AN ANALYSIS OF ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS IN ANGELA MERKEL’S

SPEECH TEXT AT THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL CONFERENCE

Presented by:

ROSITA SETYADI
160511100076

AS A PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE COURSE OF

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM

FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF TRUNOJOYO MADURA
2nd SEMESTER A.Y. 2018/2019
INTRODUCTION

Language is the central point of life. It plays significant roles regarding its
functions as a bridge for people to communicate their thoughts and ideas to one
another. As what Sapir (1921) stated, “Language is a purely human and non-
instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a
system of voluntarily produced symbols”. Thus, language and human are the
inseparable elements.

In expressing ideas, emotions, and thoughts, people tend to produce

utterances in a certain context. However, the utterances made should be
understood both by the hearer and the speaker in order to achieve the goal of
communication. Thus, it is necessary to realize the context of the conversation.
This is because context may influence the utterance. For instance, the utterance “I
sentence you to die” might give a massive impact to the life of a person only if
that statement declared by a Judge in the court. Nevertheless, it could have zero
effect if that utterance stated by a teacher to a student in the school. Consequently,
the same utterance in two particular situations bring different outcome.

There are several media of language to convey thoughts and feelings, one
of which is speech. Speech is a formal talk given to a large number of people on a
special occasion. It is often delivered by person who assumes to have powerful
position in certain area. Also, it carries many purposes, as like congratulating,
welcoming, pursuing, informing, and so on. Therefore, these actions are
recognized as speech acts. As Austin (1962) defined, there are three types of
speech acts namely locutionary acts, illocutionary acts, and perlocutionary acts. A
locutionary act is the literal meaning of an utterance. Then, the illocutionary act is
the further intention of the speaker in making the utterances. Meanwhile,
perlocutionary act is the effect of the utterances on the hearer. In short, these three
acts must have existed in an utterance.

From those three acts, according to Renkema (1993), illocutionary act is

the central focus of speech act. illocutionary acts is the most crucial one to be

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understood. This is because it brings the real intended meaning of speakers when
they uttered the utterances. As an illustration, if someone is saying, “Hey! There is
a gummy on your hair!”. The speaker is not only telling that there is gum on the
addressee’s hair but also the speaker warns the addressee to get rid of the gum
from his/her hair. It means that illocutionary acts go further than the literal
meaning of the utterance. Illocutionary act is the function of the word, the
particular intention that speakers have in mind (Cutting, 2002).

Furthermore, Searle (2005) distinguishes the illocution into primary and

secondary illocutionary acts. A primary illocutionary act is what the speaker
intends to communicate. Whereas, a secondary illocutionary acts is the literal
meaning of the utterance. By separating the illocutionary acts into two sub-
sections, it is easier to understand two meanings from the same utterance while at
the same time knowing which the correct meaning to respond is. Additionally,
Illocutionary acts are divided into five types that are representatives, directives,
commisives, expressives and declaratives acts.

Language is requisite to some politicians since almost all activities of them

performed by using language. Political campaigns, speeches, broadcast are meant
to construct the image of the politicians to society. Politicians as like president,
prime minister, and so on often deliver their speeches, either to their people or to
the face of the world and in national or international forums. Usually, the leaders
of the world deliver their speech in some particular occasions, as like opening and
closing a massive national or international event, giving their talk in forums, and
so on. With this in mind, it is clear that speech is the essential activities of
politicians to build up their image and social relations through an appropriate use
of language.

One of the most attractive speeches to be analyzed is the speech of Angela

Merkel at the intergovernmental conferences to Adopt the Global Compact for
Safe, Orderly And Regular Migration in Marrakech on 10 December 2018.
Angela Merkel is the chancellor of Germany. She remains the de facto leader of

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Europe, leading the region’s largest economy after steering Germany through
financial crisis and back growth.

Delivering a political speech is one of the implementations of political

discourse. According to Van Dijk (1997), “Political discourse is the text and talk
of professional politicians or political institutions, such as presidents and prime
ministers and other members of government, parliament or political parties, both
at the local, national, and international levels.” The intergovernmental conference
(IGC) is convened under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly.
Thus, Merkel’s speech at the IGC is counted as political stance where she comes
as the representatives of Germany.

With regards to this issue, there are two main problems that are going to
be discussed;

1. What are types of illocutionary acts performed by Angela Merkel in her

speech at the Intergovernmental Conference?
2. What are the dominant types of illocutionary acts performed by Angela
Merkel in her speech at the Intergovernmental Conference?

