AN ANALYSIS OF SPEECH ACTS IN CHARLES DICKENS’ A TALE OF TWO CITIES: A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS
A THESIS
BY:
JUITA SARI PANGGABEAN REG. NO 070705030
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS
UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA MEDAN
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION
I, Juita sari Panggabean, declare that I am the sole writer of this thesis except
where reference is made in the text of this thesis. This thesis contains no material
published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have
qualified for or awarded another degree.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgments in the main
text of this thesis. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of another
degree in any tertiary education.
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COPYRIGHT DECLARATION
Name : Juita Sari Panggabean
Title of Thesis : An Analysis of Speech Acts in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of
Two Cities: A Pragmatics Analysis
Qualification : S-1/ Sarjana
Department : English Literature
I am willing that my thesis should be available for reproduction at the discretion
of the Librarian of University of Sumatra Utara, Faculty of Letters, English
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all I would like to give all majesty and praise to the Almighty God
who is always give me strength, patients, blessing and guidance in completing this
thesis.
First and foremost, I would like to thank to my supervisor and my co-
supervisor, Dr. Hj. Masdiana Lubis, M. Hum and Drs. Umar Mono, Dipl. Tran,
M. Hum for their guidance, support, advice and constructive comments during the
writing of this thesis.
My sincere gratitude also goes to the Dean of Faculty of Letters,
University of Sumatera Utara, Dr. Syahron Lubis, M.A, the Head and the
Secretary of English Literature Department, Dr. Hj. Muhizar Muchtar, M.S and
Dr. Nurlela, M. Hum and all of the lecturers and the staffs of English Literature
Department for the facilities and opportunities given to me during my study in this
university.
My special appreciation and thanks too are expressed to my beloved
parents, A. Panggabean and M. br Hutagalung, who never stop praying for me, for
their love, comport, care attention, encouragement, loyalty and moral and
financial support. You are the biggest inspiration for me. My beloved brother
Rikson Panggabean and my beloved sister-in-law Lena Maria Manik and also my
beloved sisters Raisinta Panggabean, S. Pd and Rosadi Panggabean, who always
become my motivation in making everything better, thank you for giving me a
great love, support, attention and kindness.
who always spent many times in many places with me. Thanks for our friendship,
our togetherness and your support.
Special thanks are addressed to my beloved boyfriend, Pudan Martoba
Simanjuntak for giving me praying, support and attention. I do really appreciate
every moment that I have spent with you.
Other special thanks go to all my friends in English Literature Department,
especially class year 2007, whose names cannot be mentioned one by one, thanks
for having great times together in finishing this thesis, for their support and
prayer. May we always be great friends forever. Finally, I hope this thesis will
always be useful for the readers.
May God bless us. Amin
Medan, March 2011
The writer,
Juita Sari Panggabean
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ... ii
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION... iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi
ABSTRACT ... ix
LIST OF ABREVIATIONS ... x
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study ... 1
1.2 Problems of the Study ... 6
1.3 Objectives of the Study ... 7
1.4 Scope of the Study ... 7
1.5 Significance of the Study ... 7
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 An Overview of Pragmatic Theory ... 8
2.1.1 The Understanding of Pragmatic Theory ... 10
2.1.2 The Goals of Pragmatic Theory ... 11
2.1.3 Theoretical Framework ... 13
2.2 Speech Act ... 15
2.2.1 Locutionary Act... 17
2.2.2 Illocutionary Act ... 18
2.2.2.1 The Categories of Illocutionary Act ... 20
2.2.2.3 Performative Utterance ... 24
2.2.2.4 Direct and Indirect Illocutionary Acts ... 26
2.2.3 Perlocutionary Act ... 28
2.3 Previous Study ... 30
CHAPTER III METHOD OF THE RESEARCH 3.1 Research Method ... 32
3.2 Data and Data Source ... 32
3.3 Data Collecting Method ... 33
3.4 Data Analyzing Method ... 34
CHAPTER IV THE DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1 Category of Illocutionary ... 36
4.1.1 Representative ... 36
4.1.2 Directive... 56
4.1.3 Commissive ... 64
4.1.4 Expressive ... 67
4.2 Performative Verb ... 69
4.2.1 Explicit Performative ... 69
4.2.2 Implicit Performative ... 71
4.3 Illocutionary Acts Performance ... 96
4.3.1 Direct Illocutionary ... 96
4.3.2 Indirect Illocutionary ... 121
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusions ... 138
5.2 Suggestion ... 139
ABSTRAK
Skripsi yang berjudul “An Analysis of Speech Acts in Charles Dickens’ A
Tale of Two Cities: A Pragmatics Analysis” ini merupakan suatu kajian linguistik
tentang penggunaan Speech Acts yang terdiri dari locutionary acts, illocutionary
acts berdasarkan kategorinya masing-masing, yakni representative, directive, commissive, expressive dan declarative dan juga perlocutionary acts yang
tercermin dalam novel A Tale of Two Cities yang ditulis oleh Charles Dickens. Data dikumpulkan melalui studi kepustakaan dan dianalisis dengan menggunakan metode deskriptif. Analisis penggunaan speech acts di dalam skripsi ini menerapkan teori speech acts yang dipelopori oleh John L. Austin (1975). Speech
acts dapat diidentifikasi dari ujaran yang terdapat dalam teks. Dari analisis data
ditemukan bahwa terdapat 107 ujaran yang merupakan tindak tutur dari 4 (empat) kategori illocutionary acts. Dalam satu ujaran dimungkinkan terdapat lebih dari satu kategori illocutionary acts. Kategori-kategori itu adalah representative,
directive, commissive, expressive dan tidak ditemukan ujaran yang termasuk ke
dalam kategori illocutionary acts declarative. Representative merupakan kategori illocutionary acts yang paling dominan diujarkan oleh dua karakter utama, yaitu Miss Lucie Manette dan Charles Darnay. Sub kategori representative yang ditemukan adalah stating (menyebutkan), telling (memberi tahu), explaining (menjelaskan), denying (menyangkal), affirming (menegaskan), believing (meyakini), asserting (menyatakan), describing (menggambarkan), rejecting (penolakan), convincing (meyakinkan) dan accusing (menuduh). Performative
verb illocutionary yang ditemukan adalah explicit performative dan implicit performative. Performing of Illocutionary Act yang digunakan adalah direct illocutionary dan indirect illocutionary. Perlocutionary acts dari pendengar
sebagai akibat dari lokusi si pembicara adalah tindakan yang berupa action,
LIST OF ABREVIATIONS
CIA : Category of Illocutionary Acts
PV : Performative Verb
EPV : Explicit Performative Verb
IPV : Implicit Performative Verb
IAP : Illocutionary Acts Performance
DIA : Direct Illocutionary Acts
IIA : Indirect Illocutionary Acts
PA : Perlocutionary Acts
MM : Miss Manette
CD : Charles Darnay
Mr. L : Mr. Lorry
Mr. C : Mr. Carton
Dr. M : Doctor Manette
TTM : The Two Men
TL : The lawyer
TU : The Uncle
MV : Many Voices
TM : The Man
TI : The Innkeeper
TO : The Officer
D : Defarge
MD : Madame Defarge
TG : The Gentlemen
ABSTRAK
