Imam Ghozali

The English Language Department

Sarjanawiyata- University of Tamansiswa
Feb 23 2019
 Speech Act (SA)
1. SA was first introduced by J. Austin (1962) which was then
further developed by J. Searle.
Austin observed that people do things with words and stated
that words have meaning.
2. Language is not only used to describe the world, but to perf
orm a range of other actions that can be indicated in the perf
ormance of the utterance itself. (Schiffrin, p.50).
This is in contrasts with truth conditions in semantics which re
lies on logical relations of sentences and the truthfulness (or a
vailability) of references in the world.

Ex. A. Can I take you home? (in an evening a MS offers a ride to a FS)
B. Oh, No. Thanks... But I need to exercise my feet.
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.
SA represents real-life interactions and require not only
knowledge of the language but also appropriate use of that
language within a given culture.
Examples we use or hear every day:
Greeting: "Hi, Eric. How are things going?"
Request: "Could you pass me the cake, please?"
Complaint: "I’ve been waiting three hours but she doesn’t
show up yet.
Invitation: "We’re having a party on Saturday evening and
want to know if you’d like to join us."
Compliment: "Hey, I really like your t.shirt!"
Refusal: "Oh, I’d love to go with you, but I have a class."
1. Oh! - is an utterance (note that communication is not
intended - it is just a sound caused by surprise).

2. The black car - is a propositional act (something is r

eferenced, but no communication may be intended)

3. The black cat is nice - is an assertive illocutionary ac

t because it is intended to communicate something.

4. Please look at the black car - is a directive perlocuti

onary act because it is intended to change behaviour.
 Austin (1962)
• A speech act is a sentence or utterance which has both
propositional meaning, illocutionary meaning and perl
ocutionary force. (p. 55)
• SA An action performed in saying something
 Speech act theory attempts to explain how speakers u
se language to accomplish intended actions and how
hearers infer intended meaning form what is said.
• A speech act which is performed indirectly is sometim
es knows an indirect speech act, such as the speech ac
t of requesting, which is sometimes felt more polite.
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Direct VS Indirect speech acts
When the semantic meaning of a sentence is the sam
e as what the speaker intends to convey, it is describe
d as a direct speech act.
For example, when a speaker doesn't know somethin
g and asks the hearer to provide the information, he or
she will typically produce a direct speech act of the foll
owing examples:
1. What time is it?
2. Can you drive a truck ?
 Some theories
‘Utterances have two kinds of meaning,
1. Propositional meaning (locutionary meaning)  t
he basic literal meaning of the utterance which is c
onveyed by the particular words and structures tha
t the utterance contains.
2. Illocutionary meaning (illocutionary force)  the
real meaning the speaker intends to express.
3. Perlocutionary acts: an effect on the feelings, thoughts
or actions of either the speaker or the listener because of
SA.
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Will you check the balance? I will
 Early concept of SA
 In his early work, Austin drew a distinction between
constative (1) VS performative (2) utterances:
 1. This classroom is comfortable.  a purely descriptive
(statement-making) function and which could be trea
ted in terms of truth and falsehood.
 2. I’ll bring foods and drink next meetings.  not merely
description but involves some type of actions (commi
tment which will be conducted sometime in the futur
e). This could be evaluated on the felicitous or infelici
tous conditions.
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 Five kinds of speech act classification (Searle:57)
a) Commissive: a speech act that commits the spe
aker to doing something in the future, such as a
promise, or a threat.

for example:
1. ‘If you keep working, you’ll get exhausted’.
2. ‘I’ll get you lunch after class’.
3. He’s going to visit us today.
4. You won’t pass if you don’t do the assignments.
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b) Declarative: a speech act which changes the state
of affairs in the world. For example, during the exa
m, the examiners would declare some thing, or the
wedding ceremony or in the court the act of marria
ge or sentence are performed:
Example:
1. You pass the exam.
2. ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife’
3. ‘The court decide you not guilty’
4. This must be mine. (someone picking an item and
claims it is his)
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c) Directive: a speech that has the function of ge
tting the listener to do something, such as sug
gesting, a requests, or a command.
Examples.
1. Pass me the book, please!
2. ‘Why don’t you return my pen?’
3. After listening ‘adzan’, you can eat.
(during the fasting, breaking the fast is more obli
gation than suggestion)
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d) Expressive: a speech act in which the speaker express
es feeling and attitudes about something, such as apol
ogy, a complaints, to thanks someone, to congratulate
someone.
1. It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?
2. The food is delicious.
e) Representative: a speech act which describes the stat
e or event in the world, such as an assertion, claim , a r
eport .
1. Yogyakarta is in a dream city for many students.
2 .I got minor injury in the accident.
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Speech acts include real-life interactions and require not only knowled
ge of the language but also appropriate use of that language within a giv
en culture.
Here are some examples of speech acts we use or hear every day:
Greeting: "Hi, Eric. How are things going?"
Request: "Could you pass me the mashed potatoes, please?"
Complaint: "I’ve already been waiting three weeks for the computer, an
d I was told it would be delivered within a week."
Invitation: "We’re having some people over Saturday evening and want
ed to know if you’d like to join us."
Compliment: "Hey, I really like your tie!"
Refusal: "Oh, I’d love to see that movie with you but this Friday just isn’t
going to work."
Direct speech acts
When the semantic meaning of a sentence is the sam
e as what the speaker intended to convey , it is describ
ed as a direct speech act.
For example, when a speaker doesn't know somethin
g and asks the hearer to provide the information, he or
she will typically produce a direct speech act of the foll
owing type:
Can you ride a bicycle ?
Whenever one of the forms in the set above is used to
perform a function other than stated, it is an indirect S
A.
“Can you pass the salt?
In this example, people would not usually understand
it as a question about your ability to do something. In f
act, you would not treat this as a question at all. You
would treat it as a request and perform the action req
uested.
That is, we are using a syntactic structure associated
with the function of a question, but in this case with th
e function of a request. This is an example of an indir
ect speech act.
 Did he come to class yesterday?
Structures Functions
Did you buy the pizza?................... Interrogative Question
Buy the pizza (please)! ………. Imperative Command
Could you get the pizza, please Request
You bought the pizza. ……………. Declarative Statement
The main reason we use indirect speech acts see
ms to be that actions such as requests presented
in an indirect way (Could you open that door for
me?) are generally considered to be more gentle
or more polite in our society than direct speech a
cts (Open that door for me!). Exactly why they are
considered to be more polite is based on some c
omplex social assumptions.
 Sentence type and illocutionary force
• The three basic sentence types (declarative, interr
ogative, imperative) are typically associated with
the three basic illocutionary forces:
• Declarative: asserting/ stating;
• Interrogative: asking/questioning;
• imperative: ordering/requesting.
The main reason we use indirect speech acts see
ms to be that actions such as requests presented
in an indirect way (Could you open that door for
me?) are generally considered to be more gentle
or more polite in our society than direct speech a
cts (Open that door for me!). Exactly why they are
considered to be more polite is based on some c
omplex social assumptions.