Therefore, the objectives of the study are functioned to have purpose, as

follows;

1. To discover types of illocutionary acts performed by Angela Merkel in her

speech at the Intergovernmental Conference.
2. To identify the dominant types of illocutionary acts used in Angela
Merkel’s speech at the Intergovernmental Conference.

THEORITICAL REVIEW

Pragmatics

Pragmatics is branch of linguistics that deals with meaning which based on

the speaker’s intention. It concerns about what people mean by saying something.
As what Morris (1938) said that pragmatics is a field of study which dealing with

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the relation of signs to interpreter. It means that pragmatics concerns about what
speaker say and what listener understand. This is about what the listener interpret
from what they hear, whether they get what the speakers’ purpose or not.

According to Levinson (1983) “syntax is taken to be the study of the

combinatorial properties of words and their parts, and semantics to be the study of
meaning, so pragmatics is the study of language usage.” From that definition, we
can consider that pragmatics is investigating the context—whether social or
cultural—in how people using language. Further, context itself is recognized to
wrap the identities of participants, the temporal and spatial parameters of speech
event, belief, knowledge, and the intention of participants in that speech event.
This is as in line with what Carnap (1956) stated that the concepts like belief,
utterance, and intention and their logical inter-relation are considered as pure
pragmatics.

Further, Grice’s theory justifies the interesting differences between

speaker-meaning and sentence-meaning. As an illustration, when someone is
saying Linguistics is fascinating said ironically, it may be meant by the speaker to
utter that ‘Linguistic is extremely boring’. From that instance, it can be known
that a sentence might always have two meaning that are; sentence-meaning or
speaker-meaning. Meaning is not something that is innate in the words alone, nor
is it produced by the speaker alone or the hearer alone. Meaning is produced in
interaction. That is why meaning is always negotiated.

However, pragmatics is the study of the facility of language users to

combine sentences with the context in which they would be appropriate. Hence,
language users are taking big part in dealing with this field of study.
Subsequently, Jakobson (1960) suggest that there are six basic components of
speech functions that are; the referential function, the emotive function, the
conative function, the metalinguistic function, the phatic function, and the poetic
function. In addition, pragmatics is the study of deixis, implicature,
presupposition, speech acts, and aspects of discourse structure. Thus, in order to

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participate in language usage, both the speaker and the hearer should make a good
cooperation in production and interpretation.

Speech Act

Speech act is a term coined by the philosopher J.L Austin which is now
widely used in the field of linguistics. It is considered as a language expression
which is not only provides information but also performs an action as well. As
Crystal (1991) defines speech act refers to a theory which analyses the role of
utterances in relation to the attitude of speakers and hearers in interpersonal
communication. As an illustration, the phrase “Could you turn off the radio?” is
not only considered as asking people whether they can turn the radio off or not but
also an act of speech where it expresses the speaker’s desire to get the radio off as
well as presenting a request to someone to turn off the radio.

Further, speech acts theory has been influenced the relationship between
form and function. This is because in speech act theory language is viewed as a
form of action. It brings massive impact on the field of discourse studies as this
theory concerns on what people are doing through the application of language
(Renkema, 1993). Later, speech act is the fundamental analysis in pragmatics
since almost all the object of pragmatics dealing with speech act in
communication. However, this term appears as a result of saying something where
the speakers have the further meaning behind their utterance.

Schiffrin (1994) states in her book entitled Approaches to Discourse that

all utterance performs speech acts, consists of a locutionary act (the production of
sounds and words with meanings, an illocutionary act (the action intended to be
performed by a speaker in uttering something), and perlocutionary act (the effect
on the hearer through uttering the expression). In other words, when someone is
uttering something there must be those three acts in it which the hearer should
comprehend in order to achieve the goal of communication.

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Illocutionary Acts

Illocutionary act is what the speaker wants to achieve by uttering

something and it can be the act of requesting, promising, ordering, asking, and so
on. This act is more than just uttering something but also to do something. For
instance, the utterance “Your dress is amazing!” is not only the expression of
saying something but also the speaker expresses his/her admiration. The illocution
is considered as the most important act in the speech act since it relates to the
speaker’s intention by uttering certain utterances. This action is related to social
functions. Another example: “It’s cold here”, it can be a request to close the
window or turn off the air conditioner or getting blanket, but it can be a complain
if that utterances is repeated for so many times.

There are five classification of illocutionary act proposed by Searle

(2005), those are:

1. Representatives

It refers to the acts which commit the speakers to the truth of the expressed
proposition. This act defines states or events in the world including assertions,
descriptions, claims, statement of fact, reports, and conclusions. Representatives is
also known as assertives. As an illustration:

(a) The earth is round

In the utterance above, the speaker defines that the earth is round based on
his/her belief. In this illustration, the speaker uses the illocutionary acts of
representative (describing).