Skripsi yang berjudul “An Analysis of Speech Acts in Charles Dickens’ A
Tale of Two Cities: A Pragmatics Analysis” ini merupakan suatu kajian linguistik
tentang penggunaan Speech Acts yang terdiri dari locutionary acts, illocutionary
acts berdasarkan kategorinya masing-masing, yakni representative, directive, commissive, expressive dan declarative dan juga perlocutionary acts yang
tercermin dalam novel A Tale of Two Cities yang ditulis oleh Charles Dickens. Data dikumpulkan melalui studi kepustakaan dan dianalisis dengan menggunakan metode deskriptif. Analisis penggunaan speech acts di dalam skripsi ini menerapkan teori speech acts yang dipelopori oleh John L. Austin (1975). Speech
acts dapat diidentifikasi dari ujaran yang terdapat dalam teks. Dari analisis data
ditemukan bahwa terdapat 107 ujaran yang merupakan tindak tutur dari 4 (empat) kategori illocutionary acts. Dalam satu ujaran dimungkinkan terdapat lebih dari satu kategori illocutionary acts. Kategori-kategori itu adalah representative,
directive, commissive, expressive dan tidak ditemukan ujaran yang termasuk ke
dalam kategori illocutionary acts declarative. Representative merupakan kategori illocutionary acts yang paling dominan diujarkan oleh dua karakter utama, yaitu Miss Lucie Manette dan Charles Darnay. Sub kategori representative yang ditemukan adalah stating (menyebutkan), telling (memberi tahu), explaining (menjelaskan), denying (menyangkal), affirming (menegaskan), believing (meyakini), asserting (menyatakan), describing (menggambarkan), rejecting (penolakan), convincing (meyakinkan) dan accusing (menuduh). Performative
verb illocutionary yang ditemukan adalah explicit performative dan implicit performative. Performing of Illocutionary Act yang digunakan adalah direct illocutionary dan indirect illocutionary. Perlocutionary acts dari pendengar
sebagai akibat dari lokusi si pembicara adalah tindakan yang berupa action,
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Illocutionary
"performative" just in case it is issued in the course of the "doing of an action".
Furthermore he said that illocutionary act is an act (1) for the performance of
which the speaker must make it clear to some other person that the act is
performed, and (2) the performance of which involves the production of what he
calls 'conventional consequences' such as rights, commitments, and obligations.
Thus, for example, in order to successfully perform a promise the speaker must
make clear to speaker’s audience that the act of the speaker is performing a
promise and in the performance of the act, speaker will be undertaking an
obligation to do the promised thing; therefore promising is an illocutionary act in
the present sense. For example, “I promise to attend your party tonight”. Without
using the word “promise”, actually the speaker has made a promise to the hearer
that speaker will do future action that is the speaker attends hearer’s party.
Bach and Harnish in Devitt & Hanley,
(2003:http://www.google.co.id.speechacttheory&source) stated that an
illocutionary act is an attempt to communicate, which they again analyze as the
expressing of an attitude. It means that to show the illocutionary act, the speaker
should make a communication to the hearer by language. As we know that
language is a means of communication that cannot be separated from human’s life
gratuitous act; it is purposeful, and thus language has an instrument aspect.
Communication can take place successfully if the means of language in
communication is agreed by it users, and thus language has a conventional aspect.
A conventional meaning which leads to an understanding in
communication, the speakers and hearers must mutually catch the meaning of
speech, so that the communication runs cooperatively and there is no
misunderstanding. In communication, cooperative communication not only
requires the linguistic knowledge of the speakers and hearers, but also the
contextual knowledge whose role is very significant to fully understand the
meaning of the speech that being uttered.
An illocutionary act is a complete speech act, made in a typical
that consists of the delivery of the propositional content of the utterance
(including
whereby the speaker asserts, suggests, demands, promises, or vows.
The concept of an
act. In every speech act (Austin in Saeed (1997:212)), we can distinguish three
things. They are (1) what is said, the utterance, can be called the locution, (2)
what the speaker intends to communicate to the addressee is the illocution, and
(3) the message that the addressee gets, his/her interpretation of what the speaker
says, is the perlocution. If communication is successful, the illocution and the
perlocution are alike or nearly alike.
corresponding to the verbal, syntactic and semantic aspects of any meaningful
utterance.
Illocutionary act as a part of speech acts are an analysis of Pragmatic
study. In this field, Pragmatics plays its role as a branch of linguistics to
concentrate on the meaning of language and its relation to the context in which it
is uttered. Pragmatics not only concerns on the meaning of language lexically, but
also the meaning which is related to the contextual meaning. Jannedy (1994:227)
says,
“To fully understand the meaning of a sentence, we must understand the context in which it is uttered. Pragmatics concerns itself with how people use language within a context and why they use language in particular ways. This unit examines how speaker and hearer affect the ways language is used to perform various functions.”
Perlocutionary act is speech act that has an effect on the feelings, thoughts
or actions of either the speaker or the listener. In other words, they seek to change
minds. Unlike locutionary acts, perlocutionary acts are external to the
performance. For example, inspiring, persuading or deterring.
We use language for many purposes. We tell others what we know or
think we know, we express our feelings, make requests, protest, criticize, insult,
apologize, promise, thank, say hello, and say goodbye. Language seems to have as
many different functions since there are goals for using language, but for of all the
apparent diversity the basic uses of language are rather limited.
Some linguists have attempted to classify illocutionary acts into a number
of categories or types. Searle (1976:10-16) in Saeed (1997:212) categorizes them
into five main categories, they are: representatives, directives, commissives,
Sometimes, an utterance can potentially have quite different illocutionary
forces. How can speakers assume that intended illocutionary force will be
recognized by the hearer? Illocutionary force can be found through the verb that is
used in utterance to show the illocutionary act. Illocutionary Force Indicating
Devices (IFID) is indication in the speaker’s utterance of the communicative force
of that utterance. It is an expression of the type where there is a slot for a verb that
explicitly names the illocutionary acts being performed. Such a verb can be called
a performative verb (Vp) (Yule, 1996:51).
Performative verb which is intended as indicating devise of illocutionary
force is a verb that explicitly names the speech act. Commonly, speakers do not
always ‘perform’ their speech acts so explicitly, but they sometimes describe the
speech act being performed.
Austin in Saeed (1997:209-210) continued that performative utterance can
be classified into (1) explicit performative and (2) implicit performative.
