Discourse analysis of langague used in marine orders in terms of speech act m a thesis linguistics 60 22 15

With an aim to investigate more about the effectiveness ofthese marine orders, 190 marine orders used on board and in externalcommunications were collected and analyzed quantitatively in

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***   

***

LÊ THỊ MINH PHƯƠNG

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE USED IN MARINE

ORDERS IN TERMS OF SPEECH ACT

(Phân tích diễn ngôn sử dụng trong khẩu lệnh hàng hải

về mặt hành động lời nói)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.02.01

Hanoi – 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***   

***

LÊ THỊ MINH PHƯƠNG

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE USED IN MARINE

ORDERS IN TERMS OF SPEECH ACT

(Phân tích diễn ngôn sử dụng trong khẩu lệnh hàng hải

về mặt hành động lời nói)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.02.01

Supervisor: Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

Hanoi – 2014

I declare that this minor thesis entitled “Discourse Analysis of language used inmarine orders in terms of speech act” submitted in partial fulfillment of therequirements for the Degree of Master of Arts is the results of my own work andthat this thesis does not contain material which has been accepted for the award ofany degree or diploma in any university, nor does it contain material previouslypublished or written by any other person, except where due reference is made in thetext of the thesis

Hanoi, 2014

Le Thi Minh Phuong

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to mysupervisor, Dr Huynh Anh Tuan Without his enthusiastic help and his preciousadvice and comments, the paper would not have been completed

Secondly, I would like to send my warmest thanks to Assoc.Prof Le HungTien and Dr Nguyen Thi Minh Tam whose lectures provided me with a great deal

of experience in discourse analysis and speech acts theory

Thirdly, my thanks are also come to the co-teachers of Vimaru whose gave

me precious advice during the implementation of my study was absolutely vital

Finally, this is a good opportunity for me to give my special thanks to mybeloved parents and friends who are always beside me whenever I encounterdifficulties

Effectiveness in communications is an ingredient to safe and efficient shipoperations To maintain this effectiveness, marine orders, one of the most importantfactors of communication at sea, must be precise, simple and unambiguous to avoidconfusions and error With an aim to investigate more about the effectiveness ofthese marine orders, 190 marine orders used on board and in externalcommunications were collected and analyzed quantitatively in terms of speech actscategories, directness, type of sentence, length and density of nautical terms Based

on the data analysis of these linguistic features, the similarities and differencesbetween the orders used on board and in external communications are unveiled.Finally, all of these analyses and findings are summed up to make the most generaland concise conclusions about the effectiveness of marine orders used in

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Significance of the study 2

5 Research methodology 3

6 Design of the study 5

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 6

1.1 Speech act and discourse analysis 6

1.2 Speech act and the act of ordering 7

1.2.1 Classifications of speech act 7

1.2.1.1 Types of speech acts (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) 8 1.2.1.2 Direct and indirect speech acts 10 1.2.2 The act of ordering 11

1.2.2.1 Definitio 11 1.2.2.2 Ways of performing the act of ordering 11 1.2.3 The act of ordering in marine communication 14

