Abstract

Every literary text has some connotative meaning which is beyond the denotative meaning of lexicons used in it. To unveil the hidden aspect of society is the real intuition of author towards coding the text. This research paper aims to analyze the short story "The New Constitution" by Saddat Hassan Manto. The Pragmatic Analysis of text has been chosen as an analytical framework. Pragmatically, text can be analyzed in many ways. In this research, the use of conventional implicatures (rhetorical devices) in the text has been selected as subtheme. The data have been collected from focused reading of the short story "The New Constitution". For this purpose, 50 sentences have been extracted from the text and the frequencies of the respective implicatures (rhetorical devices) have been noted. The present study meets the determined objectives which have been observed while writing this paper. Contextual inspiration of the text has also been explained which is only possible by finding these rhetorics.

Key Words

Conventional Implicatures, Contextual Meaning, Discourse, Pragmatic Analysis, Short Story

Introduction

Background of the Study

Meanings are very important in the reading of any literary text. Reading of text does not mean to decode the literary text but also to understand the text in actual for what it is written. "What the reader brings to the text is as significant as what he or she takes from it. The arrows go both ways (Carter 1992, p.154). Pragmatics is the study of the use of natural language in communication in linguistics and philosophy; more broadly, it is the study of the relationships between languages and their users. It is sometimes characterized as the study of the rule systems that determine the literal meanings of language phrases, in contrast to linguistic semantics. The study of how rules that pertain to the physical or social context (broadly understood) in which language is employed determine both literal and non-literal components of communicated linguistic meaning is known as pragmatics. Conversational and traditional "implicatures" (e.g., "John has three sons" implies that John has no more than three sons; "He was impoverished but honest" implies an unexplained difference between the two) are among these elements.

Pragmatic study of the text explores the intended or associative meanings (contextual meanings) of text instead of denotative (dictionary) meanings. It reveals the actual intuition of the writer towards the text as it has been demonstrated by Crystal "The study of principles governing the communicative use of language, especially as encountered in conversations" is pragmatics (Crystal 1992, p.271).




Statement of the Problem

This research paper aims to explore the contextual facts hidden in the text of the short story "The New Constitution" by Saddat Hassan Manto. The piece of fiction has been taken from B.A Course, a short story, to explore that how the author has used different implicatures (figures of speech) to reveal the facts of society and create awareness among their readers through his work. This study is limited to one fictional piece of literature (short story) for finding the pragmatic meanings and use of figures of speech/ rhetorical devices in the text.




Research Objectives

This research paper focuses on analyzing the discourse to understand the intended meanings of the text and the societal issues the writer wants to explore. For this purpose, a short story has been selected which has many things to reveal in its text. The followings are the core objectives of the study. 

• To explore how words represent different ideologies/societal facts.

• To find out different implicatures used in the text.

• To explain the purpose of the implicatures used in the text.




Significance of the Research

Literature and society reflect each other. Both are inseparable elements from each other. A writer also endeavors to portray the societal facts in his or her work and also makes the people aware of the hidden forces of society which are concealed by common people. An author uses different figures of speech to convey his/her message in hidden words. The readers acquire the intended meaning(s) of the text by reading and creating understanding with it. It enhances the creation and style of author. Readers do not belong to the era in which authors write their work(s), they adopt the style and words by which they can be able to make their composition(s) universally understandable. So, the analysis of such discourses is very helpful for new the readers to acknowledge the vision of authors and to make a clear understanding of societal norms and values of that era.  

Literature Review

Theoretical Framework

Discourse

Any real-life utterance used for communication is called discourse. It can be verbal and non-verbal, consisting of a single word or group of words but it necessarily is used to convey a particular message.




Pragmatics

Every text has some literal meanings which the words reveal at the surface level but there is also some internal meaning always hidden in the text and readers try to reveal it by thinking beyond the surface level of utterances. The branch of linguistics that deals with the intended or contextual meaning of a text or any utterance is called Pragmatics. Every writer's work shows his/her past experiences in life or his/her work. The writer tries to reveal the social ideologies and make his readers aware of the facts of his society. Pragmatics is concerned with the intention of meaning expressed by the speaker and interpretation by the listener (Yule 1983, p.3). Pragmatics actually deals with the use of language in social situations. This branch has no concern with grammatically encoded language (Mey2001, p.6).

Discourse Analysis

Brown and Yule (1983, p. 1) explain that analysis of discourse means examining the language in action. So discourse analysis can be elucidated in many different ways and directed in distinct fashions. It is synthesizing/associative field of exploration (Brown and Schneider, 2014, p. 1). 




