Chapter 3 Methodology
3.4. Categorization and Subcategorization of Speech Acts
3.4.2. Direct Speech Act
3.4.2.1. Expressives
國
立 政 治 大 學
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N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Definitions and examples of each purpose of speech act are demonstrated from 3.4.2.1 to 3.4.2.3.
3.4.2.1. Expressives
Among the data analyzed in this study, there are four illocutionary purposes falling in the category of direct expressive, including thanking, praising, sympathizing, and condemnation, are speech acts expressing speaker‘s psychological state. The linguistic forms applied in these direct expressives are listed in Table 4, and condemnation will be the focus of this study.
Table 4. Linguistic devices of Direct Expressives emerged in this study
(Shaded fieldis the focus of this study)
3.4.2.1.1. Condemnation
Condemnation is a type of expressive delivering speaker‘s unfavorable or adverse judgment on the proposed target. Excerpt (11) is a demonstration of direct condemnation.
(11)
1 M5: [我]從此我也不會再稱呼他總統 可是 弘儀我覺得今天我看到小林 村的畫面<L2 我 我真艱苦 L2>
2 Host: 嗯
→ 3 M5: 更可惡是<L2 這政府 L2>從頭到尾都在騙我們 4 Host: 嗯
5 M5: 軍聞社 ho 國防部个 單位<L2 講啊 L2> 特戰隊進去之後看到小林村 很多人在生還<L2 咱毋是閣足歡[喜个嘛對無]L2>
6 Host: [hen] hen
Illocutionary purposes Linguistic devices Condemnation Syntactic—negation
Semantic—lexical, comparison, contrast Thanking Semantic—lexical
Praising Semantic—lexical, contrast
Sympathizing Semantic—information content, lexical, performative verb
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國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
7 M5: 結果都在騙人耶
[大話新聞, 三立新聞台, August 13, 2009]
In Turn 3 of (11), speaker M5 not only points out that the government is lying, but also condemns the government‘s deed of lying. In example (11), the modifier, ke wu (可惡) ‗hateful,‘ literally depicts that speaker M5 resents the government because it conceals the fact that the victims in Xiaolin village (小林村) have never been rescued.
3.4.2.1.2. Thanking
The speech act of thanking is adopted when the speaker intends to show his/her gratitude to the addressees. Example (12) demonstrates such direct speech act.
(12)
→ Host: …那麼啊 <L2 我欲感謝 L2>台北市議員洪健益啊 以及很多人啦 hon <L2 當然我無法度 L2>一一唸名單 <L2 啊 in na 這个欲閣佇台北 L2> 帶三台山貓車 一台貨卡車二十位志工 去台南 啊協助 這樣
[大話新聞, 三立新聞台, August 13, 2009]
In excerpt (12), the Host expresses his gratitude to the councilor and the volunteers who have devoted themselves to the rescue work. The Taiwan Southern Min performative verb, kam sia (感謝) ‗thank,‘ literally indicates the Host‘s gratitude and directly conveys the illocutionary purpose of thanking.
3.4.2.1.3. Praising
When a speaker commits praising, his/her purpose is to express the state of approval or admiration to the expressed antecedent. Example (13) specifies this speech act.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(13)
→
M1: 弘]儀<L2 你發動一个遐 L2> 拋磚引玉<L2 捐五十萬救你个 故鄉 今日 L2>回應 <L2 我看落足感動个 neh 今日干焦 L2>回應<L2 就攏一直來 啊L2> ba 北海 鱈魚香絲 <L2 捐一百萬 伊个 L2>員工所得一日所得
<L2 捐出來 淡水鎮个陳老太太 捐一百萬 伊个公子陳先生捐 百五萬 L2>
[大話新聞, 三立新聞台, August 13, 2009]
In excerpt (13), Speaker M1 expresses his affection to the public‘s donation for the typhoon victims. The Taiwan Southern Min modifier, tsiok kam-tong (足感動) ‗so moved,‘ indicates M1‘s positive evaluation to such an act, and that makes the utterance a praising.
3.4.2.1.4. Sympathizing
Sympathizing is a speech act happening when the speaker aims to show the homonymy of feelings existing between the speaker and the expressed target, as demonstrated in (14).
(14)
→
→
Host: <L2 啊 這馬 開始 L2> 啊這個大家 啊自力救濟 那麼 挖屍體 撿 屍塊 <L2 老實講看起來有夠悽慘 L2> 啊竟然啊現在連 冰櫃都沒有 大體 必須要放在垃圾桶裡面 <L2 ho 聽落實在是真心酸 L2>來我們 來看VCR
[大話新聞, 三立新聞台, August 13, 2009]
The Host reveals his compassion for the victims by using Taiwan Southern Min adjectival complements, tshi tsham (悽慘) ‗miserable‘ and sim sng (心酸) ‗grieved,‘
in linguistic expression. These expressions literally reveal the Host‘s sympathy toward the victims‘ misery.
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falling in the category of direct assertive, include informing, confirmation, correction, and justification. Linguistic features of these direct assertives are listed in Table 5.Table 5. Linguistic devices of Direct Assertives emerged in this study
3.4.2.2.1. Informing
In political talk shows, informing is a common speech act because speakers often have to introduce some background information of the intended topic, such as people, events, locations, or time. In the speech act of informing, speakers aim to provide adequate and true information to hearers. As mentioned in Grice (1975), no provided information should be more informative than necessary and also no provided information should lack evidence. The following excerpt taken from the talk shows provides a typical example of direct informing.
(15)
Illocutionary purposes Linguistic devices Informing