Monday, February 3, 2014

Speech Act Theory



UNDERSTANDING INTENTIONS FROM GOVERNOR ELECTION CANDIDATES’ SLOGAN IN 2012 BASED ON SPEECH ACT THEORY

M. Ghozali Affan
Study Program of English Language Teaching and Literature
The faculty of Culture Studies
School of Undergraduate Studies of University of Brawijaya

            Language is a medium for conveying messages. One of the main functions of language is to deliver message from the speaker to the hearer. It shows how language gives an important role in delivering speaker’s intention when having communication with others. By using language, people can constantly extend the messages to be easily received by their interlocutors. Hence, language is not only related to producing utterances, but through language people can completely deliver their intentional message as well.
When speaking and giving utterance, everyone has the different ways in showing their intention. Speakers usually have specific intentions by purpose they want others to recognize (Grice, 1957 in Holtgraves, 2008). The situations, for instance, in campaigns, classrooms, ceremonies, conferences, theaters, and so on also influence the intention of what they have spoken. One’s feeling and emotion are likely included to be one of the reasons which cause the difference of showing speaker’s intention. When people try to joke, they tend to use the funny expression to show the intention. But, it is unlikely to guess people’s intention from only the utterances spoken when they try to make or tell a lie to others, unless they finally tell us the truth.

Language and Pragmatics
Language is basically a media for communication while pragmatics is a helping tool to fully reach the main purpose of communication itself. In fact, pragmatic which generally discuses about the relation between language and the users is quite likely to be considered as the essential prerequirementto help the hearers and readers understand what the speakers and writers mean to. By applying pragmatic in analyzing one’s utterance, we will not only understand the explicit meaning of the utterance, but also the implicit meaning and intention of the speakers or the writers.
Regarding to the explanation above, pragmatic already provides complete analysis of linguistic side that really helps us to understand more deeply about what the speaker means. Pragmatic also involves the interpretation based on a particular context and how the context influences what is said (Yule, 1996:3). As we have noticed that people somehow have the hidden significance (invisible meaning) and intention when they speak or produce utterances. That will be certainly understood through pragmatic, because pragmatic has certain terms to analyze it such as deixis, reference, presupposition, implicature, speech act, and so on. Therefore, applying pragmatic in analyzing and understanding to people’s utterance is no doubt suggested. 

Speech Act Theory
In attempting to actualize themselves, people do not only make utterances containing grammatical structure and words, they generally perform actions via those utterances (Yule, 1996:47).We call those actions as speech act which this essay later focuses on. To make it simple, it is commonly described more specific labels, such as request, compliment, invitation, promise, complaint, or apology.
            The action performed by producing an utterance will consist of three related acts. They are locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act (Austin, 1962 in Underwood, 2008). Locutionary act is the basic act of the utterance itself or we simply say the specific words the speaker says. Saeed (2009:228) states that it also means the act of saying something that makes sense in a language. The second, the action intended by the speakers is termed the illocutionary act (Saeed, 2009:228). It is related to the speaker’s purpose (intention in mind) of producing utterances. The third, called the perlocutionary act, focuses on what follows an utterance as the effect the speaker intends the hearer to recognize or do (Yule, 1996:49). Those three acts are related each other.

Slogan
            Slogan is a kind of short phrase which can be easily remembered which is usually used in advertising (Oxford, 2008). Supporting the idea above the slogan is often made from a word or phrases used in advertising or promotion to generally show a characteristic position, a stand, or a target to be gained (Blue, 2003). It is usually used for giving whether promise, directive or statement. Slogan has more communicative meaning than just what is said. By combining the appropriate words, the slogan will be created.
            Working without a slogan is like going undercover (Barnes, 2000). It is like moving without an “ID tag”. You might get the job done, but only a small number of people will know and seek you out for help (or make contributions). The lack of a slogan means extra work for your mailing. You have to do more explaining about who you are and what you are doing.
            A good slogan however has certain qualities that make it really work (Barnes, 2000). First, the slogan should be clear and concise by covering all bases in as few words as possible. It is suggested that the slogan be writen in present tense because it stresses action, effort, and what they are doing now for a particular cause. The last, appealing to people what you are trying to reach is also essentially asserted in the slogan. Those qualities make the slogan memorable and lasting.

Slogans of Jakarta Governor Election Candidates in 2012
            As we have known, most politicians or candidates around the world who are running for any election always try to make any slogan that can help them promote theirselves to public. The slogan they make should be short, intereting, meaningful, and able to attract public attention. That is the way they do to effectively get any support and vote through their slogan.
Related to the explanation above, we now focus on analyzing the slogan especially used by the candidates of Jakarta governor election in 2012. At that time, the governor candidates, in Indonesia we say cagub were competing to voice their voices. They made some slogans which really helped them for their campaign, then they exposed to societies. Of course, the reason they did so is with all purposes that the slogan had a power to attract public attention.
           
