The Analysis of Assertive Speech Acts on The Speech of Barack Obama at The English Speech Channel About Ignorance is Not A Virtue

Abstract

This study is about to analyze the speech acts of Barack Obama’s speech at Rutgers University especially the assertive speech act. The writer focuses on analyzing the kinds of assertive acts that appear in Barack Obama's speech at Rutgers University. This study was qualitative descriptive which analyzes the utterances of Barack Obama’s speech by adopting Searle’s theory. This study aims to investigate the types of representative acts in Barack Obama’s Ignorance Is Not a Virtue and how assertive speech act realized in Barack Obama's speech. From the results obtained, several types of assertive speech acts were found. There are informing with 16 utterances. Suggesting with 9 utterances. Stating with 8 utterances. Asserting with 7 utterances. Describing with 4 utterances. Predicting with 4 utterances. Assuring and implying have the same total of utterances which is 2 utterances. Then affirming, conjecturing, and classifying also have the same total of utterances which is one utterance. The most dominant that used in Barack Obama’s speech is inform act which takes up 16 utterances.