Open Access
American Research Journal of English and Literature
ISSN (Online): 2378-9026
DOI: 10.46568/arjel
A Socio-pragmatic Analysis of Selected Covid-19-related Utterances
Abstract
This study is a socio-pragmatic analysis of selected utterances of interlocutors whose discourse subject is “Covid-19”. In using language, it is not enough to
be grammatical; language use should be underpinned by contextual nuances because this is a good way of using language as actions that produce results
or effects. Therefore, the analysis of the selected linguistic structures in this study is an investigation of linguistic competence demonstrated through lexical
choices and speech act sequencing. The approach explored in the study is discursive and integrative; for example, instead of strictly listing the speech acts
performed in each utterance, they are mentioned in terms of how they impinge on the on-going interaction. The study underscores who says “what?”, “how?”
and “why?”. Although this study is mainly hinged on the Pragma-crafting Theory, Bach and Harnish’s [1] speech act taxonomy is explored in the classification of
the speech acts performed in the utterances. On the whole, the study concludes that the socio-pragmatic use of language is underpinned by the psychological
and situational context(s), and produces expected results due to speaker-hearer shared knowledge.
