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1. Speech Acts
The term speech acts is used to describe the acts which are performed by the speakers through their utterances. When people are speaking, they do not only
concern about grammatical structures or linguistic meaning of the utterances but also perform
the acts which will ease the hearer to convey speaker‟s meaning Yule, 1996. According to Searle 1969, speech acts can be differed into three
acts, namely an act of saying something, an act of doing something and an act of affecting someone. Those three acts may appear in the utterances which are used
to understand the meaning carried out by the words. According to Austin‟s theory 1962, there are three kinds of speech acts
which are differed one to another. The three kinds of speech acts are named as locutionary acts, illocutionary acts and perlocutionary acts. The explanation of
each of the terms will be illustrated as follows.
a. Locutionary Acts
Locutionary acts perform the acts of saying something. It contains the actual meaning of the utterances Searle, 1969. These acts show what is said by
the speaker, containing the form of the words which are uttered Cutting, 2002, p. 16. Locutionary acts also describe the literal meaning of something. When the
speaker says something, he or she is conveying the meaning literally. As the example is when the speaker says, “It is getting dark.” The sentence means that
the speaker thinks of the situation in the room which is getting dark because the day will be over. He or she really means what he or she says literally Searle,
1969. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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b. Illocutionary Acts
According to Searle 1969, illocutionary acts perform the acts of doing something. Speakers may communicate their intention to do something by
speaking the words. Cutting 2002 adds that illocutionary acts mean the specific function and purpose of the words that the speakers have in mind p. 16.
Searle 1969 categorizes the illocutionary acts based on various criteria. The categorization consists of five types and those types are elaborated more as
follows.
1 Assertive
Assertive is an act which commits the speaker to the actual case or something which is true. It is an act in which the words state what the speaker
believes Cutting, 2002, p. 17. It includes the act of stating, suggesting, boasting, complaining, claiming, reporting, etc Leech, 1983, p. 105. As the example is the
utterance, “I feel grateful.” In the utterance, the speaker wants to say or report to the hearers that heshe is grateful. The utterance is merely reporting Austin,
1962, p. 79.
2 Directive
Directive is an act which is used to make the hearers perform some particular action. It intends to produce some effects through action by the hearer.
Directive includes the act of ordering, commanding, requesting, advising, recommending, etc Searle, 1969. As the example is when the speaker says,
“Please pass the salt.” By speaking that utterance, the speaker gives the request to the hearers and makes the hearers pass the salt Searle, 1969, p. 53.
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