Moreover, in an utterance, illocutionary acts can be performed by two ways: (1)
direct illocution is the illocution most directly indicated by a literal reading of the
grammatical form and vocabulary of the sentence uttered, and (2) indirect
illocution is any further illocution the utterance may have (Hurford & Heasley,
1983:259). For example, direct illocutionary of ‘May I ask what you are knitting?’
(Dickens 1979:53) is an asking permission for getting information about what the
hearer is knitting. The indirect illocutionary act of that utterance is asking the
hearer to tell what the hearer is knitting to the speaker.
Illocutionary acts are often found in our daily conversation, whether
in every utterance which the speaker and hearer do in conversation. It becomes
interesting to analyze conversational utterance because it deals with how we
classify all utterances into categories of illocutionary acts and the context in which
the utterance spoken, so we can determine the real meaning of those utterances by
paying attention to the indicating device that is used such as performative verb,
and that is why Pragmatics concentrates on the spoken language rather than
written language.
Illocutionary acts also can be found in literary works such as play, novel,
film, and short story. The source of data of this research is taken from a novel by
Charles Dickens entiled A Tale of Two Cities. Illocutionary acts found in that
novel is unique, an utterance may have more than one non-literal meaning as the
result of using performative verb implicitly, and an utterance may be included into
more than one category. For examples: (1) direct illocutionary act of “I ask you to
do not come closer” is an explicit performative directive of warning to do not
come closer, while ‘Please, gentlemen,’ she said, ‘do not come near us, do not
speak, do not move!’ (Dickens, 1979:16) is an implicit performative verb
utterance of indirect illocutionary act. The utterance performs directive
illocutionary act of warning or begging, (2) ‘Do not believe, ‘he said, ‘that I
would separate you from her. If Lucie became my wife one happy day, I would
never separate you from her. It would be a bad thing to do, and it would be
hopeless.’ (Dickens, 1979:44) is an explicit performative utterance of direct
illocutionary act. The utterance performs representative illocutionary act of
Based on the above explanation, this research is meant to analyze the
speech acts in a Charles Dickens’ novel (simplify) entitled A Tale of Two Cities.
The purposes of this research are discussing speech acts among the two main
characters’ utterances, named Miss Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay and
finding out how the theory of speech act can be applied in this novel such as in
our daily utterances.
1.2 Problems of the Study
After determining the scope of the analysis, it is important to make the
systemic step by arising the problems to be solved, since without problems, a
researcher will get lost in what topic that should be discussed. Based on the
background stated previously that illocutionary act occurs in conversation or
utterance something. The problems that appear in this research are:
1. What category of illocutionary act is used by the two main characters in A
Tale of Two Cities?
2. How is the performative verb used in each utterances uttered by the two
main characters in A Tale of Two Cities?
3. How is the illocutionary act performed by the two main characters in A
Tale of Two Cities?
4. How is the perlocutionary act performed by the hearer toward the
1.3 Objectives of the Study
As stated at the problems above, the writer will achieve some objectives to
answer the problems of the analysis, they are:
1. To find out the category of illocutionary act used by the two main
characters found in A Tale of Two Cities.
2. To describe the use of performative verb in each utterance uttered by the
two main characters found in A Tale of Two Cities.
3. To describe the way of performing of illocutionary act of the two main
characters found in A Tale of Two Cities.
4. To describe the perlocutionary act done by the hearer toward the
utterances uttered by the two main characters found in A Tale of Two
Cities.
1.4 Scope of the Study
The analysis of this research is limited only on locutionary act,
illocutionary act which consists of declarative, representative, expressive,
directive, and commissive, determining the meaning of each utterance by
performative verb used explicitly or implicitly, and the direct or indirect
illocutionary act in utterances and perlocutionary act of the two main characters’
utterance, named Miss Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay in the novel.
1.5 Significances of the Study
Theoretically, this thesis is made in order to enrich the study of
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 An Overview of Pragmatic Theory
Pragmatics theory explains the reason or opinion of the speaker and
listener in arranging the correlation between the contexts of a sentence and a
proposition (planning or problem). In this case pragmatic theory represents a part
of performance. Morris (1938:6) in Tarigan (1990:33) states that pragmatics is an
analysis about “the relation between signs and interpreters”.
Pragmatics is an analysis about the relation between language and context
which is encoded in a structure of language. It is also analyzing the relation
between language and contexts which is representing foundation for a record or
report of understanding language, equally a study about language user’s ability to
connect and make compatible sentences and contexts precisely.
Pragmatics analyzes the certain utterance in certain situation. It focuses on
the various ways particularly. Those way represent a place of various social
contexts of language performs which can influence the explanation or
interpretation. Pragmatics not only analyzes the supra segmental influences,
dialect and register, but also looks into the performance of utterance, for the first
as social activity that is arranged by various social convention.
Pragmatics analyzes entirety mankind’s behavioural, especially in its
relation with signs and devices. Pragmatics focuses on the way of mankind
Yule (1996:3) states that there are four areas that pragmatics are concerned
with. To understand how it got to be that way, we have to briefly review its
relationship with other area of linguistic analysis.
1. Pragmatics is concerned with the study of meaning as communicated by a
speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader). It has,
consequently, more to do with the analysis of what people mean by their
utterances than what the words or phrases in those utterances might mean by
themselves. Pragmatic is the study of speaker meaning.
2. This type of study necessarily involves the interpretation of what people
mean in a particular context and how the context influences what is said. It
requires a consideration of how speaker organize what they want to say in
accordance with who they are talking to, where, when, and under what
circumstances. Pragmatic is the study of contextual meaning.
3. This approach also necessarily explores how listeners can make inferences
about what is said in order to arrive at an interpretation of the speaker’s
intended meaning. This type of study explores how a great deal of what is
unsaid is recognized as part of what is communicated. We might say that it
is the investigation of invisible meaning. Pragmatic is the study of how more
meaning gets communicated than it said.
4. This perspective than raises the question of what determines the choice
between the said and the unsaid. The basic answer is tried to the notion of
distance. Closeness, whether it is physical, social, or conceptual, implies
speakers determine how much needs to be said. Pragmatic is the study of the
expression of relative distance.
2.1.1 The Understanding of Pragmatic Theory
Pragmatics is a subfield of
context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses
conversational
behaviour i
transmission of meaning depends not only on the linguistic knowledge (e.g.
utterance, knowledge about the status of those involved, the inferr
speaker, and so on. In this respect, pragmatics explains how language users are
able to overcome apparent
and time of an utterance.
The sentence "You have a green light" is ambiguous. Without knowing the
context, the identity of the speaker, and their intent, it is not possible to infer the
meaning with confidence. For examples:
• It could mean you are holding a green light bulb.
• Or that you have a green light to drive your car.
