Indirect speech acts as social strategies: Butler Stevens and “the facts of life”

Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics

关键词: ISAs;    social status;    expertise;    politeness;    Ishiguro;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The present paper provides an analysis of ISAs in two excerpts from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel ‘The Remains of the Day’ with a view to unveiling the way the character Stevens resorts to indirectness in order to maintain harmonious collaborative interactions with his interlocutors. Parameters governing indirectness such as power, higher status and expertise will be taken into account while discussing the relationship between indirectness and politeness. Apart from emphasising the reasons why Stevens prevalently uses indirectness when engaging in conversations with his superiors, the analysis equally intends to reveal how Stevens engages in self-effacement in order to prove those qualities that he regards as crucial in a butler: loyalty, dignity and restraint.

【 授权许可】

Unknown