AN ANALYSIS OF SPEECH ACT OF PRAISING AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE USED BY THE JUDGES OF AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 15th

Abstract

; "> The study aims at describing speech act of praising used by the Judges of American Idol music television program Season 15th. The writer analyzed the speech acts by using pragmatic approach. The writer focuses on the forms of praising in literal and non-literal expressions and positive politeness strategy used by the Judges. From the analysis, the Judges often praise literally praising by using direct praising, repetition of certain word and maximizer. Meanwhile in non-literal praising the Judges used figurative language such as simile, metaphor,
personification, oxymoron, and imagery. In addition, the writer found the communication strategies used by the Judges to express the admiration by using positive politeness, for example exaggerate, intensify interest to hearer, use ingroup identity markers, show common ground, joke, show speaker’s knowledge and concern for hearer’s want.
Keywords: speech act of praising, literal and non-literal expressions, positive
politeness strategie