THE ANALYSIS OF SPEECH ACT USED BY

SHOPKEEPERS AND CUSTOMERS DURING

SELLING AND BUYING ACTIVITIES

(PROPOSAL)

BY:

I GEDE NIKA WIRAWAN

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

When some one said something to us, we have to know what that person mean or what is

the exact message that contains in her or his utters. Some utters contains meaning more that it is

actually utters. For the example, if some one asked you, “Do you know where the station is?”

that question has a meaning more than it looks like. It is a simple yes no question but it need

something that we should to do for that person. If one person ask that question, it is mean that he

or she want us to explain her or him they way to station. It also contains the information that the

speaker does not know where the station is, so that he or she wants us to explain the way to the

station. Some utterance like that belongs to what we call speech act. “Actions performed via

utterances are generally called speech acts.” (Yule, 2000:47).

The use of speech act in our daily conversation could not be avoided since all linguistic

communication involves linguistic acts. One of the used of the speech act that is very interesting

to be studied is when the speech act used by the shopkeepers since the shopkeepers communicate

with the customers in their activity selling the goods in which the activity of bargaining happen

among the shopkeepers and the customers. In selling the goods in the high price, of course the

shopkeepers will use certain speech act that may be different with the common people used in

their daily communication. Meanwhile, the shopkeepers must face the customers who bargain

their goods in order to get the cheapest price. In this activity there may be such kind of speech

act that dominate the communication among the customer and the shopkeepers to get the price

that agreed among the buyers and the shopkeepers.

The study of speech act actually had been done by some people. One of them is Carlos L.

Bernal (2007). In his paper which is entitled “Speech Act Analysis of Judicial Decisions”. He

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explain about a judicial decision the judge says something about the law, the facts of the case,

and the consequences that the legal system imputes to the parties, in the most cases, the plaintiff

or the prosecutor and the defendant. He emphasis the research on the way the judge saying the

things he does bring it about that he has adjudicated a case and the kind of speech acts, or more

precisely, illocutionary acts, does he perform. Besides, he also stress on their relation to the

adjudication.

The study of speech act is very crucial in order to avoid the misunderstanding among the

speakers. We need to distinguish the intention of the speaker to the hearers. Besides, this study in

this research is focusing in the speech act used by the shopkeepers and the customer when the

bargaining activity among them will happen. They may used certain speech act that can lead

them to the misunderstanding both of them if they can not interpret their speaker utterance

correctly since we know that some speech act is performed in a given utterance of the sentence,

for a speaker may mean more than what he actually said, which the interpretation itself will

depend on the context where the utterance is said. Furthermore, there are actually many

shopkeepers that could not speak English properly, so, their way in using speech act without

create the customer upset with their way of spoken English is very interesting to learn.

In this research the type of the speech act that often used by the shopkeepers will be find

out. Some of the certain type of speech act will dominate the conversation among the speaker

since there will be bargaining activity that will happen among them. Besides, the way of the

speaker in their conversation will also be analyzed in order to know how the speaker produced

their speech act in that sort of circumstance. Next, the reason of the used of that kind of speech

act will be also identify that could give us the explanation why certain speech act will dominate

the conversation.

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1.2 Problem of the Study

According to the background above, there are three problems that could be formulated.

They are:

1. What is the type of speech act used by the shopkeepers and customers in their

communication?

2. How do the shopkeepers and customers use the speech act in their face to face

conversation?

3. Why the shopkeepers and customers used particular types of speech act during their

interaction?

1.3 Aims of Study

In doing this research, there are many aims that want to be achieved, i.e.:

1. To identify the type of speech act used by the shopkeepers and customers in their

communication.

2. To analyze the way of the shopkeepers and customers when they use the speech act in

their face to face conversation.

3. To find out the reason of the used of particular types of speech act by the shopkeepers

and the customer during their interaction.

1.4 Scope of discussion

1. The type of speech act used by the shopkeepers and customers in their communication.

2. The way of the shopkeepers and customers when they use the speech act in their face to

face conversation.

3. The reason of the used of particular types of speech act by the shopkeepers and the

customer during their interaction.

