By: Shisir Parajuli
Every word has a meaning. This
meaning is correlated with words. Word’s meaning has been different through out
different context. Meaning of words differs from person to person, culture to
culture, society to society and country to country. Word’s meanings have
different types, it can function somewhere as irony, somewhere as literal
meaning, somewhere as emotive meaning. Meaning of words can be subjective
because determination of the meaning can be fixed only by the critical role of
readers. Meaning of one words will be common for one but that meaning can be
uncommon for others because it is the effect of alternatives view of language
system which is the series that deals with discontinuous games, or games of
language; fixing of the meaning of the text is not absolutely specific but
contextually determined by the readers of the text. And as a reader of the
theories of Austin and Richards; I am dealing with each of the theories with
three stories.
Austin
theory of speech act rejects the old logical positivist view of language as
description of a state of affairs in the world. Austin theory of speech act is closely
related with irony because performance of an act in saying something. He
further defines different types of speech act, including constative and performative.
As Austin
defines speech act in one hand and Richards defines his emotive theory through
literal and emotive meaning. Where literal meaning closely related with
referential meaning which is related with an idea of an object and emotive
meaning related with context or emotions.
Austin’s theory of the speech act and
Richards’s theory of emotive language resembles with each others. Speech act
distinguishes between constative and performative, the former begin an
‘assertion’ or ‘description’ the latter being an ‘utterance which allows us to
do something by means of speech itself.’ A performative is a way of doing
things with words, as in the example of promise, baptising or christening, the
naming of ships, or the priest saying ‘I now pronounce you man and wife,’
whereby the words enforce a social reality within a given and common understood
cultural context. The act of public exhibition that results in a transactions
between performer and audience; an utterance that, via its public display,
causes a linguistic interaction with the exhibition’s object.
I.A. Richards’s emotive theories distinguish
between emotive and referential meaning. Emotive meaning functions as a dynamic
rather than description. Referential meaning on the other hand relates with
descriptive. Emotive meaning ‘express’ rather than ‘inform.’ Marguerite H.
Foster in his ‘Poetry and Emotive
meaning’ also defines same as I.A. Richards in his ‘The meaning of meaning’ defines ‘emotive terms’ as the
use of words to express or excite feelings and attitude, and ‘the symbolic use
of words is statement; the recording, the support, the organization and the
communication of references’ (657).
Austin’s
speech act and Richards’s emotive theories seem similar in the perception of
meaning as; constative meaning relates with referential meaning or direct
meaning and performative meaning relates with emotive meaning or contextual
meaning. These two theories related with irony
because irony means something that meaning is different from our perception
it means that the meaning of irony closely related with the Austin’s speech act where irony can perform
as constative and performative as well. Then the meaning of one words differ
from context to context and reader to reader that meaning also deals with emotive
theories of Richards’s which is also related with the meaning of words with
literal and emotive meaning.
David J. Amante in his ‘The Theory of Ironic Speech’ defines " Ironic speech acts
have three participants: an ironist
(or eiron, henceforth both terms will
be used), one or more observers of
irony, and a target for irony" (77). Irony is the matter of perception and it
must, to become manifest, be seen by an observer or it does not exist. Observer
means the audience who participants of the related text. Who observes the text
care fully and justified the text through dealing with different context as
historically, socially and in the terms of religious aspect.
Firstly, Sadat Hasan Manto’s story ‘Open it’ has also these three
participants of ironic speech act where an ironist is the writer or author of
the story, observers are audiences of the text and targets of the text are the
suffering women representing Sakina. Secondly, Richards mayne’s story F**D has
also three aspect of participants where ironist is the author, observers are
audiences and targets are that the setting of the story and husband and wife
who are struggling for preparing chicken.
Ted Cohen in his ‘Figurative Speech and Figurative Acts’ argues that "Austin’s speech act
consist of three kinds of acts- three way of doing things with words" (669).
He generated the abbreviated formula- which he qualifies extensively-
Acts of saying something: locutions
(L)
Acts done in saying something:
illocutions (I)
Acts done by saying something:
perlocutions (P)
We
can apply the Manto’s story to this formula as in this way:
(L): Soldier said to her Open it.
(I): Soldier urged her Open it.
(P): Soldier persuaded her to Open
it.
Austin thinks that
illocutions are related to locutions by conventions (whatever exactly that may
mean) and that perlocutions are not connected in this way. The commission of a
locution leads to the occurrence of an illocution, but it does so automatically
by means of the rules of language. Austin
thought that sentences were either performative or constative that a clean
distinction could be made between them. Austin
language of illocutionary and perlocutionary effects allows us to analyze every
text’s orientation towards affecting an audience rather than committing ourselves
to the debilitating either/ or taxonomy of persuasive versus referential
discourse that is the product of the related text.
