A study of speech act categories in the text your say column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues.

ABSTRACT

Winarni, Ria Resty. (2016). A Study of Speech Act Categories in the Text Your Say

Column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 Issues. Yogyakarta: English

Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

Freedom of speech is a human right in a democratic society. It gives the opportunities to review and express opinion without the fear of prosecution. The newspapers provide many media to implement the freedom. In the Jakarta Post,

Text Your Say column is used to facilitate the readers to express their opinion.

The study is about speech act categories in Text Your Say (TYS) column of the Jakarta Post. There are two research questions in this research: (1) what speech act categories are employed in the TYS column of the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues, (2) which speech act categories are most frequently employed and characterize the TYS column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issue. The first research question is to find out and explain what speech act categories are employed in the TYS column of the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues. From the viewpoint of speech acts theory, the second research question aims to find out and explain typical characteristics of TYS column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues.

This study used a descriptive qualitative analysis. The study was to gain deeper information of speech act categories of TYS column. The researcher described the data using visual aids such as tables to make the readers understand the data distribution.

Based on the data analysis, the researcher finds that there are four of five speech act categories which are employed in TYS column. Those are assertive, commissive, directive, and expressive. The second finding is that assertive category is the most frequently employed speech act category in TYS column. The text writers prefer to convey information of the truth. Moreover, every theme has various typical characteristics of TYS column.

ABSTRAK

Winarni, Ria Resty. (2016). A Study of Speech Act Categories of Text Your Say

Column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 Issues. Yogyakarta: Program Studi

Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Kebebasan berpendapat adalah sebuah hak asasi manusia di era demokrasi. Hal ini memberikan kesempatan untuk meninjau dan mengekspresikan pendapat tanpa takut akan tuntutan. Banyak koran menyediakan media untuk menerapkan hal tersebut Dalam koran Jakarta Post, kolom Text Your Say (TYS) digunakan untuk memberikan fasilitas bagi pembaca untuk mengekspresikan pendapat mereka.

Penelitian ini membahas tentang kategori-kategori speech acts dalam kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September. Terdapat dua rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini: (1) kategori- kategori speech acts apa saja yang digunakan dalam kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September 2015, (2) kategori- kategori speech acts apa yang paling sering digunakan dan memberikan ciri kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September 2015. Rumusan masalah pertama bertujuan untuk mengetahui dan menjelaskan kategori- kategori speech acts apa saja yang digunakan dalam kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September 2015. Dari sudut pandang teori speech acts, rumusan masalah kedua bertujuan untuk mengetahui dan menjelaskan ciri-ciri khas kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September 2015.

Penelitian ini menggunakan analisis deskriptif kualitatif. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan informasi mendalam tentang kategori-kategori

speech acts dalam kolom TYS. Peneliti mendeskripsikan data menggunakan alat

bantu visual seperti tabel untuk mmemudahkan pembaca memahami distribusi data.

Berdasarkan analisis, peneliti menemukan bahwa ada empat dari lima kategori speech acts yang digunakan dalam kolom TYS, yaitu assertive,

commissive, directive, dan expressive. Temuan kedua yaitu assertive adalah

kategori speech acts yang paling sering digunakan dalam kolom TYS. Para penulis teks cenderung untuk menyampaikan informasi dari kebenaran.Selain itu, setiap tema pada kolom TYS memiliki ciri khas yang bervariasi.

i

A STUDY OF SPEECH ACT CATEGORIES

IN THE TEXT YOUR SAY COLUMN

IN THE JAKARTA POST OF SEPTEMBER 2015 ISSUES

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Ria Resty Winarni Student Number: 121214060

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

iv

Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.

Galatians 6:7

I would like to dedicate my thesis

to my parents.

vii

ABSTRACT

Winarni, Ria Resty. (2016). A Study of Speech Act Categories in the Text Your

Say Column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 Issues. Yogyakarta: English

Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

Freedom of speech is a human right in a democratic society. It gives the opportunities to review and express opinion without the fear of prosecution. The newspapers provide many media to implement the freedom. In the Jakarta Post,

Text Your Say column is used to facilitate the readers to express their opinion.

The study is about speech act categories in Text Your Say (TYS) column of the Jakarta Post. There are two research questions in this research: (1) what speech act categories are employed in the TYS column of the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues, (2) which speech act categories are most frequently employed and characterize the TYS column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issue. The first research question is to find out and explain what speech act categories are employed in the TYS column of the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues. From the viewpoint of speech acts theory, the second research question aims to find out and explain typical characteristics of TYS column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues.

This study used a descriptive qualitative analysis. The study was to gain deeper information of speech act categories of TYS column. The researcher described the data using visual aids such as tables to make the readers understand the data distribution.

Based on the data analysis, the researcher finds that there are four of five speech act categories which are employed in TYS column. Those are assertive, commissive, directive, and expressive. The second finding is that assertive category is the most frequently employed speech act category in TYS column. The text writers prefer to convey information of the truth. Moreover, every theme has various typical characteristics of TYS column.

viii

ABSTRAK

Winarni, Ria Resty. (2016). A Study of Speech Act Categories of Text Your Say

Column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 Issues. Yogyakarta: Program Studi

Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Kebebasan berpendapat adalah sebuah hak asasi manusia di era demokrasi. Hal ini memberikan kesempatan untuk meninjau dan mengekspresikan pendapat tanpa takut akan tuntutan. Banyak koran menyediakan media untuk menerapkan hal tersebut Dalam koran Jakarta Post, kolom Text Your Say (TYS) digunakan untuk memberikan fasilitas bagi pembaca untuk mengekspresikan pendapat mereka.

Penelitian ini membahas tentang kategori-kategori speech acts dalam kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September. Terdapat dua rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini: (1) kategori- kategori speech acts apa saja yang digunakan dalam kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September 2015, (2) kategori- kategori speech acts apa yang paling sering digunakan dan memberikan ciri kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September 2015. Rumusan masalah pertama bertujuan untuk mengetahui dan menjelaskan kategori- kategori speech acts apa saja yang digunakan dalam kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September 2015. Dari sudut pandang teori speech acts, rumusan masalah kedua bertujuan untuk mengetahui dan menjelaskan ciri-ciri khas kolom TYS di koran Jakarta Post pada isu-isu bulan September 2015.

Penelitian ini menggunakan analisis deskriptif kualitatif. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan informasi mendalam tentang kategori-kategori

speech acts dalam kolom TYS. Peneliti mendeskripsikan data menggunakan alat

bantu visual seperti tabel untuk mmemudahkan pembaca memahami distribusi data.

Berdasarkan analisis, peneliti menemukan bahwa ada empat dari lima kategori speech acts yang digunakan dalam kolom TYS, yaitu assertive,

commissive, directive, dan expressive. Temuan kedua yaitu assertive adalah

kategori speech acts yang paling sering digunakan dalam kolom TYS. Para penulis teks cenderung untuk menyampaikan informasi dari kebenaran.Selain itu, setiap tema pada kolom TYS memiliki ciri khas yang bervariasi.

ix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my highest gratitude to my Lord, Jesus

Christ. With His blessing and His guidance every moment, I could survive in

finishing my thesis. I am sure that He never fails.

Second, I would like to express my special gratitude to my parents,

Romelan and Suswatiningsih, and my brother, Andri Setyanto. I am so proud

of having them in my life. They always support and motivate me to finish my study.

I would also like to present my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Emanuel

Sunarto, M.Hum., who has helped and guided me in finishing my thesis. He is

patient and always gives suggestions to make my thesis better. He is never bored in listening to my difficulties in thesis. Then, I do not forget to present my gratitude to my academic advisor, Veronica Triprihatmini S.Pd., M.Hum.,

M.A. for her patience in guiding me during the learning process in English

Language Education Study Program.

