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Direct and Indirect Speech Acts in English


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Conclusion

The thesis deals with the speech acts and its main terms within the framework of the theory of direct and indirect speech acts. It further explains indirectness and its usage in every day communication, jokes and drama.

In my practical analysis, I then focused mainly on directness and indirectness in drama, based on Life x 3, a play by Yasmina Reza.

The play contains four types of exchanges and thus four types of speaker-hearer strategies: direct-direct, direct-indirect, indirect-direct and indirect-indirect. The proportion of individual strategies differs, yet there is one which is obviously dispreferred – an indirect-direct strategy, the number of indirect-direct exchanges being only 9 out of 89 contributions.

I came to the conclusion that the speakers probably avoid this strategy since a direct response to an indirect strategy may provoke an argument (there are 6 exchanges out of 9 which could be understood as an ‘argument-starter’) which might be the main reason why the speakers rather choose not to answer directly in this case.

The numbers of direct-direct (27), direct-indirect (28) and indirect-indirect (25) exchanges are more or less balanced and therefore it could be said that the hearer either accepts the strategy proposed by the speaker (direct-direct, indirect-indirect) or he decides to make his contribution less straight and therefore gives preference to indirectness. He thus not only shows respect to the speaker, but he also expresses politeness or sometimes even unwillingness to quarrel. Using indirectness, the speaker also proves his ability to toy with the language and make his words sound more interesting.

People are well aware of the fact that some, mostly negative, information cannot or should not be expressed explicitly or directly and that indirect strategies should be applied. Indirectness nowadays plays a vital role in our communication.

Czech résumé

V bakalářské práci nazvané Přímé a nepřímé řečové akty v angličtině jsem se pokusila nastínit hlavní aspekty teorie řečových aktů a s tím související problematiku nepřímých výpovědí v angličtině. Práce shrnuje a komentuje teoretické definice klíčových pojmů a soustředí se na použití řečových aktů v různých konverzačních situacích s důrazem na použití přímých a nepřímých strategií v jazyce dramatu.

První tři kapitoly s názvem „Jazyk, řečové akty a performativy“, „Lokuční, ilokuční a perlokuční akty“ a „Nepřímost“ jsou teoretické. Tyto kapitoly prezentují klasifikaci řečových aktů a dále objasňují, jaké podmínky a okolnosti musí být splněny, aby druhý mluvčí správně pochopil nepřímou výpověď prvního mluvčího. V těchto kapitolách jsou následně zmíněny důvody, proč mluvčí v některých situacích volí raději nepřímost.

Čtvrtá kapitola „Life x 3“ je věnovaná praktické ukázce přímosti a nepřímosti v dramatu. K analýze je použita hra Life x 3 současné francouzské autorky Yasminy Rezy, jejíž literární dílo je často postaveno zejména na slovní interakci postav.

Hra (tedy její první akt, který je předmětem zkoumání) obsahuje čtyři typy promluv: přímé - přímé, přímé - nepřímé, nepřímé - přímé a nepřímé - nepřímé. Tyto promluvy jsou ve hře zastoupeny v různém poměru. Největší procento zaujímají promluvy přímé – nepřímé, nejmenší naopak nepřímé – přímé.

Poměr přímých – přímých, přímých – nepřímých a nepřímých – nepřímých promluv se však v zásadě neliší. Markantní rozdíl nastává právě v počtu promluv nepřímých - přímých. Tento rozdíl zřejmě způsobuje fakt, že přímost druhého mluvčího v nepřímé – přímé promluvě může být pokládána za výzvu k hádce



Bibliography

Austin, John Langshaw. How to do things with words. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.


Ardissono L., G. Boella and L. Lesmo. “Politeness and Speech Acts”. 10 January 2006.


Asher Nicholas, Alex Lascarides.“Indirect Speech Acts.” 15 December 2005.


