A Pragma linguistic Study of Assertion in Selected English Political Texts

The current study is an attempt to explore the communicative functions of the language in the speeches of the presidents investigating the employment of illocutionary acts in two remarkable speeches of Joe Biden and Boris Johnson which belong to two different districts. The study aims at: analyzing the types of speech acts performed and examine each speech act according to the contextual criteria, highlighting the diverse types of forces within each speech act, stating the illocutionary act of


Introduction
Pragmatics encompasses the study of the relation between language and context.Speech act theory is one of the pragmatic theories that is concerned with how words in certain context, can be used to perform actions rather than conveying information.This theory attempts to explore how the speakers employ language to accomplish the intended actions and how the hearers infer the intended meaning.Language is considered to be the best means of human communication, allowing people to communicate effectively with one another, to assert specific situations, Recently, the focus has been on the relationship between language and politics, in the sense of how a politician uses language to convince his audience of what he is talking about.Presidential speeches are often written to persuade, inform, influence, or enlighten the public of the speakers' goals.The President of the USA (Joe Biden) and PM Boris Johnson use various illocutionary assertion acts in their speeches.There are some difficulties in persuading audiences or convey information.Lack of justification for what they claim creates a problem for the audience.

Limitation:
This research is limited to the speeches of the president Joe Biden and the Prime Minister of UK Boris Johnson Presenting two texts, one for Biden and one for Jonson

Previous Studies:
Ray [1], This study aims to analyze the illocutionary forces of the 'commissive' and 'assertive' speech acts and to explain how Donald Trump uses the locutions of these acts to impress his target people (the Americans).This M.A. thesis adopts Searle and Vanderveken's Theory of Assertion (1985) as a model for the analysis.The researcher follows a qualitative approach to conduct this study.The results of the study show that the President uses assertive illocutionary forces more than commissive ones.Also, he focuses on direct assertives like 'affirm', 'assert', 'inform', 'notify', 'remind, 'report', and 'state' in which he tries to impress the US Congress with his achievements during his first year of presidency.
Milić [2], The study aims at proposing and defending a theory according to which the obligation to know the expressed proposition counts as an assertion of that proposition.A consequence of this view is the knowledge calculus of the claim, according to which one claims that p is correct only if one knows that p.In support of this approach, the researcher offers a strategy for identifying the normative consequences of an assertion and the types of actions that typically occur when someone misstates an assertion.Two such phenomena have been outlined: withdrawal and denial of knowledge.In the sequel, the researcher puts the theory to the test, critically examining four objections to it, and arguing that it can convincingly mitigate them.Nugroho, Agung [3], The study aims at distinguishing the types of illocutionary actions dominantly portrayed by Sherlock Holmes in the film through its script.Holmes as the main character in this film plays a consulting detective who has a unique way of communicating with the participants.When he says something, he also does something.This is called a speech act.Speech acts deal with words and doing things.It has implications that we can do many things through the use of words.Speech acts are divided into three acts; locutionary actions, illocutionary actions, and perlocutionary actions.In this research, an illocutionary act becomes the main concern since it is the most important act in the speech acts and relates to the speaker's intentions.
DeRose [4], This article explains two propositions that have been developed independently of one another: contextualism and the knowledge account of assertion.The core point of contextualism suggests that it takes for the speaker to make a warranted assertion, and the knowledge account of assertion provides an important piece of information to achieve the proposition of communication, i.e. "it provides a powerful positive argument in favor of contextualism."The study finds out that the knowledge account of assertion solves the problem confronting contextualism in that it guarantees its essential role in determining the effectiveness of assertive responses.
The common similarities between the previous studies and the current one are: (1) both focus on the assertion as a speech act, (2) both emphasize the role of context in the determination of assertion, (3) both show how shared knowledge between the speaker and the hearer serves as a helpful device in achieving the assertive speech act.On the other hand, they differ in the following respects: (1) some of the previous studies are concerned with how to impart knowledge through assertion directly or indirectly, focusing on direct and indirect speech acts of assertion, whereas the current study is concerned with types of direct illocutionary acts of assertion, (2) some of the previous studies dealt with speech act of assertion in literature, whereas this study deals with assertion in presidential speeches, (3) most of the previous studies adopted more than one theory as a model for analysis, i.e.Green, Grice, Leech and Searle, whereas this study adopts Searle's expanded Speech Acts Theory of Assertion, (4) most of the previous studies follow a quantitative method in their analysis of assertion, whereas the present study follows a qualitative and quantitative method to explain and analyze the data under investigation, (5) many of the previous studies analyze their collected data on the level of sentences, whereas the current study uses a text as a unit of analysis.Place: Independence National Historical Park Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Illocutionary Acts of Affirming
(1) "But togethertogether, we can choose a different path.We can choose a better path.Forward, to the future.A future of possibility.A future to build and dream and hope." Repetition is boring in English, but in this context, it is used by the President for assertion.More than one word and structure are repeated: 'together', 'path', 'future' and "we can choose".This proposition carries a positive assertion.
(2) " Throughout our history, America has often made the greatest progress coming out of some of our darkest moments.I believe we can and we must do that again, and we are.I believed we could lift America from the depths of COVID 19.I believed we could build a better America, so we passed the biggest infrastructure investment since President Eisenhower." This speech copes with the felicity conditions of Searle.First, it includes the belief of the President in the truth of the expressed propositions: I believe we can […] do… I believed we could lift and I believed we could build Second, the requirements for the illocutionary act are displayed by the President when he mentions certain phases in the American history such as 'darkest moments' , ' COVID 19' and 'the biggest infrastructure investment'.Third, the assertive point exemplifies that the statement indicates that the President presents a proposition as representing the actual state of affairs of the world, and it reflects real situational contexts in the American history.

