Genre Analysis of Suicide Notes in Pakistani TV Dramas: Unraveling Rhetorical Patterns and Communicative Intentions

Abstract

This research explores the rhetorical structures of moves and steps in the suicide notes of Pakistani fictional dramas. Six suicide notes have been analyzed by using Swales’ model of genre analysis (Swales, 1990) and Bhatia’s model of genre analysis (Bhatia, 1993). In this regard, six suicide notes have been taken from Pakistani TV dramas which are: Mohabbat tum se nafrat hai’, ‘Jo chaly to Jaan se guzar gaye’, ‘Hum Kahan k Sachy thy’, ‘Qaid’, ‘Dunk’ and ‘Log kya kahain gy ’from different tv channels. A mixed-method approach has been used in this study. A qualitative approach has been utilized for the identification of moves/steps in the suicide notes and to find out the communicative purposes of the suicide notes. Quantitative analysis has been carried out by using LIWC software to explore the communicative functions of suicide notes. This study found four obligatory moves in the sample of the study. These include addressing the recipient, providing an explanation, expressing directions and wishes, and describing or announcing death. These exist in the sample of the study with the frequency of 60%, 50%, 50%, and 50% respectively. Moreover, three optional moves have also been found including apologizing, describing one’s state at death and after death, and bidding farewell and these moves occur with the frequency of 20%, 10%, and 40% respectively. This study will be beneficial for future researchers for sentimental analysis of suicide notes which can be implemented on the larger corpus of original suicide notes to get more valid results.