EEJ 9 (2) (2019) 354 - 360 English Education Journal http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej The Realization of Commissive Speech Acts in the First Debate of South Carolina Governor Election 2018 Tarina Dashela, Januarius Mujiyanto, Warsono Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia Article Info ________________ Article History: Recived 03 February 2019 Accepted 17 July 2019 Published 15 September 2019 ________________ Keywords: Commissive speech acts, Political debate, Visual expression, Power, and Social distance. ____________________ Abstract ________________________________________________________________ In communication, commissive is a kind of speech acts that commit a speaker to do some future action. People should have the ability to produce and understand sentences which are appropriate in order to communicate effectively. The aims of this study are to analyze the candidates‟ utterance and the candidates‟ visual expression, and also to explain the roles of power and social distance in the debate. Qualitative method is applied in this study. There are five instruments which are used in this study, such as observation, recording technique, Searle and Vanderveken‟s (1985) theory, Navarro and Karlin‟s (2008) theory, and Trosborg‟s (1994) theory. The collected data are especially in form of words, sentences, or pictures. The findings showed that there are six types of commissive speech acts used by two candidates, namely promise, assure, threaten, guarantee, offer, and refuse. It indicated that the most common commissive speech acts found is a promise. In addition, the second findings presented that there are seven types of visual expressions by two candidates, such as putting the hand in the pocket, tongue-jutting behavior, furrowed forehead, arm-distancing, palms-up, interlaced fingers, and hand-steepling. The most dominant visual expression by two candidates is palms-up. It meant that the candidates wanted to be believed or wanted to be accepted. The last findings explained that power (status) and social distance. They had equal status in power, had different perception, and had a space line in the debate. Hence, this study can be used in pragmatics class for language learners, especially they will apply appropriately commissive speech acts for the purpose of persuading voters or audiences in communication. © 2019 Universitas Negeri Semarang Correspondence Address: Kampus Universitas Negeri Semarang, Kelud, Semarang, 50233 E-mail: tarinadashelaa@gmail.com p-ISSN 2087-0108 e-ISSN 2502-4566 Tarina Dashela, JanuariusMujiyanto, Warsono/ EEJ 9 (2) 2019 354 - 360 355 INTRODUCTION Language is used as a tool for communication in doing activities in social life. In communication, people do not only say something, but they also do something with words (Austin, 1962). The relationship is when the speaker produces the utterance and the hearer knows the speaker‟s means. Nowadays, when the speakers deliver a message, the hearers do not understand the meaning. That is why miscommunication or misunderstanding occurs in our lives. Therefore, the hearers must understand even the words and sentences but catch the speakers‟ intentions (Banerjee & Carrell, 1988). Pragmatics is the study of meaning and language use that is based on the speaker or hearer meaning in context. They usually do acts to deliver their thoughts to their listeners. The speakers perform these acts when they are making utterances with their interlocutors. These acts are called speech acts. According to Searle (1985), speech act classified into five categories. They are assertives, directives, commissives, declarative, and expressives. First, assertive is a kind of speech acts that commit a speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition. It includes the statement of information, explanation, description, report, hypothesize, etc. Second, directive is a kind of speech acts that are to cause the hearer to take a particular action in order to do something as what speaker wants. It includes request, command, advice, etc. Third, commissive is a kind of speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action. It includes promise, threat, offer, etc. Fourth, declarative is a kind of speech acts that expresses on the speaker‟s attitudes and emotions towards the proposition, for example apologizing, thanking, deploring. Last, declaration is a kind of speech acts that change the reality in accord with the proposition of the declaration, for instance, baptisms, pronouncing someone guilty or pronouncing someone as husband and wife. Commissive is one type of speech acts that commonly used in conversation. As the definition, commissive is a kind of speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action, such as a refusal, a guarantee, a promise, a threat, a pledge, an offer, and assure in order to express their intention