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Discourse Analysis

Term Paper Entitled:

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Prepared by: Moulay Omar HidayaDr. Hussein Obeidat

(2014300062)

Outline:

1. Introduction : speech acts theory and the analysis of

discourse……………………..3

2. Lit Review …………………………………………………………………………………………………………4

3. Section One: Speech Acts………………………………………………………………………………….5

1. The theory of speech acts……………………………………………………………………………...5

2. Loction/ illocution/perlocution……………………………………………………………………..6

3. Direct/indirect speech acts…………………………………………………………………………….8

4. Section Two: Apologies…………………………………………………………………………………..10

1. Apologies as speech acts…………………………………………………..10

2. Why requesting an apology…………………………………………….....11

3. Apologies across Languages………………………………………………11

5. Section three: Study of Apologies as Speech

Acts…………………….12

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1. Problems and aims of the study………………………………………….12

2. Subjects…………………………………………………………………..12

3. Instruments……………………………………………………………….13

4. The situations translated into

Arabic…………………………………….13

5. Discussion………………………………………………………………..13

6. Results……………………………………………………………………16

6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..17

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Introduction:

Any study of discourse or communication should take into

account the concept of speech acts as being major parts of

everyday conversations. Vanderveken(1994,53) argued that

“speakers perform their illocutionary acts within entire

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conversations where they are most often in verbal

interaction with other speakers who reply to them and

perform in turn their own speech acts with the same

collective intention to pursue with success a certain type

of discourse”

Apologies as types of speech acts is a valuable topic that

deserves the study, in a sense that this face threatening

act is a very difficult thing for people to do . It is also

said that:"Sorry is the hardest word". This is not because

it is hard to pronounce or spell, but because you have to

admit that you have done something wrong. While, the

important thing is that when someone apologizes, it does not

mean that they were wrong or the other person was right, but

in fact, it means that the relationship between both parts

is valuable than the ego of the apologizer.

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Lit Review:

The common traditional philosophical assumption points that

a sentence can be judged in terms of describing some states

of affairs or facts, which can be analyzed in terms of truth

and falsity (Austin 1962, 1). In other words, logical

positivist philosophers argue that the only meaningful

statements are those that can be tested empirically in terms

of truth or falsity. In reaction to this assumption, Austin

believed that language conveys more than the meaning of its

words and phrases i.e. we not only use language to say

things (make statements), but also to do things (perform

actions).

For example:

Can we judge these following utterances in terms of truth or falsity?

. I apologize

. I name this ship the Albatross

. I bet you $5 it will rain.

The concept of speech acts was first defined by

J.L Austin in his book entitled "How to Do Things with

Words?" published in 1962. Austin never used the term

speech acts but rather "performative sentences" which he

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defined as: "the issuing of the utterance is the performing

of an action"(p6). This expression was first introduced by

Searle (1969) who claimed that "speech acts … are the basic

minimal units of linguistic communication" (p16). The speech

act theory is still a controversial field of study

undertaken by various researchers.

Concerning the concept of "apologies", there were few

studies done in the Arab World including a study of

Jordanian university students' expression of Apology.This

study tried to investigate the common apology expressions

used by Arabic native speakers in different situations,

another study entitled a Socio-pragmatic Study of Apology in

Iraqi Non-standard Arabic that focused on the strategies of

apologizing in Iraqi Arabic, in relation to gender

differences.

SECTION ONE:

1. The theory of speech acts:

People can apologize by saying “I apologize”, thank by

saying “thank you” and promise by saying “I promise”. These

are called performatives.

Performatives are utterances with which we can explicitly

perform our action or what we are doing ,for instance, in

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the suitable circumstances like a wedding ceremony the

father of the bride would say : “I married my daughter to

you”(( ي� ت� ن� ك� اب�� ت� وج�� .which counts as joining a couple in marriage ز�

In these cases there are specific, social norms and

circumstances in which an act can be fulfilled after

uttering certain words.