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1.5 Research Method

1.5.1. Method

In producing a pierce of scientific writing, a study must use a methodology. Methodology

means a system of procedure and the technique of research or the process, principles and the

procedure to approach the problems and to find the solution or the answers. It is require in order

ensuring the smoothes of the process and the maximum result, which needs to be achieved in the

research. The investigation conducted within this study will be adopted the field research

method, in which will be observed in the conversations. The methodology of doing research is

the application of systematic steps, which will be used qualitative method. It is the method that to

find out the answer of the problems and information normatively. Qualitative method is chosen

as a method that is used in this research because the problem that is discussed in this research is

more showing the quality of the research result. Some analysis in this research such as finding

the reason and the way of the shopkeepers and the customer use speech act in their interaction

will need to be analyzed by Qualitative method. Besides, quantitative method will also be used

as one of the methods that will be required in this research. It is very important to count the

number of the speech act that will appeared during the interaction goes on. This number will give

us information which sort of speech act that is very often to be used during the interaction among

them. Both customers and the shopkeeper will also use different type of speech act where the

production of every type of speech act that they produce will be different. In this research, there

are three steps that are going to be followed. They are data source, data collection, and data

analysis.

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1.5.2 Data source

Data source is the source which will be taken from which the data is obtain for the sake

of the study. Actually, there are three kinds of data sources that are available. They are primary

sources, secondary sources, and territory sources. But, in this study, the data sources that are

used by the writer are primary data from the macro linguistic. The primary data is the data that

we can get directly from the source, in this case is the shopkeeper and customers. The

shopkeepers that will be choose as the data are the shopkeepers in the area of Sanur and Kuta

District. The shopkeepers in Sanur and Kuta are chosen as the data source in this research

because both Sanur and Kuta is district in Bali that is very famous for its tourism industry. Of

course because of the growing of the tourism industry up in theses district there are many senior

shopkeepers that had been experienced in selling their product to the customers. Most of the

customers are foreigner, so they use English in their interaction although there are also many

local customers that bargain the products, but most of the customers in these two districts are

foreigners that make these two districts as the appropriate data source that could be analyzed in

this research.

There are ten shopkeepers and their customers in Sanur and Kuta that their conversation

will be taken as the sample. It was chosen by the technique of purposive sampling. It was one of

the techniques in choosing the data by Sampling Technique. Sampling technique is the technique

of choosing the data to take the sample in the large number. Meanwhile, purposive sampling is

one of the sampling techniques that choose the sample through the particular characteristic or

feature which is considered to have the relationship with the feature and characteristics of the

previous sample. Purposive sampling could also means that there must be a strong purpose in

choosing the data that is needed. It means that there is a certain purpose of the researcher that

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makes his or her choose those samples. This technique is choosing to determine the data source

because the research will need some shopkeepers that sell different kinds of products. In Sanur

and Kuta there are many shopkeepers that sell their product different with the other ones. For the

example there are some shopkeepers that just sell souvenir, and another one sell food and

beverage. So, in this research the diversity of the shopkeepers will make the analysis more

universal.

1.5.3. Method and Technique of Collecting Data

Collecting the data is an essential step in every research because the data are objects of

the analysis. The process of collecting the data must be systematically done in order to get

accurate data. In order to get the necessary data and information as the main topic of discussion,

the method that is used in collecting the data is observation method.

Practically, the process that had to be done in order to gather the data is explain as follows:

1. The data will be collected through recording. The conversation between the shopkeepers

and the customers when the activity of selling and buying happens is recorded. The

recording of this activity is in the form of video because the research needs not just the

speech act that appeared but also the way of the speakers in selling their goods. Besides,

the reason of their habit that used some kind of speech act will also be able to be analyzed

through the video itself.

2. The conversations that had been recorded are transferred to the written form in order to

make the data easier to be analyzed because the analysis in this written will need the

script of the conversation in order to make the reader more understand about the speech

act that will appeared. Another that, the written form of the conversation will also enable

the reader to understand the classification of every single speech act that appeared in the

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conversation because every speech act that appeared in the conversation will be classified

to its classification. This classification will give the reader information about the type of

the speech act that will dominate the conversation.

3. After the conversations between the shopkeepers and the customers are recorded, the

speech acts that appeared in the conversations are identified. The identification will

depend on the theory that is used in this research. That is the theory of speech act that is

proposed by Searle (1979). According to Searle, there are five types of functions of

speech act. They are Assertives, Directives, Commisives, Expressives, and Declarations.

