Speech acts used in the interview between Hillary Clinton and Anchor Katie Couric

ABSTRACT

Speech acts play an important role in human’s interaction because when people say something, they do not only deliver the utterance but also the intended meanings. They can do anything through utterances such as asserting, questioning, warning, pleading, inviting and thanking. We can find speech act in the utterances of interview. The researcher is interested in analyzing the phenomena of speech acts used in the interview between Hillary Clinton and Anchor Katie Couric because the language that is used by the speaker can make the hearer do an action in the future.

The research questions of this study are what types of Speech Acts are used in the interview between Hillary Clinton and Anchor Katie Couric in CBS News? and what fucntions of Speech Acts are found in the interview between Hillary Clinton and Anchor Katie Couric in CBS News?. This study applies descriptive qualitative method to describe and explain speech acts used in the interview between Hillary Clinton and Anchor Katie Couric. The felicity conditions are determined to see whether they are fulfilled or not. The types of speech acts are analyzed to find locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. In addition, the functions of speech acts are analyzed to answer the problem of study.

Based on the finding of this study, the felicity conditions are fulfilled. The researcher found that the types of illocutionary acts are representative, directive, commissive and expressive. Declaration is not found because the speaker has no strategic position of social status when she produces an utterance. Representatives consist of asserting, predicting, claiming, explaining, and affirming. The function of representative is collaborative. Directives consist of questioning, warning, pleading, and inviting. The function of directives is competitive. Commissves consist of disagreement and refusing. The function of Commissives is conflictive. Expressive consist of thanking. The function of Expressive is convivial. Directive is dominant in this study because the speaker often asks question to the hearer.

Finally, the researcher suggests to the future researchers to investigate an object, which might contain declaration act because the researcher does not find this type of speech act in this data. By investigating an object, which contains declaration, it can give new finding or reference to the future researcher who is interested in analyzing speech acts.