CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1.2. Commissives with commissive words
Commissives can be realized in structures with commissive words. They are mainly verbs and nouns that show signals for recognizing commissives.
Some typical commissive words are promise, guarantee, commit, recommit, intend, offer, want, and ensure. As regards verbs, they are put into this category when they cannot be put in the category of performative verbs. It is because on the one hand, they are not performative verbs like want or intend and, on the other hand, they are not in the active, simple present tense to make a commissive explicitly stated.
a. Bill Clinton
(4.16) That is the promise of the Democratic Party. (August 29, 1996:
Remarks at the Democratic National Convention)
(4.17) Our plan will guarantee that high quality information is available in even the most remote areas of this country so that we can have high quality service, linking rural doctors, for example, with hospitals with
high-tech urban medical centers. (September 22, 1993: Address on Health Care Reform)
(4.18) On this 100th day of my administration I want to recommit myself and those who work with me to the values that have made our Nation without peer in all human history, those of opportunity, responsibility, community, and respect for one another. (April 30, 1993: National Service Address)
(4.19) But we must also leave on our terms. We must do it right. And here is what I intend to do. This past week's events make it clear that even as we prepare to withdraw from Somalia, we need more strength there.
(October 7, 1993: Address on Somalia)
(4.20) The United States is committed to ensuring that the people who are affected by this agreement will be made more secure by it and to leading the world in marshaling the resources necessary to implement the difficult details that will make real the principles to which you commit yourselves today. (September 13, 1993: Remarks at the Signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Agreement)
As shown in examples (4.16) to (4.20), Bill Clinton‘s commissives in structures with commissive words are realized with the noun promise in (4.16), the verb guarantee in (4.17), the verb recommit in (4.18), the verb intend in (4.19), and the verb committed in (4.20). These commissive words are used in different verb tenses such as the simple present tense in (4.16), (4.18), (4.19), and (4.20) and the simple future tense in (4.17). They are also realized both with the passive voice in (4.20) and active voice in other examples from (4.16) to (4.19)
b. Barrack Obama
(4.21) This holds the promise of generating more than 10,000 jobs
nationwide over the next few years. (April 15, 2010: Remarks on Space Exploration in the 21st Century)
(4.22) And it is time to embrace and effectively monitor norms that advance the rights of civil society and guarantee its expansion within and across borders. (September 23, 2010: Address to the United Nations)
(4.23) It should also serve as a message to the world that the United States of America intends to sustain and strengthen our leadership in this young century. (August 31, 2010: Address on the End of the Combat Mission in Iraq)
(4.24) And what my proposal says is if you still can‘t afford the insurance in this new marketplace, then we’re going to offer you tax credits to do so.
(March 15, 2010: Speech on Health Care Reform)
(4.25) In developing this new vehicle, we will not only look at revising or modifying older models; we want to look at new designs, new materials, new technologies that will transform not just where we can go but what we can do when we get there. (April 15, 2010: Remarks on Space Exploration in the 21st Century)
Compared to Bill Clinton‘s, Barrack Obama‘s commissives in structures with commissive words are realized with the noun promise in (4.21) and the verbs guarantee in (4.22), intends in (4.23), offer in (4.24), and want in (4.25). These commissive words are triggers making it easy for readers to recognize the commissives used in the collected data. As a matter of fact, Barrack Obama employs more verbs than nouns as commissive words.
c. Donald Trump
(4.26) Above all else, we will keep our promises to the American people.
(February 28, 2017: Address to Joint Session of Congress)
(4.27) Eighteen years. And I’ll guarantee, within a month or two months,
that 18 will be even a much higher number. (July 24, 2018: Speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention)
(4.28) Like them, I intend to address some of the very serious threats before us today but also the enormous potential waiting to be unleashed.
(September 19, 2017: Address to the United Nations General Assembly) (4.29) We want to ensure that when there are warning signs, we can act and act very quickly. (February 23, 2018: Remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference)
(4.30) My Administration is committed to fighting the drug epidemic and helping get treatment for those in need. (January 30, 2018: State of the Union Address)
When it comes to Donald Trump‘s commissives in structures with commissive words, there are many things in common in comparison to Bill Clinton‘s and Barack Obama‘s perhaps because of the similarity in the genre of discourse (i.e., political speech) and position of speakers (i.e., presidents of the United State of America). In the illustrating examples, Donald Trump uses the noun promises in (4.26) and the verbs guarantee in (4.27), intend in (4.28), ensure in (4.29) and committed in (2.30) to make his commissives easier to be recognized.