Actually, there are many speech acts that may appear in the conversation but in choosing

the most appropriate act will be based on the theory that is used in this research. It means

that not all of the speech act that appeared during the interaction will be analyzed but

some of them will be choose that is belong to Assertives, Directives, Commisives,

Expressives, and Declarations.

4. After indentifying the speech acts that appeared in the conversation, they are collected

and listed in the table. They will be classified according to their classification that had

been proposed by Searle.

1.5.4 Method and Technique of Analyzing Data

The data collected were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative method is a

method that is used in the research that focuses on quality rather than quantity. This research

used this sort of analyzing method because all of the problems that had been proposed above

need to be analyzed descriptively. The type of speech act, the way of the speaker in producing

their speech act and the reason why they could used certain speech act more frequently will be

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analyzed by this kind of method. They need word circuitry that will explain us about the topic

that is discussed descriptively that could enable the reader understand the analysis.

In the other hand quantitative method is a method that is used in the research that focuses

on quantity rather than quality. This research will use this method because the analysis will need

the quantity of every speech act that appeared in the conversation. This information will give us

which type of speech act that will appeared frequently in the conversation. Meanwhile, this

phenomenon will analyze descriptively. So, there will be the combination of the two methods in

this research that could give the reader obvious detail about this topic.

The first problem in this research that is the types of speech act that is used by the

shopkeepers and customers in their communication with the customers will be analyzed

according to the theory that had been proposed by Searle. The theory provides the explanation

about the classification of every speech act. The data will be classified quantitatively. In this

case, the data will be served in the form of table. Every type of speech act will have its own

column that could give us information about the amount of every type of speech act that

appeared during the interaction between the shopkeepers and the customers. This analysis will

also give us the information about the type of speech act that appeared during the interaction. In

the research, the description about the classification will also be served in order to give the

reader information about the reason of every pieces of conversation could belong to certain type

of speech act. Besides, descriptive method is also important in determining the intention of the

speaker, or in the other word, descriptive method is used to interpret the speech act that appeared

during the interaction.

The second problem, about they way of the speaker in producing the speech at that they

use in their conversation will be analyzed qualitatively. The analysis will be based on the finding

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in the field where the conversation that they held will give us the way they produce speech act.

Besides, the conversation between the shopkeepers and the customers will also recorded by

video tape, so, hopefully it can help the analysis. In this case, the speaker may use certain gesture

in producing some speech act. The performance of the production of speech act that appeared

during the interaction between the shopkeepers and the customers may appeared in the same time

they use certain gesture and it can give us the exact interpretation of speech act that appeared

since we know that the interpretation of speech act could depend on the context of the situation

when that speech act is said.

The third problem that is the reason of the speaker using certain kind of speech act during

the conversation goes on will be analyzed based on the back ground of the speakers. It means

that in attracting the customers the shopkeepers may use certain speech act. In the bargaining

activity the position between the customers and the shopkeepers may as same as badminton

player, where they smash each other to get the most appropriate price that they want. So, in

producing their speech act they may have some reasons that may related to get the fix price that

they will agreed each other.

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2. Review of Literature, Concepts, and Theoretical Framework

2.1. Review of Literature

The study of speech act actually had been done by some researchers. One of them is the

graduate paper from Wiweka (2008). In her paper titled “Indirect Illocutions in Notting Hill.”

She analyzed the type of the indirect Illocution that is immerged in the movie “Notting Hill”.

Besides, she also gives the reader about the context of the situation where the utterance is said by

the speaker. She analyzed the context of the situation in the movie in order to interpret the exact

interpretation of every speech act that appeared in the movie. That is because one utterance could

consist of more than one type of act. This make the paper is worth reading because it gives the

reader clear explanation about the indirect illocution and its interpretation.

The data was selected randomly by documentation method. The data was obtain from the

movie entitle “Notting Hill” in which the indirect illocutions are taken from the movie’s

dialogue. The data was analyzed using the theory that is proposed by Searle that is about the

functions of speech act. Meanwhile the context of situation where the utterance is uttered is

analyzed using the Hymes’ Mode of Speaking. The data was presented formally.

From the study that is held by she held about indirect Illocution in the movie “Notting

Hill”, she conclude that there are four function of indirect illocutionary act that is performed in

the movie, i.e. assertive, directives, commissives, and expressive. Besides, each function of

illocutionary acts which is indirectly perform bring a totally different intended meaning from

what they are literally perform.

