TUGAS 1

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Nama : NIKMATUL MILLA LAILY FIRZA

NIM : 041486034

Explore the following example of a dialogue among a sales assistant and his two customers.
Check your module 3 on illocutionary acts. Then, identify what acts the sales assistant perform!
Why do you think so?

(1) Assistant: Can I help you?

(2) Margaret: We’re thinking about a holiday. But we can’t decide where to go.
(3) Trevor : We’ve been looking for brochures for Italy and Ireland
(4) Assistant: I’m glad you come to see me. I’m sure I’ve got a holiday you want. If I were you
I’d forget about Ireland and Italy. The place to go is Matona.
(5) Trevor : Hold on a minute. I’ve never…
(6) Assistant: You’ll love it there. Matona’s is the place everyone’s is talking about.
(7) Margaret: Yes. But I don’t even know where it is.
(8) Assistant: Have a look at the map in the brochure, Madame. Look at the photographs. Isn’t it
the most wonderful holiday centre you’ve ever seen? But don’t let me persuade you. Sit down
and decide for yourself.

Five minutes later …

(9) Margaret: Well, it’s got all the things we were looking for. But it’s rather expensive, isn’t it?
It would cost over 1.200 pounds for the five of us.
(10) Assistant: I’m not saying it’s the cheapest holiday we’ve got. But it’s certainly the best.
(11) Trevor : I’m not sure. We’d better think it for a few days.
(12) Assistant: Of course, sir! But don’t forget that Matona’s very popular this year. To tell you
the truth, if you come back next week, it might be fully booked!
(13) Margaret: Perhaps we should book now.
(14) Assistant: I would if I were you, madam.
(15) Trevor : I’d like to think about it.
(16) Assistant: If you book today madam, I’ll cut the price to 1.100 pounds.
(17) Margaret: Alright. I hope we’re doing the right thing.
(19) Assistant: I’m sure you are. Can I have a deposit of 110 pounds, please?

(adopted from Exchanges by Garton et. Al., 1987).

Answer:

In the analyzed text above, a conversation among a sales assistant and his two customers
is a conversation is taking place between two persons talking about the way going to a place to
vacation. In the first phase (Ireland.), there are 7 exchanges, while in the second (Italy.), 6
exchanges. Out of 7 exchanges in the Ireland. (lines 1 to 2, 3 to 4, 5 to 6, 7 to 8, 9 to 12, 13 to 14,
and 15 to 17), there are 17 interactional moves, which are composed of 19 interactional acts,
coming from 6 types of acts.
The first exchange (lines 1 to 2) is not chained, and hence, it is not graphically linked to
other exchanges; while the rest are chained and some are reciprocal. The ENCOUNTER begins
with an Ireland PHASE, followed by a Head, but not ended with a Vale. The first EXCHANGE
in the Ireland consists of two MOVES, each serves as Head in the move. The first move is
realized by “Can I help you?” which functions as an interrupt; while the second by a non- verbal
act (looks up) which functions to signal “attendance”.
The second exchange is initiated with a request of telling (Req Tell, which is in
grammatical terms is called an interrogative), followed with a telling, which is then chained to
the next exchange which again begins with a Req Tell and followed by a Tell. This exchange is
also chained to the fourth and ends up with a Satisfy move in line 8. I may go on analyzing the
conversation like what I did above.
That the Exchange in lines 1 and 2 is not graphically linked to the following
communicative activity does not mitigate the clear fact that the outcome of this initial Exchange
is a discourse-internal one-both speakers communicate their availability for talk. The sequence of
communicative acts on lines 13-18 may require some elucidation. The point at issue is Whether
or not the utterance on line 14 counts as a communicative act at that point in time (note that it
overlaps the utterance on line l3). The analysis proposed claims that it does so count, and that the
utterance on line 18 initiates a Post-Exchange. On the most obvious alternative analysis, 18
would be seen as initiating Pre-Responding Exchange, and a Satisfy to the Proffer in line 13
would. Then be assumed by Margaret. The chosen analysis would appear justified in the light of
the oddness of the following fabricated sequence:
(12) Assistant: Of course, sir! But don’t forget that Matona’s very popular this year. To tell you
the truth, if you come back next week, it might be fully booked!
(13) Margaret: Perhaps we should book now.
(14) Assistant: I would if I were you, madam.
(15) Trevor : I’d like to think about it.
(16) Assistant: If you book today madam, I’ll cut the price to 1.100 pounds.
(17) Margaret: Alright. I hope we’re doing the right thing.. Further the utterance in line l5
appears to have a checking function: it does not make sense to say that Assistant: Assistant: is
‘informing’ or ‘telling’ Margaret that it might be fully booked . We have plenty of evidence
from our corpus that the masking of an utterance does not necessarily mean that it does not count
in the ongoing discourse: this seems to be such case. Note that on the proposed analysis the
Exclaim in line 17 is
reacting to the reciprocal outcome of the previous discourse, and not simply to the content of
Margaret‘s immediately preceding move.