A Study On Indirect Speech Act Metonymy In Thunderstorm

This thesis applies Panthor and Thornburg’s speech act metonymy theory toanalyze the understanding process of indirect speech act metonymy in the playThunderstorm. Different from the previous studies of indirect speech acts from thepragmatic perspective and previous studies of metonymy from the rhetorical orcognitive aspect, the speech act metonymy theory which was proposed by Panthor andThornburg for the first time is a cognitive pragmatic theory. Thus, few scholars makeresearches employing this theory and the relevant theoretical references are limited. Forthe studies to which some scholars applied this theory, they focus on the directivespeech act metonymy. However, this thesis enriches the content of the study involvingthree categories of indirect speech acts: directive, expressive and commissive indirectspeech acts, as well as combines the functions of pragmatic parameters on the indirectspeech act metonymy comprehension, which makes the whole thesis more convincingand improved.There are several findings in this thesis:1.In speech act scenario structure, theRESULT scenario which is closest to the CORE scenario is the most direct part toexpress speaker’s intention. Moreover, the RESULT scenario is used most in directiveindirect speech acts. The BEFORE scenario ranks the second one, which refers to thepresuppositional condition of the whole speech act scenario; and the AFTER scenariowhich is far from the CORE scenario is the most indirect part to convey the speaker’sintention.2. Through analyzing the distribution of speech act scenario of the threecategories of indirect speech acts in the play Thunderstorm, different kinds of indirectspeech acts are interpreted by different parts of speech act scenario. For directiveindirect speech acts, the RESULT scenario is the widely used part to metonymicallystand for the whole scenario (regardless of the CORE scenario). For expressive indirectspeech acts, the BEFORE and RESULT scenarios are used most; while the AFTER scenario is frequently employed in commissive speech acts.3. Through the explorationof the main five drama conflicts to show the characters’ employment of the indirectspeech act metonymy, the author finds that the employment of speech act scenario isinfluenced by social status, position and power, and on the other side, indirect speechact metonymy could help explain the twisted sentimental plot and reflect theinevitability of the family tragedy against the background of the dark society.4. Threegroups of subtypes of indirect speech acts are differentiated through combining thestudy of pragmatic parameters. In order to distinguish some similar subtypes of oneindirect speech act, pragmatic parameters are needed such as cost/benefit relationship,power relationship or optionality to figure it out.Finally, the thesis also puts forward several suggestions for future study. The firstone, the data base should be enriched to study indirect speech act metonymy.Metonymy is part of our everyday way of thinking. Thus, the theory should be studiedin our daily experience, which can be more reliable. The second one, the scope of thestudy can be expanded to include the other two categories of speech acts: the assertivespeech acts and the declarative speech acts, which could make the study morecomprehensive.