14
3 Commissive
Commissive is an act which commits the speaker to the future action. The speaker may perform a particular action in the future by doing the act of
commissive. It includes the act of promising, vowing, offering, etc. As the example is in the utterance, “I shall do my best.” The utterance shows that the
speaker performs the act of promising Austin, 1962, p. 77.
4 Expressive
Expressive is an act which has a function to express the feeling of the speaker. It particularly shows attitude or emotion toward some specific things
through utterances. It includes the act of thanking, congratulating, pardoning, apologizing, blaming, praising, condoling, etc. As the example is in the
utterances, “I am willing to apologize,” and “I am sorry to have to say …” The utterances show the act of apologizing Austin, 1962, p. 80-81.
5 Declaration
Declaration is an act which expresses a declaration that may change a particular matter. Searle 1969 says that this category is special since it is
performed by some institutional frameworks, judges and ministers for instance. Declaration includes the act of resigning, dismissing, christening, naming,
excommunicating, appointing, sentencing, etc.
c. Perlocutionary Acts
Perlocutionary acts perform the acts of affecting people. These acts use language as a tool which will give such effects to the hearer. According to Searle
1969, perlocutionary acts include the act of persuading, amusing, embarrassing, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
15 intimidating, boring, imitating or inspiring the hearers
. As the example is “Take a look at yourself. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met.
” The purpose of that utterance is to give effect of amusing to the hearer Searle, 1969.
All linguistic communication will involve linguistic acts in which communication is not only about sentences, words or symbols but also production
of the sentences, words or symbols in the performance of speech acts Searle, 1969, p. 16. In showing our politeness to the interlocutor, we do not only focus
on language use but also the acts that we perform. The acts can be in the form of illocutionary acts in which we utter words and sentences in certain context and
condition in order to do something.
2. Politeness
Politeness is defined as the phenomenon which describes the way someone puts something as the resu
lt of speaker‟s cognitive assessment of the social context Holtgraves, 2002, p. 38. Furthermore, according to Holmes 1992,
politeness is a behavior which expresses positive concern for others p. 5. Being polite here can be shown by speaking in a positive way in order to make the
conversation runs smoothly. Brown and Levinson 1987 also state their own understanding about politeness. In their theory, politeness is related to
psychological state, something that is emotionally invested, that can be lost, maintained or enhanced, and must be constantly attended in interaction p. 60. In
order to control the psychological state in the interaction, Brown and Levinson 1987 also imply some strategies of politeness. Politeness itself is studied under
the scope of sociolinguistics and pragmatics study. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