The theory of speech acts attempts to understand the ways in

which meaning is created in context. It does not refer to

the utterance only, but the whole context, which means that

whenever we say something, we are doing something too. The

prototype of the way of doing things through language is to

utter a performative . By doing so ,we can perform an action

through language.

Utterances that are not performatives also can perform a

speech act but in an indirect way, for example when saying:

“It’s a bit hot here" we can perform the act requesting

(please open the window). We usually choose this less direct

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way because they look like less of an imposition on the

person.

2. LOCUTION/ILLOCUTION/PERLOCUTION

Through speaking, we can perform several acts at once .there

is the act of saying something, what the speaker intends by

saying it and how the speaker is trying to affect the

addressee, these aspects are known as:

A. locutionary act: is the act of speaking (the construction

of speech)and the production of meaningful units in language

(the use of phonemes, morphemes, sentences)

B. Illocutionary: the utterance that attempt to achieve some

communicative purpose like the ones uttered in marrying.

C. Perlocutionary: the effect of speaking on the hearer,

whether intended or not

Examples:

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"Shoot him"!

-The locution: 'SHOOT HIM

-The illocutionary: he/she urged him/her to shoot her-

-the perlocutionary effect: the hearer was either persuaded

by the speech or not and eventually will or will not shoot

It's hot here!"

-The locution: "it is hot here"

- The illocution:"I need fresh air"

-the perlocutionary effect: someone opens the widow

John: "Darling, do you want to go out to the showtonight?"

Laura: "I'm feeling ill."

John: "That's ok. You stay there and I'll make soup."

In this example, Laura didn't respond to John's question

by saying, "No, I don't want to go out to the show tonight."

What she actually said — her locutionary act — was "I'm

feeling ill."

In saying that she feels ill, Laura was telling John that

she doesn't want to go out, which is her illocutionary act

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(intention). Laura's perlocutionary act got John to make her

some soup.

Searle (1976) further classified the illocutionary

act into five categories of communicative functions.

• Representatives: commit the hearer to the truth of the

proposition (e.g. asserting, concluding)

• Directives: The attempt to get the speaker to do something

(e.g., requests, warnings).

• Commissives: The speaker commits him or her to do

something in the future (e.g., promises, offers).

• Expressive: The speaker expresses his or her state of mind

about something that happened in the past (e.g., thanking,

complaining).

• Declarations: The speaker, who has institutional

recognition (e.g., judge or priest), declares something to

be true and in making the declaration makes it true (e.g.,

priest christens a baby).

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3. Direct vs. indirect speech acts:

Direct speech acts:

performed by means of the linguistic structures

which are conventionally used for the performance of a

certain act, requests ;for instance, are performed by

imperative structures:E.g. the speaker does not want the

hearer to stand in front of the TV, so, the speaker says:

"move out of the way!"

We can also perform a direct speech act (explicitly) by

using performative verbs as in the following example:

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Indirect speech acts:

They are performed by means of the linguistic

structures which are conventionally used to perform other

speech

act

verb that names the

speech actexample

Assertio

nAssert

I assert that he washes the

dishes.

QuestionAskI ask who will wash the

dishes.

Order OrderI order you to wash the

dishes.

Request RequestI request that you wash the

dishes.

Promise PromiseI promise that I’ll wash

the dishes.

Advice AdviseI advise you to wash the

dishes.

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speech acts: E.g.: speaker does not want the hearer to stand

in front of the TV, so he /she say:

-"you're standing in front of the TV"

-"do you have to stand in front of the TV?"

-"you'd make a better door than a window"

It is possible to have a strange effect when the addressee

misinterprets the message or fails to understand the

intended act; for instance: A tourist carrying his luggage,

looking lost, stops a passerby:

Visitor: excuse me; do you know where the ambassadors' hotel

is?

Passerby: oh, sure, I know where it is (and walks away).

The passerby answers the question as if it was a direct

speech act, whereas the utterance was an indirect speech act

used as a request for directions.

