ANALYSIS OF SPEECH ACTS IN POLITICAL SPEECHES

Abstract

Speech Acts theories have been a considerable revolution in the developments of pragmatics as a discipline. However, pragmatics cannot be fully studied without taking in consideration discourse analysis, since they are closely joint with each other. Undoubtedly, political discourse has been a major domain of language use that has attracted the interests of researchers for a long while. This is because political discourse is a complex human activity that deserves critical study particularly because of its central place in the organization and management of society. This study investigates the role of language in the communication and interpretation of intentions by examining selected political speeches as pieces of discourse with specific goals. Since the politician`s speech is mainly concerned with persuading or making the others believe what you are saying, the Speech Acts play the most important role. It presents and documents some of the significant illocutionary acts that convey the intentions of speakers in political speeches. Firstly, we will provide the theoretical explanation of the two main theories concerning Speech acts, Austin`s and Searle`s ones. Secondly, we will try to analyze the first Edi Rama`s victorious political speech after the general elections held in Albania in June 2013 concerning Speech Acts and their categorizations.