A Pragmatic Analysis of Gichuka Request Patterns

Abstract

Pragmatics studies the way language is used, the choices that the speakers have to make when constrained by socio-cultural context of a given language situation and the effect that using language in a particular way has on the interlocutor. The aim of this study was to describe the request patterns used in Gichuka social events. Requests are an integral part of everyday interaction and their formulation varies from culture to culture and from one occasion to another. The requests patterns were described following the Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Pattern (CCSARP) project by Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper. The study utilized the descriptive research design to study social events conducted in Gichuka. Six Gichuka social events were recorded using a voice recorder and transcribed into guiding cards while contextual information was recorded using an observation schedule. The study established that Gichuka request expressions mostly assume the mood derivable pattern. This study enhances the analysis of the Gichuka language variety and adds to the existing knowledge on pragmatic analysis of requests in various languages of the world, and other Bantu languages