SPEECH ACT

To Fulfill The Final Project Of Semantics

Arranged By :

Andi Dermawan

14.A ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

STKIP MUHAMMADIYAH BULUKUMBA
2017

PREFACE
Thank to Almighty God who has given His bless to the writer for finishing the
final project of semantics. The writer also wish to express his deep and sincere
gratitude for those who have guided in completing this paper.
The author realizes that in the preparation of this paper is still far from
perfection . Therefore , criticism and suggestions that are build so we expected from
all parties for the perfection of our next paper . The author also hopes this paper can
be useful for readers.
Bulukumba, January 2016

Writer

TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER.............................................................................................
PREFACE.......................................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................ii
CHAPTER I......................................................................................1
Background...........................................................................................1
Problem Statements..............................................................................1

CHAPTER II.....................................................................................2
General Definition................................................................................2
Speech Act Theory By J.L. Austin........................................................2
Speech Act Theory By Searle...............................................................5
When Speech Act Is Successful............................................................6

CHAPTER III....................................................................................7
Conculusion..........................................................................................7

APPENDIX.......................................................................................9

CHAPTER I
A. Background
Language is a social interaction tool or a tool of human
communication. In any human communication that can convey information to
each other in the form of thoughts, ideas, intentions, feelings, and emotions
directly. According to the real experience, the language it always appears in
the form of individual speech acts or behavior. Therefore each study the
structure of the language should be started from the assessment of speech acts.
Speech act is a concrete manifestation of the functions of language, which is
the basis of pragmatic analysis (Rahardi, 2005).
Speech act is the individual psychological symptoms and sustainability
are determined by the language ability of speakers in a given situation. In a
speech act is seen in meaning or action in the utter. The sentence "Here is very
hot!" May have various meanings in different situations. Could be, the
speaker simply stating the fact that the current state of the air, asking others to
open the windows or turn on the air conditioner, or even a grievance /
complaint. Therefore, the ability of sociolinguistics, including the
understanding of speech acts is indispensable in communicating because
human will often faced with the need to understand and use different types of
speech acts, where each type can be realized through a variety of strategies.
There are several prominent figures related to speech act theory, Mass J.L.
Austin, J.R. Searle, G.N. Leech, and L.P. Grice.
B. Problem Statement
1. General Definition of Speech Act
2. Speech Act Theory by Austin
3. Speech Act theory by Searle
4. When speech act is successful ?

CHAPTER II
(Discussion)
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A. General Definition of Speech Act

An utterence not only has an explicit meaning but also implicit
meaning. Implicit meaning it can be seen from the actions carried out by
someone when he speaks (then called the speech acts). From there comes the
theory of speech acts.
Definition by Experts
1. Essentially when someone says something, he Also doing something.
Austin (1962).
2. Speech act as an act done through speech. Yule (1996).
3. speech acts as a functional unity in communication. Cohen (In Homberger
and McKay 1996).
We can conclude that the speech act is an utterance containing acts as a
functional unity in communication that takes into account aspects of the
situation said.
B. Speech Act Theory by Austin
Speech act theory emerged as a reaction against the 'descriptive
fallacy', the view that the declarative sentences are always used to describe the
fact or the 'state of affairs', which must be done correctly or incorrectly
(Malmkjer, 2006: 560). In fact, according to Austin, many declarative
sentences that do not describe, report, or declare anything, so it can not be
stated right and wrong. The utterance of the sentence is (part of) the
activities / actions.
John Langshaw "J. L." Austin (26 March 1911 8 February 1960) was
a British philosopher of language and leading proponent of ordinary language
philosophy, perhaps best known for developing the theory of speech acts.
Prior to Austin, the attention of linguistic and analytic philosophers
had been directed almost exclusively to statements, assertions, and
propositions to linguistic acts that (at least in theory) have truth-value. This
led to problems when analyzing certain types of statements, for example in

determining the truth conditions for such statements as "I promise to do soand-so."
Austin pointed out that we use language to do things as well as to
assert things, and that the utterance of a statement like "I promise to do soand-so" is best understood as doing something making a promise rather than
making an assertion about anything. Hence the name of one of his best-known
works How to Do Things with Words.
Austin (1962) states that the speech act is an act that appears when
utter something. Austin distinguish speech act analysis into three parts:
1. Locutionary Act, take action to say something. Locutions action contains
the literal sense. A locutionary act has to do with the simple act of a
speaker saying something, i.e. the act of producing a meaningful linguistic
expression. It consists of three sub-acts. they are (i) a phonic act of
producing an utterance-inscription, (ii) a phatic act of composing a
particular linguistic expression in a particular language, and (iii) a rhetic
act of contextualizing the utterance-inscription.
Example:
Boss
: Under cover? This is not your private army. Is she OK?
Dalziel
: She's good. In fact she spent half her childhood on a horse.
In the speech above there are some locutions, such Under cover? This is
not your private army. Is she OK?. Forms sentence consists of two
interrogative sentence and one sentence negative.
Locutions of speech Dalziel is She's good. In fact she spent half her
childhood on a horse. The form is positive.
2. Illocutionary Act, In speech-act theory, an illocutionary act is the way in
which a sentence is used to express an attitude with a certain function or
"force" (called illocutionary force).
A direct illocutionary act is performed when a speaker utters a certain
meaningful sentence (correctly, literally, etc.) with certain intentions. For
example, I directly assert that rocks are hard when I use the English
sentence 'Rocks are hard' with the intention of describing rocks as being
hard. I directly direct my addressee to come home when I use the English

