EMOTIVE SIGNALS OF DETECTIVE NARRATIVE: A LINGUOSTYLISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Introduction. The article focuses on the linguostylistic representation of emotive signals in detective narrative and their role in the formation of narrative tension in Agatha Christie’s short stories. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing interest in the interaction between cognitive, emotive and stylistic mechanisms of literary narrative as well as by the insufficient attention paid to the stylistic realization of emotive triggers in detective fiction within contemporary narratological and cognitive-poetic studies.
Purpose. The purpose of the research is to identify and analyse the linguostylistic means used to represent emotive signals in detective narrative and to determine their role in modelling the reader’s emotional and cognitive response.
Material and methods. The study is based on several short stories from Agatha Christie’s collection Poirot Investigates. The methodological framework combines linguocognitive analysis with elements of narratological, stylistic and reader-response approaches.
Results. The paper differentiates between the notions of tension and tenseness: tension is interpreted as the reader’s cognitive-emotional state, whereas tenseness is viewed as a textual property aimed at generating and intensifying such a state. Depending on the type of narrative organization, three dominant reader reactions are distinguished: curiosity, suspense and bewilderment. These reactions correlate respectively with retrospective, prospective and recognition-based narrative structures. Particular attention is paid to emotive signals understood as textual descriptions of characters’ emotional states represented either explicitly through direct nomination or implicitly through speech peculiarities, behavioural reactions, gestures, facial expressions, inner speech and other verbal or nonverbal manifestations. The study demonstrates that emotive signals function not only as means of character representation but also as mechanisms of emotional programming of the reader’s perception. The analysis shows that different types of emotive signals tend to be realized through different stylistic
devices. Signals of curiosity are predominantly represented by interrogative constructions, repetitions, gradation and dialogic interaction. Signals of suspense are formed through emotionally marked vocabulary, acoustic and visual imagery, aposiopesis, repetitions and rhythm deceleration. Signals of bewilderment are often verbalized through syntactic disruptions, rhetorical questions, contrastive structures, emotionally expressive verbs and explicit markers of cognitive disorientation. The study reveals that linguostylistic devices perform not merely expressive but also narrative and cognitive functions. They intensify uncertainty, create informational gaps, regulate narrative tempo and stimulate inferential processes in the reader’s mind. The paper also emphasizes that emotive signals interact with emotive situations and emotive topics, which together constitute a complex system of narrative tension in detective fiction.
Originality. The originality of the research lies in the integration of linguostylistic, cognitive and narratological approaches to the analysis of emotive triggers in detective narrative. The article contributes to the development of affective narratology and cognitive stylistics by demonstrating how stylistic means participate in modelling the reader’s emotional involvement and interpretative activity.
Conclusion. The study demonstrates that emotive signals constitute an important linguostylistic mechanism of narrative tension in detective fiction and play a significant role in shaping the reader’s emotional and cognitive engagement with the text. The interaction of emotive signals with emotive situations and emotive topics forms a complex system of emotional influence that intensifies suspense, curiosity and bewilderment within detective narrative. The results obtained may be used in further studies devoted to narrative tension, cognitive poetics, emotivity of literary texts and stylistic organization of detective
discourse.