• Or it could be indicating that you can go ahead with the project.
• Or that your body has a green glow.
Similarly, the sentence "Sherlock saw the man with binoculars" could
Sherlock observed a man who was holding binoculars. The meaning of the
sentence depends on an understanding of the context and the speaker's intent.
Crystal (1987:120) in Peccei (1999:7) states, “Pragmatics studies the
factors that govern our choice of language in social interaction and the effects of
our choice on others.”
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 an important area of study for a course. A simplified way of
thinking about pragmatics is to recognise, for example, that language needs to be
kept interesting - a speaker or writer does not want to bore a listener or reader, for
example, by being over-long or tedious. So, humans strive to find linguistic means
to make a text, perhaps, shorter, more interesting, more relevant, more purposeful
or more personal. Pragmatics allows this.
2.1.2 The Goals of Pragmatic Theory
Pragmatics is the study of the aspects of meaning and language use that
are dependent on th
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 children's wear shop window: “Baby Sale -
lots of bargains”. We know without asking that there are no babies are for sale -
that what is for sale are items used for babies. Pragmatics allows us to investigate
themselves, but because we share certain contextual knowledge with the writer or
speaker of the text.
What does pragmatics have to offer that cannot be found in good
old-fashioned linguistics? What do pragmatic methods give us in the way of greater
understanding of how the human mind works, how humans communicate, how
they manipulate one another, and in general, how they use language?
The general answer is pragmatics is needed if we want a fuller, deeper,
and generally more reasonable account of human language behaviour.
A more practical answer would be: outside of pragmatics, no
understanding; sometimes, a pragmatic account is the only one that makes sense,
as in the following examples, borrowed from David Lodge's Paradise News
(1992:65) in Smith (2006:16):
'I just met the old Irishman and his son, coming out of the toilet.'
'I wouldn't have thought there was room for the two of them.'
'No silly, I mean I was coming out of the toilet. They were waiting.'
How do we know what the first speaker meant? Linguists usually say that
the first sentence is
word, phrase, or sentence that can mean either one or the other of two (or even
several) things.
For a pragmatician, this is of course, glorious nonsense. In real life, that is,
among real language users, there is no such thing as ambiguity—excepting
certain, rather special occasions, on which one tries to deceive one's partner or
2.1.3 Theoretical Framework
In completing this thesis, the writer uses some theories which are relevant
to the basic principle of this analysis.
Austin (1975:123) introduced the illocutionary act by means of a contrast
with other kinds of acts, or aspects of acting: the illocutionary act is an act
performed in saying something, as contrasted with
saying something, and also contrasted with a
by saying something.
Further Austin (1975:125) said "illocutionary act" can be captured by
emphasizing that "by saying something, we do something", as when a minister
joins two people in marriage saying, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." It
means a minister declares that now the two people are husband and wife.
Searle (1997:10-16) in Saeed (1997:212) categorizes illocutionary acts
into five main categories, they are: representatives, directives, commissives,
expressives, and declarations.
• Representatives: here the speaker asserts a proposition to be true, using
such verbs as affirm, believe, conclude, deny, and report.
• Directives: here the speaker tries to make the hearer do something, with
such words as ask, beg, challenge, command, dare, invite, insist, and
request.
• Commissives: here the speaker commits himself/herself to a (future)
course of action, with verbs such as guarantee, pledge, promise, swear,
• Expressives: the speaker expresses an attitude to or about a state of
affairs, using such verbs as apologize, appreciates, congratulate, deplore,
detest, regret, thank, and welcome.
• Declarations: the speaker alters the external status or condition of an
object or situation, solely by making the utterance, with verbs such as
pronounce, declare, and baptism.
An utterance may have more than one illocutionary act. So, to make it be
clearer, it is essential to insert the performative verb that shows the intention of an
utterance. Austin in Saeed (1997:209-210), stated performative verb is a verb that
explicitly names the speech act. He continued that performative utterance can be
classified into: (1) explicit performative is a speech act containing a performative
verb, and (2) implicit performative is a speech act without a performative verb.
For example, “I declare that King Charles II was a coward” is an explicit
performative utterance of declaring.
In an utterance, illocutionary acts can be performed in two ways, direct
and indirect illocutionary act (Hurford & Heasley, 1983:259). Direct illocutionary
act is an illocutionary act in which only the
content literally expressed by the lexical items and syntactic form of the
are communicated.
While, Indirect illocutionary act is an illocutionary act in which the
the
conversation such as the
pass the salt, please?” is an enquiry about the hearer’s ability to pass the salt. The
indirect illocutionary is a request to the hearer to pass the salt.
2.2 Speech Act
Speech act is a technical term i
performance of an utterance: the actual utterance and its ostensible meaning,
comprising phonetic, phatic and rhetic acts corresponding to the verbal, syntactic
and semantic aspects of any meaningful utterance; an
semantic 'illocutionary force' of the utterance, thus its real, intended meaning ; and
in certain cases a further
convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or
realize something, whether intended or not (Austin, 1975:3).
Many scholars identify 'speech acts' wit
locutionary or perlocutionary acts. As with the notion of illocutionary acts, there
are different opinions on the nature of speech acts.
We perform speech acts when we offer an apology, greeting, request,
complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal. A speech act is an utterance that
serves a function in communication. A speech act might contain just one word, as
in "Sorry!" to perform an apology, or several words or sentences: ‘I’m very sorry
that I caused her to faint, ‘said Charles Darnay (Dickens, 1979:26). Speech acts
include real-life interactions and require not only knowledge of the language but
We use language all the time to make things happen. We ask someone to
pass the salt or marry us - not usually at the same time. We order a pizza or make
a dental appointment. Speech acts include asking for a glass of beer, promising to
drink the beer, threatening to drink more beer, ordering someone else to drink
some beer, and so on. Some special people can do extraordinary things with
words, like baptizing a baby, declaring war, awarding a penalty kick to Arsenal
FC or sentencing a convict.
Linguists have called these things “speech acts” and developed a theory
(called, unsurprisingly, “speech act theory”) to explain how they work.
Speech act theory broadly explains these utterances as having three parts
or aspects: locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.
Austin in Saeed (1997:211) proposed that communicating a speech act
consists of three elements: the speaker says something, the speaker signals an
associated speech act, and the speech act causes an effect on her listeners or the
participants.
1. Locutionary act, by which meant as the act of saying something that
makes sense in a language, i.e. follows the rules of pronunciation and
grammar.
2. Illocutionary act, the action intended by the speaker, or the uses to which
language can be put in society.
3. Perlocutionary act concerned with what follows an utterance: the effect or
‘take-up’ of an illocutionary act.
According to Yule (1996:48), on any occasion, the action performed by
1. Locutionary act, as the basic act of utterance, or producing a meaningful
linguistic expression.