1.3 Literature review 19

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 20

2.1 Research questions 20

2.2 Data 20

2.2.1 Data descriptions. 20

2.2.2 Source of data 21

2.3 Data analysis 22

2.3.1 Data analysis method 22

2.3.2 Data analysis framework 22

Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS 23

3.1 Types of speech acts realized in marine orders 23

3.1.1 Types of speech acts realized in orders used in external communications 23

3.1.2 Types of speech acts realized in orders used in on-board communications. 24

3.2 Linguistic features of marine orders used in external communications and on-board communications 26

3.2.1 Linguistic features of marine orders in external communications 26

3.2.2 Linguistic features of marine orders in on-board communications 30

3.3 Comparison between orders used in external and on-board communications 32

3.3.1 Categories of speech acts 33

3.3.2 Linguistic features 34

Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 36

4.1 Findings 36

4.1.1 Speech act categories realized in marine orders 36

4.1.2 Linguistic features of marine orders 36

4.1.3 Orders used in external communications and on-board communications 37

4.2 Discussions 37

4.2.1 Speech act categories realized in marine orders 37

4.2.2 Linguistic features of marine orders 38

4.2.3 Orders used in external communications and on-board Communications 38

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

1 Conclusions 39

2 Implications

2.1 The act of ordering realized in marine orders

2.2 Orders used in external communications and on-board communications

3 Limitations of the study

4 Suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale of the study

In the world of international shipping, English is used as a medium ofcommunication between ships, between ships and shore stations, or between shipsand helicopters in different situations Among the conversations exchanged, marineorders take a large proportion and play an important part in ensuring safe voyages atsea However, the structure of a standard marine order is quite different from asocial order, which causes barrier issue to non-majors of English, and it is achallenge to ship officers to remember and follow the orders correctly Below is anexample of a standard distress message, which informs the position, emergentsituation and request assistance:

MAYDAY

THIS IS TWO-ONE-ONE-TWO-THREE-NINE-SIX-EIGHT-ZERO

MOTOR VESSEL “BIRTE” CALL SIGN DELTA ALPHA MIKE KILO

POSITION SIX TWO DEGREES ONE ONE DECIMAL EIGHT MINUTES NORTH

ZERO ZERO SEVEN DEGREES FOUR FOUR MINUTES EAST

I AM ON FIRE AFTER EXPOSITION

I REQUIRE FIRE FIGHTING ASSISTANCE

SMOKE NOT TOXIC

OVER

Judging from the example above, it can be seen that English used in thosesituations is fairly typical and very catchy to linguists Having taught students ofVietnam Maritime University (VIMARU) to practise these acts of ordering for overthe past few years, I find that marine orders are still confusing to most of them Inaddition, a majority of learners learn the orders mechanically without fullyrecognizing the speech act realized by these orders and fail to understand thereasons underlying their structure and what linguistic features can ensure theeffectiveness of these orders in communications For these reasons, I would like to

carry out a study under the title “Speech act and linguistic features of Marine

orders” to provide students with the fundamental notion of speech act and some

linguistic features of marine orders so that they can use them and understand themappropriately for more effective maritime communication

2 Aims and objectives of the study

By analyzing marine orders used in radiotelephony (externalcommunications) and on board communications, this research aims at investigatingwhat speech act is realized in marine orders and what linguistic features lead to theeffectiveness of these orders in maritime communication This aim of the research isspecified by the following objectives:

- Clarifying the effectiveness of marine orders in communication at sea andcomparing orders used in on-board communications and in radiotelephony(external) communications The features to be investigated encompass the type ofspeech act realized by these orders and some of their linguistic features includingdirectness, types of sentence, length of sentence and the density of technicality

- Helping students in the Navigation Department of VIMARU better understand the effectiveness of maritime orders in terms of the above features

3 Scope of the study

Language used in navigation is so different and typical which contains manyissues for further in-depth studies However, due to the limitation of a minor thesis,this research only focuses on marine orders in terms of speech acts and suchlinguistic features as directness, types of sentence, length of sentence and thedensity of technicality Besides, there is also a comparison between orders used onboard and in external communications These command sentences are selected fromthe most popular conversations on radio broadcast, marine websites, articles, booksand recordings of language use in real life

4 Significance of the study

Investigating marine orders in terms of speech acts and some of theirlinguistic features, the study is expected to make certain contributions to the relatedpopulations including navigational teachers and students teaching and learning

marine orders, the seafarers who use marine orders in their communications andresearchers of the same subjects.

First of all, theoretically, by pointing out the speech acts realized in marineorders and their linguistic features, maritime teachers and students (who areseafarers themselves) will better understand the effectiveness of these orders incommunications and consequently use them more appropriately and effectively

Similar to navigational teachers and students, practically, the seafarers canachieve a more efficient communications by mastering orders used in certainsituations In addition, through understanding the notion of speech acts and thelinguistic features of maritime orders, they will have a better selection and treatment

of message markers when delivering and receiving orders especially in emergencies

5 Research methodology

5.1 Research questions

With such aims, this study is to answer the following questions:

1. What speech act is realized in marine orders?

2. How are directness, types of sentence, length of sentence and the density of technicality realized in maritime orders?

3. What are the differences between orders used on – board and in externalcommunications in terms of speech act and some linguistic features such ascategories, directness, types of sentences, length of sentence and the density

of technicality?

