Discourse Analysis
1 like215 views
This document analyzes the poem "Digging" by Seamus Heaney through contextual analysis and speech act theory. It first examines the linguistic, situational, and cultural context of the poem. It then discusses the locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary meanings of the speech acts in the poem. Finally, it classifies the speech acts in the poem according to Searle's framework, finding that most lines are representative speech acts describing memories and situations. The analysis provides new insight into how the poem conveys the speaker absorbing his ancestors' qualities to create his own work through poetry.
Discourse Analysis
- 1. A h m e d | 1 24 March 2019 Analyzing Context and Investigating Speech Acts of the Following Discourse Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father, digging. I look down Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills Where he was digging. The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft Against the inside knee was levered firmly. He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep To scatter new potatoes that we picked, Loving their cool hardness in our hands. By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man.
- 2. A h m e d | 2 It is a scientific discourse which is poetic in nature. It is divided into five stanzas including rhyme, rhythm and other stylistic features. This discourse will be discussed under some criteria like contextual analysis in the first part. In the second part, the speech act and then, in the third part, Searle’s classification of speech act will be discussed. First Part Contextual Analysis: Under contextual analysis, there are three basic sub-sections to be discussed. These are: a) Linguistic Context b) Situational Context c) Cultural Context a) Linguistic Context: Linguistic context also has another three sub-sections. These are Deictic, Co-text, and Collocation. i) Deictic: There are some pronouns that replace time, place and person those are called deictic expression. Reference of person: my, I, his, he, that, we, their, our. Reference of place: where. Reference of time: when.
- 3. A h m e d | 3 ii) Co-text: Simply the references of the past writings or text within a text is called co- text. In this discourse, there is no reference to the existing literature or allusion. So there is no co- text is this discourse. iii) Collocation: Discourse maker uses some dictions which refer us some sort of senses that is called collocation. In this discourse, the words like ‘rests’, ‘rasping’, ‘digging’, ‘buried’, ‘cool’, ‘hardness’, ‘old man’. There are some phrases which also give the senses like ‘sung as a gun’, ‘the spade sinks’, ‘I look down’, ‘bends low’, ‘twenty years away’, ‘handle a spade’. b) Situational Context: Simply it is the context of the situation. It refers to the relationship between discourse producer and discourse receptor. We can get the concept of situational context by Field, Tenor, and Mode. i) Field: simply it refers to the physical environment. The field is time, place, and action. The action of this discourse mostly happens in a rural setting. The discourse is made about a poet who wants to write in a very calm situation. This is also about a farmer who has been working in a potato field. The time of this discourse is obviously working time that is the day time. The discourse maker blends his past memory with his present day. ii) Tenor: The discourse maker is the son who is trying to write. The phrase ‘my father’ indicates the identity of the discourse maker. We can assume, a son is recollecting the memory of his father and forefathers. The discourse is about the father-son relationship in terms of profession. iii) Mode: nostalgic, clam, optimistic. c) Cultural Context: Cultural context simply refers to the custom and costume, place and position of the discourse. In this discourse, there is no specific addressing from which we can
- 4. A h m e d | 4 assume its culture. The word ‘gun’ can be suggestive here. The proverb ‘Pen is mightier than Sword’ is a modern invention. As it is the underlying meaning of the first stanza, it can be said, it is a modern setting. We can realize, as well, it is a Christian culture by the word ‘By God’. There is an indication of the development of civilization. The discourse maker takes a different profession from his forefathers. He is not going with the profession of farming. So there is an indication of change. It does not indicate any particular culture. Such a change can take place anywhere over the world. Second Part Speech Act: Speech act means all the acts performed through speaking. Any utterance has two meanings; literal and secondary meaning. Speech act usually comprises these two meanings which are termed as; locutionary meaning and illocutionary meaning. Locutionary Meaning: Simply the discourse maker recollecting the memories of his ancestors. He is in a clam situation. He is meditating to write something. In the meantime, he is recollecting the memories. When he was young, he used to see how his father worked with a spade. When his father was digging, it had created rhythm. There was music in his drilling. The discourse maker describes how his father used to work for growing potatoes and what he himself used to do then. In the last sentence of this discourse, he tries to associate his grandfathers’ memories as well. Illocutionary meaning: The discourse maker uses ‘digging’ metaphorically. The work ‘digging’ itself demands hard work, patience, perseverance, concentration, devotion, commitment whereas the work of writing’ itself also needs all those qualities. The digger has the same qualities as a poet has to have. His ancestors’ grown potatoes were their creation. Now he
