Juxtaposition of speech acts and Basotho names in Lesotho

Abstract

This study addresses the juxtaposition of speech acts and Basotho names. Speech act theory (SAT) is interested in digging beneath discourse to establish the meaning and function of what is said. It therefore attempts to explain how speakers use language to accomplish intended actions, and how hearers infer the intended meaning from what is said. Succinctly put, SAT is an approach to a systematic classification of the reasons for our linguistic acts during communication. Austin and Searle, among others, believe that “speaking a language is engaging in a rule-governed form of behaviour” that consequently leads to accomplishing specific social acts, functions or intentions associated with different speech acts. This situation is equally true in personal names or the act of naming children as a ceremony in which parents engage in different linguistic acts. It is no longer odd to say that “names are embedded with meaning and coded with identity…” in many parts of the world and particularly in Africa. In this work, selected Basotho first names were subjected to speech act analysis since they manifest in sentence forms when their meanings or implications are delved into. The interpretive analysis of these names yielded connectivity between Basotho names and representatives, directives, expressives, commissives and declarative speech acts. The study concluded that Basotho first names enact the speech acts in addition to the meanings or narratives they bear.