Speech Act in Slogans of Jakarta Governor Election Candidates in 2012
            By holding the public election, the governor candidates had already had their own slogans since they were prepered for that. One of them is Maju Terus Jakarta which belongs to Foke and Nara. The slogan clearly conveys that Jakarta has reached the good quality since it is leaded by the expert governor (Foke). Then, it does mean that the next duty is only to continue that achievement and give Foke and Nara chance to lead the city again. Through the slogan, Foke who was still the governor of Jakarta shows that he believes with his achievement he gave to Jakarta society. However, Foke should be wary because his slogan might also hit back to himself. It could happen when the people precisely think that Jakarta is still in bad condition and has no improvement at all.
Another slogan is Jakarta Hebat: Humanis, Egaliter, Berani, Amanat, Tanggap. This slogan belongs to Hendardji and Riza. It has some short positive jargons. This slogan becomes the longest slogan. But without any certain action and reaction, this slogan, in fact, has meaningless purpose, because it sounds strange and ordinary. The words Humanis, Egaliter, Berani, Tanggap are kinds of adjective which the function is to modify the noun (in this context, the noun is Jakarta). Yet, the word amanat does not make any sense and it is not suitable with the word Jakarta, what is the meaning of Jakarta amanat? In this situation, Hendardji-Riza’s slogan has uncompleted meaning and purpose which can make people confused. This also shows that Hendardji and Riza do not really express their plan clearly.
Next slogan is Jakarta Baru. Considering the shortness, this slogan definitely becomes the shortest one which also seems effective and feels fresh. This slogan belongs to Jokowi and Basuki. This slogan only has two words that make it simpler. Jokowi and Basuki try to give a perception that Jakarta really needs something new and different from now just like what the people hope. Another uniqueness of this slogan is that this slogan has two initial letters (J and B) which are the same as the initial candidates’ names. Does it include the plan? We do not know exactly. The main point, the slogan does become interesting for Jakarta societies.
Ayo Beresin Jakarta was a slogan which belongs to Hidayat and Didik. They make the slogan like a persuasive word. It means they try to invite Jakarta society to finalize and reform Jakarta. The best part ofthis slogan is that it constantly persuades the involvement of Jakarta societies. It also shows that before now Jakarta is in bad condition, then these candidates try to fix it all. But the next duty is of course they should reform Jakarta in particular short time because Jakarta societies generally want the sooner changes.
Next is Berdaya Bareng-bareng. This slogan belongs to Faisal and Biem. It is probably easy to remember because the initial letters of the slogan all begin with the same letters (B). But it is not the only strategy. The power of this slogan is the use of the words “bareng-bareng” which place Faisal and Biem in the same position with Jakarta society. They express their intention quite clearly that they want to invite more the low and average social class to work together rather than invite the high class just like the government usually do.
The last slogan is Tiga Tahun Bisa. This slogan belongs to Alex and Nono. Among other slogans, this slogan is likely to be considered as the brave and concrete one according to the time. Alex and Nono are very certain to reform all the disorganizations in Jakarta only in three years. Do Jakarta societies also believe that they can do it? Some will be sure, while others are still uncertain about that promise because they know that Jakarta has a lot of disorganizations such as social problems, environment, flood, traffic jam, and so on. Of course it still depends on their own perspectives.

CONCLUSION
            Understanding utterances needs to apply the speech act theory because an utterance has more communicative meaning than what is said especially the slogans made by the governor candidates of Jakarta election in 2012. The other reason is that through slogans the candidates show their identities and plans. It will be so much helpful for people wherever they are to consider this as the essential thing to understand and interprete those slogans especially for the people living in Jakarta so that they know what the candidates intend to do and plan.

References
Barnes, T. 2000. How to Craft A Good Slogan That “Sell” Your Organization. Fund Raising Management.
Blue, A. 2003. Taglines, Slogan, and Bear-oh, My. Information Outlook.
Bull, V. 2008. Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary: Four Edition. China: Oxford University  Press.
Holgraves, T. 2008. Conversation, Speech act, and Memory. Indiana: Ball State University. Memory&Cognition, 36 (2): 361-374.
Saeed, J.I. 2003. Semantic, Second Edition. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing.
Underwood, W. 2008. Recognizing Speech Acts in Presidential E-records. Georgia Institute of Technology.
Yule, G. 1996. Pragmatics. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.


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