MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY OF VIETNAM

ENGLISH FACULTY
---------------

FINAL PAPER
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS

A SPEECH ACT ANALYSIS OF HILLARY CLINTON'S CONCESSION

SPEECH IN THE US 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Course Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kieu Thi Thu Huong

Student: Chu Thuy Duong
Class: TA46B
Student ID: TA46B-034-1923

Hanoi, December 14th 2022

 ABSTRACT
This thesis, "A Speech Acts Analysis of Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech in
the US 2016 Presidential Election," was produced with the goal of identifying the
different speech acts that Hillary Clinton used on November 9 th, 2016. The 2016 US
Presidential Election has become world’s great issue since the politician’s speech is
mainly concerned with persuading or making the listeners believe with what they are
saying.
This essay aims to discover and analyze the implied meaning in each of the
speech's utterances. There are two objectives of this paper: the first is to identify the
types of speech acts used by Hillary Clinton to express her viewpoint on the 2016
presidential election results; the second is to discover the most dominant type of speech
act used to see what is her stance on this election results and how she addressed it with
the public. In this paper, a descriptive qualitative method was employed as it collects
information in words rather than statistics. The main framework for this thesis was
provided by the speech act theories of Searle’s (1969) and Yule’s (1996). According to
the aforementioned theories, there are five categories of speech acts which are:
representatives, directives, commissives, expressives, and declaratives. The results
indicate that, at 38,9% and 36,1% respectively, expressive and representational actions
were the two speech acts that predominated the speech the most. She employed them to
express her utmost gratitude towards everyone who has accompanied her on this
campaign. She also used them to show her acceptance of the election results, which was
the official concession to Donald Trump, the winning candidate in this election. She
utilized directive acts, which were the third most often used speech form, to exhort her
followers to keep fighting for their idealized ideas of a better America and to urge
young girls to pursue their aspirations despite any gender-based discrimination.
Following that, additional recommendations are proposed to students and linguistic
researchers who are seeking resources for their research on pragmatics in general and
speech acts in particular.

i
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................i
TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................................ii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION......................................................................................1
1.1. Rationale of the topic's selection........................................................................1
1.2. Research questions..............................................................................................2
1.3. Aims and objectives of the study........................................................................2
1.4. Significance of the study.....................................................................................3
1.5. Scope of the study...............................................................................................3
1.6. Methodology and data collection........................................................................3
1.7. Organisation of the study....................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................5
2.1. Pragmatics...............................................................................................................5
2.2. Speech acts..............................................................................................................6
2.2.1. Locutionary act....................................................................................................7
2.2.2. Illocutionary act...................................................................................................7
2.2.3. Perlocutionary acts.............................................................................................10
2.3. Related studies......................................................................................................10
2.4. Background information.......................................................................................11
2.4.1. Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign...................................................11
2.4.2. Concession speeches..........................................................................................13
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS..........................14
3.1. Methodology.........................................................................................................14
3.1.1. Database of the study.........................................................................................14
3.1.2. Data collection procedure.................................................................................14
3.2. Findings................................................................................................................15
3.3. Discussions...........................................................................................................16
3.3.1. Expressives.........................................................................................................16
3.3.2. Representatives..................................................................................................20
3.3.3. Directives...........................................................................................................24
3.3.4. Commissives.......................................................................................................26
CHAPTER 4: RECAPITULATIONS, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................................27
4.1. Recapitulations......................................................................................................27

ii
 4.2. Implications..........................................................................................................28
4.3. Limitations............................................................................................................28
4.4. Recommendations.................................................................................................29
4.4.1. To English majored students..............................................................................29
4.4.2. To other English language researchers.............................................................29
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................I
APPENDIX.....................................................................................................................III

iii
 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Speech acts used by Hillary Clinton in her concession speech

iv
 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the topic's selection
Also for a long period of time, functions of language in communication have been
drawing attention from linguists and non-linguists. While there are a number of
assumptions that the most important function of language is to exchange information,
Lyons (1977, cited in Brown & Yule, 1983) states that with a primary function as
communication of information, language also deals with the transmission of "feeling,
moods and attitudes". Additionally, Bennett (1976) observes that besides working as a
tool to impart information among people, language is used to perform actions or put
force on the message recipient. Granted, language in use has a number of different
functions besides information exchange since in communication, the utterers usually
produce many layers of meaning than just the literal one itself. Therefore, without
context understanding, the listeners could misunderstand what the speaker intends. For
the aforementioned reasons, the study of language in use requires researchers to not
only interpret what is said in semantic terms but also the meaning as communicated by
the speaker.
Linguistics, philosophy, psychology, legal and literary ideas, and even artificial
intelligence development employ speech acts. The basis of speech act theory is to
understand how words not only carry information but also can carry out actions. Hence,
the analysis of speech acts is typically carried out in speeches, especially political
speeches, so as to comprehend the meaning or ulterior motives of the speaker. Based on
the aforementioned explanation of speech acts in linguistics, the researcher is inspired to
analyze speech acts found in Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech in the US 2016
Presidential Election.
In the last 2016, there was one speech that became most of the most widely shared
and the most popular political tweet of the year in the United States. It was Hillary
Clinton’s concession speech on November 9 th, after the surprise and unexpected result
of United States presidential election a day before. Concession speeches by losing
candidates are often looked forward to by the public. Although it is not legally or
constitutionally required, as there is no mention of conceding the winning candidate in
The Constitution by the Founding Fathers (Brockell, 2020), concession speeches are
frequently seen as part of the American presidential election that demonstrates respect
for American democracy and contributes to a peaceful transfer of power.

1
 Hillary Clinton has been a political mainstay for decades. She was the First Lady
of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as well as a Senator from New York from 2001
to 2009 and Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. However, becoming the first woman
to earn a presidential nomination by a major US political party and the first woman to
win the popular vote in the 2016 US presidential election cemented her place in US
political history. She is also widely recognized as the most engaged First Lady in
domestic and international politics in the United States, as well as the first First Lady to
run for President.
Her presidential campaign began in 2007, but she was defeated by Barack Obama
for the Democratic nomination that year. In 2016, she ultimately secured the
Democratic Party's presidential nomination and campaigned in the main election against
her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. She ran her campaign with the emphasis on
her status as her party's first female presidential candidate, and she won the popular
vote.
If the campaign results went as Hillary Clinton and her supporters predicted, she
would become the first female president of the United States, one of the world's most
powerful countries. However, fate was not on her side this time, as she lost the Electoral
College to Donald Trump despite winning the popular vote, which surprised not only
herself but also a big number of American residents who voted for her.
In this research, the author seeks to analyze Hillary Clinton's speech actions
during her concession remarks on November 9 th, 2016. The purpose of this research is
to look at the significance and meaning of this speech from a pragmatic standpoint, to
understand how Hillary Clinton utilized the power of words to show the world how she
handled the most significant setback of her political career with class and grace.

1.2. Research questions

This research tries to present the ideas of speech acts while also analyzing how
Hillary Clinton delivered her concession address using speech acts. Based on it, this
research aims to address the following two questions:
i) What types of speech acts are performed in Hillary Clinton's concession
speech?
ii) Which type of speech act is the most most prevalent?

2
1.3. Aims and objectives of the study
This paper focuses on studying the types of speech acts performed by Hillary
Clinton in her concession speech in 2016 to see how Hillary Clinton accepted her loss in
the US 2016 presidential election.
Here are the objectives of this study:
First, studying Hillary Clinton's speech acts to determine her opinions over her
failure in the 2016 US presidential election.
Second, identifying the most commonly utilized speech act type to determine how
this speech may effect the audience.

