The Embodiment of Austin’s Speech Act Theory in Wang Xifeng’s Language

The Tourism College of Changchun University,Changchun,China Email:53874873@qq.com

[Abstract]A Dream of Red Mansions is a Chinese classic with many characters.Among them,Wang Xifeng is a person who is good at language communication.This paper uses Austin’s speech act theory to analyze Wang Xifeng’s speech act and her speech skills from the three aspects of locutionary act,illocutionary act and perlocutionary act,in order to give inspiration to People’s Daily communication.

[Keywords]speech act;A Dream of Red Mansions;locutionary act;illocutionary act;perlocutionary act

Introduction

The basic proposition of speech act theory can be summed up as a sentence:“speaking is acting”.As long as the speaker says something that is meaningful and understandable to the listener,he can say that he has performed an act.This act is called a speech act.According to the speech act theory that people act in words.The effectiveness of speech is not only the semantic problem of the literal syntax,but also the pragmatic problem.Therefore,speech act theory has become one of the important contents of pragmatics.It derives from the assumption that the basic unit of human communication is not sentences or any other means of expression,but the accomplishment of certain actions.For example:statement,request,command,question,apology,congratulation,etc.Speech acts are characterized by the speaker performing one or more of the behaviors listed above by speaking a sentence or a number of sentences.Moreover,the realization of these behaviors may have some consequences for some listeners.

A Dream of Red Mansionsis a Chinese classic with many characters.Wang Xifeng is the most life-like,vivid and full figure ina Dream of Red Mansions.She is also the most life-like person.Her verbal communication skills are unsurpassed among the characters inA Dream of Red Mansions.She had different languages for different people,was proud of being the housekeeper of Jiafu,and was able to deal with all kinds of people with ease and without being overbearing.Her great language skills have always been admired by readers,and her sophisticated interpersonal skills have been admired by many.This paper attempts to use speech act theory to analyze the typical speech of Wang Xifeng when she first met Lin Daiyu.It reveals how Wang Xifeng uses locutionary act,illocutionary act and perlocutionary in the process of interpersonal communication,analyzes how she reads and guesses each other's psychology in such a complicated interpersonal relationship,and adjusts her language strategies in time to achieve her own goals.

Austin’s Speech Act Theory

According to Austin,people perform three actions at once when speaking a single sentence:the locutionary,the illocutionary,the perlocutionary(Austin,1980,p.12).

Speech act is conventional,which is achieved by certain discourse forms and by the steps and forces of the agreement,so the illocutionary act is conventional.The illocutionary act depends on the context and may not be obtained by the utterance itself,so it is uncertain.Since“the locutionary”belongs to the linguistic system,“the illocutionary”itself is not a linguistic action,and the listener's response is not a linguistic process,but a complex psychological process.So linguists used to focus less on“the illocutionary act”and more on“the perlocutionary act”.It is only recently that some scholars have expanded the field of language research by writing valuable articles combining language problems with cognitive psychology.

Austin(1980,p.14)pointed out that for a long time philosophers(or logical positivists)assumed that statements were either used to describe the state of things or to state a fact,and that statements were used to describe only truth or falsehood.Philosophers have traditionally been concerned only with verifiability,how to verify whether a statement is true or false,and what conditions must be met for a true statement to be true.Austin argues for the distinction between sentences that are true or false and those that are appropriate or inappropriate.The former is a statement.(The function of the constable is to assert or state facts,to describe states,to report states of affairs.)The utterance of a statement is verifiable,either true or false.The latter is performate.Sentences are unverifiable; they are neither true nor false.They do not have the function of reporting,describing and expressing,but have the function of implementing certain behaviors.

One of the criteria for distinguishing expressions from expressions is whether a sentence contains performative verbs.According to Austin(1980,p.24),there are as many acts as there are verbs.He divided them into five categories:1.Verdictives ruling class,such as estimated,declare; 2.Expressives expression,such as description,certainly;3.Commissives commitments,such as promise,guarantee; 4.Behabitives,such as thanks,welcome;5.Exerctives:an exercise class,such as command or forbid.Austin's distinction between declarative and actionable sentences is a great contribution to overturning the conventional wisdom that logical-semantic truth conditions are central to language understanding.

