Pragmatic

Stylistics
 Discourse
Analysis and
its
Application
in Drama
Critical analysis of a drama text

• Produces suggestions for performance

to be tested in a theatre

• Suggests an interpretation
 Canonical Form of a Communicative
Event in Drama

Addresser Message Addressee

Playwright Play Audience

through characters

character 1 speaks to character 2

Message
Speech Acts – When we produce
utterances, we actually Do things.

 Declaratives(performative)
 Representatives
 Commissives
 Expressives
 Directives

Note: The structure may not all the time

reflect the intention.
Felicity Conditions

 Circumstancesfor the performance

of a speech act to be recognized
as intended.
Presuppositions

 Form part of the pre-conditions for

felicitous production of speech
acts.
 Cooperative Principle in
Conversation by Grice (1975)
 Accountingfor meaning as it develops
in conversation

B. What someone means by uttering that

sentence.

A. What a sentence means?

 Cooperative Principle in
Conversation
 Accounts for meaning as it develops for
conversation
 Makes conversational conversation
such as it required.
 Every conversation is a cooperative
transaction; a mutual enterprise
 Every conversation/Discourse is goal
directed
People who converse follow the Maxims

Quantity
Quality
Relation
Manner
People who converse follow the Maxims

 Quantity - quantity of information

provided
People who converse follow the Maxims

 Quality - truth of information

People who converse follow the Maxims

 Relation – relevance of information

 People converse follow the
maxim
Manner – how what is said to be
said (clarity, brevity, orderly manner)
Quantity
Laura: Do you have any pets?
Parson: I have two wee baby
turtles.
 What is Carson implying?
Carson doesn’t have any other pets
besides the two turtles.
What maxims creates that
implication, and why?
According to maxim of quantity, you are
supposed to say the strongest statement
you possible can. So we have to assume
that’s what Carson is doing. If he actually
had, say, two turtles and a dog, he should
have made the stronger statement”I have
two turtles and a dog” instead of the
weaker (but still true) “I have two turtles.”
Quality
Laura: Come on, I’m taking you to
the gym.
Meredith: Yeah, and pigs can fly.
What is Meredith Implying
Meredith refuses to go to the gym
with Laura.
What maxims creates that
implication, and why?
Meredith is saying something which is
clearly untrue. By combining the ”yes”
response with a clearly untrue statement,
Meredith is implying that the actual
response is “no.”
Relation
John: We just have to fly real close
to the corona of the sun!
Meredith: You’re lucky you’re pretty.
What is Meredith implying?
John’s idea is stupid.
What maxim creates that
implication, and why?
Meredith is going off topic, talking
about John’s looks rather than his
idea.
Manner
Carson: What happened?
Meredith: He got attacked by a
giant bug, and he passed out.
What is Meredith implying?
He passed out because he was first
attacked (in other words, the order in
which the events occurred is: (1) he
got attacked; (2) he passed out.)
What maxim creates that
implication, and why?
According to the maxim of manner, you
are supposed to say things in an orderly
way, so you should say events in the
actual order in which they occurred.
When a person says “This happened
and that happened, “you assume they
mean “this happened, and then that
happened.
CP and its Maxims are always at
work in conversation and bridge
the gap between interlocutors.
CP and its Maxims – can be the
basis for constructing implicatures.
Implicatures – indirect context –
determined meaning
Failure to fulfil a maxim may be
done if the speaker

 Violatesit;
 Opts out from the operation;
 Clashes the maxims of quantity; or
 Flouts and blatantly fail to fulfil it
 A maxim is exploited to generate the
conversational implicature.
 Violation of Conversational
Maxims in Shona
Opting out
Thomas (1995:75) defines opting out as a
situation when a speaker “chooses not to
observe a maxim and states an unwillingness to
do so.”
 Example
1. John is unhappy and a friend asks him;
Friend: What’s troubling you these days?
John: Uh, It’s personal.
Violated maxim: Quantity
What could be the implicature?
The hearer can infer here is that whatever is
troubling Speaker B is personal and probably
confidential.
 Violation of Conversation in Shona
 Maxim Clash
According to Ying (2006), maxim clash
(usually between quantity and quality) occurs
when the speaker presumably means to observe
CP and yet he obviously cannot fulfil one of the
maxims at the same level.
 Example

A: Where has John gone to?

B: Not, more than ten

Speaker A is asking for a specific place or

location where John went or at least is.
Violated Maxim: Quantity
If speaker B is really not sure of where John
is then he cannot say somewhere he is not
certain of since that will be violating the
maxim of quality. The maxim of quality and
quantity clash here and the quantity one is
violated. Speaker B gives less information,
thus violating the quantity maxim but
anymore information would have been false
so this upholds the quality maxim. Speaker B
wants and manages to remain cooperative.
What could be the implicature?
Speaker B does not know where John is but
he still gives information meaningful enough to
ensure smooth conversation.
 Flouting of the maxim
When flouting a maxim the speaker is not on
a misinformation drive but wants the hearer to
notice it and know that there is something
intended.
 Example
1. Two friends are walking at a deserted
community shopping centre and one appointing
at the only functional shop says.

A: Let’s buy bread from that store.

B: Donkeys have grown horns.
 Speaker B flouts the quality maxim so fragrantly
that A can infer that there must be a special reason for
being so uncooperative. Donkeys do not and will never
have horns so speaker b imploring speaker A to infer
that there can never be bread in that shop. The
response also shows that Speaker B may have tried to
buy bread for a long time from the same shop but
without ever finding any.
Polonius: What do you need, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.

 Statingthe obvious
 Not an appropriate reply

 What could be the implicature?

 Hamlet is being rude to Polonius in
order to get rid of him.
 He is trying to feign madness
B. What someone means by uttering that sentence
A. What that sentence means

e.g.
A. Did you enjoy the play?
B. Well, I thought the ice cream they sold in the
interval was good.

What could be the implicature?

Exercise: What are the implicatures?

A: Can I go home with you?

B: I have a flat tire.

A: Is that your newspaper?

B: Go ahead.

A: How far is your school?

B: I go home every day.
 From Hemingway’s Hills Like White
Elephants

A: “They look like white elephants.”

B: “I’ve never seen one.
A: “No, you wouldn’t have.”
 Analysis 1

 This is an elliptical statement which carries a

role of impatience and anger. The retort is full of
meaning. She says to the man he wouldn’t
have which means that the man refuses her
pregnancy, that he doesn’t want the child.
Another implication for this retort is that the girl
is indecisive, but sure that it is only the man
who wants to get rid of the child in her womb;
that is his only decision.
 Analysis 2

 The form of the response violates the maxim

of relevance because he said “I’ve never
seen one”. To which the appropriate
response should have been “No, you
haven’t.” The lack of fit suggests that there is
trouble brewing between the couple, that all
is not well. This response can be taken as a
sign that the girl is insinuating something
other than the fact that the man has not seen
a white elephant.
Thank You for
listening!

Reported by:
Ma. Theresa S. Pagdato