An Analysis Of Irony In Emma From The Perspective Of Speech Act Theory

As one of the greatest satiric writers in the world, Jane Austen explored the irony in her novel—Emma supremely well. Nevertheless, most scholars mainly focus their attention on Emma's theme instead of its fine language, let alone a systematic research in view of pragmatics.In this thesis, we employ the speech act theory, the key theory of pragmatics, to proceed to a careful analysis of Emma's language, aiming at exploring the various ironic speech acts in this novel. In this way, not only can Emma's ironic language be enriched, but it also facilitates us to understand its ironic topic deeply and thoroughly. The spiritual communication and cooperation between the readers and the writer of this novel are achieved.