The answers to these questions will expose what categories of speech acts andwhat linguistic features have greater effect on making marine orders clearer andhence more effective in marine communications In addition, the study is hoped toclarify how marine orders adapt themselves when used in different contexts, forexample, in different weather conditions to ensure the effectiveness incommunications

3

5.2 Research methods

To find the answers to the questions above, the combination of quantitativeand contrastive analysis methods will be applied respectively For the first twoquestions, quantitative method is used to find out what speech act is realized inmaritime orders and how the act of ordering is realized in marine orders in terms oftheir directness, types of sentences, length of sentences, and the density oftechnicality When comparing on-board orders and radiotelephony (external) orders,the contrastive analysis method is used to find out the similarities and differencesbetween them in terms of those linguistic features

5.3 Data

To answer the research questions, 190 English marine orders were selectedfrom various sources such as maritime textbooks, websites and videos recorded inreal communications The orders selected were of two main types: external (radiotelephony) communications and on board communications for descriptive andcontrastive analysis External communications mainly deal with radio conversationsexchanged between ships (ship’s officer) and shore stations (shore personnel) while

on board communications are orders among captains, officers, and sailors(helmsmen) The orders were analyzed in terms of the following categories: speechact categories, directness, types of sentence, length of sentence and the density oftechnicality to study their linguistic features and uses

5.4 Data analysis method

190 English marine orders were quantitatively and contrastively analyzed interm of their speech act categories, linguistic features and the differences betweenthem Four tables were generated to assist in the analyzing process Two tableslisted the categories of speech acts realized in marine orders used in external as well

as on-board communications The other two tables investigated more about thelinguistic features of the orders used on-board and in external communicationsnamely directness, types of sentence, length and density of technicality Based onthese analyses, a contrast between on board orders and external orders were made

All these data analyses were summed up to find out the most general ideas abouthow language is used in marine orders.

6 Design of the study

The study consists three parts as follow:

Part A: INTRODUCTION This part outlines the background of the research In

this part, discussions are made about the rationale, aims and objectives,significance, methodology and design of the research

Part B: DEVELOPMENT This part falls into four chapters:

Chapter 1: Theoretical Background and Literature Review This chapter presents

theoretical background of the study in which categories of speech acts and the act ofordering are discussed Meanwhile, it gives an overview of previous researchesrelated to the study

Chapter 2: Methodology This chapter introduces the research questions, research

methods, data, and data analysis methods

Chapter 3: Data analysis The chapter analyses the data collected.

Chapter 4: Findings and discussions This chapter discusses the findings of the

data analyzed in chapter 3

Part C: CONCLUSION This part draws important conclusions about the study

and makes some suggestions for further researches

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Speech act and discourse analysis

From different points of view, discourse is understood and defined indifferent ways Richard et al (1985:83) define discourse as “a general term forexamples of language use, i.e., language which has been produced as the results of

an act of communication It refers to larger units of language such as paragraphs,conversation and interview” Meanwhile, Crystal (1992:25) defines discourse as “acontinuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than sentence, oftenconstituting a coherent unit, such as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative”

There is a number of other definitions of discourse, for the purpose of thisstudy, I would like to follow Widdowson’s definition (1984:4 as cited in NguyenHoa, 2000) “Discourse is a communicative process by means of interaction.” Bythis way, discourse is not simply a representation or a verbal record of thecommunicative but it includes many situational factors that is context of thesituation, the meanings or intention that the speaker/ writer assigns to a linguisticmeans or expressions Therefore, discourse analysis will be the analysis of language

in use In order to interpret discourse successfully, there must be an establishment ofcoherence because in many cases, the speaker’s intention is not literally conveyed.For example:

Mother: The grass is growing fast in the garden

Son: I’m going to have a group study this morning, mother

Mother: OK

In this example, the mother does not directly ask her son to do the gardeningbut the sentence “The grass is growing fast in the garden” can be functioned as arequest Although there is no formal link in this conversation, the listener can stillinfer that the son refuses his mother’s request Therefore, when trying to

comprehend spoken or written discourse, we must simultaneously perceive both thepropositional meaning and functional meaning of the speaker or writer.

