How to Analyse Dramatic Dialogue

8/10/2019 How to Analyse Dramatic Dialogue

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How to Analyse Dramatic Dialogue

Heres what to look out for if you need to analyse dramatic dialogue.

I Text Comprehension

Introductory sentence: genre, title, playwright, (year if given)

Dialogue situation:place, time, atmosphere

Contextualization of the excerpt:position in the context of the whole play,

importance of the excerpt for the drama

IIa Analysis of Contents

Characters/Figures: Motifs, personal situation, ehaviour, properties li!e outward

appearance, ideology a character adheres to

Character constellation: relationships etween characters, often est presented in

a diagram

Su!ect of the dialogue:Contents, positions, arguments

Course of the dialogue:"ositions at eginning and end, development of possileconflict, turning point(s)

Sort of dialogue:#iscussion, $uestioning, $uarrel, decision ta!ing, chat%

"eha#iour in the dialogue: rough percentages of text each figure has, changes of

spea!er, initiative in dialogue

$oles in dialogue:trying to achieve ordisplayingsymmetrical (e$ual), complementary(cooperating),superior, inferiorro

les

Illocutionary or perlocutionary acts:Assertive, directive, commissive,

expressive or declarative acts (see &peech Act Theory text elow)

Dialogue disturances:Misunderstandings, deceptions, contradictions,

interruptions


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%rientation:dialogue directed to the audience or to figures on stage

II 'anguage Analysis

Formal structure: utline, distriution of solilo$uy and dialogue, stage directions

$egister:formal or informal, technical%

Style:contemporary to play, modern, typical for certain groups of the population,dialect, accent

$hetorical de#ices

Important ints

$ememer

* only to use any of these when you can explain their functions+ Always as!

for the reason why the playwright uses the categoriesdevices% you havedescried- Answers often come from considering &peech Act Theory categories,

descriing roles in the dialogue or, in II, from the typical effects of rhetoricaldevices-

* to give your essay an argumentative structure+ .ou want to present yourpoint convincingly-

Speech Act &heory

/hen we spea!, our words do not have meaning in and of themselves- They arevery much affected y thesituation, thespeakerand the listener- Thus words alone

do not have a simple fixed meaning-

0asically, there are three speech acts+

'ocutionary acts+ how you say something (the locution), phonetically,

semantically etc- This may not constitute a speech act-


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Two types of locutionary act are utterance acts, where something is said (or asound is made) and which may not have any meaning, andpropositional acts,

where a particular reference is made- (Acts are sometimes also called utterances thus a perlocutionary act is the same as a perlocutionary utterance)-

Illocutionary acts+ The intended significance1 what you say- The illocutionary

forceis the spea!er2s intent, the true 3speech act2, e-g- informing, ordering,

warning-(erformati#ityoccurs when the utterance of a word also enacts it (3Iname this ship%2)-

(erlocutionary acts+ The effect on the feelings, thoughts or actions of either thespea!er or the listener, of what you say- In other words, they see! to change minds-

4nli!e locutionary acts, perlocutionary acts are external to the performance, e-g-,inspiring, persuading or deterring-

Indirect speech acts+ 4sing implications, 5hidden meaning5+ 5/ould you li!e to

meet me for lunch65 Indirect speech act response+ 5I7m usy-5

&earle (89:9) identified five illocutionaryperlocutionary points or categories+

Asserti#es+ statements may e ;udged true or false ecause they aim to descrie astate of affairs in the world, committing the spea!er to the truth of what he says-

Directi#es+ statements attempt to ma!e the other personsactions fit thepropositional content, to ma!e the listener ta!e a certain action-

Commissi#es+ statements which commit the speakerto a course of action in thefuture as descried y the propositional content (promises%)

)xpressi#es+ statements that express the 5sincerity condition of the speech act


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The black catis a propositional act (something is referenced, ut nocommunication may e intended)-

The black cat is uglyis an assertive illocutionary act (it intends to communicate)-

Please find the ugly black catis a directive perlocutionary act (it see!s to change

ehaviour)-

The speech act theory was originated yAustin(89:>) and developed further

y earle(89:9)-

Adapted from http+changingminds-orgexplanationstheoriesspeech?act-htm

'ying in Speech Act &heory

ne needs to loo! at it from the listener7s point of view+

There7s the person who proposes marriage for fraudulent reasons+ 5I love you somuch-5 The listener thin!s this is a hyrid etween an expressive (expressiong

emotions, sincerity condition) and an assertive (informing, committing spea!er to

the truth of what he says) act, elieving to e informed of a fact and that thespea!er is sincere- &he will not assume that it is, in fact, an indirect directive actaimed at opening her purse-

This intentional, parasitic misrepresentation of the spea!er7s speech acts creates anasymmetrical situation intended to gain an unfair advantage over the listener-

Aout these adshnliche Beitrge

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This entry was written ypaaraEEi, posted on FG- April >G8F at 9+8H vormittags,filed under =ssay /riting "amphlets- 0oo!mar! thepermalin!- ollow any

comments here with the && feed for this post-"ost a commentor leave atrac!ac!+ Trac!ac! 4'-

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How to Analyse Dramatic Dialogue