EXPRESSING IDEAS ABOUT AI: A PRAGMATIC STUDY OF EXPRESSIVE SPEECH ACTS IN SWAMI SIVASUBRAMANIAN’S TED TALK

Abstrak

This study aims to analyse the use of expressive speech acts in the TED Talk entitled " Everything You Need to
Know About AI Agents " delivered by Swami Sivasubramanian. The objectives of this research are to identify the
types of expressive speech acts and to explain their communicative functions in the talk. This research employs a
qualitative descriptive method within the framework of pragmatics, particularly the theory of speech acts proposed
by Searle (1969). The data were collected through the observation method by watching the video repeatedly and
examining its transcript to identify utterances containing expressive speech acts. The results of the study show
that a total of 33 expressive speech acts were identified, which are classified into admiration, appreciation,
optimism, enthusiasm, encouragement, concern, humility, amusement, reflection, and pride. Among these,
expressing admiration occurred dominantly, followed by encouragement and optimism, reflecting the speaker’s
positive attitude toward technological development, especially artificial intelligence agents. These characteristics
manifest in both explicit and implicit manners. Explicit expressions use direct emotive language, while implicit
expressions use evaluative comments, metaphors, rhetorical inquiries, and personal reflection. The speaker uses
expressive speech acts to show how they feel and what they think, get the audience interested, and stress the
inspirational message regarding AI agents' future role in human existence. Therefore, expressive speech acts play
an important role in strengthening the persuasive and motivational aspects of the presentation