A pragmatic analysis of significance of speech acts in Margaret Ogola‟s the river and the source and I swear by Page 8 of 12 Apollo

Abstract/Overview

This paper aims to evaluate the uses and significance of speech acts in Maragret Ogola’s two novels; The River and the Source (1994) and I swear by Apollo (2002). The researcher uses Austin (1962) and Searle 1969 Speech Act Theory. The findings shows that every utterance produced by a character in the novels could be categorized under one of the five major categories of speech acts proposed by Searle (1969). The study reveals that each major speech act contains a wide range of sub acts which are distinguished based on their felicity conditions. In addition, each illocutionary force or sub act of speech act has a specific use and significance in a speech situation. Thus, the writer uses the different speech acts to communicate the meaning intentions. The study therefore proposes that speech act analysis be adopted as an effective tool in the analysis of the characters’ verbal interactions in novels