A Pragmatic Analysis of Speech Acts in Reagan’s First Inaugural Speech
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31973/aj.v2i140.3636Keywords:
Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, Speech Act Theory, Inaugural SpeechesAbstract
This paper is primarily concerned with analysing speech acts as a sequence manifested in Reagan’s First Inaugural Speech. It aims to analyse the whole five forms of speech acts pragmatically in identified political speech, as described by Searle, 1969 (assertive, directive, commissive, expressive and declarative). To this end, a mixed method research is used. Qualitative part is used to describe and analyse types of speech acts in the selected data using a proposed model of two theories. It merges the theory of speech acts of Searle (1969) and Ferrara's theory of speech acts within sequences (1980). The quantitative part analyses the frequencies and percentages of speech acts types. The findings indicated that the assertive speech act is most frequently used by president Reagan. Thus, the findings of the present study would help researchers who are concerned with the study of language particularly people engaged within specialization of pragmatics. In addition, the study might be a useful for EFL / ESL learners since it attempts to discover speech acts' types and subtypes.
Downloads
References
Akmajian, A, R. Demers; A Farmer, R. Harnish, (2007). linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication. (5th Ed). Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Austin, J.L. (1962) How to do things with words. London: Oxford University Press.
Bach, K. and Harnish (1979). Linguistic Communication and Speech Acts. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Brown, G and Yule, G.(1983) Discourse Analysis. Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, K. K. and Jamieson, K. H. (1990). Deeds Done in Words: Presidential Rhetoric and the Genres of Governance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Collins, C. (2002). Thucydides On justice, Power, and Human Nature: Study Guide on the Analysis of Speeches.
Coulthard, M. (1985). An Introduction to Discuss Analysis. London: Longman.
Crystal, D. (2003). A dictionary of linguistics & phonetics (5th ed). Blackwell Pub.
Devitt, M. and Hanley, R. (2003). Speech Acts and Pragmatics. Oxford University Press.
Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Fairclough, N. (2001). Critical discourse analysis, in McHoul, A. and Rapley, M. (ed), How to Analyze Talk in Institutional Settings. London: Continuum, pp.25-41.
Ferrara, A. (1980). An extended theory of speech acts: Appropriateness conditions for subordinate acts in sequences. Journal of pragmatics, 4(3), 233–252.
Gruber, H. (1993). Political Language and Textual Vagueness. Pragmatics, 3:l.l-28.
Halliday, Michael A.K.; Jonathan Webster. (2006). On Language and Linguistics. Continuum International Publishing Group.
Huang, Y. (2007). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kress, G. and Van Leeuwen, T. (1996/2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge.
Leech, G. N. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. Longman.
Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
McCarthy, M. (1991). Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Mey, J. (2001). Pragmatics: An Introduction (2nd Ed). Blackwell Publishers.
Paltridge, B. (2012). Discourse Analysis, 2nd, New york: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Richardson,J.(2007). Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis ,1st Ed : Palgrave Macmillan.
Searle, J. (1969). Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Searle, J. (1971). What is Speech Act. In J. Searle (ed) The Philosophy of Language.
Searle, J. (1979). Semantics. London: T.J. Press Ltd.
Stubbs, M.(1983). Discourse Analysis: The sociolinguistic Analysis of Natural Language. Oxford: Blackwell.
Talbot, M. (2007). Media Discourse: Representation and Interaction. Edinburgh University Press.
Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London: Longman Publishing.
Van Dijk, T.A. (1993). Elite Discourse and Racism. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Verschueren, J. (1999). Understanding Pragmatics. Arnold; Oxford University Press.
Yule, G (1996a). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright and Licensing:
For all articles published in Al-Adab journal, copyright is retained by the authors. Articles are licensed under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning that anyone may download and read the paper for free. In addition, the article may be reused and quoted provided that the original published version is cited. These conditions allow for maximum use and exposure of the work.
Reproducing Published Material from other Publishers: It is absolutely essential that authors obtain permission to reproduce any published material (figures, schemes, tables or any extract of a text) which does not fall into the public domain, or for which they do not hold the copyright. Permission should be requested by the authors from the copyrightholder (usually the Publisher, please refer to the imprint of the individual publications to identify the copyrightholder).
Permission is required for: Your own works published by other Publishers and for which you did not retain copyright.
Substantial extracts from anyones' works or a series of works.
Use of Tables, Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks if they are unaltered or slightly modified.
Photographs for which you do not hold copyright.
Permission is not required for: Reconstruction of your own table with data already published elsewhere. Please notice that in this case you must cite the source of the data in the form of either "Data from..." or "Adapted from...".
Reasonably short quotes are considered fair use and therefore do not require permission.
Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks that are completely redrawn by the authors and significantly changed beyond recognition do not require permission.
Obtaining Permission
In order to avoid unnecessary delays in the publication process, you should start obtaining permissions as early as possible. If in any doubt about the copyright, apply for permission. Al-Adab Journal cannot publish material from other publications without permission.
The copyright holder may give you instructions on the form of acknowledgement to be followed; otherwise follow the style: "Reproduced with permission from [author], [book/journal title]; published by [publisher], [year].' at the end of the caption of the Table, Figure or Scheme.
How to Cite