However, when using language, we not only make propositional statementsabout objects, entities, states of affairs and so on but we also fulfill functions such asrequesting, denying, introducing, apologizing etc Such entities are called “speechact” or the things people do through language (Nunan:1993) The use of this termwas coined by the linguistic philosopher Austin (1962) and developed by Searle(1969), another philosopher Their theory was mainly about the locutionary,illocutionary and perlocutionary acts whereas illocutionary act is central to theconcept of a speech act These acts are widely accepted as the act of promising,ordering and bequeathing

In the example above, the utterance “The grass is growing fast in the garden”can be considered an indirect speech act because it carries the function of therequest Similarly, the reply “I have a group study” is also an indirect speech act toreject proposal This is indirect because the literal meaning of “I have a groupstudy” does not entail any sort of rejection

1.2 Speech act and the act of ordering

1.2.1 Classifications of speech act

Speech acts have been studied and defined by different linguists such asAustin (1962), Grice (1957, 1975), Hymes (1964), Searle (1969), Levinson (1983),Brown and Yule (1983) and others The common in their theory is “a speech act is

an act that a speaker performs when making an utterance” Then it is best described

as “in saying something, we do something” According to Austin, speech acts aredivided into five types and three dimensions Below is his theory about the threedimensions of speech acts

- A locutionary act is the saying of something which is meaningful and can be understood

Locutionary Act

- To perform a locutionary act is to produce an utterance with a particular form and a more or less determinate meaning

Illocutionary Act

Perlocutionary

Act

1.2.1.1 Types of speech acts (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969)

According to Austin (1962), there are five types of speech acts as follows:

(1) Verdictives: such as acquit, grade, estimate, diagnose, predict, interpret

(2) Exercitives: such as appoint, order, advise, warn, instruct, promote

(3) Commisives: such as promise, guarantee, bet, oppose, ensure, pledge

(4) Behabitives: apologizes, criticize, bless, challenge, congratulate, thank

(5) Expositives: argue, postulate, affirm, concede, oppose, admit

With the classification mentioned above, there are still mistakes andrepetitions For example, the two last types namely “behavitives” and “explositives”are not clear and they are overlapped Therefore, there is a need to suitably divide itagain

Austin’s views on language have been enormously influential in many otherphilosophy and linguists Among them, Searle, one of Austin’s followers, furtherdeveloped and solved the unclear point in Austin’s classification by dividing it intofive types as follows:

(1) Directives: the acts that are to get people to do something They express what

the speaker wants such as “commanding”, “requesting”, “inviting”, “forbidding”,

“suggesting” and they can be positive or negative The form to perform thisdirective functions can be vary from imperative sentences, questions or statementwhose illocutionary force is a directive.

E.g.: Please sit down

Why don’t you turn off the light?

There isn’t any sugar left

According to Kreidler (1998), three types of directive utterances can be

recognized: commands, requests, and suggestions They are distinguished by the

force imposed on hearer For example, a command is effective only if the speaker has some degree of control over the actions of the addressee E.g.: You must appear

in court next Monday at 10 a.m

Commands are produced with various degrees of explicitness which can have

the form of You must, imperative sentences or use predicates as command, order, tell

A request is an expression of what speaker wants the addressee to do or

refrain from doing something The common request predicates are ask, beg, request…

Suggestions are utterances which cause the hearer to give opinions as to whatthey should do or should not do Suggestee can have a choice of performances

which are advise, recommend, caution, warn…

(2) Commisives: The acts that commit a speaker to do something in the future They

express what the speaker intends such as “promising”, “offering”, “threatening”,

“refusing”, “vowing” and “volunteering”

E.g.: If you don’t stop fighting, I’ll call the police

I’ll take you to the movies tomorrow

(3) Assertives/ Representatives: the acts that commit a speaker to the truth of

expressed proposition such as “describing”, “claiming”, “insisting”, predicting” E.g.: I went home yesterday

Britain has no written constitution

(4) Declaratives: the acts that change the reality via the utterance The speaker has

to have a special institutional role, in a specific context in order to perform adeclaration appropriately

E.g.: Priest: I now pronounce you husband and wife

Chairman: I declare the meeting open

(5) Expressive: the acts that express speaker’s attitudes and emotions towards the

propositions such as “apologizing”, “praising”, “congratulating”, “regretting”.E.g.: What a great day!

You are so beautiful!

