SOCIOLINGUISTICS PAPER

SPEECH EVENT AND SPEECH ACT

Arranged to fulfill the Assignment for the Linguistics Course

Supporting Lecturer

Dr. Sholihatul Hamidah Dly, S.Ag, M. Hum

Arranged By :

Group-3

Maulida (0304213083)

Miftahul Jannah (0304213040)

Ramadhan Solin (0304213047)

TBI-3/ SEM VI

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING

ISLAMIC STATE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH SUMATERA

MEDAN

2024
 PREFACE

‫ِبْس ِم الَّلِه الَّر ْح َم ِن الَّر ِح يم‬

Alhamdulillahirabbil’alamin, first of all, thanks to Allah SWT because of the help of

Allah, writers finished the paper entitled "Speech Event and Speech Act" right in the
calculated time. The purpose in writing this paper is to fulfill the assignment that given by
Maam Dr. Sholihatul Hamidah Dly, S.Ag, M. Hum, as lecturer in Sociolinguistics subject.
In arranging this paper, the writers truly get lots challenges and obstructions but with help of
many individuals, those obstructions could pass. Writers also realized that there are still many
mistakes in process of writing this paper.

Because of that, the writers say thank you to all individuals who helps in the process
of writing this paper. Hopefully, Allah replies all helps and blesses you all. The writers
realized that this paper still imperfect in arrangement and the content. Then, the writers hope
the criticism from the readers can help the writers in perfecting the next paper. Last but not
the least, hopefully, this paper can helps the readers to gain more knowledge about
sociolingustics subject.

Medan, 23th of march 2024

Group 3
 TABLE OF CONTENT

PREFACE..................................................................................................................................2

TABLE OF CONTENT.............................................................................................................3

CHAPTER I...............................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3

A. Background of study.......................................................................................................4

B. Problem Formulation......................................................................................................4

C. Purpose............................................................................................................................4

CHAPTER II..............................................................................................................................4

DISCUSSION............................................................................................................................4

A. The Definition Of Speech Event.....................................................................................5

B. The Components Of Speech Event.................................................................................5

C. The Definition Of Speech Act.........................................................................................6

D. Types Of Speech Act......................................................................................................7

BAB III.......................................................................................................................................9

PENUTUP..................................................................................................................................9

A. Kesimpulan.....................................................................................................................9

REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................9
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of study

In daily life, verbal interaction is an integral part of human communication. A

comprehensive understanding of the components of speech events, such as setting,
participants, purpose, content, tone, communication channel, interaction norms, and form of
delivery, is indispensable for understanding and responding appropriately in various
communication situations.

Speech events cover a wide range of communication activities, from informal

conversations to formal public speeches. By understanding the important aspects of speech
events, one can be better prepared and skilled in communicating, both in social and
professional contexts. For example, an understanding of the setting and participants in a
speech event can help one to adjust the communication style and language used to suit the
situation at hand.

In addition, an understanding of speech acts, which involves locutionary,

illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts, is also important in understanding the purpose and
effect of one's speech. By knowing the types of illocutionary acts, such as representatives,
directives, expressives, commissives, and declarations, one can be more effective in
conveying messages and understanding the responses of the listeners.

B. Problem Formulation

1. What is the definition of Speech Event?

2. What are the components of Speech Event?
3. What is the definition of Speech Act?
4. What are types of Speech Act?

C. Purpose

1. To understand about the definition of Speech Event

2. To understand about the components of Speech Event
3. To understand about the definition of Speech Act
4. To understand about types of Speech Act
 CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A. The Definition Of Speech Event

A speech event is an activity in which linguistic interaction takes place in one or more
forms of speech involving two parties, namely the speaker and the interlocutor, with one
main point of speech, in a certain time, place and situation (Chaer, 2010: 47). In other words,
it cannot be said that in every communication process speech events or language events must
also occur. The interaction that takes place between a market trader and a buyer at a certain
time using language as a means of communication is a speech event. The same thing also
happens and we find it in discussion events, in lecture halls, official meetings in the office,
court hearings, and so on.

