THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the completion of this work, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable contributions from many people I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Nguyễn Thị Tường, M.A for guiding me to research and giving me many advices and suggestions I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to my teachers in Foreign Languages Department, my family and my friends for their various kinds of help and encouragement Vinh, May 2010 Pham Thi Thuy Dung i ABSTRACT Communicating is an important part of daily life People must talk to each other to work and satisfy their own communicating need Invitation is a popular speech act in daily conversation But how to achieve the goals of invitation politely and avoid putting hearer and speaker in difficult position, using pre-invitation is a solution This research presents pre-invitation, its functions and some common forms Many examples were collected from many books, stories and documents to explain more clearly Finally, some main similarities and differences in preinvitation between English and Vietnamese are pointed out ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Pag e iii ABBREVIATION CA: contrastive analysis Fig.: figure e.g.: for example FTA: face threatening act H’s: his or her i.e.: that is to say T: turn iv PART A: INTRODUCTION Reasons for choosing the topic In communication, participants always try to achieve something in their turns To achieve the goals of communication, speakers usually try to plan their actions logically and use the communicating strategies through speech acts In conversation, we must use some certain kinds of speech acts which are likely to threaten another’s face To reduce the greatest risk, people often use many strategies One of these strategies is using presequences However, in text books for pupils, pre-sequences are not often presented For example, a conversation is used to teach about how to make an invitation, often just present the inviting act only A : Let’s go to the movie tonight B : I have to study for an exam Terasaki (1976) has pointed out, in ordinary conversation invitations are not made in simple pairs such as invitation and denial or invitation and acceptance More routinely, the inviter issues a pre-invitation in order to find out what likely result of any subsequent invitation will be A : What are you doing tonight? (pre-invitation) B : Not much (positive response to project invitation) A : How about a movie? (invitation) The reason of writer for doing this study is to give knowledge to the readers about the pre-sequences, especially, pre-invitation From this study, the writer hopes that it can give description of what is meant by preinvitation especially in helping people for better arranging and understanding conversations Aims of the study This study helps the readers understanding about the meaning of preinvitation and its usage in conversation The writer wants to describe the forms and functions of pre-invitation in order to help the readers to organize a better conversation, especially, when they want to make an invitation, to achieve the best result as well as to avoid putting participants in difficult position Scope of the study This study focuses on the utterances which contain pre-sequences, especially, pre-invitation The writer only presents some main purposes of using pre-invitation and its common forms with the examples in both English and Vietnamese Methods of the study To conduct the study, we have used the following methods: − Analysis − Statistics − Comparative and contrastive methods Design of the study The thesis comprises three main parts: Part A : Introduction This part presents the reasons for choosing the topic, aims, scope, methods and format of the study Part B : Development This is the main part of this study divided into three chapters: Chapter I: Theoretical background Chapter II: Pre-invitation in English and Vietnamese Chapter III: Some similarities and differences Part C: Conclusion This part reviews major findings of the thesis and suggests some directions for further study PART B: DEVERLOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Speech acts To understand about speech acts, we will examine the origin of the concept “speech acts” The idea of speech acts has its roots in the Philosophy of Language J A Austin was the first person who wanted to capture the fact that there is more in the function of language than semantics Traditionally, mapping of entities of a proposition onto referents and defining the truth value of a proposition was the major area of interest in language semantics With Austin, and his follower J R Searle, there is a shift towards the events or acts that occur via language, it is called “speech acts” These acts effect changes both in the observable world, as well as in the mental states of dialogue participants Austin's approach introduces pragmatics in studying and modeling language Consequently, the focus is now on utterances and not propositions Speech acts play an important role in everyday conversation They became a topic of sustained investigation, at least in the English-speaking world, in the middle of the Twentieth Century Since that time “speech act theory” has been influential not