Bach Kent, Robert M. Harnish. Linguistic communication and Speech Acts. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1979.
Hernandez, Lorena Pérez, Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza.“Grounding, semantic motivation and conceptual interaction in indirect directive speech acts.” Journal of Pragmatics 34 (2002) : 259-284.
Leech, Geoffrey. Principles of Pragmatics. New York: Longman Singapore Publishing, 1983.
Levinson, Stephen C. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1983.
Lyons, John. Language and meaning. London: Fontana Paperbacks, 1981.
Mey, Jacob L. Pragmatics: an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2000.
Reza, Yasmina. Life x 3. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 2000.
Schiffrin, Deborah. Approaches to Discourse. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1994.
Searle, John R. Speech Acts. London: Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Searle, John R. Expression and meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Searle, John R.“Meaning and Speech Acts.” The Philosophical Review 71 (1962) : 423-432. JSTOR. The Central Library of Masaryk University, Brno. 21 December 2005.
Searle, John R.“Austin on Locutionary and Illocutionary Acts.“ The Philosophical Review 77 (1968) : 405-424. JSTOR. The Central Library of Masaryk University, Brno. 21 December 2005.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Penguin Books Ltd, 1998
Talbot, Mary. Language and Gender. An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1998.
Tannen, Deborah. Gender and Discourse. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Thomas, Jenny. Meaning in interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics. London: Longman Group Limited, 1995
Wardhaugh, Ronald. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.
Yule, George. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Other complementary electronic sources:
<http://heralds.westkingdom.org/Ceremony/West/Chivalry.pdf> 10 March 2006.

<http://www.zawaj.com/articles/marriage_ceremony_basics.html> 5 March 2006.

<http://www.wfu.edu/~louden/Interpersonal/IPC%20Materials/GENDER.PPT#6> 16 January 2006.

<http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/rezay/lifex3.htm> 23 February 2006.

Appendix

1. a. I hereby resign from the post of the President of the Czech Republic.

b. I hereby get up at seven o’clock in the morning every day
2. a. I order you to leave.

b. Will you leave?


3. a. Speak. Who began this? On thy love, I charge thee. (Othello, 2.3.177)

b. I dub thee knight.


4. Would you close the door, please?
5. Mais vous ne comperenez pas! (literally, ‘But you don’t understand!’) (Mey, 1993: 133)
6. The door is there.
7.a. Can you close the door?

b. Will you close the door?

c. Could you close the door?

d. Would you close the door?

e. Can’t you close the door?

f. Won’t you close the door? (Hernandez, 2002: 262)


8. The name of the British queen is Elizabeth.
9. Would you make me a cup of tea?
10. I promise to come at eight and cook a nice dinner for you.
11. Thank you for your kind offer.
12. I bequeath all my property to my beloved fiancee.
13. Would you close the door?

14. It’s very hot in here.



15. A: Wouldn’t you want to be able to hunt later on the first day of hunting?

B: I said Saturday, so obviously that’s the day I prefer. (Tannen, 1990: 159)
DIRECT-DIRECT
16. Henri: What’s the matter with him?

Sonia: He wants a biscuit.
17. Henri: Why is he crying?

Sonia: Because I said no.
18. Henri: Should I peel it?

Sonia: Yes.
19. Henri: Now what’s the matter with him?

Sonia: He wants a whole apple.
20. Sonia: This is a catastrophe.

Henri: Yes.
21. Sonia: What are we going to do?

Henri: Go and ... go and fix yourself up a bit.
22. Hubert: So, where have you got to with the flatness of halos?

Henri: I’ve finished. I’m submitting the paper before the end of the month.
23. Henri: Oh, yes? Is this very recent?

Hubert: Yes, yes, this morning: ‘On the Flatness of Galactic Halos.’
24. Henri: What’s the matter with him, Sonia?

Sonia: He wants chocolate fingers.
25. Henri: What was his approach? Modelisation of observations or numerical simulation?

Hubert: I think it was modelisation, but as I said.....
26. Inès: What’s your subject in layman’s terms?

Henri: Are the dark matters of galactic halos flat?
27. Henri: What’s he doing?

Sonia: Crying. I closed all the doors so we wouldn’t hear him.
28. Henri: You didn’t go to see him?

Sonia: No.
29. Inès: Ad what difference does it make if the halo’s not round any more?

Henri: To our every day life, none.
30. Henri: When you look at the Milky Way does it seem to form a straight line?

Inès: Yes.
31. Inès: How old is he?

Sonia: Six.
32. Sonia: And you, Inès, what do you do?

Inès: Nothing. That’s to say, hundreds of things, I’ve never been as busy as I have since I stopped working.
33. Henri: Have you closed the door?

