Analysis on Speech Acts of Khairy Jamaludin’s Tweets

International Islamic University Malaysia

‘Analysis on Speech Acts of Khairy Jamaludin’s Tweets’

Course Title: Computer Assisted Language Learning

Course Code: ENGL 4740

Prepared by:

Nur Hanisah Alimuddin 0820722

Nurul Fuadah Mohd Hassan 0821494

Sakinah Md Som 0827878

Noraziah Razak 0911024

Submitted to:

Dr. Rozina Abdul Ghani

Submission on: 12th April 2012

Introduction

As stated in one of the Routledge’s Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries;

“We can make requests, ask questions, give orders, make promises, give thanks, offer apologies, and so on. Moreover, almost any speech act is really the performance of several acts at once, distinguished by different aspects of the speaker's intention: there is the act of saying something, what one does in saying it, such as requesting or promising, and how one is trying to affect one's audience.” (Bach, K., 1998)

Objectives

This study analyzes tweets of a political leader named Khairy Jamaludin in order to examine the Speech Acts’ elements used in his Twitter and to elucidate each tweets posted by Khairy. By the end of the study, this research may produce reasons behind every tweets that Khairy has produced.

Sampling

About 30 tweets were taken from Khairy’s Twitter page from 3rd April 2011 to 7th April 2012. The criterias of tweets are:

· The tweets must not be about politics only.

· The tweets must be his tweets not re-tweeted tweets.

· The tweets must be in English language.

- The tweets must be his response to presuppose tweets

Methodology

Data and Analytical Methods

To address the research questions, a total of 30 selected tweets were collected from Khairy Jamaludin’s Twitter account from Twitter.com and were copied and pasted to a table and analyze it in accordance to our chosen topic which is Speech Acts. However, only 27 tweets can be used for our research. The instruments for this study are the Discourse Analysis’s textbook and few reliable sources.

Findings

Based on Khairy’s tweets, there are many instances of speech acts that he employed in one tweet. For example, ‘I know this is a cliché but be yourself. That's the best person to be and to want to be.’ In this sentence, Khairy makes a statement and by the same token, he is also giving an advice to his follower to always be themselves. This is a result of the use of conjunction ‘but’ and also, the following sentences shows that he is making a statement by quoting some phrase to accompany the previous sentence. This is normal since it is proven in a research by Bach, K (1998) in which speech acts is done continuously in one exchange.

Besides that, Khairy usually shows his gratitude to his followers by thanking them and also, by wishing their birthdays. This act is crucial in order to win the heart of his followers in order to make sure the winning in the election. In contrast, he will show his other side by being sarcastic in his tweets if the tweet is about politics and if someone is being rude to him. For example; ‘Ya man! They don’t speak BM or English nowadays! They need to be taught everything in Mandarin la.’ (Refer tweet no 28) Furthermore, there are times where he is firmed with his view and he tweets using the pronoun ‘I’ to indicate that his view is determined that he is correct. (Refer tweet no 12)

As a political leader, it is common for him to tweet about what is happening in Malaysia political scene and also government policy. It is because as a graduate from Oxford University, Khairy has a wide knowledge in politics. Thus, he expresses his thought through this medium, Twitter in order to make known to people and somehow, can help him in winning the election soon. Many of his tweets, he raises questions to get people’s opinion and also solution for some problems. As an example, ‘Parliament sitting extended until 10.30pm tonight. Need to finish supplementary budget this week. Lots of bills & amendments incl AUKU & ISA’ (Refer tweet no 1) For this particular tweet, it is constructed mainly to inform the reader regarding government’s policy in the making.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, it is not easy to predict the actual speech acts committed by the speaker since we cannot really predict the reason behind every tweets as intention cannot be quantified. However, we might guess the meaning based on the speech acts that the speaker committed. Twitter as mediator helps us in conveying our thought and justify things. As a result, many twitter users use Twitter wrongly and it leads to many occurrences of verbal hygiene.

