The Application of the Theory of Speech Acts in the Theological Discourse of Imam Riḍā (as)

The theory of speech act, one of the components of applied linguistics, entered the field of applied linguistics with the slogan of the activism of linguistic parts of discourse. According to Austin, speaking in a specific language brings regular action in a specific context, so that changes in the behavior and thoughts of language users are manifested after verbal communication. In this sense, the application of this theory in the field of discourse phenomena caused by linguistic communication leads to a deeper and more accurate understanding of texts, especially religious texts. This research has analyzed the theology discourse of Imam Riḍā (as) with descriptive and analytical method and with the approach of language usage based on John Searle's model in discourse act. Therefore, it first mentioned the definitions of the discourse act theory with the opinions of Austin and Searle, and then it analyzed the parts of Imam's (as) speeches about Theology. The results of this research show that Imam Riḍā (as) paid attention to the choice of speech structure and parts of speech, the choice of propositions and the use of words and phrases to the listener's conditions in his discourse on theology which plays an important role in the direction of speech acts. On the other hand, the act of expressive speech has the highest frequency among other speech acts such as persuasive and emotional. This shows that Imam Riḍā (as) found his listeners uninformed and tried to make them aware in the form of interpretation and explanation. However, the implicit verb in the speech of declarative actions also brings a kind of persuasion to the audience.