A Pragmatic Study of Speech Act of Condolence in English and Urdu

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the speech act of condolence in Urdu. Secondly it aimed to compare the realization pattern of the condolence speech act in English and Urdu. In Urdu, speech act of condolence is a complex phenomenon in Pakistani context. Most condolences are tending to be expressed personally, when people attend a funeral. The digital era has also enabled users to express condolences via email and text messages. The present study adopts comments from Facebook regarding speech act of condolence. It will highlight the difference of semantic formula that the English and Pakistani people use when they express their grief on the demise of a person. The researcher found a significant finding about condolence strategies that are affected by social variables like gender. The current research used qualitative method. Elwood's semantic formula (2004) was used to code the data, which was modified by Yahya (2010), then 3 different types of strategies are used for the realization of speech act of condolence, by English and Urdu speakers. Convenience sampling is used during this research process. This study used a qualitative descriptive research design. Facebook comments are used as data collection method. Edwood's semantic formula (2004) was used to code the data and three types of semantic strategies for the realization of speech act of condolence. Findings showed that condolence strategies were affected by social variables like age and gender.