We use indirect speech acts because they seem more polite

and less of an imposition.

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Section Two:

1. Apologies as speech acts:

Apologies are expressive speech acts, where the Speaker

tries to express his/her regret towards a malicious act. In

order for an apology to be an effective, it should state

true feelings.

Austin points that there are various forms of apologies

(lakoff, 207), among them:

I'm sorry I did X (the speaker's confession of doing

something wrong)

2. I guess I did X (hedges on the speaker's responsibility

for the act)

3. I shouldn't have done X (admits that the act was wrong)

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4. You must be pretty mad that I did X (the addressee was

hurt)

5. I was a real jerk to do X (the speaker is ashamed)

And I'll never X again (promising that the act won't happen

again)

He also proposed four conditions that make an apology

felicitous (successful):

1. Propositional content: past act X done by a speaker

2. Preparatory condition: speaker believes that act X is an

offense against hearer

3. Sincerity condition: speaker regrets X

4. Essential condition: speaker offers an apology

2. Why request an apology?

• To acknowledge how you were hurt

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• To confirm that the other person accepts responsibility

• To make sure it won’t happen again

• To reconcile the relationship

• To restore your reputation

3. Apologies across languages

In English

I would like to apologize.

It was my entire fault.

Please, forgive me for my mistake

Please can you accept my humblest apology?

In French:

Pardon !

Excuse-moi !

Je suis vraiment désolé!

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veuillez m'excuser

In German

Entschuldigung(excuse me)

Das tut mir leid! (I'm sorry)

Verzeihung! (Forgiveness!)

Section Three: strategies of apologizing used by

Four Algerian Female English Students at Yarmok

University.

1. Problems and aims of the study:

This study aims to investigate the use of apologies

by Algerian female studentsof English; it tries to explore

the different strategies and expressions of apologies. This

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study tries to find out when do they apologize? How do they

apologize? And what are the expressions they use?

2. Subjects:

The participants are four Algerian female students of

English at Yarmok University who are native speakers of

Algerian Arabic. Their ages range from 22 to 23 years

old.

3. Instrument and Procedures :

The apology instrument used consisted of five situations in

which the subjects need to deliver an apology.

4. The situations translated into English:

1. You wanted to call your friend, but you called the wrong

number, what are you going to do?

2. You have eaten your friend's chocolate, will you apologize

for that?

3. In a restaurant, you were served uncooked meat, what will

you say?

4. In a bus, you stepped on somebody's toes, what will you say

to him?

5. You entered class late, what are you going to say to your

teacher?

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5. discussion:

Responses to situation 1:

6. You wanted to call your friend, but you called the wrong

number, what are you going to do?

I SAY SORRY AND I EXPLAIN TO HIM THAT IT WAS JUST A

MISTAKE.

sorry I dialed the wrong number !

wrong number, forgive me

forgive me, wrong number

In this situation, two girls said sorry and give explanations and excuses about

what they have done wrong .Whereas the remaining two asked for forgiveness.

The speaker is not necessarily used when the person is apologizing; in fact, they

are requirements of the context (In order to be polite)

Responses to situation 2:

You have eaten your friend's chocolate, What would you say?

I THOUGHT YOU DON'T WANT IT

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I APOLOGIZE OF COURSE.

I won't apologize

I say sorry because I ate something that is not mine

In this situation, two girls said sorry, and one girl

points that she would not apologize mainly because the

person affected by the act is a friend. While, the fourth

girl preferred giving explanations or presuppositions (I

thought you don't want it).

Responses to situation 3:

In a restaurant, you were served uncooked meat, what will

you say?

I start complaining about the bad service and ask for a

reward !

I WILL ASK HIM WHAT IS THE PROBLEM.IF IT IS A MISTAKE AND IFHE WILL BRING ME ANOTHER DISH OK.IF NOT I WILL SAY NOTHING I

WILL PAY BUT I WILL NEVER COME AGAIN TO THA RESTAURANT.

