Speech Acts And Literary Theory

Author : Sandy Petrey
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2016-08-19
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781134983735

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Speech Acts and Literary Theory by Sandy Petrey Pdf

This book, first published in 1990, combines an introduction to speech-act theory as developed by J. L. Austin with a survey of critical essays that have adapted Austin's thought for literary analysis. Speech-act theory emphasizes the social reality created when speakers agree that their language is performative - Austin's term for utterances like: "we hereby declare" or "I promise" that produce rather than describe what they name. In contrast to formal linguistics, speech-act theory insists on language's active prominence in the organization of collective life. The first section of the text concentrates on Austin's determination to situate language in society by demonstrating the social conventions manifest in language. The second and third parts of the book discuss literary critics' responses to speech-act theory's socialisation of language, which have both opened new understandings of textuality in general and stimulated new interpretations of individual works. This book will be of interest to students of linguistics and literary theory.

Author : Joseph Hillis Miller
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Page : 253 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780804742160

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Speech Acts in Literature by Joseph Hillis Miller Pdf

This book demonstrates the presence of literature within speech act theory and the utility of speech act theory in reading literary works. Though the founding text of speech act theory, J. L. Austin's How to Do Things with Words, repeatedly expels literature from the domain of felicitous speech acts, literature is an indispensable presence within Austin's book. It contains many literary references but also uses as essential tools literary devices of its own: imaginary stories that serve as examples and imaginary dialogues that forestall potential objections. How to Do Things with Words is not the triumphant establishment of a fully elaborated theory of speech acts, but the story of a failure to do that, the story of what Austin calls a "bogging down." After an introductory chapter that explores Austin's book in detail, the two following chapters show how Jacques Derrida and Paul de Man in different ways challenge Austin's speech act theory generally and his expulsion of literature specifically. Derrida shows that literature cannot be expelled from speech acts—rather that what he calls "iterability" means that any speech act may be literature. De Man asserts that speech act theory involves a radical dissociation between the cognitive and positing dimensions of language, what Austin calls language's "constative" and "performative" aspects. Both Derrida and de Man elaborate new speech act theories that form the basis of new notions of responsible and effective politico-ethical decision and action. The fourth chapter explores the role of strong emotion in effective speech acts through a discussion of passages in Derrida, Wittgenstein, and Austin. The final chapter demonstrates, through close readings of three passages in Proust, the way speech act theory can be employed in an illuminating way in the accurate reading of literary works.

Author : Mary Louise Pratt
Publisher : Midland Books
Page : 266 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 1977
Category : Discourse analysis
ISBN : UCSC:32106011969422

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Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse by Mary Louise Pratt Pdf

Author : Σάββας Λ Τσοχατζίδης
Publisher : Psychology Press
Page : 518 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 1994
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0415095247

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Foundations of Speech Act Theory by Σάββας Λ Τσοχατζίδης Pdf

With speech act theory assuming a renewed importance in the field of literary studies and philosophy, Foundations of Speech Act Theoryoffers a timely, thorough and, above all, compelling examination of the complexities of illocutionary acts, performatives, and their phenomenological basis. Savas Tsohatzidis has collected an impressive range of international scholars on the subject. Clearly demonstrating the relevance of speech act theory to semantic theory, the collection further interrogates the inability of pragmatic theories of illocution to properly locate such speech acts within the logic of phenomenology and intersubjectivity. Extending this analysis to the related discipline of philosophy, Tsohatzidis's contributors provide an elucidating investigation of problems lying outside the field of the philosophy of language, while also offering other alternative and rigorous perspectives for linguistic and philosophical inquiry.

Author : Armin Burkhardt
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 437 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2010-09-15
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783110859485

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Speech Acts, Meaning and Intentions by Armin Burkhardt Pdf

Speech Acts, Meaning and Intentions: Critical Approaches to the Philosophy of J.R. Searle (Foundations of Communication and Cognition).

