This paper discusses speech functions and the purpose of different types of speech. It begins with an introduction and preface thanking those involved. The discussion section then defines speech functions and provides examples of different categories of speech functions, including expressive utterances, directive utterances, and the importance of social factors like status and formality on how directives are expressed. Examples are given for each category to illustrate common ways of expressing different speech functions in conversations.

1. PAPER
SOCIOLINGUISTIC
“Speech Function”
Written by:
Niken Nabella (11321158/6E)
Siti Purwaningsih (11321159/6E)
Ryani Ningsih (11321160/6E)
Kristina Saras (11321161/6E)
DEPARTEMENT OF ENGLISH TEACHING
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND ARTS EDUCATION
IKIP PGRI MADIUN
2014

2. PREFACE
Praise to Allah SWT who has given taufik, guidance, and inayah so that we can still
move as usual as well as the authors, so we can complete this paper entitled "speech
function". This paper discusses about the function and the purpose of speech.
This paper is organized so that readers can add insight or expand existing knowledge
about young learner teacher that we present in this paper with an arrangement of a concise,
easy to read and easy to understand.
The writers also wish to express many thanks to his teammates and lecture who have
guided the authors in order to make authors of scientific papers in accordance with the
provisions in force so that it becomes a good and right paper.
Hopefully, this paper can be useful for readers and expanding horizons about the
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young learner teacher.
And also the author apologizes for any shortcomings here and there of the paper's
authors do. Please critiques and suggestions. Thank you
Madiun, 18th Juni 2014
writer

3. DISCUSSION
SPEECH FUNCTION
Language serves a range of functions. It is usually adjusted the speech to suit the
social context of speech. The language we talk to a child may be different from the
language we talk to our customer or colleague though the purpose is the same. The
different purposes of talk can also affect the form of language and the variety of ways.
Why do we say the same thing in different ways? The answers to the question basically
imply the speech functions.
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The Function of Speech
Dialog 1 :
Boss : Good morning, Sue. Lovely day.
Secretary : Yes, it is beautiful. Makes you wonder what we are doing here, doesn’t
it?
Boss : Mm, that’s right. Look I wonder if you could possibly sort this lot out by
ten. I need them for a meeting.
Secretary : Yes, sure. No problem.
Boss : Thanks. That’s great.
This dialogue is typical of many everyday interactions in that it serves both an
affective (or social), and referential (or informative) function. The initial greetings and
comments on the weather serve a social function; they establish contact between the two
participants. The exchange then moves on to become more information-oriented or
referential in function.
There are a number of ways of categorising the functions of speech. The following
list has proved a useful one in sociolinguistic research.
1. Expressive utterances
Expressive utterances express the speakers’ feelings. This function serves the
declaration of a speaker’s ambiance. It used to express personal feelings, thoughts,
ideas and opinions, with different choice words, intonation, etc. These expressions are
submissive to social factors and to the nature of the expression as negative or positive.
In Indonesian communication, expression is used to keep up social relationship. When
someone is meeting a friend or someone he/she is familiar with, he/she will greet
him/her to make sure “here, I am your friend or your neighbor”.

4. The following are the form of utterances that serve expressive function:
– I’m happy today. (positive expression)
– I am afraid. (negative expression)
– I'm very gloomy tonight. (negative expression)
– I'm feeling very good today. (positive expression)
– I’m feeling great today. (positive expression)
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2. Directive Utterances
Directive utterances attempt to get someone to do something. In Indonesian
communication, directive function can be articulated by imperative sentences,
interrogative sentences as well as declarative sentences. Orders and commands are
normally expressed in imperative form.
Directives are concerned with getting people to do things which express
directive force vary in strength. We came to sit down, for instance, by suggesting or
inviting or ordering or commanding them to sit down. Orders and speech act which are
generally expressed in imperative to get people to do something tend to use
interrogatives are following examples illustrate.
Sit down IMPERRATIVE
You sit down You IMPERRATIVE
Could you sit down? INTERROGATIVE with modal verb
Sit down, will you? INTERROGATIVE with tag
Won’t you sit down? INTERROGATIVE with negative modal
I want you to sit down DECLARATIVE
I’d like you to sit down DECLARATIVE
You’d be more comfortable sitting down DECLARATIVE
It’d be better you to sit down DECLARATIVE
The list could go on and on. There are many way in directive. And although we
can say that in general declaratives are more polite than imperatives, a good
intonation, tone of voice and context. A gentle sit down more polite than a thundered I
want you all sitting down now (a) in example 1 will be considered normal, while (b) as
sarcastic.
Example 1:
a. Box of matches
b. Could you possibly give me a box of matches
How do people decide which form to use in a particular of the social factors
have been suggested between participants, their relatives status, and the form (the

