Speech Acts Analysis of Richard Matheson’s Button, Button

Abstract

Current study aims at to analysis a short story titled ‘Button, Button’ keeping in view the perspective of speech acts theory (1962) by John Austin. He classified speech acts into locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary. To him, utterances are of two major type constative which is used to describe the things as they are and performative that performs or describes a speech act. Analysis indicates that declarative, representative, expressive and commisive as classification of speech acts at diction level and direct and indirect at structural stratum have been unlined. As far as the functions of speech acts are concerned they are numerous i.e. distinctiveness, social stratification, personal and communal grooming and amusement (Flor, 2010). In order to amply attain the task a qualitative method has been kept in mind during analysis.

Keywords: Speech act, utterances, declarative, representative, expressive, direct, indirect