Author : John Searle,F. Kiefer,M. Bierwisch
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789400989641

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Speech Act Theory and Pragmatics by John Searle,F. Kiefer,M. Bierwisch Pdf

In the study of language, as in any other systematic study, there is no neutral terminology. Every technical term is an expression of the assumptions and theoretical presuppositions of its users; and in this introduction, we want to clarify some of the issues that have surrounded the assumptions behind the use of the two terms "speech acts" and "pragmatics". The notion of a speech act is fairly well understood. The theory of speech acts starts with the assumption that the minimal unit of human communica tion is not a sentence or other expression, but rather the performance of certain kinds of acts, such as making statements, asking questions, giving orders, describing, explaining, apologizing, thanking, congratulating, etc. Characteristically, a speaker performs one or more of these acts by uttering a sentence or sentences; but the act itself is not to be confused with a sentence or other expression uttered in its performance. Such types of acts as those exemplified above are called, following Austin, illocutionary acts, and they are standardly contrasted in the literature with certain other types of acts such as perlocutionary acts and propositional acts. Perlocutionary acts have to do with those effects which our utterances have on hearers which go beyond the hearer's understanding of the utterance. Such acts as convincing, persuading, annoying, amusing, and frightening are all cases of perlocutionary acts.

Author : Eric Shane Bryan,Alexander Vaughan Ames
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2020-05-26
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0866986103

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Literary Speech Acts of the Medieval North, Volume 552 by Eric Shane Bryan,Alexander Vaughan Ames Pdf

This volume brings together examinations of pragmatic meaning and proverbs of the Medieval North. Pragmatic meaning, which relies upon cultural and interpersonal context to go beyond the simple semantic and grammatical meaning of an utterance, has a fundamental connection with proverbs, which also communicate a deeper meaning than what is actually said. Essays in this volume explore this connection by examining the language of generosity, conversion, friendship, debate, dragon proverbs, and saints' lives. These essays are inspired by the works of Thomas A. Shippey, who has been a pioneer in the study of wisdom poetry and pragmatics in medieval literature.

Author : Daniel Vanderveken,Susumu Kubo
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9027250944

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Essays in Speech Act Theory by Daniel Vanderveken,Susumu Kubo Pdf

Any study of communication must take into account the nature and role of speech acts in a broad context. This book addresses questions such as: - What do we mean? - How do we say it? and - How is it understood? in the broad context of universal, socio-cultural and psychological issues that bear on human communication. It presents an overview of current issues in speech act theory that are at the center of human and social sciences dealing with language, thought and action, building on John Searle's famous article 'How Performatives Work' (included in this book). The contributions by linguists, psychologists, computer scientists, and philosophers thus address issues of communication that are crucial in conversation analysis, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, psychology and philosophy, and a general understanding of how we communicate. The book is suitable for courses with an extensive bibliography for further reading and an Index.

Author : Irene Rima Makaryk
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 676 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 1993-01-01
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 080206860X

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Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory by Irene Rima Makaryk Pdf

The last half of the twentieth century has seen the emergence of literary theory as a new discipline. As with any body of scholarship, various schools of thought exist, and sometimes conflict, within it. I.R. Makaryk has compiled a welcome guide to the field. Accessible and jargon-free, the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory provides lucid, concise explanations of myriad approaches to literature that have arisen over the past forty years. Some 170 scholars from around the world have contributed their expertise to this volume. Their work is organized into three parts. In Part I, forty evaluative essays examine the historical and cultural context out of which new schools of and approaches to literature arose. The essays also discuss the uses and limitations of the various schools, and the key issues they address. Part II focuses on individual theorists. It provides a more detailed picture of the network of scholars not always easily pigeonholed into the categories of Part I. This second section analyses the individual achievements, as well as the influence, of specific scholars, and places them in a larger critical context. Part III deals with the vocabulary of literary theory. It identifies significant, complex terms, places them in context, and explains their origins and use. Accessibility is a key feature of the work. By avoiding jargon, providing mini-bibliographies, and cross-referencing throughout, Makaryk has provided an indispensable tool for literary theorists and historians and for all scholars and students of contemporary criticism and culture.