1.4. Significance of the study

The result of this research are expected to give both theoretical and practical
significance.
Firstly, this research findings are expected to make a valuable academic
contribution to the pragmatics study that focuses on speech acts. Under the study of
speech acts introduced by Austin (1962), Searle (1969), Yule (1996), and other famous
linguists, the study is expected to build a sufficient theoretical framework that can be
applied to the other research.
Other than that, practically, the research will benefit students majoring in English
linguistics and other linguistics researchers by providing references for conducting
research related to pragmatics. Moreover, the study's findings could be used to motivate
and enhance the analytical skills of learners. The method of analyzing the remarks could
be beneficial in order to strengthen ESP reading skills at the Diplomatic Academy of
Vietnam.

1.5. Scope of the study

Due to the limitation of the paper size, the research could not cover all aspects of
the linguistic field. Therefore, in accordance with the mentioned aims and objectives,
the writer points out the scope of this study as follows.
This paper will focus only on the speech given by Hillary Clinton on November
9th, 2016. In this research, the author would find out the types of speech acts made by
Hillary Clinton in her concession speech and analyse their effects on the audience. To
analyse this speech, the author uses the speech act theories by John Searle (1969) and
George Yule (1996).

3
1.6. Methodology and data collection
The author uses descriptive qualitative research for this paper. This technique is
used to collect information in the form of words rather than statistics. For this paper, the
author uses descriptive qualitative research as it can systematically analyse data,
specifically the types of speech acts made by Hillary Clinton in her concession speech
to Donald Trump. It is considered as the qualitative study because the researcher
attempted to seek answers the questions by using systematic procedures and gathering
the facts. According to Berg (2004), "certainly qualitative methodologies have not
predominated in the social sciences. After all, qualitative research takes much longer,
requires greater clarity of goals during design stages, and cannot be analyzed by running
computer program". Basically, qualitative design does not require the data that has been
processed. Yet, this study requires only basic assumptions of the theory of knowledge
and the researcher itself. Besides, this research is considered as the descriptive design
because the data is selected and taken from the analysis and interpretation in a manner
consistent with the theory that the descriptive used by the researcher.

1.7. Organisation of the study

Chapter 1 (Introduction) discusses an overview of the research, including the
rationale of the study, research questions, aims and objectives, significance, scope, and
methodology of the research.
Chapter 2 (Literature Review) provides a summary theoretical background of
pragmatics and speech acts.
Chapter 3 (Methodology, Findings, and Discussion) deals with the data analysis,
the findings of the research and discusses the effectiveness of employed speech acts.
Chapter 4 (Recapitulations, Implications, Limitations, and Recommendations)
reviews the major findings of the study review and some limitations, implications as
well as suggestions for further study.

4
 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Pragmatics
In general, pragmatics is a study of an utterance's meaning which could not be
expressed through semantics, based on the communication's context (Mey, 1993; Leech,
1980). This definition is in line with Levinson (1997) when he assumes that language
usage and its context maintain a connection, and that pragmatics is a study of "meaning
minus semantics" (p.48).
Despite the difference in the expression, those mentioned linguists have common
definitions that pragmatics is the research of meaning hidden behind the semantics in
the understanding of speech's situation. On the other hand, the definition of pragmatics
has been further concretized by Yule (1996, p.3) with four main points of which
pragmatics necessarily involves: 'speaker meaning', 'contextual meaning', 'gets
communicated than is said', and 'expression of relative distance'. Firstly, Yule embedded
the definition of pragmatics with the phrase 'speaker meaning' (1996, p.3). In uttering
words, the speakers would create a structure of a semiotic system. Therefore,
pragmatists in other words would investigate what the speech producer wants to convey
through their words or phrases in semantic terms. Admittedly, understanding the
meaning of the words or phrases has significant importance since it would be
subsequently analyzed based on its conversation context. In addition, Yule (1996) also
mentioned the analysis of the context in studying pragmatics. At this point, there is a
need for investigations of speech context and what influences it has on communication
understanding. In fact, a given expression placed in different situations would bring
about different interpretations (Recanati, 1989). Consequently, the study of pragmatics
requires researchers to extensively investigate the situation in which the speech is made.
Thirdly, "pragmatics is the study of how more gets communicated than is said" (Yule,
1996, p.3). That is to say pragmatics deals with how the meaning not conveyed through
words or phrases can be interpreted, requiring researchers to acknowledge the speech
producer's intentions by examining what is inferred in speech. Yule's concept of
pragmatics is in line with the one portrayed by Mey (1993), Levinson (1997) and Leech
(1980) since on a number of occasions, the speaker's intention could not be fully
conveyed via literal language. To study pragmatics, there is a need for researchers to
identify unsaid messages. Finally, besides the study of context and speaker's intention,
pragmatics also deals with how much common knowledge the two sides of a
conversation have in terms of physics, socials or concepts. Based on their relationship,

5
participants in a conversation would choose what to say or not say, however, make sure
their partners understand.
In summary, pragmatics can be defined as a type of study that investigates the
relationship between language usage and its context through the interpretation of
utterance's literal and inferential meanings, as well as the understanding of outsider
factors such as context, speaker's intentions, and participants' relationship.

2.2. Speech acts

In "How to do things with words", Austin assumes that besides 'statements' to
describe the conditions of a situation, 'sentences' have a variety of functions, for
example, as 'questions', 'exclamations', 'commands', 'wishes' or 'concessions' (Austin,
1962, p.1). In other words, speakers producing utterances do not just aim to state a
certain situation but to perform actions.
In defining speech acts, Searle's viewpoint is also in line with Austin's when
pointing out that in speaking, people do not simply produce a vocal string of words, but
also identify their actions. For this reason, as a fundamental subdivision of linguistic
communication, speech acts would investigate the way actions are performed when
words or sentences are produced in communication.
Based on those two initiatives, there are also a number of similar explanations that
speech acts generally refer to the utilization of utterance by which actions are performed
(Geis, 1996; Mey, 1993; Yule, 1996; Gass, et al; 2006; Levinson, 1997).
In short, speech acts deal with a communication phenomenon in which the
speaker tends to use sentences to implicate their intended actions.
Furthermore, regarding the classification of speech acts, as first mentioning the
term Speech acts, Austin categorizes speech acts into three main levels to analyze:
Locution - "what is said"; Illocutionary force - "what is done in uttering words"; and
Perlocutionary effect - "what is done by uttering the words" (Austin, 1962, pp.94-99).
Regarding locutionary act, Austin (1962) points out that locutionary act is basically the
production of meaningful semantic structure. In other words, this is the process in which
speakers produce their speech with an assurance that the listeners could understand.
Moreover, in other circumstances, the utterance is performed in the purpose of a speaker
to accomplish his communicative intention. With that well-formed utterance, the
speaker utilizes an illocutionary act. Finally, while the locutionary act belongs to the
action of making a meaningful speech and the illocutionary act refers to the action of

6
executing an intentional utterance, the perlocutionary act involves the act of creating the
effects of the purposeful, intentional utterance.
Up to now, speech acts consisting of locutionary illocutionary and perlocutionary
acts have been recognized by a number of linguists (Mey, 1993; Levinson, 1997; Geis,
1996; Leech, 1980) with a variety of explanations.
2.2.1. Locutionary act
Locutionary act can be understood as the literal meaning of an utterance. This
definition was proposed by Austin (1962, p.94-99), as he stated that a locutionary act is
an actual utterance with an external meaning. Yule (1996, p.48) also said it is "the basic
act of utterance or the production of a meaningful verbal phrase." Or, as Levinson
(1983) said in his book Pragmatics, a locutionary act is the uttering of a sentence that
has a particular sense and reference. From all the proposed definitions as afore-
mentioned, a locutionary act is the literal meaning of a sentence with no contextual
influences, which means there is no need to have a context to understand the meaning of
the utterance.
For example: "I just bought a new house," here the meaning of the utterance is "I
just bought a new house" of the literal meaning.
2.2.2. Illocutionary act
According to Collins dictionary (2022) illocutionary act is an act performed by a
speaker by virtue of uttering certain words, as for example the acts of promising or
threatening. Illocutionary acts are linguistic acts in which one can be said to do
something like stating, denying or asking. Statements which appear on the face of it to
be endowed with cognitive meaning turn out to be used in fact to perform expressive or
directive illocutionary acts.
Illocutionary acts are created when you perform an activity by uttering something.
Illocutionary acts occur when a speaker speaks something with a distinctive force in
accordance with what has been stated. This act shows that it is related to social
functions. A promise, a forecast, a threat, a warning, or a declaration of intent could all
be included in statements. An illocutionary act is a crucial part of a speech act since it
reveals the speaker's intent. The goal of illocutionary acts, according to Sagita &
Setiawan (2019), is to make the utterance not just informative but also necessary. The
hearer will be able to determine the speaker's intent. Illocutionary acts are more difficult
to identify than locutionary acts because their meaning is determined by the speaker's