The different between this study and the study that is held by Wiweka is that in the data

that is analyzed in this study is acquired from the shopkeepers and the customers that make

this research need observation. In the other hand Wiweka’s research just analyzed the movie that

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is not need an observation. Wiweka’s analysis is just focusing on the interpretation of the

illocution based on the context of the situation meanwhile in this research the used of the speech

act will be emphasis such as the reason and how they produced speech act.

The next one is the graduate paper that is made by Mahendra (2009). In her paper entitled

“The Analysis of Illocutionary Acts Found in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” she analyzed

the illocutionary act in the story using the theory of speech act that is proposed by Bach and

Harnish, especially for its categorization and its meaning. Besides, the theory of the context of

situation is also used in the study that is proposed by Hymes. The last theory that she used is the

theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage. Actually, she used three sorts of theories because

each problem in her paper was analyzed by one theory.

The first theory that is proposed by Bach and Harnish is used to analyzed the first

problem of her study that is about the types of illocutionary acts that occur in the Children story

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The second theory, the theory of context of situation that is

proposed by Hymes is used to analyze the second problem of the study that is about the function

of the illocutionary acts that were found in the story. Meanwhile the metalanguage theory by

Wierzbicka is used to analyze the explication of the function of the illocutionary acts that occur

in the children story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The data that is used during the analysis were taken from the children story entitled

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that is written by Lewis Carrol (1832-1898) which is consists

of 12 chapters and 152 pages. The method that she used in her research is documentation

method. So, there were no respondents or informants involved in this study since the data was

taken from the book. Meanwhile, the technique used in the study is taking notes technique.

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Based on her analysis there are several points that could be conclude related to the

problem that had been proposed. The first one is all types of illocutionary acts that is proposed

by Bach and Harnish were found in the children story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. They

are constantives, directives, commissives, and acknowledgment. Constantives is usually used in

which the speaker express his belief of something to the hearer, directives express the speaker’s

desire and become the reason for the hearer to act, commisive usually is used when the speaker

obligates oneself to carry out the action, and the last is acknowledgments are used in which the

speaker express his attitude toward some earlier action.

The second point is that there are several functions of each type of illocutionary acts that

were found in the story. The first one is constantives illocutionary acts. There were also two

functions found, i.e. protesting, and denying. Second is directives illocutionary act. This type

consists of requesting, forbidding, and warning. One function of commissive illocutionary acts

was found namely offering. And there were three functions of acknowledgments illocutionary

act found. They are greeting, apologizing and thanking.

The last point is that the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage has important role in

defining the meaning of the illocutionary acts functions. By using this theory and also the

concept which is proposed by Wierzbicka, the meaning of the word can be understood well. This

theory also can be used to differentiate the words which have similar meaning.

The written that is made by Mahendra has three combination theory during the analysis

meanwhile in the analysis of this research just use one theory to analyzed the entire problem that

had been proposed. Besides, her research belongs to documentation method and this research

belongs to observation method. It needs observation. During the observation, the involvement of

the respondent and informant is necessary. However, this research is still crucial to read since

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there is something unique about this research. It used the theory of Natural Semantic

Matalanguage by Wierzbicka that can be used to differentiate the words which have similar

meaning.

The next research that had been done by Sekarini (2006) is entitled “The Analysis of

Directive Acts in Novel ‘Jane Eyre’” discuss about types of directive acts and their meaning in

the novel ‘Jane Eyre’. Directive acts express the speaker’s attitude toward some prospective

action by the hearer and his attention that is his utterance, or the attitude it expresses, be taken as

reason for the hearer to act. Types of directive acts and their meanings are very influenced by

context of situation. One utterance may have different meaning under a certain circumstance.

This study was aimed to analyze types Directive Illocutionary Acts and their meanings within the

context of situation (which abbreviated in SPEAKING) in novel ‘Jane Eyre’.

In collecting the data, this study used library research method. Firsly, the novel ‘Jane

Eyre’ was thoroughly read, and then dialogues which containing directive illocutionary acts were

randomly taken and listed by using note-taking technique. In order to have deeper analysis,

sixteen appropriate data were selected as the corpus. Preceding the analysis, the selected data

were presented in the form of dialogue, and then descriptively and qualitatively analyzed based

on the theoretical frame work.

