Directive and Commissive Speech Acts in the Iraqi Constitution (2005)

Ali, Muzher Ghadeer; Abdulwahid, Yasir Younis

doi:10.25130/jls.6.1.15

Directive and Commissive Speech Acts in the Iraqi Constitution (2005)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Muzher Ghadeer Ali ¹

Yasir Younis Abdulwahid ²

¹ Dept. of English, College of Basic Education, University of Mosul

² Dept. of Translation, College of Arts, University of Mosul

10.25130/jls.6.1.15

Abstract

Legislative language is a specialised language and must be precise, clear, and comprehensive. It is famous for its odd or unique meanings. Because of the oddness of these meanings, this kind of language is difficult to understand by laymen and even by educated people. The present paper provides a qualitative and quantitative analysis of directive and commissive speech acts that are employed by the Iraqi Constitution (2005). It aims at identifying their use, contribution and function. The analysis of data is based on Searle\\'s classification of speech acts (1979). The conclusions show that commissive speech acts are more frequent than directives ones because in commissives the speaker, the Constitution, commits itself for future actions, gives guarantees and promises, whereas in directives, the Constitution itself gives orders and pledges to become laws.