Power Play In Political Discourse: Speech Act Strategies In BBC Hardtalk Interviews

Abstract

This study examines the use of speech acts in the BBC HARDtalk political interview with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and their pragmatic functions. The study aims to identify the types of speech acts used in a political interview context. This research applies Searle’s (1979) classification of speech acts, namely representative, commissive, directive, expressive, and declarative. A descriptive qualitative method is employed, with data taken from the official transcript of the BBC HARDtalk interview broadcast on February 23, 2017. The data are analyzed through observation and classification of the interviewee’s utterances. The findings show that representative speech acts are the most dominant type, with 41 utterances (87%), mainly used to state facts, provide explanations, and give clarification. Commissive speech acts appear in 4 utterances (9%), while directive and expressive speech acts each appear in 1 utterance (2%). Declarative speech acts are not found in the data. These findings indicate that speech acts function as language strategies to maintain credibility, build public image, and control interaction in political interviews.