Speech Acts (27-32)

27. Sybil’s entering Raylene’s room to apologize for her husband’s actions exemplifies indirect speech. While talking to Raylene directly, Sybil is apologizing for someone else’s actions. This someone else, however, may not even be apologetic because he was consumed with catching the other girl in Mr. Johnson’s room. Basil believes that his actions are justified because he harboured no ill-will towards Raylene.
28. Sybil and Raylene both believe that Basil’s actions in barging into her room and grabbing at her chest were inappropriate and that the situation demands an apology. Sybil feels the need to apologize on behalf of her husband because she feels responsible for him and knows that he will not do so himself. In this regard, Raylene accepts the apology even though Basil has not said a word to her because she understands that his actions were not intentional. However, these felicity conditions are violated when Sybil discovers Basil hiding in Raylene’s dresser; he is caught in yet another unintentionally inappropriate act. This time though, Raylene feels less sympathetic and declares that she “was in the bathroom” when he entered. In saying thus, she highlights her shock at Basil’s inappropriateness.
29. In the scene where the psychiatrist Dr. Abbott asks Basil about how he and his wife “manage” to take vacation off while running a hotel, Basil fails to hear most of the question and only hears him ask: “how do you and your wife manage it?” Based on negative assumptions of psychiatry being entirely focused on sex, Basil believes this question pertains to how often he and his wife have sex and thus finds it rude.
    Both the question and the answer to this question create comedic effect because of the two speakers’ farcical misinterpretations. Dr. Abbott’s intended perlocutionary force was of simply to ask a question about how Basil and Sybil manage to take time off. The actual perlocutionary force, as interpreted by Basil, was how often Basil and his wife have sex. This of course angers Basil because Dr. Abbott’s assumption seems insulting when accompanied by the estimate of “once a year.” This may be a reasonable frequency for vacation taking, but Basil thinks that it pertains to his sex life. As a result, his positive face is threatened. He feels that remark was rather insulting and feels obligated to save face and to make up the frequency of how often he has sex. His answer of “two or three times a week” does not seem suited to Dr. Abbott’s question because it is unlikely for anyone to go on vacation that often. This misinterpretation and misunderstanding, plus the exaggeration that results from both parties, render humour.
30. Basil constantly uses fillers in his speech, especially in awkward situations. They are necessitated because he frequently needs to explain his behaviour impromptu and to make up stories. Most of the time, Basil’s addresses seemingly discount the fillers. However, the audience are drawn to the fillers because they are aware that narrative dialogue is planned, unlike everyday dialogue. The fillers create comedic effect because the audience knows that Basil is or will be making some effort to lie, usually to cover up another lie. For example, he often uses the filler “oh hallo dear” to pretend that nothing is amiss and to divert attention from yet another strange situation in which he finds himself.
31. In the episode, Johnson makes the following two utterances:
    - First, when requesting champagne:
    

    "Um ... I was wondering if I could get ... um ... a drink now."
    

    - And a bit later when Basil arrives with the champagne:
    

    "On the table, please. Thank you."
    

    Both utterances are imperatives. He is commanding Basil to do something.
    The second utterance is a direct speech act because the imperative can be explicitly seen and interpreted in the utterance.
    
    The intended perlocutionary effect for the first is actually a request for Basil to leave. Johnson ordered Basil to get him champagne so that he would not be caught having a guest in his single room. The actual perlocutionary effect did cause Basil to get him champagne, if only to gain entry into the room. The intended perlocutionary effect of the second utterance coincides with the actual effect. The illocutionary force and the perlocutionary force of “On the table, please” are also identical.
32. The exchange begins with Basil is a defensive position. He uses terms of address like "dear" to try to placate Sybil. It is obvious that Sybil is in power in this situation as she calls Basil an "aging brigantine stick insect" without any repercussions from Basil. This kind of brazen insult shows that Sybil is entirely in power as the accuser.
    This shifts very quickly however as Basil begins to truly defend himself. He tells Sybil to "shut up" and calls her a "rancorous quafid old sow". This insult also goes without defense and shows that, at least temporarily, Basil is in power. Of course this is made humorous by the final minutes of the episode where he is shown to be wrong. His buffoonery creates a significant foregrounding of his seriousness with Sybil and the terms he uses to address her.