Role of Misconceptions and Miscommunications in Theatrical Characters: Analyzing Speech Acts in the Namibian Plays

Abstract

The current study examines the misconceptions and misunderstandings in the speech acts of the characters within three Namibian plays, namely The Oracle of Cidino written by Francis Nyathi, Checkmate by Maria Amakali, and The Bride and Broom penned by David Stone Ndjavera. Furthermore, this research examines the ways, which depict instances where characters’ speech acts lead to misconceptions and misunderstandings in the selected plays. Thereby, delving into these aspects, this study sheds light on the complexities of communication within the selected theatrical works. Moreover, this study examines the impact of miscommunication in discussions, which can culminate differences in understanding of speech acts between the speaker and the listener. The listener, however, is prone to a variety of emotional reactions, which arise from misunderstandings in a conversation - including feelings of joy, humor, embarrassment, regret or self-assumption, and impression of the speaker's utterance. The results of the enquiry evinced that the location-based actions performed by the characters in the three selected plays included declarative, interrogative, and imperative resources that are extracted from three Namibian plays. This is achieved by adopting a discourse analysis research approach, identifying, and explaining speech acts based on five classes of speech acts. Additionally, the current study is established on five functions of speech acts and on the other hand, the declarative statements proliferate the fewest of times since they require specified circumstances to be performed.