Semantics-Group 3-Report-FTU-Spr2020

Giang, by using a speech act “I apologize for being late.” This is an expressive speech act because it indicates that Huong, the speaker, expresses an apologetic attitude to her boss bec

Foreign Trade University Faculty of Business English

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SEMANTICS GROUP ASSIGNMENT SPEECH ACTS, PERLOCUTIONS AND ILLOCUTIONS

Team: 3

Class: TAN118.4

Lecturer: Nguyen Thi Linh Yen, PhD

Ha Noi – 06/2020

TEAM 3

N

1 Phạm Thị Thanh Vân 1817710181

4 Nguyễn Hoàng Lan Hương 1817710069

5 Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo 1817710150

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

I EXERCISE 1: SPEECH ACTS IN COMMUNICATION 4

1 CONVERSATION 4

a Scene 1: (Huong - The employee; Binh - The security guard) 4

b Scene 2: (Giang - The boss; Huong - The employee) 4

2 ANALYSIS 5

3 CONCLUSION 6

II EXERCISE 2: APPLICATION OF PERLOCUTIONS IN NEGOTIATION IN BUSINESS 7

1 CONVERSATION (Shark Tank TV Show) 7

2 ANALYSIS 7

3 CONCLUSION 9

III EXERCISE 3: ILLOCUTIONS vs PERLOCUTIONS IN COMMUNICATION 9

1 CONVERSATION (Giang - the beggar; Huong - the employee) 9

a Situation 1 9

b Situation 2 10

2 ANALYSIS 10

3 CONCLUSION 11

I EXERCISE 1: SPEECH ACTS IN COMMUNICATION

1 CONVERSATION:

a Scene 1: (Huong - The employee; Binh - The security guard) Huong got up late,

rushed to the company and met Binh at the parking lot

Binh: Hello, Huong How are you? (1)

Huong: Oh no! I’m late again

b Scene 2: (Giang - The boss; Huong - The employee) Huong went to work late

and sneaked into the office Giang had sat at her desk

Huong: Oh, I apologize for being late (2)

Giang: Do you know what time it is now? I have been waiting for you for nearly

1 hour (3)

Huong: Oh, I’m sorry… sorry I promise to finish the report and send you before the afternoon (4)

Giang: You don’t need to do that anymore.

Huong (shocked): Why?

Giang: You are fired! (5)

Huong: No, no I swear that I will never be late again (6)

Giang: I don’t believe you You can never do that (7) Get out of my office (8)

2 ANALYSIS:

(1) When seeing Huong, Binh, the security guard, said: “How are you?” This

is a phatic speech act because the purpose of that speech act is not to ask for information from Huong It is simply a way Binh used to establish and maintain social relationships

(2) When going to work late, Huong said sorry to her boss, Ms Giang, by using a speech act “I apologize for being late.” This is an expressive speech act because it indicates that Huong, the speaker, expresses an apologetic attitude to her boss because of being late The speech act itself describes an act of apology but also be an apology; therefore, it is an explicit performative utterance

(3) When having to wait for Huong for a long time, Giang became very annoyed and said “I have been waiting for you for nearly 1 hour.” This is an expressive speech act because it acts as a complaint showing Giang’s annoyance reaction to Huong This is also clearly an indirect speech act because it is a declarative sentence having a function as an exclamatory sentence that conveys the emotion of the speaker

(4) When realizing that Giang was expressing her discomfort to her, Huong immediately said “I promise to finish the report and send you before the afternoon.” This is a commissive speech act because it acts as a promise to strengthen her apology It is also an explicit performative utterance because it describes an act of promising but also be a promise

(5) Giang wanted to change Huong’s employment status to “unemployed” and she said, “You are fired!” Therefore, this is a declarative speech act of firing

At the same time, it is also an explicit performative utterance because it describes

an act of firing but also be a dismissal

(6) When knowing that she could be fired, Huong became very shocked and said to her boss: “I swear that I will never be late again” This is a commissive speech act because Huong committed herself to a future course of action in which she would try to go to work on time This is also an explicit performative speech act because this utterance is accompanied by a performative verb that identifies the performed action “swear”

(7) When hearing Huong swore that she would never be late again, Giang said: “You can never do that.” This is a representative speech act because Giang asserted a proposition to be true or her belief about Huong’s promise She believed that Huong could never become a person who goes to work on time

(8) The last sentence Giang said to Huong is “Get out of my office.” This is a directive speech act because Giang wanted to make Huong do something This is also an implicit performative speech act that does not have a performative verb because it describes an act of ordering but also be an order

3 CONCLUSION:

Speech acts play an important role in successful communication in real life or

in other words, speech acts serve social function Thanks to speech acts, the efficiency of process speakers shares knowledge or convey beliefs and assumptions can be improved However, besides using the right speech act, in order to have a successful conversation, the speakers should adhere to similar rules

of cooperative interaction

II EXERCISE 2: APPLICATION OF PERLOCUTIONS IN NEGOTIATION IN BUSINESS

1 CONVERSATION: (Shark Tank TV Show)

Entrepreneur: “I’m known as the Daddy of the Scrub Daddy - the cutest but the

most high - tech scrubbing tool in the world.” (1)

Entrepreneur: “Shark, with your help, scrub that I’ll be scrubbing and smiling in

every kitchen in the world.” (1)

Shark 1: “How about this deal: 100.000 $ for 50%.” (2)

Shark 2: “I’m offering 50.000$ for 15%.” (2)

Shark 3 (Lori):

“I’ll get you into infomercial right away, and I’m pretty confident that we could get this into all retail stores across the country within literally weeks” (3)

“Whether you're going with me or not or I’m out?” (4)

2 ANALYSIS

(1) “I’m known as the Daddy of the Scrub Daddy - the cutest but the most

high - tech scrubbing tool in the world.”