Appendix

Tweets and Analysis

1- Parliament sitting extended until 10.30pm tonight. Need to finish supplementary budget this week. Lots of bills & amendments

incl AUKU & ISA

These sentences constructed in order to inform the readers regarding about the government policies that have yet to be completed

2- Assembly is one thing but vilification in media and schools something else.

This statement is made in order to make a clarification regarding the differences between assembly and vilification in media and schools

3- Haven't had time to catch up on the news proper. Have we banned Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu or ballet tutus from Msia?

This sentence is about asking a question from the other followers regarding the issue

4- Proton named its new model Preve. Is it just me or did you read that wrongly as well?

There is a use of sarcasm in the statement and it is part of verbal hygiene

5- There hasn't been a more insightful show on politics & power since The West Wing until the release of Game of Thrones. Winter is here!

This statement is made to inform the reader that since there is a show called The West Wing, the people start to understand politics and power.

6- I know this is a cliché but be yourself. That's the best person to be and to want to be.

The speaker is making a statement and at the same time giving an advice about being who you really are

7- Fact that DAP & PAS not rushing to include PKR’s PTPTN offer in Common policy framework indicates that they have serious doubts about the idea

The speaker is criticizing on DAP & PAS’ stand on PTPTN by voicing out his opinion on that issue

8- Thank you, Arsenal. #20

The speaker shows hi gratitude towards his favorite football team

9- Sure man!

The sentence is made in order to give guarantee to the specific person

10- Where did you see me looking bored? The debates are exciting.

The speaker questioning on whether he did something that is contradictory to the real situation

11- Frankly speaking I don’t think we should pay much attention to him. Not impressive at all.

The speaker is making a clear statement and emphasizes it by giving his own opinion

12- I am confident they will nitpick. No doubt about that.

The speaker stays firm and gives assurance to his followers

13- Thanks guys.

The speaker shows gratitude towards the followers

14- We all should aspire to follow the way of the Prophet pbuh.

The speaker encourages his followers to follow the prophet’s way of life

15- There must be middle ground here. Maybe a narrow silver but middle ground nonetheless.

The speaker disagrees and he stays firm with his stand even he is not sure which is right

16- What do you mean?

The speaker clearly asks a question regarding the meaning

17- Thanks Bro. I accept it as amanah & as a challenge. How are you? Lama tak jumpa.

The speaker shows gratitude and at the same time asking about the person’s well being.

18- Agreed. Better sequencing.

The speaker agrees with the follower on certain opinion

19- Will do my best.

The speaker gives his promise to do the best that he can

20- Happy belated birthday!

This sentence indicates that the speaker shows affection by wishing a belated birthday to one of his followers.

21- QOTQ: Let the world underestimate you. But never underestimate yourself.

The speaker makes a statement by quoting from other source.

22- BTW how’s your youth climate justice network doing?

The speaker asks a question on something in order to get information and response from the previous question posted by the addressee.

23- Perhaps but I think there is some value in those rituals also.

The speaker gives his opinion on an issue.

24- Thank you. They asked me to go for officer training last year but I went for the airbone paratrooper course instead. Was fun.

This is when the speaker intends to show his gratitude and at the same time, justify his absence from the training.

25- You can read my tweets. I’ve answered all the issues. Take care. J

The speaker tries to give permission and justify by telling the readers to read his previous tweets.

26- Yes. Its an April Fool’s joke.

This is a verbal hygiene.

27- He’s good at exposing Anwar. But not much else. Intellectually limited.

There is a use of sarcasm and it is part of verbal hygiene.

28- Ya man! They don’t speak BM or English nowadays! They need to be taught everything in Mandarin la.

There is a use of sarcasm and it is part of verbal hygiene.

29- I don’t think so. It’s all or nothing here.

The speaker shows he disagrees on something by expressing his own thought

30- How else will they understand BM/English. When I learnt Japanese or French, teacher had to be able to speak English.

This sentence is constructed in order to give his opinion by stating his own experience.

References

Bach K., (1998). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://online.sfsu.edu/~kbach/spchacts.html

Khairy Jamaludin's Twitter, Retrieved from https://twitter.com/#!/Khairykj

Nordquist R., (2012). Speech Acts. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/speechactterm.htm