Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LETERATURE

2.1 Pragmatics

People use language in order to say something to others therefore

language is used as an instrument in communities. According to Jean (1992 : 125 )

" Speaking consists of more than simply combining sign; it is also the performance

of an action." The speaker usually produces his or her utterance in a particular

context and is intended for particular listener in order to send his or her message.

Through this utterance, the speaker expects that the listener will perform an action.

In other words, language does not just possess a specific structure but it also has

variety of functions. These language functions are the field of study for pragmatic.

Pragmatics is one of the branch of linguistics which study about language

in use (Brown, 1982 :27 ). It focuses on the relationship between speaker and the

utterance which is produced by the speaker. Thus, pragmatics tries to explain how

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sentences or utterances can convey the message from the speaker who utters them.

The function of utterance or sentence is not just for saying something but it also

does thing and perform an action. By applying pragmatics in interpreting the

sentence or utterance, hopefully that the reader or hearer becomes easier in

understanding the message which is carried out by the speaker.

According to Cook ( 1990 : 40 ) "Pragmatics theory of speech acts may

go some way toward explaining how the fuction of utterance is inferred " The

function of utterance is very important because it can make someone to do

something. Thus, speech acts theories tries to explain how the hearer is able to

interpret literal meaning of utterance in order to perform a certain action.

2.2 Speech acts theory

Two philosophers, John Austin and John Searle who gave many

contributions in speech act theory believed that language is used by people to

perform an action therefore they developed speech act theory from this basic belief

that meaning and action have important relationship in language

(Schiffrin, 1994:49). Language is not just a matter of utterance or sentence but it

has function to perform an action. Thus, speech acts theories focus on how this

fuction of language can be performed by the hearer.

According to Petrey ( 1990 : 4 )" Speech act theory examines the power

of language in communities." This power is the effect of performative.

Performative is a term for language which has the function of doing something so it

focuses on how language can perform an action. In the book entitled How to Do

Things with Words ( 1962 ) Austin said that " words are not only something to

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say but also used to do things ." The language that has fuction to do things is called

performative. The utterance " I bet you ten dollars I can read this book in an hour"

is the example of performative. This utterance performs an action that is the

speaker must pay ten dollars to the hearer if the the speaker cannot read that book

in an hour , on the contrary, the hearer must pay ten dollar to the speaker if the

speaker is able to read that book in an hour. Besides, language also has the

function to say something. This function of language is called constantive. For

example, you are reading a book and your friend looks quizzically at your book.

Then you respond your friend by saying " I bought it yesterday " or " I don't know

what I think about it, I just started ." In this case, the speaker are using the words

to say something, to tell to the hearer what the speaker did or how the speaker

feels..

2.2.1 Locutionary, Illocutionary, Perlocutionary

Austin suggests that when people are saying something, they perform

three kinds of acts (Levinson, 1983 : 236)

a.Locutionary act is the semantic or the literal meaning of a sentence

b.Illocutionary act is the making of a statement, offer, promise, etc with a

conventional force

c.Perlocutionary act is the expected effect on the hearer by uttering the sentence

Austin illustrated these definition with an example (Fodor, 1977 : 22 )

Locution

He said to me " Shoot her ! " Meaning by "shoot" shoot and referring by

"her" to her

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Illocution

He urged (or advised, ordered , etc) me to shoot her

Perlocution

He persuaded me to shoot her

According to Kempson ( 1977 : 51 ) the relationship of these three act is

when a speaker utters sentence with a particular meaning, he or she performs

locutionary act and the particular force of this utternce is called illocutionary act.

Hopefully, the hearer achieves the effect of this utterance. This effect is called

perlocutionary act.

In Levinson's words," the locutionary aspect has to do with the utterance

of sentence with determinate sense and reference "( Mey, 1994 : 112 ). On the

other words, the locutionary act focuses on the literal meaning which consist of

sense and reference. According to Hurford and Heasley ( 1983), the relationship

between linguistic elements ( words, phrase, clausa ) is called sense while the

relationship between words and things, actions and events is called reference.

