Further, he explains that in pragmatics, the public self image is known as “face”. Thus, in communication people try to respect and fulfil the others face
wants in order to maintain a good social relationship.
2. Speech Acts
a. Locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary act
Austin 1962:94 defines locutionary act as the act of producing utterances.
Similarly, Yule 1996:48 adds that the speaker may perform a locutionary act by uttering a purposeful utterances or expressions.
Further, he adds that when people form an utterance, there must be certain functions in
their mind known as illocutionary act. When a speaker performs a speech act, it consist of locutionary act as the utterance and illocutionary act as the
function of the utterance. Moreover, there is a consequential effect after the performance of speech act known as perlocutionary act. As stated by Cruse
2006:168, perlocutionary act is an act performs by the adressee as the effects of the speaker’s utterance.
In short, it can be said that locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act are related to one another. Thus, it is
possible that these three different act found in a single utterance. For example, when a speaker
says “close the door”, it consist of these three acts. First, the locutionary act is the utterance itself. The second, the illocutionary
act or the function in mind of the utterance is commanding or requesting the addressee to close the door. Finally, the perlocutionary act or or the effect of
the utterance is the act of closing the door performed by the addressee.
b. Classifications of Speech Acts
Searle 1979:12-20 classifies speech acts into five classes. They are assertive, directive, commissive, expressive, and declaration.
1 Assertive
It is a kind of speech act which is used to express the speaker belief Searle, 1979:12. Further, he says that the purpose of assertive class is to
express the speaker belief which contain facts or something being the case. For example, when a
speaker says “it is raining”, it contains the fact that the rain is falling. Stating, boasting, deducing, and concluding are some verbs
that belong to this class.
2 Directive
Directive is various acts which consist of the fact that a speaker attempts to make the hearer do some future actions Searle, 1979:13. Further,
he adds that the speaker can perform directive speech acts in various degrees. For example, the utterance
“I suggest that you should give up on smoking immediate
ly” and “I command you to stop smoking immediately” have a different impact to the hearer although they convey the same basic function
Both utterances attempt to make the hearer stop smoking. However, the second utterance has a stronger illocutionary force since it contains a
command. The verbs that denote the member of this class are asking, commanding, requesting, begging, pleading, advising, and inviting.
3 Commissive
It is a kind of speech act used by a speaker to make himself does some future actions Yule, 1996:54. For example, the speaker promises to his
friend by uttering “I’ll be back” which means that he commits himself to do a future action which is coming back to pick up his friend. Thus, commisives
are the expressions of a speaker ’s intention. The expression such as promise,
threat, and refusal are parts of this class.
4 Expressive
According to Searle 1979:15, expressives are the expressions of a speaker
’s psychological state. It is a kind of speech act which expresses the speaker’s feeling. It can be the expression of pleasure, pain or sorrow. The
expressions which belong to this class are the expression of regret, condolence,and gratitude. For example, a
speaker says “I’m really sorry” to express his feeling when he made a mistake. Another example is when a
speaker expresses his gratitude by saying “Thank you so much”.
5 Declaration
It is a type of speech act that can be used by a speaker to change the current state of world via his utterance Yule, 1964:53. Cruse 2006: 62
gives the example, when a priest succesfully points the hearer as a husband and wife by stating
“I now pronounce you as a husband and wife” then automatically they will be husband and wife. This utterance can only be
performed by priest in a wedding ceremonial otherwise it has no effect at all.
