LANGUAGE STYLES AND ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS OF PIERS MORGAN SHOW: A SOCIOPRAGMATIC STUDY

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the language styles and illocutionary speech acts used by Piers Morgan in the political talk show Piers Morgan Uncensored, particularly in episodes discussing the Israel–Palestine conflict. This research employs a descriptive qualitative method with data in the form of utterances produced by Piers Morgan during interviews in the program. The analysis applies Martin Joos’ theory of language styles and John R. Searle’s theory of illocutionary speech acts within a sociopragmatic framework to examine how language is used in a political talk show context. The findings reveal 35 utterances representing language style and illocutionary speech acts. The most dominant language style is consultative style with 20 data (57.14%), followed by casual style with 10 data (28.57%) and formal style with 5 data (14.29%), while frozen and intimate styles are not identified in the data. In terms of illocutionary speech acts, directive acts are the most dominant with 21 data (42.86%), followed by assertive acts with 19 data (38.78%), expressive acts with 7 data (14.29%), and commissive acts with 2 data (4.08%). These findings indicate that Piers Morgan predominantly employs consultative language style and directive speech acts to guide discussions, challenge interviewees, and express his viewpoints within the sociopragmatic context of a political talk show.