مجلة الدراسات المستدامة joss
A Linguistic Study of Comment Clauses in the American Series “Friends”
Tabarak Aboud Ali Abbas
tabarakaboodaliaboodali@gmail.com
Asst .Prof. Huda Abed Ali Hattab
University of Baghdad /College of Education (Ibn rushed) for Human Sciences
Abstract:
The present study is a linguistic study of comment clauses in the American Series ‘Friends’ .Comment clauses refer to those clauses which comment on the content of the main clause or the attitude of the speaker towards the way of speaking .The problem of this study is to answer the following questions ; what types of comment clauses can be used in the face- to –face conversations , for what functions these comment clauses could be used , and how these comment clauses are used by the participants of these conversations . This study is a qualitative one .
The study aims to investigate the types of comment clauses used in the American Series “Friends’. The study also aims to investigate the pragmatic functions of these comment clauses and how they are used by the participants of the conversations in the American Series ‘Friends’ .The researcher assumes that comment clauses are highly used in the American Series ‘Friends’ and ,due to the variety of the conversations , many types of comment clauses are used in these conversations . The data of the study is conversations of the first episode of seasons ( 1,2,5,6,9,10) of the American Series ‘Friends’ .The data of the study has been analyzed by adopting Quirk et al (1985) classification and functions of comment clauses .
The analysis of the conversations shows that the type of comment clauses used in these conversations is that which is similar to the matrix of the main clause. Throughout the whole conversations , only the following forms of comment clauses are used : ‘I mean’, ‘you know’ , and ‘I know’. The analysis also shows that these comment clauses occurred in the initial , middle , and final positions of these conversations .The findings reveal that these comment clauses have different pragmatic functions ; to express the speaker’s certainty of his main statement , to put things right and express the main statement probably ,to attract the listener’s attention ,to make sure that the listener fully understands the content of communication , and to express the speaker’s informality and warmth towards the hearer .
Key Words : (Comment clauses , The American Series ‘Friends” , pragmatic functions of comment clauses , linguistic study) .