Author : John R. Searle
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 1969-01-02
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 052109626X

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Speech Acts by John R. Searle Pdf

'This small but tightly packed volume is easily the most substantial discussion of speech acts since John Austin's How To Do Things With Words and one of the most important contributions to the philosophy of language in recent decades.'--Philosophical Quarterly

Author : Joseph Hillis Miller
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 350 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Conduct of life in literature
ISBN : 0823235394

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Literature as Conduct by Joseph Hillis Miller Pdf

The work of a master critic, this book draws on speech act theory, to investigate the many dimensions of doing things with words in Henry James's fiction. The author shows that three modes of speech act occur in James's novels and the action of each work is brought about by its own idiosyncratic repertoire.

Author : Phyllis Kaburise
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 195 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2011-05-25
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781443831260

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Speech Act Theory and Communication by Phyllis Kaburise Pdf

Speech Act Theory: A Univen Study was undertaken to investigate the pragmatic value of the utterances of selected students at the University of Venda, South Africa. Utterances of second-language users of a language reflect the wealth of their language experiences and hence caution has to be exercised when conducting an investigation into such utterances. It is within this background that this investigation was conducted into the meaning-creation strategies and abilities of the participants in this study. The very idiocyncratic utterances investigated demonstrated vividly the multi-dimensional thought process exploited by the creators of these samples. Also demonstrated by the analyses is the nature of communication and the amount of linguistic interaction necessary for interlocutors to create meaning.

Author : Joseph Hillis Miller
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 350 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Conduct of life in literature
ISBN : 0823248127

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Literature as Conduct by Joseph Hillis Miller Pdf

The work of a master critic, this book draws on speech act theory, to investigate the many dimensions of doing things with words in Henry James's fiction. The author shows that three modes of speech act occur in James's novels and the action of each work is brought about by its own idiosyncratic repertoire.

Author : Daniel Fogal,Daniel W. Harris,Matt Moss
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2018-07-04
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191059018

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New Work on Speech Acts by Daniel Fogal,Daniel W. Harris,Matt Moss Pdf

Speech-act theory is the interdisciplinary study of the wide range of things we do with words. Originally stemming from the influential work of twentieth-century philosophers, including J. L. Austin and Paul Grice, recent years have seen a resurgence of work on the topic. On one hand, a new generation of linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists have made impressive progress toward reverse-engineering the psychological underpinnings that allow us to do so much with language. Meanwhile, speech-act theory has been used to enrich our understanding of pressing social issues that include freedom of speech, racial slurs, and the duplicity of political discourse. This volume presents fourteen new essays by many of the philosophers and linguists who have led this resurgence. The topics span a methodological range that includes formal semantics and pragmatics, foundational issues about the nature of linguistic representation, and work on a variety of forms of indirect and/or uncooperative speech that occupies the intersection of the philosophy of language, ethics, and political philosophy. Several of the contributions demonstrate the benefits of integrating the methodologies and perspectives of these literatures. The essays are framed by a comprehensive introductory survey of the contemporary literature written by the editors.

Author : Dietmar Neufeld
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 167 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2021-08-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789004493513

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Reconceiving Texts as Speech Acts by Dietmar Neufeld Pdf

Reconceiving Texts as Speech Acts attempts a reading of the Christological confessions and ethical exhortations in I John from the perspective of speech act theory. Speech act theory is explored with particular reference to J.L. Austin, Donald Evans, and J. Derrida. At the heart of the approach is the insight of the rhetorical character of historiography and the view that language in written discourse is a form of action and power. Discourse in I John becomes responsible for creating reality and not merely reflecting it. In effect the Christological and ethical texts are effective acts which change situations in the public domain in terms of confession and conduct. A tentative methodological proposal is developed and then in succeeding chapters applied to a series of key passages in I John.