142 

eISSN 2721-5016 | pISSN 2721-5024 

Journal of Research on English and Language Learning 
 

http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/article/view/6923 
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33474/j-reall.v1i2.6923 

Vol. 1 | No. 2 | Agustus 2020 | Hal. 142-148 

Journal of Research on English and Language Learning 
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

Illocutionary act between barista and customers in starbucks coffee shop at Changi airport 
 

Isbandi1, Nurma Dhona Handayani2 
1,2English Department, Putera Batam University, Indonesia 
1isbandi.ben@yahoo.com, 2nurmadhona@gmail.com 
*) correspondence: isbandi.ben@yahoo.com 

 
ABSTRACT 
This research primarily aimed to analyze the types of the illocutionary act proposed by Searle (1979),  
secondly to find the dominant type produced by both sides, between barista and customers’ utterances 
at Starbucks coffee shop Changi Airport. This research applied observational method and non-
participatory technique as the way collecting the data. The design of this research were qualitative and 
quantitative research. Qualitative research is applied to analyze the data in the form text. In contrast, 
quantitative research used to count the number of utterances, to conclude which types of illocutionary 
acts find dominantly during the conversation. It was found that directive, representative, and 
expressive types were in the utterances. Meanwhile, commissive and declaration type did not find in 
the utterances. The result from this study showed that directives illocutionary act as the most 
frequently found in utterances, because the communication which takes place in coffee shop between 
the baristas and customers usually only needed to ordering and just give information (informing).  
Key words: pragmatic; speech act; illocutionary act  
 
INTRODUCTION 
In this world, language is an essential tool in communication for a human being, it is used to 
communicate each other; either to give information, to express their feelings or to ask questions. Every 
single situation in our life usually communication is needed because basically, humans are social being 
who need language to communicate. In other words, language is a media to deliver our willingness, 
ideas, and feelings. 

At the same time, when the communication occurs, the elements like context, when, where, and 
to whom people speak with, will affect the way they communicate. For instance, when someone talk 
to his friends definitely he will act differently or bring out different utterance when he communicates 
to his teacher. It means that in the reality, people will have produced formal or polite utterance when 
they communicate with people in different level. Different level here can be formed due to several 
factors, such as differences in age, gender, profession or also due to social status factors. 

For that reason, it is not easy to understand the meaning language that is used by people in 
communication. It is because people attend to act differently and their utterance will depend on the 
context and to whom speak with. Those acts which are created by the people while they are speaking 
is called speech act. According to Yule (1996), speech act is an act in saying something. Besides, Austin 
(1962) stated that there are three levels of speech act, such as locutionary act, illocutionary act and 
perlocutionary act. 

The first type of speech act called locutionary, the locutionary act means that hearer analyze 

what is the natural meaning the utterance from the speaker had produced, it can be ordering, asking 

or informing, after that the second type of speech act called illocutionary, in this step the hearer 

analyzed the act and also the expression from the speaker when they generate an utterance. The 

last type of speech act called Perlocutionary, this is the step where act performed by or as a result 

on the hearer of what the speaker says. 
Related to explanation above, this research would be focus on the analysis of Illocutionary found 

in utterances between barista and costumers in the Starbucks Coffee shop at Changi Airport.  First, 

http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user
http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/article/view/6923
http://dx.doi.org/10.33474/j-reall.v1i2.6923
http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user
mailto:isbandi.ben@yahoo.com
mailto:nurmadhona@gmail.com
mailto:isbandi.ben@yahoo.com


Illocutionary act between barista and customers in starbucks coffee shop at Changi airport 

 

143 
Journal of Research on English and Language Learning 
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

find out types of illocutionary acts and the second to identify which types of illocutionary acts 
frequently used in the conversation between the barista and their customers. 

In conducting this research, the researchers were interest to analyze illocutionary act during 
conversation between barista and customers in Starbucks coffee shop at Changi Airport Singapore. 
The researchers chose this place as the object of the research; the first because it is known that 
Starbucks is one of the most famous coffee shop in the world and the second reason is also known 
that airport is the place where people want to go for travelling, there are so many people from around 
the world will do travelling or just stop by, thus the researchers would get various of data in this study. 

There were several researches that have analyzed about Illocutionary Act such as in the case of 
analysis and classification of direction in written advertisement by Simon & Cartis (2015). They 
focused on directives of illocutionary act only, this study found that there were four types of direction 
that were given to the receiver of the advertisement (imperative, interrogative, appellative and indirect 
appellative direction). 

