I argue that one cannot hold a Meinongian ontology of fictional characters and have a causal theory of reference for fictional names. The main argument presented refutes Edward Zalta's claim that storytelling should be considered an extended baptism for fictional characters. This amounts to the claim that storytelling fixes the reference of fictional names in the same way that baptism fixes the reference of ordinary names, and this is just a claim about the illocutionary force of these two types of utterance. To evaluate this argument, therefore, we need both a common understanding of the Meinongian ontology and a common taxonomy of speech acts. I briefly sketch the Meinongian ontology as it is laid out by Zalta in order to meet the former condition. Then I present an interpretation of the taxonomy of illocutionary acts given by John Searle in the late 1970s and mid 1980s, within which we can evaluate Zalta's claims. With an ontology of fictional characters and a taxonomy of speech acts in place, I go on to examine the ways in which the Meinongian might argue that storytelling is an extended baptism. None of these arguments are tenable-there is no way for the act of storytelling to serve as an extended baptism. Therefore, the act of storytelling does not constitute a baptism of fictional characters; that is, storytelling fails to ground a causal chain of reference to fictional characters.

I argue that one cannot hold a Meinongian ontology of fictional characters and have a causal theory of reference for fictional names. The main argument presented refutes Edward Zalta's claim that storytelling should be considered an extended baptism for fictional characters. This amounts to the claim that storytelling fixes the reference of fictional names in the same way that baptism fixes the reference of ordinary names, and this is just a claim about the illocutionary force of these two types of utterance. To evaluate this argument, therefore, we need both a common understanding of the Meinongian ontology and a common taxonomy of speech acts. I briefly sketch the Meinongian ontology as it is laid out by Zalta in order to meet the former condition. Then I present an interpretation of the taxonomy of illocutionary acts given by John Searle in the late 1970s and mid 1980s, within which we can evaluate Zalta's claims. With an ontology of fictional characters and a taxonomy of speech acts in place, I go on to examine the ways in which the Meinongian might argue that storytelling is an extended baptism. None of these arguments are tenable-there is no way for the act of storytelling to serve as an extended baptism. Therefore, the act of storytelling does not constitute a baptism of fictional characters; that is, storytelling fails to ground a causal chain of reference to fictional characters.

The drama of Senkatana by S.M. Mofokeng is analysed by applying principles provided by speech act theory, using as basis the explication of the theory by Bach and Harnish (1979). The socio-cultural context in the play has as its starting point the realm of myth and legend. From here all categories of relationships within the protagonist/antagonist encounter unfold, as do opposing sets of contextual beliefs characters rely on; these are primarily responsible for the growing conflict in the drama. Enhancing the mythical character of the play is the absorbing role played by the diboni, acting as seers, as prophets and as additional 'authorial voice'. Their and those of other characters' speech acts reflect this and more; they operate in a substantiated sign-system which provides a framework for evaluating each semiotic act from locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary dimensions of meaning. Chapter 1 comprises a historical survey of studies on speech act theory, and includes a brief summary of the position of the theory in the field of semiotics. The micro speech act analysis of the play is facilitated by the division of the text into smaller action units (summarised in Addendum 1). Chapter 2, containing the greater part of the exposition, commences the narration of the folktale and offers a clear rendering of the epic rise of the hero. Chapter 3 portrays the rise and progress of the antagonists challenging the hero, coupled with intensifying anxiety among the protagonists. Chapter 4 provides a vivid overview of how the values of the hero triumph over those of the antagonist despite the physical slaying of the hero. Chapter 5 offers a graphic outline of how the macro speech act is accomplished in the play. It is shown how an investigation of the speech act profiles of characters, coupled with the evaluation of illocutionary tactics and illocutionary/perlocutionary dynamics, communicates significant information pertaining to characterisation. A graph illustrating the rise and fall of micro speech acts within the larger macro speech act is provided in Addendum 2. Suggestions are made regarding future research in literary texts. / African Languages / D.Lit. et Phil. (African Languages)

The drama of Senkatana by S.M. Mofokeng is analysed by applying principles provided by speech act theory, using as basis the explication of the theory by Bach and Harnish (1979). The socio-cultural context in the play has as its starting point the realm of myth and legend. From here all categories of relationships within the protagonist/antagonist encounter unfold, as do opposing sets of contextual beliefs characters rely on; these are primarily responsible for the growing conflict in the drama. Enhancing the mythical character of the play is the absorbing role played by the diboni, acting as seers, as prophets and as additional 'authorial voice'. Their and those of other characters' speech acts reflect this and more; they operate in a substantiated sign-system which provides a framework for evaluating each semiotic act from locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary dimensions of meaning. Chapter 1 comprises a historical survey of studies on speech act theory, and includes a brief summary of the position of the theory in the field of semiotics. The micro speech act analysis of the play is facilitated by the division of the text into smaller action units (summarised in Addendum 1). Chapter 2, containing the greater part of the exposition, commences the narration of the folktale and offers a clear rendering of the epic rise of the hero. Chapter 3 portrays the rise and progress of the antagonists challenging the hero, coupled with intensifying anxiety among the protagonists. Chapter 4 provides a vivid overview of how the values of the hero triumph over those of the antagonist despite the physical slaying of the hero. Chapter 5 offers a graphic outline of how the macro speech act is accomplished in the play. It is shown how an investigation of the speech act profiles of characters, coupled with the evaluation of illocutionary tactics and illocutionary/perlocutionary dynamics, communicates significant information pertaining to characterisation. A graph illustrating the rise and fall of micro speech acts within the larger macro speech act is provided in Addendum 2. Suggestions are made regarding future research in literary texts. / African Languages / D.Lit. et Phil. (African Languages)