Pragmatics VS Discourse Analysis

Pragmatics and analysis of language used are common in their actions in a way that both deal with the contextual meanings of the text. These fields deal by going beyond the surface level of sentences/utterances and explaining the actual intended intuition of the speaker or the writer. These disciplines focus on the importance of words in the use of language and how conversationalists utilize fewer words for conveying broader messages. These disciplines develop the interest of their users and they are considered to be engrossing in function (Cutting 2002, p. 2). 




Discourse Pragmatics

This study shows the intersection of two fields. Van Dijk (2007, p. 8) explains that the term "Discourse pragmatics" came into being by the cross investigation and alliance of discourse and pragmatics. This field basically is related to speech acts that tell us how a speaker uses language (sentences or utterances) to perform different acts in real life and text also, like promises, wishes, requests, commands etc. Horn and Kecskes (2013, p. 262) say that discourse pragmatics actually puts emphasis on the importance of societal and contextual values in the meanings of utterances. Its purpose is to explore the actual image of functions and to relate both fields (discourse and pragmatics) in the procedure of interactional and intercultural interaction. 




Literary Pragmatics

Mey (1999, p.12) explains the term literary pragmatics as "it refers to the field which examines the ways of effects that writer wants to spread on his reader and also to create cohesion and coherence in his text and a good relationship between his readers and text." Mey explains the term that literary pragmatics has more focus on the contextual and societal understanding of the text by its reader (Mey 2006, p 549). Crystal (2008, p.379) explains the term as this field attempts to use pragmatic concepts in the production and reception of the literary text. The different pragmatic framework is used to analyze the text in different paradigms and these frameworks are used as beneficial tools for literary texts (Chapman 2011, p.141). frameworks have been designed by linguists for pragmatic analysis of text and a few of them are; Speech Act Theory, Grice's Maxims, Context and Co-text, Conversational Implicatures, Cohesion and Coherence, Politeness Theory etc. 




Grice's Implicatures

The term used by Grice (1975) is also explained by Brown and Yule (1983, p. 31) that implicature explains these aspects of meanings that are beyond their literal purposes. Mey (2001: 450) says that this term has been derived from the verb "imply." Grice has explained two types of implicatures, "conversational and conventional," in his book. In general, implicatures refer to those meanings which left interested in communication. That's why these are related to the field of pragmatics. In the 1980's first book in the history of pragmatics was written (Levinson's Pragmatics 1983), in which implicatures were explained. In 1986 Sperber and Wilson worked on Relevance in which Grice's implicatures are explained very clearly. Grice (1975) explains his conventional implicatures as "In some cases, the conventional meaning of the words used will determine what is implicated, besides helping to determine what is said" (Grice 1975, p.44 ). This statement implies that implicatures are used to explain the phenomenon which is even unsaid in the utterance. All figures of speech (rhetorical devices) which are used to enhance the value of text are also included in conventional implicatures. These figures of speech are also used to convey something different by using unusual words in the text as implicatures and both give contextual clarity to utterances and literary texts as well.




Figures of Speech

In literary text writing, writers use different figures of speech to convey their message to readers in an indirect way and explain the actual phenomenon which is related to societal facts and any ideology. These expressions are also used to give aesthetic pleasure to expressions. Figures of speech are the words or phrases and sometimes sentences that a writer uses to exaggerate or to convey a different meaning of the text. A writer uses these figures of speech to put emphasis or to create pleasure in the text by using unusual lexicons (Kennedy, 1983, p479). Beckson and Ganz (1975, p.80) explain figures of speech as uncertain words which are departed from the usual use of language, from which most of them are used to compare different objects to get the effect of words that is beyond the literal meanings, called figures of speech. Crystal explains that these are the words that are used in a non-literal way and make the speech expressive (Crystal 1999, p.116).

Many writers use this technique to explore the meaning of their texts in a different way. Many texts are analyzed by using the Pragmatic Framework to find the actual intention of the writers from the text. These theoretical frameworks involving presupposition, context, and politeness analysis (actually applied to texts) are considered in 'Doing Pragmatics' (Grundy: 2000). Every literary genre like novel, drama, poetry, short story, or dialogue can be analyzed by using this framework. Some previous works are shortly being discussed here.

 Trisna Dinillah Harya analyzed the novel "ALCHEMIST" by Coelho and he explored "The use of figurative language in the text." The result of this analysis explores that figurative language has been used in 70 sentences of the novel. Of which 42.9% is Simile, which is 30 in number, 27 are personifications means 38.6%, 17.1% are metaphors means 12 in number and an item of hyperbole which is 1.4%. the author has used Simile dominantly to depict his characters more vividly and to make them entertaining (Harya 2016).  