2. Directives

This is kinds of speech acts which use to get someone else to do

something. According to Searle (2005), directive acts deal with an attempt of the
speakers to get the hearer to do something through the use of language. directive
acts may include some actions as like commanding, forbidding, inviting,

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requesting, and suggesting. Leech (1996) presented illustrations of directives as
follows:

(a) You may ask

(b) Would you make a cup of tea?

From the sentences above, the sentence (a) is a suggestion to ask

questions. Then, the sentence (b) is a request that functions to get the hearer to do
something.

3. Commissives

It deals with the acts which commit the speakers to some future course of
action. The commisive acts include promising, cowing, offering, threatening, and
refusing (Searle, 2005). Commisive act can be expressed using some verbs such
as agree, ask, offer, refuse, swear, all with following infinitives (Kreidler, 1998).
Below are the examples of commissives:

(a) I’ll be there at 7.

The above utterance is related to the futute actions of the speakers. The
modal will in the utterance signify a promise which is considered as commisives.

4. Expressives

Expressives refers to the acts that are performed by expressing a

psychological state of the speakers. Speakers of a language often express feelings
to the hearers when they speak. Expressive verb may consist of thank,
congratulate, apologize, regret, and welcome (Searle, 2005). Here is an example
of expressives:

(a) I do apologize for everything that I did.

The sentence above is an expression which shows regret for doing

something wrong and unsatisfied.

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5. Declaratives

It refers to those kinds of speech acts that change the world via utterances.
It can change the condition of the world immediately. Additionally, Leech (1996)
stated that declarative acts are the illocution of which successful performance
brings about the correspondence between propositional content and reality.
Further, declaratives acts may consist of baptizing, declaring, dismissing, naming,
resigning, and excommunicating. The utterances showing declarative acts are
defined as follows:

(a) Judge: “I sentence you to die”

The utterance above is more than just a statement. It may lead to the
change of condition in reality if they are expressed in a certain context. It is used
to perform the act of sentencing someone for doing something terrible.

RESEARCH METHOD

This study belongs to the field of qualitative study since the data were
entirely in the form of words, sentences, or texts rather than numbers. In
qualitative study, the researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and
data analysis. Source of the data of this research is a speech text of Angela Merkel
at the intergovernmental conference in Marrakech on 10 December 2018.
Subsequently, in collecting the data, the researcher utilized content analysis
method. According to Khotari (2004), content analysis is a method of analyzing
the content of documentary material such as book, magazines, and the content of
other verbal material which can be either spoken or printed. The steps are as
follows: (1) reading and re-reading the speech transcript, (2) selecting and
collecting the data, (3) classifying data based on the research problem, (4) coding
the data. In addition, the procedures in analyzing the data are finding the types of
illocutionary acts in the speech, describing and explaining the types of
illocutionary acts found in the speech, then drawing the conclusion based on the
data analysis.

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FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this part, the writer classifies the collected data based on the Searle’s
categories of illocutionary acts.

1. Representatives

It is kinds of acts which commit the speakers to the truth of the expressed
proposition. This act defines states or events in the world including assertions,
descriptions, claims, statement of fact, reports, and conclusions. Representatives is
also known as assertives. Assertives have the idea of what the speakers believe to
be true. There four kinds of assertive act found in Merkel’s speech as like
informing, convincing, describing, and stating. Questioning is not found in
Merkel’s speech. Those types of representatives are explained as follows.

The first type of representative act is informing. Angela Merkel performed

many acts of informing. The information she delivered deals with the fact of
immigrant and refugee. It shows the real condition of migration in the face of the
world. Merkel wants the audience to realize the truth of immigrant and refugee
that is miserable. Here are some samples of information presented by Merkel in
her speech.

Migration is a natural and frequent occurrence, and it is a good thing

when it takes place legally. (Paragraph 4, Line 5)

Germany is a member of the European Union. (Paragraph 5, Line 1)

Child labor is still a reality. Dire working conditions are a reality.

(Paragraph 7, Line 2)

Those three samples above shows that Merkel informs the audiences three
important things; first is about Germany that is one of the members of the
European Union, second is about the migration that is good phenomenon if it is
legal and last is about the real working conditions in the scope of immigrant and
refugee’s life.

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 Next, the second type of assertive act is convincing. In convincing the
audience, Merkel assures the audience that she comes as the representatives of
German. Also, she tries to convince people by reminding them that the UN is
founded as a result of World War II. She also emphasizes that by having
multilateral cooperation the goal of the conference can be reached. Here are the
illustrations of convincing in the Merkel’s speech.

