Types of Speech Act (Oral Communication Topic in Finals), Study notes of English

Download Types of Speech Act (Oral Communication Topic in Finals) and more Study notes English in PDF only on Docsity! ORAL COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXT TOPIC: SPEECH ACTS A speech act is an utterance that a speaker makes to achieve an intended effect. Some of the functions which are carried out using speech acts are offering an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal. A speech act might contain just one word or several words or sentences. For example, “Thanks” and “Thanks” and “Thank you for always being there for me. I really appreciate it.” both show appreciation regardless of the length of the statement. THREE TYPES OF SPEECH ACTS According to John Langshaw Austin (1962), a philosopher, linguist and the proponent of the Speech Act Theory, there are three types of acts in every utterance. These types are the following: 1. LOCUTIONARY ACT- the actual act of uttering. It is the utterance or the words said by the person. Teacher: “Students, the classroom is so dirty.” 2. ILLOCUTIONARY ACT- the social function or intention of the utterance. By uttering the teacher’s locution, “Students, the classroom is so dirty,” the speaker intends to request the students to clean their classroom because it is dirty. 3. PERLOCUTIONARY ACT -the performed action intended by the utterance. The students will then clean the classroom after the utterance has been said by the teacher. This is the performed action expected to be done by the students PERFORMATIVES VS. CONSTATIVES J.L. Austin also introduced the concepts of performatives and constatives. Performatives are utterances of statements that enable the speaker to perform something just by stating it. In this manner, action verbs are mostly used in these statements. A performative utterance said by the right person under the right circumstances results in a permanent change. One example for this is the phrase “I now pronounce you as husband and wife.” The only person who has the capacity to authorize the binding of a couple in marriage can be a priest or a judge. The validity of the change is only dependent on the person who is authorized to do so. On the other hand, statements that only describe a thing or two according to their physical attributes or characteristics are called constatives. A constative statement does not denote an action and usually does not include an action word. “The sky is blue” is an example of a constative statement because the person who says this is just plainly telling that the sky is blue and does have a corresponding action to be performed by another person who listens to it. SEARLE’S CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH ACTS As a response to J.L. Austin’s speech act theory, John Searle (1976), a professor from the University of California, Berkeley, classified illocutionary acts into five distinct categories. 1. ASSERTIVE - a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker expresses belief about the truth of a proposition. Suggesting, swearing, boasting, and concluding are examples. Example: “I believe that when we unite, we can accomplish the task.” 2. DIRECTIVE – a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker tries to make the listener perform an action. Some examples are asking, ordering, requesting, inviting, advising, and begging. Example: “Please be advised that the authorities will penalize those who do not follow the standard health protocols.” 3. COMMISIVE – a type of illocutionary act that commits a speaker to doing something in the future. Examples are promising, planning, vowing, and betting. Example: “Starting today, I will wear my facemask and face shield and observe physical distancing when I go outside of our house.” 4. EXPRESSIVE- a type of illocutionary act that makes the speaker express his/her feelings or emotional reactions. Thanking, apologizing, welcoming, and deploring are examples. Example: “I would like to apologize having been absent for two consecutive days.” 5. DECLARATION- a type of illocutionary act that brings a change in the external situation.