Research On Non-conventional Indirect Speech Acts From The Perspective Of Frame Theory

Language is indispensable in daily communication. Language not only tells usthings, but also can be used to do things. That is to say, language is closely related toact. To say something is to do things. Austin carried out Speech Act Theory to studysuch linguistic phenomenon. While, the two sides of communication usually do notsay things directly, they always beat about the bush and express their intention in anindirect way. And the literal meaning that their utterances convey is not consistentwith their utterances’ intended meaning. So, John Searle furthered Austin’s theory,and put forward indirect speech theory. Searle also divided indirect speech act intoconventional indirect speech act and non-conventional indirect speech act amongwhich, non-conventional speech act with its complexity, variability and distinctiveinference pattern is our research focus.Indirect speech is such a common linguistic phenomenon in practicalcommunication that it has aroused many interests to do researches. This thesis firstlymakes a brief review of the former researches on indirect speech, including itsdevelopment, the methods and theories that former researchers have applied toanalyze ISA. Some shortcomings and limitations have been pointed out in the thesis.Such as the comprehension process of ISA. At the same time, brief review of thecognitive linguistic theory to ISA analysis, the Frame-Shifting Theory is alsopresented. Then, this thesis digs into the motivation of people who choose to performspeech acts indirectly. Such as avoiding embarrassment, being polite and many otherreasons. A comprehensive clarification of Coulson’s Frame-Shifting Theory is alsodone as the theoretical foundation of latter analysis in this thesis.By applying Frame-Shifting Theory to the ISA linguistic data analysis, this thesisprobes into important concepts such as: connector, disjunctor, default value, typicalsituations, goal presupposition, and non-conventional meaning, thus carries out theresearch. After doing the research, the author makes a conclusion: The communicativeprocess is a dynamic one. And in order to understand indirect utterance, shifting ofcognitive frames in people’s mind is a necessity. Otherwise, we are not able to get theimplied meaning the speakers intend to convey, and the communication fails. Suchkind of process never ends until the communication is over. This thesis is the author’s preliminary effort to apply Frame-Shifting theory toISA analysis. From the former studies, we know that Frame-Shifting Theory hasplayed a crucial role in meaning construction. And its application to the analysis ofon-line joke, brain twister, and many other linguistic phenomena has provided goodguidance and academic feasibility. As a result, the application of frame-shifting theoryto the non-conventional ISA analysis in this thesis enforces our understanding ofnon-conventional ISA, and on the other hand, strengthens the explanatory power ofthe Frame-Shifting Theory.