Leiden University Student Repository

Zwan, Thomas van der (2017)

The Pragmatics of Prayer: A Linguistic-Pragmatic Approach to the Liturgy of the Catholic Mass

Master thesis | Linguistics (MA)

I contrast naturally occurring conversation with the Liturgy of the Catholic Mass, focussing on speech acts, implicatures, the intersubjective/argumentative nature of language, and on uncooperative communication. This comparison allows me to determine what the characteristics of Mass are as an activity type (Levinson 1992), and to reflect from a Wittgensteinian point of view on the philosophical implications of the results gained. Ultimately, I show that human communication with the divine, i.e. prayer, closely resembles interpersonal communication in the ethical realm.

pragmatics

ethics

intersubjectivity

Wittgenstein

ritual

Mass

religion

Author

Zwan, Thomas van der

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Language and Communication

Supervisors

Boogaart, Ronny

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en