Semiotic Analysis of Conversations in the Screenplays of " Rooz-e Vaghe eh", " Ayyarnameh" and " Toomar-e Sheikh Sharzin" Written by Bahram Beyzaie

With prevalence of screenplay publication, the conversation’s role in developing the plot of the story and transferring its theme has come to much attention. Keir Elam's functional approach towards discourse, which she calls the theory of applied semantics, is the first coherent theory that explores the elements of conversation (utterance) according to the different systems of signs in drama, in contrast to the other literary genres. Speech act is a unit of applied semantics and forms a part of the conversation analysis of screenplays. The present study intends to find an answer to its main question regarding the role of speech acts in the semiotics of epic conversation writing through
analyzing the speech acts in three screenplays "Rooz-e-Vaqeeh", "Ayyarnameh" and "Toomar-e Sheikh Sharzin". The results show that the five speech acts introduced by Searle are repeated in the same way in the conversations throughout these screenplays. In all three works, commisive and declarative acts are used to develop the story. Declarative act in these screenplays is represented in a special linguistic arrangement to create meaning and the epic style of screenplays. The three main characters aim at changing the outside world; they create epic through using declarative act and making the audience accompany them. The character of Abdullah (Shibli) in
"Rooz-e-Vaqe’eh" declares something about Imam Hussein. In two other screenplays, the characters of Soha and Eidi (Sheikh Sharzin’s disciple) along with the characters of Pahlavan and Sheikh Sharzin take an oath. In these three screenplays, all assertive, verdictive, and locutionary speech acts are used in reaction to a declarative act. Keywords: screenplay, speech act, Rooz-e-Vaqe’eh, Ayyarnameh, Toomar-e Sheikh Sharzin.