Language Acts: How Words Make Things Happen

Language Acts: How Words Make Things Happen

by Elisabeth M. Mira Kyle

BGS, Simon Fraser University, 2009

Extended Essays Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Elisabeth M. Mira Kyle 2014 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Fall 2014

Approval

Name: Degree: Title: Supervisory Committee:

Elisabeth Kyle

Master of Arts

Language Acts: How Words Make Things Happen

Chair: Jerry Zaslove Professor Emeritus, Humanities and English Departments

Stephen Duguid

Senior Supervisor Professor, Department of Humanities and Graduate Liberal Studies Program

Sasha Colby

Supervisor Associate Professor, World Literature and Graduate Liberal Studies Program

Peter Dickinson

External Examiner Professor, English Department

Date Defended/Approved: November 26, 2014 ii

Partial Copyright Licence

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Abstract

This work addresses the performative nature of language: the connection between language and performance; in essence, it will address how words make things happen. The connection between language and performance is explored in two very distinct ways via extended essays. The first essay looks at the connection between language performance and ecosystems through the lens of endangered languages and their relationship to ecosystem health and the world's current wave of species extinction, and argues that language may have a biological role in the natural world. The second essay explores the idea of "language acts" through the academic methods of performance studies and research-creation. In this essay, a biographical play and dramatization of writer Emily Bront? contends that Bront? was a proto-modernist artist. This work also serves as an exercise, a language act, in making connections and in making meaning, through the lens of the GLS experience. Keywords: Biocultural Diversity; Endangered Languages; Species; Research-

Creation; Performance Studies; Biography

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Dedication

To my husband, David, and my daughter, Miranda, whose support has been unwavering since I started my academic journey in 2006 with an undergraduate degree. They always believed I could do it, even when I didn't think I could. They have done more than their share of housework, laundry, meal preparation and dog walking so I could have this experience. Thank you, and, at least for now, the lecture hall is closed. Last, but not least, to my constant canine companion, Belle, who sat loyally, patiently, reassuringly and, I like to think, encouragingly through every word...

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