shared experience. On the assumption of how close or distant the listener is, speakers determine how much needs to be said. Pragmatics is the
study of the expression of relative distance. Pragmatics is a systematic way of explaining language use in context. It
seeks to explain aspects of meaning which cannot be found in the plain sense of words or structures, as explained by semantics. Pragmatics is a way of investigating
how sense can be made of certain texts even when, from a semantic viewpoint, the text seems to be either incomplete or to have a different meaning to what is really
intended. Consider a sign seen in a childrens wear shop window: 4 “Baby Sale - lots of bargains”.
From this sign, we know without asking that there are no babies are for sale. We will know the things that sold there are items used for babies. Pragmatics allows us
to investigate how this “meaning beyond the words” can be understood without ambiguity.
2.2 Speech Acts
Yule 1996:47 states that speech act is defined as the action that performed via utterances. In attempting to express themselves, people do not only produce
utterances containing grammatical structures and words, they perform actions via those utterances. In English, speech acts are commonly given more specific labels,
such as apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request. These descriptive terms for different kinds of speech acts apply to the speaker’s
communicative intention in producing an utterance. The speaker normally expects
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that his or her communicative intention will be recognized by the hearer. Both speaker and hearer are usually helped by this process by the circumstances
surrounding the utterance. These circumstances, including other utterances, are called the speech events.
For instance, if we work in a situation where a boss has a great deal of power, then the boss utterance of the utterance bellow is more than just statement:
5 “You’re fired” The utterance above can be used to perform the act of ending your employment.
Sspeech act is characterized as an act which characteristically consistsin the issuance of words in sentences, characteristically succeeds only if the
circumstancesare in some way appropriate, and characteristically comes into being only if theperson issuing the linguistic token has certain intentions.
According to Yule 1996:48, on any occasion, the action performed by producing an utterance will consist of three related actsnamely:
1. Locutionary act, which is the basic act of utterance, or producing a meaningful linguistic expression.
2. Illocutionary acts is an act that performed via communicative force of an utterance.
3. Perlocutionary act is an act that simply create an utterance with a function without intending it to have an effect.
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Akmajian 2001:394 states that speech acts are defined as the acts performed in uttering expressions. According to the theory they have developed,there are four
important categories of speech acts namely: 1. Utterance acts are simply acts of uttering sounds, syllables, words,
phrases, and sentences from a language. 2. Illocutionaryact is an act performed in uttering something.
3. Perlocutionary act is anact performed by uttering something, an act that produces an effect on the hearer.
4. Prepositional acts is an act that used for referring and predicating.
According to Leech 1983:199, the language provides us with verbs like order, request, beg, plead, just as it provides us with nouns like puddle, pond, lake, sea,
ocean. In speech acts, Leech categorized into three types namely: 1. Locutionary act is performing the act of saying something.
2. Illocutionary act is performing an act in saying something. 3. Perlocutionary act is performing an act by saying something.
For example: 1. Locution: s says to h that X
2. Illocution: in Saying X, s asserts that P
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3. Perlocution: By saying X, s convinces h that P Note: X being certain words spoken with a certain sense and reference
Austin 1962:108 distinguished a group of things we do in saying something, namely:
1. Locutionary act, which is roughlyequivalent to uttering a certain sentence with a certainsense and reference, which again is roughly equivalent to
meaning in the traditional sense. 2. Illocutionary acts such as informing,ordering, warning, undertaking, and
so on, for instance, utterances whichhave a certain conventional force. 3. perlocutionary acts: what we bring about orachieve by saying something,
such as convincing, persuading,deterring, and even, say, surprising or misleading.
2.3 Types of Speech Acts 2.3.1 Locutionary acts