Austin(1980,p.16)stressed that although the sentence is not true or false,there are certain conditions that must be met before it can be used to implement the action.These appropriate conditions include the appropriate procedure,person,situation,and state of mind of the person concerned.Now it is summarized as follows:

1)The speaker must be qualified to perform an action.In addition,there must be a

suitable object to perform the act,for example,without a watch,there would be no bequest.

2)A speaker must have good faith,without which he can do nothing.

3)A speaker cannot go back on what he has said.

However,Austin’s efforts to find the linguistic form of the act sentence inspired us from the opposite:the judgment of language function cannot be based solely on the linguistic form,which has become a focus of pragmatics research.

An Analysis of Wang Xifeng’s Classical Speech Act in the First Chapter of A Dream of Red Mansions

There are many classic speeches of Wang Xifeng inA Dream of Red Mansions.Many parts in the book reflect Wang Xifeng’s super language skills.The author selects a case from the first round and analyzes it from the three aspects of the speech act theory:the locutionary act,the illocutionary act,the perlocutionary act.

When Lin Daiyu entered jia Mansion,Wang Xifeng saw her for the first time.“There really is such a beautiful girl in the world”,she said with a smile,“Now I have seen her! Besides,she is not like the ancestor's daughter’s daughter,who was really like her son’s daughter,No wonder the old ancestor never forgets and mention every day.Only pity my sister who has such a miserable life.Why should aunt die?”(Cao&Gao,2001,p.17)

Wang Xifeng’s words are very sophisticated,a short three sentences,not only praised Lin Daiyu,but also pay attention to the three sisters as old as Lin Daiyu,and conveyed jia mother's love for Lin Daiyu.Here,the author uses speech act theory to conduct an analysis of these three sentences deeply.

Firstly analyze the first sentence:“There really is such a beautiful girl in the world,now I have seen her!”(Cao& Gao,2001,p.17)The locutionary act is that I did not believe there was such a beautiful girl in the world before,but today I finally saw her;The illocutionary act is I have never seen such a beautiful girl before,Lin Daiyu is by far the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.As soon as this remark is made,you can imagine its perlocutionary act is very positive for Lin Daiyu.Any girl likes to be praised for her beauty.Wang Xifeng’s expression“There is such a beautiful girl in the world”and the word“unexpectedly”expresses her surprise and sets off Lin Daiyu’s beauty.Lin Daiyu heard such praise of Wang Xifeng,the heart must be happy.Therefore,for Lin Daiyu,the illocutionary act behind this sentence was joy.

But at the same time in addition to the presence of Lin Daiyu,and Sanchun,Wang Xifeng used such words to praise Lin Daiyu,virtually in the disparage Sanchun.To show that Sanchun’s beauty is not as good as Lin Daiyu’s.Although this was true,as a girl of the same age,the heart was somewhat uncomfortable when sister-in-law praised Lin Daiyu for being more beautiful than them.Therefore,for Sanchun,the perlocutionary act after this sentence was negative.

Smart Wang Xifeng just said this,it seems to be aware of its speech to Sanchun produced after the illocutionary act.So her second sentence followed closely,surface praise Lin Daiyu,in fact,is to appease the mood of Sanchun

The second sentence“the temperament,she is not like the ancestor’s daughter's daughter,who was really like her son’s daughter,No wonder the old ancestor never forgets and mention every day”(Cao&Gao,2001,p.17).From the locutionary act,Wang Xifeng is saying that Lin Daiyu style is not like the daughter’s daughter of Jia mother,but as the son’s daughter as three Sanchun,no wonder the old ancestor never forgets and mention every day.The perlocutionary act is Lin Daiyu is not only beautiful,but also very imposing,and grew up in jia fu Sanchun,do not lose the demeanor of noble young lady,jia mother love her like love son’s daughter.