7
interpretation of situation. As a result, the speaker has just to think carefully of how to
effectively convey his/her message to the listener.
Some linguists consider Searle's work on speech acts to be a refinement of
Austin's idea. Nonetheless, others have recognized a large difference between the two
concepts. Unlike Austin, who concentrated on the traditional speech act interpretation,
Searle concentrated on speech act psychological interpretation. Searle identifies five
different forms of illocutionary actions, as well as five different ways to use language.
2.2.2.1. Declarations
They are speech acts that transform the state of the world through their words
(Yule, 1996, p.53). When the utterances are produced, they have an immediate impact
on the state of the world. Those who deliver a declaration speech must hold a distinct
institutional function in a particular context.
For example:
a) Priest: "I now pronounce you husband and wife."
Usually, only a member of the clergy can officiate a wedding, including a priest.
Hence, in the context of marriage, the priest here can perform holy matrimony and
change the status of the couple from singles to a married couple. In this context, only a
priest has the power to officiate a wedding, and from the moment the utterance is
spoken by the priest, the status of the couple has changed forever. In contradiction, if
the speaker is not a priest or a member of the clergy, the utterance would remain
ineffective, and the status of the couple remains single.
b) Boss: "You're fired."
In the context of a working environment, the boss has more power than the
employee, and only the boss has the power to terminate someone's employment. From
the moment the utterance is made by the boss, the employment status of the employee
has been changed.
As a result, by employing this form of speech act, the speaker has the ability to
change the world through his or her words.
2.2.2.2. Representatives
The goal or purpose of the assertive class is to persuade the speaker that
something is true, that the statement given is true. Yule dubs this speech act a
Representative speech act (1996). A representative speech act, according to Yule
(1996), states what speakers believe to be or it commits him/her to the truth of a
proposition. Representative speech acts, according to Searle (1976), are utterances made

8
with the goal of committing the speaker to anything based on the truth of the
communicated proposition. State, claim, believe, remind, suggest, report, assure,
concur, anticipate, demand, speculate, boast, complain, conclude, or deduce are
examples of verbs expressing representational speech acts.
Example: "It was a warm sunny day."
The speaker states that "it was a warm sunny day", which is correct. The
statement above can be classified as an assertive speech act since the function of an
assertive speech act could be utilized to establish a declaration of fact, "in utilizing a
representative, speaker makes words match the world (of belief)."
2.2.2.3. Expressives
Expressives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker feels. As
Yule (1996) said, they are the type of illocutionary acts which represent the speaker's
psychological state, and they can be statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, or
sorrow.
For example:
a) "Thank you for helping me!"
Here the speaker expresses gratitude towards the hearer for helping the speaker
with something, which represents the speaker's emotional state, which is gratitude.
Hence, this is an expressive act of thanking.
b) "Congratulations on getting this scholarship!"
In this example, the speaker expresses how happy they are at the hearer's success
or achievement.
2.2.2.4. Directives
Directives are speech acts in which speakers direct their listeners to do something.
They express the speaker's desires, which can be positive or negative instructions,
orders, or requests.
For example:
a) "Cook me some steak. Make it medium rare."
Here the speaker asks for a request from the hearer, which is to get her or him
some steak. The hearer can take action and follow the obligation or not. This directive
speech act represents an effort as the speaker expresses what he or she wants from the
hearer.
b) "Can you give me the book over there, please?"

9
 In this example, the speaker asks the listener to give the speaker a book, and the
listener has the option of complying or not. This is a directive speech act since it is a
request.
2.2.2.5. Commissives
Commissives are speech acts in which speakers pledge to do something in the
future. They convey the speaker's intent and can be presented either individually or in
groups.
For example:
a)" I'm going to fix this problem tomorrow."
In this example, the speaker gives a promise that he or she will fix something the
next day, which shows the speaker's commitment to future action. Hence, it is called a
commissive act.
b) "I will not do that."
In this example, the speaker gives a refusal to do something. This statement shows
the speaker is committing to not do something, which is why this is a commissive act.

2.2.3. Perlocutionary acts

As stated in Hufford and Heasley (1983, p.250), they defined the perlocutionary
act as the language act which has an effect on the hearers. In a way, it can be understood
as the result of the locution. Levinson (1983) proposed the same idea, and he stated that
the perlocutionary act is the effect on the hearers after uttering a sentence. In other
words, after we have created an utterance with our purpose, we can witness its effect,
and that is called a perlocutionary act.

2.3. Related studies

Many language academics and practitioners study political speeches because they
reflect the ideas and messages that politicians want to transmit to the public. As a result,
many political speeches have been studied using pragmatics, especially speech act
analysis. Because the objective of political speeches is to persuade or persuade their
audience to listen to and believe in the politicians' ideology and political beliefs, it is
critical to analyze the speech acts utilized because speech acts play a critical role in
communicating the inferred meaning of an utterance. By analyzing the types of speech
acts used in a political speech, the researcher can learn more about the speakers'
objectives and goals for the audience. Speech act analysis research is rather prevalent in

10
linguistics. Numerous studies have been undertaken, and the author will concentrate on
three of them in this section.
There has been a lot of research done on speech acts employed in political
speeches and other sorts of writing. Some common studies are considered and
summarized below. The first research, An Analysis of Speech Acts in Hillary Clinton's
Speech "This Madness Has to Stop" (Gultom, 2017), investigates illocutionary act
subtypes such as representational, commissive, directive, declarative, and expressive. A
pragmatic technique is used by the researcher to elucidate her examination of Clinton's
goals and behaviors during her political presentation. The study's theoretical basis is the
speech act theory, notably John Searle's illocutionary actions. The study's major
findings suggest that Hillary Clinton uses the commissive speech act the most in her
speeches to assist market her leadership potential.
A more recent research that employs speech act theories is "The analysis of
speech act in Donald Trump's address "Coronavirus task force briefing" (Faradilah
Febriyana, 2020). The research focuses on determining the sorts of speech actions used
by Trump in his speeches. Using a practical method, the research effectively focuses on
Trump's most potent acts, which are illocutionary acts.
Both studies demonstrate how to study a speech by looking at each of the
utterances, phrases, and words to identify what acts the utterances include or represent,
and what words or phrases are regarded an act. The second study, "The analysis of
speech acts in Donald Trump's address "Coronavirus task force briefing," presents a
speech-based approach for assessing the relevant data as well.
In 2018, Mufiah and Rahman conducted a speech act analysis of Donald Trump's
inaugural speech, which is titled Speech act analysis of Donald Trump's speech. In this
paper, the two authors used Yule's (1996) speech act theories and applied a descriptive
qualitative method to analyse the types of speech acts performed in Donald Trump's
inaugural speech. The authors also conducted content analysis research, dividing the
data into the five categories of speech acts, and concluded that "representative" was the
most regularly utilized form of speech act in Donald Trump's speech. The writers
concluded from Donald Trump's speech acts that his speech is intended to be a
statement of truth and assertion in the expectation that his audience will be convinced to
act.

