Speech act analysis of the set- up in English and- 123docz.net

(E. joke 1) In this joke, when a customer was enjoying his meal, he suddenly cried,

“Waiter! There is a...”

The locutionary act of this utterance is stating that there was a fly in his soup. At that time, the illocutionary act he carried is complaining the meal service. The perlocutionary act is that the waiter would give him another extra soup. To be more precise, we can see this as the act of representative as this customer has reported this news to the waiter. Furthermore, the punch line arouses when the waiter responded “...everyone will want a fly”. Thus, the waiter in this joke overturns the common cultural practice and the target cultural role in giving an incongruous reply to the customer.

(E. joke 2) Uttering that,

“were you born in a barn?”

The mother is performing the locutionary act of asking her son whether he was born in a barn, the illocutionary act of insulting her son as a horse when he forgets to close the door and the perlocutionary acts of getting her son to close the door. As defined by Searle, this act is considered as a directive because the mother requests her son to close the door when he goes out and in. Whereas, the son does not take the message literally so the humorous part takes place, “I was born in a hospital with automatic doors.” However, he successfully communicates his message in a very appealing way, making better effect on his mother about refusing to close the door.

(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).English.and.Vietnamese.jokes.from.a.pragmatic.perspective.M.A.Thesis.Linguistics.60.22.15(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).English.and.Vietnamese.jokes.from.a.pragmatic.perspective.M.A.Thesis.Linguistics.60.22.15(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).English.and.Vietnamese.jokes.from.a.pragmatic.perspective.M.A.Thesis.Linguistics.60.22.15(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).English.and.Vietnamese.jokes.from.a.pragmatic.perspective.M.A.Thesis.Linguistics.60.22.15(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).English.and.Vietnamese.jokes.from.a.pragmatic.perspective.M.A.Thesis.Linguistics.60.22.15(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).English.and.Vietnamese.jokes.from.a.pragmatic.perspective.M.A.Thesis.Linguistics.60.22.15(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).English.and.Vietnamese.jokes.from.a.pragmatic.perspective.M.A.Thesis.Linguistics.60.22.15(LUAN.VAN.THAC.SI).English.and.Vietnamese.jokes.from.a.pragmatic.perspective.M.A.Thesis.Linguistics.60.22.15

(E. joke 3) In this joke, when the woman sees how romantic the neighbor towards his wife, she said to her husband,

“Dear, look at the new spouse there. Every time before going to work, the husband always kisses his wife forehead first.. Why don‟t you do so?”

Thus, the locutionary act of this utterance is telling about their neighbor’s behavior towards his wife and asking why her husband does not do so. She is actually performing the illocutionary act of requesting her husband to kiss her before going to work as the neighbor had done to his wife. This is also the act of directive. Meanwhile, the perlocutionary act is that her husband would kiss her before going to work. In contrast, the husband arouses the punch line of this humor when he said, “How can I dare? If I do so, her husband will surely get mad.”

(E. joke 4) When the man asks the woman, “Does your dog bite?” the locutionary act of the utterance is asking for whether the dog would bite, the illocutionary act is the same. It can be seen that this is an act of directive. The perlocutionary act is that the dog would not bite him. However, the dog does attack him and the punch line comes when the woman said, “....but that‟s not my dog”

(E. joke 5) After hearing about the good news, Smith said, the locutionary act of this utterance is questioning about what the good news is and the illocutionary act of this utterance is questioning about what the good news is, too. The patient manages to get the doctor to tell him something that is really good news so this is also called a directive act.

Therefore, the perlocutionary act he intended is that the doctor would tell something that was really good news. However, instead of telling good news, the doctor said, “Actually, your leg is no need to be amputated.” It is the punch line of the joke.

(V. joke 6) In this joke, when the beggar raised his hat and said,

“Thưa bà, nhà cháu mất một chân”.

He is performing the locutionary act of informing the reason why he asks for donations.

And the illocutionary act is the same. We can call this as a representative act because the beggar is reporting his problem. Then, the perlocutionary act he expects that the rich woman would give him something. However, she ignores his request and responds, “Có

thể lắm, nhưng tại sao anh lại tưởng chân anh mất ở đây?” This utterance becomes the punch line of this joke.

(V. joke 7) After blaming for the people’s ill- treatment, the mandarin’s wife is consoled by hearing that they are waiting for him with presents before seeing him off. Furthermore, she asks the servants,

“họ lễ gì thế các thầy?”

By doing so, the locutionary act of her utterance is demanding the servants about presents from those residents. The illocutionary act she carried is questioning about the presents.

This is also the act of directive. The perlocutionary act is that the people should give him presents. The punch line arouses when the servant responded: “Bẩm toàn gạo, muối....”

(V. joke 8) Saying that,

“Mày ăn nói chẳng có đầu đuôi gì cả, người ta cười cả tao lẫn mày.

Từ nay nói cái gì thì phải nói cho có đầu có đuôi nghe không?”

The locutionary act is stating that the servant is careless about his saying and that he has to be more careful from now on. The illocutionary act of the utterance is commanding his servant to behave well. In fact, this is also called a directive act. Thereupon, the perlocutionary act of that utterance: he intends that the servant would obey his order.

However, the punch line arouses as the servant details his utterance, “Thưa ông, con tằm nó nhả ra tơ, ...và áo ông đang cháy.”

(V. joke 9) While a man asked about his lost pig,

“Bác có thấy con “lợn cưới” của tôi chạy qua đây không?”

The locutionary act of the utterance is asking if this man sees a pig. At that time, the illocutionary act of the utterance is asking if this man see a pig. This is a directive act but with the aim of informing that the lost pig is a wedding pig. The perlocutionary act is to boast a big wedding with a pig. The punch line arouses when the man in a newly- cut robe responses, “Từ lúc tôi mặc cái "áo mới" này, tôi chẳng thấy con lợn nào chạy qua đây cả!”

(V. joke 10) When listening to her husband’s last request,

“Bây giờ anh đang gần đất xa trời rồi, em có thể thú nhận về mối quan

hệ của mình với tay hàng xóm được không?”

The spouse is wondering whether his wife would tell him her adulterous relationship with a neighbor (the locutionary act). The illocutionary act is that he requests his wife to tell him the truth. We can say this illocutionary act is a directive act. The perlocutionary act of this utterance is that her husband forces her to tell the truth so that he could die without any trouble in mind. The punch line comes when the wife said, “Thế nhỡ anh không chết thì sao?”

Speech act analysis of the set- up in English and Vietnamese jokes