Similarly, in drama script also has its own type of speech acts. This analysis have been done by 
Yuniati (2013). She conducted the qualitative research to find out expressive illocutionary act identified 
in The Newly Married Couple drama script. Her analysis concluded that there are six types of expressive 
illocutionary act such as congratulating, thanking, apologizing, welcoming, wishing and attitude. 
 
Pragmatics 
Pragmatics is a study of relationship between linguistic forms and the users of those forms; that is, 
words that literally connect to what the user of those words intended to convey. According to Cutting 
(2002) stated that Pragmatics examines the meaning externally. It means that Pragmatics is the studies 
of speakers meaning. In Pragmatics humans are enable to do analysis, who can produce and 
understand the words. The interpretation is taking place while the speaker releasing or understanding 
the word, based the context, background as well as the relation between the users of those words. 
 
Speech act 
When constructs the communication people regularly produced an act and that act known as speech 
act. This speech act developed by John Searle (1969) which the theory firstly created by Austin (1962). 
(Yule, 1996) states that the act include in speech act such: “inform”, “request”, “command”, and 
“questioning”. More explanation towards this speech act, he gives some examples that can be seen in 
this table below: 
 

Forms Function 

Did you eat the food? Question 

Eat the food (please). Command (Request) 

You ate the food. Statement 

 
Furthermore, (Yule, 1996) divided this speech act into two categories, direct speech act and indirect 
speech act. Yule described that if the speaker produces the same meaning with the form of its 
utterances it called direct speech act, meanwhile if the meaning of an utterances that established by 
the speaker different with its form of utterances it known as indirect speech act. 
Based from the descriptions above towards speech act, it can have concluded that speech act is the 
acting that generated by the speaker when their producing an utterance. Moreover, speech act also 
classified into two types namely as direct and indirect speech act; the speaker created direct speech act 
if the meaning of the utterance that their produced have the same form with their utterance structure; 
and then if the speaker produced an utterance different with their form of language structure, it means 
that they produced indirect speech act. 
 

http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user


Isbandi, Nurma Dhona Handayani  

144 
Journal of Research on English and Language Learning 

is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

Illocutionary act 
When discussing further about this speech act study, we will get a deeper level called the illocutionary 
act. Illocutionary act is the act of saying, which is committed with intend of speaker by uttering 
sentences, such like give a question, statement, order, apologize and threatening. In accordance with 
explanation from (Searle, 1979), illocutionary act is the performance of a particular language function. 
He defines that illocutionary act is the core part of language function. Other explanation described by 
Austin (1975) he declared that illocutionary act as an utterance which has a certain (conventional) 
force. In other words, illocutionary act refers on what someone say something. 
 
Classification of illocutionary act 
1) Representative 

According the explanation from Searle (1979) that the purpose of  this  class is to perform the 
speaker to something’s being the case, to the truth of  the expressed proposition. It describes 
states or events in the world such as an assertion, a description, statement, report and conclusion; 
for example: I like expresso coffee 

2) Directive 
This category of  illocutionary shows in the fact that it is an attempt by the speaker to get action 
from the hearer. Moreover Searle (1979) stated that directives include some actions, such as 
commanding, requesting, inviting, forbidding, and suggesting; for example: Could you explain about 
that? 

3) Commissive 
In this part of  “commissive” refers to an illocutionary act whose point is to commit the speaker 
to some future course of  action like promising, offering, threatening, refusing, vowing, and 
volunteering. In other words, commissive is types of  speech act, where the speaker commands 
themselves to do future action through their utterance; for example: I will come to your house tomorrow. 

4) Expressive 
Expressive illocutionary act incorporates the acts which the words are to express the 
psychological condition about a state of  affairs specified in the proportional content. So, it refers 
to an act where the speakers express their feeling and attitude about something; it can be a 
statement of  pleasure, pain, like, dislike, joy and sorrow; for example: I’m glad to be here! 

5) Declaration 
Based on the explanation from Searle (1979) “declaration” its successful performance brings 
about the correspondence between propositional content and reality, successful performance 
guarantees that the propositional content corresponds to the world. Refer to this point Yule 
(1996) simplified Searle’s explanation by saying that declaration is a kind of  speech act that could 
change the world through one utterance. The words or expression that can change the world such 
as “I bet”, “I declare”, “I resign”, “I pronounce”, etc. for example: I hereby pronounce you husband 
and wife. 

 
METHODS 
This research used qualitative and quantitative research. Firstly, qualitative research which is aimed to 
explain the data in the form text. In contrast, quantitative research to count the number of utterances 
used by the barista and their customers to conclude which types of illocutionary acts find dominantly 
during the conversation occur. 