Then, my gratitude is for my beloved friends, Fany, Neny, Iput, Sela,

Vita, Ninda, Anis, Albert, Bagas, Deni, Ratih, Rapon, Tya, and Yuni for the

togetherness, motivation, and spirit. They all have given me meaningful things to face the life. I also thank my niece, Dyah Nova for the thesis discussion. She has helped me to understand the theories and gives the information related to my thesis.

Next, I also thank my beloved one, Yosep Dwi Ananto. He has been accompanying me for three years. He always listens to my sharing and supports

x

me all the times. He always understands and cares about my situation. Although he is not a romantic person, I feel better beside him.

I would not forget to thank all friends from batch 2012, especially class A and all people who support and help me during the learning process in English Language Education Study Program and finishing my thesis. I am blessed to live around them. There are many meaningful learnings which I have got to make me better.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ... i

APPROVAL PAGE ... ii

DEDICATION PAGE ... iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... v

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi

ABSTRACT ... vii

ABSTRAK ... viii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... xi

LIST OF TABLES ... xiii

LIST OF FIGURES ... xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xv

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. Problem Formulation ... 3

C. Objectives of the Study ... 4

D. Benefits of the Study ... 4

E. Problem Limitation ... 5

F. Definition of Terms ... 5

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Review of Previous Studies ... 8

B. Theoretical Description ... 12

1. Speech Acts ... 12

2. Speech Act Categories in Written Communication ... 18

C. Theoretical Framework ... 18

CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A. Research Method ... 20

B. Research Subject ... 21

C. Research Instrument and Data Gathering Technique ... 22

D. Data Analysis Technique ... 23

xii

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Speech Act Categories in TYS column ... 26

1. Assertive Category ... 26

2. Commissive Category ... 28

3. Directive Category ... 30

4. Expressive Category ... 33

5. Declarative Category ... 35

B. Speech Act Categories by Theme ... 36

1. Theme A: Confusing Circular on Foreign Journos Withdrawn 36

2. Theme B: Smoking Ban in Jakarta still Neglected ... 38

3. Theme C: Jokowi Told to Drop Prohibition Bill ... 39

4. Theme D: Controversy over KPK Leader Hopefuls ... 41

5. Theme E: Govt Urged to Handle Haze Issue Seriously ... 42

6. Theme F: V-day Parade Boosts Sino-Russian Ties ... 44

7. Theme G: Tighter System Clogs up permit Issuance ... 46

8. Theme H: Jakarta to Scrap Property Tax Next Year ... 48

9. Theme I: Light Rail Transit Construction Starts ... 49

10.Theme J: Bali Police Probe Alleged Tourist Extortion ... 51

11.Theme K: Police Investigate Bali Airport Extortion ... 52

12.Theme L: Santions against Firms Burning Forests ... 53

13.Theme M: Heavy Santions against Firms Burning Forests ... 55

14.Theme N: China to Give Indonesia Its First Bullet Train ... 56

15.Theme O: Searching for Jakarta’s Leader ... 58

16.Theme P: Shining a Light on the Dark Past ... 59

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions ... 63

B. Recommendations ... 64

REFERENCES ... 65

xiii

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

3.1 Speech act category classification ... 23

3.2 The percentage of speech act categories in Text Your Say column ... 24

4.1 Speech act category classification in Theme A ... 36

4.2 Speech act category classification in Theme B ... 38

4.3 Speech act category classification in Theme C ... 39

4.4 Speech act category classification in Theme D ... 41

4.5 Speech act category classification in Theme E ... 43

4.6 Speech act category classification in Theme F ... 45

4.7 Speech act category classification in Theme G ... 47

4.8 Speech act category classification in Theme H ... 48

4.9 Speech act category classification in Theme I ... 50

4.10 Speech act category classification in Theme J ... 51

4.11 Speech act category classification in Theme K ... 52

4.12 Speech act category classification in Theme L ... 54

4.13 Speech act category classification in Theme M ... 55

4.14 Speech act category classification in Theme N ... 56

4.15 Speech act category classification in Theme O ... 58

4.16 Speech act category classification in Theme P ... 60

4.17 The Most Frequently Speech Act Category in the TYS Column ... 61

xiv

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

2.1The Theoretical Framework ... 19 3.1 Research Procedure ... 25

xv

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Page

Appendix 1 Index and Clues of Speech Act Categories ... 68

Appendix 2 Data Classification of Speech Act Categories by Theme... 69

1. Confusing Circular on Foreign Journos Withdrawn ... 69

2. Smoking Ban in Jakarta still Neglected ... 70

3. Jokowi Told to Drop Prohibition Bill ... 73

4. Controversy over KPK Leader Hopefuls ... 74

5. Govt Urged to Handle Haze Issue Seriously ... 74

6. V-day Parade Boosts Sino-Russian Ties ... 77

7. Tighter System Clogs up permit Issuance ... 78

8. Jakarta to Scrap Property Tax Next Year ... 80

9. Light Rail Transit Construction Starts ... 81

10.Bali Police Prbe Alleged Tourist Extortion ... 84

11.Police Investigate Bali Airport Extortion ... 85

12.Santions against Firms Burning Forests ... 85

13.Heavy Santions against Firms Burning Forests ... 86

14.China to Give Indonesia Its First Bullet Train ... 87

15.Searching for Jakarta’s Leader ... 89

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter is the discussion of the background of the study. It consists of six parts. The parts are background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, problem limitation, and definition of terms.

A. Background of the Study

Freedom of speech is the most fundamental freedom and rights in a democratic society. Freedom of speech is important for democracy because it gives the opportunity of spreading information freely. It provides people with better opportunities to reach agreed decisions. Freedom of speech can give them the opportunities to communicate and express their opinions about how public power is exercised. They must be free to express opinion without the fear of prosecution. Two laws in 2008, Law Number 14 of 2008 concerning Public Information Openness and Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Information, Transaction and

Electronic (IET Law) also protect readers’ freedom of speech.

Expressing opinion is the implementation of communication. Expressing opinion can be done not only through oral communication, but also through written communication. Written communication has great significance in today’s communication. It involves careful choice of words, their good organization, and correct order in sentence formation. By this communication, the transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver can be done in an understandable manner.

In recent years, there are many written media to support the freedom of speech. One of them is newspapers. Many newspapers, including the Jakarta Post, provide many opinion columns for the readers. They facilitate the readers for expressing opinion. These opinion columns appear regularly in the newspaper. The purpose of the columns is to express an opinion about a current issue within society. The objective is also to get appropriate policy recommendation regarding the issue. These columns tend to be written by someone who has expertise on the subject being discussed. Many readers use this column to express their opinion in public.

Text Your Say (TYS) column is one of opinion columns in the Jakarta Post. It is a part of Reader’s Forum. It provides the space to express readers’ opinion about the current issue within society. It also forms stimulus-response model in communication. The readers are given the opportunity to express their opinion about the current issues in Indonesia proposed by editorial staffs of the Jakarta Post, such as politics, environment, and economics. This practice may have important effects on readers' perceptions for the issue. The readers have their own perception toward the issue. They use various language styles in expressing opinion.

In general, speech acts are the acts of the communication. Searle (1976) identifies five speech act categories based on the speaker’s intention by uttering the sentence. Those are assertive, directive, expressive, commissive, and declarative. Furthermore, both oral and written forms of communication use speech acts. From

this theory, readers’ opinions in TYS column of the Jakarta Post contains speech act

categories which deliver readers’ purpose. According to Burnett & Dollar (1989),

the receiver interprets the message by the sender’s intention. Thus, the speech act categories used in expressing opinion in TYS column differentiate readers’ meaning. In this case, language is important in decoding meaning. People need to understand and compromise not only grammatical structure but also the meaning. Sometimes, the meaning is delivered although the speaker does not use appropriate grammatical structure in speaking. The underlying meaning is vital to make communication more efficient and makes people’s everyday life function more smoothly.

