A PRAGMATIC STUDY OF INTERROGATIVES IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS CHAPTERS THREE AND FOUR

Abstract

The introduction of the concept of context into linguistic studies has brought to the fore an important fact that language is used in specific situations primarily to accomplish specific functions and the intended meanings of utterances depend largely on different contextual cues. This study, which adopts a descriptive approach, is a pragmatic investigation of the communicative functions of questions in the discourse between God and man as recorded in Genesis chapters three and four.  The data was sourced from the NIV Bible. Eleven interrogative utterances were identified and analysed using the pragmatic concept of presupposition and the speech act theory. The analysis revealed that the questions in the discourse are loaded with different presuppositions and indirect speech acts. Pragmatically therefore, it is very important to note that the manner in which an utterance is expressed is an integral aspect of what is said.