• MINOO KANTHA

ABSTRACT Language functions as a means of communication and a tool for the cultivation of cultural identity, context, and significance in literature. This study analyzes the practical use of natural language in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines, focusing on how the dialogues and narrative strategies reveal the text's underlying sociopolitical, historical, and psychological dimensions. Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics that looks at how language is used in context, including speech acts, implicatures, deixis, and Gricean maxims, to figure out how meaning is made beyond what it means literally. This article analyzes how characters in The Shadow Lines traverse memory, identity, and borders through the application of pragmatic theories to facilitate crucial discussions and interactions. The book's non-linear structure, fragmented recollections, and perspective shifts present a persuasive case for analyzing how language produces and subverts individual and collective history. The study highlights how characters utilize language to obscure, critique, or assert truths, thereby illustrating the complexity of postcolonial identity and transnational experiences. The study utilizes a qualitative methodology to uncover the underlying meanings embedded in dialogues and narrative techniques, including pragmatics and discourse analysis. It asserts that Ghosh's linguistic choices not only augment the subject depth of the novel but also mirror the ambiguities and variabilities of national loyalty and historical recollection. The findings substantiate both literary and linguistic inquiries by illustrating how pragmatic analysis can augment our comprehension of narrative strategies in postcolonial literature.

pragmatic, speech, language, colloquial, postcolonial identity, narrative technique, discourse.

"Pragmatic use of natural language: A case study of ''The Shadow Lines''", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 5, page no.d10-d20, May-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2505333.pdf

"Pragmatic use of natural language: A case study of ''The Shadow Lines''", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 5, page no. ppd10-d20, May-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2505333.pdf