Prof. Cecilia Saleme de Dip has analyzed a fictional piece, "Verbal Transcription- 6. am" by William Carlos William. The text is a dramatic short story that starts from the dialogue of a middle-aged lady. In the text, there is a dialogue between three characters and the third speaker is a doctor. The story is very objective and is narrated as told by a teller. The Pragmatic Analysis of the short story shows that author William has chosen only the female character to report for some crucial reasons. He wanted to depict the social, cultural and power benefits. A woman has authority only in the domain of her own home; otherwise, she is mostly neglected in society. The author has selected to raise the voice of the member of society which has lower status and he wanted to explore the fact that females talk more appropriately because they follow politeness and respect (Saleme 1988).

Dheril Sofia Nanda has pragmatically analyzed the text of John Green's "The Fault of Our Stars." She has analyzed the text by following two types of implicatures, generalized and particularized which have mostly been found in dialogues instead of narrations. Maxims of Quality and Manner are mostly flouted but Maxim of Relation is observed. This is an attempt to involve the reader in the theme of the text, plot, characters and style of the author at the same time (Nanda, 2015).

"The New Constitution," written by "Saadat Hassan Manto" is a very famous short story in which use of figurative language seems to be used abundantly. But its pragmatic analysis has not been done yet. So, this research paper has been written to analyze this fictional piece pragmatically.

Research Methodology

Research Design

The research paper is to be designed to explore the

deliberated meanings hidden in the text "The new Constitution" by "Saadat Hassan Manto" and to elaborate on the actual intuition of the author in writing the text. The research paper follows Mixed Method Technique (qualitative and quantitative) for analyzing the data. The pragmatic analysis has been applied to the text as Analytical Framework. A number of conventional implicatures (figures of speech) have been found and their frequencies have been noted respectively in the text. The research also explains how figurative language elucidates the deliberated meanings of the text and the perspective of writer "Sadat Hassan Manto" in writing the text "The New Constitution." 




Population and Sampling

Data have been collected from the concentrated reading of the actual and whole text of the short story in the form of sentences. Fifty (50) sentences comprising (Conventional Implicatures) figures of speech have been extracted from the whole text as a sample to analyze the contextual meanings.




Analytical Framework

To scrutinize the actual aspiration of the author to compose the text of the short story "The New Constitution," the whole text of the story has been read out and the frequently used figures of speech have been pointed out from different sentences. Gautum (2014) says, "A figure of speech is a way of saying something other than the literal way. It adds extra dimensions to language and reveals one thing by relating it to something else". 

The figures of speech (Conventional Implicatures) which have been extracted from the actual text are being briefed below.




Irony or Satire

The contradiction between actual happening and the lexical situation is irony. "A satire exhibits or examines vice and folly and makes them appear ridiculous" Grey (2008, p.225).




Simile and Metaphor

This involves the comparison between two contradictory entities. A metaphor is an indirect demonstration towards an entity and the simile is a direct reference to the object. In a simile, "as" and "like" are used for reference to comparing objects.




Idioms

 Synthesized words that give a specific meaning.




Allegory

 To explain the phenomenon by relating it to another story.




Personification

To deal with non-living things with human characteristics/qualities.







Antithesis

Representation of opposite ideas. These rhetorical devices have been described in terms of percentage with their particular calculation. Societal facts of that era are also discussed to make it easy for the reader to understand the contextual perspective of the text and which ideology or societal facts the author actually wants to reveal.

Results and Discussions

Findings

The story "The New Constitution," is about the implementation of the new act in India which will change the destiny of the Indian people. The main character of the story "Ustad Mangu," famous among his friends because of his knowledge, is called "tangawala," Who hates the British Empire and their rule in India and really wants that there must be a new law that will be only developed in favor of Indian people. When he listens about the new constitution from his fares, which is going to be implemented in India from 1-April, he becomes very hopeful and waits for the day very impatiently. But the day arrives in actual and destroys all his hopes towards new law and liberty.

By the analysis of text from the perspective of different figures of speech (conventional implicatures), many examples have been extracted from the text, which is being given in detail.




 

Table 1. Frequency Table of Conventional Implicatures

S. No	Conventional Implicatures	Frequency (f)	Percentage
1	Irony	11	22%
2	Simile	10	20%
3	Personification	09	18%
4	Metaphor	08	16%
5	Idioms	06	12%
6	Anti-thesis	05	10%
7	Allegory	01	02%

 




Irony

1)       There was going to be a new act in India.

2)       It is said that from 1^st April, there is going to be a New Constitution.

