Speech Act Theory in Visual Narratives: An Analysis of Communication through Sequential Art

Abstract

An increasing curiosity in communication through visual narratives has been observed in recent years in multidisciplinary research. This paper focuses on how speech act theory plays a role in visual linguistics through the analysis of a few selected visual narratives. With the help of a content analysis methodology, this paper focuses on qualitative research by analysing the data through the speech act theory present in the visual narratives. It demonstrates its intent through a few carefully chosen visual narratives, ‘Hada Bhoda’ Accepted: 20 June 2024 Orcid https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5771-6941 Cite Chattopadhyay, P. (2024). Speech act theory in visual narratives: An analysis of communication through sequential art. Gipan, 6(1), 119–133. https://doi.org/10.3126/gipan.v6i1. ...... Introduction and ‘Doraemon’ from two different cultures, Bengali and Japanese respectively. The study indicates how picture stories serve as a type of speaking act, transmitting meaning in the conversations present in the visual narratives and also prompting responses from viewers. It is possible to have a greater knowledge of the communication dynamics, intentionality, and impacts of language and speech within the visual narratives by analysing locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts in the picture stories.