2. Illocutionary act, an act is performed via the communicative force of an
utterance.
3. Perlocutionary act, as a simply create an utterance with a function without
intending it to have an effect.
2.2.1 Locutionary Act
Locutionary act is an act of saying something (the locution) with a certain
meaning in traditional sense. This may not constitute a speech act.
Two types of locutionary act are utterance acts, where something is said
(or a sound is made) and which may not have any meaning, and propositional
acts, where a particular reference is made. (Note: acts are sometimes also called
utterances - thus a locutionary act is the same a locutionary utterance).
Examples:
1. Oh! - is an utterance (note that communication is not intended - it
is just a sound caused by surprise).
2. The black cat - is a propositional act (something is referenced, but
no communication may be intended).
Communication is successful not when hearers recognize the linguistic
meaning of the utterance, but when they infer the speaker's "meaning" from it
(Sperber & Wilson, 1986:23).
Making a normal utterance involves a hierarchy of acts. To begin with,
there is the act of utterance. We recognize utterance acts, even in a language that
hearing the utterance spoken, seeing it signed or written, or feeling it impressed in
Braille. Linguistics is concerned with utterances in which speaker uses a language
expression and thereby performs a locutionary act (and more).
Austin (1975:109), whose How to Do Things with Words first awakened
wide interest in speech acts, included the act of referring as part of the locutionary
act, and they were first separated by Searle in Speech Acts (1969:81). Whereas
locutions are defined on a particular language, reference is defined on particular
worlds.
Obviously, under normal conditions of use, speaker makes an utterance,
uses a locution, and refers with it, all at one and the same moment.
2.2.2 Illocutionary Act
An illocutionary act is a complete speech act, made in a typical
that consists of the delivery of the propositional content of the utterance
(including
whereby the speaker asserts, suggests, demands, promises, or vows as has stated
before.
Illocutionary act is the performance of an act in saying something (vs. the
general act of saying something). The illocutionary force is the speaker's intent,
e.g. informing, ordering, warning, and undertaking. The illocutionary act carried
out by a speaker making an utterance is the act viewed in terms of the utterance’s
significance within a conventional system of social interaction, e.g. saying: ‘I am
much better now,’ answered Darnay. ‘I’m not sure what time it is, or where I am,
but I feel as if I am in the world.’ That utterance performs the illocutionary act of
The most significant act in the hierarchy of speaking is the illocutionary
act. Austin (1975:110) alerted us to the fact that speaker does something in
uttering to hearer in context C, e.g. states a fact or an opinion ‘I think I do feel
faint,’ said Darnay (p. 28), confirms or denies something ‘No,’ answered Miss Manette (p. 69), apologizing ‘Gentlemen,’ I said, ‘pardon me, but I usually ask who needs my help’ (p. 89), a promise …,’ he said…. I promise this, and I want you to remember it. …’ (p. 48), a request ‘Doesn’t any of your dream remain?’ asked Miss Manette (p. 47), an asking or commanding ‘I asked you to believed that you could be better, Mr. Carton,’ said Miss Manette (p. 47).
In utterance, speaker performs an illocutionary act in using a particular
locution to refer, such that utterance has the illocutionary force of a statement, a
confirmation, a denial, a prediction, a promise, a request, and so forth.
We shall see later that an utterance has more than one illocutionary force;
but many utterances have only one message to convey, and this particular
illocutionary force is the illocutionary point. In (1), the locution can see in the
following example.
1. I'll make the tea.
The person who utters it and the context of utterance will determine the
reference. One illocutionary force is that of a statement about a future act. In a
given utterance of (1), it may be used with a second illocutionary force: to make a
promise. If this is the recognized intention of speaker, then that promise is the
illocutionary point of the utterance. (There is a more detailed account of this
The illocutionary point of (2) would typically be to have hearer recognize
that speaker is offering a bet; the acceptance or refusal of the challenge is the
perlocutionary effect of the utterance.
2. I bet you a dollar you can jump that puddle.
An elementary illocutionary act is an illocutionary act that:
• does not have a negat
• is not performed conditionally and
• is not conjoined to another illocutionary act.
2.2.2.1 The Categories of Illocutionary Act
Searle (1969:68-70) has set up the following classification of illocutionary
speech acts:
• Representatives are speech acts that commit a speaker to the truth of the
express
• Directives are speech acts that are to cause the hearer to take a particular
action, e.g. requests, commands, and advice.
• Commissives are speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action,
e.g. promises and oaths.
• Expressives are speech acts that express the speaker's attitudes and
emotions towards the proposition, e.g. congratulations, excuses and
thanks.
• Declarations are speech acts that change the reality in accord with the
proposition of the declaration, e.g. baptisms, pronouncing someone guilty
One general categories system list five types of general functions
performed by speech acts: declaration, representatives, expressive, directives, and
commissives.
Declarations are those kinds of speech acts that change the world via their
utterance. As the examples in (1) illustrate, the speaker has to have a special
institutional role, in a specific context, in order to perform a declaration
appropriately.
1. a. Priest : I now pronounce you husband and wife. b. Referee : You’re out!
c. Jury Foreman : we find the defendant guilty.
In using a declaration, the speaker changes the world via words.
Representatives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker
believes to be the case or not. Statements of fact, assertions, conclusions, and
descriptions, as illustrated in (2), are all examples of the speaker representing the
world as he or she believes it is.
2. a. The earth is flat.
b. Chomsky didn’t write about peanuts. c. It was a warm sunny day.
In using a representative, the speaker makes words fit the world (of belief).
Expressive are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker feels.
They express psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, pain, likes,
dislikes, joy, or sorrow. As illustrated in (3), they can be caused by something the
speaker does or the hearer does, but they are about the speaker’s experience.
3. a. I’m really sorry! b. Congratulation!
c. Oh, yes, great, mmmm, ssahh!
Directives are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to get someone
else to do something. They express what the speaker wants. They are commands,
orders, requests, suggestions, and as illustrated in (4), they can be positive or
negative.
4. a. Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black. b. Could you lend me a pen, please? c. Do not touch that.
In using a directive, the speaker attempts to make the world fit the words (via the
hearer).
Commissives are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to commit
themselves to some future action. They express what the speaker intends. They
are promises, threats, refusals, pledges, and, as shown in (5), they can be
performed by the speaker alone, or by the speaker as a member of a group.
5. a. I will be back.
b. I’m going to get it right next time. c. We will not do that.
In using a commissive, the speaker undertakes to make the world fit the words
(via the speaker).
These five general functions of speech acts, with their key features, are
summarized in Table 1.1
Speech act type Direction of fit S= speaker; X= situation
Declarations Words change the world S causes X
Representatives Make words fit the world S believes X
Expressive Make words fit the world S feels X
Directives Make the world fit words S wants X
Commissives Make the world fit words S intends X
[image:33.595.121.469.553.721.2]2.2.2.2 Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID)
The most obvious device for indicating the illocutionary force (the
Illocutionary Force Indicating Device, or IFID) is an expression of the type of
shown in (1) where here is a slot for a verb that explicitly names the illocutionary
act being performed. Such a verb can be called a performative verb (Vp).