The analysis of the data was mainly focused on the theory of directive acts proposed by

Bach and Harnish (1979), who are mostly influenced by Searle’s conception; the theory of

affective meaning by Leech (1974); and the theory of Ethnography Communication (abbreviated

in SPEAKING) by Hymes (1974). Other speech acts theories such as the theory of proposed by

Austin (1962), Searle (1969,1979), Leech (1983), and Allan (1986) also supported in analyzing

the data in this study.

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The analysis came forward with two conclutions. They were types of directives acts and

the meanings of directives acts. Firstly, after determining the utterance under the contex of

situation proposed by Hymes (1974), there were six kinds of directive illocutionary acts could be

found in the novel ‘Jane Eyre’. Those were requestives, questions, requirements, prohibitive,

permissives, and advisories. Secondly, the affective eaning of directive acts through the

utterances used paradigm cases are ‘request’, ‘ask’, ‘order/command’, ‘forbid’, ‘allow’, and

‘suggest’.

One of the journals that had been reviewed is the journal that had been written by Peter

G. Broad (1988). This journal entitled “They Finally Got the Joke! A Speech-Act Approach to

Helping Students Respond Appropriately to Foreign Language Texts.” This journal describes the

use of speech act to enhance the student understanding of the foreign language through the

application of speech act approach. This written convinces us that the problem that always

encountered in the class such as the linguistics variation in the foreign language that make the

student lack of the understanding about the language itself.

The theory of “implicatures” that is proposed by H. P. Grice help the researcher in

finding the result of the research. This theory offers a way to get at the intentions for reader

response as encoded in the text. Grice’s theory, along with other developments in the theory of

perlocutions, makes predictions about how readers are supposed to respond to something in the

text, whether or not they do respond that way.

In the written, author explain us that Once students have learned to think of literary

characters as pure language constructs, they are better able to differentiate between such things

as story and discourse or plot and theme. Beginning readers can see that the question is not about

the autonomy of characters but about the nature of existence. Humor in literary works, especially

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when it relies on wordplay and detailed cultural knowledge, is probably one of the hardest

features for students to appreciate. Here, too, though, a simple introduction to elements of

speech-act theory can be useful.

This written also gives the reader a way to make the students interesting to read a book in

the foreign language. For the example In Lazarillo de Tormes, the sixteenth-century originator of

the picaresque genre, examples of language play abound. The following instance is taken from

the episode of the squire where Lázaro is trying to save his master from starvation by helping

him overcome his pride. The squire has agreed to try some of the pig’s knuckle and is clearly

enjoying it.

Many students may not recognize the reference to the old saying “Hunger is the best

sauce.” But students familiar with Grice’s maxims will at least be aware of something implied

beyond the text and know to seek it out. Lázaro apparently violates the first maxim of quantity

—“Make your contribution as informative as is required” (45)—when he refers to a better sauce

without any further explanation. The clear implication is that something further is to be

understood, in this instance one of the central motifs of the work. While an intellectual

awareness of what is happening does not produce the spontaneous laughter that the text is aiming

at, it does at least give the student a greater sense of participation and a basis for enjoying or

appreciating the text.

The conclusion of this written is that the enhancement of enjoyment and appreciation is

probably the most important contribution speech-act act theory has to make in the teaching of

literature to undergraduate foreign language students. If students can be taught to recognize that

there is more to the texts they are asked to read than a simple story line, their involvement with

the process becomes much more complete and much less an exercise in frustration and a matter

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of trying to figure out “what the teacher wants me to see.” In the end speech-act theory can

enable them to read any text more intelligently and to think critically about what they are doing.

This written is very important to read because it gives us a picture about the application

of the speech act theory that could be applied in the teaching learning activity that could enhance

student’s language understanding. This application also proves us that the theory of linguistic

does not just use to analyze the language itself but also could be implemented in the field that

could bring advantages for the user.

The difference between this research and the written above is that this research is

focusing of the application of the theory of speech act identifying the speech act that is used by

the shopkeepers and the customers. Meanwhile, the written above give us the explanation about

the application of the theory of speech act in improving student’s language understanding.

