A Speech Act Analysis of Irony in Pride and Prejudice开题报告

Pragmatics is a comparatively new branch of study in the area of linguistics. And it is generally defined as the study of how speakers of a language use utterances to achieve successful communication. Speech act theory is an important theory in the pragmatic study of language. It was originated with the British philosophical John Austin in the late 50s of the 20^th century. It is a philosophical explanation of the nature of linguistic communication. It aims to answer the question #8220;What do we do when using language#8221;.

Irony is a subtle form of humour that involves saying things that are the opposite of what you really mean. It is widely used in everyday communications and literary works, especially in Jane Austen#8217;s Pride and Prejudice.

When it comes to British Literature, writer Jane Austen is inevitably mentioned. Jane Austen was an English novelist whose realism, biting social commentary and masterful use of free indirect speech, burlesque and especially irony have earned her a place as one of the most widely-read and best-loved writers in British literature. Pride and Prejudice, first published on 28 January 1813, is the most famous of Jane Austen#8217;s novels and one of the first #8220;romantic comedies#8221; in the history of novel.

2. 研究内容和预期目标

Through speech act to analyze irony in Pride and Prejudice-ironic speech acts performed by the author in her communication with the reader, and those ironic speech acts performed by the characters in their communication with each other, the study aims to prove that irony of various forms in literary works, just like irony in #8220;ordinary language#8221;, can also be properly described within the frame work of speech act theory, thus, further proves the applicability of speech act theory to literary criticism.

The whole essay concentrates on the analysis of irony in Pride and Prejudice. The difficulty lies in how to analyze irony in literature through the speech ast theory.

This essay consists of four parts. Chapter one is a brief introduction, explaining the significance of the study. Chapter two reviews speech act theory and irony, as well as current studies on irony in Pride and Prejudice. Chapter three keeps an eye on the irony used in Pride and Prejudice, with a special focus on three marriages in the novel. Chapter four analyzes the specific irony used in Pride and prejudice. They are assertive irony, directive irony, commissive irony and expressive irony. Chapter five sums up irony used in the novel and provides suggestions for future study.

3. 国内外研究现状

As the novel the Pride and Prejudice wins world fame, the researches on Jane Austen and this representative novel by scholars at home and broad has achieved many basic and acknowledged agreements. In recent years, with the broader application of pragmatics, many studies on Pride and Prejudice have taken a pragmatic perspective, with much attention to the speech act theory.

Speech act theory is an important theory in the pragmatic study of language. It was originated with the British philosophical John Austin in the late 50s of the 20^th century. It is a philosophical explanation of the nature of linguistic communication. It aims to answer the question #8220;What do we do when using language?#8221;. Later on, John Austin set up another model to explain the way acts performed by means of language. According to his new model, a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously while speaking: locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act (Austin, 1962). The speech act theory provided great philosophical insight into the nature of linguistic communication. In the light of this theory when we are speaking a language, we are doing something, or in other words performing acts, and the process of linguistic communication consists of a sequence of acts. The theory aroused great interest among scholars in the 1960s and 70s. One of those who made notable contributions to it is the American philosopher-linguistic John Searle. One of the contributions Searle has made is his classification of illocutionary acts. Accordind to Searle, speeach acts fall into five categories: representatives/assertives, directives, commissive, expressives and declarations (Searle, 1969).

There are many studies on irony in Pride and Prejudice. Scholars pay much attention to irony used in some literary elements such as irony used in scene, plot and structure.

4. 计划与进度安排