This study sought to investigate and to record any recurring patterns in the form and communicative impact of Shona advertisements. Motivation to carry out the study came from a realisation of a growing interest in using the Shona language for advertising and the fact that very few studies have been done on Shona advertisements. For methodology, examples of Shona advertisements were qualitatively analysed using some communications and discourse analysis approaches of the speech act theory and text linguistics. A structured interview with advertising agencies randomly selected and a questionnaire on the impact of advertisements were also used. The findings of the research included that Shona was used in advertisements in order to reach out to the majority of the Zimbabwean population. In addition, Shona was also found to have been developed enough to handle formal issues like advertisements. This finding further shows that Shona advertisements reflect an instance of diglossia leakage from Shona L(ow) to Shona H(igh). Another finding is that Shona advertisements reflect some characteristics of the Shona speech community in form. These include code-switching, slang and word- division problems. An innovation in code-switching noted in some Shona advertisements is the use of three languages, namely, English, Shona and Ndebele in one advertisement. It was also established that everything about the elements of Shona advertisements communicate. For instance, the message may be visual, tactile and olfactory. It also emerged that the Shona commercial advertisements had a presenting and a hidden agenda at the same time. To achieve this the advertisements used persuasive techniques such as advertising claims, cultural hooks and personalities as spokespersons. It was also noted that most readers of advertisements do not interpret them up to the hidden persuaders but end with the direct meaning. On the other hand the Shona advertisements that gave information such as health issues have no hidden agenda. One recommendation made is that advertisements be read and studied to raise the level of awareness about the persuasive techniques used in order to distinguish between misleading advertising and those that give useful information. Some recommendations were made for future research such as carrying out similar studies of informal Shona advertisements, advertisements by n'angas/inyangas (traditional healers), prophets and political campaigns. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

While the linguistic concept of politeness has been thoroughly analyzed, the same does not apply to its interpreting. The present theoretical-empirical work describes the means for expressing politeness grouped by G. Leechʼs maxims of politeness. The empirical part analyzes recordings of simultaneous interpretation from media and European Parliament settings. This is a quantitative study and the outcome is the number of means for expressing politeness which the interpreters conveyed into Czech. On average and in all of the material 65,7 % of means for expressing politeness were conveyed into Czech in compliance with the maxims. The means analyzed are prosody, non-verbal communication, modality, personal reference, etc. An equivalent interpretation of means of politeness was deemed desirable. The thesis verifies the hypothesis whether the level of politeness significantly increased in comparison with the original speeches. Key words: politeness, pragmatics, illocutionary act, maxims of politeness, face, modality, prosody, non- verbal communication, Czech, English, interpreting, equivalence, US presidential debate, Obama, Romney, Common Agricultural Policy, European Parliament, Catherine Ashton, forms of address

This study sought to investigate and to record any recurring patterns in the form and communicative impact of Shona advertisements. Motivation to carry out the study came from a realisation of a growing interest in using the Shona language for advertising and the fact that very few studies have been done on Shona advertisements. For methodology, examples of Shona advertisements were qualitatively analysed using some communications and discourse analysis approaches of the speech act theory and text linguistics. A structured interview with advertising agencies randomly selected and a questionnaire on the impact of advertisements were also used. The findings of the research included that Shona was used in advertisements in order to reach out to the majority of the Zimbabwean population. In addition, Shona was also found to have been developed enough to handle formal issues like advertisements. This finding further shows that Shona advertisements reflect an instance of diglossia leakage from Shona L(ow) to Shona H(igh). Another finding is that Shona advertisements reflect some characteristics of the Shona speech community in form. These include code-switching, slang and word- division problems. An innovation in code-switching noted in some Shona advertisements is the use of three languages, namely, English, Shona and Ndebele in one advertisement. It was also established that everything about the elements of Shona advertisements communicate. For instance, the message may be visual, tactile and olfactory. It also emerged that the Shona commercial advertisements had a presenting and a hidden agenda at the same time. To achieve this the advertisements used persuasive techniques such as advertising claims, cultural hooks and personalities as spokespersons. It was also noted that most readers of advertisements do not interpret them up to the hidden persuaders but end with the direct meaning. On the other hand the Shona advertisements that gave information such as health issues have no hidden agenda. One recommendation made is that advertisements be read and studied to raise the level of awareness about the persuasive techniques used in order to distinguish between misleading advertising and those that give useful information. Some recommendations were made for future research such as carrying out similar studies of informal Shona advertisements, advertisements by n'angas/inyangas (traditional healers), prophets and political campaigns. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

This doctoral thesis is concerned with autobiographical forms, their general characteristics as well as with three examples of Czech works of art that prove how difficult it is to make that general characteristics and show various kinds of autobiographical narrative. It aims to show the often heterogeneous character of the so- called autobiographical genres, and present some approaches in their study. In the opening chapter, we define the term autobiography or autobiographical form in regard to literary history and theory, and special attention to Czech research in this field. We concentrate on the genre specifics of autobiographical forms, the opposition of "literary" and "authentic" diary, the term "autobiographical pact" coined by Philippe Lejeune and several patterns of autobiographical memory introduced by James Olney. The key aspect of our study is the nature of autobiographical form derived from the subject's style and illocutionary acts, i. e. stylization as defined by John Searle followed by Jean Starobinski or Paul de Man. Out of the wide spectrum of issues connected with autobiography we focus on the description of the subject's narrative structure, mainly on its language, style, frequent motifs, its memory and relationship to other characters in its text. The complexity of the very...