The Analysis of Illocutionary Acts and Perlocutionary Effects in ABtalks with Huda Kattan Podcast

Abstract

This study aims to identify the illocutionary acts underlying the perlocutionary effect found in a podcast entitled ABtalk with Huda Kattan. ABtalk, hosted by Anas Bukhash is an interview series that explores the personal lives, experiences, and perspectives of influential figures. Drawing on Searle’s (1979) theory of speech acts, this study employs a qualitative research method, with Huda Kattan’s utterances as the primary data for the analysis. The findings reveal four types of illocutionary acts: representative, expressive, directive, and commissive, with representative is the most dominant one. The representative acts are subsequently examined in relation to their perlocutionary effect, with the data on these effects obtained from viewers’ responses in the podcast’s comment section. The findings indicate that Huda Kattan’s representative utterances generate perlocutionary effects by influencing viewers to agree with her opinions and perspectives, relate to her personal experiences, and respond to her motivational messages. Therefore, the analysis confirms that illocutionary forces of a speaker’s utterances can produce perlocutionary effects, which are manifested in the viewers’ feelings, thoughts, and actions.