《名利场》的言语反讽现象研究-学科教学(英语)专业论文.docxVIP

华 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 I I Abstract Speech act theory is one of the most important theories in pragmatics and it has been comprehensively applied in literary pragmatic sphere. The present thesis applies speech act theory in analyzing Vanity Fair’s ironic language. According to Searle, speech acts can be divided into five aspects: assertive speech act, directive speech act, commissive speech act, representative speech acts and expressive speech act. Based on Searle’s speech act theory, the present study aims at the verbal irony in Vanity Fair. Since representative speech act can not bring about ironic effect, by analyzing 162 relevant verbal ironies covering 67 chapters in the novel from the four aspects, namely assertive speech act, directive speech act, commissive speech act and expressive speech act, the author discovers their respective frequency adopted and the perlocutionary effects of verbal irony achieved in Vanity Fair. According the data collected and analyzed, the author makes the following conclusions: (1) the assertive verbal irony accounts for the largest proportion of the four kinds of verbal irony followed by the expressive verbal irony, directive verbal irony and commissive verbal irony. (2) Verbal irony has two effects: psychological effect and functional effect. The psychological effect includes suspicion reflections, anger reflections, mockery reflections; while the functional effect entails politeness effect, humor effect and rethinking effect. Both the psychological and functional effect are the embodiment of successful implementation of verbal irony. The present research can not only help better the understanding of the ironic language in the novel Vanity Fair, but also reveal the real intentions of the author, deepening the readers’ understandings of the novel and achieving the mutual communication between readers and the author. Key Words: Speech Act theory; Verbal Irony; Perlocutionary Effect 独创性声明 本人声明所呈交的学位论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研 究成果。