The study focuses on analyzing the speech act categories which are employed in the TYS column in Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues. Besides analyzing the speech act categories which are frequently employed, the researcher also analyzes typical characteristics of TYS column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues.

B. Problem Formulations

In this study, the researcher addresses the following questions:

1. What speech act categories are employed in the TYS column of the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues?

2. Which speech act categories (a) are most frequently employed in/or (b) characterize the TYS column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues?

C. Objectives of the Study

Based on the problem formulations, the objectives of the study are:

1. To find out and explain what speech act categories are employed in the

TYS column in the Jakarta post of September 2015 issues

2. From the viewpoint of speech acts theory, to find out and explain typical characteristics of TYS column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues

D. Benefits of the Study

The researcher gives the benefits of this study for the readers in this part. It is for English learners, English lecturers, and future researchers. Those are:

1. English learners

The researcher hopes this study will be a useful reference for students of English Language Study Program who are interested in linguistic analysis, especially in speech acts. This study will help the student to learn linguistics deeper. Through pragmatics foundation in mind, the student will be more sensitive to people’s intentional meanings. They can also learn to recognize speakers’ intention effectively and comprehensively.

2. English lecturers

This study can be an additional reference for teaching linguistics, especially in speech act field. Through the teaching, the students are expected to understand the concept of speech acts. Thus, they can understand more and will be able to enrich their knowledge about speech acts.

3. Future researchers

For future researchers, they can use this study as one of preliminary information to conduct other studies related in linguistics, especially speech acts. The researcher expects that the research can inspire the future researchers. They can conduct the study of speech acts in written communication deeper or in different perspective.

E. Problem Limitation

The research focuses on speech act categories which are employed in TYS column of the Jakarta Post. In this case, the researcher analyzes written text from

the readers’ opinions in TYS column of the Jakarta Post. The researcher limits on

the opinion texts posted in September 2015 issues. There are 114 texts and 16 themes during one month. The texts have various sentence length. However, it cannot influence how many speech act categories which are employed.

F. Definition of Terms

The researcher defines some terms to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation as follow:

1. Speech Acts

According to Searle (1969, p. 16), the speech act is “the basic or minimal

units of linguistic communication.” He explains that speech act refers to the process

of uttering. It is a performed act when a speaker makes an utterance. Based on the Searle’s theory, speech acts are divided into five categories based on illocutionary

point: assertive, commissive, directive, expressive, and declarative. Moreover, mood types (declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamative) influence the speech act. There are the correlation between them. Mood types are the form of sentences and speech acts are the function of the sentences. Furthermore, expressing one speech act can use several mood types.

In the first time, the term ‘declarative’ is used to differentiate mood types. However, this term is also found in speech acts theory as the development of linguistic theory. In this case, the study uses the term ‘declarative’ in two fields. This term is found in the theory of speech acts and mood types. Although the researcher uses same term in different field, the term has different meaning. In speech acts, the term ‘declarative’ is the speech act category where the speaker brings about state of affairs by the mere performance of speech acts. In mood types, the term ‘declarative’ is the sentence which is used to give statement and ends with period.

2. Text Your Say

Text Your Say is one of opinion columns in the Jakarta Post. It is also part

of Reader’s Forum in the Jakarta Post. TYS column in the Jakarta Post is a type of

interactional written communication. The editorial staffs of the Jakarta Post prepare

the current issue in order to gain the readers’ opinion. It is for the readers to give

their opinion about a topic that is discussed in a current issue. In this column, readers can send a message or an email to respond the issue which is decided by the Jakarta Post staffs. The readers express their opinion whether they agree, respect, disagree, refuse, comment, or show other responses to the issue.

3. Jakarta Post

The Jakarta Post is a daily newspaper in Indonesia using English since 1983. The newspaper is owned by PT Bina Media Tenggara. The main office is at Jl. Palmerah Barat No. 142 - 143, Jakarta 10270, Indonesia. The Jakarta Post has many

features such as news, readers’ forum, community, academia, etc. In this case, TYS

8

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter reviews important studies to support the present research. The aim of this chapter is to give the basic principles of the formulated problems. This chapter consists of three main parts: review of previous studies, theoretical description, and theoretical framework. Review of previous studies gives explanation of previous studies related to the study of speech acts. In addition, theoretical description and theoretical framework discuss the theories that have been employed.

A. Review of Previous Studies

Speech acts always exist in daily language and communication. People are accustomed to imply speech acts in their utterance. Thus, it is easy to conduct speech acts as the research. There are some researchers that already conducted the research about speech acts.

The research conducted by Titus Kristiawan in 2015 analyzes speech acts about ill-sequence conversation in Questions Only game based on Searle’s indirect speech act. He focuses on which speech acts are performed by the performers in the conversation and how the question could conform to each other in the context. The researcher uses content analysis in analyzing seven videos of the Question Only game from season six to ten. The references of the study are from books, general knowledge, film, etc. The finding is that the questions in the conversation perform

is considered as ill-sequences. It clarifies that the adjacency pair is fulfilled in the conversation.

The research by Tusita Mania Dewi analyzes Olive Penderghast’s speech acts in Easy A movie for her thesis of English Language Education Study Program. She conducts her research to find out how Olive Penderghast’s speech acts are employed in the conversation in the movie by using the theory from Searle (1999). She also analyzes what speech acts Olive uses before and after the transformation of her character in the movie. The study analyzes spoken dialogue; and the result is the description of explanation. The result finds that there are four speech act categories that Olive uses based on Searle’s theory. There are assertive, commisive, directive, and expressive. There is no declarative category because it is rarely used in daily communication. The most category used is assertive category, 63% of all. The research also finds out powerful speech acts support to build Olive’s new image, from an ordinary student to a bad naughty girl. However, the powerful speech acts appear when certain situation forces her.

The study by M. Hashim investigates the role of language in the communication and interpretation of intentions by examining selected political speeches of John Kerry in Presidential Campaign in 2004 and George Bush’s Inaugural address in 2001. The study is to identify the speech act features, to analyze the features in relation to the contexts, and to determine how the identified features project the message in the speeches. The study focused on the locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts. Twenty sentences were selected from the two speeches. The data were selected of John Kerry from the 2004 Presidential

Campaign about The Economy and Middle Class Families and the second is Bush’s speech of Inaugural address in 2001. The selected speeches were downloaded from the internet and analyzed to show the speech acts performed in the course delivering the speeches. The linguistic approach adopted Theory of Austin (1962) and Searle (1969). In order to make the analysis clear and easy to understand, the calculation of the percentages of the speech acts in a speech is made so as to make interpretation of the tables clear and empirical. The findings show that the overall relative frequency percentages for the selected speeches are: commissive 40%, assertive 35%, directive 20%, and expressive 5%. The results show that Kerry relied on sentences that performed commissive acts since he committed to some future actions, and he promised to make the world fit the words. Besides, Bush used sentences with assertive acts because the assertive has a truth value which can only enhance the effect of the asserted proposition. Hence, the data are characterized by a preponderance of commissive, assertive and directive acts that are mostly used as mobilization strategies in political campaigns, where it is essential for candidates to persuade their listeners to win elections. The revelation of the speech act dominance is a reflection of the purpose of political speeches which are to influence, persuade, impress, convince, and even to deceive the populace

The study by Sattar examines the speech act of criticism among Iranian native speakers of Persian. The study focuses on Iranians’ perception and production of speech act of criticism. Data are based on the distribution of a Discourse Evaluation Test (DET) and a structured interview to 100 Iranian native speakers of Persian at Payame Noor University, Iran. The corpus was then analyzed

and categorized based on Nguyen’s (2005) coding scheme. The overall findings showed that the use of direct strategies outnumbered that of indirect strategies and mitigating devices. However, one distinctive feature of the present data was that politeness is achieved through the use of mitigating devices.

