Understanding

Speech Context,
Speech Style,
Speech
z Act and
Communicative
Strategy
z
Oprah Winfrey, a renowned American talk show host, once
said that successful communication always begins with
connection. You have to understand, however, that
connection between two or more communicators is only
achieved if the conditions and factors relevant to the
communicative process make it so. Just like a balancing
and juggling act that needs to make adjustments with
movements to keep everything steady and controlled,
communication is also a process where connection is
maintained through careful balancing and juggling of all
factors involved in the communication process.
 Table 1: Factors affected by a shift in Speech Context,
Speech
z Style, Speech Act, and Communicative Strategy
Language Form This refers to the formality or informality of the language used and it involves
the choice of words and how sentences or utterances are structured.

Formal language is used when talking with professionals or persons in

authority in a formal, official or ceremonial occasion, situation, gathering or
event. Talking with a lawyer, a doctor or even with your teacher often creates a
formal ambiance in communication.

Informal language, on the other hand, is used without much consideration to

rules of convention or etiquette. It is casual and mostly not well-thought-of or
prepared because it is used to communicate with people with whom you have
close association with like parents, siblings and friends.

Duration of This refers to the amount of time a conversation takes between and among
Interaction communicators.
Relationship of This refers to the speech style used by the speaker suited to his/her
Speaker z relationship to the person with whom he/she is communicating. Styles can be
classified as intimate, frozen, consultative, casual or formal.

Intimate style – the speaker talks to family members, bestfriends or romantic

partners. This may comprise private conversations or personal interactions.

Frozen – the speaker addresses an audience in a formal gathering such as

ceremonial events, Eucharistic celebrations or even court hearings. The style
is “set” or “fixed” and thus, it rarely or never changes. Audience feedback is
not required.

Consultative – the speaker communicates with a person whom he/she may

have to clarify things, discuss a problem, or seek advice.

Casual – the speaker shares close and personal information with friends,
classmates or colleagues. This ordinarily occurs in everyday life

Formal – the speaker has to deliver a pre-planned or written speech to

address a crowd of people such as giving opening remarks during a seminar,
or the president making a public announcement or delivering SONA.
Role and This refers to the role and responsibility of the speaker which will depend on
z of
Responsibility the purpose and context of communication
Speaker
The speaker may be a person who gives information and additional
knowledge to another person or an audience, someone who convinces
others for a cause or an individual who provokes laughter for diversion and
fun. Hence, his responsibility depends on his purpose for communication
which may be to inform, to persuade, or to entertain.
Message This involves the content of the message. The message may be facts,
opinion, feelings, order, suggestions, and questions.
Delivery This refers to the manner of delivery involving verbal and nonverbal cues
made by the speaker. Delivery can be classified as:

• extemporaneous – speaking with limited preparation and guided by notes

or outline;
• impromptu – speaking without advanced preparation or unrehearsed
speech;
• memorized – planned and rehearsed speech;
• manuscript – reading aloud a written message.
 z
Communicative Competence
In order to achieve communicative competence, we
must consider the following: speech context, speech
style, speech act and communicative strategies.
Speech
z
Context
This accounts for the background and purpose of a discourse. Speech context
assumes a more or less direct relationship between situational, societal, political or
cultural “environment” in which the communication transaction occurs. The type of
audience, circumstances and setting are taken into consideration.

Speech context may be intrapersonal, interpersonal and public. Intrapersonal

communication is a communication with oneself. It is the basic form of communication
where the ‘self’ is the only consideration. This is true in moments of self-reflection or
introspection when you contemplate and internalize things that happened or may
happen, or maybe think of what may be done to solve a personal problem.

Sharing your experiences with a friend or discussing a topic within a group are
examples of interpersonal communication. This kind of communication involves the
transmission of messages that is deliberately extended to others.
 Public communication addresses a large number of people. For example, when
z
you discuss to a large group online about the effects of Covid19 and the precautionary
measures in the time of pandemic, you engage in public communication. In this way,
you communicate to a crowd of online viewers and so your message may be heard by
many. Another example of public communication is a preacher passionately delivering
a sermon and a leader emphatically persuading the people to support a cause in a
mass gathering.

As communication changes its context, language form, choice of words, delivery,

and duration of interaction are some of the factors that may also change. Various
speaking engagements will always entail different environments, situations, or
circumstances. The people that we talk to, the physical setting we find ourselves in,
and the circumstances that surround the communication transaction may alter. And
when it does, we as speakers may incorporate the necessary changes in order to
adapt to the changed context.
Speech
z
Style
Another factor that affects the attainment of
communicative competence is speech style. A person may
choose what style or form of language to use in
communicating with others; however, personal preferences
may not work at all times. There are controlled instances
when one may just go with the flow of the communicative
process because that is what is required in the situation.

Speech style has the following types: intimate, casual,

consultative, formal and frozen.
 Intimate
z communication happens between or
among family members because they are bound
by close affinity. There are things that are kept only
within themselves which other people do not or can
not know. Intimate communication may be private
or confidential.

Friends and acquaintances often use casual communication.

