A Study of English Condolence Expressions on the Death of Queen Elizabeth II: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis

Abstract

Speech acts such as apologies, invitations, compliments, refusals   and complaints have been studied widely whereas the speech act of condolences has been neglected or more specifically very little literature has been written on the subject. The current study investigates the speech act of condolence on the death of Queen Elizabeth IIas well as it aims at showing the cross-cultural factors such as social class, gender, and religion that make the participants selecting different strategies whether through speech acts categories or the semantic formulas. The adopted models used in this research are Searl’s classification of speech acts (1979) and Elwood’s semantic formula (2004). Furthermore, The researcher arrives at the significant concluding points such as the   analysis reveals that assertive has the highest frequency and percentages of illocutionary acts performed by officials. Moreover, the semantic formulas   and especially the expression of sympathy have the highest frequencies and percentages among other strategies. And, finally the analysis also shows   that   women’s   condoling messages are more sympathetic, emotional, softhearted, and associative than men in expressing their feelings and emotions.