According to Fasold 1990:153, an apology is a good example of indirect speech act. People say apologizing act focusing on the offenses of the
hearers although they realize that their act can be detrimental toward the hearers. Searle 1975:178 states that in indirect speech acts, the speaker
communicates to the hearer more than he actually says by way of relying on their mutually shared background information, both linguistic and nonlinguistic,
together with the general powers of rationality and inference on the part of the hearer.” Talking about indirect speech acts, Searle attempts to explain how it is
possible for a speaker to say something and to mean it, but it additionally means something else.
From the statements above, direct and indirect speech acts are used to know how the speakers express apologizing acts in the film entitled “Pretty
Woman”.
3. Speech Acts Classification
Searle in Yule, 1996: 53-54 divides the illocutionary i.e. speech acts into five namely representatives, directives, commisives, expressives and
declarations. a. Representatives
Representatives are those kinds of speech acts that commit to what the speaker’s belief of the propositional content of the utterance.
Representative function is to describe state or event in which the speaker makes words fit the world of belief such as denial, report,
believes, conclusion, affirmation etc. The examples are:
- I believe that God exists.
- It was a windy day.
- The color of leaves is green.
b. Directives Directives are those kinds of speech act are used by the
speakers to make the hearer to do something. It expresses what the speaker wants the hearer to commit some future course of action
verbal or non verbal such as requests warns, commands, orders, invites, asks etc.
The examples are: -
Would you like to clean this room, please? -
Don’t move the chair -
You will shut the door.
c. Commisives Commissives are those kinds of speech acts that are used by the
speakers to commit themselves to some future actions. It expresses what the speaker intends such as promises, refusals, swears, offers,
vows etc The examples are:
- I promise to come to your party tonight.
- I swear that I love you.
- I’m going to do the right next time.
d. Expressives Expressives are those kinds of speech act that state what the
speaker feels. It expresses the psychological states and it can be statement of pleasure, joy, sorrow, like, dislike and pain such as
apologies, thanks, deplores, appreciates etc. The examples are:
- Congratulations
- I’m so sorry of this accident.
- Thank you for being my best friends.
e. Declarations Declarations are those kinds of speech acts that make the
speaker declare something to the hearer. In declaration the speaker alters the status or condition of an object or situation such as naming a
new baby, declaring to marry a couple, baptizing a person etc. The examples are:
- Priest : I now pronounce you as husband and wife.
- King
: I name this ship “ The Heaven of the world” -
Referee: You get red card
G. Politeness
