Ilhamdi Hafiz Sofyan

1410731012

Pragmatics

Speech Acts

During a conversation, a speaker and the speaking partner usually do not only produce
utterances containing grammatical structure, but also express it through actions (Yule, 1996,
p. 47). This action is called speech act. Speech act is a subfield of pragmatics that concerned
with the ways in which words can be used to not only give information, but also carry out
actions. There are three dimensions of speech acts; they are locutionary act, illocutionary act
and perlocutionary act.

The first dimension is locutionary act, which is the basic act of utterance, or
meaningful linguistic expression. In order to produce a locutionary act, the speaker should
form sounds and words that would create meaningful utterances in a language that
understood by the hearer. Illocutionary act in the other hand is the dimension of which the
well-formed utterances have some kind of function or purpose in mind. The last dimension is
the perlocutionary act, which is the effect resulted from the utterances (Yule, 1996, pp. 48-
49). For example on how these dimensions work, take an utterances made by someone who
just had passed a difficult test. In this example, the speaker said, “I’ve just passed the test!”
enthusiastically towards the hearer. From the locutionary dimension, if the hearer understands
the meaning of the speaker’s utterance, he or she would understand that the speaker has just
passed a test. Through illocutionary dimension, the hearer would take an utterance as a
statement, an offer, an explanation, or for some other communicative purpose as intended by
the speaker. In this instance, if the hearer understands that the speaker had just passed a very
difficult test, he or she would take the previous statement as a declaration of success. In the
dimension of perlocutionary act, the speaker might make such an utterance to have the hearer
recognize the effect that intended by the speaker, which in this case is to have the hearer
praises and congratulates the speaker for the success of passing the test.

There are several types of speech acts. One general classification system lists five
types of general functions performed by speech acts. They are declarations, representatives,
expressives, directives and commissives. Declarations are those kinds of speech acts that
affect an immediate change of affairs. This kind of speech act can be found in cases such as
declaring, baptizing, resigning, firing from employment, hiring, arresting, etc. For example,
in a courtroom situation, jury foremen declared, “We find the defendant guilty!” From the
law standpoint, the defendant is ‘innocent until proven guilty’. Because the jury declared that
the defendant is guilty, therefore the effect is taking place immediately and changed the
defendant’s status from innocent into guilty.

The second type of speech act is representatives. In this type of speech act, the
utterances commit the speaker to the truth of an expressed proposition. It states what the
speaker believes to be the case or not. This kind of speech act can be found in cases such as
asserting, stating, concluding, boasting, describing, suggesting, etc. For example, in the same
instance of courtroom situation, before the judge declared that the defendant is guilty, the
lawyer stand up and asserting his opinion, saying, “The proof is not strong enough to prove
that the defendant is guilty.” In this instance, the lawyer asserted his opinion that the
defendant should not be sentenced because he believes the proof is not strong enough.

The third type of speech act is expressives. In this type of speech act, the speaker
express some sort some sort of psychological state. It states what the speaker feels. For
example, from the same courtroom situation, after the judge made a decision and declared the
defendant to be guilty, the defendant suddenly rising up and yelled, “This is ridiculous!” In
this instance, the defendant expresses his psychological state of anger after hearing the
judge’s decision because he thinks the decision is unjust.

The fourth type of speech act is directives. In this type of speech act, the speaker tries
to get the addressee to carry out an action. This kind of speech act can be found in cases such
as requesting, advising, commanding, challenging, inviting, daring, entreating, etc. For
example, in the same courtroom situation, after the defendant express his anger, the judge
called the security, asking, “Take him out.” In this instance, the judge gives a command to the
security to take the defendant out from the courtroom in order to settle the situation.

The final type of speech act is commissives. In this type of speech act, the speakers
use it in order to commit themselves to some future action. This kind of speech act can be
found in cases such as promising, pledging, threatening, vowing, offering, etc. For example,
from the same courtroom situation, after the judge decides the case, the lawyer came forward
and then said, “We will appeal.” In this instance, the lawyer promised to the judge that his
client would make an appeal in order to have the case to be reviewed, so the decision would
hopefully change for the better.