It can be seen that Searle refined Austin’s theory but there are still somedifferences between these two conceptions Whereas Austin emphasized theconventional interpretation of speech acts, Searle focused on a psychologicalinterpretation (based on belief, intention…) For the aim of my study, I would like

to follow Searle’s classification because I realized that most of marine orders aredirect speech acts and the acts that cause the hearer to take a particular action Thiscoincides with the category “directives” in Searle’s classification that has beenmentioned above

1.2.1.2 Direct and Indirect speech acts

Indirect speech acts is an act which is perform via another act, we say that act

is performed indirectly For example in uttering: “Open the window please”, forinstance, the speaker has directly requested the hearer to open the window Thesyntactic structure of this utterance indicates a straight-forward request in English.But the same request can be made in a more tacit, indirect manner to achieve thesame result The speaker may say something like “it’s hot in here”, instead of “Openthe window please”

Indirect speech acts can be performed by different types of structures One ofthe most common types of indirect speech act in English is interrogative which isnot used to ask a question (as we do not expect only answer, we expect an action)

For example, the question “Could you pass the salt?” is normally understood as arequest.

However, according to Searle, the way in which an utterance is interpreteddiffers from one person to another even within the same speech community,depending on various factors such as the speaker - hearer role relationship, distance,relative hierarchy or the context of interaction If an utterance is brought into across-cultural interactional situation where the interlocutors do not share social andcultural background, cultural conflicts and consequent misinterpretation andmisunderstanding are likely to occur

1.2.2 The act of ordering

1.2.2.1 Definition

According to International Maritime Organization (IMO), the act of orderingcan be defined as any word, phrase, sentence or other expression of speech actmarked means of asking for information, making a request, giving intention,expressing advice etc represents what the speaker intends to say or ask

In any conversation, the primary acts can be: accept, acknowledge, agree, answer,apology, call-off, check, confirm, disagree, greeting, evaluate, inform, invite, object,offer, oppose, question, react, reject, reply, request, thank

However, the principle acts in maritime VHF or other spokencommunications just focus on the act of question, answer, information, instruction,advice, request, intention, and warning

So, based on classification of Austin and Searle mentioned above, the act ofordering is a type of “directives” or “exercitives” which are the exercising ofpowers, rights or influence on the hearer It is also called command or orderingsentence

1.2.2.2 Ways of performing the act of ordering

The act of ordering has its own linguistic features to carry the function of an

order or a command The most typical features are directness, types of sentence,

length and density of technicality which will be discussed in more details below.

The act of ordering can be performed in either a direct or indirect way Insocial conversations, people tend to use indirect speech acts mainly in connectionwith politeness (Leech, 183: 108) since they diminish the unpleasant messagecontained in requests and orders For instance, instead of ordering directly “Pass methe salt!” people use the form of an interrogative “Could you pass me the salt?”which appears more polite However, politeness is not the only motivation forindirectness People also use indirect strategies “when they want to make theirspeech more interesting, when they want to reach different goals from their partners

or when they want to increase the force of message communicated” (Thomas,1995)

- Move out of the way!

- Do you have to stay in front of the TV?

- You are standing in front of the TV

The basic function of all the utterances in these examples is a

command/request However, only the imperative structure in the first examplepresent a direct speech act The interrogative structure in the second example is notbeing used as a question, so it is an indirect speech act The declarative structure inthe last sentence is also an indirect request

As a result, it can be seen that direct orders and commands are performed byimperative sentences which begin with a verb and end with/without an object, aperson or a thing Every single imperative sentence has the same implied subject:you.

(You) shut the door

(You) smile

Because this you is implied, it is called understood you When a command or

an order that begins with a noun of a direct address like “Bob, walk the dog”,

implied you is still the subject of the sentence It is a coincide that in these cases the

noun of direct address and the subject (you) are referring to the same person “Bob,(you) walk the dog”

While imperative is a type of direct speech act, one of the most commontypes of indirect speech acts in English has the form of interrogative, but nottypically used to ask a question Indeed, asking a question about the hearer’s

assumed ability (“Can you/ Could you”) or future likelihood with regard to do something (“Will you?”, “Would you?”) normally counts as a request to actually do

something In small cases, indirect speech act can also be realized in a declarativesentence whose illocutionary force is declarative as in the example “Oh, the sugar’sall gone” (Nguyen Hoa 2004: 232)

