International Journal of Literature and Language Studies
Vol. 1 No. 1 (2021)

AN ANALYSIS OF SPEECH ACTS USED IN THE SPEECH OF ANGELA MERKEL

Agnechia Friska Rivalny (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
22 Feb 2021

Abstract

A language has its primary function as the physical message which is to express meanings and to convey these to someone else. In real communication process, when a speaker communicates, he/she hopes to influence others to respond as he/she wants them to (Ross, 1995, p.5). This can be seen in public speaking. The utterances, the way of uttering them, even the speaker’s motivation influence the speech and the effect on the audience. Therefore, this study analyzes the speeches of an influential speaker in the world, Angela Merkel. There are two research questions formulated in this study: 1) Which Speech Acts types exercise in Angela Merkel’s speeches? 2) Which lexical repetitions are used in the speeches of Angela Merkel? This study uses Austin’s speech act theory and public speaking theory. This study considered as qualitative research. Thus, in order to conduct the study well, content analysis is applied. The subjects of this study are the transcript of Angela Merkel’s speeches. The transcripts of the speeches are analyzed based on Austin’s speech act theory related to the locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts performed. Then, the researcher examines the lexical repetition used in the speeches. There are two conclusion gained in this study. The first is the speech acts found in the speeches of Merkel. The second is the lexical repetition used in Merkel’s speeches. In this study, the locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts found are varied. Based on the sentence form, Merkel uttered her point in the form of declaratives, imperatives, interrogatives, exclamations, and fragments. However, Merkel’s speeches uttered the locutionary acts mostly in the form of declarative sentences. In the first speech, there are 23 possible illocutionary acts which fall under assertive, directive, commissive, and expressive. More various, there are 29 possible illocutionary acts found in Angela Merkel’s second speech which fall under the category of assertive, directive, commissive, expressive and declaration. The possible perlocutionary acts on the audience are varied. They depend on the illocutionary acts conveyed in Merkel’s transcripts of speeches. There are three forms of lexical repetitions used in Angela Merkel’s transcripts of speeches, namely words, phrases, or clauses which are repeated separately during the speech, in sequenced sentences, as well as within the sentence. Through lexical repetition, the speaker could clarify and emphasize her points. The audience could gain the remarkable content of the speeches better. Repetitions make the speeches more interesting, remarkable, and significant in style. Eventually, the results of this study will be beneficial for scholars, public speaker, as well as future researchers who are interested in speech acts and lexical repetition of a speech. Teachers and learners can also draw some benefits for the teaching and learning process.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

ijlls

Publisher

Subject

Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

Description

The mission of the International Journal of Literature and Language Studies (IJLLS) is to provide readers with the development of language studies in linguistics and literature. In addition to manuscripts that center on the study, we welcome manuscripts on a wide range of topics relating to the ...