Elisabeth Rosalia also analyzes Text Your Say column. She focuses on moods expressed and modals used in the column. The objective of her study is to reveal the moods that are expressed in Text Your Say column of the Jakarta Post issued in November 2012. Besides, she also finds out how the modals are used in the Text Your Say column of the Jakarta Post issued in November 2012. The study uses document analysis. The data is the comments in Text Your Say issued in November 2012. As the result, she finds out 563 moods both major and minor moods were expressed in the comment of Text Your Say based on Harnish’s classification (2015). There are 33 imperative moods, 472 declarative moods, 26 WH-interrogative moods, and 9 yes or no interrogative moods, 17 exclamative moods, 2 incredulity responses, 2 optative moods, and 2 interjection moods. For another problem, she finds 225 modals used by comentators in Text Your Say, such as should, might, had better, will, could, would, be able to, etc. These modals express necessity, possibility, prohibition, expectation, etc.

From the previous studies above, it can be seen that those researchers analyze speech act in film, speech, and interview. One of the previous studies also concerns in same subject but has different focus. TYS column in the Jakarta Post newspaper is used as a subject of the research.

Even though this research also analyzes speech acts, there is still difference from them. The main focus of this study is to analyze speech acts in in written communication. This study analyzes speech act categories and TYS column in the Jakarta Post newspaper is a subject for this speech act study.

B. Theoretical Description

In this section, speech act theories are elaborated. The main theory is about speech act categories based on Searle. The elaboration of the theory is presented below.

1. Speech Acts

According to Searle (1969), producing the utterance token with certain conditions is called speech act. It is considered as a basic unit of human communication. Meanwhile, Austin (1962) states that speech act is the utterance of certain words that intends to express a certain meaning with a certain force to produce a certain effect. It is performed to convey information, give an order, request information, give warnings, give advices, give compliments, etc.

Austin (1962) decides that utterances involve three acts: a locutionary act, an illocutionary act, and a perlocutionary act. First, the locutionary act is the act which has a meaning. Second, the act in saying something which has a certain force is called illocutionary act. Last, the perlocutionary act is the achieving of certain effects by saying something.

Moreover, Austin (1962) also claims complete speech acts: requesting, questioning, commanding, advising, etc., as illocutionary acts. Meanwhile, Searle (1969, p. 42) defines that illocutionary acts are “characteristically performed in the

utterance of sounds or making of marks”. The illocutionary acts are implied based

on the speaker’s intention by uttering the sentence to reach the certain goal or

function.

“The sounds or marks one makes in the performance of an illocutionary act is characteristically said to have meaning, and a second related difference is that one is characteristically said to mean something by utterance of those sounds or marks. Characteristically, when one speaks one means something by what one says; and what one says, the string of sounds that one emits, is characteristically said to have a meaning” (Searle,1969, pp. 42-43).

Searle (1969) gives the illustration with the word ‘hello’. ‘Hello’ intends the knowledge that the hearer is being greeted. If the hearer recognizes it as the

speaker’s intention, the hearer acquires that knowledge. In the literal utterance, the

speaker intends to produce a certain effect so that the hearer recognizes his intention to produce the effect. Furthermore, he intends the recognition to be achieved based on the fact what he utters associate the expression with the production of the effect. Searle (1969) also adds the explanation that understanding is the intended effect of meaning. In this case, every single word when people say has a meaning. If the speaker says something and meaning, he is connected the intention to produce certain effects on the hearer. In vice versa, the hearer understands the speaker’s utterance is connected with recognizing his intentions. If the hearer understands the speaker’s utterance, the intentions will be achieved.

Based on Searle (1976), speech acts are classified into five categories based on illocutionary points. He believes that each time that a word or phrase which is spoken is a speech act that can be classified in a several different categories. a. Assertive

Assertive category is a speech act that commits the speaker to the truth of a proposition (Searle, 1976). The purpose of assertive speech act is to convey information about some state of affairs of the world from the speaker to the hearer. It convinces the listener to believe what the speaker says. Searle (1979) explains that the assertive is related to true or false. It can also be evaluated to be true or false. The speaker has possibility of stating wrong thing.

Searle (1979) also mentions that assertive keywords are hypothesize, insist, boast, complain, conclude, deduce, diagnose, and claim. Therefore, it refers to predictions, statements, descriptions, classifications, explanations, concluding and clarifications (Alston, 2000). The examples of assertive category as written in Yule (1996) are: 1) The earth is flat. 2) Chomsky didn’t write about peanuts. 3) It was a

warm sunny day.

b. Commissive

Commissive category is “a type of utterance where the speaker makes a

commitment to a future course of action” (Crystal, 2003, p. 84). A commissive

speech act aims to commit the speaker to carry out some actions in the future (Ad-Darraji, 2012). By commissive speech acts, the speaker wants the world to be changed to fit his words (Yule, 1996). The speaker intends to do the action. Searle

(1979) said that the successful performance of commissive speech acts produces commitment of the speaker to carry out some actions in the future.

The clues of commissive speech acts are reject, refuse, swear, promise, etc. It refers to vows, threats, pledges, guarantees, contracts, promises, covenants, and oaths. The examples of commissive category as written in Yule (1996) are: 1) I’ll

be back. 2) I’m going to get it right next time. 3) We will not do that.

c. Directive

In directive category, the speaker requests the hearer to do something (Searle, 1976). The speaker wants the hearer to do the speaker’s willingness. Many directive sentences are posed as questions so they are easy to identify by the presence of a question mark. Furthermore, many directive speech acts are not stated as a question but as a request for assistance.

The directive keywords are ask, order, command, request, beg, plead, pray, entreat, invite, permit, advise, dare, defy, challenge (Searle, 1976). Thus, it includes orders, commands, requests, and refers to pleading, begging, praying, insisting, and suggesting. The examples of directive category as written in Yule (1996) are: (1)

Gimme a cup of coffee. Make it black. (2) Could you lend me a pen, please? (3)

Don’t touch that. d. Expressive

Verschueren (1999, p. 24) says that expressive category is to “express a variety of psychological states, having no direction of fit between words and world, and simply counting as expressions of psychological states.” The purpose of which is to express the speaker's attitude and emotion towards a particular proportion.

Expressive speech acts communicate to the hearer that a specific emotion is present in the speaker. These can clarify, amplify, and precise the intended message of emotions. They deal with social and interpersonal relations. Expressive speech act includes thanking, apologizing, congratulating, and welcoming (Searle, 1976). The examples of an expressive category as written in Yule (1996) are: (1) I’m really

sorry! (2) Congratulations! (3) Oh, yes, great, mmmm, ssahh!

e. Declarative

Declarative category is a speech act where the speaker brings about some state of affairs by the mere performance of the speech act (Searle, 1979). Someone who performs declarative speech acts wants to create a new reality. It transforms into a new state. Yule (1996, p. 128) said that it is “a speech act that brings about a

change by being uttered, e.g. a judge pronouncing a sentence.” The examples of

declarative category as written in Yule (1996) are: (1) Priest: I now pronounce your

husband and wife. (2) Referee: You’re out! (3) Jury Foreman: We find the defendant

guilty.

Furthermore, there is correlation between mood types and speech acts. In this case, mood types influence the role of speech acts. Based on Huddleston and Pullum (2002), the sentence type is the grammatical system which has the major types: declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamative. They also explain that each of the types has own characteristics.

