A comparative study of speech acts of children and adults in Basho, the little stranger, based on Searle's theory

Speech act is one of the most significant theories in the philosophy of language. Based on this theory, speech acts are analyzed in parts of speech and reveal the unspoken words of a text. The present research aims to elucidate the discourses of Bahram Beizai's film Basho, the little stranger, regarding Searle theory. Basho as a film of children and adolescents with the presence of the main character of the child involves important speech acts. Also, language, as the main cultural tool, is one of the main concerns of this film. In fact, the purpose of this study is to understand the dramatic features of the work and to recognize the social relationships of the characters by extracting the speech acts of each piece of speech. Based on Searle's classification of speech acts, we found that the characters in the film have different speech acts due to their position and gender. According to the results, the rate of women's speech acts is persuasive act and men have more expressive speech acts. They use the kind of ridicule, anger, etc. in speech. Despite the fact that children, unlike adults, children benefited both expressive act and persuasive act are free from violence due to their childish characteristics and interact better with each other from cultural point of view. It should be noted that none of the characters used obligatory and declarative actions in their speeches.