Conversational Perspectives in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart’’
Department of English Language, Cross River State College of Education, Akamkpa- Nigeria.
Review Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2024, 22(03), 1362–1369
Publication history:
Received on 13 May 2024; revised on 22 June 2024; accepted on 24 June 2024
Abstract:
The paper titled Conversational Perspectives in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” was undertaken to determine the conversational style deployed in a dialogue between Mr. Brown, a representative of the colonial masters, and Akunna, one of the elders in Umuofia. J. L. Austine and J. Searle Speech Act Theory, and H. P. Grice Conversational Implicature Theory were used to analyze the text. It was found out that two major illocutionary speech functions of Representative and Directive were prominent in the conversation. The conversation also revealed some perlocutionary acts. With Grice’s Implicature Theory, the conversation yielded a maxim of quality. It was found that with perlocutionary act, layers of hidden meanings were revealed, leading to a wider level of understanding of the text.
Keywords:
Illocutionary; Perlocutionary act; Conversation; Representative; Directive.
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