SPEECH ACT

PRAGMATIC

Siti Septia Awalya 2223160114

Afif Adani 2223160098

Fani Malindah 2223160076

Rahmi Aulia 2223150040

Dita Aprilia Sary 2223160122

A. Definition of Speech Act
A speech act is a minimal functional unit in
human communication. Just as a word
(refusal) is the smallest free form found in
language and a morpheme is the smallest unit
of language that carries information about
meaning (-al in refuse-al makes it a noun), the
basic unit of communication is a speech act
(the speech act of refusal).
B. The Meaning of Speech Acts

According to Austin's theory (1962), what we say has three kinds of

meaning:
• 1. locutionary meaning
• 2. illocutionary meaning
• 3. perlocutionary meaning
 C. The Classification of Speech Acts
• a. The first criterion is the Illocutionary Point, which is the main purpose
of a Speech Act.
• b. The Direction of Fit describes the intersection between the words and
the world. Are the words describing some items of the world, this is called
‛word to world direction’.
• c. The circumstances of a certain utterance are also a significant criterion.
D. Speech Act Category

1. Representatives or
4. Expressives
Assertives
5. Declaratives
2.Directives
3.Commissives
• Amy says: “The sun is shining”
• This sentence belongs to the category of Representatives/Assertive (1) as Amy describes the world. To go
into more detail, I will examine this utterance on the basis of the three classifications of Speech Acts.
• A) Amy’s purpose is to describe the world. (Illocutionary Point: DESCRIBE)
• B) The words follow the world. (Direction of Fit: WORD TO WORLD)
• C) Amy believes what she sees. (Sincerity: BELIEVE)
•
• Amy says: “Open the window, please!”
• This utterance belongs to the category of Directives (2) as we could form the indirect sentence: Amy
wants Peter to open the window.
• A) Amy wants Peter to do something. (Illocutionary Point: EFFECT AN ACTION)
• B) She wants that the world (in this example Peter) follows her words. (Direction of Fit: WORLD TO
WORD)
• C) Amy has the will that something happens. (Sincerity: WILL)
• Austin stated that these classifications are unique for all possible Illocutionary Acts. No matter what
Representative or Assertive sentence is uttered, the criteria A) to C) are unique for all of them. This
structured taxonomy was the biggest difference in comparison to Austin.
E. Illocutionary Acts

• The concept of an illocutionary act is central to the concept of a

speech act. Although there are numerous opinions as to what
'illocutionary acts' actually are, there are some kinds of acts which
are widely accepted as illocutionary, as for example promising,
ordering someone, and bequeathing.
F. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts

• In everyday communication, a variety of different Speech Acts

are used. Without being linguists, usually people are able
understand what the speaker wants to say. Direct and Indirect
Speech Acts are interchanged unconsciously as the following
examples will show:

• “What time is it?” vs. “Could you tell me what time it is?”
CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

• 1. There are three meaning of speech acts. They are locutionary

meaning, illocutionary meaning and perlocutionary meaning.
• 2. The categories of speech acts are representatives or assertive,
directives, commissives, expressives and declaratives.
• 3. The concept of an illocutionary act is central to the concept of a
speech act.
• 4. In everyday communication, a variety of different Speech Acts are
used. Without being linguists, usually people are able understand what
the speaker wants to say.