PRAGMATIC POTENTIAL OF ENGLISH TED-TALKS ON ECOLOGICAL ISSUES AND ITS CONVEYING IN UKRAINIAN

Abstract

TED has become one of the most popular platforms where speakers can share ideas worth spreading. Scientists and activists use this new kind of public speaking for sharing information about the ecological problems worldwide. Since TED-talks on ecological issues are very popular nowadays, linguists are devoting their research to the analysis of pragmatic peculiarities of such speeches and their influence on the listeners, as well as to the description of pragmatic potential transfer of TED-talks into Ukrainian. Pragmatic features of TED-talks on ecological issues can be analyzed through linguistic and extralinguistic features. Linguistic features can be described with the help of phonetics, lexicology, grammar, and syntax. In phonetics, intonation, and the components of rhythmic and melodic aspects of speech (tempo of the speech, pauses, rhythm, speech melody, stress, timbre, and pitch) play an important role in creating needed emotional atmosphere. Such phonetic features also help to attract listeners’ attention. Lexical peculiarities of TED-talks on ecological issues are described through the usage of common lexical units and ecological terminology. Such grammatical features as the usage of pronouns and modal verbs help to create a bond between the speaker and the audience, as well as to strengthen the pragmatic effect of the speech. Syntactic features are described through the usage of complex and extended sentences, first conditionals, simple sentences, rhetorical sentences, and parallel constructions. Extralinguistic peculiarities of TED-talks on ecological issues include non-verbal means of communication, appearance of the speaker and visual materials. All these linguistic and extralinguistic features form the pragmatic potential of TED-talks that translators must save while translating such public speeches into Ukrainian.