A Pragmatic Analysis of Mitigation in the New Testament and Prophetic Traditions

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate mitigation in biblical verses and prophetic traditions from a pragmatic perspective. This study tries to answer the following question: what are the most common pragmatic theories by which this phenomenon is conveyed by the speaker and understood by the listener. Accordingly, it tries to achieve the following aims: 1) specifying the most prominent categories of speech acts employed in such texts; 2) delineating the politeness strategies exploited in this discourse; 3) identifying the deictic expressions and pragmatic – conversational strategies utilized in both texts, It is hypothesized that 1) biblical verses and prophetic traditions show variations in the use of directive speech acts; 2) both positive and negative politeness strategies are employed in religious discourse ;3) non-specific reference and second person plural as deictic expressions are supposed to be used widely in this discourse;4) hinting strategy is employed highly in religious discourse because it indicates indirectness. An eclectic model is developed which utilizes Searle's (1969) model of speech acts and Brown & Levinson's (1987) model of politeness. The data of analysis are limited to three biblical texts taken from the New Testament and three prophetic traditions. Findings of the analysis reveal that the first and second hypotheses are fully validated whereas the third and fourth ones are partially invalidated in that non-specific reference pronouns such as 'one' is not used in biblical texts and the hinting strategy is not the most prominent strategy in biblical texts.