It has become clear, and it also makes sense that this goal can only be
achieved through multilateral cooperation (Paragraph 4, Line 3)

We are aware that even within the context of legal migration as it exists in
the world today, some people are exposed to extremely unfair working
conditions. (Paragraph 7, Line 1).

It must be clear to everyone that states acting single-handedly will not be

able to resolve this problem, but that it must be tackled through
multilateral cooperation, and that this is indeed the only way to do so. It
has become clear, and it also makes sense that this goal can only be
achieved through multilateral cooperation (Paragraph 10, Line 5)

Ladies and gentlemen, it is worth reminding ourselves that the United

Nations was founded as a result of the Second World War. (Paragraph
14, Line 1)

As German Chancellor, I stand here as a representative of a country that

brought immeasurable suffering on humanity as a consequence of
National Socialism. (Paragraph 14, Line 2)

Describing is also considered as types of assertive. Merkel describes about

the compact and how human traffickers doing bad things and bringing high risks
to people. The describing act is represented below.

The Compact states specifically that the Member States have the sovereign
right to determine their own policies. At the same time, the Compact is not
legally binding. (Paragraph 6, Line 4)

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 We cannot allow human traffickers and smugglers to decide on whether
someone from one country should enter another, robbing poor people of
their money in the process. Ultimately, this money is then used for drug
trafficking or the purchasing of weapons, which in turn makes these
countries even more unsafe. (Paragraph 10, Line 1)

That is why the Compact goes hand in hand with implementation of the
2030 Agenda. It has already been said here today that if the goals in the
areas of education, health, security and nutrition are not achieved, neither
will we manage to get to grips with illegal migration and truly put a stop
to it. That means that the development and implementation of this
Compact and its content are inextricably linked. (Paragraph 12, Line 2)

Stating also belong to the types of assertive act. In her speech, Merkel only
use this act to state the importance of the day since it deals with the political
agreement on migration at global level for the first time. The illustration is
represented below.

Today is a very important day. (Paragraph 2, Line 1)

Today we are adopting this Compact, which expressly states that its focus
is on safe, orderly and regular migration. (Paragraph 4, Line 1)

In the utterances above shows that Merkel states the state of affair where it
is a crucial day dealing with the adoption of global compact for safe, orderly, and
regular migration in Marrakech.

The last type of representative acts, that is questioning, does not appear on
Merkel’s speech.

2. Directives

This is kinds of speech acts which use to get someone else to do

something. According to Searle (2005), directive acts deal with an attempt of the
speakers to get the hearer to do something through the use of language. Directive

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acts may include some actions as like commanding, forbidding, inviting,
requesting, and suggesting. By performing this act, the speakers intend to produce
some effects through action on the hearers. The directive acts found in Angela
Merkel’s speech is forbidding and inviting.

Forbidding is the act to forbid people to do something or to refuse to allow

something to be undertaken. In this speech, Merkel uses forbidding acts to
discontinue the human traffickers and smugglers phenomenon. Here is the
illustration of the forbidding acts.

We cannot allow human traffickers and smugglers to decide on whether

someone from one country should enter another, robbing poor people of
their money in the process. (Paragraph 10, Line 1)

Inviting acts is also discovered in Merkel’s speech. She invites the

audiences to stand up for the compact to combat illegal immigrant and refugee.
This act is shown through this sample below.

That is why it is worth fighting for this Compact – both because of the
many people who will thereby be able to have a better life, and because of
its clear commitment to multilateralism. (Paragraph 15, Line 1)

3. Commissives

It deals with the acts which commit the speakers to some future course of
action. The commisive acts include promising, cowing, offering, threatening, and
refusing (Searle, 2005). Commisive act can be expressed using some verbs such
as agree, ask, offer, refuse, swear, all with following infinitives (Kreidler, 1998).

Commisive are acts which commit the speaker to some future actions. The
type of commisive act performed by Merkel in her speech is promising. Merkel
uses the act of promising frequently. By promising, she gives hope to the audience
that through this compact, it will bring a good impact to the world. Here are the
illustrations of promising act shown below.