only within philosophy, but also in linguistics, psychology, legal theory, artificial intelligence, literary theory and many other scholarly disciplines Recognition of the importance of speech acts has illuminated the ability of language to other things than describe reality In the process the boundaries among the philosophy of language, the philosophy of action, the philosophy of mind and even ethics have become less sharp According to Yule (1996: 47) “actions performed via utterances are generally called speech acts” The philosopher J.L Austin considered speech acts as “utterances (things people say) are equivalent to actions” When someone says: “I name this ship” or “I now pronounce you man and wife”, the utterance creates a new social or psychological reality We perform speech acts when we offer an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal A speech act is an utterance that serves a function in communication A speech act might contain just one word, as in “Sorry!” to perform an apology, or several words or sentences: “I’m sorry I forgot your birthday” I just let it slip my mind." Speech acts include real-life interactions and require not only knowledge of the language but also appropriate use of that language within a given culture 1.1.1 Structure of speech act According to Austin, there are three types of acts that can be performed by every utterance, given the right circumstances: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts • Locutionary act is simply the speech acts that have taken place It is the basic act of utterance or producing a meaningful-linguistic expression Making an utterance, the speaker performs a locutionary act that is an act of saying something with a determinate sense and reference According to Austin, locutionary act expresses the meaning of the statement itself For example, when saying “step back”, speaker want to tell someone step back • Illocutionary acts are the real actions which are performed by the utterance, where saying equals doing, as in betting, plighting one’s troth, welcoming and warning The illocutionary act is not in one-to-one correspondence with the locution from which it is derived There are different locutions that express the same illocution and vice-versa For example, there are indirect speech acts that act with a different force than the obviously deducible one A typical example is the locution of the utterance “Could you pass the salt?” uttered at a dinner table For a speaker of English in the particular situation this means “Pass the salt, please” and no one would assume that the speaker is indeed interested in whether the hearer would be able to pass the salt • Perlocutionary acts are the effects of the utterance on the listener Depending on the kind of per locution, different conditions have to hold in order for it to be achieved In other word, depending on the circumstances, you will utter on the assumption that the hearer will recognize the effect you intended For example, the hearer in the salt example has to realize that the speaker's intention is to ultimately get hold of the salt The most discussed act among these three dimensions is illocutionary act, especially, illocutionary force Indeed, the term “speech acts” is generally interpreted narrowly to mean only the illocutionary force of an utterance 1.1.2 Classification of speech acts In 1975, Searle suggested the following classification of speech acts: • Assertives (Representatives) They commit the speaker to something being the case Those different kinds are: suggesting, putting forward, swearing, boasting, and concluding No one makes a better cake than me It was a nice day • Directives They try to make the addressee perform an action In other words, speaker use these kinds of speech acts to get someone to something The different kinds are: asking, ordering, requesting, inviting, advising, and begging Could you close the window? Would you like to have a cup of coffee? • Commisives They commit the speaker to doing something in the future The different kinds are: promising, planning, vowing, betting, opposing I'm going to Paris tomorrow I’ll be back • Expressives They express how the speaker feels about the situation The different kinds are thanking, apologizing, welcoming, deploring I am sorry that I lied to you Congratulation! • Declarations They change the state of the world in an immediate way The speaker has to have a special institutional role, in a specific context, in order to perform a declaration appropriately Boss: You are fired! Priest: I now pronounce you are husband and wife Referee: you’re out! 1.2 Politeness According to Yule (1996: 60) politeness is treated “as a fixed concept, as in the idea of polite social behavior, or etiquette, within a culture It is also possible to specify a number of different general principles for being polite in social interaction within a particular culture Some of these might include being tactful, generous, modest, sympathetic toward others” Yule defined politeness “as the means employed to show awareness of another person’s face” We will discuss deeplier person’s face and its definition in the following parts It is also considered as “…what we think is appropriate behavior in particular situations in an attempt to achieve and maintain successful