In collecting data, the researchers used non-participant observational method, which the 
researchers did not involve in the conversation, only used note taking technique. The data were 
collected based from real conversation between barista and customers in Starbucks at Changi Airport 
Singapore, when they are ordering drinks or foods. 
 
 
 



Illocutionary act between barista and customers in starbucks coffee shop at Changi airport 

 

145 
Journal of Research on English and Language Learning 
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 
Totally the researcher used five conversations, because each of conversation consists of two 
interlocutors, consist of barista and customers, so here the researcher uses symbol (B) representing 
the barista and (C) for the customer, and also because sometimes there are two customers who came 
at the same time (in this case the customer is a husband and wife) then the researcher uses (C1) for 
the first customer and (C2) as the second customer. 

The researcher will display the entire conversations with table, which each table divided into 3 
column (the speaker, utterances and type of the speech act) so it will easier to identified and get the 
classification from each utterances, all the conversation can be seen  in following data. 

 
TABLE 1. Conversation 1 

Speaker Utterances 
Type of 

Speech Act 
B Hi expressive 
C1 Can I have double shot coffee, and for her.. directive 
C2 What is that the yellow drink? (pointing to the picture) directive 
B That’s mango smoothies representative 
C2 Is that coffee? directive 
B No mam. Just mango smoothies. representative 
C2 Alright, I’ll take that directive 
C1 For me double shot espresso. directive 
B Okay, anything else? directive 
C2 I want chicken sandwich directive 
B that’s all? directive 
C1 Yes representative 
B Having here? directive 
C1 Yeah representative 
B Your name please? directive 
C1 Sandro representative 
B The total is $30 70 cents representative 
C1 I pay by card representative 
B Thank you expressive 
C1 Thank you expressive 

(Source: Research Data, 2019) 
 

TABLE 2. Conversation 2 

Speaker Utterances 
Type of 

Speech Act 
B Hi expressive 
C1 Can I have double shot coffee, and for her.. directive 
C2 What is that the yellow drink? (pointing to the picture) directive 
B That’s mango smoothies representative 
C2 Is that coffee? directive 
B No mam. Just mango smoothies. representative 
C2 Alright, I’ll take that directive 
C1 For me double shot espresso. directive 
B Okay, anything else? directive 
C2 I want chicken sandwich directive 
B that’s all? directive 
C1 Yes representative 
B Having here? directive 
C1 Yeah representative 

(Source: Research Data, 2019) 
 
 
 
 
 

http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user


Isbandi, Nurma Dhona Handayani  

146 
Journal of Research on English and Language Learning 

is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

TABLE 3. Conversation 3 

Speaker Utterances 
Type of 

Speech Act 
C Hi, can I have Ristretto Bianco directives 
B That’s serve for hot only. representative 
C Yes representative 
B What size? directive 
C Grande please, and I want one peanut butter cake. directives 
B For having here? directive 
C Yes. representative 
B $14,90 cents representative 
C PayWave representative 
B Your name? directive 
C Ben representative 
B You want to use paper cup or mug? directive 
C Paper cup, thanks directive 

(Source: Research Data, 2019) 
 

TABLE 4. Conversation 4 

Speaker Utterances 
Type of 

Speech Act 
B Hi. expressive 
C I want to order that drink (pointing to the picture) directives 
B Mango smoothies? representative 
C Yes representative 
B Anything else? directive 
C The red one too (on the picture) directive 
B Okay, what size? directive 
C Grande representative 
B the total $12.70 cents representative 
C (giving the money)  
B Your name? directive 
C Shakuka representative 
B Wait over there please. directive 
C Thank you expressive 

(Source: Research Data, 2019) 

 
TABLE 5. Conversation 5 

Speaker Utterances 
Type of 

Speech Act 
B Hi, welcome expressive 
C Hi, I want two banana cake and one black paper 

chicken roll 
directive 

B having here or take away? directives 
C Take away representative 
B Anything else for you? directive 
C Nope representative 
B So, 2 banana cake and 1 black paper chicken roll, the 

total is $20.80 cents. Pay by? 
directive 

C PayWave representative 
B Thank you and wait at the corner please directive 
C Thanks expressive 

(Source: Research Data, 2019) 
 
Representative 
According to Searle (1979) assertive or representative is types of illocutionary act which expressed 
speaker’s belief of something, as well as explanation from Yule (2010), he classified the verb like 
“statement of fact, assertion, conclusion and description. For instance, in the conversations above, 
when the barista asked some questions to their customers like the size of drink, the customers simply 



Illocutionary act between barista and customers in starbucks coffee shop at Changi airport 

 

147 
Journal of Research on English and Language Learning 
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

said “tall” or “grande” and after the barista asked them about their name, the customers immediately 
mention their name.  