11
2.4. Background information
2.4.1. Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign
Hillary Clinton was already a known face on the political arena in the United
States before running for president in 2016. Unlike any previous First Lady in American
history, she is remembered not just as a former president's spouse, but also as a US New
York Senator from 2001 to 2009 and the 67 th United States Secretary of State during
Obama's presidency. Her presidential campaign in 2016 was a high point in her long
political career, and it had a significant influence on the history of the United States.
Clinton's campaign focused on implementing all of Obama's past programs, as
well as on local concerns (Gearan, 2015). She addressed local concerns in each state in
order to appeal to Democratic voters in particular states (Hohmann, 2016). For example,
while campaigning in Mississippi, Hillary emphasized the need of clean water in this
region, which is a pressing problem among its residents. Another focus of her campaign
was an emphasis on her own personal political experience, which was a benefit that her
opponent Donald Trump did not have at the time (Corasaniti, 2016). To be more
specific, she recalled her experiences as not only the First Lady of the United States, but
also as a Senator from New York and as US Secretary of State during Obama's
administration, during which she was widely praised for her contribution to improving
US foreign relations, which she used to bolster her campaign platform.
Another aim Clinton stated she would pursue if elected president was to fight for
women's rights in the workplace. She intended to reduce the wage gap and advocate for
paid leave, making child care more accessible for families of all socioeconomic
backgrounds. It was not the first time this type of problem was highlighted in a
presidential campaign, but it was the first time a women's issue was raised by a major
party's female presidential candidate. This has swayed the majority of female voters, a
group that her opponent failed to capture.
In the end, Hillary Clinton did not win the 2016 presidential election, but it is
indisputable that she has had a tremendous influence on American politics. Despite
losing the 2016 presidential race, her name would be etched in American political
history as the woman who defied conventional wisdom, shattered boundaries, and
perplexed even her closest allies with a torrent of personal paradoxes (Blumenthal,
2016). She is the most politically accomplished First Lady in American history, the first
female contender to earn the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, and the first
female presidential candidate to receive a plurality of the public vote. As numerous

12
writers discuss in their book "The Hillary Effect Perspectives on Clinton's Legacy,"
Hillary Clinton symbolizes an intriguing paradox: when it comes to women in politics,
she is both the exception and the rule. While women are becoming more accepted in
politics, her tale demonstrates that pioneers are often martyrs to the established quo
(Cargile, Davis, Merolla & VanSickle-Ward, 2020).

2.4.2. Concession speeches

In the words of politics, a concession is given by a losing candidate to a winning
candidate. It is not a legal requirement or a constitutional need for the losing candidate,
but it has become a norm in modem American election history. The first concession in
United States history was made by John Adams to Thomas Jefferson in the 1800
presidential election (Shelton, 2020). It was not until the 1896 presidential election that
the first "concession telegram" was made by William Bryan to William McKinley, the
25th president of the United States, stating, "We have submitted the issue to the
American people, and their will is law." Since then, it has become a tradition for losing
candidates to concede to their opponents until Donald Trump refused to concede to his
opponent Joe Biden in the 2020 US presidential election (Gresko, 2021).
Concession speeches are typically given on the night of the election after the
results have been announced. In some cases, the concession speech can be given days or
weeks later. In US politics, there are two steps in a concession. The first is a phone call
that the losing candidate makes to concede to the winner, and the second is a speech
given to the public.
According to political historian Paul E. Corcoran (1994), he believes that a
concession speech is "the loser's privilege to cease hostilities, declare peace, and make
the first gesture in restoring the nation to its common labour." Concession speeches
typically hold no actual legal weight, but it assists in a smoother and more peaceful
transfer of power to the winning candidate. Farris (2013, p.13) proposed a similar idea.
He believed that in a country where 270 million guns belong to private ownership, it is
horrifying to imagine the type of catastrophe that might ensue if a candidate ever
refused to concede or yielded in a manner that provoked significant hostility toward the
new president. Corcoran also stated that the formulas of a concession speech are:
congratulations to the winner, an acknowledgment of defeat, and a call for unity in
which the speaker asks their supporters to accept the outcome of the election and
continue to fight for their visions. Corcoran (1994) also believed that since the 90s, a

13
concession speech has become "an institutionalised public speech act integral to
democratic life and the legitimacy of authority."

14
 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1. Methodology
3.1.1. Database of the study
This paper aims to analyse the transcript of the concession speech given by
Hillary Clinton on November 9th, 2016. The speech took place in the ballroom of a
hotel in New York City. The speech was delivered at a hotel ballroom in New York
City. In the presence of her spouse, former US president Bill Clinton, her running mate
Tim Kaine and his partner, along with a small crowd of her Democratic supporters,
Hillary Clinton embraced the biggest loss in her political career and conceded the
presidency to Donald Trump.
3.1.2. Data collection procedure
Data analysis is the most important aspect of any research since it aims to analyze
data using analytical reasoning to discover whether there is a pattern or trend in the
data. The author chose the qualitative technique for this study because it requires
analyzing data to uncover reoccurring themes, patterns, or concepts, then categorizing
and analyzing those categories (Nassaji, 2015). According to Lambert, V., and Lambert,
C. (2012), descriptive qualitative research is data-driven and characterized by data
collection. It is commonly used by researchers when they want a simple outcome while
studying a phenomenon.
First, the author obtains the speech text from Time.com, an American news
website that has been in business for over a century. The author next carefully studies
the document, which is the speech transcript, in order to uncover important facts linked
to the topic inside the transcript.
Following that, the author would identify and categorize the data in line with
Searle's definitions of speech actions (1969). These newly discovered data would next
be classified and subjected to further analysis in order to answer the two research
objectives provided in Chapter I.
In the last phase, the author would present the research findings and write a
commentary to determine how Hillary Clinton utilized the power of words to accept her
defeat in the 2016 presidential election and the impact on her supporters and the general
public.

15
3.2. Findings
Based on Yule's (1996) speech acts theory and Searle's (1969) category of speech
acts, the author discovered that Hillary Clinton exclusively conducted illocutionary
actions. This is the answer to the first research question raised in Chapter I, which was
to determine the speech acts Hillary Clinton utilized in her concession speech. There are
36 speech actions used in all, including representations, expressives, and commands.
Expressing gratitude, thanking, expressing love, hoping, apologising, and expressing
disappointment are examples of expressive acts. There are three types of
representational acts: describing, referring, and stating. There are three types of
directive acts: encouraging, asking, and urging. Offering is the only type of commissive
act discovered. The author discovered in this speech that the most common form of
speech act is expressive acts, which also answers the second study question. The
proportion of the data is represented in the table below.
Speech act Type Frequency Percentage
Locutionary 0 0 0
Illocutionary Expressives Congratulating 1 38,9%
Thanking 9
Expressing love 1
Hoping 1
Apologising 1
Expressing 2
disappointment
Representative Describing 3 36,1%
s Referring 1
Stating 9
Directives Encouraging 2 22,2%
Requesting 4
Urging 2
Commissives Offering 1 2,8%
Perlocutionary 0 0 0
Table 1 Speech acts used by Hillary Clinton in her concession speech

16
3.3. Discussions
3.3.1. Expressives
Expressives are illocutionary acts that express the emotional state of the speaker
(Yule, 1996). There are 15 expressive acts in Hillary Clinton's concession speech, which
are listed below.