social relationships with others.” (Lakoff 1972: 910) hearer does not understand the speaker’s purpose, there will be a misunderstanding between them and the conversation may become the example below: A: Tơi có hai vé xem phim tối B: Chúc mừng bạn Thế phim thế? A: Chung dung song B: Hay ! Chúc buổi tối vui vẻ (Nguyen Thien Giap, 2000) 2.3.2.3 Exclamative forms This form of pre-invitation is used to express speaker’s feeling and attitude towards the hearer In Vietnamese, this type is realized by some final particles such as lạ, thật, quá, lắm, biết bao, biết mấy… Although this form is used much in Vietnamese, it is seen less in English - Nếu Loan đồng ý, Anh mời Loan ăn kem Ở chỗ có kem Bắc cực ngon lắm! - Em phải thổi cơm cho mẹ (Lê Ngọc Minh, 1997) - Thôi mà! Anh đói lắm! Mình ăn phở - Phọc môn không hà, em sợ bị ướp xác (Trần Thi Bảo Châu,) - Em tìm hàng ăn ngon lắm! Ta ăn nhé! - Để khác, muộn Bây anh muốn nghe em nói chuyện (Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Tú, 1979) 2.3.2.4 Conditional forms This type of sentence will help the speaker to check permissive conditions or the ability of the hearer to carry out the invitation And the hearer’s response will answer for the pre-invitation not for the invitation, so it can reduce the risk when the hearer gives a negative response In Vietnamese, these sentences often consist of the words and phrases such as 32 “Nếu…, Nếu rảnh/rỗi”, “khi rảnh”, “thư thả (thì), “nếu có thời gian”, “nếu khơng bận gì”… - Nếu Un thích đị sơng anh tình nguyện chở Un khơng? - Em thích chứ!” (Minh Uyên, 1998) - Nếu tối thứ bảy anh khơng bận, vui lịng mời anh đến nhà chơi However, in daily conversation speaker can use many forms at the same time to increase their effects - Nếu Loan đồng ý (conditional form), Anh mời Loan ăn kem Ở chỗ có kem Bắc cực ngon lắm! (exclamative form) In conclusion, there are many forms of sentences used to make preinvitation Each type has different functions and different ways to express speaker’s purpose 33 CHAPTER III: SOME SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OF PRE-INVITATION BETWEEN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH 3.1 Similarities In daily conversation, pre-invitation is used commonly in both English and Vietnamese with the same purposes: − to get the idea about how participant will respond to invitation before they make an invitation A: Are you doing anything on Saturday evening? B: I don’t think I am − to avoid putting both the hearer and the speaker in a difficult position A: Tơi có hai vé xem phim tối (pre-invitation) B: Ngày mai thi − to get the hearer’s attention A: Tối bạn có rỗi khơng? B: Khơng, mà có chuyện cơ? − to be a reason for invitation A: I’m having friends to dinner on Sunday, and I’d really you to come B: Sure! − to persuade the invitee to accept the invitation A: Say, we’ve come here to dance but not to sit and listen Why not have a dance? B: You are right, dear Sitting is boring, but I’m not good at Tango.” The most used form of pre-invitation in both English and Vietnamese is interrogative form; declarative form is used less than interrogative form In the interrogative form, the most sub-form used is Yes/No question In English 34 Pedro : Are you busy Saturday night, Jill? Jill : Well …uh…I don’t have any definite plans yet Why? Pedro: I though we might go to the new movie at the Playhouse Theater Jill : Fantastic ! I read a good review of it, and I `d love to go! In Vietnamese A : Tối bạn có rỗi khơng? B : Khơng, mà có chuyện cơ? A : Tơi muốn mời bạn xem phim với tôi! 3.2 Differences Pre-invitation in Vietnamese is more flexible, it is used in many different forms, in many different positions while in English we just see pre-invitation with interrogatives and declaratives Vietnamese people use more forms than English people do, apart from the common forms such as interrogatives, declaratives, and exclamative in Vietnamese, we can also see pre-invitation in imperative form E.g: “Hãy thong thả, nước rồi, uống vài chén chè tàu với đã.” (Khái Hưng, 1999) English people use more interrogative forms, and less exclamative forms than Vietnamese people Pre-invitation seldom appears after invitation in English In contrast, pre-invitation appears after invitation more frequently in Vietnamese, especially, there are some typical phrases which often follow invitation in order to persuade the hearer and make the invitee feel more comfortable such as “Đừng làm khách”, “cứ tự nhiên”, “xin coi người nhà”, “chúng coi anh/chị người nhà”… Anh mời cơm đi, đừng làm khách 35 Vietnamese people often consider an invitation a formal act, so they often hesitate when they are invited to something Therefore, the preinvitation such as “Đừng làm khách”, “cứ tự nhiên”, “xin coi người nhà”, “chúng coi anh/chị người nhà”… will make the invitee feel more comfortable and accept the invitation About the answers for pre-invitation question, Vietnamese often use hedging response We can see very clearly through the collected examples However, English people often answer directly by “stop” response or “goahead” response This shows Vietnamese people’s habit of indirect talking, often avoid talking directly, and try to keep a good relationship with others This is a special characteristic of Vietnamese communication style which