Illocutionary Acts of Asserting
(1)" That sacred flame still burns now in our time as we build an America that is more prosperous, free, and just.That is the work of my presidency, a mission I believe in with my whole soul." Searle [5] believes that some illocutionary acts differ from others in the degree of strength with which their illocutionary point is achieved and in the degree of strength with which their psychological state is expressed.Thus, the illocutionary act of 'Asserting' is the strongest form of the assertive speech acts.In this situation, the President asserts that within his responsibility he will build a prosperous America.A truth that he believes in with his 'whole soul'.This proposition displays a psychological state of the speaker.A fact that the audience may not recognize due to the Preparatory condition ( hence forth PC).The illocutionary act of 'Asserting' postulates that the President presents this contextual event in a country known in real world with for both the speaker and the hearers.
(2) "But I'm an American Presidentnot the President of red America or blue America, but of all America.And I believe it is my dutymy duty to level with you, to tell the truth no matter how difficult, no matter how painful." The President is supposed to tell the truth since he said " my duty […] to tell the truth no matter how difficult, no matter how painful."Searle's PCs require that the hearer must have some basis for believing in the truth of the asserted proposition.So, the President did his best to make some available evidences in order for the illocutionary act to be felicitous, i.e. the audience recognize the truth of the presidential speech.
(3) "There are far more Americansfar more Americans from everyfrom every background and belief who reject the extreme MAGA ideology than those that accept it.(Applause.)And, folks, it is within our power, it's in our handsyours and mineto stop the assault on American democracy.I believe America is at an inflection pointone of those moments that determine the shape of everything that's to come after." First and foremost, the stylistic variation of Joe Biden is obvious in that it involves some repetitive patterns which marks his speech.Certain structures are repeated more than once for semantic and pragmatic configurations.

Illocutionary Act of Boasting
"I believe America is big enough for all of us to succeed, and that is the nation we're building: a nation where no one is left behind." The locutionary act of this part of presidential speech includes lexical items which confirm assertion.They are: 'I believe', 'that is the nation' and 'no one'.This locution conveys a positive assertion.In uttering this speech act, the President commits himself to the proposition of assertion.

Illocutionary Act of Informing
"Look, I know poli-politics can be fierce and mean and nasty in America.I get it.I believe in the give-and-take of politics, in disagreement and debate and dissent." The use of the conjunction (and) with every predicative adjective in the first and the second sentences indicates assertion.This is opposite to the grammatical function of this conjunction, i.e. it is used only before the last item in a list of linguistic constituents unless it is used for emphasis.In this situation, the President informs the audience about bad politics in America.He tries to convince his audience to believe his speech about the "fierce and mean and nasty [politics]", and to replace it with his challenging idea: "the give-and-take of politics, in disagreement and debate and dissent."Once they believe in the President's concept of politics, his illocutionary act of 'Informing' is successful, and the assertive speech act appears to be true.