1. … ,‘ said Lucie. ‘…. I am asking
2. shouted Mr. Lorry. ‘…. I
you to use your power to help my
husband and not to use it against him.’ (p. 77)
promise
3. ‘”Gentlement,” I
that I have not heard anything about
Charles.’ (p. 74)
answered
In the (1, 2, and 3), ‘asking’, ‘promise’ and ‘answered’ would be the
performative verb and, if stated, would be very clear IFIDs. Speakers do not
always ‘perform’ their speech acts so explicitly, but they sometimes describe the
speech act being performed. Imagine the telephone conversation in (4), between a
man trying to contact Mary, and Mary’s friend.
“I am that doctor.’ (p. 88)
4. Him : Can I talk to Mary? Her : No, she is not here.
Him : I’m asking you—can I talk to her? Her : And I’m telling you—she’s not here!
In this scenario, each speaker has described, and drawn attention to, the
illocutionary force (‘ask’ and ‘tell’) of their utterances.
Most of the time, however, there is no performative verb mentioned. Other
IFIDs which can be identified are word order, stress, and intonation, as shown in
5. a. You’re going! (I tell you “You are going”)
b. You’re going? (I request confirmation about “You are
going”)
c. Are you going? (I ask you if “You are going”)
While other devices, such as a lowered voice quality for a warning or a
threat, might be used to indicate illocutionary force, the utterance also has to be
produced under certain conventional conditions to count as having the intended
illocutionary force.
Searle (1969:98) often speaks about what they call 'illocutionary force
indicating devices' (IFIDs). These are supposed to be elements, or aspects of
linguistic devices which indicate either (dependent on which conceptions of
"illocutionary force" and "illocutionary act" are adopted) that the utterance is
made with certain illocutionary force, or else that it constitutes the performance of
a certain illocutionary act. In English, for example, the interrogative mood is
supposed to indicate that the utterance is (intended as) a question; the directive
mood indicates that the utterance is (intended as) a directive illocutionary act (an
order, a request, etc.); the words "I promise" are supposed to indicate that the
utterance is (intended as) a promise. Possible IFIDs in English include: word
order, stress, intonation contour, punctuation, the mood of the verb, and
performative verbs.
2.2.2.3 Performative Utterance
One way to think about the speech acts being performed via utterance is to
assume that underlying every utterance (U) there is a clause, similar to (2)
illocutionary force explicit. This is known as the performative utterance and the
basic format of the underlying clause is shown in (7).
7. I (hereby) Vp (that) I (U)
In this clause, the subject must be first person singular (‘I’), followed by the
adverb ‘hereby’, indicating that the utterance “counts as” an action by being
uttered. There is also a performative verb (Vp) in the present tense and an indirect
object in first person singular (‘I’). This underlying clause will always make
explicit, as in (8b.) and (9b.), what in utterances such as (8a.) and (9a.) are
implicit.
8. a. Clean up this mess! b. I hereby order
9. a. The work was done by Elaine and myself. you that you clean up this mess.
b. I hereby tell you that the work was done by Elaine and myself.
Examples like (8b.) and (9b.) (normally without ‘hereby’), are used by speakers as
explicit performatives. Examples like (8a.) and (9a.) are implicit performatives,
sometimes called primary perpormatives.
The advantage of this type of analysis is that it makes clear just what
elements are involved in the production and interpretation of utterances. In syntax,
a reflexive pronoun like ‘myself’ in (9) requires the occurrence of an antecedent
(in this case ‘I’) within the same sentence structure. The explicit performative in
(9b.) provides the ‘I’ element. Similarly when the speaker says to someone, ‘Do it
yourself!’, the reflexive in ‘yourself’ is made possible by the antecedent ‘you’ in
the explicit version (‘I order you that you do it yourself’). Another advantage is to
show that some adverbs such as ‘honestly’, or adverbial clauses such as ‘because I
may be late’, as shown in (10), naturally attach to the explicit performative clause
10. a. Honestly, he’s a scoundrel.
b. What time is it, because I may be late?
In (10a.) it is the telling part (the performative verb) that is being done
‘honestly’ and in (10b.), it is the act of asking (the performative again) that is
being justified by the ‘because I may be late’ clause.
There are some technical disadvantages to the performative hypothesis.
For example, uttering the explicit performative version of a command (8b.) has a
much more seriouos impact than uttering the implicit version (8a.). The two
versions are consequently not equivalent. It is also difficult to know exactly what
the performative verb (or verbs) might be for some utterances. Although the
speaker and hearer might recognize the utterance in (11a.) as an insult, it would be
very strange to have (11b.) as an explicit version.
11. a. You’re dumber than a rock.
b. I hereby insult you that you’re dumber than a rock.
The really practical problem with any analysis based on identifying explicit
performatives is that, in principle, we simply do not know how many performative
verbs there are in any language. Instead of trying to list all the possible explicit
performatives, and then distinguish among all of them, some more general
categories of types of speech acts are usually used as presented earlier.
2.2.2.4 Direct and Indirect Illocutionary Acts
Now that we have seen that an utterance can have more than one
illocutionary, it is useful to introduce the distinction between direct and indirect
illocutionary act.
Hurford & Heasley (1983:259) distinguished the illocutionary act which
as the illocutionary most directly indicated by a literal reading of the grammatical
form and vocabulary of the sentence uttered and indirect illocutionary as any
further illocutionary the utterance may have.
Direct illocutionary act is an illocutionary act in which only the
items and syntactic form of the
illocutionary act of an utterance is the illocutionary most directly indicated by a
literal reading of the grammatical form and vocabulary of the sentence uttered.
Indirect illocutionary act is an illocutionary act in which the
expresses another
conversation, such as the
further illocution the utterance may have. Let see some examples of direct and
indirect illocutionary act bellow.
1. The direct illocutionary of, “Can you pass the salt, please?” is an enquiry
about the hearer’s ability to pass the salt. The indirect illocutionary is a
request that the hearer pass the salt.
2. “Why don’t we go to Portugal this summer?”
The direct illocutionary of that statement is asking why speaker and
hearer do not go to Portugal this summer. The indirect illocutionary is a
suggesting that the speaker and the hearer go to Portugal this summer.
3. The direct illocutionary of, “Let me say immediately that I endorse the
he/she endorses the chairman’s ruling. The indirect illocutionary is an
endorsing chairman’s ruling.
4. “I believe you may have been looking for me.” The direct illocutionary
is asserting that speaker believes hearer may have been looking for
speaker, and the indirect illocutionary is asking whether hearer has been
looking for speaker.
