A DISCOURSE-PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF ILLOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACTS IN DICKENS ' HARD TIMES'

Abstract

The speech act is a term used in the study of language to describe what individuals do when they say something, and it may be found in both ordinary life and fiction. The focus of this study is on the speech act that performed by the major characters in the novel “Hard Times” by Charles Dickens. This study aims to describe and examine the various types of illocutionary acts, which are performed by the protagonists. The primary theory used in this study is Austin's (1977) model of speech act. The methodologies used in this study are both qualitative and quantitative. These techniques are used to evaluate and characterize the main character's illocutionary activities in the novel. Representative, directive, expressive, commissive, and declarative are the five categories of illocutionary speech acts created by the major characters, according to the findings of this study. The study reveals that the main characters' objectives for employing speech acts vary depending on the sorts of speech acts they create throughout the novel. Key words: Pragmatics, Discourse, Hard Times, Speech Acts.