First, declarative sentence is used to give the statement. It is the common types in writing. It ends with period. For example: (1) Practice makes perfect. (2)

The happiest person is the prettiest. (3) John plays piano. Second, interrogative is

used to ask the question. It ends with the question mark. There are two kinds interrogative sentence in English. Those are yes/no question and wh- question. The examples are: (1) Where do you come from? (2) Can I put this pen? (3) Do you like

coffee?

Then, imperative is used to direct something. It expresses the command or the request. It ends with period or exclamatory point. There is implied subject in

this sentence and means ‘you’. For example: (1) Please, take me an umbrella. (2)

Help me! (3) Don’t drive fast. Last, exclamative is used to make exclamatory statement or strong feeling. It ends with the exclamatory point. The examples are: (1) Good Job! (2) What a beautiful it is! (3) Wonderful!

In the text, expressing one speech act category can use several mood types. Mood types show the form of the text and speech acts show the function of the text. As the example, Huddleston and Pullum (2002) give the illustration below:

i. Passengers are requested to remain seated. ii. Would you mind opening the door for me?

Illustration (i) and (ii) show how the speaker expresses the request. From the function point, those show directive category. The speaker wants other people to do an action. However, the speaker uses different mood types in showing the category. Illustration (i) uses declarative type. The speaker gives the statement to announce the information for the passengers. Meanwhile, illustration (ii) uses interrogative type. Through the question, the speaker asks someone to do an action.

2. Speech Act Categories in Written Communication

A human being, on the basis of acquired linguistic and general knowledge, can understand and/or produce lingual utterances. Language itself is always related to action. When people are doing communication, they are not only delivering the message, but also performing an action from the utterance. This is called speech acts. Speech acts do not move independently in communication. It is specified as conversations or discourses in more global units of communication (Moeschler, 2002). It includes real-life interaction and requires knowledge and appropriate use of that language in a certain culture.

Every utterance shows the role of speech acts. Human’s thoughts and perceptions are passed as a message to the receiver who will store, process and change it into meanings. Speech acts exist to express the goal of saying. “People normally have goals of communication in mind such as establishing social

relationships or expressing emotions or directing people to do something” (Ad

-Darraji, 2012). A speaker intends his utterance to produce some effects to make the hearer recognizes this intention (Grice, 1989). People should choose their words and how they speak wisely because what they say can have profound effects.

C. Theoretical Framework

This part elaborates how the theory is conducted in the research. The research is concerned in speech act categories which are employed in TYS column of the Jakarta Post. The researcher uses the main theory from Searle about speech act categories. The researcher only uses Searle’s theory to answer two problem

questions of the research in the explanation of five speech act categories. The supporting theories are from Austin, Huddleston & Pullum, Yule, Verschueren, Crystal, andAd-Darraji. Speech acts are divided into five categories based on the

speaker’s intention by uttering the sentence. Based on Searle’s theory, the

categories are assertive, commissive, directive, expressive, and declarative.

Figure 2.1 The Theoretical Framework

Speech acts

locutionary acts

illocutionary acts

assertive commissive directive

TYS Column

expressive declarative

perlocutionary acts

20

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter explains about methodology which is used to answer two research problems. There are five parts in this chapter. They are research method, research subject, research instruments and data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure.

A. Research Method

A qualitative method is the “logic that links data to be collected (and the conclusions to be drawn) to the initial questions of the study” (Yin, 2009, p. 24). By using a qualitative methodology, the researchers want to gain richer information and get details of issues, cases, or events (Arora & Stoner, 2009). It is a method that seeks the collection of evidence. The researchers could use a wide range of techniques to collect data such as in-depth qualitative interviews; observation, field notes, focus groups, document analysis, and other methods of data collection.

"Qualitative research is multi-method in focus, involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials – case study, personal experience, introspective, life story, interview, observational, historical, interactional and visual texts – that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individuals' lives." (Denzin & Lincoln, 2004, p. 2).

In this case, the researcher used descriptive qualitative analysis in the study. The researcher wanted to obtain deeper information and get the details about speech

act categories which were employed in TYS column of the Jakarta Post. The researcher described the data using visual aids such as tables to make the readers understand the data distribution.

There are various types of qualitative method. They are phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, interpretive description, narratives, and discourse analysis. This study was included in the discourse analysis type. In this case, the study analyzed the script of the opinions of the readers in TYS column of the Jakarta Post newspaper. The researcher wanted to analyze the form of language and its functions of written texts.

Discourse analysis concerns about written texts and spoken language (McCarthy, 2000). Discourse analysis is used to analyse the form of language and its functions. It also covers the study of written texts and spoken language. Discourse analysis takes analytic approaches and theoretical perspectives such as speech act theory, interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography, conversation analysis, and other analysis related to language (Schiffrin, 1994 as cited in Darwish, 2011).

B. Research Subject

The researcher used TYS column in the Jakarta Post newspaper as the subject of this study. The column provided people to write down their opinions about certain issues which are built by newspaper staffs. The issues were the hottest issues in that time.

TYS column was chosen because the column is an interactional written

communication which forms stimulus-response model in communication. The column has many texts from the readers in expressing their opinion toward certain issues. The text consists of one sentence or many sentences. It can be found that one text can have more than one speech act categories. The comments could be showed in various types and showed the role of speech act categories.

The data was collected from September 2015 issues. During September 2015, there were 16 issues provided to build the comments of readers. As the response to the issues, the researcher gained 114 comments to analyze the speech act categories.

C. Research Instrument and Data Gathering Technique

The researcher gathered the data from the Jakarta Post website. The

researcher went to the readers’ forum and chose TYS column. The data were

downloaded. The researcher used word processing program as the first instrument to make the transcript of TYS column after downloading. In the transcript, the researcher made cross tabulation tables as the second instrument to present the gathered data. Then, the data were classified based on the appropriate speech act categories from Searle’s theory. After that, the researcher made the checklist in each classification. To determine the speech act categories, the researcher compared the related theory with the texts. Then, the researcher changed the speech act categories into verb form (to assert, to be committed, to direct, to express). The intention was

to make the analysis easier so that the best speech act categories could be determined.

D. Data Analysis Technique

The researcher used descriptive analysis to analyze the data. The researcher described the data using tables to make the readers understand the findings. The researcher provided the first table according to the classification of the texts in TYS

column based on Searle’s speech act categories. It could be seen in Table 3.1. The

researcher provided the tables of speech act classification by theme. Then, the researcher described the tables to answer each research problem. Next, the researcher determined the characteristics of every theme in TYS column.

Table 3.1 Speech act category classification

Notes:

 : found - : not found

TA.1 : theme A number 1 ass : assertive

com : commissive dir : directive exp : expressive dec : declarative

TA Speech act category

No Text ass com dir exp dec

1 TA.1  - - - -

2 TA.2 - - -  -

3 TA.3 - - -  -

4 TA.4  - - - -

5 TA.5 - -  - -

In the last, the data was presented in percentage form. It could be seen in Table 3.2. Through percentage form, the table was to show what the most employed speech act category in TYS column. Therefore, the research problems could be answered.

Table 3.2 The percentage of speech act categories in Text Your Say column

No. The Category percentage (%)

1. Assertive 2. Directive

3. Commissive

4. Expressive 5. Declarative

Next, the researcher used expert validation to make sure the analysis was valid. The researcher also chose an International Relation undergraduate student who specialized in speech acts and understood the social, politic, and economic issues. The intention was to verify whether the analysis was according to the theory or not. In the last, the researcher summarized and concluded the data. It was to answer and cover the two research problems.

E. Research Procedure

There were four stages of research procedure in this study. Those were selecting the data, analyzing the data, discussing the findings, and presenting the findings. Every process had its own result from the beginning until the end of the research. The researcher explained the procedure from gathering the data until

presenting the findings. As the result, the two research problems were answered. Here, the researcher provides the scheme of the research procedure.