will be introduced in the next article ∗ A hedging response for pre-invitation question in Vietnamese A: Tối bạn có rỗi khơng? B: Khơng, mà có chuyện cơ? A: Tơi muốn mời bạn xem phim với tôi! B: Ồ, ngày mai phải thi ∗ A go-ahead response for pre-invitation question in English A: what are you doing tonight? (pre-invitation) B: Not much (go-ahead response to project invitation) A: How about a movie? (invitation) B: Okay (acceptance) A habit of Vietnamese people is asking some questions around the main topic before going to the target This is seen clearly in Vietnamese communication style, it also called “go around talking” Similarly, before making an invitation, Vietnamese people often talk about something related to the invitation, one of them is considered pre-invitation Other differences of pre-invitation in Vietnamese and English are that in Vietnamese, pre-invitation can express the speaker’s feeling and 36 attitude more clearly By go with the exclamative words and the final particles, pre-invitation can show that the relationship between speaker and hearer is close or distant, speaker is older or younger than hearer or the social status of speaker is higher or lower than hearer - Thôi mà! Anh đói Mình ăn phở Phọc mơn khơng hà, em sợ bị ướp xác (Trần Thi Bảo Châu) In the example above, we can realize the close relationship between inviter and invitee “Thôi mà” is a word express the intimate relationship In another example, the pre-invitation “Này anh, trời mưa, anh khơng tìm thấy ông Cương kia” shows the distant relationship, and the speaker and hearer are the same status − Này anh, trời mưa, anh khơng tìm thấy ơng Cương kia, mời anh uống cà phê không? (Hồng Hoang, 2000) Vietnamese is more flexible and has more variants than English Preinvitation in Vietnamese can be a phrase, a clause or sentences, depending on the specific situation and speaker’s purposes Let’s study some of the following examples: • A clause “Hãy thong thả, nước rồi, uống vài chén chè tàu với đã.” (Khái Hưng, 1999) -Nếu Un thích đị sơng anh tình nguyện chở Un khơng? - Em thích chứ!” (Minh Uyên, 1998) • A phrase - Mới giờ, hai em có bát phố khơng? - Anh qn tụi em ghét chơi buổi tối (Vũ Hồng Mai, 1997) 37 • A sentence - Em có à? - Ta vào uống cà phê (Trần Chiến, 2000) And pre-invitation in English often a clause or a sentence There is hardly seen a phrase as a pre-invitation • A clause We’re having some people over Saturday evening and wanted to know if you’d like to join us • A sentence A : What are you doing tonight? B : I have to study for an exam A : how about Wednesday? One special difference is that in English pre-invitation with the yes/no question form, we seldom see the answers: Yes or No They are often detail answers like the answer for informative questions and the hearer can understand what they mean (Yes or No) e.g - Are you doing anything on Saturday evening? - I don’t think I am e.g - Are you busy Saturday night, Jill? - Jill : Well …uh…I don’t have any definite plans yet Why? e.g - Uh, are you doing anything on Saturday night? - Hmm, Saturday night? Let me think Oh yes My cousin just called to say he was flying at that night I told him I would pick him up 3.3 Some main reasons for differences There are several reasons which cause the differences between English and Vietnamese in invitation such as the different in culture, society, and many things of life All these things are showed in 38 communication styles, let’s see how different between the two countries’ communication styles Some common characteristics of both English and Vietnamese communication style are pointed out Through these characteristics of each language, we can see the differences between the two languages, the two countries’ culture That is the reason why they create the differences of preinvitation We will deal with some common characteristics of English and Vietnamese communication styles, which can help communicators of English, achieve greater success and avoid awkwardness in communication 3.3.1 English communication Style English people have an interesting mix of communication styles encompassing both understatement and direct communication Many older businesspeople or those from the 'upper class' rely heavily upon formal use of established protocol Most English are masters of understatement and not use effusive language If anything, they have a marked tendency to use ‘qualifiers’ such as ‘perhaps’, ‘possibly’ or ‘it could be’ When communicating with people they see as equal to themselves in rank or class, the English are direct, but modest If communicating with someone they know well, their style may be more informal, although they will still be reserved Humor is the cornerstone of the English society It is used in numerous ways: to establish a positive atmosphere, to create a sense of togetherness, to bridge differences, to introduce risky ideas, to criticize, to show appreciation or contempt of a person English people joke about everything including the queen, politicians, religion, themselves and you! You'd better get used to that Humor is often combined with understatement Depending on the tone “Not bad” can actually mean “very good” and “not bad at all” might be the highest praise you ever get from a British 39 English people are very polite In a restaurant, you