The other journal that also writes about speech act is the journal that is written by

Jacqueline Nastri entitled “The Construction of Away Massages: A Speech act Analysis”. This

study investigated the extent to which these communicative goals are reflected in the language

structure of away messages, by examining the speech acts performed through the production of

483 away messages crafted by 44 participants. The messages were also analyzed for the use of

non-standard orthography and humor. The results show that the messages were constructed

primarily with assertives, followed by 17xpressive and commissives, but rarely with directives,

confirming that away messages tend to reflect both informational and entertainment goals. Non-

standard orthography and humor were also common, although experienced participants used

fewer non-standard forms than less experienced participants. These findings are discussed in

terms of computer-mediated discourse and online self-presentation.

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The theory that is used during the analysis is the theory of speech act that is proposed by

Searle. According to Searle’s basic taxonomy, there are five main categories of speech acts. (1)

Assertive acts are phrases employed to form in the addressee a specific idea, proposition, or

belief (e.g., “Out for a while,” “We won the game!”). With assertives speakers commit

themselves to something being true. (2) Directive speech acts focus on calling the addressee to

action, yet do not require the sender to reciprocate any action of his own (e.g., “call the cell”). (3)

Commissive speech acts relate to committing oneself to a future action. Note that in contrast to

assertive speech acts, commissives are not based in current facts (e.g., “Going to the gym then

class”). (4) Expressive speech acts are based on psychological states and relate to the expression

of feelings or emotions to the receiver (e.g., “It’s been a sad day”). Expressive speech acts reflect

affective reactions to a situation, and therefore are not necessarily based on assertions of fact.

The fifth category of speech acts is declaratives; according to Clark (1996), this category can be

broken down into two subsets, the (5) effective speech acts and (6) verdictive speech acts.

This study used a sample population consisting of 49 undergraduate students who were

recruited in Spring 2004 from a communication class at a large northeastern university in the

United States. The sample consisted of 29 females (59.1%) and 20 males (40.9%), who ranged in

age from 18 to 22 years old. Students in the study were given course credit for their participation.

Five participants did not produce any away messages; thus the final sample size was reduced to

44 participants.

The findings suggest that participants made active use of away messages for self-

presentation purposes (Goffman, 1956), a social function that was not necessarily a part of their

original design (i.e., indicating absence from computer). Much as we do with clothes, the IM

users in this study tended to change their away messages on a daily basis. The quantitatively

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defined speech act structure (i.e., assertives, commissives, and 19xpressive) reported in the

present study, which is assumed to reveal the intentions of the speakers (Searle, 1979),

complements the qualitative approach of Baron, et al. (2005), supporting the view that

informational and entertainment motivations underlie the construction of away messages.

Participants also displayed their personal tastes by using humor and various forms of quotation in

many of their away messages. These results paint an overall picture of active and purposeful

impression management by means of away messages. This is congruent with Baron, et al.’s

(2005) proposition that away messaging is “onstage” or overt impression management behavior.

It appears that away messages are part of the modern expressive equipment students at U.S.

universities use to perform social roles (Goffman, 1956), at least in front of online buddies.

This study is worthwhile to be read because the research is the analysis of the speech act

in the field of communication technology that could bring us knowledgment about the theory of

speech act that could be used in analyzing the data that is related to the field of communication

technology. The research also gives us the picture that not all of the types of speech act that is

proposed by Searle appeared in the communication. Just few of them appeared during the

analysis such as, assertives, directives, and commissives.

The different side between the written above and this written is that this written not just

classified the speech act that appeared during the communication between the speaker and the

customer but also give the reason why just few of the types of the speech act dominates the

conversation. Nevertheless, the resemble of this research and the written above is that both of

them classified every speech act that appeared during the classification to its classification.

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2.2 Concepts

Speech acts are simply the things people do through language. For example, apologizing,

complaining, instructing, agreeing, and warning. The term ‘speech act’ was coined by the

linguistic philosopher Austin and developed by another philosopher Searle. They maintained

that, when using language, we do not only make propositional statements about objects, entities,

states of affairs and so on, but we also fulfill functions such as requesting, denying, introducing,

apologizing etc. identifying speech act being performed by particular utterance can only be done

if we know the context in which the utterance take place. The function intention of speaker is

known as the illocutionary force.

There are three component of speech act that are simultaneously performed when saying

something.

1. Locutionary act: saying something (the locution) with a certain meaning in traditional

sense. This may not constitute a speech act.