Illocutionary Act of Predicting
"And I have no doubtnone --that this is who we will be and that we'll come together as a nation.That we'll secure our democracy.That for the next 200 years, we'll have what we had the past 200 years: the greatest nation on the face of the Earth." All the future events mentioned by Mr. Biden in this extract represent the illocutionary act of 'Predicting'.The use of the modal verb "will" four times and ' the next 200 years ' are other signs which prove that the President predicts these events with certain types of assertion.It is reinforced by the structure: "And I have no doubtnone --".There is an inquiry here whether he tells his audience the truth.Even though, the presidential speech is still endowed with the Preparatory Condition(PC) and Essential Condition (EC) in the absence of Propositional Content Condition (PCC) and Sincerity condition (SC )to be considered as an assertive speech act.There are some pre-requisites (we'll have what we had the past 200 years …) for the "greatest nation", and there is an issue of a nation which exists in our real world.

Illocutionary Act of Reminding
" We, the people, have burning inside each of us the flame of liberty that was lit here at Independence Halla flame that lit our way through abolition, the Civil War, Suffrage, the Great Depression, world wars, Civil Rights.We must never forget: We, the people, are the true heirs of the American experiment that began more than two centuries ago."Searle and Vanderveken [8] explained that 'to remind' is to mention to a hearer with the additional Preparatory condition that the hearer once knew and might have forgotten the propositional content.In this situation, the President reminds the audience of their American antecedents.He prepares some real places and events which remind them of their Independence Day.They are Independence Hall, the flame of liberty, the Civil War, Suffrage, the Great Depression, world wars, Civil Rights, respectively.An assertion followed by an obligatory reminding structure: "We must never forget…".Therefore, 'remind' has more PCs than 'assert' because it is necessary for a reminder that the PCC has been made known to the hearer before, thus 'remind' entails assert" (ibid).Again, the SC of this illocutionary act might not be fulfilled, but the act is still performed, though there is an abuse to use Searle's term [6].However, the EC works in the sense that the President has the intention that his illocutionary act of 'Reminding' will count as the identifiable act, and that this intention is recognized by his audience.

Illocutionary Acts of Reporting
(1) "I believed we could make America safer, so we passed the most significant gun safety law since President Clinton."(Applause.)I believed we could go from being the highest cost of prescriptions in the world to making prescription drugs and healthcare more affordable, so we passed the most significant healthcare reforms since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act." Asserting is the way to convey the truth or the factual information to the hearer or listener, in this sense, 'Reporting', as an assertive illocutionary act, is used to inform the hearer about something that already happened by the speaker [5].The President reports some information about 'gun safety law' and ' the Affordable Care Act.' (2) "I ran for President because I believed we were in a battle for the soul of this nation.I still believe that to be true.I believe the soul is the breath, the life, and the essence of who we are.The soul is what makes us "us."Some of the illocutionary forces have more PCCs than others.The justification given by Searle and Vanderveken is that of 'report', which has more PCCs than 'assert' because its PCCs only relate to past or present.Thus, 'Reporting' effectively entails 'Asserting' [8] In this occasion, the President reports certain information about 'the soul of America'.The context made it clear that this illocutionary act is used to assert something happened in the past, and the speaker (Mr. Biden) states clearly: " I still believe that to be true."A SC which adds another evidence to the truth of his speech."An assertive is always an expression of a belief" [5] .

Illocutionary Act of Stating
"I know this nation.I know you, the American people.I know your courage.I know your hearts.And I know our history." Stating something is connected to the notion of setting something forth or representing something normally for the benefit or edification of the hearer [7] .This part of presidential speech includes five repetitions of the verb 'know' to give an indication that there is something to be asserted.There is a new piece of information stated with every 'know'.This proposition can be classified as 'Stating' act because the President states something that can make the audience believe it.Moreover, this illocutionary act of 'Stating' has a word-to-world direction of fit for what is being matched in a statement is the PCC of the statement with the actual state of affairs.If a statement is false, it is because the PCC of such statement does not match with a state of affairs [5].Here, what is at fault is the statement and not the actual state of affairs, the proposition is liable to be interpreted either true or false.
In the text above there are some linguistic triggers and lexical items used by the president which indicate Assertion such as: the use of the conjunction (and) with every predicative adjective indicates assertion.As an assertion followed by an obligatory reminding structure: as in "We must never forget…".The use of the expression "I believe we can".The use of the modal verb "will" and ' the next 200 years ' are other signs which prove that the President predicts these events with certain types of assertion.

