A Pragmatic Approach To The Butler’s Identity Construction In English Historical Drama

Identity plays a crucial part in people’s daily communication.The study concerning identity and its construction has long remained a heat topic in diverse disciplines.With the development of pragmatics,the relationship between identity construction and language strategies is focused upon.It is put forward that identity constructed in specific contexts by the language user can be perceived as a kind of pragmatic identity.Based on Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory,the process of language use is regarded as a process of language choices.The making of linguistic choices is constrained by contextual correlates in the physical world,the social world,and the mental world.In light of this theory,the present thesis is to study the butler’s identity construction in a prevailing English teleplay,Downton Abbey.It aims to study the dynamic features of the butler’s identity,and the pragmatic intentions of the butler’s identity construction as well as the underlying causes of the butler’s identity construction.In order to make an explicit explanation to the above three objectives,the present study chooses the whole conversations between the butler and other communicative addressee in season one and season two as the data base.A qualitative method is adopted in the present study.According to the power relation and social distance,all the potential communicators with the butler are typed into the upstairs and the downstairs.The former refers to the nobilities while the latter refers to other servants.It is found that both the butler’s established identity and deviational identity are constructed during the communication.From the perspective of upstairs,the butler’s established identity is an attendant,which is decided by the unequal social power.However,as an attendant that has been serving the family for three generations,the butler is more than a subordinate,in this sense,the butler is also a kinsfolk for the family,which constitutes the butler’s deviational identity.From the perspective of downstairs,the butler takes charge all other servants and plays the role of a leader,which composes his established identity.However,for the foundation of harmonious interpersonal relationship and satisfying performance of his duties,the butlersometimes demonstrates his soft and mild aspect to the servants,which accounts for his deviational identity,that is,an amiable company.It needs to point out that all of the four identities can be constructed by making language choices,including vocabulary level,syntactic level,and discursive level.Another objective is the pragmatic intentions of the butler’s identity construction.The present study figures out that the butler’s diverse identity construction exerts positive influences on the butler himself as well as on other communicators.Briefly speaking,as to the butler himself,the various identities help to leave different impressions on others and contribute to the realization of communicative intentions.As to other people,including the upstairs and the downstairs,the diverse identities of the butler not only serve to preserve the grand style and dignity of the upstairs but also keep all other servants in a stable state and create a harmonious interpersonal relationship.As to the underlying causes constraining the butler’s making of language choices,the present thesis pays attention to the temporal and spatial reference in the physical world,the power relation,social distance,and social culture in the social world.As to correlates in the mental world,the present study lays an emphasis on the emotion and face in the mental world,both of which contain positive and negative aspects.The discursive identities of the butler are not fixed but dynamically constructed in order to consciously or unconsciously adapt to certain contextual correlates and to realize specific communicative needs.The present study can to some extent enrich research data of discursive identity construction.Besides,it is hoped that the present study could shed some light on the comprehension of the image of butler in movie and teleplay work,especially in English teleplay during the time period before and after the World War One.