The Four Basic Speech Function The four basic speech functions can be shown below:

The speaker demands the hearer some goods or some services and the hearer and thereby invited to give that service or provide the goods. For example: Help me Can you help me? 2. Offer The speaker gives the hearer some goods or some services and the speaker inherently inviting the hearer to receive those goods and services. For example: Can I help You? 3. Statement The speaker gives information to hearer, and invites the hearer to receive that information. For example: He was helping her. It’s my shoes. 4. Question A question is a linguistic expression used to make a request for information. Questions are normally put or asked using interrogative sentences. For example: “How do you know him?” By cross- classifying the two dimensions of “Speech role” and “commodity”, we can come up with the four basic “moves” we can make to get a dialogue see table 1. Table 1. Speech Roles and Commodities Exchanged Speech role Commodity Exchanged Information Goods and Services Giving Statement Offer Demanding Question Command Source: Halliday 1994: 69 The built in interactivity of dialogue arises from the implication that speech roles position both speaker and potential respondent: When the speaker takes on a role of giving or demanding, by the same token he assigns a complementary role to the person he is addressing, if I am giving, you are called on to accept; if I am demanding, you are called on to give. Halliday 1984:12

2.3.2. The Speech Function Responses

These alternative responses of four basic speech functions can be broadly differentiated as either supporting or confronting: 1. Supporting Responses Supporting responses provide consensus and agreement. For example, acknowledge a statement, answer a question, acceptance an offer, and compliance a command, those are supporting moves. Supporting responses tend to close off the exchange, as the proposition has been resolved. For example, answer the question, acknowledgement a statement, compliance a command and acceptance an offer. 2. Confronting Responses Confronting responses enact disagreement or non-compliance. For example, disclaiming knowledge rather than acknowledging, declining to answer a question or refusing an offer than enact verbally some degree of confrontation. Based on the consideration between speech functions pairs and two responses above, we can summarize Halliday’s outline 1994:69 of dialogue in table 2. Table 2. Speech Function Pairs and Responses Initiating speech function Responding speech functions Supporting Confronting Offer Acceptance Rejection Command Compliance Refusal Statement Acknowledgement Contradiction Question Answer Disclaimer Based on the explanation above it can be concluded that a speech function is expressed through a typical type of sentence construction. For example, speech function of command is typically expressed through imperative sentence give your money. But sometimes, for a certain purpose, a command is expressed through interrogative sentence Do you mind giving me your money?. Those eight responding speech functions classes are: 1. Acceptance The speaker gives the hearer some goods and services and the speaker inherently inviting the hearer to supporting those responding. For example: “Agree.”