Process Result

Figure 3.1 Research Procedure

Selecting the data

Analyzing the data

Discussing the findings

Presenting the findings

The transcript of TYS column

The classification of speech act categories

The report amd discussion

26

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents research results and discussion to answer two research questions about speech act categories of TYS column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues. The two research questions are (1) which speech act categories are employed in the TYS column of the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues and (2) which speech act categories are most frequently employed or characterize the TYS column in the Jakarta Post of September 2015 issues.

A. Speech Acts Categories in TYS column

The researcher provides the texts from TYS column in order to analyze the speech act categories related to the study. From 16 themes that are provided by the Jakarta Post staffs, there are 114 texts from the readers. The opinions in the column present the readers’ speech act categories. Based on the Searle’s theory, speech act categories are assertive, commisive, directive, expressive, and declarative which have been explained in the chapter II. From the analysis, the researcher found out four of five speech act categories: assertive, commissive, directive, and expressive. The researcher did not find out declarative category of speech acts.

1. Assertive Category

According to Searle (1976) assertive category is a speech act that commits the speaker to the truth of a proposition. The researcher found out the readers’ texts in the TYS column which show assertive category. There were 98 assertive

categories (see Table 4.17). In the assertive category, the text writers used the mood types which has been explained in chapter II. The researcher found out that the text writers used declarative and interrogative mood types in the assertive category. Here, the researcher provides the findings of the research:

a. Declarative

(1) TE.37

There is not much the government can do about the thick haze because the haze in Indonesia is just part of the global warming happening in all countries, and in certain countries the conditions are getting worse. In developed countries this phenomenon is not easy to overcome. What we

can do is make the least of it, that’s all.

It is clear that the text is declarative sentence. The text writer explains that haze phenomenon in Indonesia is a part of global warming in all countries. The text writer also says that it is not easy to overcome. We are only able to lessen it. Looking at the function of the text, the text writer wants the readers to believe what he says. In this case, the text writer shows assertive category through declarative sentence.

(2) TD.28

As stated, “good candidates” do not want to be “set up” by the police.

Looking at the form of the text, the type of the text is a declarative text. Through this type, the text writer shows assertive category in order to make others believe the truth. From the text, it is clear that the text writer gives the clarification.

The clue is the words ‘as stated’. The text writer tries to restate what the previous

person spoke in the past as the explanation of his argument. The text writer approves of the argument that good KPK leader candidates do not want to be set

up by the police. The text writer conveys the information so that the readers believe him.

b. Interrogative

(3) TB.26

Smoking is indeed a nasty habit. What would happen if our own wives fell into the nicotine trap?

First she could keep it secretly from her dear husband, but the urge for nicotine would surely give her away eventually.

Wouldn’t any passing good-looking woman drive him crazy? His wife with

a cigarette in her mouth would call him matakeranjang (womanizer), while her husband would call her back: keranjangmata air (bucket of tears). The

best way to stop smoking? Don’t start.

The text writer uses interrogative sentences in the text. In the second sentence, the interrogative sentence is used in order to ask the effect of smoking in the future for women. Looking at the function of the sentence, the text writer commits to the truth of proposition. He wants to know what will happen in the future. He wants to gain the information about that. Therefore, the text writer shows his assertive category through his interrogative sentence.

2. Commissive Category

Commissive category is “a type of utterance where the speaker makes a

commitment to a future course of action” (Crystal, 2003, p. 84). The speaker wants

something to be changed and other people to believe his commitment. From the analysis of the text, the researcher found out 5 commissive categories (see Table 4.17). The text writers showed commissive category through declarative and imperative types. Here are the examples of researcher’s findings in the following page.

a. Declarative

(4) TE.37

There is not much the government can do about the thick haze because the haze in Indonesia is just part of the global warming happening in all countries, and in certain countries the conditions are getting worse. In developed countries this phenomenon is not easy to overcome. What we

can do is make the least of it, that’s all.

In the end of the text, the text writer uses the declarative sentence. This declarative sentence is used to show his commissive category. The text writer makes the commitment together with the readers. He invites himself and other people to solve the problem.

b. Imperative

(5) TA.3

For everything has its own limit; so does foreign coverage. We decide!

The text has two speech act categories. The text writer uses assertive and commissive categories. The second sentence shows the text writer’s imperative sentence. Using the imperative sentence, the text writer is in order to invite the readers and himself to decide something to solve the issue. On the other words, the text writer wants other people and himself make the commitment to do an action. It is clear that the text writer shows commissive category through his imperative sentence.

(6) TN.95

Will these Chinese trains be of the same high quality as those famous Chinese Transjakarta buses that were in the news some time ago? Let us wait and see.

It is clear that the text writer uses imperative sentence in the last sentence.

commissive category. The text writer is in order to invite himself and other people to wait and see the progress in the last sentence. Therefore, we can see the result later. The text writer invites other people to do the action together. He and other people make the commitment.

3. Directive Category

Searle (1976) says that directive speech act is that the speaker requests the hearer to do something. The speaker wants the readers to do the speaker’s willingness. The researcher found out 50 directive categories in TYS column (see Table 4.17). The text writer used declarative, imperative, and interrogative sentences to show the category. Here are the examples of researcher’s findings: a. Declarative

(7) TE.41

The haze has caused numerous emergency situations. It brings about enormous economic, social and environmental losses. Again and again, due to a lack of courage, bringing forest and land-burning perpetrators to court is not easy.

Officers should embrace the community and ask them to actively report on every land clearing activity.

The offenders should be forced to restore environmental conditions, and they should be required to pay heavy fines.

The text has two speech act categories. Those are assertive and directive categories. In the last two sentences, the text writer shows directive speech act category. He shows the category through declarative sentence. The text writer suggests that the officers ask the society to report actively. Then, the offenders are asked to pay heavy fines and restore the environmental condition. It is clear that the text writer uses period in the end of the sentence.

(8) TM.89

A suggestion to Sucofindo and to related government departments: Please, Sucofindo should extend its services to be available 24 hours, seven days a week to increase export activities of non-oil and gas.

From the text, the text writer uses directive category in the sentence. It is clear that he uses declarative text to show directive category. The purpose is to ask other people to do an action. The clue is the modal ‘should’. In the text, the text

writer suggests that Sucofindo and related government departments to extend the service. Therefore, the export activity of non-oil and gas can be increased.

b. Imperative

(9) TB.13

Make sure there are smoking lounges and make security personnel tell smokers to use them.

The text has one speech act category. It is clear that the speaker uses imperative sentence. The imperative sentence means the text writer asks other

people to do something. The clue is ‘make sure…and make …’ The text writer wants

the official to convince that smoking lounges is available so that the smokers are able to use them. Its imperative sentence is the characteristic of which shows directive category. Other people should do what the text writer wants.

(10) TB.26

Smoking is indeed a nasty habit. What would happen if our own wives fell into the nicotine trap?

First she could keep it secretly from her dear husband, but 3the urge for nicotine would surely give her away eventually.

Wouldn’t any passing good-looking woman drive him crazy? His wife with

a cigarette in her mouth would call him matakeranjang (womanizer), while her husband would call her back: keranjangmata air (bucket of tears). The

In the last sentence, the text writer uses imperative sentence. The text writer

uses word ‘don’t …’ From the text, the readers are forbidden to start smoking. In

his opinion, it is the best way to stop smoking. In this case, the text writer’s imperative text shows directive category. The text writer asks the other people to do an action.

c. Interrogative

(11) TE.36

Can somebody fix this once and for all? No other nation has this problem, so perhaps we should send our representatives abroad to learn how to deal with it?

The text has one speech act category. All consist of the interrogative sentences. Through the interrogative sentence, the text writer shows his directive category. The text writer wants the readers do something responding the issue. The text writer thinks that other nations do not have this problem. He requests someone and/or representatives to fix this problem.

