Chapter Overview

• • communication in drama

• • pragmatic stylistics

• • checklist of pragmatic stylistic categories

• • King Lear by William Shakespeare

• • pragmatic stylistic analysis of an extract from King Lear

Introduction

We will now turn our attention to fictional representation through dialogue. This is the literary form known as drama. A drama is also called a play, and the writer is called a dramatist or playwright. The most well-known playwright in the history of the English language is William Shakespeare. In this chapter, we offer a pragmatic stylistic analysis of an extract from Shakespeare's King Lear ([1605] 2004). Using insights from conversation analysis, we will examine the way power relations between characters in dramatic dialogues are built using language. Before we present the analysis, however, we will sketch the nature of communication in drama, suggest a checklist of pragmatic stylistic categories, and present the extract from the play.

Communication in drama

Like the literary GENRES of poetry and fiction, drama tells a story using plot, characters, setting, point of view, and theme. However, unlike some genres, it is written to be performed. Besides using stage directions, the major difference is that drama is almost exclusively written in dialogue. There is no narrative voice to provide explanation of action, description of setting, and information on characters. This information is inferred as characters communicate. All the information a reader, or analyst, needs is contained in the dramatic dialogues. For this reason, we are choosing PRAGMATIC STYLISTICS, with its emphasis on how character traits and power relations between characters are reflected in interactional strategies and conversational behaviour.

Pragmatic stylistics

Pragmatic stylistics uses insights from pragmatic theories (e.g. TURN MANAGEMENT, THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE, and POLITENESS THEORY) in the description of how power dynamics play out in dramatic dialogues. Let us briefly introduce the main tenets of these theories and their relevance to the aims of this chapter.

One of the approaches to the description and analysis of naturally occurring interaction is conversation analysis. A basic feature of conversation analysis is the organisation of turns, that is, who initiates talks, who speaks more, and so on. This is known as turn management. In conversations, the right to speak is called the floor. Control of the floor is a turn, and exchange of the floor is turn-taking. Interlocutors may share the floor equally (which suggests solidarity), or compete for it (which suggests power struggle).