2. Illocutionary act: the performance of an act in saying something (vs. the general act of

saying something). The illocutionary force is the speaker’s intent. A true ‘speech act’.

e.g. informing, ordering, warning, undertaking.

3.  Perlocutionary acts: Speech acts that have an effect on the feelings, thoughts or actions

of either the speaker or the listener. In other words, they seek to change minds!

Unlike locutionary acts, perlocutionary acts are external to the performance.

e.g., inspiring, persuading or deterring.

Two types of locutionary act are utterance acts, where something is said (or a sound is made)

and which may not have any meaning, and propositional acts, where a particular reference is

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made. (note: acts are sometimes also called utterances – thus a perlocutionary act is the same a

perlocutionary utterance).

2.3 Theoretical Framework

The theory that will be use in the analysis is the theory that is proposed by Searle. Searle

(1976) proposed that there are just five basic kinds of action that one can perform in speaking.

According to Searle’s basic taxonomy, there are five main categories of speech acts. (1)

Assertive acts are phrases employed to form in the addressee a specific idea, proposition, or

belief (e.g., “Out for a while,” “We won the game!”). With assertives speakers commit

themselves to something being true. (2) Directive speech acts focus on calling the addressee to

action, yet do not require the sender to reciprocate any action of his own (e.g., “call the cell”). (3)

Commissive speech acts relate to committing oneself to a future action. Note that in contrast to

assertive speech acts, commissives are not based in current facts (e.g., “Going to the gym then

class”). (4) Expressive speech acts are based on psychological states and relate to the expression

of feelings or emotions to the receiver (e.g., “It’s been a sad day”). Expressive speech acts reflect

affective reactions to a situation, and therefore are not necessarily based on assertions of fact.

The fifth category of speech acts is declaratives; according to Clark (1996), this category

can be broken down into two subsets, the (5) effective speech acts and (6) verdictive speech acts.

Clark maintains that although effective and verdictive speech acts are related, they are also

subtly unique. Both the effective and verdictive speech acts require the sender to be in power

within an institution. The effective speech act refers to those utterances that are able to change an

institutional state of affairs, such as a minister baptizing a baby. Verdictive acts also refer to

changing a state of affairs, but unlike effectives they refer to judgments made by persons vested

with certain institutional power, such as an umpire calling a pitch a strike even if it was outside

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the strike zone. Although in reality the pitch might have been a ball, with the utterance “Strike!”

the umpire creates a different truth that must be upheld. These speech acts are illustrated in Table

1.

Speech act Properties of speech act Examples

AssertiveStatements of fact, getting the viewer

to form or attend to a belief

“At the library,” “I have class until 5

today,” “out”

Directive

The sender uses this to get the

receiver to do something (i.e. a

command)

“call me,” “pick me up at 8,” “call

the cell”

Commissiv

e

The sender commits himself to do

something

“be back at 5,” “I’ll meet you at 7,”

“bars all night”

ExpressiveSender expresses feeling towards the

receiver

“I hate this weather,” “School

sucks,” “I love Fridays”

EffectiveTo change an institutional state of

affairs

“You’re fired,” “Play ball,”

“Chapter at 7 or you’re fined”

VerdictiveTo determine what is the case in an

institution“I find him innocent,” “strike”

QuotationThe message is not originally

produced by the sender

“Do or do not, there is no try,” “And

she’s buying a stairway to heaven”

Table 1. Coding scheme for analyzing speech acts and quotations in away messages

Note. The examples were selected from the current away message corpus.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Levinson, C. Stephen. 1987. Pragmatics. London: Cambridge University Press.

Mahendra, Pritasari. 2009. The Analysis of Illocutionary Acts Found in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Under Graduated Thesis). Denpasar: Faculty of Letters Udayana University.

Schiffrin, Deborah. 1994. Approaches to Discourse. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers.

Searle, J.R. 1969. Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sekarini, Wayan. 2006. The Analysis of Indirective Acts in novel “Jane Eyre” (Under Graduated Thesis). Denpasar: Faculty of Letters Udayana University.

Wiweka. 2008. Indirect Illocutions in Nothing Hill (Under Graduated Thesis). Denpasar: Faculty of Letters Udayana University.

Yule, George. 2000. Pragmatics. London: Oxford University Press.

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