General Description
Name of Occasion: Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Resignation Speech .Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain announced on Thursday that he would step down.The will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister, and Sir Graham Brady is chosen to be the chairman of backbench MPs.Johnson's allies were briefing on Thursday morning that he would remain in post until October, while a successor is chosen.Time: Thursday July 7, 2022 3:13 PM GMT Place: Downing Street [8] Illocutionary Acts of Asserting (1) "And let me say now, to the people of Ukraine, that I know that we in the U.K. will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes." The Prime Minister adds an assertive force to his utterance, thereby guaranteeing to 'the people of Ukraine ' that his speech is true.This is the 'words to world' direction of fit [5].In this case, he asserts to the Ukrainians that the U.K. " will continue to back [their] fight ".According to the Preparatory condition of Searle, it specifies the contextual status of the speaker's state vs. the hearer's interest.Here, the speaker (Mr. Johnson) has the authority to perform the illocutionary act of 'Asserting', and the hearers (Ukranians) definitely have interest in what he asserted.The Sincerity condition is related to the speaker's beliefs and intention as they are expressed while performing an illocutionary act.Here, the Prime Minister intends to help 'the people of Ukraine'.The Essential condition states that there are certain factors like the context of the utterance and the speaker's intention, in order for a specific speech act to be appropriately performed.These factors are present in Mr. Johnson's speech.
(2) " I want you to know that from now on until the new prime minister is in place, your interests will be served and the government of the country will be carried on."Following [9] the effect of assertion is to reduce the set of possible worlds that represents the presuppositions held by the hearers.In this situation, the Prime Minister asserts two things: the 'interests' of the British people and the 'government'.The former ' will be served', and the latter 'will be carried on'.Of course, this is opposite to the hearers' presuppositions and expectations.However, what is said by Mr. Johnson seems to be true since he speaks about recent events that could be recognized by the British people.Therefore, the performed illocutionary act of 'Asserting' is in accordance with Mr. Johnson's beliefs, intentions and feelings.

Illocutionary Act of Boasting
"And of course, I'm immensely proud of the achievements of this government, from getting Brexit done to settling our relations with the continent for over half a century." This part of presidential speech includes a linguistic structure indicating assertion.Mr. Johnson uses the copulative verb (am) and the combination of the adverb plus adjective (immensely proud) to emphasize the assertive act It denotes assertion with the added feature that it has something to do with the interest of the speaker.This illocutionary act of 'Boasting' displays pride of the Prime Minister because his government did Brexit for the first time.He is boasting for "settling [their] relations with the continent for over half a century."This fits the Propositional content since it is the evidence introduced by Mr. Johnson.He also presents a true utterance which tells something about an actual event (Brexit) in the U.K.

Illocutionary Act of Claiming
"And at the same time in this country, we've been pushing forward a vast program of investment in infrastructure and skills and technologythe biggest in a century." In this assertive utterance, the Prime Minister claims that his government has pushed forward ' a vast program of investment in infrastructure '.It is 'the biggest in a century'.In this context, he believes that this proposition is true, and there is a reason for believing so, i.e. the program is found in the U.K. When performing an assertion, the speaker provides information about the world which passes on to the hearer.This information has to be accurate in order for an assertion to be successful, i.e. the words spoken have to fit the world [5].Furthermore, Mr. Johnson seems to be sincere in performing the illocutionary act of 'Claiming' since it has to do with the achievement of the 'biggest in a century'.

Illocutionary Acts of Predicting
(1)"I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed.And I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world." In this extract, a prediction is made about many relieved and few disappointed people.This illocutionary act represents a future event which is not fulfilled.The Prime Minister performs this proposition to acknowledge the public people of its truth.Though the Preparatory condition needs that the hearers must have some basis to recognize the truth of this proposition, Mr. Jonson does not supply evidence for his assertion.Whether he is sincere or not, this depends on the performance of the future act, that is if there will be such people.Nevertheless, his illocutionary act of 'Predicting' involves real British people living in a country known to the addressees.Of course, his utterance counts as an attempt to convince them that this assertion is true.
(2) "I know that even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden." The utterance appears to be a type of assertion in the form of illocutionary act of 'Predicting'.Here, Mr. Johnson predicts that their " future together is golden."He expects that although "things can sometimes seem dark now", they will get better in future.An indication to the Brexit in which British people faced hard times.However, the Prime Minister thinks that his utterance is true, and he also wants his addressees (public people) to believe it as a true assertive act.The evidence given in the first part of the 'if clause' is serious, but the 'golden future' is only a prediction by the speaker.However, talking about Brexit time and things happened then are essential conditions for the success of the intended speech act of assertion.

