A Pragmatic Study of Speech Acts and the Representation of Power and Ideology in Persian Literary Discourse

Abstract

Language in literary texts is not merely a means of narrating events; rather, through language, characters issue commands, undertake commitments, make judgments, and reproduce or challenge power relations. The present study aimed to conduct a pragmatic analysis of speech acts and to elucidate their relationship with the representation of power and ideology in two novels, Savushun by Simin Daneshvar and The Year of Turmoil (Sal-e Balva) by Abbas Maroufi. The theoretical framework of the study draws on the fivefold classifications of speech acts proposed by John Searle and John Austin. The research employed a descriptive-analytical method and adopted a mixed quantitative–qualitative approach. The texts of the two novels constituted the study corpus, and selected dialogic data were coded according to different categories of speech acts. For the quantitative analysis, frequency, percentage, and the chi-square test were employed, while representative examples were also analyzed with reference to the narrative context and the relationships among the characters. The findings indicate a statistically significant difference between the patterns of speech acts in the two novels. In Savushun, directive and authoritative speech acts are more prominent, whereas in The Year of Turmoil, assertive, explanatory, and commissive speech acts occur more frequently. This difference suggests that power in Savushun is predominantly articulated through commands, obligations, and social hierarchies, whereas in The Year of Turmoil, it operates through the construction of reality, the consolidation of particular narratives, and the imposition of specific interpretations of events. In both works, speech acts constitute an integral component of the discursive mechanisms through which authority is represented and social orientations are communicated.