“Shark, with your help, scrub that I’ll be scrubbing and smiling in every kitchen in the world.”

The type of these speech acts are representative They affirm the fact that Scrub Daddy is the most high-tech scrubbing tool in the world, and the company has the potential to be successful Regarding the perlocutions, this utterance helps the

entrepreneur succeed in affecting the behavior of the receiver, the investors (sharks) He inspires and persuades them of the credibility of his business, then agree to invest in his company He succeeds because after that, he captures the sharks’ attention and then receives invitations to cooperate from three sharks

(2) “How about this deal: 100.000 $ for 50%.”

“I’m offering 50.000$ for 15%.”

The type of these speech acts is directive because both of these sharks want to give the entrepreneur offers or invitations for cooperation This is not a perlocutionary act because the entrepreneur doesn’t accept the Shark’s offer as the Shark requests, which means that he is not affected by these sharks’ speech acts

(3) “I’ll get you into infomercial right away, and I’m pretty confident that

we could get this into all retail stores across the country.”

The type of this speech act is commissive The Shark promises that the entrepreneur and her will reach a good collaborative investment This is a perlocutionary act because the entrepreneur believes in her promise and accepts her offer later

(4) “Whether you're going with me or not or I’m out?”

The type of this speech act is directive Shark Lori gives the entrepreneur a request that he should make a decision more quickly, not be hesitant anymore This is a

perlocutionary act because she succeeds in affecting the entrepreneur’s behavior

when he immediately accepts the Shark’s request later

3 CONCLUSION:

Of 3 sharks, Mrs Lori is the most successful negotiator because she has persuaded the entrepreneur to accept her deal During this negotiation process, she skillfully used 2 types of speech acts: directive and commissive which impressed the startup man by both emphasizing the certainty in request and raising her

credibility Meanwhile, the other two sharks just used a directive speech act, which lacks their credibility and sincerity, so there is no perlocutionary meaning

From the above-mentioned situation, it is obvious that the perlocutionary act has many applications in real life, especially in negotiation in business We should use diverse types of speech acts to convince the hearer especially, the two most popular and effective types used are directive and commissive More specifically, the directive emphasizes the intensity of the request or persuasion Meanwhile, the commissives express the credibility and commitment of the persuader to make the hearer believe in the speaker’s persuasion

III EXERCISE 3: ILLOCUTIONS vs PERLOCUTIONS

IN COMMUNICATION

1 CONVERSATION: (Giang - the beggar; Huong - the employee)

a Situation 1:

Beggar: Could you please give me some money? Few pennies, please! (1)

Huong: (holding the beggar’s hands) Oh, I wish I could have something for you.

(2)

Beggar: Okay, thank you.

b Situation 2:

Beggar: Could you please give me some money? Few pennies, please! (1)

Huong: (holding the beggar’s hands) Poor you I’ll give you all the money I have now (2)

Beggar: Thank you so much You are so kind!

2 ANALYSIS:

(1) “Could you please give me some money? Few pennies, please!”

a Situation 1: The beggar’s saying is just the illocutionary act but not a

perlocutionary act

 This speech act is an illocutionary act because Huong (the hearer) realizes the intended message of the beggar’s speech act It is a direct request for being given some money

 This speech act is not a perlocutionary act because Giang (the speaker) doesn’t succeed in affecting the behavior of the listener when Huong doesn't give her money

b Situation 2: The beggar’s saying is both an illocutionary and a perlocutionary

act

 This speech act is an illocutionary act because Huong (the hearer) realizes the intended message of the beggar’s speech act It is a direct beg for some money

 This speech act is a perlocutionary act because Giang (the speaker) succeeds

in affecting the behavior of the listener when Huong gives the money to the beggar as Huong requests

(2) Huong’s reply to the beggar’s begging:

a Situation 1: “I wish I could have something for you”

Huong’s saying is just the illocutionary act but not a perlocutionary act

 This speech act is an illocutionary act because Giang (the hearer) realizes the intended message of Huong’s speech act It is an indirect refusal which shows politeness and euphemism

 This speech act is not a perlocutionary act because Huong’s speech act does not show the need to influence Giang’s behaviour

b Situation 2: “ I’ll give you all the money I have now.”

Huong’s saying is just the illocutionary act but not a perlocutionary act

 This speech act is an illocutionary act because Giang (the hearer) realizes the intended message of Huong’s speech act It is a direct acceptance of the beggar’s request, which is different from situation 1 when Huong wants to

be polite and not to hurt the beggar’s feelings

 This speech act is not a perlocutionary act because Huong’s speech act does not show the need to influence Giang’s behaviour

3 CONCLUSION:

The important difference between the illocutionary act and the perlocutionary act is the influenced behavior of the hearer While the illocutionary act refers to the

intended message of the speaker, the perlocutionary act emphasizes the influence

of the speech act on the hearer’s behaviors

In reality, some situations in people’s life will require the indirect speech act acted as euphemism or politeness This allows us to soften the difficult or unpleasant things when we speak, especially to people who might be offended or disturbed They can be used to avoid awkward moments or sensitive talking in public This will both reach the intended message of the speaker’s speech act, as the illocutionary act, and successfully influence the behaviors of the hearer but still meet the psychological needs of both speakers and listeners in communication

Thank you for reading