A Pragmatic Study Of Discourse Markers In The Glass Menagerie

Though there is no consensus on the definition of discourse markers, nowadays it is generally agreed that the significance of research on them lies in the pragmatic meanings they can convey. Previous studies indicate that discourse markers play an important role in the construction of the pragmatic meaning of an utterance, and therefore constitute the pragmatic competence of the speaker. With the development of drama stylistics, there has been an increasing number of studies on drama from the perspective of pragmatics. However, there still exist some research gaps. Although discourse markers are of vital importance in the pragmatic interpretation of literary works, little attention has been paid to the pragmatic study of discourse markers in drama. Even if some scholars have analyzed the pragmatic functions of discourse markers in the field of drama stylistics, they seldom pay close attention to their functions in drama appreciation. Therefore, the present study is aimed to achieve two objectives:one is to probe into the pragmatic functions of discourse markers used in the turn-taking process in dramatic dialogue, and the other is to provide a new way of drama appreciation by pragmatically analyzing the discourse markers used in drama.The present thesis is an attempt to make a pragmatic study of the discourse markers used in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, by adopting a theoretical framework of Sacks et al.’s (1974) theory of conversation analysis and Herman’s (1991,1995,1998, 2002) theatrical model. Since the whole play only consists of 7 scenes with less than 20000 words, all the dialogues between the characters can be examined as a corpus. It concentrates on the role discourse markers play in the process of turn-allocation, especially in the process of turn management. In other words, it examines how a speaker self-selects or selects next speaker by the use of discourse markers in the management of turn-taking, turn-holding and turn-yielding. Besides, the descriptive method is used to depict the features of discourse markers used by different characters in the turn-taking process.It is found that the pragmatic study of discourse markers in drama would help the audiences to attain a deeper and broader understanding of the interactive aspect of dramatic dialogue. To be specific, the major findings of the present thesis include:(1) The discourse markers identified in the turn-taking process in dramatic dialogue are different in many ways, such as frequency, distribution, and allocation by different characters. Besides, the multifunctionality and grammaticalisation of discourse markers have been reflected to a certain degree. (2) Discourse markers can be regarded as devices in signaling and facilitating the turn-taking process, playing different roles in turn-taking, turn-holding and turn-yielding. Their major functions are attracting attention, breaking silence, giving feedback, developing topic, signaling repair, expressing emotion, gaining time, making transition, affirming or denying, seeking common ground, indicating incompletion, indicating consequence, signaling invitation, signaling manipulation and emphasizing attitude. (3) By analyzing discourse markers used in in the turn management process, the characterizations of Amanda, Laura, Tom and Jim have been discussed respectively. Besides, the power relationships and the mother-child relationships between Amanda and Laura, and Amanda and Tom as well as the theme of the need for genuine communication can be elaborated from an interactive perspective.The findings of this study indicate that turn-taking analysis can be used to explain the functions of discourse markers in dramatic dialogue. Besides, multiple factors should be taken into consideration to meet the needs of real-life communication in the practical use of the theory. In addition, the analysis of the functions of discourse markers used in the turn-taking process could also contribute to studies on discourse markers in the field of pragmatics. Moreover, it provides a relatively new approach to analyze the perceivable interactions between the participants and the intentions of the speaker in dramatic dialogue. Further, it would also serve as reference for the study of The Glass Menagerie and Tennessee Williams. On the whole, it shows that discourse markers are used to account for the action of turn-taking in dramatic dialogue.