Abstract:With the continuous development and progress of human society, In order to arouse the public’s attention to such social issues as environmental pollution, ecological damage, higher rate of crimes, public service advertisements came into being in the 1940s in the United States. As the carrier of the special social education and cultural forms of communication which expressed by language, voice and image, public service advertisements play a positive role in promoting the solution of many social issues, and widely accepted by the public. Based on Searle's speech act theory, this paper develops an exploration and an analysis of the English public service ads, elaborately from the perspective of the five categories of illocutionary acts, namely, assertives, directives, commissives, expressive and declarations in order to reveal how the public service advertisements achieve its appealing function as speech acts through different wordings.

Key words: public service advertisements, speech act theory, illocutionary acts

Contents

摘要

Abstract

Introduction1

1 Classification of Speech Acts2

1.1Three Levels of Speech Acts 2

1.2 Classification of Illocutionary Acts2

2 Different Types of Illocutionary Acts in Public Service Advertisements3

2.1 Assertives in public service advertisements3

2.2 Directives in public service advertisements5

2.3 Commissives in public service advertisements.7

2.4 Expressives in public service advertisements.8

2.5 Declarations in public service advertisements9

Conclusion10

Works Cited11

Bibliography.12

Acknowledgements13