1

The Analysis of Ilocutionary act in Angela Merkel Speech” We Have No Time To Lose”

Abstrak

Tulisan ini berjudul “The Analysis of Illocutionary Acts in Angela Merkel Speech “ We Have No Time to Lose” merupakan pidato kanselir Jerman Mrs. Angela Merkel sebelum kongres yang di adakan di Amerika Serikat, pada tanggal 3 November 2009. Pidato ini di pilih karena banyak terdapat tindak tutur dalam teks pidato tersebut. Teori yang di gunakan dalam menganilis data adalah teori taksonomi tindak ilokusi dari Searle (1979), dan fungsi bahasa Inggris oleh Geoffrey Leech (1983). Hasil analisis menunjukan bahwa terdapat lima jenis tindak tutur ilokusi seperti asertif, direktif, komisif, ekspresif dan deklaratif. Fungsi tindak tutur yang di temukan dalam tulisan ini antara lain ucapan terima kasih, pernyataan, berjanji, memberikan nasehat dan lain lain.

Kata kunci : tindak ilokusi, tindak tutur, pidato.

  • 1.1    Introduction

Speech is one way to convey the thought, ideas and what the speaker means.

Speech is the ability of speaking in front of the public to express their opinion or give an ideas about something important . Good speeches can give a positive impression to those who listening the speech. The aims of the speech are to give something to the audience, the speaker hopes that the audience would understand the topic which the speaker informed, to entertain the audience, the speaker hopes that the audience will satisfy and amuse about the message delivered to audience and the last is to influence the audience, the audience are convinced to what the speaker convey and willing to do so.

Angela Merkel is a German politician best known as the first female chancellor of Germany and one of the architects of the European Union. She was born on July, 17 1954 in Hamburg, Germany. Merkel entered politics after the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989. She became the first Germany Chancellor and one of the women leading figure of the European Union following the 2005 election.

  • 1.2    Problems of the study

There are two problems which can formulated related on the study. The problems are as follows:

  • 1.    What kind of the illocutionary acts occurs in the Angela Merkel’s speech?

  • 2.    What are the functions of illocutionary acts in Angela Merkel’s Speech?

  • 1.3    Aims of the study

The aims of the study are concerning with the problems. They are as follows:

  • 1.    To find out the illocutionary acts in Angela Merkel’s speech text.

  • 2.    To figure out the functions of Angela Merkel’s speech text.

  • 1.4    Research Method

There are three parts in this subsection which are very important for validity of the research. They are: data source, method and technique of collecting data, and method and technique of analyzing data.

  • 1.3.1.    Data source

The data were taken from Angela Merkel speech entitled “We Have No Time to Lose”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke before the US Congress on November 3, 2009. She thank the American for their decades long support for Germany and their role to end the cold war.

  • 1.3.2.    Method and Technique of analyzing data

The data were collected through some steps. First, the speech text of Angela Merkel was downloaded then printed out. After that, the speech was carefully read and sentences which indicating illocutionary act such as assertive, directive, commissive, expressive, and declarative acts were highlighted. Next, the sentences according to its illocutionary were grouped and the analysis based on speech acts theory by Searle (1979), the function of illocutionary acts by Leech (1983) was conducted.

  • 2.4 Theoretical Framework

The theory used is a taxonomy of illocutionary acts by Searle (1979). According to him, there are five basic types of illocutionary acts. They are as follows:

  • 1.    Assertive: the speaker becomes committed to the truth of prepositional content. The examples of the verb are state, boast, complain, conclude, predict and so forth. The deep structure in assertive: I verb (that) + S

  • 2.    Directive: the speaker tried to get the hearer to do something. Verb denote the members of directive act are ask, order, command, request, beg, pled an so forth. The deep structure in directive: I verb you + you vol Verb (NP)(Adv).

  • 3.    Commisive : The speaker becomes committed to some future action. The categories of the verb in commissive are promise, threaten, offer, guarantee, warning and so on. The deep structure in commissive: I verb (you) + I fut vol Verb (NP) (ADV).

  • 4.    Expressive: the speaker expresses the psychological state in the sincerity and the condition of illocutionary act. The verb denoting in this class are thank, congratulate, apologize and so on. The deep structure in expressive is I verb you + I/you VP.

  • 5.    Declarative: the illocutionary acts which effect immediate change in the institution state of affairs. For example declaring, christening, pronouncing and so fort.

The theory proposed by Leech (1983) in his book entitled “The Principles of Pragmatics” is also used. There are four functions of illocutionary acts; they are:

  • 1.    Competitive function, here, a speech basically does not have courtesy, it has negative nature and competes with social purpose, for example, commanding, requesting, demanding and begging.

  • 2.    Convivial function is an utterance with manner system, in this function, courtesy has more positive politeness forms, for example, offering, inviting, greeting and thanking.

  • 3.    Collaborative function does not involve courtesy because in this function politeness is irrelevant, for example, stating, asserting, reporting etc.

  • 4.    Conflictive function; basically there are no politeness element in conflictive because it aims to produce indignation, for example, threatening, accusing, cursing and reprimanding.

  • 1.5 Finding and discussion.

  • 1.5.1    Expressive illocutionary act

Utterance

I would like to thank you for the great honor and privilege to address you today.

