Speech act function in the conclusion of Moephuli's Peo ena…

Abstract

The discourse in the last chapter of I.M. Moephuli's Sesotho novel. ‘Peo ena e jetswe ke wena!’. consists almost exclusively of direct speech and dialogue. The speech acts performed by both the characters and the narrator are analysed, the analysis revealing some of the advantages the speech act theory offers to the study of literature. In addition, the speech content is evaluated, presenting the two-told nature of the ‘speakers’ in the work—a narrator narrating about characters acting in speech events.