• Dr.S.B.Sharma

The interdependence of language and literature is not merely by virtue of the fact that language embodies literature but more than being just a means of expression, language, at its different levels starting from lexis to inter-sentential level of discourse, captures the subtle intricacies of the human experience like power relations, ideologies, different voices, speech acts etc. through different markers of language like fumbles, repetitions, generalized vocabulary, prefabricated fillers, less logical connectors, incomplete sentences, simple sequence of phrases and functional interpretation of an utterance in a particular context despite its being a different structural type i.e.declarative,imperative , interrogative etc. The present paper attempts to capture the absurdity of American Way of life in Edward Albee’s play Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf by interpreting each utterance as an ‘act’ performed by an individual character in the overall organisation of the play. The scope of Sinclair and Coulthard‘s pedagogic theory of class room discourse has been attuned by incorporating some inputs from Burton’s theory on dramatic discourse, Grice’s Cooperative Principle etc. to deal with the unpredictable interactions among characters of the play under study. The evolved analytical apparatus has been able to see through the various strategies put in practice by characters in the development of their discourse which eventually lays bare their value system, psychological upheavals, thought patterns and the overarching contemporary American absurdity of life.

discourse, speech acts, absurdity, pedagogic discourse

"Mapping the Absurdism in the Microcosm of Edward Albee’s Play ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the Absurdity in the Macrocosm of the Contemporary American Cultural Ethos through the Discourse of Speech Act Theory", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no.33-51, May-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905Q04.pdf

"Mapping the Absurdism in the Microcosm of Edward Albee’s Play ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the Absurdity in the Macrocosm of the Contemporary American Cultural Ethos through the Discourse of Speech Act Theory", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no. pp33-51, May-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905Q04.pdf