Phraseological units as markers of noncooperative behavior of dialogue participants

The aim of the paper is to investigate the semantics and syntactic behavior of a small group of Russian phraseological units: expressions with double or single negative particles ni such as ni otveta ni priveta, ni da ni net, ni gugu, ni be ni me ni kukareku, etc. The paper focuses on the analysis of the internal structure of the phraseological units as well as on their semantics. The correlation of the semantics of these units with some semantic fields is demonstrated. This is the human speech field, which involves three subfields: children speech, speech of adults of Russian (native) culture and speech of foreign culture adults. Besides, some units of the group correspond to the animal “speech” and actions field. This group of phraseological units are the markers of an act of silence in a dialogue of the structure “illocutively compelling act → ∅ (silent illocutively compelled act)”. Directly after the dialogue, the initiator comments the silent behavior of the addressee, using the phraseological units discussed. The above-mentioned group of phraseological units contrasts with another group of phraseological units with similar function. These are bu-bu-bu, be-be-be, lja-lja-lja. While the expressions of the former group mark the act of silence, phraseological units of this latter group replace unclear or unintelligible speech.