- 5. A h m e d | 5 will produce his own creation which is poetry. He as a poet digs with his pen. Another connotation of this discourse is that ‘pen is mightier than the sword’. He will bring changes in world order through his writings. Speech Act theory was proposed by John L. Austin. Austin has added a new kind along with these two kinds termed it as ‘Perlocutionary Act’. Perlocutionary Act: It is the effect of the utterances on the hearer, depending on specific circumstances. So as a hearer or a reader, after reading this discourse, I think, the discourse maker is a person who changes with the changing of the world but maintaining the qualities of his forefathers. He does not forget his root in which he belongs. Perhaps, when his forefathers lived, there was a favourable climate for growing potatoes. Now the climate is changed along with human civilization. With the development of human civilization, the use of guns and other dangerous instruments have also been increased. He does not support such wars and killing of humans. So, he wants to write to change the world. He wants to sing the song of humanity through his writings. Third Part In the third part, Searle’s classification of speech act will be discussed. John R. Searle has established a five-part classification of a speech act; Directive, Commissive, Representative, Declarative, and Expressive. This discourse as a whole is a representative speech act because, in this discourse, the discourse maker represents by describing his present situation and past memories. For Searle’s classification of speech act, I have put line numbers which will help me to elaborate speech act clearly.
- 6. A h m e d | 6 1. Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; 2. snug as a gun. 3. Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father, digging. 4. I look down 5. Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away 6. Stooping in rhythm through potato drills Where he was digging. 7. The coarse boot nestled on the lug, 8. the shaft Against the inside knee was levered firmly. 9. He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep To scatter new potatoes 10. that we picked, Loving their cool hardness in our hands. 11. By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man. In line no. 1, the discourse maker describes his static situation. Maybe, he is meditating for writing or recollecting memories of the past. So this line is a representative speech act.
- 7. A h m e d | 7 In line no 2, the discourse maker is comparing pen, his weapon, with a gun. His pen is mightier than the sword. This line is the claim about this comparison. So it is a representative speech act. Line no. 3 is also a representative speech act because the discourse maker is describing the past incidents. When his father worked in the potato field, he did not use to talk. A calm environment was created. In line no. 4, the discourse maker is learning the strategies of growing potatoes from his father. He is learning the qualities of his father to create something in future by applying those qualities. So in this sense, this utterance can be called a commissive speech act. Line no. 5, the discourse maker looks twenty years back when his father used to make flowerbeds. This is a description of the past incident. So this one is a representative speech act. The speaker is describing the rhythm in his father’s digging. He is remembering the musical tone in his father’s work in line no. 6. So it is a representative speech act. In line no. 7, 8, 9, the discourse maker is describing the procedures that his father was doing in growing potatoes in the field. So these lines are representative speech acts. He used to pick potatoes from the soil and feel the ‘cool hardness’ of these potatoes. Since it describes his childhood memories in line no 10, it is a representative speech act. His father was as skilled as his grandfather. His father did as his grandfather had done. So it describes the legacy his ancestors used to follow. Line no. 11 is also a representative speech act in this sense. After this discussion, we are getting a new dimension of understanding. In the first reading, this discourse is nothing but a recollection of memories of a discourse maker who is
- 8. A h m e d | 8 describing the process of his ancestors’ production of potatoes. Now we can understand that he absorbs the qualities of his forefather to produce his own creation. He is participating in the procession of changing the world through his poetry. By preserving the legacy of his ancestor, he is justifying his own territory or arena of roaming. So in fine, through analyzing the discourse, we are into a better understanding of this particular discourse. As the aim of discourse analysis is to retrieve actual meaning, this analysis is a success, I think, to reach that aim.
- 9. A h m e d | 9 Works Cited Brown, Gillian, and George Yule. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge UP, 1983. Cutting, Joan. Pragmatics and Discourse: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge, 2002. Heaney, Seamus. “Digging.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by M. H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt, ed. 7th , vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, pp. 2819-2820. Nuruzzaman, Md., and Inamul Haque Sabuj. “Investigating Speech Acts and Understanding Pragmatics: A Case Study in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.” Southeast University Journal of English Department, vol. 1, no. 1, Dec. 2016, pp.114-124.