The length of the sentence

Another distinguishing feature of a command or an order is the length of thesentence It is known that the average length of a sentence generally serves as ameasure of sentence difficulty or complexity In general, the average sentencelength increases, the complexity of sentence also increase As most of commandsand orders are simple sentence, the average length of sentence just range about three

to six words which is quite easy to understand and follow

Density of technicality

Density of technicality is a typical feature of marine orders which appearfrequently in almost orders used on-board as well as in external communications

Nautical terms are all terminology relating to specialized ships, for instance, gas andoil tankers, container and reefer ships, car carriers, roll-on/roll-off ferries, and heavylift ships, each vessel type having its routine operations and interaction within itssphere of the international shipping industry, and also designated terminologydetermining communication in English at sea or alongside when loading ordischarging cargo All crew need to know the exact meaning of this technicalterminology and frequently practice so that when emergencies occur they can recallexactly Therefore, even in general conversation, seafarers commonly use familiar

“maritime” idiom whether on board ship or ashore In this study, the technicality isdefined and realized by Seatalk Nautical Dictionary, a standard reference forEnglish nautical language all around the world

Also, in this study, the term “sentence” and “phrase” are usedinterchangeably as in many cases, a sentence can be reduced its elements to become

a phrase or vice verse, a phrase sometimes expresses complete meaning of asentence For instance, the phrase “Port 5” can be interpreted as a sentence “Holdthe rudder 5 degrees to port”

1.2.3 The act of ordering in marine communication

Communication at sea (written or spoken) mainly deals with on boardcommunications and external communications External communication (ship – to –ship, ship – to shore or shore – to – ship) encompasses radio broadcast includingcommunications in emergencies and routine communications whereas on boardcommunications cover orders relating to ship handling of all kinds (helm orders,engine telegraph orders, command for mooring, anchoring, towing) Among theconversations exchanged, radio communication or as we can call it maritime VHFconversation is the most typical which fully manifests the act of ordering Whenmaking conversations, both the sender and the receiver must strictly adhere to therules of radio regulations and International Maritime Organization (IMO) (StandardMarine Communication Phrase , 2001)

Any conversation of maritime VHF consists of three basic stages:

1 Making contact

The second stage of exchanging messages is most important in spokenmaritime interactive communications However, with a complete marinecommunication, there are nine steps which are diagramed as below:

CALLING STATION RESPONDING STATION

5 SWITCH OVER PROCEDURE

6 MESSAGE

7 RESPONSE(S) TO MESSAGE

8 END TRANSMISSION

9 END PROCEDURE

Steps 1 - 5 represent the making contact stage of conversation

Steps 6 - 7 are the central part of a VHF conversation

Steps 8 – 9 are the final stage

Here is an example of a complete standard marine VHF communication:

Setting: Approaching pilot station – three miles from Elbe Light vessel

Speakers: MV MARLIN, Elbe Pilot (EP)

Topics: Further notice of arrival – exchange with the pilot station

Elbe Pilot: Marlin, This is Elbe Pilot Question: What is your

position? Over

Marlin: Elbe Pilot, This is Marlin Answer: Position: Three miles fromElbe Light vessel

Elbe Pilot: Marlin, This is Elbe Pilot Understood Your position: Three

miles from Elbe Light vessel INSTRUCTION: Rig pilot ladder on the port side, one foot above the water Information: my position is close to

Buoy No.1 Over

Marlin: Elbe Pilot This is Marlin Understood I shall rig pilot ladder

on the port side one foot above the water Your position is close to BuoyNo.1 Thank you Over

Elbe Pilot: Thank you very much indeed Captain Stand by on channel

1-6 Over

Marlin: Elbe Pilot Thank you Standing by on VHF channel one-six Out

In the example above, the order “Rig the pilot ladder on the port side, one footabove the water” is preceded by the message marker INSTRUCTION Based onSearle’s classification, the act of ordering in this example is a type of directives

which command or suggest the hearer to follow his instruction Unlike orders used

in daily life which the illocutionary act underlined in the sentence itself, marineorder in VHF conversations have message markers such as QUESTION, ANSWER,INFORMATION, INSTRUCTION, ADVICE, REQUEST, INTENTION,

