A Speech Act Analysis of Indirectness in Dul Johnson's Melancholia. Speech Acts in Conversation

      Аннотация: ABSTRACTThis research analyzes indirectness in selected utterances of characters in Dul Johnson’s Melancholia. It aims to identify how characters in the play deployed direct and indirect speech act in their conversations. It also examines the effects of the indirect speech act on the hearers; and the motives of the characters for deploying speech act in their conversations. Meanwhile, this study adopts Searle’s Speech Act Theory (SAT) 1969. The researcher finds out that characters deployed direct and indirect speech act in their conversations with one another. It also reveals that the speaker’s utterances have effect(s) on the hearers; and that the speakers have various motives for deploying speech act. The research finally concludes that language users use speech act in their daily conversation with one another for various motives to pass across their information.

Ключевые слова: speech acts, John Searles Speech Act Theory, Melancholia, pragmatics, Dul Johnson, Abbah Ezekiel Onucheojo