Means of Emotional Expression in Works of Kirsten Boie

The article aims at analyzing the means of expression of feelings and emotional states in German children's literature in the works of Kirsten Boie and at identifying the frequency of use of these means at four levels of the language: phonetic, morphological, lexical and syntactic, which will help to determine the most used means of expressing emotiveness at each of the analyzed levels of the language. The research was carried out on the material of the following works of the German writer: King-Kong, das Schulschwein (1995); King-Kong, Allerhand und mehr (2004); Verflixt - ein Nix! (2003); Nix wie weg (2013); Jenny ist meistens schon friedlich (2012); Sophies schlimme Briefe (2011); Paule ist ein Glucksgriff (2010); Die liebe Familie (2004). The total text volume was 1,453 pages. 4,441 units of analysis served as the empirical material (2,342 at the phonetic level, 134 at the morphological level, 1,131 at the lexical level, 834 at the syntactic level). The analysis of the category of emotiveness was carried out at the phonetic, morphological, lexical and syntactic levels of the language using the methods of integral text analysis, contextual analysis and a descriptive method. To contrast normal speech and speech in a state of emotional tension, an analysis of the lexical-semantic and syntactic shifts of emotional speech was conducted, as well as a combinatorial semantic analysis. The method of emotive valence was used to study language tools and their combinations in the texts. The quantitative analysis method was used to determine the most frequently used means of expressing emotiveness at each of the studied levels of the language. The following results were obtained. First and foremost, emotions in the works of Kirsten Boie are expressed with the help of phonetic (graphical) means: exclamation mark, italics and full stop. At the lexical level, the priority is mostly given to stylistically colored synonyms, colloquial vocabulary and interjections. To describe the observed emotional states, the priority is given to verbs of speaking used with adverbs expressing some emotional states. At the syntactic level, emotions are usually expressed with the help of rhetorical exclamation, repetition, parceling and inversion. The morphological means are used very rarely. Interestingly, the same emotions and feelings can be expressed with the help of different means of the language and, vice versa, the same expressive language means can convey different, sometimes opposite, emotions and emotional states. It should also be noted that the analyzed methods do not always directly convey the emotional state of the characters, sometimes they help to express the emotional background and the tonality of fiction books.

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