Abstract

Inaugural address, as a typical genre of political speech, plays an important role in political life. The content of this thesis is mainly about the illustration of locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act reflected in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four inaugural addresses. Especially, the illocutionary act will be specifically studied in two parts. One part is about the classification of it in the addresses, the other is about the realization of illocutionary force. The primary objective of the study is to summarize the general rules of speech acts applied in the inaugural address. That is how the locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act reflect in the addresses and what devices contribute to the realization of illocutionary force. The thesis bears out the feasibility of Speech Act Theory in inaugural address. Simultaneously, it also extends the research range of Speech Act Theory. The thesis is helpful for the better understanding of inaugural address.

Key words: inaugural address; speech acts; illocutionary act; illocutionary force

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Literature Review-2

2.1 Inaugural address-3

2.2 Previous study on inaugural address-4

2.3 Previous study on speech acts-4

2.4 Previous study on speech acts in inaugural address-5

3 Theoretical Foundation-5

3.1 Austin’s Speech Act Theory-5

3.2 Searle’s development of Speech Act Theory-6

3.3 Illocutionary act and illocutionary force-7

4 Data Analysis and Discussion-7

4.1 Locutionary act in Roosevelt’s inaugural addresses-8

4.2 Illocutionary act in Roosevelt’s inaugural addresses-8

4.2.1 Classification of illocutionary act in the addresses-9

4.2.2 Realization of illocutionary force in the addresses-12

4.3 Perlocutionary in Roosevelt’s four inaugural addresses-14

5 Conclusion-15

References-17

Appendix-18