Abstract:Speech act theory is an extremely important theory in pragmatic research. It was put forward by British philosopher Austin in the 1950s. Speech act is divided into three levels, including locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. These three terms are used to indicate the three languages that people may simultaneously implement when speaking. Locutionary act is the act of saying something; illocutionary act is the act in saying something and perlocutionary act is the act of by saying something, which is the change brought by the words. In this paper, the author will analyze the meaning of dialogue between people of different identities and strata in Downton Abbey through speech acts, and revealing the underlying deep meanings of the discourse and deeply analyzing the connection between the characters and the social context at that time. This article is taken from the corpus of British drama "Downton Abbey." In Austin's speech act theory, the author will choose a typical dialogue in the first season of Downton Abbey to analyze the true intentions of the speaker in different contexts.

Key words: England, speech act theory, Downton Abbe

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Introduction-1

I.-Research Trends and Development Trends of Speech Acts at Home and Abroad-3

A.-Domestic Research Trends in Speech Acts-3

B.-Foreign Research Trends in Speech Acts-4

C.-The Development Trends of Speech Act-4

II.-Downton Abbey and Speech Act Theory-6

A.-The Background of Downton Abbey-6

B.-The Personality of Major Characters in Downton Abbey-6

C.-The relationship between Downton Abbey and Speech Act Theory-7

III.-An Analysis on Dialogue in Downton Abbey-10

A.-The Meaning of the Characters' Dialogue in Film and Television Works-10

B.-An Analysis on Dialogues in Downton Abbey from the Perspective of the Speech Act--10

C. -Inspiration from the Study of Speech Acts in Downton Abbey-12

Conclusion-14

Bibliography-15

Acknowledgements-16