An Analysis of Expressive Illocutionary Acts in Na'ima Robert’s Novel, Boy vs. Girl

Abstract

This study examines the expressive illocutionary acts uttered by the characters in

the novel Boy vs. Girl (2010) by Na'ima Robert. It aims at exploring the kinds of expressive illocutionary acts as suggested by Austin (1962) and Searle (1969). The study data consist of the utterances used by the characters in the text of the selected novel Boy vs. Girl, containing expressive illocutionary acts. This study follows a descriptive qualitative method to examine the collected data. The results showed that there are nine kinds of expressive illocutionary acts used in Boy vs. Girl, expressing dislike, longing, desire, surrender, anger, apology, admiration, grief and praising. Since this study observes the expressive illocutionary acts in Boy vs. Girl novel to reveal the hidden meaning of the expressive acts, it is recommended that speech act theory can be used by other researchers in reading other literary works.