a. Thanking
“Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Very rowdy group. Thank you, my friends. Thank
you. Thank you, thank you so very much for being here.” (Para 1)
Right at the start of her speech, she thanked her audience. She continued to praise
them by repeating the term "thank you," which made the audience understand how
much she values them. This speech was delivered a day after the election outcome, a
day after Clinton learned of her defeat. Even before she appeared on stage, the audience
shouted enthusiastically in an attempt to cheer her up, for which she expressed
thankfulness.
“To Barack and Michelle Obama, our country owes you an enormous debt of
gratitude. We - we thank you for your graceful, determined leadership that has
meant so much to so many Americans and people across the world.” (Para 10)
In this section, Clinton extended her thankfulness to the 44th President of the
United States, Barack Obama, for his devotion during the last eight years in office. It is
important noting that Clinton worked as Secretary of State under Obama's second term
and had full backing from Obama during her 2016 presidential campaign. This
statement may also be seen as Clinton's implied comfort to her followers that their
support was worthy even if she lost because even the previous President of the United
States was on her side. Overall, this speech is described as an expressive act of
thankfulness to the Obamas for their leadership.
“And to the millions of volunteers, community leaders, activists and union
organisers who knocked on doors, talked to neighbours, posted on Facebook,
even in secret, private Facebook sites... To everyone who sent in contributions as
small at $5 and kept us going, thank you. Thank you from all of us.” (Para 12)
Clinton clearly dedicated a portion of her concession address to her supporters.
She extended her thanks not only to those who were instrumental in her campaign, but
to everyone who has ever supported her in every way. She detailed all of the

17
contributions made by her supporters to assist her in her arduous campaign for the
president. This was a reminder that she did not forget any of her supporters'
contributions, no matter how big or small. By producing these utterances, she subtly
implied that her campaign was a joint effort from not only her and her team but also
millions of her supporters. Hence, this utterance can be classified as an expressive act of
thanking.
“But I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together,
this vast, diverse, creative, unruly, energised campaign. You represent the best of
America and being your candidate has been one of the greatest honours of my
life.” (Para 4)
“I will always be grateful to the creative, talented, dedicated men and women at
our headquarters in Brooklyn and across our country.” (Para 10)
This section of the speech reflects Clinton's grand gratitude and grateful for all of
supporters, whether they are based in Brooklyn or all over the country. She also stated
that it was the best campaign that has ever done and expected by them all.
“I am so grateful to stand with all of you. I want to thank Tim Kaine and Anne
Holton for being our partners on this journey. It has been a joy to get to know
them better and gives me great hope and comfort to know that Tim will remain on
the front lines of our democracy representing Virginia in the Senate.” (Para 9)
Hillary Clinton expressed her appreciation towards her running mate Tim Kaine
and his spouse Anne Holton for being with her on this journey of running for the
presidency in 2016. Tim Kaine is, first and foremost, her running mate for vice
president. In addition to being her running mate, he has been her strongest ally during
the campaign. She also stressed that he will keep representing Virginia in the Senate,
demonstrating that they had not entirely failed and that there are still people in office
fighting for the same ideas. Even if she lost, the campaign against injustice and
prejudice would continue.
“And to Bill and Chelsea, Mark, Charlotte, Aidan, our brothers and our entire
family, my love for you means more than I can ever express. You crisscrossed this
country on our behalf and lifted me up when I needed it most even four-month-old
Aidan who travelled with his mom.” (Para 10)
Here Clinton expressed her affection and gratitude towards her family for joining
her on this gruelling journey of travelling across the states for her campaign. She listed
out the names in appreciation for their support and their sacrifices for her.

18
 “I am incredibly honoured and grateful to have had this chance to represent all
of you in this consequential election.” (Para 17)
Hillary Clinton conveyed her feelings about the campaign and victory here, saying
she was honored and happy to be able to represent all of her supporters' ideals and goals
in the election.
“Finally, I am so grateful for our country and for all it has given to me. I count
my blessings every single day that I am an American.” (Para 16)
This utterance expressed Clinton's gratefulness for the US and for being an
American. It is notable that Clinton had a lifelong history of involvement in US politics.
On the political front, Clinton was elected as the first female senator from New York in
2000, making her the first First Lady to hold elected office, as well as the first former
First Lady to serve as a senator in the Senate. Re-elected in 2006, she served as chair of
the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee from 2003 to 2007, and she is
a member of the Democratic National Committee. The Democratic primary elections
that year saw Clinton defeated by Barack Obama, who went on to become the president
of the United States. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton served as the United
States' top diplomat during President Barack Obama's first term in office, from 2009 to
2013. Clinton entered the presidential run for the second time in 2016, but she was
defeated by Donald Trump in the election that year. She had dedicated her life to
advocating for better healthcare programs, rights for women in the workplace. She had
put her heart and soul into making her country a better place and that can show how
much love and gratitude she had for her country, as expressed in the utterance above.
Hillary Clinton never fails to thank her supporters and her country, from the beginning
to the end.

b. Congratulating
“Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump....” (Para 1)
In this section of her speech, Hillary Clinton expressed appreciation to Donald
Trump for his election victory. It also emphasizes her willingness to accept the results
and her respect for the Electoral College's decision. This section of her speech
demonstrated her acceptance of the presidential election's fairness. This is part of her
official concession to Donald Trump.

c. Expressing love

19
 “I love you all, too." (Para 1)
This was one of the first things Hillary Clinton said in her speech that day. This
speech was given a day after the election results were finalised, a day after Clinton
received the news of the election results. In an attempt to cheer her up, the audience that
day of her concession speech expressed their love for her by cheering very loudly. In
response, she expressed her endearment for them in return by the utterance above which
ends with the word "too".

d. Hoping
“I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans.” (Para 2)
This is also part of Clinton's official concession speech to Donald Trump. Despite
the two opponents' somewhat hostile attitude throughout the election, Clinton accepted
her loss with grace and showed no bitterness, and she expressed hope that Donald
Trump would fulfill his role as the then-selected president of America and make
America a better place for all American citizens. Hence, this utterance can be
considered an expressive act of hope.

e. Apologising
“This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I'm sorry that
we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our
country.” (Para 2)
Clinton used this speech to acknowledge the outcome of the election, which she
lost to Donald Trump. In this statement, Hillary Clinton expresses her disappointment to
her followers after a year-long campaign and tremendous effort on the part of herself,
her team, and her supporters. Clinton expressed remorse for not being able to fulfil her
supporters' expectation of becoming the president for whom they voted, and for not
being able to bring her supporters' hopes and expectations to fruition. Despite the fact
that they fought valiantly for the goals and principles that they shared for the future of
the country, they were defeated in the end because it was a competition. This was not an
admission of defeat, but rather an acknowledgment of the fact that she had not been
successful in obtaining the opportunity to bring her vision, which her followers believed
in, to the actual world.

f. Expressing disappointment

20
 “This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for.” (Para 2)
“I know how disappointed you feel because I feel it too, and so do tens of millions
of Americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. This is painful
and it will be for a long time.” (Para 4)
Here Clinton shares her sadness with the election results, as well as her
recognition of the shared sentiments of her followers, who had worked hard in the belief
that Clinton would be the president they want. This is a reflection of the result of the
campaign, a result that neither Clinton nor her supporters had wished for. Hence,
disappointment was one of the many emotions that both Clinton and her supporters felt
that day, as none of their expectations came true. Clinton explicitly stated that this was
painful and it would remain that way for a long time because she and her supporters had
fought so hard for what they believed. After a relentless campaign that spanned over the
year, during which she sped across the country and back again, stopping everywhere in
between looking enthusiastic and sounding unstoppable, this was the first time that
Clinton showed a hint of impotence to the public. It is impossible to walk away from a
presidential election without feeling the pain of defeat because despite millions of
dollars invested, an infinite number of rallies organized and an uncountable number of
volunteers who helped, she still lost. Clinton's disappointment is compounded by the
fact that she attempted this before and failed and that she had been all but anointed in
the weeks leading up to the last debate with the key to the Oval Office. Hence, these
utterances are identified as expressive speech acts.

