Unit 9

SPEECH ACT
Characteristic
Two kinds of meaning:
- Locutionary meaning: (also knowns as propositional meaning), which is its
basic literal meaning conveyed by its particular words and structures
- Illocutionary meaning (also known as illocutionary force), which is the effect
the utterance might have on the hearer
Locution/locutionary act: hành động tạo ngôn
Locutionary meaning: nghĩa mệnh đề
Illocution/illocutionary act: hành động tại ngôn
Illocutionary force/illocutionary meaning: lực tại ngôn
Vd:
Sam: ‘I am thirsty’ (=’give me something to drink, please’)
Annie: ‘I’ll bring you a glass of water’
 The locutionary meaning of ‘I am thirsty’ is I am suffering from my thirst
 The illocutionary meaning is Sam indirectly requests Annie to give him
something to drink
Jane: ‘can you shut the window?’ (‘shut the window please’)
Husband: ‘certainly’
 The locutionary meaning of ‘can you shut the window ?’ is I wonder whether
you are able to shut the window
 The illocutionary meaning is Jane indirectly request husband to shut the
window
Classification- 5 main types
1. THE REPRESENTATIVE: hành động biểu hiện
- Describe a state of affair in the world: asserting, stating, claiming, affirming,
making hypotheses, describing, predicting, reporting, etc.
- Can generally be characterized as being true of false
Vd:
Tom: ‘where are you from?’
David: ‘I’m from Canada’
 It is a representative: David directly gives a pieces of information concerning
where he was born and grew up
Teacher: ‘there are only two seasons in the south: the dry seasons and the rainy
season’
Student1: ‘then, each season is exactly six months long?’
Student2: ‘is there any transitional period between them?’
 It is a representative: the teacher directly informs his/her student of what the
weather is like in the south
 2. THE COMMISSIVE: hành động cam kết
- To commits the speaker to a course of action: promising , vowing, threatening,
offering, etc.
Vd:
‘if you don’t stop fighting, I’ll call the police’
‘call them at once to turn your brother in’
 It is a commissive : it directly threaten to call the police if Bill and hẻ brother
don’t stop fighting
Alice: ‘author will receive my reimbursement’
Victor: ‘author always pay their debt’ (=I’ll pay you back later’)

3. THE DECLARATIVE: hành động tuyên bố

Bringing about or altering the state of affairs it names: dismissing, sentencing,
naming, announcing marriage, etc.
Vd:
Vicar: ‘I pronounce you man and wife’ [at the wedding ceremony held in a
church]
Minister of education: ‘I resign’
Prime minister: ‘you’ll be free from tomorrow’ (= ‘I dismiss you from your
current position’
 ‘I resign’ and ‘you’ll be free from tomorrow’ both of them are declarative
4. THE DIRECTIVE: hành động cầu khiến
- To get the listener to carry out an action: commanding, requesting, begging,
warning, challenging, inviting, suggesting, giving advice, etc.
Vd:
Ed: ‘the garage is a mess’
Faye: ‘clean it up’
 It is a directive: Faye directly orders Ed to make the garage tidy
George: ‘how about a dinner out?’
Beth: ‘my essay is due tomorrow morning’ (=’leave me alone to write essay’)
5. THE EXPRESSIVE: hành động biểu cảm
- Indicates the speaker’s psychological state(s) or feeling/attitude about
something: greeting, apologizing, complaining, thanking, etc.
Vd: ‘I beg your pardon. I’ll be right back’
‘no problem’

‘this beer is disgusting’

‘why don’t you learn to take the bad with the good?’
THE ROGATIVE: hành động cầu khiến để xin thông tin
Tom: ’where are you from?’
David: ‘I’m from Canada’

Speech-act category Typical expression axample

Declaratives Declarative structure with We find the defendant
speaker as subject and a guilty
performative verb in I resign
simple present tense
 representative Declarative structure Tom’s eating grapes
Bill was an accountant
Expressive Declarative structure with I’, sorry to hear that.
words referring to feelings This beer is disgusting

Directives Imperative sentence (câu Sit down.

mệnh lệnh)
Rogatives Interrogative sentence
(câu nghi vấn)
commissives Declarative structure with
speaker as subject and
future time expressed
Fasten your seat belts
Is she leaving?
I’ll call you tonight
We’re going to turn you in

DIRECT and INDIRECT speech act

DIRECT
1a. ‘come in, please’ is a direct request
2a. ‘it is quite wrong to condone robbery’ is a direct assertion against robbery
3a. ‘you should go to the doctor’ is a direct piece of advice
INDIRECT
- Often felt to be more polite ways of performing certain kinds of speech act
1b. ‘won’t you come in?’
2b. ‘it is right to condone robbery?’
3b. ‘why don’t you go to the doctor?’

Practice
Representative:
declarative
Directive: cầu khiến
Commissive: cam kết
Expressive: biểu cảm
Exercise 40- book 1:
1. ‘let’s go to our place for a beer’  directive
2. ‘I don’t know how to answer this question’  expressive
3. ‘mind your head’  directive
4. ‘how nice to see you’ expressive
5. ‘who will believe this story’  expressive (by making a Wh-question which needs
no answer)
6. ‘is it right to cheat in any exam’  representative
7. Would you like a cup of coffee?’  directive
8. ‘I was so sorry to hear about your loss’ expressive
9. ‘I’m dead tired now’  expressive
10. I’m awfully sorry I wasn’t at the meeting this morning’  expressive
11. ‘if you don’t try your best, you’ll fail in the exam’  commissive
12. ‘why don’t you take a seat?’  directive
13. ‘how dare you speak to her like that?’  expressive
14. ‘you look lovely today in your new dress’  expressive
15. ‘I’d sell it if I were you’  directive (=you should sell it)
16. ‘I’ll be right back’  commissive
17. ‘I beg you to reconsider your decision’  directive (=please think it over)
18. ‘do you think I’m an idiot?’  expressive
19. ‘may I hand in my final paper the day after tomorrow?’  directive
20. ‘we select Alfred as the head of our group’ commissive declarative
21. ‘I’ll pay you back in two days’ commissive
22. ‘we are going to turn you in’  commissive
23. ‘I would appreciate it if you went away’  directive (=go away)
24. ‘can I help you’ rogative (directly); commissive (indirectly)
25. ‘I’ve stopped smoking’  declarative representative
26. ‘goodness’  expressive
27. ‘drink a cup of coffee’  directive
28. ‘that doesn’t sound very serious’  expressive
29. ‘I’ve got to go now’  declarative expressive
30. ‘someone said you got fired’expressive- declarative rogative

Presupposition
1. Mary has stopped beating her boyfriend  Mary has been beating her
boyfriend
2. John returned to Cambridge John returned to Cambridge John has been to
Cambridge before
3. John managed to give up smoking John had smoking John try to give up
smoking
4. After the Allies won the war, they divided Berlin Allies divided Berlin
Allies won the war
5. It was Baird who invented the television Baird invented the television
6. If I were Superman, I would be bulletproof  I am not superman