i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I declare that this research paper is mine and original No other person‘s work has been used without acknowledgement in the thesis Binh Dinh, 2019 Signature Xaiyavongkham Von[.]
i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I declare that this research paper is mine and original No other person‘s work has been used without acknowledgement in the thesis Binh Dinh, 2019 Signature Xaiyavongkham Vongbouasy e ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Quang Ngoan for his support and guidance in my completion of the thesis I am also thankful to all the lecturers at Quy Nhon University for their profound knowledge and endless support during my study at Quy Nhon University I would also like to thank my classmates who are always willing to help me and give their best suggestions and encouragement to me during my process of conducting the study Finally, I owe the completion of this paper to my wife and children, who have always been standing by me on my road to success e iii ABSTRACT This MA thesis aims to study forms and structures of commissives by Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama, and Donald Trump as the US presidents in their terms The statistic, analytic, synthetic, descriptive, and comparative methods are used to examine 331 commissives, collected from 48 speeches made by the three presidents in their terms The results show that forms of commissives are realized in structures with performative verbs, structures with commissive words, and structures without commissive words, among which the last one is the most commonly used As far as functions are concerned, commissives are used by the three presidents to express offer/promise, threat/warning and refusal, with the first one being the most frequently employed e iv TABLE OF CONTENTS SUB-COVERS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP…………………………………… i AKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………… iv ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS ……………………… vii LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………… … viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale .1 1.2 Aim and Objectives 1.2.1 Aim 1.2.2 Objectives 1.3 Research questions .3 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Definition of terms 1.7 Structure of the thesis 1.8 Summary .6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW e v 2.1 Theory of speech acts 2.1.1 Notion of speech act .7 2.1.2 Degrees of speech act 2.1.3 Classification of speech acts 2.1.4 Indirect speech acts 11 2.1.5 Role of context in speech act studies .15 2.2 Previous relevant studies 15 2.3 Summary .22 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23 3.1 Research methods 23 3.2 Research procedures .24 3.3 Data sources and samples .24 3.4 Data analysis 29 3.5 Validity and reliability 29 3.6 Summary .30 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .31 4.1 Structures of commissives in speeches by US presidents 31 4.1.1 Commissives with performative verbs 32 4.1.2 Commissives with commissive words 35 4.1.3 Commissives without commissive words .38 4.1.4 Similarities and differences in structures of commissives by Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump 41 4.2 Functions of commissives in speeches by US presidents .44 e vi 4.2.1 Commissives for offer/promise 45 4.2.2 Commissives for threat/warning 49 4.2.3 Commissives for refusal 52 4.2.3 Similarities and differences in structures of commissives by Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump 55 4.3 Summary .56 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS .57 5.1 Conclusions 57 5.2 Implications 59 5.3 Limitations of the study .60 5.4 Suggestion for further study 60 REFERENCES 61 APPENDIX: 64 e vii ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS - Per V Performative verbs - Commissive W Commissive words - Italic is used for linguistic terms mentioned the first time and examples - Italic and bold is used for highlighting the signals of commissives - Examples and tables are numbered according to chapter e viii LIST OF TABLES Table Titles numbers Page numbers 2.1 Analysis of indirect speech acts 12 3.1 Commissive triggers for sample collection 27 3.2 4.1 Total of commissives as samples in the study Frequency of occurrence of different commissive 28 31 structures in total 4.2 Frequency of occurrence of different commissive 32 structures by president 4.3 Similarities and differences in commissive structures by 41 the three presidents 4.4 Frequency of occurrence of different commissive 44 functions in total 4.5 Frequency of occurrence of different commissive functions by president e 44 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the rationale, aims and objectives of the study with its research questions, scope and significance The definitions of terms and structures of the thesis are also presented 1.1 RATIONALE When political leaders take a new position, they usually make commitments to different things to make people happy or satisfied It is for this reason that commissive speech acts are commonly made by political leaders Commissive speech acts or commissives are kinds of speech acts that speakers use to commit themselves to doing something with words Let‘s analyze the commissives in (1.1), (1.2), and (1.3) (1.1) Let us guarantee every American comprehensive health benefits that can never be taken away (September 22, 1993: Address on Health Care Reform) Example (1.1) is a commissive made by Former President Bill Clinton in his address on health care reform on September 22nd, 1993 Structurally, this commissive is realized in a structure with the commissive word guarantee Functionally, it is for making a promise to the audience (1.2) Going forward, I am committed to addressing these costs openly and honestly Our new approach in Afghanistan is likely to cost us roughly $30 billion for the military this year, and I'll work closely with Congress to address these costs as we work to bring down our deficit (December 1, e 2009: Speech on Strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan) In terms of structure, utterance (1.2) uttered by Former President Barack Obama in his speech on strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan on December 1st, 2009 is realized, in the first part, in a structure with the commissive word committed, and in the second part in a structure without commissive words: “I‟ll work” Both of them are, however, promises functionally (1.3) And we‘re pouring a lot of money and a lot of talent into this horrible problem And we pledge to honor the memory of those you lost with action and determination and resolve We’ll get it We will not rest until the end (March 19, 2018: Remarks on Combating the Opioid Crisis) Utterance (1.3) is a commissive made by President Donald Trump in his remarks on combating the opioid crisis on March 19 th, 2018 He uses both the performative verb pledge and structures without commissive words “We‟ll get it” and “We will not rest” for the promises he intends to make Thus, it is especially interesting to study commissives as a speech act type Surprising, no research of commissives has been conducted in Vietnam although there have been studies in speech act types in textbooks (Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Dung, 2014; Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm, 2014), indirect speech acts (Đoàn Thị Hương Hiền, 2015), expressives (Võ Trọng Nhơn, 2016), representatives (Nguyễn Xuân Vĩnh, 2013) and directives (Nguyễn Thị Thanh Bình, 2011) Thus, there has been no study on commissives in Vietnam with a focus on structures and functions, especially by US presidents though they are famous for using language to successfully communicate their intended meanings That means there are a literature gap and good reasons for my choice of the research topic “Structure and Functions of Commissives by US Presidents” for my MA thesis e ... of Commissives by US Presidents? ?? for my MA thesis e 1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES 1.2.1 Aim of the Study This study aims to analyze the structures and functions of commissives speech acts made by US presidents. .. differences in structures of commissives by Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump 41 4.2 Functions of commissives in speeches by US presidents .44 e vi 4.2.1 Commissives for offer/promise... What are the structures of commissives made by the investigated US presidents? What are the functions of commissives made by the investigated US presidents? What are the similarities and differences