The illocutionary act which is carried out by a speaker's utterance is the

act which is influenced by conventional system of social interaction. It is the force

of the utterance which can be expressed as a performatives so the illocutionary act

is the force of utterance to do something. This force can be acheived if the speaker

concerns on social convention in communities. Thus, illocutionary acts are defined

by social convention acts sues as accosting, accusing, admitting, apologizing,

challenging, complaining, condoling, congratulating, declining, deploring, giving

permission, giving way, greeting, leaveteaking, mocking, naming, offering,

praising, promising, proposing marriage, protesting, recommending, surrendering,

thanking, toasting. (Hurford & Heasley , 1983 : 244 )For example if someone

says" I am very grateful to you for all you have done for me", he or she performs

the illocutionary act of thanking.

The perlocutionary act is "the act of a certain effect on the hearer or

others " (Hurford and Heasley, 1983 : 243 ). In uttering a sentence or an utterance,

the speaker expects that the hearer will achieve an effect. For example : If I say

"there's a hornet in your left ear ", it may well cause you to panic, scream and

scratch wildly at your ear. These kinds of emotion and action is the perlocutionary

act of that utterance.

The locutionary act is concerned with meaning, the illocutionary act is

concerned with force and the perlocutionary act is concerned with the effect. For

example, if a husband says to his wife at a party 'it is getting late '. The locutionary

meaning is simple reference to the lateness of the hour, illocutionary force is the

suggestion or proposal' let's go home now ' and the perlocutionary effect is they

are going home.

2.3 The types of locutionary acts

According to Langacker ( 1972 : 177 ) "sentence can be used in various

ways". The sentence can be used in making statement or assertion, request

information, give orders, issue warning, make promise and so on. Brown

(1980:193 ) classifies the function of sentence into three categories namely

statement, question and order for example :

(1) Figs are very expensive this year - function as a statement

(2) How many angels can dance on the head of pin ? - function as a

question

(3) Gag the defendant! - function as an order

Locutionary act is semantic or literal meaning of sentence. The

understanding of the function of sentence is very important to understand semantic

or literal meaning of sentence. Thus, Langacker classifies locutionary act based on

the function of sentence. He categorizes the locutionary act into three types, that

is declarative, imperative, and interogative.

1. Declarative sentence

The syntax of declarative sentence is a vast topic, and we can do little

more than touch briefly on certain of its fundamental aspects. Declarative sentence

are sentence that present a predicate and with or without more phrase adjuncts .

They are closer to assertion and description for example :

(1) He ate

The example of sentence that present a predicate and without more phrase

adjuncts

(2) I bought a watch from Harvey for three clam shells

The example of the sentence that present a predicate and with more phrase

adjuncts.

2. Imperative sentence

Imperative sentence are said over the person who has some voluntary

control, they are tend to be restricted to sentence with second person subject and

active verbs. They are closer to order or request for example :

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(1) Let him come !

(2) Bring me more whisky !

3. Intterogative sentences

There are two basic kinds of question sentence namely alternative question

and specification question.

a. Alternative question , those that ask which of two or more alternative

proposition is true.

Example : Did you buy the wallet, or did you steal it, or did you find it on

the street ?

b. Specification question, those that ask for the further specification of some

constituent

Example : Who stole my wallet ?

2.4 The types of Illocutionary acts

Speech acts are limited in their variety. There are only some things people

can do by uttering a sentence, and this is reflected in the limited purpose that can

be imparted by their utterances. Each utterance has different kind of illocutionary

force. According to Clark ( 1977 : 88) Searle categorizes illocutionary act into

five types.

(1) Representatives

The speaker, in uttering a representatives, conveys his belief that some

proposition is true so it can be judged for truth value. Besides, it aso describes

something ( sub type : asserting, concluding, claiming, reporting ) for example,

when someone asserts George owns a car, he conveys his belief that the

proposition George owns car is true. When someone suggests, hypothesizes,

swear, flatly states, or hits that George owns a car, he is also uttering a

representative but at the same time conveying the strength of his belief in the truth

of the proposition.*

(2) Directives

By uttering a directive, the speaker attempts to get the listener to do

something. The purpose of directive is making someone to do or stop doing

something ( sub type : requesting , questioning, commanding, suggesting ) By

ordering, commanding, requesting, begging, or pleading, the speaker is trying to

get the listener to carry out some action. By asking a yes/no question like Does

George own a car ?or a WH-question like What does George own ?, he is trying

to get the listener to provide information.

