An Analysis of Pragmatic Competence in 2013 Presidential Election Candidates of Iran: A Comparison of Speech Acts with the Poll Outcomes

This study tried to investigate pragmatic competence in Iran’s 2013 presidential election candidates. The data were collected from the recorded video of a live TV program at the Fararu news source by sampling the third debate. At first, the researchers employed Austin’s (1962) and Searle’s (1975) theory to extract types of speech act strategies used by the candidates. Then, the study used the Pearson chi-square formula to examine the frequency of speech acts types. Moreover, the present study compared types of locutionary, illocutionery, and perlocutionary speech acts used by candidates with the poll outcomes issued by press media, in order to achieve the assumption that speech acts might have a great effect on election’s outcomes. It found three kinds of locutionary acts: declarative, imperative and interrogative. Also, it found five kinds of illocutionary acts used by some candidates: declarative, representative, directive, expressive, and commissive. Consequently, the candidates were almost equally in using locutionary acts, but they were permanently different in illocutionary acts. Finally, in terms of perlocutionary acts, the candidates were mostly intended to get the hearers know by their assertion, explanation, clarification, argumentation, etc