3.3.2. Representatives
Representative speech acts reflect the speaker's ideas, whether they are true or not
(Yule, 1996). It might be a statement, a description, or a personal view. In Hillary
Clinton's speech, there are 13 representative acts that are describing, referring to, and
stating.

a. Descriptions
“Very rowdy group.” (Para 1)
This utterance was a simple description of the state of the ballroom in which
Clinton gave her concession speech. The room was small with a selected audience, but
as soon as Clinton stepped into the room, the audience applauded loudly in an attempt
to welcome Hillary Clinton to the stage and cheer her up. Through this short

21
description, it seems that Hillary Clinton was moved by the cheering audience and
touched to see that, despite the disappointing result, she still had her supporters by her
side.
“For some of you who are veterans, it was a campaign after you had done other
campaigns. Some of you, it was your first campaign. (Para 11) And to the millions
of volunteers, community leaders, activists and union organisers who knocked on
doors, talked to neighbours, posted on Facebook, even in secret, private
Facebook sites.” (Para 12)
In this section of her concession speech, Hillary Clinton thanked everyone who
helped her campaign in any manner. This served as a reminder to Clinton that she was
aware of every contribution made by her supporters, no regardless of how big or small.

b. Referring
“You know, scripture tells us, "Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due
season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart."” (Para 16)
In the speech, Hillary Clinton referred to a quote from the bible to remind her
supporters of not giving up just because their hard work had yet to be paid off. By
referring to a quote from the scripture, Clinton asked her supporters to keep believing in
their values and not to grow tired of doing good work, even if the outcome was not
always what they wanted. This can also be understood as an urge from Clinton to her
supporters to keep living in accordance with their beliefs because their good deeds
would always pay off eventually.

c. Stating
“This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for.” (Para 2)
This statement is classified as a representative speech act since it demonstrates
Hillary Clinton's acceptance of the results of the 2016 presidential election. Rather than
expressing resentment or calling for a recount of votes as some presidential candidates
have done in the past when facing defeat, Clinton accepted her loss with dignity,
acknowledging that even though she and her team had put forth their best effort, the
outcome was not what she had hoped for and that there was nothing she could do about
it but accept the outcome.

22
 “Our campaign was never about one person or even one election, it was about
the country we love and about building an America that's hopeful, inclusive and
big-hearted.” (Para 5)
Hillary Clinton said these utterances with the intention to encourage the public
and remind them of the unity of the country. She encouraged her supporters to look
ahead to the unity that they have built together from the campaign and encouraged her
supporters to look forward to the betterment of the country, a country where no
discrimination rooted in racism or misogyny is allowed. Accordingly, these utterances
are identified as directives of encouragement.
“We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought.” (Para 5)
Here Clinton stated a fact she had concluded from the election, which was the
division of the United States between her and her opponent. The 2016 election was a
tight competition, as none of the competitors had a clear advantage to win. While
Hillary Clinton advocated strongly for better healthcare programs and targeted social
issues in each state, Trump put an emphasis on economic benefits for American
citizens, and each candidate had gained their own large number of supporters for their
own campaign. This had created the said rift Clinton mentioned in her speech, meaning
the people of America had a very divided vision for the country in the future.
“But I still believe in America and I always will. And if you do, then we must
accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our
president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.” (Para 5)
Here Clinton stated the fact that Donald Trump was going to become the next
president to lead the country, and nothing about that could be changed. Therefore, she
also stated that her followers should have an open mind and give him a chance to lead
the country, a chance for him to prove himself no matter how disappointed they felt
about the result.
“Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power.” (Para
5)
“We don't just respect that. We cherish it. It also enshrines the rule of law; the
principle we are all equal in rights and dignity; freedom of worship and
expression.” (Para 6)
Hillary Clinton stated the values of constitutional democracy to her supporters,
who are the values rooted in freedom, equality of rights and dignity. This is one crucial
element of a concession speech: the celebration of democracy.

23
 “We've spent a year and a half bringing together millions of people from every
corner of our country to say with one voice that we believe that the American
dream is big enough for everyone- for people of all races and religions, for men
and women, for immigrants, for LGBT people, and people with disabilities. For
everyone.” (Para 8)
Clinton expressed her delight at the end of her one-and-a-half-year campaign with
supporters from all around the country in this section of her address. She also expressed
her pleasure in the fact that her campaign had brought millions of people together to
share the same ideal she had for the country, a vision of equality for people of all colors,
faiths, genders, immigrant status, and a vision of unity for all Americans. As a result,
these utterances are classified as statements' representative speech acts.
“I've had successes and setbacks and sometimes painful ones. Many of you are at
the beginning of your professional, public, and political careers - you will have
successes and setbacks too.” (Para 13)
These statements are identified as representative speech acts. Here Clinton spoke
about the path of her life in which she had experienced both the good and the bad in life.
She stated that people who were at the brink of their careers or at a turning point in their
lives would have the same experience as her. These utterances were produced by Hillary
Clinton with the purpose of uplifting the hearers by giving them a slight boost to their
inner strength. As they move forward in their career and their lives, they will have more
increasingly difficult setbacks but also a number of ground-breaking achievements, all
of which are normal course of life. It is indicated here that they should not be
disheartened by those misfortunes because better days are ahead of them.
“Now, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling,
but someday someone will - and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.”
(Part 14)
In this part of the speech, Clinton indicates her awareness of the fact that she was
unable to break "the highest and hardest glass ceiling" - a metaphor for the gender
stigma imposed on women in today's society, especially in the world of politics; but she
also maintained hope that it will be possible by someone else. That implies that one day,
sooner than they expected, America would have a female president to achieve the desire
and aspiration she had till then. As a result, this utterance is classified as a
representative speech act.

24
 3.3.3. Directives
Directive speech acts are used to express what the speaker wants the hearer to do.
There are three forms of directive behaviors in this speech: encouraging, requesting, and
urging.

a. Encouraging
“I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even
one election, it was about the country we love and about building an America
that's hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.” (Para 5)
Hillary Clinton said these utterances with the intention to encourage the public
that even though she felt just as disappointed as they did, they should not dwell too
much on this feeling of disappointment. She encouraged her supporters to look ahead to
the unity that they had built together from the campaign and encouraged her supporters
to look forward to the betterment of the country. As a result, these statements are
classified as directives of encouragement.
“Please never stop believing that fighting for what's right is worth it.” (Para 13)
Clinton encourages her supporters not to get discouraged or disappointed for
fighting so hard for their beliefs, and they should keep fighting for their values no
matter what. She wanted a nation in mourning to know that what they had accomplished
was truly remarkable and that no one could take it away from them. This was also a
reminder for them to keep a strong faith in their heart as the things they have worked so
hard for is never wrong.
“And - and to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are
valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the
world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.” (Para 15)
These utterances are classified as directive speech acts. Hillary Clinton is not the
first female president of the United States, but her legacy of resilience despite
tremendous adversity was solidified that night. This utterance aimed to give spirits and
hopes to the younger generations, especially little girls, to dream high and dream big.
Clinton encouraged them to fight for their rights and dreams every chance they have
and to not belittle themselves of the gender stigma in society. This sentence was perhaps
a reminder not just for girls and women today but a reminder Clinton had for herself, as
the woman who had spent her entire career fighting for women's rights and fight against
sexism and misogyny.