Irony is one of the influential
device which is used in the literary works for different perceptive. Mainly
irony is used in literary works to makes meaning of one text different from one
another. Using of irony makes the text more interesting. As Manto and Mayne
also use irony in their text to make that text strong in both emotionally and
intellectually. On the basis of that idea; Jack C. Gray in his ‘Irony: A Practical Definition’ defines "Irony
is widely employed literary device. There are almost as many different kinds of
irony as there are instances of it, and it can produce emotional and
intellectual effects in endless variety" (220). Irony makes the readers
quite aware about the hidden meaning of the text. If the reader observes the
text carefully then their emotional and intellectual effects affect the text.
Gray further says "Irony can be
a figure of speech, an effect, an attention, an outcome, a pretended ignorance,
and merely a vague sort of quality" (220). Irony makes the text more
exasperating and perplexing. Short glance of looking toward the text is not
sufficient to understand the irony of the text. The figure of speech as
metaphor and simile makes the irony more stronger. As in the Mayne’s story F**D
we can’t understand the text for the first time. Using of sensual images like
‘full curves of her breast and leg, lips parted, her head thrown back’ etc in
the story makes our perception different than the actual meaning of the story.
Irony means showing one thing but
telling another thing. The text which have irony makes the meaning of one thing
different in literally and actually or textually so as Brooks and Warren in
their book ‘Modern Rhetoric’ give an
amended and enlarged discussion of irony as "Irony always involves a
discrepancy between the literal meaning of a statement and its actual meaning"
(363). Manto’s story Open it has also irony. If we go through the story we can
find the meaning of Open it different literal level and actual level. The text
shows irony toward the action of volunteer, father happiness and doctor sweat.
In the last moment of story the victim girl Sakina is in her death bed where
she is motionless. The doctor checks her pulse and said ‘The window, open it!’
At the sound of the words, Sakina’s death body moves and undid her salwar and
lowered it. Her father is happy but doctor drenched with sweat from head to
toe. The utterance ‘Open it’ makes the irony here where Sakina is habituated
with gang rape by volunteer and understand the order same as she used to do it
before coming to hospital.
From the middle 19th
century the pornography has been widely used in the text. Actually the very
term pornography refers the explicit depiction of sexual subject matter; a
display of material of an erotic nature. Pornography uses sensual images and
erotic feelings by using female characters. Jennifer Saul in her book
‘Pornography, Speech Acts and Context’ argues with Catharine Mackinnon idea as
"The pornography is the subordination of women" (230). Speech act
works of pornography are little attention has been devoted to the more general
idea that works of pornography can be understood.
Mackinnon claims that pornography
silences women. Langton defends this claim as well, arguing that works of
pornography can be understood as illocutionary acts of silencing women. Both Manto’s and Mayne’s stories have
pornographic sense. In the both story women are silencing. In the manto’s Open
it; main character Sakina is being victim and being silence and Mayne’s story
F**D the women who works in the kitchen presenting as a pornographic sense. Viewers
of these two stories surface mean the pornographic sense that dealing with
women. Pornography also deals with Austin’s speech act and Richards’s emotive
theories because the meaning of pornography in the text seems related with
speech act as in the story Open it where the doctor’s utterance makes the
different sense toward Sakina that resembles with both irony and pornography
and in the story F**D the readers find out different meaning as different from
actual meaning and emotive meaning. The text is actually deals with preparing
the meal in the kitchen but we found different meaning than the textual
meaning.
In conclusion, Austin’s speech act and Richards’s emotive
theories concerns with the different meaning of one text. Pornography also
talks with Austin’s
speech act and Richards’s emotive theories because the meaning of pornography
in the text seems related with speech act and emotive theories in terms of
meaning. Irony always involves a discrepancy between the literal meaning of a
statement and its actual meaning or textual meaning. Irony develops with the
development of figure of speech, an effect, an attention, an outcome, a
pretended ignorance, and merely a vague sort of quality. Literary device needs
the irony. There are almost as many different kinds of irony as there are
instances of it, and it can produce emotional and intellectual effects in
endless variety. Austin’s
speech act and Richards’s emotive theories effects allows us to analyze every
text’s orientation towards affecting an reader rather than committing ourselves
to the debilitating either/ or taxonomy of persuasive versus referential
discourse that is the product of the related text. Both theories perform with
the meaning of text that meaning of words can be subjective because
determination of the meaning can be fixed only by the critical role of readers.
Word’s meanings have different types, it can function somewhere as irony,
somewhere as literal meaning, somewhere as emotive meaning and that all types
of meaning deals with both speech acts and emotive theories.
Works Cited
Amante, David J. "The Theory of Ironic Speech Acts." Poetics Today 2.2
(Winter, 1981). 77-96
Cohen, Ted. "Figurative Speech and Figurative Acts." The Journal of Philosophy
72.19 (Nov.6, 1975).
669-684
Foster, Marguerite H. "Poetry and Emotive Meaning." The Journal of Philosophy
47. 3 (Nov.9, 1950).
657-660
Saul, Jennifer. "Pornography, Speech Acts and Context." Proceedings of the
Aristotelian Society 106 (2006). 229-248
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