In linguistics, a speech act is an utterance defined in
terms of a speaker's intention and the effect it has on a listener.
Essentially, it is the actions which the speaker hopes to provoke in their
audience. It means that when someone talking with the interlucutor, he/she not
use word not only present information but also to carry
out actions.
SPEECH ACT
All speech acts as belonging to one of
three categories: locutionary, illocutionary, or perlocutionary acts.
Examples:
1.
Locutonary: it is take action to say something The act of locution
contains a literal meaning.
Example:
·
"It's hot here", the meaning of its locus relates to the air temperature
in that place.
·
"I am hungry" refers to the 'empty stomach and need to be filled',
without intending to ask for food on someone.
2.
Illecutionary : it is making the speaker act in accordance with what he
says. This action contains meaning related to social function.
Example:
·
“It is hot here", the meaning of
the focus may be a request to open the window.
·
when
a husband says "It's almost seven
o'clock." To his wife in the morning, here, it is not only giving
information about time, also contains the act of reminding the wife that the
husband should go to work immediately, so he want to breakfast. Therefore, the
wife will answer "Yes baby, breakfast is ready soon”.
3.
Perlocutionary: doing an act by saying something.it have iimpact and
there are feedback from interlucutor.
Example:
·
'I'm hungry', listeners react by offering food to speakers.
·
"It is hot here", based on a specific context (hot air, being in a room
with windows and doors are closed), then the impact is the window will be
opened wide by the interlucutor
CORPORATION
Coorporation that means in communication people need to
corporate with others. There are 4 types in coorporation, such as:
1.
Maxim of quality : it means every speaker must convey something true and
based on clear evidence.
Example:
A:
How many maxims of cooperation do Grice have?
B:
According to Grice's book I read, there are four maxims in the principle of
cooperation.
A:
What's the maxim?
B:
Maximize quantity, maxim of quality, relevance and maxim manner
2.
Maxim of quantity : it is required information only.
Example:
A.
The blind man is a masseuse.
B
The person who can not see it turns out to be a masseur.
In sentence (A) is considered to be more effective and
efficient than (B) which adds things that are obvious and need not be explained
again.
Another
Example:
A:
Rudi put on his raicoat, picked up his umbrella from the table near the door,
turned off the lights, put out the cat, got ready for his ten-minute walk to
the bus-stop
B:
Rudi went out.
In sentence (A) is too long. Therefore, to express the same
concept, sentence (B) is better used.
3.
Maxim of relevance : it means that speaker makes a relevant contribution to
the topic subject.
Example:
A:
There is somebody at the door
B:
I'm in the bath.
In that sentence, When A tells B that someone is coming and
hopes B to open the door for the guest, then B says that he was in the bathroom
at the time. The Answer by B makes A to understand B condition is at that
moment. And A will open the door.
4.
Maxim of Manner: it means that speaker is talking directly, not blur, not exaggerated and
coherent.
Example:
A:
Where is the original, Mas?
B:
I am originally Purworejo, Mbak.
A:
Ouch, I mean, where is my origins KTP Card?
The dialogue often occurs when (A) photocopy his KTP card
at a photocopy place. After the ID card has been photocopied, (A) ask to
employee for the original KTP by saying "Mas, where is it?" And it is
misinterpreted by (B) because he thinks that (A) asks for his origins. it can
be embarrassing moment for interlucutor.
CONVERSATION
Conversations are a series of speech acts: greetings,
inquiries, congratulations, comments, invitations, requests, accusations. There are several kinds of
conversations:
- Turn taking
and pausing. It means that we are usually
don't all talk at once. When we are talking about something maybe the
interlucutor not focus or in other activities. So we need to repeat the
topic or pause for a while. Ex:
A: Do you know about the accident last night?
B: (silent) typing
massage on the phone
A: Can you hear me?
B: (put the phone) I’m sorry? What are you say before?
- Adjacency
Pairs .
sometimes in a conversation there are must be:
a.
Question and answer;
b.
a invitation by
an acceptance or an explanation of why it can't be accepted;
c.
an assessment/problem is followed by agreement or disagreement;
d.
an apology is followed by acknowledgement of
the apology:
for example:
A: Sorry about last
night!
B: No problem; we were all
pretty tired.
- Opening
Sequences in the
firstly meet we often to greetings, ask general questions or comments
about the weather, sports, etc.
A:
Hi, do you like the music?
B:
Yes, I do like
- Closing
Sequences .
To closing the conversation, we
can summing up, using other locutions (Okay, all
right then; well, that's about it; so umh; fine, then;
Respons by interlucutors: okay,
goodbye then; okay bye; nice talkin' to you; see ya soon; thanks for
calling/dropping by; good to see you! take care!
