Speaker
Description
Language use and its resulting meaning interpretation can vary among contexts, which necessitates the study of pragmatics. Importantly, qualified pragmatic principles have facilitated deeper apprehensions of messages in communicative actions, two of which are Speech Act Theory by Austin (1962) and Searle (1969) and Politeness Theory by Brown and Levinson (1987). Nevertheless, the literature lacks studies applying two frameworks simultaneously to analyze political discourse, especially in contrasting speeches in different contexts. To bridge this gap, this paper studies the pragmatic features of speech acts and politeness strategy in Obama’s (2009) Back to School and (2017) Farewell Address. Methodologically, a qualitative descriptive approach with purposive sampling technique was used, in which the speeches’ utterances were intentionally selected and analyzed. An analysis of the first speech disclosed a predominant use of directives preceded by expressives as a means of tactful coercion towards students in their academic pursuits, which also reflected a politeness strategy. The latter address demonstrated a balanced emphasis on different speech acts: directives for encouragement of citizens’ joint actions (coupled with the use of positive face-saving strategy, a concept in Politeness Theory); representatives for announcement of past challenges and accomplishments; and commissives for commitment to the nation and people. Overall, a comparison of these addresses revealed how a political leader utilized language to persuade, motivate, and assert their authority. Findings of this study may contribute to the understanding of pragmatic competence in political discourse whilst providing insights for educators in English linguistics discipline in their curriculum design and teaching process.
Keywords: speech act theory, pragmatics, politeness theory
