Power relations in Judy Upton's bruises : a pragmatic and conversational analysis approach

Abstract EN

This study aims at investigating the impact of power on the linguistic choices of individuals and how power is delivered through speech.

the sample focused upon is from bruises by Judy Upton (1995).

the reason behind selecting this specific play is that it revolves around a troubled and unstable parental relationship between a father and a son.

hence, it is considered a rich linguistic material for dialogues that are based on power.

the study portrays how the imbalance of power negatively or positively affects a relationship ; the main focus is how power is delivered linguistically to the audience.

the analysis is tackled through a pragmatic and conversation analysis approach.

that is, it concentrates on the linguistic and conversation aspects of language that depict power in conversation.

by linguistic aspects, i mean the sentence structures such as: grammatical formulas, the use of tenses, negative and positive connotations.

in completion of the analytic frame, conversation analysis tools serve the purpose of the study such as : turn-taking, interruptions, pauses and gaps.