SPECIFICITY OF TEXTUAL CATEGORIES IN AUTHOR'S SPEECH (A CASE STUDY OF TOM STOPPARD'S PLAYS)
Background. Text categories have been the subject of research both in Russian and in world linguistics and literary criticism. Currently, more and more texts represent a complicated semiotic system involving elements of different degrees of informativity. From this point of view, the study of the author's speech in plays manifested in stage directions allows to throw light on the principles of creating heterogeneous texts constructions. The purpose of the article is to identify the peculiarities of text categories which appear in the author's words in a particular way. Materials and methods. The research objectives were implemented through generalizing research papers on text linguistics, distinguishing the major text categories, using a case study of Tom Stoppard's plays. The methodological potential included the method of stylistic analysis, the use of which allows to reveal the peculiarities of the stage directions in comparison with the characters' speech. Results. The authors researched generally known textual categories: coherence, cohesion, informativity, temporality, modality and intertextuality. The researches pointed out their manifestations in dramaturgic texts. It is noted that the content of stage directions in modern dramaturgic texts of Tom Stoppard's plays as to their stylistic characteristics is close to a prose narrative. The article has shown the value and use of stage directions, as a stage direction holds a considerable part of information and characteristic load, its meaningful and expressive content enhances the dialogue of any drama work. Dramaturgic text cohesion appears in the unified interaction of all elements of this type of text. The structure of a dialogue cue and the linguistic nature of the relationship “cue - stage direction” depend on the structure and the content of a stage direction. Conclusions. Studying the author's speech in modern English plays allows to understand the meaning of positive tendencies of semiotic system development, to take into account the specificity of a stage direction, to reject the stereotypes in evaluating the role and function, to determine new directions of the subsequent study of the scientific problem under consideration.