5. social dimensions which were discussed. People who are close friends or intimates use
instance.
The utterances in example 2 were all produced were (almost!) all said without
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rancour, and caused no offence.
Example 2:
(a) Roll over.
(b) Shut up you fool.
(c) Set the table, Robbie.
(d) Wash your hands for tea children.
(e) Turn that blessed radio down.
Where status differences are clearly marked and accepted, superiors tends to use
imperative to subordinates. Teachers often use imperatives to pupils, for instance.
Example 3:
(a) Open your book at page 32
(b) Shut the door
(c) Stop talking please
Teacher can use very direct expression of their mea high status relative to their
pupils. On the other hands, options in a role relationship such as teacher-pupil are so
can also use minimal explicit forms and be confident they will be interpreted
accurately as directive.
Example 4:
(a) Blackboard! (‘Clean the blackboard’)
(b) Bus people! (‘ those who get the school bus should now leave’)
(c) I hear talking (‘stop talking’)
So clear-cut are the rules for classroom behaviour that it has been suggested that
pupils operate with a very general rule of the form ‘Scan every utterance of the teacher
for directive intent’. In the other words pupils consider everything the teacher says as a
possible directive. New entrant Jason in example 5, however, has obviously not
learned this rule yet, so his teacher’s attempts to gently direct him to the appropriate
behaviour are initially far too indirect.
Example 5:
Teacher : Jason, why have you got your raincoat it’s raining
Jason : (smile)
Teacher : it’s not raining inside
Jason : (no response)

6. Teacher : what are you going to do about it?
Jason : (no response)
Teacher : go and hang it up
Formality and status may be very relevant in choosing an appropriate directive
form. At a graduation ceremony the University Chancellor gave the Vice-Chancellor
the directive in example 6.
Example 6:
I now call on the Vice-Chancellor to read the citation for distinguished guest.
The required action (‘read the citation’) is embedded as a subordinate clause in
the second part of the declarative sentence, and this is a common grammatical means
of expressing directives less directly and more politely. A study which looked at the
directives used between medical professionals in a meeting also demonstrated the
importance of relative status in determining the form of directive in a formal setting.
Imperative were over whelming used by superiors to those of subordinate status. The
only imperative used ‘upwards’ were greeted with laughter, and regards as humorous
because they so clearly flouted this sociolinguistic rule. The general rule was that
directives upwards were couched as indirect forms, such as modal interrogative as in
example 7(a). Others took the form of hints as illustrated by the exchange in example
7(b).
Example 7:
Medical professional of leave status to person of higher status
(a) Could you ring his another and find out ?
(b) A. We’ve get a referral from Dr. T. He’s your neighbour Jody.
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B. Ok I’ll take him.
The relevance of status in a less formal context was nicely demonstrated in a
study of children’s directive in New Zealand child-care centre. Relative status in the
centre was determined by age and size. The oldest, biggest and strongest child used by
far the most imperatives, while attempts by the other children to get him to cooperate
involved less direct forms such I think I need that note and could I borrow that?
Another factor which is relevant to the form of a directive is the routineness or
reasonableness of the task. A boss might produce utterance (a) in example 8 to his
mechanic when giving her routine task. If, however, he is expecting her to do

7. something-out of the ordinary or especially difficult, he is far more likely to use a less
direct form such as (b) or even a hint such as (c).
Example 8:
(a) Get those brake pads in by 5 o’clock Sue. That car’s needed first thing in
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the morning.
(b) Could you stay a bit later tonight, do you think, and finish this job?
(c) That job’s taking longer than we predicted. I don’t know what we’ll do if it
isn’t ready for tomorrow.
In general, imperative are used between people who know each other well to
subordinates. Interrogative and declarative, including hints, used between those are less
familiar with each other, or where there are some reason to feel the task being
requested is not routine. But there are many qualifications to those generalizations.
Hints may be used for humorous effect between people who are close friends, as
example 9 illustrates.
Example 9:
(a) To someone blocking the light out.
You make a better door than a window.
(b) Mother to teenage son.
I’m not sure that a couple of smelly socks in the middle of the floor can be
beaten as a centre piece for our dinner party. What do you think, Tim?
It has also been noted that girls and women tend to favour more polite and less
direct form of directives than males - at least in the contexts investigated. Those are
example of children’s utterances to each other in a play centre.
Example 10:
(a) Tom : Give me that. I need it now.
(b) Seymour : Get off that car.
(c) Grant : Get out of my house.
(d) Maria : You finished with that rolling pin now?
(e) Lisa : My turn now eh?
(f) Meg : it’s time for tea so you’ll have to go home.
The form used by the girl are already less direct another those used by the boys.
In a study of doctors’ directives patients, male doctors typically used imperative (e.g.
eat more fruit), while female doctors used less direct forms (e.g. maybe you could try
fresh fruits for dessert). There are many other influences on the form of directives: the
addressee’s gender is significant, for instance. Women not only use less direct form of
directive, they also receive less direct forms. Relative power orstatus, and social

