A Pragmatic Analysis of Iraqi Proverbs: Mosuli Proverbs as a Case Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25130/Lang.9.2.6Keywords:
illocutionary acts, Mosuli proverbs, pragmatics, speech act theoryAbstract
Proverbs represent a cultural and social record of the community of every nation, and they reveal how they utilize their environment as a source to enrich their language. Also, they can influence the thoughts and actions of the hearers. This research attempts to explore the pragmatic meaning of selected Mosuli proverbs. It also aims to examine how the pragmatic functions of Mosuli proverbs are used to achieve specific purposes like describing, complaining, stating, boasting, advising, warning, loving, excusing, deploring, and blaming. The present study is qualitative and quantitative in nature. It is based on Searle’s (1969) Speech Act Theory. The data is collected spontaneously from everyday stereotype interactions in the Mosuli Arabic speech community. The findings of this study have proved that representatives and directives are the most frequent types of illocutionary speech acts. The main pragmatic functions used are describing, complaining, and advising, which are utilized to express wisdom and reflect its linguistic eloquence feature.
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