promote the unity of imaginary.

Keywords:interrogative utterance, question, answer, text cohesion, literary text, G. Swift