Promoting political engagement among youth : analysis of speech act patterns in Syed Saddiq's speech
It has been observed that speech act theory studies have mainly focused on Western orators and societies, whereas studies conducted on Eastern orators are still limited and insufficient, especially on youth speakers and youth political representatives in Malaysia. This paper will report on illoc...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2022
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20697/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20697/1/56566-194069-1-PB.pdf |
| Summary: | It has been observed that speech act theory studies have mainly focused on Western orators and societies, whereas
studies conducted on Eastern orators are still limited and insufficient, especially on youth speakers and youth political
representatives in Malaysia. This paper will report on illocutionary type features of Speech Acts used in Syed Saddiq’s
(a young member of Parliament for Muar) ‘A Lost in Generation: Youth in Politics’ speech and explain how the
identified illocutionary type features project the messages in the speech. His speech has inspired the thoughts and
beliefs of young minds through the power of his passionate words and a variety of language resources. The research
used a descriptive qualitative research design and investigated the types of illocutionary acts based on the Taxonomy
of Illocutionary Acts by John Searle (1975). The qualitative analysis of the data revealed that Syed Saddiq’s speech
mainly employed representative and directive acts. Further analysis of the data also suggested that Syed Saddiq tended
to implore the audience in his speech to persuade and motivate them to act and create a change in the political scene
as Malaysian youths. The results of this study propose that political figures and speech writers may employ a specific
speech act or illocutionary type to deliver a persuasive political speech to successfully persuade the target audience,
i.e., youth or university students, to accept suggestions and opinions in order to break the cycle of political apathy and
foster political interest in the younger generation. |
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