This work is concerned with the application of Relevance Theory within the context of the play “Morotoundun” by Nigerian playwright Femi Osofisan.
In Pragmatics, context is paramount. In other words, an audience is constrained to understand the speaker’s intention by taking
cognisance of the context in which utterances are expressed. One of those pragmatic theories of context interpretations is Relevance Theory. Within the purview of this theory, the cognitive domain of the audience is taken under advisement. In other words: in order to understand utterances of a speaker from within his context, the audience has to make use of their cognition in order to achieve optimal communicative relevance.
Therefore, Relevance Theory is applied to the play by analysing the conversations of the characters therein based on their contexts. During that process, the work also quickly touches upon the question of the place of women in African Literature and the function of theatre as a tool of a potential proletarian revolution.
The analysis does establish that the characters’ dialogues achieve communicative relevance by the cognitive ability of the reader to process contextual utterances.
Table of Contents
- 1. Background to Relevance Theory (RT)
- 2. Communication and Relevance
- 3. Ostensive-inferential Model of Communication
- 3.1 Dynamic Context
- 4. An Overview of the Play
- 5. Literature Review
- 5.1 The Place of Women in African Literature
- 5.2 Theatre as a Tool of Proletariatan Revolution
- 6. Application of Relevance Theory to Morotoundun
Objectives and Key Themes
This paper applies Relevance Theory (RT) to analyze Femi Osofisan's play, Moroutodun. The objective is to demonstrate how the characters' dialogues achieve communicative relevance through the audience's cognitive processing of contextual utterances. The analysis focuses on how the audience uses their cognitive abilities to understand the speaker's intentions within the given context of the play.
- Relevance Theory and its application to literary analysis
- The role of context and cognition in understanding communication
- Analysis of dialogue and its communicative relevance in Moroutodun
- The cognitive processes involved in interpreting utterances
- The interplay between speaker intention and audience interpretation
Chapter Summaries
1. Background to Relevance Theory (RT): This chapter introduces Relevance Theory (RT), a pragmatic theory focusing on how hearers infer a speaker's intentions based on contextual information. It contrasts RT with Grice's maxims, highlighting RT's emphasis on a single maxim of relevance. The chapter lays the groundwork for understanding the cognitive processes involved in interpreting utterances and the importance of context in achieving optimal relevance.
2. Communication and Relevance: This chapter delves deeper into the concept of optimal relevance within RT. It explains how an utterance achieves optimal relevance when it's relevant enough to warrant processing and is the most relevant utterance the speaker could produce. The chapter explores the speaker's expectation of optimal relevance and the hearer's effort to meet this expectation, outlining a two-step relevance-theoretic procedure for interpretation. The discussion emphasizes the crucial role of intention in successful communication and illustrates this through examples.
3. Ostensive-inferential Model of Communication: This chapter introduces Sperber and Wilson's ostensive-inferential model of communication. It explains how communication involves the speaker's ostension (making an intention manifest) and the hearer's inference (recognizing the intention). The chapter highlights the importance of a shared cognitive environment for successful communication and elaborates on the concept of a dynamic context within RT, explaining that contexts are not fixed but are constructed during the comprehension process. Subchapter 3.1, Dynamic Context, specifically addresses the fluidity and selection involved in context formation during interpretation.
4. An Overview of the Play: This section provides a synopsis of Femi Osofisan's Moroutodun, establishing the necessary background for the subsequent application of Relevance Theory to the play's textual analysis. This chapter sets the stage by outlining the play's central plot points, key characters, and overall thematic concerns, offering a concise yet informative summary of the narrative for the reader.
5. Literature Review: This chapter reviews existing scholarship relevant to the study. It explores two key areas: the portrayal of women in African literature and the use of theatre as a tool for proletarian revolution. By contextualizing Osofisan's work within these broader literary and socio-political discussions, this chapter provides a framework for interpreting the themes and messages within Moroutodun. This sets the stage for the subsequent analysis by positioning Osofisan's play within existing critical conversations and establishing its unique contribution.
Keywords
Pragmatics, Relevance Theory, Cognition, Context, Communication, Utterance Interpretation, Femi Osofisan, Moroutodun, Optimal Relevance, Ostensive-Inferential Communication, Cognitive Environment, African Literature, Proletarian Revolution.
Frequently Asked Questions: Analyzing Femi Osofisan's *Moroutodun* Through Relevance Theory
What is the main focus of this academic paper?
This paper uses Relevance Theory (RT) to analyze Femi Osofisan's play, Moroutodun. It examines how the characters' dialogue achieves communicative relevance through the audience's cognitive processing of the utterances within the play's context.
What is Relevance Theory (RT), and how is it applied in this paper?
Relevance Theory is a pragmatic theory explaining how hearers infer a speaker's intentions based on contextual information. The paper applies RT to analyze how the audience uses its cognitive abilities to understand the speaker's intentions in Moroutodun, focusing on the interplay between speaker intention and audience interpretation. The analysis emphasizes the importance of context and cognition in understanding communication within the play's dialogues.
What are the key themes explored in the paper?
The key themes include the application of Relevance Theory to literary analysis, the role of context and cognition in communication, the analysis of dialogue and its communicative relevance in Moroutodun, the cognitive processes involved in interpreting utterances, and the interplay between speaker intention and audience interpretation.
What does the paper cover in terms of its structure?
The paper includes a background to Relevance Theory, a discussion of communication and relevance, an explanation of the ostensive-inferential model of communication (including dynamic context), an overview of the play Moroutodun, a literature review (covering women in African literature and theatre as a tool for proletarian revolution), and finally, an application of Relevance Theory to analyze Moroutodun itself.
What are the chapter summaries?
The chapter summaries provide detailed explanations of the concepts covered in each section, including introductions to Relevance Theory, its central tenets, the ostensive-inferential model of communication, a synopsis of Moroutodun, and a review of relevant literature on women in African literature and theatre as a tool for revolution. Each summary highlights the key arguments and findings within each chapter.
What are the key objectives of the research?
The main objective is to demonstrate how communicative relevance is achieved in Moroutodun through audience cognitive processing. The paper aims to analyze how the audience uses cognitive abilities to understand the speaker's intentions within the play's context.
What keywords are associated with this paper?
Keywords include Pragmatics, Relevance Theory, Cognition, Context, Communication, Utterance Interpretation, Femi Osofisan, Moroutodun, Optimal Relevance, Ostensive-Inferential Communication, Cognitive Environment, African Literature, and Proletarian Revolution.
What is the significance of the Literature Review?
The literature review contextualizes Osofisan's work within broader literary and socio-political discussions, focusing on the portrayal of women in African literature and the use of theatre as a tool for proletarian revolution. This helps to frame the subsequent analysis of Moroutodun.
How does the paper utilize the Ostensive-Inferential Model of Communication?
The paper uses Sperber and Wilson's ostensive-inferential model to explain how communication in Moroutodun involves the speaker's ostension (making an intention manifest) and the hearer's inference (recognizing the intention). It emphasizes the importance of a shared cognitive environment and dynamic context for successful communication.
What is the role of "optimal relevance" in the analysis?
The concept of optimal relevance is central to the RT analysis. The paper explores how an utterance achieves optimal relevance when it's relevant enough to warrant processing and is the most relevant utterance the speaker could produce. It examines how this principle plays out in the dialogues of Moroutodun.
- Quote paper
- James Ede (Author), 2018, The Importance of Context Within Communication. An Application of Relevance Theory to Femi Osofisan's Play "Morotoundun", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/454977
