Illocutionary Acts from the Perspective of Identity Theory with Pu-Yi’s Lines in The Last Emperor against the Tobacco-Prevalent Backdrop

Abstract

The end of Qing Dynasty was a time where tobacco was prevalent. The social context exerted great influence on group members’ behavior. The central idea of Identity Theory is that the languages we use are actually controlled, or at least affected, by both ourselves and the situations we are in. However, the analyses of illocutionary acts from the perspective of identity are short of due attention. This article is designed to detect illocutionary acts from the perspective of Identity Theory to find out a brand-new way to approach the reasons why different illocutionary acts are chosen by speakers and also will offer the answer to the question of how illocutionary acts reflect speaker’s social identities. After analyzing the seven examples, this paper arrives at two main conclusions i.e. Pu-Yi’s illocutionary acts change with the changes of identities and the illocutionary acts make it possible for reflecting his various social identities. Furthermore, with the examples of Pu-Yi’s lines in The Last Emperor, this study might be more understandable, more interesting and with, more or less, an added historical value in the specific tobacco-prevalent social context.