Sorry, but the meat is uncooked

Can I get another piece, it's uncooked

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In this case only one girl apologized to the waiter and

complained about the food politely, whereas, the others

prefer to complain about the service directly,

Responses to situation: 4

In a bus, you stepped on somebody's toes, what will you say

to him?

I AM SO SORRY I HAVE NOT SEEN YOU .SORRY AGAIN

excuse me please ! I didn't mean to do that

Forgive me I didn't see you

Forgive me, it wasn't on purpose

In this case, the four girls apologized and gave

explanations, because this action is always seen as an act

that happen very frequently and always perceived as accident

deserves forgiveness by the addressee.

Responses to situation: 5

You entered class late, what are you going to say to your

teacher?

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SORRY SIR

SORRY FOR BEING LATE

I'm sorry for being late!

Sorry , I couldn't find a taxi …etc

Usually, in this situation an apology is always required in

addition to excuses of why being late, that is what all

participants agreed upon.

7. Results:

After analyzing the data, I found that the participants

always tend to apologize to strangers (the person in the

bus, the one called on the phone) and ask forgiveness and

people of higher social status (teacher). In contrast,

with their intimate friends they rarely apologize when

doing something wrong, but rather they only give

explanations and reasons for doing so.

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The expressions of apology given by the participants are:

مي�رو !اس�محلي� ي� ال�ن� ي� ف� لطت� اغ�� Forgive me, wrong number!

ا وي�� خ�� ي�اس�محلي� ت� لي%� اج�� �ي� /اس�محي� ن* لعا ي�/ ي� م�اش0 ،Forgive me brother/sister it wasn't on purpose!

/ كش0 ي� ف� ش�0 م�ا ي� ت� اج�� ا وي�� خ�� س�محلي�Forgive me I haven't seen you!

/ / اذ� اس�ي� خ� ي� س�0 دي�اس�محلي� س�ي�

Forgive me sir!

It is important to clarify that the word {SMA7LI محلي� ي�=س%%%� ام�حت� س%%%� }

is used when asking forgiveness, and also to say sorry.

Because the word (AASIF ( ف� does not exist in Algerian =اش%%%%�Arabic, sometimes they borrow the equivalent of (AASIF) from

French ;( désolé)

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Conclusion:

J. L. Austin outlined his Theory of Speech Acts and the

concept of performative language, in which to say something

is to do something. I.e. regardless the phatic function of

language, whenever we speak, in fact, we act. This paper

highlighted the field of speech acts briefly in its first

section. Whereas, the focus was on apologies as types of

speech acts in its second part, by describing the different

expressions of apologies used by four female Algerian

students of English at Yarmok University.

Future researchers would extend this simple study to a

larger number of participants, or to study Algerian male

students' strategies and expressions of apologizing and

compare the results to that of the females.

In my opinion, people tend to apologize more even if they do

not mean it when the act is not done on purpose; it is

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actually part of their everyday lives. In contrast, when the

act is intended, apologizing becomes much harder.

References:

Al-Sobh, M., An Analysis of Apology as a Politeness

Strategy Expressed by

Jordanian University Students. International Journal of

Humanities and Social Science Vol. 3 No. 2 [Special Issue – January 2013]

Austin, J. (1962). How to do things with words.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Bataineh, R., & Bataineh, R. (n.d.). Apology strategies

of Jordanian EFL university students. Journal of

Pragmatics, 1901-1927.

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DEMETER, G. (2000). A Pragmatic Study of Apology

Strtegies in Romanian (Master's Thesis

Rojo, L. (2005). “Te quería comentar un problemilla…”

The Speech Act of Apologies in Peninsular Spanish: A

pilot study. Hipertexto 1 Invierno, 1, Pp. 63-80.

Saeed, J. (1997). Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell.

Searle, J. (1969). Speech Acts. An Essay in the Philosophy of

Language. Cambridge

Yule, G. (1985). The study of language: An

introduction. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire: Cambridge

University Press.