The direct illocution of, “I must ask you to leave” is an asserting that speaker is
obliged to ask hearer to leave, and the indirect illocution is asking hearer to leave.
2.2.3 Perlocutionary Act
The perlocutionary acts are speech acts that carried out by a speaker
making an utterance as the act of causing a certain effect on the hearer and others.
Perlocutionary acts are speech acts that have an effect on the feelings,
thoughts or actions of either the speaker or the listener. In other words, they seek
to change minds!
If A says, “There’s a hornet in your left ear”, it may well cause B to panic,
scream and scratch wildly at your ear. Causing these emotions and actions of B is
the perlocutionary act of A’s utterance.
The perlocutionary act of an utterance is the causing of a change to be
brought about, perhaps unintentionally, through, or by means of the utterance. The
point of carefully distinguishing the perlocutionary act aspect of the speech act
from others is that perlocutions can often be accidental, and thus bear a relatively
Unlike locutionary acts, perlocutionary acts are external to the
performance. For example, inspiring, persuading, and deterring. Speaker's
perlocutionary act is an act of achieving a particular perlocutionary effect on
hearer as a result of hearer recognizing (what he/she takes to be) the locution and
illocutionary forces in utterance.
So, a perlocutionary is hearer's behavioural response to the meaning of
utterance—not necessarily a physical or verbal response, perhaps merely a mental
or emotional response of some kinds. Other perlocutionary acts are such things as:
alerting hearer by warning hearer of danger; persuading hearer to an opinion by
stating supporting facts; intimidating hearer by threatening; getting hearer to do
something by means of a suggestion, a hint, a request, or a command; and so
forth. An effect of utterance which does not result from hearer recognizing the
locution and illocutionary point of utterance is not a perlocutionary effect, but
some kinds of gestural effect (e.g. responding to a raised voice or an angry look).
Perlocutionary acts are extremely significant within a theory of communication
because the normal reason for speaking is to cause an effect in hearer, and speaker
typically strives to achieve this by any means he/she can. However,
perlocutionary effects fall beyond the boundary of linguistics because they are not
part of language but behavioural and/or cognitive and/or emotional responses to
the illocutions in utterances. What linguists can properly look at, however, are the
intentions of speakers to bring about certain perlocutionary effects:
Speaker's intention to cause a perlocutionary effect on hearer by having hearer
speaker's perlocutionary intention (Bach & Harnish in Devitt & Hanley,
2003:http://www.google.co.id.speechacttheory&source).
2.3 Previous Study
Previous of study is put in this research because this analysis needs input
of the related study as considerations in order to enrich the writer’s analysis.
Wahyuni (2008:68) in her thesis Expressive Illocutionary Acts in Jane
Austen’s Mansfield Park, says that expressive illocutionary acts which express the
psychological state of the speaker through the utterances are applied in this novel
(Mansfield Park) and the categories of expressive illocutionary acts are thanking,
apologizing, congratulating, wishing, and criticizing/complaining.
Sitorus (2004:48) in her thesis Commissive Illocutionary Acts on Charles
Dickens’ novel “Hard Time’ concludes that indirect commissive illocutionary acts
found in Charles Dickens’ novel entitled Hard Time, but they are not identified
through volitional verb as paradigmatic of commissive. It can be identified
through modal which can express future course of action by using will, shall, be
going to, and future conditional as would have. There are some paradigmatics of
commissive as promise, offer, commit, threaten, envisage, agree, volunteer, and
guarantee.
Rahmawati (2004:40) in her thesis An Analysis of Illocutionary Acts on
Elizabeth Bergs’novel Talk before Sleep found that the way of performing
illocutionary acts is dominated by the literal direct act, followed by literal direct
act associated with non-literal indirect act, and then non-literal direct act, followed
illocutionary act are representatives and directives, and then followed by rogative,
expressive, commissve, and declaratives.
Siregar (2010:96) in his thesis Illocutionary Act in the Movie A walk to
Remember that discussed about illocutionary act found out categories of
illocutionary act, representative (41.56%), rogative (24.75%), directive (18.43%),
expressive (12.5%), commissive (3.15%), and no declarative.
Based on the some previous studies described above, it can be concluded
that the common categories of expressive illocutionary acts that happened are
thanking, apologizing, congratulating, wishing, and criticizing/complaining. The
common categories of commissive illocutionary acts are promising, offering,
CHAPTER III
METHOD OF THE RESEARCH
3.1 Research Method
In completing this thesis, some theories, opinion and documentation are
applied. Research method which is used in this research is Library research.
Library research is a research conducted by learning books of brochure literature,
magazine and various articles which have relevance with the problems in this
research as Nawawi (1991:30) says,
“Penelitian kepustakaan (Library research) yaitu suatu penelitian yang dilakukan dengan menghimpun data dari berbagai literatur, baik di perpustakaan maupun di tempat-tempat lain. Literatur yang dipergunakan tidak terbatas hanya pada buku-buku, tetapi dapat juga berupa bahan-bahan dokumentasi, majalah-majalah, koran-koran dll. berupa bahan tertulis. Dari literatur tersebut dapat ditemukan berbagai teori, hukum, dalil, prinsip-prinsip, pendapat, gagasan-gagasan dll. yang dapat dipergunakan untuk menganalisa dan memecahkan masalah yang diselidiki.” (Library
research is a research done by collecting data from many kinds of literature, whether in the library or any other places. Literature used is not only limited on books but also on the magazines, newspaper, and another written documentation. Relevant studies are also used to support the analysis. From that literature, there are theories, principles, opinion, ideas, etc. found within it which can be used to analyze and solve problems investigated.)
3.2 Data and Data Source
Data in this study are all utterances uttered by the two main characters,
Miss Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay. All of the data in this research are called
population. Population means the total object in the novel. The population in this
research is all the utterances found in each part (three parts of the novel), 112
The source of data in this research is taken from Charles Dickens’ novel
entitled A Tale of Two Cities (simplified) that is published at 1979 in Oxford.
There are many utterances contained speech acts uttered by Miss Manette and
Charles Darnay. The total numbers of their utterances become the data to be
analyzed are 107 utterances. Since the population is too big that is why the writer
applies purposive sampling technique in taking the data to be analyzed. This kind
of sampling is done by taking the unit of sample that is appropriate and suitable to
the purpose of analysis as Nawawi (1991:157) states,
“Purposive sampling adalah teknik pengambilan sample yang disesuaikan dengan tujuan penelitian. Ukuran sample tidak dipersoalkan sebagaimana di dalam accidental sampling…. pembatasan sample hanya mengambil unit sampling yang sesuai dengan tujuan penelitian.” (Purposive sampling is a technique of
taking the sample which is suitable to the purpose of research. The count of the sample is not problem as in accidental sampling….the scope of the sample only take the unit of sample that is appropriate to the purpose of research.)
