Abstract :
This research examines expressive illocutionary acts found in the comment section of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” music video on YouTube. It aims to identify the types and functions of expressive acts using Searle and Vanderveken’s (1985) classification and Leech’s (1983) framework. A descriptive qualitative method was employed, with data consisting of 60 selected comments obtained through purposive sampling. The data were analyzed through coding, categorization, and interpretation.
The findings reveal six types of expressive illocutionary acts: thanking, congratulating, praising, sorrowing, blaming, and boasting. In terms of function, three categories were identified: convivial, collaborative, and conflictive. Convivial functions were dominant, indicating that users tend to express positive emotions and maintain social interaction in digital communication.
Keywords :
Digital Communication, Expressive illocutionary acts, Pragmatics, YouTube CommentsReferences :
- Yule, G. Pragmatics. Oxford University Press. 1996.
- Austin, J.L. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford University Press. 1962.
- Searle, J.R. A Classification of Illocutionary Acts. Language in Society. 1976;5(1):1–23.
- Briansyah, A.A. The Expressive Illocutionary Acts of YouTube Comments on Video About Mental Health. 2021. UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya.
- Jaya, P.D. Expressive Illocutionary Acts in the Comments Section of One Direction’s YouTube Channel. 2025. Udayana University.
- Armitha, S.N. An Analysis of Expressive Illocutionary Acts Used by Selena Gomez in My Mind and Me Documentary Film. 2023. Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim.
- Putri, R.A., Sartini, N.W., Al Fajri, M.S. The Analysis of Illocutionary Acts of Judges’ Comments in America’s Next Top Model and Asia’s Next Top Model Competitions: A Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Study. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies. 2020;16:1885–1898. DOI: 10.17263/jlls.851015
- Indriyana, M.B., Nurulaen, Y., Ardiansyah, E.A. Expressive Speech Acts on Netizens’ Comments in Joe Biden’s Instagram Account. CALL. 2021;3(2):114–135. DOI: 10.15575/call.v3i2.14446
- Searle, J.R., Vanderveken, D. Foundations of Illocutionary Logic. Cambridge University Press. 1985.
- Leech, G.N. Principles of Pragmatics. Longman. 1983.