(12) TI.69

This is a very pertinent comment. Details about routes and implementation are very much scarce. If you compare this to — for example — the London Crossrail project — which has a powerful marketing and information campaign then there is clear reason to be pessimistic.

What is very disappointing is that the press has not pushed for more details. Other press sources state that much of the LRT will run within existing toll roads operated by PT JasaMarga. Can we have more information about this, please?

From the last example, we can see that the text writer still uses the directive category in the text. He uses the request in the last sentences using interrogative sentence. The text writer requests to have more information about the project. Therefore, there is no miscommunication and misunderstanding toward the project.

It is clear that the text writer asks other people to do something. His willingness is that others can tell him about the project.

4. Expressive Category

Many Jakarta Post readers also give the response to TYS issue through their expressive category. They show their feeling and emotion toward the issue. Some express their pride and appreciation, some express their disenchantment. Verschueren (1999, p. 24) said that expressive speech act is to “express a variety of psychological states, having no direction of fit between words and world, and simply counting as expressions of psychological states.” There were 41 expressive categories as the findings (see Table 4.17). The text writers used declarative, exclamative and interrogative sentences to show the category. Here are the examples of the researcher’s findings:

a. Declarative (13) TI.65

Jokowi’s promises come thick and fast but what about delivery? I am sick

of hearing politicians promise to fix Jakarta’s traffic woes and then they

only get worse.

Less talk, more action, please.

In the text, the text writer shows his expressive category through declarative sentence. He expresses his disappointment toward the politicians’ promises. The

clue is ‘I am sick of …’ In this case, many politicians give many promises in public.

However, they will do nothing in the future which left their promises unfulfilled. (14) TP.112

I absolutely do not agree that the state should apologize for the tragedy of the attempted coup by the communist party.

It would mean that the Joko “Jokowi” Widodo government was permitting, allowing or agreeing to the killings by Indonesian communists and that the generals and all the others killed were wrong and at fault for the violence.

Forgive, yes, but don’t forget.

The speaker states his disagreement clearly through his declarative sentence

in the beginning of the text. He uses the clue ‘I absolutely do not agree that…’ to

show his expression. He disagrees if the state apologizes for the tragedy. If it happens, he thinks that it would mean Indonesian government permitted the killings by the communists and put the other side (military) at fault. From the text, it means that the speaker uses expressive category of speech act.

b. Exclamative (15) TI.61

A brilliant decision by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on the LRT project.

Come on, Pak Jokowi, go onward and don’t retreat.

The text shows the text writer’s expressive category toward President Jokowi through exclamative sentence. It is clear that the text writer uses the word

‘a brilliant decision by…’ The use of his support is clear in the first sentence. He

considers that Jokowi has made a brilliant decision on the LRT project. He is proud of the decision who Jokowi has been made. The text writer shares his feeling about the decision.

(16) TD.31

Not exactly the “Dream Team” that will solve Indonesia’s number one problem is it? Johan is the only one who I would say makes the grade. Good luck Johan!

From the text, the text writer supports Johan. He is sure that Johan will make better future. He says that Johan is the one who can make better. The text writer welcomes Johan to continue his work and solve the problem. The text writer gives

the spirit with using the exclamation ‘good luck Johan!’ In this case, the text writer

shows his expressive category using his exclamative sentence. c. Interrogative

(17) TG.47

Was Franz K. Indonesian? You really could not make this up.

The text has one speech act category. The text writer uses expressive category in this text through interrogative sentence. From this text, we know that the speaker is uncertain with Franz’s background. The text writer thinks that Franz is not Indonesian. Therefore, he cannot make up the issue of tighter system which clogs up permit issuance. The text writer’s question shows his expressive category.

(18) TI.60

So far, government projects have only benefitted those few unscrupulous, persons involved in issuing licenses and assignments, not the taxpayers who paid for it.

Will this LRT project be just like those projects?

Similar to the previous example, the text shows expressive category through interrogative sentence in the last sentence. The text writer shows his doubt. Through the question, the text writer is uncertain that the LRT project will be going well. The text writer still considers that the LRT project will be similar to the other projects which only benefit few unscrupulous people.

5. Declarative Category

Yule (1996, p. 128) says that it is “a speech act that brings about a change

by being uttered, e.g. a judge pronouncing a sentence.” Someone who performs

declarative speech acts wants to create a new reality. It transforms into a new state. The researcher did not find the use of declarative category of speech act in the

reader’s texts of TYS column (see Table 4.17). In TYS column, the text writers did

not change the fact by being uttered. Therefore, declarative category was not found.

B. Speech Act Categories by Theme

This part focuses on answering the second research question about the most frequently employed speech act category in/or characterize TYS column. From the viewpoint of speech acts theory, the researcher explains typical characteristics of

TYS column by the themes in September 2015.

1. Theme A: Confusing Circular on Foreign Journos Withdrawn

Indonesian government moved to withdraw a circular requiring foreign journalists to report their activities to all levels of the government because it was deemed too confusing for the public. The researcher found out that the readers of

TYS column give 10 texts toward the issue.

Table 4.1 Speech act category classification in Theme A

Theme A Speech act category

No Text ass com dir exp dec

1 TA.1  - - - -

2 TA.2  -  - -

3 TA.3   - - -

4 TA.4  - -  -

5 TA.5  -  - -

6 TA.6  - - - -

7 TA.7  - - - -

8 TA.8  - - - -

9 TA.9  - - - -

10 TA.10  -   -

In this theme, the researcher finds out 10 assertive categories, 1 commissive category, 3 directive categories, and 2 expressive categories. The assertive category is the most frequently employed speech act category, followed by directive category in the second position, expressive category in the third position, and commissive category in the fourth position. In this theme, the researcher also finds out the typical characteristic of TYS column from the viewpoint of speech act theory. All of the texts are expressed using assertive category. When the text has more than one category, assertive category always accompanies other categories. The text writers prefer to commit themselves to the truth of the issue in giving the opinions. The text writers prefer to not support the government policy through showing disagreement. In showing disagreement, they give explanations, examples, or clarifications of the fact about the issue. Here, the researcher provides the example:

(19) TA.2

Yes, the whole country should be totally open to foreign media; especially when the people are oppressed by their own government mercilessly. Such coverage is necessary to get the attention of UN headquarters.

The text has two speech act categories. The categories are directive and assertive. In the first sentence, the speaker wants other people/agents to carry out an action from the issue. The speaker wants the whole country to be opened to foreign media. If there is something wrong, it should be solved quickly. He also asserts that it is necessary to get the attention in the second sentence. He shows the assertive category. Moreover, it is clear that the assertive category accompanies the directive category in the text.

2. Theme B: Smoking Ban in Jakarta Still Neglected

Gubernatorial regulation banning smoking in public places was apparently overlooked as can be seen from how a shopping mall tenant allowed their customers to smoke inside the building. This smoking ban regulation was the most provoking issue in September. There were 16 comments which the Jakarta Post readers has made.

From Table 4.2, the researcher finds out 14 assertive categories, 10 directive categories, and 2 expressive categories. Similar to the idea of previous theme, assertive category is the most frequently employed speech act category in the second theme which followed by directive and expressive categories in the lower position.

Table 4.2 Speech act category classification in Theme B

Theme B Speech act category

No Text ass com dir exp dec

1 TB.11  - - - -

2 TB.12 - -  - -

3 TB.13 - -  - -

4 TB.14  - - - -

5 TB.15  - - - -

6 TB.16  - - - -

7 TB.17  - -  -

8 TB.18  -  - -

9 TB.19  -  - -

10 TB.20  -  - -

11 TB.21  -  - -

12 TB.22  -  - -

13 TB.23  -   -

14 TB.24  - - - -

15 TB.25  -  - -

16 TB.26  -  - -

Please, Sucofindo should extend its services to be available 24 hours, seven days a week to increase export activities of non-oil and gas.