8. distance clearly influence the form of directives, as some of the examples above have
demonstrated. There is not space to illustrate all the possible contextual influences, but
you might find it interesting to investigate some of them for yourself in your own
community.
Not all communities follow the patterns I have described. In a study of a
community of lower-class male migrant agricultural workers on the eastern seaboard
of the United States, for instance, it was found that almost all the directives took the
form of imperatives regardless of differences in social status, social distance, the
presence of outsiders and the setting or location.
Example 11:
a. Stay away from them social workers
b. Well if you don’t want to work, get out of the field
c. Grab that there hand truck
d. Now get to it
e. Overseer assigns the farm worker the wrong to hoe
Farm worker: go to hell. Two times you have told me what to do each time
it’s been wrong. I’m staying in this row. You put somebody else there.
The researchers in this study considered that the insecure and unpleasant work
conditions of the participants accounted for the antagonism evident in many of their
social interactions. Relations between the workers and their bosses were characterised
by mistrust and tension on both sides. Their language reflected these social relationships
in the great majority of directives, whether from bosses to worker or vice versa, took the
form of unmodified imperatives.
Clearly getting what you want from someone else requires knowledge of the
rules for expressing yourself appropriately in the relevant socio-cultural context. A
successful outcome can reflect a real sociolinguistic accomplishment. And even at the
age of 3 some children have worked out that a threat can sometimes be more effective
than any directive. The following example illustrates the sociolinguistic skills of both
parties to this exchange.
Example 12:
Mischa : Can I borrow your biscuit?
Jake : No, it’s my lunch
Mischa : I won’t be your friend if you won’t let me
Jake : OK
(Jake gives her the biscuit but looks miserable.)
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9. Mischa : Here, it’s OK you have it
Jake : No. You won’t be my friend
(Mischa starting eating.)
Jake : My turn
(Mischa gives it back and they then finish the biscuit taking.)
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3. Referential Utterances
Referential utterances provide information. Politeness in these utterances can be
seen from the substance of cooperative principles – quality, quantity, relation and
manner. The value of politeness, in the same way, a great deal depends on intonation,
tone of voice and context too. The following utterances are instances for the referential
function:
– The second presenter will be Mrs. Hanna.
– Make up speaking class will be held on Monday at 1 pm.
– The capital city of Indonesia is Jakarta.
– We will leave for Jakarta tomorrow at 9 a.m.
– Our baby always wakes up at 3 a.m.
4. Metalinguistic utterances
Metalinguistic utterances comment on language itself. Holmes (1992: 286) gives
the example of this function is like ‘Hegemony’ is not a common word. While Cripper
and Widdowson in Allen and Corder (ed.) (1975: 1997) explain that the utterances of
this kind focus on the code or the language. The principle purpose of metalinguistic is
to make sure that the addressee understands the meaning of the code which the
addresser is using. In Indonesian communication, we often find metalinguistic
function of speech in scientific discussion. The following utterances are instances for
the referential function:
– ‘Nat’ has to be added by affixes.
– Poetic art is the art of writing a literary work.
– Stylistics is science about language style in a literary work.
5. Poetic utterances
Poetic utterances focus on aesthetic features of language. This speech function is
rarely used in daily conversation. In special occasion, like in the ceremony of

10. engagement in North Sumatra community, anyway, poetic function is commonly used.
RRI Tanjung Pinang broadcasts a special program named Serumpun Melayu that is
this program dealing with the reproduction of Pantun Melayu on air (Srinthli, 2005).
The following is the utterances of the broadcaster, Wan Abidah:
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Palm tree is struck by lightning
It falls over kedondong tree
Don’t think of losing or winning
The important thing is the performance
Poetic utterances may be found in daily conversation, but it seldom happens in
Javanese community. When it happens, the purpose is to raise a humorous effect
between people who are close friends.
Skinny cat takes a bath on a board
Nameboard made of jati tree
Skinny body is not because of lack of food
But thinking of the sweet heart
6. Phatic utterances
Phatic utterances express solidarity and empathy with other. This speech
function always exists in all community, but the form is different. In other words, this
expression is culturally linked.
(I). Where are you going? (Mau kemana?)
(II). Please come in. (Mari singgah dulu.)
Utterance (I) is Indonesian distinctive expression that often make western people
offended. For English community “Where are you going?” is such a sensitive
greeting. This is too private question that someone who is greeted that way will be
feeling spied and unsecured. That is why the possible answer to this question may be
“It is none of your business”. On the other hand, in Indonesian daily social interaction,
“where are you going” is a part of communicative strategy for breaking the ice. This
expression is commonly used to start a conversation or to show one’s care of others.
This greeting may become a ‘lip-service’ that is to show “I am your friend and I care
of you”. This is apparently a form of phatic expression in Indonesian vernacular.