sentence 'Come home' with the intention of directing my addressee to

come home at a time later than the time of utterance. An illocutionary act
may be defective by being performed insincerely. My expressing
excitement when I use the sentence 'What a car!' is defective in this sense
when your car does not actually excite me; my act of asserting that rocks
are hard is defective in this sense when I do not actually believe that rocks
are hard.
3. Perlocutionary Act, is a speech act, as viewed at the level of its
consequences, such as persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening,
inspiring, or otherwise affecting the listener.
Unlike the notion of illocutionary act, which describes the linguistic
function of an utterance, a perlocutionary effect is in some sense external
to the performance. It may be thought of, in a sense, as the effect of the
illocutionary act via the locutionary act. Therefore, when examining
perlocutionary acts, the effect on the hearer or reader is emphasized.
As an example, consider the following utterance: "By the way, I have a
CD of Debussy; would you like to borrow it?" Its illocutionary function is
an offer, while its intended perlocutionary effect might be to impress the
listener, or to show a friendly attitude, or to encourage an interest in a
particular type of music.
C. Speech Act Theory by Searle
John Rogers Searle (/srl/; born July 31, 1932) is an
American philosopher and currently the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at
the University of California, Berkeley. Widely noted for his contributions to
the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and social philosophy.
Searle (1969: 21) states that the speech act is the most basic part of
communication. In 1976 Searle classified speech acts into five parts, namely:
1. Declarative, which is a type of speech act that is changing the world
through speech. Declarative speech uttered speakers to create it (status,
state, etc.) are new.
Example:
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 Priest: I Now Pronounce you husband and wife.

Boss: I'm telling you to go by the book.
Speech above boss is a declarative sentence because he gives orders to
the addressees and clarified by clauses I'm telling you.
2. Representative, utterances which bind speakers of the truth of what is
uttered. Speech can be classified into representative speech act are a
statement of fact, assertion, conclusions, and description. When using the
representative speech acts, speakers match the speech which he uttered
with his beliefs or the facts.
Example: The earth is round.
Boss: This is not your private army.
In the above sentence Daziel act as speakers who describe someone
who works for Dalziel.
3. Expressive, which is a type of speech act that states something that is felt
by the speakers. This type of speech act reflects psychological statements
and can be a statement of joy, difficulties, joy, hatred, pleasure, or misery.
When using speech acts expressive speech speakers connect with their
feelings.
Example: I'm really sorry.
4. Directive, is the kind of speech acts used by speakers to get someone else
to do something. This type of speech act declare what the speaker wishes.
These speech acts include orders, reservations, requests, giving advice,
etc.
Example: Do not touch that!
Boss: "How do I know you're lying to me, Andy?"
Boss utterances above are included in the directive because there is an
implicit meaning that prohibits the addressees to lie to the speakers.
5. Commissive, which is a type of speech act that is understood by speakers
to bind himself to the actions in the days to come.
Example: I'm going to get it right next time.
D. When Speech Act Is Successful
Speech acts will be said successful when referring to some condition called
Felicity conditions, namely :

1. Austin Model : Context and the role of participants should be known by

all parties, he said acts must be completed in full, all participants should
have good intentions.
2. Searle Model: The general conditions of speech acts, the speakers must
listen and understand utterances and the language used, and the speaker
should not be pretending.
3. Model declarations and directives: Speakers must believe that what is
spoken should really be carried out, the speaker said that the speech by
interest addressees, and do not feel forced in to doing something.

CHAPTER III
(Conclusion)
In everyday communication, a variety of different Speech Acts are used.
Without being linguists, usually people are able understand what the speaker wants to
say. Speech acts reveal the intentions of speakers and the effects the speakers
utterances and expressions have on the hearers. In brief when speakers are saying
words, they not only produce utterance containing words and grammatical structure,
but they also perform action in those utterances.

REFERENCES
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mizu, Ambar. Tindak Tutur (Austin dan Searle).

https://ambarmizu2013.wordpress.com/sosiolingusitik-tindak-tutur-austin-dan-searle/
(diakses tanggal 19 Januari 2017)
Dewi, Diana Melisa. Penggunaan speech act (tindak tutur).

http://derraparindra.blogspot.co.id/2010/12/speech-acts-tindak-tutur-by-diana.html
(diakses tanggal 19 Januari 2017)

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