This word in the eyes of three Sanchun,is wang Xifeng in the affirmation of the temperament of Sanchun,although in the appearance of their less than Lin Daiyu,but in style is beyond her,and jia Mother love Lin Daiyu is like the love of a legitimate granddaughter.This was also an announcement that Jia’s mother loved her legitimate granddaughter very much,and that even though Lin Daiyu was a daughter’s daughter,Jia’s mother would love her just as much as her legitimate granddaughter.Wang Xifeng in front of everyone for jia mother show concern and love for Lin Daiyu,but do not let a person feel that jia mother partiality.Therefore followed by the second sentence not only praised Lin Daiyu,but also praised the Sanchun,and spoke the heart of jia mother,won the joy of Jia mother,it can be said that an arrow three.

After praising Lin Daiyu,comforting the Sanchun,welcoming to the arrival of Lin Daiyu,Wang Xifeng realized that Lin Daiyu came to jia fu because of the death of her mother,blindly happy is not good,so the third sentence,shrewd Wang Xifeng immediately change the topic,express the condolences to her aunt and the love of Lin Daiyu.

The third sentence:“only pity my sister so miserable,how aunt slant to die”!(Cao&Gao,2001,p.17)From the point of view of the illocutionary speech,this sentence is very concise,natural transformation,no trace.A“only”word,the topic will be turned to the dead aunt.Wang Xifeng said this to show everyone that I sympathized with Lin Daiyu’s experience and loved her very much.I was very sad when my aunt died.

Wang Xifeng also immediately put into action and wiped her tears with a wipe.“People speak not only to give information,but also to perform certain actions”(Austin,1980,p.25),Austin said.This is exactly what Wang Xifeng said.She laughed when she praised Lin Daiyu,and then she talked of the death of her aunt in a sad voice,even in tears,just like an excellent actress,whose joy and sorrow were at ease in an instant.Her words and dramatic expression infected all the listeners,who followed her first into happiness and then into sorrow,expressing their deep sympathy for Lin Daiyu.

This is one of wang Xifeng’s most classic languages,and her superb language skills are displayed incisively and vividly in this passage.

From the above analysis,we can see that the smart Wang Xifeng has extraordinary verbal skills,she had a quick mind and was very perceptive,and seemed to read minds,Sometimes,even before the other person has finished speaking,she can immediately figure out the intention and say the right words to the other person’s heart.Once she realized that she had said something against her,Wang Xifeng would immediately change her words,change her way of speaking,and even change her original attitude.Taking appropriate measures,she could say both the positive and the negative in an instant without any fault.

Conclusion

The theory of speech act emphasizes three kinds of acts produced by language,namely,locutionary act,illocutionary act and perlocutionary act.Generally speaking,in the process of daily interpersonal communication,in order to better achieve a certain purpose,the communicator,that is,the speaker,should not only organize his or her locutionary act,so that it can express illocutionary act most effectively,but also pay close attention to its perlocutionary act.Once the perlocutionary act is negative and has a bad effect on the speaker,the speaker should adjust the locutionary act quickly and reorganize the language in order to make up for the previous mistakes and strive to achieve the expected purpose.

This requires the speaker to have a keen observation ability,pay close attention to the response of the audience,namely the listener,and guess the listener's mind while speaking,so as to carry out his or her speech act accordingly.When listening to others,we should not only listen carefully to the locutionary act,but also figure out the illocutionary act through the locutionary act,so as to infer the speaker’s purpose and heart,and make appropriate responses accordingly.Only in this way,can grasp the initiative,in the process of communication effectively achieve their goals.It is obvious that Wang Xifeng has done a good job in this respect.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the joint efforts of the members of Jilin University of Finance and Economics; thanks to The Higher Education Teaching Reform Research Project of the Education Department of Jilin Province in 2019.This paper is one of a series of Paper Program —Evaluation Research and Practice of College Teachers'Wisdom Teaching Ability from the Perspective of TPACK.