They feel comfortable and at ease with one another. They have no
inhibitions to share their feelings because they consider their friends
next to their family. They laugh without ceasing over not-so-funny
things and at times, not even getting sensitive to one another’s
criticisms.
 z

Consultative means of communication is giving

pieces of advice as in a guidance counselor and a
client who needs it. This can be between a doctor
and his patient or parents who consult with a
teacher about their child’s academic performance.

The President delivering his SONA and a principal presenting a school’s

financial report to teachers, parents and other stakeholders are both
examples of a formal communication. This type of communication is well-
planned in terms of structure, sequence and coherence of ideas.
 Finally, those activities which are not changeable in
nature fallz under frozen type of communication. Saying a
prayer like Our Lord’s Prayer or the Hail Mary and reciting
the Patriotic Oath during flag ceremonies are just two of the
examples. These are routinely done and may only be
changed once amended in the Philippine constitution.
Frozen communication is set and it is very rarely or almost
never altered.

The scenarios above will probably get you adjust your words according to
the type of audience you deal with. Your approach to the little ones will
drastically change as you talk with your parents who have authority over you.
Your language will vary as you interview a sidewalk vendor and a doctor for
your class tasks.
As in context, a change in speech style also causes other factors in the
communication process to change. This is because we try to adapt our style or
language form depending on the degree of formality and familiarity that we
have with our audience.
Speech act
z
Speech act refers not only to the utterance (Locutionary act) but also to the intention
(Illocutionary Act) and response (Perlocutionary Act) to a specific situation for an
intended discourse impact. The choice of words to use has to be considered to suit the
need of the occasion or the kinds of audience to be addressed. This is also done to help
express the intention of the speaker and to elicit a response from the listener.

Locutionary act - the act of making a meaningful utterance, a stretch of spoken language
that is preceded by silence and followed by silence or a change of speaker—also known as a
locution or an utterance act.
Illocutionary Act - 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.
Perlocutionary Act - is one of getting somebody to do something; persuading (them to do
something), convincing (them to think something), scaring (getting them to be afraid), insulting
(getting them to be offended), amusing (getting them to laugh).
 z
In linguistics or the scientific study of language, a speech act refers not only to a
word or group of words spoken by a person but also to the action that is elicited from
the audience due to the words spoken. For example, the question, “May I use your
pen?” is considered a speech act because the speaker’s desire to use another
person’s pen is expressed while also seeking permission to use it. The actual saying
of the words or the utterance of “May I use your pen?” is the locutionary act, the
implied request of “Can you hand me your pen so I may use it” is the illocutionary act,
and the actual handing over of the pen as permitted or given by the owner of the pen
is the perlocutionary act.
Indeed, people may be able to accomplish many things with words and may be
able to change status, relationships, and commitments. As in single word expressions,
people may make promises by simply saying “me” or may break hearts by simply
muttering “No.” Henceforth, a tactful word choice is necessary knowing how words
may easily be misunderstood. In total, speech acts are part of people’s day to day
transactions. They are commonplace. Words that we have for a specific purpose or
intention have to be expressed. Otherwise, no transaction or negotiation can occur.
Communicative
z
strategies
To begin a conversation and keep it going, we should employ strategies that will
help maintain its smooth flow.

You may consider nomination wherein you as the class president or your
classmates suggest a topic or agenda to talk about. Nomination starts the conversation
process. You also put restriction or limitation to the topic to be discussed in order to
meet the arranged and allotted time.

Turn-taking is where you employ rules of engagement regarding the procedure or

sequence of each participant’s turn to talk. This also refers to the alternate turns that
speakers adapt when having a conversation. Making sure that the discussions remain in
the confines of the agenda is the next consideration. This may be hard to achieve but
topic control is possible through the cooperation of all the attendees of a group meeting
or of all participants in the discussion. Everybody should ensure that the conversation will
not veer away from what has been planned.
 z

Topic shifting makes the transition from one topic to another occur smoothly. This
happens when one discussant manages to move to the next topic subtly. This next
topic may not necessarily be the same as the previous but definitely, it is related to it.
Before the meeting is adjourned, you may repair or fix all the problems that arouse in
the course of the meeting by answering all the questions and clarifying the attendees’
understanding of the agenda discussed. The termination is the last part of the
process where the meeting is successfully ended.

These various communicative strategies may be employed by speakers in order

to keep the conversation moving forward. Different strategies entail different word
choice and language forms.
 In sum,
z the shift in speech context, speech style, speech act and
communicative strategy is always probable. The roller coaster ride of intermingling
scenarios allows causes and effects to surface out, too. To achieve a successful
communication transaction, these factors all need to be taken into careful
consideration.

From our discussions earlier, it is clear that the following elements are affected
by a shift in the communicative processes:

1. language form which could shift from formal to informal and vice versa,

2. the duration or the length of communication which could be shortened or

lengthened depending on how the conversation will be maintained,
3. the relationship of the speaker to the receiver of the message that could be
intimate, frozen, consultative, casual, or formal; and,
4. the role and responsibility of the speaker, the message and its delivery which
could vary depending on the context and purpose of communication.
z

Thank You!!!