Hymes (1972) distinguishes between speech events and speech acts. Hymes argues
that speech events occur in a non-verbal context. Hymes Dell further discusses speech events
and suggests that various components must be included in a comprehensive ethnographic
description of speech acts. The classification he proposed is known as SPEAKING, where
each letter in the acronym stands for a different communication component. Eight speech
components are meant Hymes among others: (1) setting and scence, (2) participant, (3) ends,
(4) act and sequence, (5) key, (6) instruments, (7) norms of interaction, and (8) genre.

B. The Components Of Speech Event

1. Setting and Scene

Setting is about the time and place when the speech takes place. Scene is what refers
to the situation of place and time or the psychological situation of the conversation.

2. Participant

Participants are the parties involved in the speech, which can be speakers and listeners
or senders and receivers (messages).

3. Ends
 Refers to the purpose of speech that the participant wants to achieve on a particular
occasion.

4. Act Sequence

Refers to the actual form and content of what is said: the exact words used, how they
are used, and the relationship of what is said to the actual topic at hand.

5. Key (Tone or Spirit of Act)

It refers to the tone, manner or spirit in which a particular message is delivered. In

social interactions, participants offer each other cues on how to interpret the content of the
message.

6. Instrumentalities

This refers to the choice of channel such as oral, written, telephonic or telegraphic,
and to the actual form of speech used, such as the language, dialect, code, or register chosen.

7. Norm

This refers to the norms or rules of interaction, such as those related to how to
interrupt, ask questions, and so on.

8. Genre

This refers to the type of delivery form, such as conversation narration, poetry,
proverb, and so on.

C. The Definition Of Speech Act

According to Mey (1994: 111) speech act is an action happening in the world, that is,
they bring about a change in the existing state of fairs (stated in Zumaroh: 2012). Meanwhile,
Yule described that speech act is an action performed via the utterances (1996: 47). In
conclusion, speech act is the theory about the utterances which can be used to change, state,
express, even it can make someone commit and act toward the utterances said by the speaker.

According to Austin (1962) in his speech acts theory, there are three actions related to
speech acts. The first act is a locutionary act which is the basic production of meaningful
utterance. This act is much related to the hearer, if the hearer fails to understand what the
speaker is saying then the speaker has failed to do a locutionary act. For example, when a
person from Indonesia (he’s in America for instance) talks to an American in bahasa ‘apa
kabar pak?’ in English this utterance will not produce what is called as a meaningful
linguistic expression. On the contrary when the speaker said ‘how are you sir?’ then the
American would understand and it is a form of locutionary act.

This second dimension is called Illocutionary act. An illocutionary act is

accomplished via utterance with a communicative intention. A speaker may perform an
illocutionary act to make a promise, offer, explanation, etc, which is as proposed by Austin as
an illocutionary force. In indicating illocutionary act Searle develops a device called
Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID). It is an expression to show the illocutionary
force of an utterance is. For example, in the utterance” I promise you this”. The word
‘promise’ is identified as a performative verb which is one of the devices to identify
illocutionary force. It is obviously indicated that the illocutionary force of the speaker is to
promise something to the hearer as the speaker describes it explicitly.

Speech acts can be classified into Direct Speech Act and Indirect Speech Act.
Futhermore, Yule (1996) state that Direct Speech Act will happen if there is direct
relationship between the structure and the function of the utterance. Meanwhile, Indirect
Speech Acts will happen if there is indirect relationship between the structure and the
function of the utterance. Relationship between the structure and the function of the
utterances. For example,when someone says “it’s cold outside”, the direct speech act of this
utterance is to inform the hearer about the real conditions outside, but the indirect speech act
of this utterance is to request or to give command to close the door, so the cold will not affect
the speaker.

D. Types Of Speech Act

Austin (1962) distinguished three types of speect act, namely locutionary,

illocutionary act, and perlocutionary.

