ZUSTIMMUNG und ABLEHNUNG: Methodologie der Analyse eines Sprachhandlungsmusters

The article aims to demonstrate a consistent methodology for conducting research of verbal communication behavior and identification of its peculiarities in different language cultures. The basic unit of communication crucial for the analysis of communicative behavior is called speech behavior pattern (SPB). The SPB analysis includes the following major factors to be concerned with: definition of illocutionary purpose of the SPB in terms of Natural Semantic Metalanguage, description of basic grammatical constructions belonging to SBP and identification of communicative-pragmatic factors important for choice of a specific utterance. Utterances that constitute a certain SBP are organized into a field with a prototypical center and a gradually formed periphery, referred to as communicative-pragmatic field (CPF). The practical implementation of this methodology consists in describing peculiarities of the speech behavior pattern of agreement and refusal in the German discourse. The language data are taken from the existing German corpora.