Requests as macro-speech act motivators in Qur’anic dialogues

Abstract

Besides their linguistic nature of directivity that necessitates a verbal and/or physical response, requests can also function as linguistic motivators of macro-speech acts. Based on this assumption, this paper explores the extent to which requests in some Qur’anic dialogues not only elicit a response but also motivate a sequence of ancillary speech acts that forms a macro-speech act communicating one macro-proposition. This objective is primarily pursued in light of an eclectic framework constituting van Dijk’s (1977) concept of macro-speech acts, Thornburg and Panther’s (1997) illocutionary scenarios, contributions on speech act theory and requests (e.g., Austin, 1962; Searle, 1979), and Blum-Kulka et al.’s (1989) categorization of modification strategies of requests. Three main findings are revealed in this paper: first, in some Qur’anic dialogues, requests are employed not only to create a position for a response or fulfillment on the part of addressees but also to motivate a sequence of other ancillary speech acts constituting one macro-speech act and profiling a shared logic-semantics representation. Second, unlike ordinary requests, macro-speech act requests (MSARs) in Qur’anic dialogues exhibit a high degree of contingency and a low degree of entitlement. Third, MSARs in Qur’anic dialogues are structured around three illocutionary scenarios, are modified internally and externally, and are illocutionary polysemous.