Local grammars of speech acts: An exploratory study

Abstract

This study explores the possibility and the feasibility of developing a set of local grammars to account adequately for speech acts, exemplifying the exploration with a local grammar of request. It mainly aims to further speech act studies and to ultimately contribute to the on-going development of corpus pragmatics. Using a corpus compiled of transcripts of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, instances containing conventionalised forms of request are first extracted and then manually examined to make sure that all the remaining instances express requests and thus qualify for further analysis. Functional elements (e.g. Requester, Requestee, Requested action) designed specifically for a local grammar analysis of request are proposed. The subsequent analyses lead to the identification of 10 local grammar patterns of requests. The study shows that it is promising, though at the same time challenging, to develop local grammars of speech acts. The opportunities and challenges of using a local grammar approach to account for speech acts are further discussed. Implications and applications are also briefly discussed.