FRENCH-LANGUAGE GASTRONOMIC DISCOURSE: LINGUOPRAGMATIC ASPECT

Abstract

This paper presents an integrated investigation of verbal and nonverbal components of the restaurant menu as gastronomic discourse special speech genre in terms of their pragmatic function. The study is based on texts of Paris restaurants online menus. The structure that contributes to the implementation of the menu informative function is analyzed. The design of the menu, notably, font, color, background, images of ready dishes significantly enhances its influential power. Morphological and syntactic features of the menu are related primarily to its main – informative – function and mainly nominative nature of the texts. Nouns, adjectives and verbs predominate in attributive, predicative and genitive constructions. Menu texts are characterized by the use of thematic vocabulary. It is divided into some thematic groups: names of ingredients, spices; terms designating the mode of ingredients processing; cooking method; names of kitchen utensils. Through the vocabulary reflecting sensory and taste sensations the texts of the menu contribute to the emergence in the client’s imagination of a «living» image of the dish. A characteristic feature of analyzed menus texts is the using of toponyms and anthroponyms in the names of dishes. Along with the informative function (indication of dish origin or its ingredients, dish creator), they also perform a pragmatic function. They contribute to the implementation of a communicative strategy of persuasion and the formation of attractiveness, as well as the creation of a positive emotional mood. Stylistic means also serve to form the attractiveness of a dish: epithets, comparison, oxymoron, metaphor. Nonverbal elements, lexical and stylistic means of menu texts help to achieve a pragmatic effect, which is to increase the impact of the text content on the client. The menu creates the image of a dish associated with such concepts as quality food, healthy food, pleasure, gourmet cuisine, gastronomic traditions, authenticity, gastronomic art, prestige.