will have to say “thank you” when you get the menu, “thank you” when you place the order, “thank you” when get your dishes, “thank you” when the waiter takes away the plates and even “thank you” when you pay! You will have to say “excuse me” if you want to pass someone and “I'm sorry” if you accidentally touch someone English people even say sorry if you stand on their toes! They are also very “quiet” and keep to themselves This can be hard if you want to make friends with them In Britain, “please”, “thank you”, and sometimes “thank you very much” are involved in just about every human transaction They are necessary and expected in communication with the English English politeness has a ritualized predictability and expected formality (Weisser 1987:5) People in Britain are very time-oriented, respecting deadlines and punctuality People who talk loud are considered ill-bred, ill-mannered and ill-educated 3.3.2 Vietnamese communication style Viet Nam is a typical agricultural country, people's lives must depend much on natural conditions, thus, for existence and development, owners of Viet Nam villages that are peasants in the majority must rely on and link to each other’s That's why, communal character has been regarded as the first cultural characteristic of Viet Nam villages This characteristic affects greatly the Vietnamese communication style - Attitudes towards communication: Vietnamese people are half shy, half interested in communication As already noted, Vietnamese people must live rely on and connect to each other and respect for keeping a good relationship among members in community This is the reason why Vietnamese people really like to communicate Vietnamese people are interested in visiting each other Although they had closed relationship or they meet each other everyday, they still visit each other when they have 40 free time, especially, in the traditional holidays such as Tet Vietnamese people are also very hospitable When someone visits Vietnamese home, they will be warmly welcome “Khách đến nhà khơng gà vịt” The rural organization according to many different rules at the same time has created two most basic characteristics of Viet Nam countryside to be community and autonomy As a result, although Vietnamese really like communication, they are very shy When inside the familiar community, they are very open and like to communicate but outside the familiar community, among strangers they tend to be shy and less communicate This shows the flexible behavior of Vietnamese in communication - Communication relationship: Vietnamese people consider sentiment a principle of behavior Sentiment is an important element in Vietnamese communication culture Vietnamese people respect for the older, this can be seen clearly through the way they address and use exclamation words such as “ạ” - In communication, Vietnamese people appreciate tact and harmony Tactful communication created Vietnamese habit of “go around talking” People often think carefully before saying or responding “uốn lưỡi ba lần trước nói”; “ăn có nhai nói có nghĩ” They never start mentioning directly to the points Before talking about the main topic, they often ask about heath, family, sport…etc Because of appreciating harmony, they tend to make concession in the life “một nhịn chín lành” In Vietnamese culture, invitation is an speech act expressing friendly and hospitable attitude, politeness and respect toward the hearer They have many different ways to express invitation depending on the situation, participants, relationship, purpose and objective of communication Who invite, invite whom, close or distant relationship, invite to somewhere, something…all affect the way they express their invitation 3.4 Applications in language teaching and learning 41 As there is no indication from research that all invitations in natural conversation are preceded by pre-invitations, it is not necessary for every invitation to be preceded by a pre-invitation However, if students are to learn about interaction, pre-sequences are an important part of the picture Because the pre-sequences such as pre-invitation, pre-request, preannouncement project future actions, language learners need to able to recognize these types of pre-sequences in order to able to respond appropriately These types of pre-sequences are also solutions language learners can use to avoid receiving dispreferred responses Teaching students about interaction involves more than just giving them a list of phrases to memorize Student must also learn the functions of the turns and the importance of sequential positions of turns in interaction in displaying that function Students should be encouraged to collect natural conversation to become more aware of language used around them This will help students better prepare to successfully use language in interaction outside the classroom By combining with other subjects teacher can teach students about pre-invitation effectively For example, teacher can let students listen some conversation about invitation, after that ask them to identify preinvitation, which form it is, and speaker’s purpose when using it This activity not only can help students improve listening skill but also help student understand more clearly about pre-invitation’s role in daily