WARNING…before each sentence to state the speaker’s intentions The use of

these message markers is optional which depend on the shore personnel or the shipofficer assesses the situation However, it is recommended that any messagedirected to a vessel should be clear by using one of these markers The most prioritysituations that require message markers are emergency situations like distress,urgency and safety Below are the examples of order used in each case:

- Distress message: Mayday

Mayday Mayday This is

Seagull Seagull Seagull

Mayday

Seagull HR1225, Seagull HR1225, Seagull HR1225

Position: latitude 5-2 degrees 1-1 minutes north, longitude 1-2-8 degrees 4-0 minutes west

Ship on fire

REQUEST: Immediate assistance

19 persons on board Abandoning ship to life rafts

Over

- Urgent message:

Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan

All stations, All stations, All stations

This is EI NORTE 5421, EI NORTE 5421, EI NORTE 5421,

Pan-Pan

Position: Bearing 134 degrees from Newport sound, distance 3.6 nm

Engine breakdown, I am adrift in heavy seas

REQUEST: Require a tow

Over

- Safety message:

Securite, Securite, Securite

All stations, All stations, All stations,

This is Cherbourg Traffic for traffic information

A group of whit boxes is in position about 7 miles SE of Echo Charlie two.

REQUEST: Wide berth requested.

For all information please contact Cherbourg Traffic Cherbourg Trafficwatching on channel 16 and 11

From Cherbourg Traffic Out

Each type of message has its own structure and feature For instance, distressmessage always start by “Mayday” while urgency message use “Pan-Pan” and forsafety is “Securite” However, the order used in these message shares the commonfeature is that it is very short and proceeded by marker REQUEST in most cases.Besides, an important rule applied in marine orders is that the receiver always has torepeat the speaker/ sender’s information to avoid mistakes As we can see in theconversation between MV Marlin and Elbe Pilot above, when Marlin informs itsposition, Elbe Pilot repeats again before giving instruction Similarly, the receiverMarlin says the instruction again as a way to confirm the message This rule is alsostrictly adhered in orders used on board For example, in the wheel orders, if thecaptain says “Starboard twenty”, the pilot implements the order not only by turningthe vessel to the right twenty degrees but also has to repeat “Starboard twentyalready, sir!”

In conclusion, with the linguistic features above, Maritime English isconsidered to be a highly technical language which the functional characteristics areconcerned in the specific area of merchant marine transportations (Ziarati, 2008) As

a result, language used at sea must be in compliance with the rules of IMO StandardMarine Communication Phrases to avoid any failures in communication This is thereason why linguistic features of marine orders are somehow different from ordersused in General English Based on the theoretical background above, the criteriathat make marine orders distinguished is their types of speech acts, directness,length, types of sentences, and density of technical terms All these criteria will befurthered analyzed in chapter 3 to study the distinction realized in marine orders

18

1.3 Literature review

Marine language is quite a broad linguistic area and has not been studied bymany linguists Most of the researchers in this field usually cover the teachingoccupation or navigation related jobs In Vietnam, three most outstanding studies onmarine language are carried by English teachers at VMU

The first study Nautical term-based metaphor by Ngo Thi Nhan (2004)

explored the structure experience or image schemata that motivate the formation ofmetaphor using nautical terms Her study has helped marine students and seafarersstay away from troubles caused by metaphorical meanings when they have to dealwith multi-cultural environments all over the world in their work

The second is Analysis of Ship’s Business Letters by Doan Thi Thanh Thuy

(2004) analyzed the speech acts applied in ship’s business letters in English, whichplays an important role when writing or reading a letter The results of this studyhelped students to realize the importance of speech act in ship’s business letter andalso suggested some methods for teaching writing ship’s business letter in English

Another research is Elliptical Expressions of Maritime Radiograms in English by Pham Van Don (2002) The primary focus of this study was on the

elliptical expressions of marine radiograms in English and the researcher of thisstudy wished to make use of all the findings on elliptical expressions to ease thelearning and the teaching radiograms in English at VIMARU

As it can be seen clearly, there is surely no previous studies in marine orders

in terms of speech act, which has received my attention for its importance tostudents at VIMARU as well as seafarers at sea The increasing interest in beingable to compose the best solution to students’ problem has heightened my need for

further study in this topic.

1. What speech act is realized in marine orders?

2. How are directness, types of sentence, length of sentence and the density of technicality realized in maritime orders?

