The Utterance as a Product of a Verbal Act

21 with verbal acts or performances which takes place in particular situations, in time. In this respect, pragmatics deals with language at a more concrete level than grammar.

5. The Utterance as a Product of a Verbal Act

There is another sense in which the word ‘utterance’ can be used in pragmatics: it can refer to the product of a verbal act, rather than to the verbal act itself. For example; [9] Would you please be quiet? Those words are spoken with a polite rising intonation, might be described as a sentence, or as a question, or as a request. 43 However, it is convenient to reserve terms like sentence and question from grammatical entities derived from language system, and to reserve the term utterance for instances of such entities, identified by their use in a particular situation. Hence an utterance maybe a sentence-instance, or sentence- token; but strictly speaking, it cannot be a sentence. 44 In this second sense, utterances are the elements whose meaning we study in pragmatics. In fact, we can correctly describe pragmatics as dealing with utterance meaning, and semantics as dealing with sentence meaning. 43 Geoffrey Leech 1983, op.cit. p. 14. 44 Ibid. 22

CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS

A. Data Description

In this part, the writer compiles, classifies, and tabulates the collected data into the following table according to the Searle’s categories of illocutionary acts. The data are grouped based on the words indicated as illocutionary acts. Those words are written in italic and bold to make them clear in analyzing. Table 1 : The List of Illocutionary Acts of Assertives No. Indications Data 1. Asserting Sure Context: Holmes and Watson arrive in the prison. They see many demonstrants who want Blackwood to be hanged. Setting: Penton Ville prison – early morning The Participants: Holmes and Watson Watson: Blackwood certainly seems to have got the crowd into something of fear frenzy. Holmes: I’m sure it will disperse once his feet have stopped twitching. Movie script page 17 2. Asserting Sure Context: In the prison, a pale, nervous guard leads Holmes down the shadowy corridor. All the cells are emptied to avoid Blackwood’s magic. Holmes can see guard’s fear, and decides to meet Blackwood alone. Setting: Penton Ville prison – early morning The Participants: Holmes and Guard Guard : He Blackwood has a peculiar effect on the inmates. As though, he can get inside their heads. Holmes: I’m sure I can find my own way if you have other duties to perform. Movie script page 17