90 The government allows the

slash-and-burn method! Don’t they know

thousands of kids and elderly are suffering acute respiratory illness?

1. Declarative

2. Interrogative  

91 Plantation companies causing forest fires should be simply suspended from operating for 10 years to give the flora and fauna time to recover. Recidivists suspended forever! The destruction has lasted too long already.

Declarative  

Theme N. China to give Indonesia its

first bullet train Mood type Speech act category

No Text ass com dir exp dec

92 I thought that President Joko

“Jokowi” Widodo canceled this

project in favor of another slower speed train?

Interrogative 

93 Right now the international community thinks Indonesia cannot control a big infrastructure project.

Declarative  94 Wow, lots of money from China.

Aren’t they generous? I wonder

what the collateral for the loans is, natural resources in Natuba perhaps?

1. Exclamative

2. Interrogative 

95 Will these Chinese trains be of the same high quality as those famous Chinese Transjakarta buses that were in the news some time ago? Let us wait and see.

1. Imperative

2. Interrogative  

96 The Chinese and Japanese companies are in it for business. They will just add the lost costs to the next proposal.

Declarative 

97 To establish and operate a bullet train from Jakarta to Bandung is really a waste of money.

To carry out a bullet train project serving Jakarta-Semarang-Surabaya based on a business-to-business scheme would be very attractive and logical.

I wonder whether it is possible for us to carry out such a giant project.

98 Jokowi courted this project and now says it is scrapped because of pressures on the state budget. I took this as that Indonesia is now broke. Am I wrong?

1. Declarative

2. Interrogative  

99 We have to know what’s put in the letter of intent (LOI), Memorandum of understanding (MOU) or contract of the bullet train between State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno and Chinese government officials.

I think only Rizal Ramli, the coordinating economic minister, can get the explanation and conclusions about the recent disclosure from Rini regarding the bullet train that caused the wider public to be at odds.

Both of them are part of President

Jokowi’s inner circle. They know

best.

Declarative  

100 Today President Jokowi said if the MRT construction had been done 25 years ago, he believed land acquisition would have been much cheaper and there would have been no need to tear down LebakBulus Stadium.

The MRT project received protests before its start was even confirmed on Oct. 10, 2013.

“Thank God, now we can see good

work [is being done]. Everyone was afraid that there would be

congestion everywhere,” he said

during the opening ceremony under the Pemuda Statue, Senayan, on Monday.

He asked the public not to hesitate about the impacts of the MRT project, such as congestion and concerns about the tunnel collapsing, as similar projects were already underway in many countries.

“There are experts, let us not pretend to understand and estimate things which we have never done.

It’s a first, observers often scare

people. If we keep hesitating, we

will not progress,” he said.

1. Declarative

It is the same case with the high speed rail project here in our country! Start moving, do not hesitate, we need to make progress!

Theme O. Searching for Jakarta’s

leader Mood type Speech act category

No Text ass com dir exp dec

101 Ahok is very close to the PDI-P [Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle]; not sure whether he will join PDI-P for the next election or whether PDI-P will be just silently back him behind the scenes.

Declarative 

102 This is a democratic country and everybody has the right to contest the Jakarta gubernatorial election. But from all that have made their bid to contest, I think Ahok is the least evil.

Declarative 

103 Yes! The more the merrier! It is possible that they will split the anti-Ahok vote and let him through again to continue his clean-up of the city administration.

1. Exclamative

2. Declarative  

104 More and more contenders are coming up for the Jakarta gubernatorial elections in 2017. Incumbent governor Ahok still has two more years to prove that he is the best. It is better to have some pairs of contenders than a single candidate for the post, which means no election can be held.

Declarative 

105 I would have no hesitation to choose Ahok based on what he has

done so far. But I can’t hide my

concern that some political parties

who support Ahok’s contenders

may use some dirty tactics. The problem is they have “resources” to play dirty with (i.e. by launching black campaigns, mobilizing thugs, money politics, etc).

Let’s hope that it’s not going to

happen...and that most Jakartans

are “smart enough”.

1. Declarative

2. Imperative   

106 Governor Ahok deserves

Jakartans’ support. In fact, it’s

already proven that he has done a

lot of work. I’m really proud to

have a truthful and confident leader like him.

Hopefully, other provinces will do the same thing. If only Indonesia had a thousand Ahoks, this country would be soon be highly acclaimed. 107 For decades Jakarta has been abandoned by its governors. Jakarta is indeed fortunate to have Ahok at the reins this time. A change for the good and better living is not only apparent but a true reality.

He came up with the idea of rusun (literally stacked up residences or apartments) for the poor inhabitants of neighborhoods near the often flooded Jakarta rivers. Ahok kept on caring despite some rusun owners quietly selling their share to outsiders, much to his anger.

He recently visited the Netherlands, most probably to study about the management of the perennial floods in its cities. He might come home with the design of floating residences that adapt with the sea tide or the floods. I sincerely suggest Governor Ahok start the City Trash Fermentation Dome project, not only to keep the city clean, but also to produce the organic fertilizer we need so badly to improve our farm products. The Dome would also produce methane gas, which could easily if not freely be used to power the engines of farm equipment. The city cleaning teams could invite other workers to collect trash material such as bottles, aluminum sheets, broken wires and iron sheets, and the like, which are salable by the kilo. As a citizen of the capital city for more than 46 years now, allow me to suggest keeping Ahok as our next governor of Jakarta.

Theme P. Shining a light on the dark past

Mood type Speech act category

No Text ass com dir exp dec

108 Are we that desperate? Interrogative  109 Accepting and telling the nation the

truth is how we can start to move forward and illuminate this dark chapter of the nation. This dark episode can serve as a guide for us to grow as a nation.

Declarative 

110 Truth is of the utmost importance. We need an independent body or commission to uncover the truth of the state-sponsored killings of PKI members and others.

Declarative 

111 Perhaps an official apology with a genuine feeling of regret (or

something akin if that’s the best the

government can do) would be appropriate. Such feeling at government levels might actually facilitate the protection of children taken from still-living parents because of stigma, as well as see that full restitutions for damages and suffering

are given.

This is what a normal government and legal system would do — a normal one.

Declarative 

112 I absolutely do not agree that the state should apologize for the tragedy of the attempted coup by the communist party.

It would mean that the Joko “Jokowi”

Widodo government was permitting, allowing or agreeing to the killings by Indonesian communists and that the generals and all the others killed were wrong and at fault for the violence.

Forgive, yes, but don’t forget.

1. Declarative

2. Imperative   

113 The past five decades have been nothing but untempered corruption, dressed up in many colors in such a way as to fool the nation. People raced to get lucrative posts in the government or so-called tempatbasah (rent-seeking “wet positions”) to be able to pocket state funds.

This has almost become a culture: Entrance examinations for lucrative jobs have a price, in the form of a silent yet urgent fee. These fees tie the bribing individuals to long dreary years spent repaying the money borrowed to secure their position in the first place.

114 Human rights violations did occur, and an apology to the families of murdered PKI members is in order. Hundreds of thousands of members were imprisoned and murdered without due process, causing profound sadness affecting young families beyond words. Education disrupted, young siblings separated, housewives unable to care for their children, many had to uproot and so on and so forth. An apology would be a start; cash aid and assistance to those still affected would be even better. To those who oppose this apology, consider this — how would they feel if the shoe were on the other foot? How would they survive having their spouses imprisoned or even murdered without any justification when they have young ones at home? They might even not know where their relatives were murdered and buried. Have they thought about that?

1. Declarative 2. Imperative 