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 Germany is a country that in future will continue to require higher
numbers of qualified experts, including more experts from countries
outside the European Union. (Paragraph 6, Line 1)

So we will be reliant on legal migration as far as qualified experts are

concerned and will need to talk to other countries about what is in our
interests. (Paragraph 6, Line 6)

The Compact is also expressly intended to prevent and counter illegal

migration. It expresses the commitment to border management. It
expresses the commitment to fighting human trafficking. It expresses the
conviction that every individual should have adequate documentation. And
it raises the issue of the readmission of nationals residing illegally in
another state. (Paragraph 8)

This is the only way that we will be able to make our world a better place.
Germany is committed to this task. (Paragraph 15, Line 3)

Germany will continue to play an active role in its further implementation

for the benefit of the people on our planet. (Paragraph 15, Line 5)

From those illustrations above, it can be seen that Merkel promises a lot to
the audiences that German commits to do the task and play a big role in order to
achieve the goal of the compact which will bring a good impact to the human
being.

4. Expressives

Expressives refers to the acts that are performed by expressing a

psychological state of the speakers. Speakers of a language often express feelings
to the hearers when they speak. Expressive verb may consist of thank,
congratulate, apologize, regret, and welcome (Searle, 2005). The act of
expressive are covered the category of thanking, state of pleasure, greeting, and
expression of feeling.

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 Thanking comes in the beginning, in the middle and the closing of the
speech. In the beginning of the speech, Merkel thanked to all the elements of the
event, starting from the host to all of the audiences to make this event successful.
In the middle of her speech, she thanked the International Organization for
migration and the Kingdom of Morocco to make this event possible. However, at
the end of the speech, she also expressed her gratitude to all of the audiences. This
act functions as an opening and closing mark of the speech. The acts of thanking
in the speech are presented as follows.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to our Moroccan hosts, as well

as to the United Nations and to everyone else who has made this
conference possible. (Paragraph 1, Line 1)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the International

Organization for Migration. (Paragraph 9, Line 2)

I would like to thank the Kingdom of Morocco specifically for the great
responsibility it has assumed for migration issues within the African
Union. (Paragraph 11, Line 1)

Thank you very much. (Paragraph 16)

The next types of expressive found in Merkel’s speech is state of pleasure.

Merkel stated her pleasure to have an opportunity to talk and be invited in
Marrakech. Her state of pleasure comes at the beginning of the speech which also
marks as the opening of the speech. Here is the illustration of state of pleasure in
the speech.

I am delighted to be here with you in Marrakech today. (Paragraph 1,

Line 1)

Greeting belongs to the act of expressive as well. It is part of a speech

structure that usually found in the beginning and at the closing of the speech.
Merkel greets the audiences by saying the formal terms which refers to the
persons directly. Here are the terms that she uses to greet anyone in the event,

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Conference President Foreign Minister Bourita, Secretary-General, President of
the General Assembly Maria Espinosa, Special Representative for International
Migration Louise Arbour, Presidents, Colleagues, Excellencies, Ladies and
gentlemen. Later, she uses Ladies and Gentlemen in the middle of the speech to
greet the audiences as shown in the illustration below.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is worth reminding ourselves that the United

Nations was founded as a result of the Second World War. (Paragraph
14, Line 1)

She also expresses her feelings through this utterance, “and that is why I
made a very deliberate decision to come to Morocco today” (Paragraph 14, Line
6). It indicates that she is very eager to come to Morocco in order to attend the
important conference for a better world.

5. Declaratives

It refers to those kinds of speech acts that change the world via utterances.
It can change the condition of the world immediately. Additionally, Leech (1996)
stated that declarative acts are the illocution of which successful performance
brings about the correspondence between propositional content and reality.
Further, declaratives acts may consist of baptizing, declaring, dismissing, naming,
resigning, and excommunicating. This kind of act is not found in the speech. This
is because by using declarative act, it will bring a massive impact to the condition
of the world.

Therefore, the representative act is the most dominant types found in

Angela Merkel’s speech. This is because she tends to tell the condition of the
world which at risk if there are still lots of illegal immigrant roaming in this world
without any law. So that, she inclines to inform the audiences on how importance
to adopt the global compact for safe, orderly, and regular migration in order to
have the better place in the better world.

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CONCLUSION

Based on the discussion above, it can be concluded that there are four
types of illocutionary acts found in Angela Merkel’s speech at the
Intergovernmental Conference in Marrakech on 10 December 2018 that are
representatives acts, directive acts, commissive acts, and expressive acts. Further,
the types of represantatives acts consist of informing, convincing, describing, and
stating. Then, the directive acts found in Angela Merkel’s speech is forbidding
and inviting. The type of commisive act performed by Merkel in her speech is
promising. The act of expressive are covered the category of thanking, state of
pleasure, greeting, and expression of feeling. Further, the representative act is the
most dominant types of illocutionary acts found in Angela Merkel speech.

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Speech by Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel at the Intergovernmental

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