The analysis of illocutionary act

Mrs. Merkel expressed her gratitude for being given the opportunity to speak in front of the congress. The speech is expressive illocutionary act because the aim the expressive act is to express the psychological of the speaker (Searle, 1979). Deep structure of intended meaning of the utterance as follows:

Deep structure : I verb you + I/you VP

Uterance            : I would like to thank you for the great honor and privilege to

address you today

I thank you + I have great honor and privilege addressing you today

The utterance that consists of performative verb made the illocutionary acts explicit. It belongs to the expressive illocutionary act that can be seen from the performative verb that is, thank. The utterance has convivial function of illocutionary act that is, thanking. The aim of convivial function is to deliver a polite speech and it is in line with social purpose Leech (1983). In the utterance, Mrs. Merkel expressed her thanks to the member for the opportunity to speak in the house of congress.

  • 1.5.2 . Directive illocutionary act

Utterance

We are only strong if we a part of community partners

The analysis of illocutionary act

The utterance shows that Mrs. Merkel advised the audience to stand together as community partners against international terrorism. She states that there are no countries able to resist terrorism alone. The utterance is directive illocutionary act as it aims to get the hearer to do something (Searle, 1979). In this case, giving advise in the utterance is described by following Searle deep structure: Deep structure       : I verb you + you Fut Vol Verb (NP)(Adv)

Utterance            : We are only strong if we are part of a community partners.

I (advise) you + we/you be strong if be a part of community of partners.

The illocutionary acts that happens in the utterance is directive illocutionary act advised. The utterance has competitive function that is requesting. Mrs. Merkel asked the participant in the house of congress to work together against international terrorism, because without good cooperation it is difficult to face the terrorist threat. The utterance has competitive illocutionary acts as its purpose is discourteous utterance (Leech, 1983). Mrs. Merkel as leader and German Chancellor had a right to give advice in the congress.

  • 2.5.3    Commissive Illocutionary act

Utterance

We as nation and I personally will never forget that

The analysis of illocutionary act

The utterance above is an illocutionary acts described about Mrs. Merkel’s appreciation to America. The utterance is commissive illocutionary act for the reason that the aims of commissive act to commit the speaker (in varying degree) to some future action (Searle, 1979). The act of promising as the intended meaning of the utterance is described through Searle’s theory:

Deep structure formulation : I verb (you) + I Fut vol verb (NP) (Adv) Utterance                   :We as nation and I personaly never forget that.

I promise (you) +I will never forget the American assistance over the past decades.

The utterance is commissive illocutionary act that can be seen from the performative verb that is promise. It has collaborative function that is stating, the aims of collaborative function, it does not involved polite nature and ignored social purpose (Leech, 1983). In the utterance, Mrs. Merkel states and promise that she never forget American help.

  • 2.5.4    Assertive illocutionary act

Utterance

I am the second German Chancellor whom this honor has been bestowed.

The analysis of illocutionary act

The utterance above is an illocutionary act which does not only give information on something, because in the utterance conveys of Mrs. Merkel as the second German Chancellor to speak in front of the congress. The illocutionary of the utterance is assertive illocutionary act as the aims of assertive is that the speaker becomes committed to the truth of propositional content (Searle, 1979).The deep meaning analysis described the illocutionary act through Searle’s is as follow: Deep structure formulation : I verb + S Utterance                  : I am the second German Chancellor whom

this honor has been bestow.

I state that + I am the second German

Chancellors whom this honor has been bestow.

The illocutionary act of the utterance is assertive illocutionary act, it can be seen from the verb that is, state. The utterance has collaborative function that is asserting. The aims of collaborative function that courtesy is not involved in the utterance but it has social purpose (Leech, 1983).

  • 2.5    Declarative illocutionary acts

Utterance

Nothing is more symbolic of the Federal Republic of Germany than its constitution, the basic law or “Grundgesetz”

The analysis of illocutionary act

In the utterance, Mrs. Merkel conveys her conviction of the Federal Republic of Germany. The illocutionary acts in the utterance is declarative illocutionary act because there is a reality between proportional content and reality. The intended meaning of the utterance is described based on Searle’s ( 1979) as follows: Deep structure : I declare + S

Utterance            : Nothing is more symbolic of the Federal Republic of

German than its constitution, the Basic Law, or “Grundgesetz. I declare + nothing is more symbolic of the Federal Republic of Germany than its constitutions, the basic law or “Grundgestz”.

The utterance is declarative illocutionary act confirming or declare. It can be seen from the performative verb that is used “I confirm that nothing is more symbolic of the Federal Republic of Germany than its constitution, the basic law or “Grundgesetz”. The illocutionary act of the sentence has collaborative function that is confirming. The sentence has collaborative function because it is not engross with courtesy and it has social purposes.

  • 2.6    Conclusion

In Angela Merkel speech text, the illocutionary acts found in the text are assertive, directive, commissive, expressive and declarative acts. There were a lot of utterances indicating those illocutionary acts. However, those data were reduced into specific data, for instance, there is one data for assertive, one data for directive, one data for commissive, there is one data for expressive and one data for declarative.

In the findings, confirming is the function of declarative act, in directive illocutionary act there is advise acts. While, promise is a functions of commissive

illocutionary act. Statement is a function which is dealt with the analysis of assertive illocutionary act. And the last, thanking is a function to cope with expressive illocutionarye illocutionary act analysis.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Searle, J.R. 1979. Expression and meaning: Studies in The Theory of Speech Acts.

Cambridge: Universitas Cambridge Press

Leech, Geoffrey. 1983. The Principles of Pragmatics. London and New York: Longman

Searle, J.R.1969. Speech Acts: An Essay in The Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press