Speech Act Patterns in American and Filipino Online Selling Advertisements

Abstract

Recognizing the speech act patterns used by American and Filipino online sellers provide us with information on how they structure their descriptions and promotions in the field of advertising. Pragmatically, this also gives an array of information about their cultural contexts to understand the marketing strategies of those who are in the inner and outer circles in Kachru’s model. This study used a self-collected corpus of 30 American and 30 Filipino online selling advertisements on Facebook Marketplace. These advertisements were analyzed using the speech act theory. A descriptive method of analysis was also conducted to determine emojis/emoticons, recurring punctuation marks, and symbols. The findings highlighted that the common speech act patterns between the two are assertive (A), directive-assertive (DA), directive (D), assertivedirective (AD), and assertive-expressive (AE). All these patterns are evident in the American advertisements, which convey that Filipino online sellers are also exposed and follow the Western format. Expressive patterns that promote rapport and relationships are also evident in Filipino online selling advertisements. The language of advertising continues to evolve, and the emotions and the culture are given significance.