3. What are the differences between orders used on – board and in externalcommunications in terms of speech act and some linguistic features such ascategories, directness, types of sentences, length of sentence and the density

- The differences between on – board orders and external orders in terms of these linguistic features

2.2 Data

2.2.1 Data description

Marine orders appear in most conversations exchanged at sea However,based on the purposes and context of use, they can be divided into two main types:marine orders used in external communications and on board communications

External communications are mainly conversations exchanged between ship– to ship, ship – to – shore or shore – to - ship stations The aim of these

conversations is to promote navigational safety, including giving instruction, advice

or warning for the vessel Conversations between ships and shore stationscommonly exchange messages about emergency situation communications(including distress, urgency and safety) and routine communications (pilot request,tug request ) Due to the limitation of a minor study, only the most frequent andprioritized command sentences in radio communication are collected and analyzedincluding emergency situations (30 sentences) and routine communication (50sentences)

On-board communications or face – to – face communications betweenseafarers in the ship cover a wide range of topics relating to situations at sea.However, the attention of my research is on the orders and commands that are mosttypical and frequently used namely wheel orders (34 sentences), engine telegraphorder (13 sentences), command for mooring (42 sentences), command for anchoring(11 sentences) and towing orders (10 sentences)

All these orders and commands will be served as the database for further

analysis in chapter 3 Data analysis.

2.2.2 Source of data

The data is collected mainly from maritime textbooks, websites andrecordings of real-life language use One of the main textbooks is the coursematerial currently used in Navigational Department at VIMAR, the “IMO StandardMarine Communication Phrases” (SMCP) published in 2002 This book was issued

by IMO publication and considered to be the official document for not only nauticalstudents but also a requirement for all seafarers when communicating at sea.Besides, there is an useful navigational website which contains standard marineorders for seafarers named mareng.utu.fi/ MarEng is a web-based Maritime EnglishLanguage Learning Tool which was developed by Leonardo da Vinci program of theEuropean Union All the materials are based on language used in actual situations

on board ships, in ports and elsewhere in the shipping chain Therefore, theaccuracy and authentication of these materials are totally reliable

Besides, the data also include recordings of marine orders being used inreality, collected by my students and friends who were working on board Theseaudios and videos recorded the situations in which marine orders were delivered tohelp enhance the accuracy and reliability of my study.

2.3 Data analysis

2.3.1 Data analysis method

As mentioned in the introduction, the study aims at investigating the act ofordering realized in marine orders in terms of such linguistic features as directness,types of sentence, length of sentence and the density of technicality Also it wishes

to find out the differences between orders used on – board and in externalcommunications in relation to those linguistic features Quantitative method wasused to serve the first aim and contrastive method was used for the second asillustrated in the following analytical framework

2.3.2 Data analysis framework

My analytical framework covers the following analytical units:

- Categories of speech acts realized in marine orders used in external and on-board communications

- The directness, types of sentence, length and density of technicality in the orders

- The differences between on board orders and external orders

Four tables were generated to assist in the analyzing process Two tablesinvestigated the categories of speech acts realized in marine orders used in externaland on-board communications The other two tables investigated more about thelinguistic features of the orders used on-board and in external communicationsnamely directness, types of sentence, length and density of technicality

The differences between on – board orders and external orders were then extractedfrom the analyses drawn out of the tables

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS

After being collected from various sources, the data were analyzed andinterpreted to answer the research questions

3.1 Types of speech acts realized in marine orders

The following two tables show the speech act categories realized in 80external communication marine orders and 110 on-board communication orders

3.1.1 Types of speech acts realized in orders used in external communications

One of the most typical types of communication at sea is externalcommunications or radio conversations exchanged between ship – to – ship and ship– to – shore stations External communications are of two subtypes: emergenciescommunications and routine communications Table 1 below illustrates categories

of speech acts realized in orders in the two sub-types of external communications:

Types

speech acts

ExpressivesRepresentativesDirectives

DeclarativesCommissives

Table 1: Speech acts used in external communications

According to the data in the table, the type of speech acts realized in ordersused in external communications is directives It is comprehensible as due to thetheory of speech act, directives is the act of getting people to do something Thiscoincides with the act of ordering in navigation also used to give advice, direction,request, suggestions…