11. We often hear (II) “Please, come in or mari singgah dulu” in Indonesian daily
communication and it serves a social function too. The offering is usually done by a
speaker to someone he/she is familiar with – someone to his/her neighbors. Sometimes
someone offers his friend or his neighbor to drop in his/her house. He offers
something, but he actually does not mean so. He just wants to demonstrate utterly that
“you are my friend”.
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(III). Let’s have a meal. (Mari makan.)
It happens very often in a canteen when a person is about to eat his/her meal and
his/her friend comes then he/she will say (III) “Let’s have a meal or mari makan”.
The statement of offering food is sometimes merely a lip-service. The speaker does
not intend to share his food with the addressee. What he has in mind is that “well you
are my friend”‘. Cook (1989) calls this “the phatic function of the language”. As this
expression is only a lip service, so the addressee usually applies the same strategy,
namely flouting co-operative principle, by uttering “Terimakasih, saya baru saja
makan”. Meanwhile, accepting the offer sometimes can cause embracement because
the food may not be enough for two persons. Conversely, when two persons are very
close friends, the acceptance of the proposal is reasonable.
Though I have provided a very brief indication of what the function labels mean,
and an example of each in the form of a single utterance, it is important to remember that
any utterance may in fact express more than one function, and any function may be
expressed by a stretch of discourse which doesn’t exactly with an utterance.
The first three functions are recognized by many linguists, though the precise labels
they are given may differ. They seem to be very fundamental functions of language,
perhaps because they derive from the basic components of any interaction- the speaker
(expressive), the addressee (directive) and the message (referential). The phatic function is,
however, equally important from a sociolinguistic perspective. Phatic communication
conveys an affective or social message rather than a referential one. One of the insights
provided by sociolinguists has been precisely that language is not simply used to convey
referential information, but also expresses information about social relationships.
The list of functions provided above is not definitive or all-encompassing other
speech function categories have been identified often arising from the particular interests
of a researcher or the focus of a particular study.

12. Other researchers have added categories to deal with promises and threats
(commissives), and with marriage vows, bets, and declarations of war (performatives or
declarations). Each category has its distinctive characteristic. The precise linguistic form
used is crucial to bets. Similarly the precise words uttered at particular points are crucial in
a wedding ceremony. So it is possible to add a variety of further categories which may
prove useful and illuminating for particular analyses.
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13. CONCLUSION
Language serves a range of functions. It is usually adjusted the speech to suit the
social context of speech. There are a number of ways of categorizing the functions of
speech:
 Expressive utterances express the speaker’s feelings, e.g. I’m feeling great today.
 Directive utterances used to get someone to do something, e.g. clear the table.
 Referential utterances provide information, e.g. At the third stroke it will be three
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o’clock precisely.
 Metalinguistic utterances comment on language itself, e.g. ‘hegemony’ is not a
common word.
 Poetic utterances focus on aesthetic features of language, e.g. a poem, an ear-catching
motto, a rhyme, peter piper picked a peek of pickled peppers.
 Phatic utterances express solidarity and empathy with others, e.g. Hi, how are you,
lovely day isn’t it?
Any utterances may in fact express more than one function, and any function may be
expressed by a stretch of discourse which doesn’t exactly coincide with an utterance. They
seem to be very fundamental functions of language, perhaps because they derive from the
basic components of any interaction- the speaker (expressive), the addressee (directive)
and the message (referential).

14. REFERENCE
Allen and Corder (ed.). 1975. Papers in Applied Linguistics Language Teaching.
iii
Sociolinguistics and Teaching.
Cook, Guy. 1989. Discourse. Hongkong:Oxford University Press.
Holmes, Janet. 1992. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London and New York:
Longman.
http://www.diditlinguist.blogspot.com/2013/05/speech- functions-politeness-and-cross.html
http://www.jlt-polinema.org/?tag=politeness