conversation Below are some suggested exercises, which help the students to deal with pre-invitation Exercises: I Match the answer and its type: Are you doing anything on Saturday? a Why? 1.Go-ahead response b Nothing so far 2.Stop response 42 c I think I’m busy 3.Hedging response II Choose the best answer as required: What are you doing tonight? Choose the go-ahead response to this question: A:I have to study for the next exam B:Haven’t planned anything C:Well, we are going out Why? D:I have to take my sister to the airport on Saturday Are you doing any thing later? Choose the stop response to this question: A: B: C: D: Well …uh…I don’t have any definite plans yet Why? Oh, yeah Busy, busy, busy Not much Hmm, nothing so far Are you doing anything on Saturday night? Choose the hedging response to this question A:I don’t think I am B:Haven’t planned anything C:Hmm, Saturday night? Let me think Oh, yes My cousin just called to say he was flying at that night I told him I would pick him up D:Well, we are going out Why? What are you doing on Saturday evening? choose the answer that is not the same group with the others: A:Not much B:Hmm, nothing so far C:I have to study for an exam D:Haven’t planned anything Are you busy tonight? choose the answer that is not the same group with the others: A:Oh, yeah busy, busy, busy B:I think I am C:Haven’t planned anything D:Well, I have to finish my report 43 ∗ Suggestions for the answer: I 1b; 2c; 3a II 1B; 2B; 3D; 4C; 5C 44 PART C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation Invitation is a tactful act in Vietnamese culture and in English, invitation is considered a polite request Moreover, in both English and Vietnamese, invitation is a speech act that can threaten the participants’ faces, and put hearer in difficult position That is reason why before making an invitation, speaker must plan the conversation carefully to achieve H’s goals One special part of an invitation that helps speaker to avoid putting hearer in difficult position and makes both speaker and hearer feel more comfortable is pre-invitation but in English teaching program it is rarely mentioned This reason had urged author to study on pre-invitation in conversation This thesis has fist dealt with some theoretical backgrounds about speech acts, face wants, politeness and politeness strategies, presequences and some overview of CA Next, chapter II presents pre-invitation, its positions in conversation, its common forms and speaker’s purposes of using it After collecting and arranging examples in forms, there are some common forms of pre-invitation considered, including interrogatives, declaratives, and exclamatives In which, the most used form is interrogatives and it is divided into many sub-forms such as yes/no question, informative questions… Finally, in chapter III some similarities and differences were pointed out with specific examples Then, there are some application in language teaching and learning, especially about making and responding to pre-invitation From this study, the writer hopes that it can give description about what is meant by pre-invitation especially in helping people for better 45 arranging and understanding conversation, helps the readers understanding about the meaning of pre-invitation and its usage in conversation Especially, after reading this study, readers will know the common forms and purposes of using pre-invitation, and recognize it in conversation easily Using pre-sequences, especially, using pre-invitation, speaker not only can achieve the communicating target but also can avoid putting the hearer in difficult position Therefore, using pre-invitation can be considered a conventional and common communication strategy that we should apply in daily conversation Suggestion for further studies This study has attempted to study pre-sequence in invitation in English and Vietnamese However, due to the limitations and requirements of the study, no attempt has been made to study several other types of presequences We, therefore, have some suggestions for further studies, which are sure to be very useful and interesting: A study on pre-arrangement, pre-announcement, pre-request, preclosing in invitation in English and Vietnamese A comparison the similarities and differences between the prearrangement, pre-announcement, pre-request, pre-closing in invitation in English and those of Vietnamese ones In addition, more exercises and more specific situations should be provided for learner to make the study more practical The studies on language in communication will be good references for language learner to understand more clearly about interaction and to avoid confusing in daily communication 46 ... : Development This is the main part of this study divided into three chapters: Chapter I: Theoretical background Chapter II: Pre-invitation in English and Vietnamese Chapter III: Some similarities... the thesis and suggests some directions for further study PART B: DEVERLOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Speech acts To understand about speech acts, we will examine the origin of... urged author to study on pre-invitation in conversation This thesis has fist dealt with some theoretical backgrounds about speech acts, face wants, politeness and politeness strategies, presequences