Lesson 2: Units of Speech Behavior

What to Expect?
At the end of the lesson, the students can:
1. describe speech situation, speech event, speech acts;
2. provide examples of speech situations;
3. appreciate the speech behaviors.

Pre-discussion
Retell your experiences when you were called on the spot to speak before an
audience. Give your insights (10 points).
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Lesson Outline
To distinguish among different levels of speech activity, Hymes used
three terms for the ethnographic analysis and description of speech behavior—
speech situation, speech event, and speech act (Hymes, 1972).
If one were to include nonverbal communication as well, these three terms would need
to be broadened and the word speech replaced by communicative; after all, a hand gesture or
the wink of an eye can be just as effective as an entire sentence.
A speech situation is the context within which speaking occurs—any particular set of
circumstances typically associated with speech behavior (or its absence). A speech situation
may be a family meal, birthday party, baby shower, seminar meeting, campus beer party, auction,
fishing trip, Quaker meeting, or any one of a large number of situations that take place in a society
and are definable in terms of participants and goals and are therefore distinguishable from other
speech situations.

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 The speech act is the minimal unit of speech for an ethnographic analysis. A speech act
may be a greeting, apology, question, compliment, self-introduction, or the like. Although normally
attributable to a single speaker, collective speech acts also exist, such as, for example, the
“Amen” said by a congregation or the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance by young pupils. In
size, a speech act may range from a single word (“Scram!” or “Thanks”) to a five-minute shaggy-
dog story or a long harangue on conduct.
Speech acts that follow each other in a recognized sequence and are governed by social
rules for the use of speech combine to form a speech event, the basic unit of verbal interaction.
Examples of speech events are a conversation, a confession to a priest, an interview, a dialogue
with a salesperson, a telephone inquiry, and so on.

Summary
Different levels of speech activities include speech situation, speech
event, and speech act. Speech situation is where speaking occurs. Speech event
includes social rules and pertains to a more formal speaking situation. Then,
speech acts consist of actions of apologizing and guessing as examples.

Assessment/Enrichment
Online Research: Go online and research for the Speech Act Theory.
Discuss comprehensively (20 points)
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References
Jourdan, C., & Tuite, K. (Eds.). (2006). Language, culture, and society: Key topics
in linguistic anthropology (Vol. 23). Cambridge University Press.
http://196.189.45.87/bitstream/123456789/29011/1/18%20pdf.pdf

Salzmann, Z., Stanlaw, J., & Adachi, N. (2014). Language, culture, and society: An introduction to
linguistic anthropology. Westview Press.
https://dspace.ttu.edu.vn/bitstream/handle/123456789/3457/

Stanlaw, J., Adachi, N. & Salzmann, Z. (2017). Language, culture, and society: An introduction to
linguistic anthropology. New York: Routledge. https://b-
ok.asia/s/language%20culture%20society

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