3)       New Constitution would change everything.

4)       New Constitution is going to be like hot water that will destroy these bugs.

5)        I have great news (New Constitution) for you. It is good that it might make your hair grow back.

6)        New Constitution was going to bring in India.

7)       There is going to be a reduction in the number of these thousands of played graduates.

8)        He was going to witness with his own eyes the coming of The New Constitution

9)        "Sahab Bhaadur", where do you want to be taken?

10)     It is we who are the raj (raj means the Kings) now.

11)    There is New Constitution, there is New Constitution

 

Simile

1)       They use to treat him as if he were some lower creation of God, even worse than a dog.

2)       Look at them… don't they seem like leapers? Sometimes dead and rotting.

3)       He (Ustad Mangu) interpreted it all as a certain-raiser for the new constitution.

4)       The new constitution appeared to him to be something bright and full of promise.

5)       It seemed to be the only bit of color he could see.

6)       People moved about as nothing had happened.

7)        He wanted to see the new constitution as clearly as he could see his horse.

8)        Ustad Mangu felt as if they were two guns firing from point-black range.

9)       This seems to enrage Ustad Mangu more.

10)    The new constitution is going to be like hot water which will destroy these bugs.

 

Personification

1)       He had switched on all the lights in his brain to examine carefully the implication of the 1^st April change in India.

2)       The New Constitution gave him the same warm feeling.

3)       He was secure in his belief to let the 1st April come.

4)        He was going to witness with his own eyes, the coming of The New Constitution.

5)       He moved his tanga towards the main shopping center, The Anarkali.

6)       From Anarkali (name of the bazaar based on the name of the woman Anarkali) he moved back to the Mall.

7)       It will cost you five rupees Ustad Mnagu said, and his moustache trembled.

8)       He would cover his moustache and loosen the reins affectionately.

9)       The road lay back under his horse's hooves.

 

Metaphor

1)       Mangu, the tangawala was considered a man of wisdom among his friends.

2)        I can't stand the sight of them. These human monkeys.

3)       God is my (Mangu's) witness.

4)       The New Constitution was going to force, these white mice.

5)       'Toadies', he muttered under his teeth.

6)       He, Mnagu, hated these monkeys (Englishmen/Goras)

7)       This swine I know: Ustad Mnagu said to himself.

8)       It is the same old constitution, you fool; he was told.

 

Idioms

1)       There was nothing under the sun he did not know something about.

2)        Every time I looked at their blighted faces, my blood becomes to boil.

3)        Ustad Mangu was already in the seventh heaven.

4)        He ordered a glass of lassi, drank it down in one gulp, blenched with satisfaction and shouted; the hell with them.

5)        'Toadies', he muttered under his teeth

6)        It was he, who would get it in the neck.

 

Antithesis

1)       He was in the habit of abusing his horse for being slow and was not averse to using the whip, but not today.

2)        The students, walking in the main entrance, were dressed well but somehow, they looked shabby to Ustad Mnagu.

3)        He (gora) tried to ward off the descending blows, but without much luck.

4)        He, Mangu, was foaming at the mouth, but there was strange light in his eyes.

5)       He wanted to smash the bastard's skull in but he knew that if the case went to court, it was he, who would get in the neck.

 

Allegory

That evening when he returned to adda, he looked perturbed. He sat down with his friends, took a long drag on the hookah, removed his Khaki turban and said in a worried voice: it is no doubt the result of a holy man's curse that Hindus and Muslims keep slashing each other up every other day. I have heard it is said by one of my elders that Akbar Badsha once showed disrespect to a saint, who cursed him in these words, "Get out of my sight! Ans, yes your Hindustan will always be plagued by riots and disorder". And you can see for yourselves. Ever since the end of Akbar Badsha's raj, what else has India known but riots!

Discussion

Saadat Hassan Manto is a writer who was born in 1912 during the independence movement in India. He was against British rule and was in favor of the implementation of a new act that gave liberty to the Indian people. At this time, India (Hindustan) was a territory of the British Empire and Asian people were suffering from the colonial period as well as the imperialistic thinking of these British rulers. British rulers deal these Indian people with inferiority and felt themselves to be superior in every action and field of life. This was the biggest reason for Indian people to hate these rulers. The title of the story is ironic because there was no execution of new law practicing which was in the discussion of every person. 

In fact, the writer wants to divert the attention of his reader about the certainty that this trial of the new dictum during the colonization period is only to create credulity in the people of India. But in reality, there is no execution of such an act which experienced independently from this British "Raj." Ironically, writers are unwilling to the slavery situation actually running in Hindustan. The implementation of the new act was only a clamor, only to inaugurate the liberal feelings in people. But there is no actual enactment of such dictum.