25
 b. Requesting
“I want each of you to know that you were the best campaign anybody could have
ever expected or wanted.” (Para 11)
This utterance can be classified as a directive act of requesting. Clinton said "I
want each of you to know" which was a request from her to her supporters to be aware
of the fact that they were the best campaign group that she had ever worked with. She
requested them to know and to remember that she was just as proud of them just as
much as they were of her.
“Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power. We don't
just respect that. We cherish it. It also enshrines the rule of law; the principle we
are all equal in rights and dignity; freedom of worship and expression. We
respect and cherish these values, too, and we must defend them.” (Para 6)
This utterance is classified as a directive speech act because after stating the
values of constitutional democracy, which help the transfer of power take place
peacefully, Clinton commands the audience to be aware of those values and to accept
the result accordingly as the constitutional framers intended.
“And so, we need we need you to keep up these fights now and for the rest of your
lives. And to all the women, and especially the young women, who put their faith
in this campaign and in me: I want you to know that nothing has made me
prouder than to be your champion.” (Para 14)
Here Clinton expressed her request to the public to keep working for what they
have strived for along this time. In this part of her statements, she specifically addressed
women, especially the young women, for whom she felt immense pride of being their
"champion".
c. Urging
“So, let's do all we can to keep advancing the causes and values we all hold dear;
making our economy work for everyone not just those at the top, protecting our
country and protecting our planet and breaking down all the barriers that hold
any American back from achieving their dreams.” (Para 7)
Hillary Clinton urged the audience to treasure the values of their country's
constitutional democracy and urged them to keep working hard to strive for a better and
stronger America. She emphasized the importance of participation over the course of
time, reminding those who supported her that democracy requires more than just casting

26
a ballot once every four years; rather, it requires a continuous commitment. She also
urged them not to back down from any challenges and fight back against any difficulties
they encounter while working towards their dreams.
“This loss hurts, but please never stop believing that fighting for what's right is
worth it. It is, it is worth it.” (Para 13)
Clinton confirmed that this loss in the 2016 presidential election hurts not only
herself but also millions of her supporters all over the country. However, that did not
mean they should stop fighting for their beliefs or their dreams, as it would always be
worth it in the end.

3.3.4. Commissives
“... and offered to work with him on behalf of our country.” (Para 1)
Here, Hillary Clinton offered to assist the president-elect of the United States,
indicating her willingness to set aside whatever animosity they had during the election
in order to work together to build a better America. Despite the fact that the election
result did not go as she and her supporters had hoped, she recommitted herself to
fighting for the country's progress in the future. This utterance is part of the official
concession to Donald Trump.

27
 CHAPTER 4: RECAPITULATIONS, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1. Recapitulations
The purpose of this study is to discover answers to the two research questions
provided in Chapter I. Based on the conclusions in Chapter III, the following are the
appropriate responses to the proposed questions:
The first goal of this study is to identify the different sorts of speech acts utilized
in Hillary Clinton's concession address on November 9 th, 2016. The types of speech
actions utilized in this speech, as given in Chapter III, are merely illocutionary acts. The
author discovers that the types of illocutionary actions employed include expressives,
representations and directions, and commissives, based on the five classes of speech
acts proposed by Searle (1969) and Yule (1996). Hillary Clinton did not use any
declarative acts in her address.
By adopting representative acts, Hillary Clinton was able to give statements that
showed her acknowledgment of Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election. It also
allows her to tell her life story about her accomplishments and tribulations in order to
inspire the public and to make remarks in order to reassure the public that they need not
become disheartened as they fight for their vision of a better America.
In terms of directive speech actions, Hillary Clinton used them in her address to
inspire the girls and women of this generation to keep fighting for their aspirations and
breaking the gender stigma that society has put on them. Most importantly, she utilized
them to encourage her followers and elevate their spirits in the face of these poor
outcomes. She also asked her supporters to keep fighting for what they believed in and
building a better America, saying that her campaign was about more than just her but
also about the aspirations they shared for a better America.
The commissive speech act was utilized by Hillary Clinton in her speech to
demonstrate her commitment to supporting Donald Trump in his future endeavors as
President of the United States.
Regarding the second research question of this paper, which is to identify the most
dominant speech act, it has been discovered that expressive is the most dominant one in
this context. It is clear that Clinton's concession speech is thoroughly characterised by
the frequent use of this type of speech act. They allow her to express her gratitude and
thankfulness to everyone who has contributed to her campaign and accept the results of

28
her opponent's victory with grace and class. The results show that Hillary Clinton relied
on expressive acts more than other speech acts.
Overall, Hillary Clinton's concession speech has all of the elements of a
concession speech: a message of congratulations to the victorious candidate, an
acceptance of defeat, and a plea for unity in which the speaker urges their supporters to
accept the decision. She mostly employed expressive acts to describe her thoughts about
the election and her supporters, which is likewise the form of speech act most
commonly used in John McCain's concession speech in 2008 and Mitt Romney's
concession speech in 2012. (Putri & Yanti, 2021). Her speech has been made more
inspirational, fascinating, and motivating via the use of emotive language and
expressive themes, ranging from gratitude to citizens to support for Donald Trump as
president-elect to a sincere thank you to Barack Obama for governing America for two
consecutive terms. She also emphasized the significance of unity, equality, and honesty
in constructing America's future. Then, in her speech, she encouraged every American
citizen, regardless of origin, nationality, color, religion, or gender, to fight for their
ideals. She created a solid belief in unity, democracy, and equality via this speech.

4.2. Implications
The findings have the following theoretical and practical implications:
For starters, this research may contribute to the current resources for language
scholars, specifically speech acts analyzers, relevant to the study of speech acts. This
research may be used as a reference because it contains a concise and easy theoretical
base as well as an in-depth examination of the actual dialogue.
Furthermore, for English linguistics students, this study may suggest a new
approach for analyzing speech actions, which may help students obtain a better
understanding of English conversation. Aside from that, the author intends to motivate
other students to perform their own study in order to gain a deeper understanding of the
many types of pragmatic speech actions.

4.3. Limitations
Limitations are inherent due to time constraints and the author's lack of
experience. Following are the two limitations that this study still has:

29
 First, due to the nature of the research, it is impossible to generalize the entirety of
Hillary Clinton's linguistic strategy and perspectives regarding the 2016 presidential
election results.
Second, due to the scope and requirements of this sort of research, it is impossible
to execute it at a more expert and detailed level to sufficiently describe the findings.

4.4. Recommendations
4.4.1. To English majored students
Pragmatics as an academic subject is studied not only by DAV English linguistics
- major students in particular, but also by all linguistic students in general.
Consequently, this study may aid students in better comprehending the meaning of
utterances, hence reducing the likelihood of communication misunderstandings.
Because speech acts occur with or without human acknowledgement, deeper
understanding of effective everyday speech acts may help to streamline the real
communication process. However, there are numerous features of speech acts that are
worth investigating. It is recommended that students work harder and more effectively
on pragmatics research in order to obtain a better understanding of the issue.
4.4.2. To other English language researchers
Pragmatics and speech acts are very broad topics and require researchers to study
from many different perspectives. The author only concentrates on identifying and
analyzing the types of speech acts in the speech. In the regard, other researchers can do
other studies from another interesting perspective to avoid the monotonous research.
Following are recommendations for further research:
First, through the approach to speech act theories of Austin, Searle and Yule, we
see how to use speech acts and sub-types of speech acts by Hillary Clinton in her
speech. The author recommends that other researchers can expand on the data with
other speeches or articles about Hillary Clinton.
Second, there are many approaches and theories about speech acts that can be
used as a theoretical framework for Hillarry Clinton's speech. Therefore, in this
analysis, the author only mentioned the framework through Austin's, Searle's, Yule's
speech act theories. Therefore, the writer recommends other researchers can use other
frameworks to analyze this speech