Same with the barista when they give some information regarding their product to the customer 
like the price of their drinks or mention the balance from the payment, as we can see in conversation 
#3, the barista said “that’s serve for hot only”. Based on Searle theory, both customers and barista 
produced assertive or representatives’ illocutionary act is informing. 
 
Directive 
Related to the Searle’s theory that have explained in previous pages, directives illocutionary act is refers 
to what speaker needs (Searle, 1979). In other words, if the speaker wants the hearer to do something 
by their utterance the speaker produced directives illocutionary act, namely like ask, order, command, 
request, beg invite, advice, etc. As can be seen in most conversation the the customers ordering food 
and drinks to barista “two ice mocha”, “double shot espresso” or “I want chicken sandwich” while the customers 
ordering something, they produced directives illocutionary act that is order. 

As well as the utterances delivered by the barista to the customers, they also produced the 
utterance directives illocutionary, like “your name?”, “what size?”, “having here or take away?” or “anything 
else?” those kind of questions that barista frequently ask to their customers are part of directive 
illocutionary act, in term of ask. 
 
Expressive 
Be in accordance with Searle’s theory, expressive is types of illocutionary act that express the 
psychological. Feeling of the speaker through their utterance, such as; “thank”, “congratulate”, 
“apologize” and “welcome”. Bring forward Yule (1996) explain expressive illocutionary act as types 
of speech act that deliver the statement including “pleasure, pain, like, dislike, thanking, apologizing, 
etc,”. 

Some of the example of expressive from the conversation above, mostly found in the barista 
utterances when they welcoming their customers, such as “hi, welcome”, “assalamualikum”. As well as 
when the speaker says “thank you” in the conversation, means that both customer and barista 
produced the expressive illocutionary act thanking. 
 

TABLE 6. Percentage types of Illocutionary Act 

No. Types of Illocutionary Act 
Total 

Utterance 
Percentage 

1 Representative 27 39% 
2 Directives 33 47% 
3 Expressive 10 14% 

 Total 70 100% 

(Source: Research Data) 
 

 
Figure 1. Frequency of Illocutionary Act 

 

Representative; 
27; 39%

Directives; 33; 
47%

Expressive; 10; 
14%

FREQUENCY OF ILLOCUTIONARY ACT

http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user


Isbandi, Nurma Dhona Handayani  

148 
Journal of Research on English and Language Learning 

is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 

After the calculation and put the data into chart like in the display above, the researcher got only 
three types of illocutionary act found in the conversation between barista and customers at Starbucks 
coffee shop Changi Airport Singapore. The researcher did not find others two types of illocutionary 
act, namely commissive and declaration in the data conversations above. 

 
CONCLUSION 
From all the types of Illocutionary act, there five classification, namely: representatives, directives, 
commissive, expressive, and declaration, but from all utterances data, the researcher found only three 
types of illocutionary act occurs. First, expressive occur in 10 utterances with percentage 15%, this 
type of illocutionary act least occurs in both speaker (barista and the customer) to say thank or 
welcoming; Second types is representative occur in 27 utterances with percentage 38%, this type 
mostly produced by both speaker barista and customers in term of giving information (inform); and 
the last type as the most frequently found is directives, with the percentage 47% it occurs in 33 
utterances, it occurs in term of asking as well as for ordering from customers. 

Communication that take place in coffee shop between the barista and customers is only three 
types of utterances that are encountered (representative, directive, and expressive) because in the 
scope of communication in coffee shop usually only needed to ordering and just give information 
(informing). Therefore, the two other types, declaration and commissive are not found in this study. 
 
REFERENCE 
Austin, J. L. (1975). How to Do Things with Words (Second Edi). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 
Cutting, J. (2002). Pragmatics and Discourse: A Resource Book for Student. London: Routledge. 
Searle, J. R. (1979). Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts. New York: Cambridge 

University Press. 
Simon, S., & Cartis, D. (2015). Analysis and Classification of Directions in Written Advertisements. 

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.034 
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press. 
Yule, G. (2010). The Study of Language (Fourth Edi). Edinburgh: Cambridge University Press. 
Yuniati, M. (2013). Expressive Illocutionary Acts Identified in the Newly-Married Couple Drama 

Script. Humanis - Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2(3). Retrieved from 
https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/sastra/article/view/5006