Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse

Most twentieth-century attempts to develop a linguistic approach to literature rest on the assumption that litera-ture exists by opposition to all other uses of language—an assumption traditionally expressed as an opposition between "poetic" and "ordinary" language. Departing radically from this vie...

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Príomhchruthaitheoir: Pratt, Mary Louise
Formáid: Online
Teanga:Béarla
Foilsithe / Cruthaithe: Indiana University Press 2022
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Rochtain ar líne:ONIX_20220715_9780253050892_47
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author Pratt, Mary Louise
author_browse Pratt, Mary Louise
author_facet Pratt, Mary Louise
author_sort Pratt, Mary Louise
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Most twentieth-century attempts to develop a linguistic approach to literature rest on the assumption that litera-ture exists by opposition to all other uses of language—an assumption traditionally expressed as an opposition between "poetic" and "ordinary" language. Departing radically from this view, and drawing upon the findings of both sociolinguists and speech act theoreticians, Pratt argues against the notion that literature is formally and functionally distinct from our other verbal activities and points the way toward a unified theory of discourse. She shows how the poetic language argument, expounded by the Russian Formalists and developed by structuralists, fails, first on its own grounds, and second in the face of data from non-literary discourse, especially that presented by Labov in his studies of non-literary narrative; and suggests how recent developments in speech act theory and sociolinguistics correct previous theoretical deficiencies. The hypothesis emerges that a descriptive apparatus which can adequately account for non-literary uses of language will give a satisfactory account of literary discourse as well. An immensely important contribution to literary theory and linguistics.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-882982024-03-24T11:38:43Z Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse Pratt, Mary Louise Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics Most twentieth-century attempts to develop a linguistic approach to literature rest on the assumption that litera-ture exists by opposition to all other uses of language—an assumption traditionally expressed as an opposition between "poetic" and "ordinary" language. Departing radically from this view, and drawing upon the findings of both sociolinguists and speech act theoreticians, Pratt argues against the notion that literature is formally and functionally distinct from our other verbal activities and points the way toward a unified theory of discourse. She shows how the poetic language argument, expounded by the Russian Formalists and developed by structuralists, fails, first on its own grounds, and second in the face of data from non-literary discourse, especially that presented by Labov in his studies of non-literary narrative; and suggests how recent developments in speech act theory and sociolinguistics correct previous theoretical deficiencies. The hypothesis emerges that a descriptive apparatus which can adequately account for non-literary uses of language will give a satisfactory account of literary discourse as well. An immensely important contribution to literary theory and linguistics. 2022-07-15T14:56:04Z 2022-07-15T14:56:04Z 1977 book ONIX_20220715_9780253050892_47 9780253050892 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/88298 eng image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://muse.jhu.edu/book/84684 Indiana University Press c10cc7de-85d3-42a6-b7d9-e6d544abd0d9 9780253050892 open access
spellingShingle Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
Pratt, Mary Louise
Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse
title Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse
title_full Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse
title_fullStr Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse
title_full_unstemmed Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse
title_short Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse
title_sort toward a speech act theory of literary discourse
topic Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
topic_facet Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
url ONIX_20220715_9780253050892_47
work_keys_str_mv AT prattmarylouise towardaspeechacttheoryofliterarydiscourse