An M.A. Thesis News
An M.A. thesis at Basrah University Entitled (An Indirect Speech Acts Analytic Study of Some Episodes of The Simpsons Animated Television Series)
By: Tahir Mohammed Tahir
The thesis has been discussed at the Department of English, College of Education for Human Sciences, University of Basra.
Topic & Abstract: The thesis investigates indirect speech acts in The Simpsons TV animated series. The conversations made by the characters are analyzed according to Searle’s speech act theory. This is followed by an interpretation of the indirect speech acts experienced by the utterances. The study also investigates how the Gricean maxims are violated in all of the utterances of indirect speech acts by the characters, and how this type of utterances is used to make the speech more polite.
Thesis Outline: In the first chapter, the preliminaries of the study are introduced. Chapter two presents a theoretical background about the theory that is conducted in this study, while chapter three provides a literature review of the previous studies. The data that are analysed are previewed in chapter four. Chapter five contains the analysis of each of the episodes followed by a discussion of the results, while chapter six reveals the conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions for future studies.
Conclusions: The thesis has come up with certain conclusions. One of them is that speech act theory is applicable to animated TV shows. It also concluded that Indirect speech acts are found and recognized in the conversations that are spoken by the characters of this type of shows, and that Analyzing this type of speech acts results in a deeper understanding of these shows. The thesis also concludes that there are hidden political, social, and other messages in The Simpsons.