(3) Commisives

Commisives commits the speaker into doing something in the future

(sub type : promising, threatening, offering ) By uttering a commisive, the speaker

is commiting himself to some future course of action. A prime example is the

promise, but the category also includes vows, pledges, contracts, guaratees and

other types of commitments for example Don't worry, I'll attend to your party.

The speaker is commiting himself to some future course of action by attending the

party.

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(4) Expressives

If the speaker whishes to express his " psychological state " about

something, he utters an expressive so the purpose of it is to express the feeling and

emotion of the speaker ( sub type : thanking, apologizing, welcoming,

congratulating ) When the speaker apologizes, thanks, congratulates, welcomes, or

deplores, he is expressing how good or bad feeling about some event. In this case,

he or she is uttering an expressive for example the utterance " Sorry , I can't go

with you " is the expressing of speaker feeling of apology

(5) Declarations

When the speaker utters a declaration his very words bring about a new

states of affairs so its fuction is to change the states of affairs in the world (sub

type : excommunicating, declaring war, christening, firing from employment )

When he says You're fired, I resign, I hereby sentence you to five years in

prison, he is declaring and thereby causing your job to be terminated, his job to be

terminated, you spend five years in prison. Most declaration are specialized for use

within a particular cultural system, such as employment, the church, law or

goverment.

2.5 Features of context

Hymes (1964) classifies features of context into :

1. Addressor: : is the speaker or utterance who produces the utterance

2. Addressee : is the hearer or reader who is the recipient of the utterance

3.Topic : what is being talked about

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4.Setting : where the even is situated in place and time

5.Channel : how is contact between the participant in the event being

maintained

6. Code : What language or dialect or style of language is being used

7. Message form : what form is intended

8. Key : which involves evaluation

9. Purpose : what did the participants intend should come about as result

of the communication event)

From nine of features of context, the writer only takes two kind of

features of context ,that is topic and setting. The character in "Ratrimo" only

produces short utterance so the understanding of the topic, and setting of

"Ratrimo" will help the writer to analyse this utterance. The topic will help the

writer to find out what this caricature talks about and by knowing the setting, the

writer will know when and where the event in caricature happen. All of this will

give deep interpretation for the writer to analyse the utterance of" Ratrimo".

2.6 Review of Related Study

The writer uses the study of Purnomo (1999) about" A Study of Speech

Acts in Peanut Comic Strip Taken from The Jakarta Post" as the comparision of

the writer's research because the writer has the same field of science with

Purnomo in doing her research. In Purnomo's research, she tried to analyze the

conversation between characters in Peanut comic strip to find out the locutionary

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act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act produced by the character in Peanut

and how they are used by them.

Purnomo's thesis give some contribution to my study. Her study gives me

description about how to analyse data based on speech act theory.I use some of her

method of data analysis to analyse my data. Besides, I use the same theory about

the type of locutionary and illocutionary act.

In her study, Purnomo used data coming from the conversation between

the character in Peanut. Purnomo used the theory of speech act by J.L. Austin

(1962 ) to analyze her data. In analyzing her data, she did several steps. First, she

collected Peanut comic strip in Surabaya Post, and made a clipping of 22 Peanut

comic strips taken from Jakarta Post in April 1999. Second, she selected 18 Peanut

to be analyzed. She excluded the other four comic strips because she lacks of

knowledge of baseball game. Third, she divided the Peanut into fragments. They

were divided based on the change of topic. Four, she identified the topic of each

fragment. Purnomo's study is a case study since she studied the conversation

between the character in Peanut. In analysing, she used qualitative research to

observed the character and event in a natural setting in order to understand the

comic strip. She also used descriptive research method to describe the locutionary

act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act produced by the character in Peanut.

Purnomo classified and identified the speech in Peanut based on the

characterization of the locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary by using

Austin speech act theory.

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This research has three findings, First, from three kinds of speech act,

illocutionary act is the most important speech act to understand speaker's intention

in Peanut. Second, she also found out that social and cultural background of the

language used in the Peanut is very important factor to avoid misunderstanding or

misinterpretation in reading Peanut. Third, she found out the perlocution can be

verbal or non - verbal. Most characters in Peanut always use verbal language to

response but also there are some non - verbal language to response. The non -

verbal languages are body language, facial expression and silence.

•.