STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS OF COMMISSIVES BY US PRESIDENTS

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I declare that this research paper is mine and original. No other person‘s

work has been used without acknowledgement in the thesis.

Binh Dinh, 2019

Signature

Xaiyavongkham Vongbouasy

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Ngoan for his support and guidance in my

completion of the thesis.

I am also thankful to all the lecturers at Quy Nhon University for their

profound knowledge and endless support during my study at Quy Nhon

University.

I would also like to thank my classmates who are always willing to help

me and give their best suggestions and encouragement to me during my

process of conducting the study.

Finally, I owe the completion of this paper to my wife and children, who

have always been standing by me on my road to success.

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ABSTRACT

This MA thesis aims to study forms and structures of commissives by Bill

Clinton, Barrack Obama, and Donald Trump as the US presidents in their

terms. The statistic, analytic, synthetic, descriptive, and comparative

methods are used to examine 331 commissives, collected from 48 speeches

made by the three presidents in their terms. The results show that forms of

commissives are realized in structures with performative verbs, structures

with commissive words, and structures without commissive words, among

which the last one is the most commonly used. As far as functions are

concerned, commissives are used by the three presidents to express

offer/promise, threat/warning and refusal, with the first one being the most

frequently employed.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUB-COVERS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP……………………………………. i

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………... ii

ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………… iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………… iv

ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS ………………………. vii

LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………..… viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. Rationale ...............................................................................................1

1.2. Aim and Objectives ..............................................................................3

1.2.1. Aim ....................................................................................................3

1.2.2. Objectives ..........................................................................................3

1.3. Research questions ...............................................................................3

1.4. Scope of the study.................................................................................3

1.5. Significance of the study ......................................................................4

1.6. Definition of terms................................................................................4

1.7. Structure of the thesis ...........................................................................5

1.8. Summary...............................................................................................6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................7

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2.1. Theory of speech acts ...........................................................................7

2.1.1. Notion of speech act .....................................................................7

2.1.2. Degrees of speech act ....................................................................8

2.1.3. Classification of speech acts..........................................................9

2.1.4. Indirect speech acts........................................................................11

2.1.5. Role of context in speech act studies.............................................15

2.2. Previous relevant studies ......................................................................15

2.3. Summary...............................................................................................22

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................23

3.1. Research methods ................................................................................23

3.2. Research procedures.............................................................................24

3.3. Data sources and samples.....................................................................24

3.4. Data analysis.........................................................................................29

3.5. Validity and reliability..........................................................................29

3.6. Summary...............................................................................................30

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .....................................31

4.1. Structures of commissives in speeches by US presidents....................31

4.1.1. Commissives with performative verbs...........................................32

4.1.2. Commissives with commissive words............................................35

4.1.3. Commissives without commissive words.......................................38

4.1.4. Similarities and differences in structures of commissives by Bill

Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump............................................41

4.2. Functions of commissives in speeches by US presidents.....................44

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4.2.1. Commissives for offer/promise ......................................................45

4.2.2. Commissives for threat/warning ...................................................49

4.2.3. Commissives for refusal .................................................................52

4.2.3. Similarities and differences in structures of commissives by Bill

Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump................................................55

4.3. Summary...............................................................................................56

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS ...............................................................57

5.1. Conclusions...........................................................................................57

5.2. Implications ..........................................................................................59

5.3. Limitations of the study .......................................................................60

5.4. Suggestion for further study .................................................................60

REFERENCES ............................................................................................61

APPENDIX: ................................................................................................64

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ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS

- Per. V

- Commissive W

Performative verbs

Commissive words

- Italic is used for linguistic terms mentioned the first time and examples

- Italic and bold is used for highlighting the signals of commissives

- Examples and tables are numbered according to chapter.