The story is also pointing the current situation of the sub-continent in the sense that we are independent by the name only but still slaves of the British Empire. Our language, dressing, and thoughts (in the name of modernity) only depict that we like and follow these European cultures from which to take the liberty. Our ancestors have sacrificed a lot. Policies made by our rulers also portray their condition of slavery till now. Sub-continent is only independent on the map and physically not colonized by the European kingdom but cognitively.

The use of different figures of speech has made the content understandable from the intended intuitions of the writer. Examples taken out from this text also explain the contextual phenomenon of writing. Examples quoted from the text are explained as under.




Irony

It is the most occurring figure of speech in the text. Even the title of the story is also ironically selected which contradicts the situation in the last sentence of the story i-e it is the same old constitution. The examples of irony explain the situations which are actually not happening. Enactment of the new constitution is not actually happening. Actually, there was not any "New" law designed but only minor changes occurred in the previous one. These Ironic statements also explain that policymakers were literally the persons from which Ustad Mangu (public) wants liberty. 




Simile

The first example of the simile depicts the attitude of British people towards Indians and how they treat them as subservient. The second example shows the anger of colonized people towards colonizers and also points out towards their dead moral senses as how they abuse humanity by treating people like animals. Other examples of Simile mostly show the positive attitude and hope of people (tangawalas) towards this new act. Examples 07 and 08 demonstrate towards the consciousness of the protagonist towards this new act which was a contradictory situation to other people's routines.




Personification

The use of personification also depicts the expectations of the public towards this new act that may change the destiny of this abused nation. The new act is personified many times as living things by choice of lexicons like in examples 2, 3, 4 verbs gave, come, and are used. It is represented as a lively solution to all the problems faced by the Indian people. It raises the hopes in people for a better life and motivates them to be happy and hopeful for a better future.




Metaphor

The first example of metaphor shows the Mangu's knowledge and intelligence which were ignored by this British Empire. The second example of metaphor also depicts the arrogance of colonized people towards the empire. The next examples show the arrogance of Indians towards the British from the lexical choice of white mice, monkeys, and swine. In the fifth example toadies are used for the Indian people who are against this new act- a symbol of hope. The last example of metaphor shows the actual meaning of the text that these rulers only make the public fool by announcing the new acts. 




Idioms

The use of idioms in the text shows the exaggerated feelings of the writer towards hope and arrogance as well. The use of idioms makes the text more attractive and helps in developing the interest of the reader towards the written codes of language.

Antithesis

The use of antithesis in the text generally discusses the broad contextual meaning that the author wants to delineate two opposite situations which are occurring at the same time i-e the announcement of the implementation of the new act which creates hope in people but literally not implemented.




Allegory

Only one allegory is used in the text to describe the cause of such miserable conditions for India and Indians. This shows the worries of people in finding the factual cause of such harsh colonialism and imperialism contextually. 

The use of these different figures of the speech made the text more aesthetic and comprehensible for readers. It develops the interest of readers and grasps their attention towards the reading.

Conclusion

This research paper aimed to explore the contextual facts hidden in the text of the short story "The New Constitution" by Saddat Hassan Manto. The piece of fiction has been taken from B.A Course, a short story, explores how the author has used different implicatures (figures of speech) to reveal the facts of society and create awareness among their readers through his work. This study is limited to one fictional piece of literature (short story) for finding the pragmatic meanings and use of figures of speech/ rhetorical devices in the text.

By scrutinizing the whole text of the short story "The New Constitution" by Saddat Hassan Manto, research gives the closure that very clear intended meanings related to imperialism and colonization of British Emperors on India are hidden in the lexicons of the story. The copious use of conventional implicatures indicates the real awareness of the reader towards connotative meanings and also makes the text more interesting and fascinating. The text is full of use of conventional implicatures (rhetorical devices) and their % age has also been checked and noted. 50 sentences have been extracted from the text and the respective frequencies of the implicatures (Figures of Speech) have been noted. The present study meets the determined objectives which have been observed while writing this paper The Title of the story has also been ironically selected which shows the clamor of "New Constitution" but not any factual execution. Ironic sentences have mostly been used which reveal the actual intuition of the text. This irony clearly depicts that such clamor for the application of new acts destroys the expectations of people who, with core feelings, wish to be liberal from the colonialism and imperialism powers.

Many other literary genres like novel, drama and poetry can also be analyzed by using the same framework and can be enhanced by also finding conversational implicatures and some other models as their theoretical frameworks such as Co-text and politeness theory on this same or any other piece of fiction.

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