30
 REFERENCES
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford University Press.
Blumenthal, K. (2016). Hillary: A biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bloomsbury
Publishing.https://silverbronzo.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/austin-how-to-do-
things-with-words-1962.pdf
Wodak, R. (2002). Aspects of critical discourse analysis. Zeitschrift für angewandte
Linguistik, 36(10), 5-31.
Berg, Bruce L, Qualitative Research Method for the Social Sciences. California State
University : Long Beach, 2004.
Geis, M. L. (1995). Speech acts and conversational interaction. Cambridge University
Press.
Bach, K., & R. M. Harnish. (1979). Linguistic communication and speech acts. MIT
Press.
Leech, G. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. Longman.
Mey, J. (1993). Pragmatics: An introduction. Blackwell.
Recanati, F. (1989). The pragmatics of what is said. Mind and Language, 4(4), 295-329.
Sagita V.R., & Setiawan T. (2019). The illocutionary speech acts of ridwan kamil in the
insight talkshow at CNN Indonesia. file:///C:/Users/os/Desktop/5123-12160-1-
PB.pdf
Bach, K., & R. M. Harnish. (1979). Linguistic communication and speech acts. MIT
Press.
Cutting, J. (2002). Pragmatics and discourse: A resource book for students. Routledge.
Gultom, N. C. (2017). An analysis of speech act in Hillary Clinton's speech "This
madness has to stop". [Undergraduate's thesis, University of Sumatera Utara]
https://repositori.usu.ac.id/handle/123456789/17438
Faradilah. F. (2020). The analysis of speech act in Donald Trump's speech "Coronavirus
task force briefing".
http://repository.umsu.ac.id/handle/123456789/13972
Alreza, E., Natsir, M., & Maya Valiantien, N. (2018). An analysis of illocutionary acts
in Yes, We can speech by Barack Obama. E-Journal of Mulawarman University,
3(1), 30-33.
http://e-journals.unmul.ac.id/index.php/JBSSB/article/view/1596
Brockell, G. (2020). The founders didn't prepare for a president who refuses to step
down, historians say.

I
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/11/21/founders-constitution-president-
trump-concede/
Corasaniti, N. (2016). Hillary Clinton emphasizes her time on the world stage.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/us/politics/hillary-clinton-emphasizes-her-
time-on-the-world-stage.html
Corcoran, P. E. (1994). Presidential concession speeches: The rhetoric of defeat.
Political Communication, 11(2), 109-131.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.1994 9. Gearan, A. (2015). Clinton is banking
on the Obama coalition to win.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/running-to-the-left-hillary-clinton-is-banking-
on-the-obama-coalition-to-win/2015/05/17/33b7844a-fb28-11e4-9ef4-
1bb7ce3b3fb7_story.html
Hohmann, J. (2016). The Daily 202: Hillary Clinton is winning with a hyper-local
strategy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/03/08/daily-
202-hillary-clinton-is-winning-with-a-hyper-local-strategy/
56de2040981b92a22d7612d7/
Hurford, J., & Heasley, B. (1983). Semantics: A coursebook. Cambridge University
Press
https://www.pdcnet.org/jphil/content/jphil_1954_0051_0019_0559_0563
Leech, G. (1974). Semantics: The study of meaning. Penguin Books.
Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press.
Lin, G. (2007). The significance of pragmatics. Mingdao Journal, 3(2), 92.
Mey, J. (1993). Pragmatics an introduction. Blackwell Publishers.
Mufiah, N. S., & Nur Rahman, M. Y. (2019). Speech acts analysis of Donald Trump's
speech. Professional Journal of English Education, 1(2), 125.
https://doi.org/10.22460/project
Paltridge, B. (2007). Discourse analysis: An introduction. Bloomsbury Publishers
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge
University Press.
Shelton, J. (2020). Will Donald Trump respect tradition with a concession speech?.
https://www.dw.com/en/concession-speech-trump/a-55530599
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford University Press.

II
 APPENDIX
THE TRANSCRIPT OF HILLARY CLINTON'S CONCESSION SPEECH
The transcript is retrieved from Time.com and contains a total of 1176 words. The
video and transcript of the speech are available on multiple news sources for public
access.
1. "Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you all so much. Thank you.
Thank you all very much. Thank you so much. A very rowdy group. Thank you, my
friends. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so very much for being here. I love you all,
too. Last night I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of
our country. (Paragraph 1)
2. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans. This is not the
outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I'm sorry we did not win this
election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country. (Paragraph 2)
3. But I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built
together. This vast, diverse, creative, unruly, energised campaign. You represent the
best of America, and being your candidate has been one of the greatest honours of my
life. (Paragraph 3)
4. I know how disappointed you feel, because I feel it too. And so do tens of
millions of Americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. This is
painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this. (Paragraph 4)
5. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about
the country we love and building an America that is hopeful, inclusive, and big- hearted.
We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. But I still believe
in America, and I always will. And if you do, then we must accept this result and then
look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open
mind and the chance to lead. Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful
transfer of power. (Paragraph 5)
6. We don't just respect that. We cherish it. It also enshrines the rule of law; the
principle we are all equal in rights and dignity; freedom of worship and expression. We
respect and cherish these values, too, and we must defend them. (Paragraph 6) 7. Let me
add: Our constitutional democracy demands our participation, not just every four years,
but all the time. So let's do all we can to keep advancing the causes and values we all
hold dear. Making our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top, protecting
our country and protecting our planet. (Paragraph 7)

III
 8. And breaking down all the barriers that hold any American back from
achieving their dreams. We spent a year and a half bringing together millions of people
from every corner of our country to say with one voice that we believe that the
American dream is big enough for everyone. For people of all races and religions, for
men and women, for immigrants, for LGBT people, and people with disabilities. For
everyone. (Paragraph 8)
9. I am so grateful to stand with all of you. I want to thank Tim Kaine and Anne
Holton for being our partners on this journey. It has been a joy to get to know
them better and gives me great hope and comfort to know that Tim will remain on the
front lines of our democracy, representing Virginia in the Senate. (Paragraph 9) 10. To
Barack and Michelle Obama, our country owes you an enormous debt of gratitude. We
thank you for your graceful, determined leadership that has meant so much to so many
Americans and people across the world. And to Bill and Chelsea, Mark, Charlotte,
Aidan, our brothers and our entire family, my love for you means more than I can ever
express. You crisscrossed this country, even 4-month-old Aidan, who traveled with his
mom. I will always be grateful to the talented, dedicated men and women at our
headquarters in Brooklyn and across our country. (Paragraph 10)
11. You poured your hearts into this campaign. To some of you who are veterans,
it was a campaign after you had done other campaigns. For some of you, it was your
first campaign. I want each of you to know that you were the best campaign anybody
could have ever expected or wanted. (Paragraph 11)
12. And to the millions of volunteers, community leaders, activists and union
organisers who knocked on doors, talked to their neighbours, and posted on Facebook
even in secret private Facebook sites. I want everybody coming out from behind that
and make sure your voices are heard going forward. To anyone that sent contributions,
even as small as $5, that kept us going, thank you. To all of us, and to the young people
in particular, I hope you will hear this - I have, as Tim said, I have spent my entire life
fighting for what I believe in. (Paragraph 12) 13. I've had successes and setbacks and
sometimes painful ones. Many of you are at the beginning of your professional, public,
and political careers - you will have successes and setbacks too. This loss hurts, but
please never stop believing that fighting for what's right is worth it. It is, it is worth it.
(Paragraph 13)
14. And so we need - we need you to keep up these fights now and for the rest of
your lives. And to all the women, and especially the young women, who put their faith

IV
in this campaign and in me: I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than
to be your champion. Now, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest
glass ceiling, but someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right
now. (Paragraph 14)
15. And to all of the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are
valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to
pursue and achieve your own dreams. (Paragraph 15)
16. Finally, finally, I am so grateful for our country and for all it has given to me.
I count my blessings every single day that I am an American, and I still believe, as
deeply as I ever have, that if we stand together and work together with respect for our
differences, strengthen our convictions, and love for this nation, our best days are still
ahead of us. Because, you know, I believe we are stronger together and we will go
forward together. And you should never, ever regret fighting for that. You know,
scripture tells us, let us not grow weary of doing good, for in good seasons we shall
reap. My friends, let us have faith in each other, let us not grow weary and lose heart,
for there are more seasons to come and there is more work to do. (Paragraph 16)
17. I am incredibly honoured and grateful to have had this chance to represent all
of you in this consequential election. May God bless you and may God bless the United
States of America. (Paragraph 17)"