to future action. Especially, in daily life, the speaker and the hearer made various kinds of speech acts in daily communication as the conversation, like classroom interaction, students and teacher talk, job interview, and also in political speech. Beard (2000) explained that a political speech is presenting the arguments about their statements to achieve their goals. By commissive speech acts, the speaker conveys the statement in order to convince people to do future actions. Additionally, the researcher tried to analyze verbal and visual expression in their utterance. Verbal expression including sound, words, speaking. While the visual expression is most important to know the speaker‟s feelings, for example gestures, eyes behavior, body movement, and raising eyebrows. Moreover, understanding power and social distance in delivering utterances also needed. There are two terms of social parameters based on Trosborg (1994) namely power and social distance. Kohar, Bharati, and Rukmini (2018) analyzed the commissive speech acts on the presidential debate in the United States Presidential Election 2016, they focused on commissive speech acts based on Searle‟s categories. From the result, promise is the most common commissive speech acts found in the debate. However, the interested research from Bintana, Rukmini and Sofwan (2017), they focused on adjacency pairs patterns of Trump‟s victory interview in ‟60 Minutes‟. Al-bantany (2013) studied the use of commissive speech act in gubernatorial candidate debate. The result showed that the commissive speech act used are mostly realized by guarantee, promise, and refusal. Meanwhile, Hashim (2015) investigated speech acts in political speeches. The results show that the speech act found are mostly commissive, then followed by assertive, directive, and expressive. Taufik et.al. study (2014) showed that persuasive utterances in Tarina Dashela, JanuariusMujiyanto, Warsono/ EEJ 9 (2) 2019 354 - 360 356 election campaign of Pasuruan are mostly realized through assertive-directive and commissive-directive. However, in this research, the researcher analyzed the realization of commissive speech acts by Searle and Vanderveken (1985) because they had types of commissive speech act completely. Besides, governor election debate in South Carolina 2018 is the newest political debate than others. Then, none of previous studies analyzed the visual expression, that is why the researcher described the expression based on Joe Navarro and Marvin Karlin‟s theory. Also, the researcher explained power and social distance (Trosborg, 1994) by two candidates. METHOD The research is designed as qualitative study. In this study, qualitative study will be used to find out the realization of commissive speech acts by two candidates. There are several kinds of qualitative, namely grounded theory, ethnographic research, case study, and historical research. The researcher will use case study in doing this study. The steps are determining purpose, determining method, determining analysis, and determining tentative results or outcome. In this occasion, the researcher observed the utterance and expression by two candidates. In this study, the researcher chooses the candidates of governor election debate in South Carolina 2018 as the subject of the study. They are James Smith and Henry McMaster. Meanwhile, the object of this study is the commissive utterances and visual expressions of two candidates. It is also investigated to power and social distance between two candidates. In collecting data, the researcher used some instruments such as recording technique, observation, Searle and Vanderveken‟s (1985) theory, Joe Navarro and Marvin Karlin‟s (2008) theory, and Trosborg‟s (1994) theory. Then, the researcher did some activities, 1) First, the researcher determined the debate which are going to be taken as the data of the research. 2) After that, the researcher visited and downloaded the video on youtube.com. 3) Then, downloading the transcript of governor election debate. There are several steps in the method of analyzing data, such as identifying each commissive utterances and marking the sentences, visual expressions, power and social distance. Then, categorizing each commissive utterances based on the types of commissive speech acts, categorizing visual expression, power and social distance by two candidates. The last is describing the classification of commissive speech acts, explaining visual expressions based on Navarro and Karlin‟s (2008) theory, and also explaining power and social distance from Trosborg‟s (1994)theory. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In this section, this research informs about the findings resulted from the utterances and expressions produced by the candidates of governor election debates in South Carolina 2018. There are three aims of this research, they are 1) to analyze the candidates‟ utterance in commissive speech act, 2) to analyze the candidates‟ visual expression, 3) to analyze the power and social distance in the debate. Types of Commissive Speech Acts by Two Candidates Debate is one of tools to convey the candidates message (Arisetiyani and Yuliasry, 2017). It has been proven by this study. The candidates purely delivered the messages during debate. Some researchers from Liu (2018), Junaidi (2011), Warnidah (2015), and Suryadi (2018), they used debate as a technique of teaching Senior High School in order to improve and develop the students‟ skill in speaking. As stated by previous studies before, they used debate as a technique of teaching English, while this study focused the commissive speech acts in the governor election debate. According to Searle (1976), commissives are the utterances that commit the speaker to some feature course of actions. Ulum, Sutopo, Tarina Dashela, JanuariusMujiyanto, Warsono/ EEJ 9 (2) 2019 354 - 360 357 and Warsono (2018), they investigated commissive speech acts in their studies. The research findings indicated that the most common commissive speech acts found is a promise. In this section, this research was based on Searle and Vanderveken‟s (1985) theory by candidates‟ utterances in the first debate of South Carolina governor election debate 2018. It is found that there are seven types of commissive speech acts by Henry McMaster and six types of commissive speech acts by James Smith. They are presented in table below: Table 1. Commissive Speech Acts by James Smith and Henry McMaster Based on the table above, it is found that there are 66 of commissive speech acts used by two candidates. James Smith had 37 data and Henry McMaster had 29 data. The total of commissive speech acts is 66 utterances. In fact, promise is the most common used in the debate because the candidates wanted to make the better future if one of them became a governor in South Carolina. Based on previous studies, Akinwotu (2013) stated that commissive speech acts as mobilization strategies especially in political campaigns, where it is essential for candidates to persuade their listeners to win elections. Another researcher, Hashim (2015) stated that politicians communicate commissive speech acts directly with the public in order to convince them of their programs. However, Mauludiyah (2016) found some commissive speech acts in Donald Trump‟s speech, such as promise, refuse, threaten, assure, and guarantee. Based on the data of research findings, some commissive speech acts for in this study, such as promise, assure, threaten, guarantee, offer, refuse, and accept. James Smith used six types of commissive speech acts and Henry McMaster used seven types of commisssive speech acts. The total of the utterances of the types of commissive speech acts that appear in the debate are sixty six utterances. As an example from James Smith in promise utterance, Well, Charles, we, of course, continue to think about those that were directly affected by the storms and the recovery still goes on. And as governor, I'll be there with those that are fighting to recover, not do as Henry did when he vetoed desperately needed flood relief. And it had to be upon the Republicans and Democrats to come together to override his veto of that desperately needed flood relief. From the datum above, the researcher found the utterance of promise speech act. The promise is about the trusty promise if he will be the governor. By saying the utterance, James Smith made promise to the audience that he would be there while people are fighting to recover. Further, the words of “will” showed that the speaker proposes to do future action. The Exploration of Visual Expression by the Candidates The data of this study were the visual expression by two candidates in the debate based on Navarro and Karlin‟s (2008) theory. There were several expressions through body language used by two candidates. The researcher focused on their hands movement, fingers, lips, and tongue. The research findings as categorized as below: No. Types of Commissive James Smith Henry McMaster Total 1. Promise 14 7 21 2. Assure 11 6 17 3. Threaten 3 2 5 4. Guarantee 2 4 6 5. Offer 4 6 10 6. Refuse 3 3 6 7. Accept - 1 1 Total 37 29 66 Tarina Dashela, JanuariusMujiyanto, Warsono/ EEJ 9 (2) 2019 354 - 360 358 Table 2. The Expressions of James Smith and Henry McMaster No Types of Expressions James Smith Henry McMaster Total 1. Putting the hand in the pocket - 6 6 2. Tongue- jutting behavior 8 1 9 3. Furrowed forehead 4 1 5 4. Arm- distancing - 4 4 5. Palms-up 9 21 30 6. Interlaced fingers 5 - 5 7. Hand- steepling 14 - 14 Total 40 33 73 In the table 2, it is found that there are 73 visual expressions by James Smith and Henry McMaster. The most common of visual expression is palms up. James Smith showed 9 times and Henry McMaster showed 21 times. It indicated the person