Acting and Conversing

ACTING AND CONVERSING
BY : GROUP 4
SPEECH ACTS
An Action performed in saying

something
I am Hungry
TYPES OF SPEECH ACTS
Locutionary Speech Act
Illocutionary Speech Act
Perlocutionary Speech Act

LOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACT
Occurs when the speaker performs an utterance (locution), which has a

meaning in the traditional sense.
Utterance acts : where something is said (or a sound is made) and which
may not have any meaning.
Example : What?
Propositional acts : where a particular reference is made.

Example : The black cat
ILLOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACT
Speech acts that contain speech intentions and powers, which have meaning as
understood by listeners
Your nails are long

TYPES OF ILLOCUTIONS
Assertive: an illocutionary act that represents a state of affairs.
ex: Jokowi is the president of Indonesia
Directive: an illocutionary act for getting the addressee to do something.

ex: Give me a cup of coffee
Commissive: an illocutionary act for getting the speaker to do something.

ex: I’ll be back
Expressive: an illocutionary act that state what speaker feels.

ex: Congratulations!
Declaration: an illocutionary act that brings into existence the state of affairs
to which it refers.
ex: Judge: I sentence you to six months in prison!
PERLOCUTIONARY ACTS
The aim of perlucotionary speech act is to change feelings, thoughts, or

actions
Mom, my money runs out

COOPERATION AND FACE
Grice: when we communicate we assume, without realising it,

COOPERATION that we, and the people we are talking to, will be
conversationally cooperative
Cooperative principle : ‘Make your conversational contribution

such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the
accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you
are engaged.’
Four maxims that follow from the cooperative principle :
• Make contribution as informative as required A: What time do you work tomorrow?

Quantity
• Don’t make contribution more informative than is required B: Tomorrow I work at 2pm.
• Don’t say what you believe to be false A: Why were you late last night?
Quality
• Don’t say that for which you lack adequate evidence B: My car broke down.
A: How is the weather today?

Relation • Be relevant
B: It is rainy and cloudy.
A: Where was the professor when class

• Avoid obscurity of expression and ambiguity
Manner ended?
• Be brief and orderly
B: She left class and went to her office.
FACE
The positive social image we seek to maintain during

interaction
The concept of face :

• The presentation of the self to the other
• Could be in positive or negative terms
GOFFMAN (1955) : FACE-WORK
Face work is the maintenance of our presented self-image
Two kinds of face-work strategies:
✓ Preventive facework : Avoiding face loss Disclaimers and politeness
✓ Corrective facework : Restoring lost face Apologies, accounts (excuses &

justifications), avoidance, humor, and
remedial efforts
SOME FEATURES OF CONVERSATION
Ochs (1979) : Speech can be planned and unplanned
Unplanned speech has certain characteristic:

• Repetitions;
• Simple active sentences;
• Speaker and listener combining to construct propositions;
• Stringing of clause together with and or but or the juxtapositioning
of clauses with no overt links at all;
• Deletion of subjects and referents;
• And use of deictics
Some formal devices used in conversation:
Adjacency Turn-
Pairs Taking
ADJACENCY PAIRS
A two-part exchange in which the second utterance is functionally
dependent on the first, as exhibited in conventional greetings, invitations,
and requests.
Questions – Answer
Greeting – Greeting
Request – Acceptance
Etc.
Two kinds of possible responses:
Preferred responses Dispreferred responses

Preferred Responses
The response given is as expected by the speaker
Example:
A: Want to join us for dinner tomorrow?
B: We'd love to!
Dispreferred responses
The response given is not as expected by the speaker
Example (polite):
Example (rude): A: Want to join us for dinner tomorrow?
A: Want to join us for dinner tomorrow? B: [pause] Well, hmmm... I told Cathy a while
B: No, your cooking is terrible. ago that I would join her tomorrow for dinner.
Maybe some other time, okay?
TURN-TAKING
A process in conversation as a system to take over the

conversation.
For example:
P1 : Hello!
P2 : Hey!
P1 : How are you?
P2 : I’m fine thanks
Different ways of indicating that a turn will be changed:
• Formal methods: for example, selecting the next speaker by name or raising a
hand.
• Adjacency pairs: for instance, a question requires an answer.
• Intonation: for instance, a drop in pitch or in loudness.
• Gesture: for instance, a change in sitting position or an expression of inquiry.
• The most important device for indicating turn-taking is through a change in gaze
direction.
Violation of turn-taking:
• Interruption: where a new speaker interrupts and gains the floor.

• Butting in: where a new speaker tries to gain the floor but does not
succeed.
• Overlaps: where two speakers are talking at the same time.

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ACTING AND CONVERSING

An Action performed in saying

Locutionary Speech Act

Illocutionary Speech Act

Perlocutionary Speech Act

Occurs when the speaker performs an utterance (locution), which has a

Propositional acts : where a particular reference is made.

Your nails are long

Directive: an illocutionary act for getting the addressee to do something.

Commissive: an illocutionary act for getting the speaker to do something.

Expressive: an illocutionary act that state what speaker feels.

The aim of perlucotionary speech act is to change feelings, thoughts, or

Mom, my money runs out

Grice: when we communicate we assume, without realising it,

Cooperative principle : ‘Make your conversational contribution

• Make contribution as informative as required A: What time do you work tomorrow?

A: How is the weather today?

A: Where was the professor when class

The positive social image we seek to maintain during

The concept of face :

Face work is the maintenance of our presented self-image

Two kinds of face-work strategies:

✓ Preventive facework : Avoiding face loss Disclaimers and politeness

✓ Corrective facework : Restoring lost face Apologies, accounts (excuses &

Ochs (1979) : Speech can be planned and unplanned

Unplanned speech has certain characteristic:

Two kinds of possible responses:

Preferred responses Dispreferred responses

The response given is as expected by the speaker

The response given is not as expected by the speaker

A process in conversation as a system to take over the

• Interruption: where a new speaker interrupts and gains the floor.

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