1. Locutionary Speech act

Leech (1993) explains that locution speech act means that the speaker speaks to
his/her partner with the spoken words that have meanings and certain references. From that
limitation, it can be concluded that locution act is only an act that informs something without
any effects on the partner. A locution speech act is a speech with words, phrases, and
sentences which in accordance with the meaning of the words, phrases, and sentences
(Rahardi, 2003:71). Wijana (1996) states that illocutionary speech act is a speech act to
express something.

2. Illocutionary Speech Act

According to Austin (1962), the illocution speech act is a speech act that has meaning
and function. Searle (1979) classifies the illocutionary speech act into representatives,
directives, expressive, commissives, and declarations.

a. Representatives; it is a speech act that ties the speaker to the truth for what he/she
said. Some speeches are included in this speech act, i.e. stating, suing, admitting,
showing, reporting, giving a testimony, mentioning, and speculating.
b. Directives; it is a speech act that is intended so that the partner takes action as what
the speaker said. Some speeches are included in this speech act, i.e. asking,
inviting, forcing, suggesting, insisting, ordering to do something, paying off,
dictating, ruling, begging, challenging, giving a command.
c. Expressive; it is a speech act that is intended so that the speech will be used as an
evaluation based on what the speaker said, including saying thanks, complaining,
congratulating, flattering, praising, blaming, and criticizing.
d. Commissives; it is a speech act that ties the speaker to do all the things he said, e.g.
swearing, promising, threatening, declaring ability.
e. Declarative; it is a speech act that is intended to create something new (status,
condition, etc).

3. Perlocutionary Speech Act

A perlocutionary speech act is an effect and the influence as the result from the
speaker's speech (Austin, 1962:101). Based on the opinion, speech has the power to
influence. It is related to the partner of speech interpretation ability to understand it.

Perlocutionary act is the effect or impact caused by the speech on the speech partner.
Therefore, the speech partners want to carry out actions based on the contents of the speech.
Perlocutionary acts can also be said to be speech acts relating to the speech of other people
with attitudes and behavior outside the linguistics of other people (Thuruvan & Yunus, 2017).
Perlocutionary act is the effect of the utterance produced by the speaker toward the listener.
There are some effects commonly appeared when the speaker was produced the utterance
such as it can make the listener believes, annoyed, afraid, enlighten, inspires, confirms,
rejects, obedient, informs, understands, happy or satisfied, surprised and it also can make the
listener doing something (Putri,Ramendra dan Swandana, 2019).

BAB III

PENUTUP

A. Kesimpulan

It is concluded that an understanding of speech events and speech acts is essential in

linguistic communication. Speech events involve various components such as setting,
participants, purpose, speech content, and form of delivery, while speech acts consist of
locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts. A deep understanding of this topic can
help improve communication skills, strengthen interpersonal relationships, and create better
understanding in various communication situations. Further understanding of speech events
and speech acts can make valuable contributions to the development of human
communication abilities.
 REFERENCES

Austin, J. L. (1962). How to Do Things With Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chaer, A., Leonie A. (2010). Sosiolinguistik: Perkenalan Awal (Edisi Revisi). Jakarta: PT.
Rineka Cipta.

Hymes, D.H. (19720). Models of The Interaction of Language and Social Life. New York:
Holt, Reinhart and Winston Inc.

Leech, G. (1993). Prinsip-prinsi Pragmatik. Jakarta: Universitas Indonesia (UI-Press)

Rahardi, K. (2003). Berkenalan dengan Ilmu Bahasa Pragmatik. Malang: Dioma

Searle, J. R. (1979). Expression and meaning. Studies the theory of speech acts.USA:
Cambridge University Press.

Thuruvan, P., & Yunus, M. M. (2017). The speech act of request in the ESL classroom. 3L:
Language, Linguistics, Literature, 23(4), 212–221.
https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2017-2304-16

Wijana, I.D. P. (1996). Dasar-dasar Pragmatik. Yogyakarta: Andi

Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Zumaroh, S. (2012). The analysis of Speech Act Used in “Air Force One” Movie Script.
Available at http://perpus.iainsalatiga.ac.id/docfiles/fulltext/12fea3ffe1a33fb8.pdf on
Saturday, 27th April 2019