语言学 间接言语行为分析与应用.doc

An Analysis and Application of Indirect Speech Acts Sun He 孙和 Class 2, Grade 2012 No. 312045108012 The School of Foreign Language China West Normal University A Paper for General Linguistics Dec., 2012 An Analysis and Application of Indirect Speech Acts Abstract: Searle’s most important contribution to speech acts theory is that he is the first one who puts forward indirect acts theory(ISA). This paper mainly focuses on that indirect speech acts can present the mutual social distance, show the evasion of some subtle problems and indirect speech acts are some linguistic skills which can reach certain purposes in communication. At the end of this paper, I will talk about the enlightenment of indirect speech acts in English teaching and talk about what we should do to solve these problems. Key Words: pragmatic function, indirect speech acts, utterance, English teaching Introduction Speech act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language. The contemporary use of the term goes back to J. L. Austins discovery of performative utterances and his theory of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts. Speech acts are commonly taken to include such acts as promising, ordering, greeting, warning, inviting and congratulating. Among the speech acts there are direct and indirect acts. The indirect acts is a roundabout way of talking. That is to say, people do not express their thoughts in a direct way but through indirect or euphemistic ways to fulfill their purpose in communication. The indirect of language appears when there is an inconformity between the literal meaning and the implication message. Speech act theorist Searle puts up indirect speech act theory to express the indirective of language based on the speech act theory itself. And he defines an indirect speech act is a speech act performed indirectly by performing another speech act. Searle has divided the indirect speech act into indirect speech acts and non-conventional indirect speech a