SPEECH ACTS OF PRAGMATICS

COMPLIED BY: BENNY J.W. HUTABARAT CHOMS GARY SIBARANI EKA SURYA FITRIANI MARLIN SINAMBELA ENGLISH EDUCATION 2008

LANGUAGES AND ARTS FACULTY STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN 2012

SPEECH ACTS
Speech acts is defined as the Actions performed via utterances (e.g., apology, complaint,

compliment, invitation, promise, request). In speech acts, there is IFID (Illocutionary Force Indicating Device) and felicity condition. An IFID (Illocutionary Force Indicating Device) is an expression with a slot for a verb that explicitly names the illocutionary act being performed. IFID discusses the important point of speech act called performative verb. Beside, Felicity condition is to be expected or appropriate circumstances for a speech act to be recognized as intended. Felicity condition divided into five condition: general conditions, content conditions, preparatory conditions, sincerity conditions, and essential conditions Speech Acts Classification I An action performed by producing an utterance consists of three related acts: Locutionary act :Basic act of utterance, producing a meaningful linguistic expression e.g. I've just made some coffee ( locutionary act) Illocutionary act :Function/communicative force of the utterance (also called illocutionary force), can be a statement, offer, explanation etc. Perlocutionary act :Intended effect of the action (also called perlocutionary effect) Speech Acts Classification II There are just basic kinds of action that one can perform in speaking, by means of the following five types of utterances: Declarations: - speech acts that change the world via their utterance - the speaker has to have a special institutional role, in a specific situation e.g. Priest: i now pronounce you husband and wife Referee: you're out Jury foreman: we find the defendant guilty the speaker changes the world via words Representatives:- speech acts that state what the speaker believes to be the case or not - statements of fact, assertions, conclusions and descriptions are all Examples of the speaker representing the world as he/she believes it is e.g. The earth is flat Chomsky didn't write about peanuts It was a warm sunny day the speaker makes words fit the world (of belief) Expressives: - speech acts that state what the speaker feels - they express psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, pain, Likes, dislikes, joy, sorrow ... e.g. I'm really sorry Congratulations! Oh yes, great, mmmmm!! the speaker makes words fit the world (of feeling) Directives: - speech acts that speakers use to get someone else to do something - they express what the speaker wants, they are commands, orders, requests,

Suggestions and can be positive or negative e.g. Gimme a cup of coffe. Make it black Could you lend me a pen, please? Don't touch that the speaker attempts to make the world fit the words via the hearer Commissives: - speech acts that speaker use to commit themselves to some future action - they express what the speaker intends, they are promises, threats, refusals, pledges - they can be performed by the speaker alone, or by as a member of a group e.g. I'll be back I'm going to get it right next time We will not do that the speaker undertakes to make the world fit the words via the speaker

Speech Acts Classification III a. Direct speech act You wear a seat belt. (declarative) Do you wear a seat belt? (interrogative) Wear a seat belt! (imperative) If the relationship between structure and function is indirect. b. Indirect speech act Example: a declarative used to make a statement is a direct speech act, a declarative used to Make a request is an indirect speech act. It's cold outside hereby tell you about the weather (direct speech act) i i hereby request that you close the door (indirect speech act) Example: speaker wants hearer not to stand in front of the tv Move out of the way! (imperative -> direct speech act) Do you have to stand in front of the tv? (interrogative -> indirect speech act) You're standing in front of the tv (declarative -> indirect speech act) You'd make a better door than a window (declarative -> indirect speech act) An indirect request can be interpreted as question whether the necessary conditions for a Request are in place, i.e., a preparatory condition would be that the speaker assumes that The hearer is able ('can') to perform the action. A content condition concerns the future Action that the hearer will perform the action. Content condition future act of hearer 'will you do x?' (= hearer will do x) Preparatory condition hearer is able to perform act 'can you do x?' (= hearer can do x) questioning a hearer-based condition for making a request results in an indirect request. - there is a definite difference between asking someone to do x and asking someone if the Preconditions for doing x are in place. - asking about preconditions technically doesn't count as making a request, but allows the

Hearer to react as if the request had been made (= less of an imposition on the hearer, smaller Risk of refusal) an utterance is part of a larger social situation involving people with some kind of social Relationship and particular goals Speech event = the set of utterances produced in such a situation A speech event is an activity in which participants interact via language in some Conventional way to arrive at some outcome. - may include one obvious central speech act - may include other utterances leading up to and subsequently reacting to that central action A: oh, mary, i'm glad you're here. B: what's up? A: i can't get my computer to work. the request is the whole speech event, B: is it broken? Not a single speech act. A: i don't think so. B: what's it doing? no actual request is made A: i don't know. I'm useless with computers. B: what kind is it? A: it's a mac. Do you use them? B: yeah. A: do you have a minute? B: sure. A: oh, great - the question 'do you have a minute?' Could be characterized as a pre-request, allowing the hearer to Say that she's busy or that she has to be somewhere else. - the response 'sure' is taken to be an acknowledgement not only of having time available, but a Willingness to perform the unstated action.