Sonia: Yes.
34. Hubert: Where were you before?

Sonia: Montparnasse.
35. Hubert: And you no longer practice as a lawyer?

Sonia: No.
36. Henri: What does Serge Bloch have to do with this?

Inès: Well, he was flooded out first....
37. Henri: Did you really say I was doomed?

Hubert: Of course not!
38. Henri: And d you think I still have a chance to be published?

Hubert: Certainly! Perhaps not in A.P.J., but in A. and A. Or in M.N.R.A.S., I don’t see why not.
39. Henri: What’s that?

Sonia: The Fox and the Hound. You put the Fox and the Hound on for him.
40. Inès: He has his own TV?

Henri: Not a TV, a mini-cassette, he’s allowed to listen to a mini-cassette every evening in bed.
41. Henri: At least go and change.

Sonia: No.
42. Henri: What’s the difference?

Hubert: Perhaps he’s dealing with visible matter. I just ran my eye over the abstract.

DIRECT-INDIRECT
43. Henri: You tell him.

Sonia: Why didn’t you?

44. Sonia: Who’s that?



Henri: I’ll go and have a look.
45. Henri: I’m going and I’m not coming back.

Sonia: Who’s stopping you?
46. Inès: Perhaps he should read it before he starts getting upset.

Hubert: Inès, my love, don’t interrupt when you don’t know what you’re talking about.
47. Henri: Before I let you go, Hubert, I need to know if you think I’m a crawler?!

Hubert: You’re keeping him awake, Henri.
48. Henri: Hubert, be honest, am I doomed?

Hubert:...You’re going through a rough patch.

49. Sonia: Are we going to let them in?



Henri: They know we’re here.
50. Sonia: Who’s doomed? My husband?

Hubert: Henri? Doomed? Are you joking? He’s the only one who thinks he’s doomed! We were talking about our friend Serge Bloch, who, after being flooded out....
51. Sonia: Are there any more Wotsits?

Henri: Who for, for Arnaud?
52. Hubert: What idea darling?

Inès: Hubert, please, stop trying to police everything what I say.
53. Hubert: Look, Inès, don’t interfere....

Inès: I’ll interfere in any way I like, will you stop trying to muzzle me?
54. Henri: Go and give me a kiss, go and tell him you’re sorry and lost all sense of proportion

Sonia: Let go of me!
55. Henri: You tell him.

Sonia: Stop it.
56. Henri: The Finidoris!

Sonia: It’s tomorrow!
57. Inès: Is it important for halos to be honest?

Hubert: Feminine logic!
58. Henri: Go and give him a cuddle.

Sonia: How many more times are we supposed to go back in his room?
59. Henri: What did you say to him?

Sonia: To scream his head off?
60. Sonia: An example of the Finidorian tone?

Henri: Sonia!
61. Henri: What’s Hubert Finidori got to do with it?

Sonia: I’d like to record your voice when you’re on the phone with him. Your kow-towing, your obsequious tone of voice.
62. Hubert: Check before you get in a state about it.

Henri: I left my laptop at the Institute.
63. Henri: What’s happening? Every time you go in there, he cries.

Sonia: What’s that supposed to mean?
64. Hubert: Haven’ you got a nail-varnish? To stop the ladder?

Inès: And look like some tramp?
65. Henri: Give him a slice of apple.

Sonia: He doesn’t want a slice of apple, he wants a biscuit, and in any case he’s not getting anything. You don’t eat in bed, you eat at the table, you don’t eat in bed after you’ve cleaned your teeth and now I need to look through this file, I have a ten o’clock meeting in the morning.
66. Henri: Three years without publishing, only to see your subject refused because it’s already been covered, what do you call that? A scientific death warrant?

Hubert: We’re not in America.
67. Hubert: Was that the last packet?

Sonia: We could give him some cheese.
68. Sonia: I’d have done better to receive them in my washing gown.

Henri: Congratulations, Sonia! Well done!
69. Henri: But when my son is crying, I prefer to hear it.

Sonia: You maybe, but not necessarily our guests.
70. Inès: And are they flat, do you think?

Henri: I think they’re ten times as thin as they are long.

INDIRECT-DIRECT
71. Henri: He wants a cuddle. Just a little cuddle.