3.3 Data Collecting Method
Documentation method is applied in collecting the data. This method is
used because the source of the data in this research is written source. This method
is a kind of technique of collecting the data through written document, especially
archives and also books about opinion, theory, argument, etc. which are related to
the research problem. As Nawawi (1991:133) says, “Metode dokumentasi ialah
(Documentation method is a kind of technique of collecting the data by
categorizing and classifying the written document that has relation with the
problem discussed, whether from document or books, newspaper, magazine, etc.)
In this method, the underlying is done to write down the variable has been
obtained. If there is any variable found, it has to be marked with a check mark.
3.4 Data Analyzing Method
Descriptive method is applied in the data analysis, it tries to reveal the
aspect investigated completely by describing the object condition as the way they
are (fact finding) as Nawawi (1991:68) says,
“Metode deskriptif adalah cara memecahkan masalah penelitian dengan memaparkan keadaan objek yang diselidiki sebagaimana adanya berdasarkan fakta-fakta yang aktual pada saat sekarang. Dengan demikian metode ini memusatkan perhatian pada masalah-masalah atau fenomena-fenomena yang ada pada saat penelitian dilakukan atau masalah yang bersifat aktual, kemudian menggambarkan fakta-fakta tentang masalah yang diselidiki diiringi dengan interpretasi rasional yang akurat. Dimana penelitian ini menggambarkan fakta-fakta dan menjelaskan keadaan dari objek penelitian berdasarkan fakta-fakta sebagaimana adanya, dan mencoba menganalisis untuk memberi kebenarannya berdasarkan data yang diperoleh.” (Descriptive
method is the way of solving the research problem by describing the situation and condition of the investigated object as the way they are (fact finding) that actual in the present. Thereby, this method focuses on the problems or phenomenon that is present while the research is done or the actual problem, and then describing the facts about the investigated problem with the accurate rational interpretation. This method describes the facts and explains the object condition of the research based on the facts as the way they are and tries to analyze to give the truth based on the data.)
The systematic procedures in conducting the analysis are as follows:
1. Reading the chosen novel and understanding the stories.
3. Categorizing the illocutionary acts into each category.
4. Identifying the performative verb of each utterances based on the
expression of the type shown in the utterance where there is or not a
slot for a verb that names the illocutionary act being performed.
5. Identifying the way of performing illocutionary acts by paying
attention to the compatibility between illocutionary acts and the
meaning of the utterance.
6. Determining the perlocutionary acts based on the hearer’s performing
CHAPTER IV
THE DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
Data in this study are all utterances uttered by the two main characters,
Miss Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay. The data are included written utterances
and unwritten utterances (actions). Total numbers of the data are 107 utterances.
4.1 Category of Illocutionary Acts (CIA)
Analysis about how we do something by exploiting sentence is an analysis
about speech acts. In doing analysis of speech act, we must really realize how
important the contextual utterance is. Speech act theory means phrasing us, if we
ask someone though it means order or if we say something in certain intonation
(sarcastic) though it means exactly on the contrary.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, category of illocutionary acts can be
divided into five categories. They are representative, directive, commissive,
expressive and declarative (Searle, 1997:10-16 in Saeed, 1997:212). Below are
the analyses of speech acts based on the data in Charles Dickens’ novel entitled A
Tale of Two Cities from page 1-112 with its illocutionary acts category in each
context.
4.1.1 Representative
Representative is speech acts that commit a speaker to the truth of the
express
a. Believing
The uncle : ‘I don’t quite understand. Would you explain?’ (page 41)
The utterance of Charles Darnay performs representative of believing.
Charles believes that it was only his uncle’s bad luck that has kept him out
of prison in France.
2. Charles Darnay : ‘The King has not liked you for many years. I believe that, if you could, you would sign a form which would send me to prison for many years.’
The uncle : ‘It is possible. I might do that for the honour of the family. But unfortunately it is difficult to obtain those useful forms….’ (page 41)
The utterance of Charles Darnay performs representative of believing.
Charles believes that the king has not liked his uncle for many years. If his
uncle could, he would sign a form which would send him to prison for
many years.
3. Mr. Carton : ‘Of all the people on earth, did you expect to see me?’ Charles Darnay : ‘I could not believe it was you. I can hardly believe it
now.’
Mr. Carton : ‘No! By chance I have some power over one of the officers here. That is how I got in. I have come from Darnay’s wife. I bring you a request from her.’ (page 100)
The utterance of Charles Darnay performs representative of believing.
Charles believes that the king has not liked his uncle for many years. If his
uncle could, he would sign a form which would send him to prison for
many years.
b. Denying
1. Dr. Manette : ‘Why are you here? Are you the prison-guard’s daughter?’
The utterance of Miss Manette performs representative of denying. Miss
Manette denies that she is the prison-guard’s daughter.
2. Many voices shouted : ‘Down with the emigrant!’
Charles Darnay : ‘Emigrant, my friends? Don’t you see that it was my own decision to come back to France?’ (page 67)
The utterance of Charles Darnay performs representative of denying.
Charles Darnay denies the many voices that shouted he is an emigrant.
3. The other man : ‘Yes, judged and prosecuted. He is a traitor.’
Charles Darnay : ‘Friends, you are making a mistake. I am not a traitor.’ (page 67)
The utterance of Charles Darnay performs representative of denying.
Charles Darnay denies the other man who said that he is a traitor.
4. The officer : ‘You are going to the prison of La Force.’
Charles Darnay : ‘No! Why do you send me there? What law is this?’ (page 69)
The utterance of Charles Darnay performs representative of denying.
Charles Darnay denies that he is going to the prison of La Force.
5. Charles Darnay : ‘But I have never sent anyone to prison, Citizen Defarge.’
Defarge : (Did not reply. He looked at Darnay angrily. Then he walked on silently and steadily). (page 71)
The utterance of Charles Darnay performs representative of denying.
Charles Darnay denies that he ever sent anyone to prison.
c. Asserting
1. Defarge : ‘It is a bad truth for you.’
Charles Darnay : ‘You are right. Everything here has changed. It is so sudden and unfair. I am completely lost. Will you help me a little?’
The utterance of Charles Darnay performs representative of asserting.
Charles Darnay asserts that Defarge is right. Everything there has changed.
It is so sudden and unfair. He is completely lost.
2. The President : ‘Aren’t you an emigrant?’
Charles Darnay : ‘I do not consider myself an emigrant in the way that the law thinks of an emigrant. I decided to give up my title because I didn’t want to be a noble. I left this country before the new law about emigrants was passed. I left to earn my own living in England. I did not want to live on the money that the poor people earned for me.’
The President : ‘Can you prove this?’ (page 81)
The utterance of Charles Darnay performs representa