Illocutionary Act of Reminding
"So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voting Conservative for the first time: Thank you for that incredible mandate, the biggest Conservative majority since 1987, the biggest share of the vote since 1979." In this occasion, the Prime Minister reminds millions of the British public of their voting in 2019 for the Conservative party.So, it is the illocutionary act of 'Reminding' in which he believes that the expressed proposition is true.It is worth mentioning that assertion requires the assumption that it generates knowledge of belief in the hearers.In such case, supplying an evidence is a necessary condition for the achievement of the 'Reminding' act.Thus, Mr. Johnson provides this evidence: voting in 2019 as 'the biggest Conservative majority since 1987 and the biggest share of the vote since 1979'.Of course, this satisfies the Preparatory condition of [10] "S has evidence for the truth of P." Everything mentioned in this extract reminds the addressees of the a particular event (voting in 2019), and this meets the Essential condition since it is concerned with an actual event happened in the past in U.K.

Illocutionary Act of Stating
"And I've agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our back bench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week." In this speech, the Prime Minister states how he 'agreed with Sir Graham Brady' on 'the process of choosing [a] new leader.It is the illocutionary act of 'Stating'.As far as the Propositional content condition is concerned, Mr. Johnson introduces this proposition to acknowledge his followers from the Conservative party of the truth of this proposition.For the Preparatory condition, he tells them two things: the choice of the "new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week".These act as prerequisites for successful speech act of assertion.For the Sincerity condition, it ensures that the Prime Minister believes that the assertion he has just made is true.For the Essential condition, hetakes into account that the effect of such proposition represents an actual state of affairs.In the text above presidential speech includes some linguistic structures indicating assertion.Mr. Johnson uses the copulative verb (am) and the combination of the adverb plus adjective (immensely proud) to emphasize the assertive act.The use of the model verb "will" as in ' will be served', and 'will be carried on'.Which indicate Assertion in his speech.

Procedures of Analysis
The present study uses Searle's Speech Act Theory of assertion as a pragmatic model for analysis, represented by his publications (1969,1979) and Searle and Vanderveken (1985).For each extract of the (2) data selected, two procedures would be applied: (A) General description of the presidential speech is given, including the place and time of the speech.Also, a brief description about the occasion of the speech is curried out, and what the president is engaged with.
(B) Textual analysis, looking for the available assertive acts for every presidential speech, checking if any of the assertive acts are utilized and focusing on their pragmatic functions.

Conclusions
The current study examines how successful the expanded Speech Acts Theory of assertion has been applied to the selected presidential speeches.In fact, this thesis shows that Searle's pragmatic model offers an adequate explanation and evaluation of how instances of illocutionary acts of assertion are displayed and made use of for the benefit of achieving the effects of the many illocutionary acts used by the President Biden and PM Boris Johnson.The main feature of assertion as an authentic mode of the presidential speeches is to convince the public and the target audience of their own beliefs towards social, political and economic issues.A careful look at the selected presidential texts shows that the employed illocutionary acts of assertion abided by Searle's felicity conditions (preparatory Condition , Propositional Content Condition , Sincerity Condition and Essential Condition), which guarantee their perlocutionary effects on the target people.Many linguistic markers are used in the both speeches which indicates Assertion.The president Biden uses illocutionary act of assertions 12 times while the PM Johnson uses only 8 illocutionary act in his speech .The most frequent illocutionary act in Biden's speech is illocutionary act of asserting with 25% .In the speech of Johnson the most illocutioary acts are Asserting and predicting with 25%.
of Occasion: Remarks by President Biden on the Continued Battle for the Soul of the Nation U.S. President delivers remarks on what he calls the "continued battle for the Soul of the Nation" against the Republican Party.He has accused Republicans of 'semi-fascism' who want to destroy American freedom, and he calls all Americans to defend their democracy since "inside each of us, [there is] the flame of liberty."Time: September 01, 2022 .8.03 P.M.

A Pragma linguistic Study of Assertion in Selected English Political Texts
(Ph.D.) 2 Asst.Prof. Ali Abdullah Mahmood ,

Table ( 1
.1) Frequency Distribution of Assertion Categories in Text No.1