Sonia: No.
72. Hubert: Oh, look, there’s one more Wotsit!

Sonia: Eat it.
73. Henri: Sonia, our friends are still hungry.

Sonia: Would you like some Wotsits?

74. Henri: You wouldn’t like to take him a little glass of water?



Sonia: No.
75. Hubert: I’m afraid Inès may have somewhat overdone it with the Sancerre.

Inès: Don’t humiliate yourself by pretending I’m a drunk, Hubert, your usual snide remarks will be quite sufficient...
76. Henri: Will you go and get dressed, Sonia?

Sonia: No.

77. Hubert: I know how to make Henri laugh! Henri, you feel like a laugh, ask Inès to describe a halo for you.



Inès: I’m not offended, you know.

78. Henri: I told him you were coming.



Sonia: I’ m not going in there one more time, I hope that’s clear.
79. Hubert: I hope he doesn’t mean these delicious things I’ve been just eating.

Sonia: He does.

INDIRECT-INDIRECT
80. Inès: Whose fault is that?

Hubert: I’m not going to put up with this recital...
81. Inès: My husband has been published in Nature magazine, I fail to understand what’s pathetic about that.

Hubert: Inès, I really don’t need your help, darling.
82. Henri: It’s not normal for him to stop crying suddenly just like that.

Inès: You mollycoddle him, Henri.
83. Henri: He wants a biscuit.

Sonia: He’s just cleaned his teeth.
84. Henri: He’s asking for a biscuit.

Sonia: He knows very well there’s no biscuits in bed.
85. Hubert: Henri is R.A. at the I.A.P. and I’m lab-director at Meudon, in what way could I be responsible for his recruitment?

Sonia: You’re a member of the National Committee, you can approve the promotion of people who don’t work in your lab.
86. Inès: Why do you put me down in front of other people? I wish I could understand your pathological need you have to continually put me down in front of other people.

Hubert: I don’t put you down, I was joking.
87. Henri: I won’t let you go until you’ve apologised.

Sonia: Apologised for what? You couldn’t take my side just for once in your life!
88. Inès: Did you have to tell him about the paper?

Hubert: Now you’re shouting.....
89. Henri: He’s agreed to a slice of apple.

Sonia: He’s not having any apple, he’s not having anything, you don’t eat in bed, the subject is closed.
90. Henri: Why don’t we give him the whole apple? It’s good that he likes fruit.

Sonia: He’s not having any more.
91. Henri: What’s got into you?

Sonia: You’d rather he ruined the evening? At least we’ll have a bit of peace.
92. Hubert: It’s twenty past nine.

Inès: I cannot turn up with a ladder in my stocking!

93. Henri: Is there anything left in the kitchen?



Sonia: We cleaned it out. I thought it was tomorrow.
94. Henri: Are you out of mind?

Sonia: He’s stopped. There you are.
95. Henri: This was a very important dinner for me!

Sonia: You’re saying it’s my fault!
96. Henri: He wants you to give him a cuddle.

Sonia: I’ve already given him a cuddle.
97. Hubert: Have you been here long?

Sonia: A year and a half.
98. Henri: If you like, I’ll peel it and take it in to him.

Sonia: Spoil him. What do I care? Do what you like.
99. Inès: I’ve laddered my stocking!

Hubert: It doesn’t show.
100. Henri: What difference is a little apple going to make to the course of history?

Sonia: If we give in on the apple, he’ll know he can get us to give him in on anything.
101. Inès: I’m not going to visit people I’ve never met before with a ladder in my stocking.

Hubert: We’re already half an hour late, we can’t go back home, and we can’t go shopping for stockings in the middle of the night. Let’s just rise above it.
102. Hubert: Who’s going to notice?

Inès: Who’s going to notice? Everyone, except for you, if someone turns up at my house with a ladder in her stocking, the ladder’s the first thing I notice.
103. Henri: You’ve terrified him.

Sonia: Henri, we’ve just discussed all this.
104. Sonia: Have they heard us?

Henri: Why, what did we say?

1 <http://heralds.westkingdom.org/Ceremony/West/Chivalry.pdf >

2

3 < http://www.wfu.edu/~louden/Interpersonal/IPC%20Materials/GENDER.PPT#6>

4




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