Creative use of the German language in the polycode text of the festive discourse
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33910/2686-830X-2025-7-4-197-204Keywords:
language creativity, language game, festive discourse, polycode text, addressee, addresserAbstract
The paper discusses the issues of creative use of language in the German-language polycode text, namely in online birthday cards. Within the framework of the festive discourse, congratulators strive to use the entire arsenal of means available to them for a positive impact on the person being congratulated, on his emotional response, and at the same time stand out from other congratulators, identify themselves from the most advantageous and best side. As the analysis of the language material has shown, the authors of birthday cards use the mechanisms and principles of language game, leading to the emergence of the language game itself, as well as other means of linguistic creativity, of which metaphor and pun are most often used. In greeting cards, such principles of language game as the principle of associative overlap, the principle of associative provocation, imitation and the allusive principle are most often found. Each of these principles arises due to the mechanism of contextual actualization of word meanings and the mechanism of formal semantic variation. Due to each of them, the setting for a comic effect is realized, and at the same time, a positive effect on the addressee. When using the mechanisms and principles of the language game, as well as when forming the means of linguistic creativity, the visual part is in almost all cases inseparable from the textual part. In the text of a birthday greeting, this part acts as a semantic component, i. e. it enters into integrative, complementary and double-coding relationships with the text part. In addition, the role of the cultural context in German-speaking communities is emphasized, where such postcards often integrate culturally specific elements and modern digital trends that enhance the emotional connection between the sender and recipient. This allows you to achieve greater originality and memorability of greetings in the era of digital communication.
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