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