wants to be believed or wants to be accepted. Therefore, it is the way to make the audience believe what the candidates said. The second commonly used of visual expression by James Smith is hand-steepling with 14 times. It is one of the most powerful displays of confidence. Then, tongue-jutting behavior with 9 times, it means that lip licking indicated to give more relax in delivering explanation. Then, followed by putting the hand in the pocket with 6 times, it refers to feel low confidence or low status display. Furrowed forehead and interlaced fingers with 5 times. Furrowed forehead means the discomfort or anxiety, while interlaced fingers means a person who is in doubt or lower confidence. The last, hand-steeplingand arm-distancing only 4 times by two candidates. For hand steepling by James Smith, it is one of the most powerful displays of confidence in conveying the statement. Meanwhile, by showing arm-distancing, Henry McMaster did not relax in the debate. The Exploitation of Power and Social Distance in the Debate In this study, the researcher analyzed the power and social distance in the debate by Henry McMaster and James Smith. The 2018 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018. This data was analyzed by using the theory of power and social distance by Trosborg (1994). There are two terms of social parameters such as dominance and social distance. Dominance is also called power or social status. It is the power of the speaker to the hearer in delivering speech. For example, higher, equal, and lower power of the speaker. Besides, social distance concerns to the familiarity between the speaker and the hearer. Nevertheless, in this section, the researcher only analyzed two candidates, Henry McMaster and James Smith. The researcher found the similarity of power or social status between Henry McMaster and James Smith. They were equal status. The reason is they are two candidates of South Carolina governor election. Therefore, they have similarity in their status, it called equal status. However, for social distance, it shows from the familiarity between two candidates, James Smith and Henry McMaster. Based on the data from the video, they had own party lines, James Smith as the representative of Democrat Party and Henry McMaster as the representative of Republican Party. They knew each other but they had personal answer, personal experience, and personal vision and mission. Therefore, they had a space line in the debate because every candidate wanted to win the governor election at that time. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION As this study has three research problems, the conclusions are presented into three points, first, the researcher found the commissive speech acts by two candidates, Henry McMaster and James Smith. The total of commissive speech acts in the debate are sixty six data findings. The data are categorized such as promise, assure, threaten, guarantee, offer, refuse, and accept. Tarina Dashela, JanuariusMujiyanto, Warsono/ EEJ 9 (2) 2019 354 - 360 359 Henry McMaster and James Smith showed a promise speech act is the most dominant in commissive. The total of promise speech act by two candidates are 21 utterances. It means that they really want to convince the audiences in the debate. By saying promise, they showed their responsibility and intention to be next governor in South Carolina. Second, the two candidates showed various expressions during the debate. Those expressions are putting the hand in the pocket, tongue-jutting, furrowed forehead, arm- distancing, interlaced fingers. They gave a meaning in every expression like minimize the nervousness, calm down, try to be relax, and low confidence. However, some expressions gave a positive effect like palms-up and hand- steepling. Those meanings are the speaker really wants to be accepted through the utterances. It also showed powerful display of confidence or high confidence by the speaker. In this research, two candidates are dominantly used palms-up of visual expression. In addition, understanding power and social distance between the candidates are also needed. Here, power is about social status. Two candidates, Henry McMaster and James Smith had equal status in the debate. They are the representative of Republican Party and Democrat Party. Besides, social distance concerns to the familiarity between two candidates. Based on the reference and the debate, they had a space line for each other because every candidate wants to win this governor election debate. As it shown by verbal and visual expression, they gave the best answer for each question and showed positive body language like palms-up in delivering the speech. This research only discussed verbal and visual expression, but there is no audio to get other data, like tone, intonation, and volume by the speakers. 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