TIMBAL, FRANCIS G.

English 261: (Saturday: 1:00 4:00)

2014 90855 Prof. Maria Corazon Castro, Ph.D.

Filipinos High Regard for Patriarchy:

Speech Act Analysis of the Characters Utterances in Manuel Arguillas How My Brother Leon
Brought Home a Wife

Background of the Study

Patriarchy is defined as a social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in

the clan or a family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent

and inheritance in the male line (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Patriarchy has been widely

practiced across cultures since time immemorial as reflected by the use of this concept not only

in history books but also in many forms of literary texts such as short stories, novels and

dramas. Having used in literary texts, this concept has been one of the subject of studies in

elementary and high school literature classes. The studies of this concept, however, often focus

only on how this concept of patriarchy is revealed through the characters explicit roles (e.g. the

father as the one who works, the mother as the one left inside the house, etc.). This kind of

focus is perhaps rooted from the very formalistic analyses of short stories that deal with the

teachers classic approach of letting the students identify the elements (e.g. characters, setting,

point of view, conflict, plot and theme) of a particular short story read in class. After doing so, the

teachers will then proceed to asking the students to identify the moral and sometimes the

culture and ideology presented in a particular story. Oftentimes, students answer by relying from

their impressions and from the ideas that are explicitly said and described in the story (e.g. the

father imposed power, the mother takes care of the household chores, etc.). Very little, or even

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none at all, is observed that analyses deal with a closer look into the characters utterances and

on how these utterances reflect the characters roles in the story.

It is with this observation that the paper intends to study the direct utterances of the

major characters in the short story of Manuel Arguilla How My Brother Leon Brought Home a

Wife. The paper aims to answer the question How do the characters exchanges of utterances

in Manuel Arguillas How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife reveal Filipinos high regard

for patriarchy? Specifically, the paper aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the types of speech acts used by the characters in the story?
2. How do the use of the types of speech acts and the level of politeness change

from character to character?

3. How do the types of speech acts and the notion of politeness reveal the social

positions assume by each character?

Answering these given questions, the paper wants to show that analyzing the

characters exchanges of utterances in Arguillas How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife

clearly reveals Filipinos high regard for patriarchy. The study also aims to let teachers and

students realize that utterances, either direct or indirect speeches, in short stories are not only

simple ways of making characters look more realistic but also potent carriers of important ideas

and concepts in the story. Likewise, the study also aims to show that these utterances reveal

much of the characters roles in the story, in the same way as what the explicit descriptions of

the characters do.

The study also hopes to help budding writers, especially those interested in writing short

stories and novels, realize the need of framing and choosing their characters utterances

properly in order to help clearly invoke the ideas they want to portray in their writings. This is

especially helpful for writers who want to present power relationships and would like to

emphasize social roles through characters utterances. The paper may also give ideas to other

researchers to validate the concept of Filipinos high regard for patriarchy by looking into other

works of Arguilla and his contemporaries. Moreover, upon having established the validity of this

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concept, one may also validate if this is still prevalent by examining other short stories written at

present. Doing so may also lead to further studies on how the concept of patriarchy affects

power relations, and gender inequalities and inequities in the society.

Review of Related Literature and Studies

There are only very few records of studies that have applied pragmatics in the analysis

of utterances in short stories. As what Altikriti (2011) argues: Literary texts, novels, and drama

have received a quite good pragmatic attention, but not much has been paid to short

stories. It is for this reason that Altikriti (2011) carried out her study Speech Act Analysis to

Short Stories with the aim of examining three short stories ('Acme' by Colin Galsworthy, 'Post

Haste' by Colin Howard, and 'The Happy Prince' by Oscar Wilde) using primarily Austins (1962)

and Searles (1979) Speech Act Theories. Altikritis (2011) study is significant as it shows that

short stories can be analyzed pragmatically similarly to other texts of drama and novel.

Likewise, the study proposes that among the things which a communicator needs to master in

order to correctly map an utterance onto its intended interpretation is a set of higher-order

representations specifying how linguistic forms are appropriately used in specific contexts.

In 2013, Mudzakir also conducted his study A Speech Act Analysis of Direct Utterances

on Short Story Mr. Know All that aims to describe the purposes of the direct utterances in

the short story Mr. Know All. Other than describing the purposes of the direct utterances in

the said story, Mudzakir (2013), similar to Atikriti (2011), emphasizes the need of knowing the

situational context where a particular utterance is produced for the audience to get its purpose

easily. Vinitwatanakhun (2014) likewise demonstrates how the speech act theory can be used to

enhance the understanding of literary work in her analysis of characters utterances in a known

Thai classical play called Inao. The interpretations of the illocutionary forces of the

characters are based on Searles and Wierzbickas frameworks, Speech Act Classification

and Speech Act Verbs respectively. The findings of the study suggest that Wierzbickas

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categorization is more semantically precise, facilitating the interpretation of characters

intentions.

The latest study, so far, that applied speech acts is Abushihabs (2015) A Pragmatic

Stylistic Framework for Text Analysis. In this study, Abushihab (2015) analyzed Guy de

Maupassants The Necklace in different dimensions: situation, speech acts, value of the text

(the author, the reader and the text) and discourse analysis. The analysis does not deal much

on speech acts but emphasizes the idea that the focus on text analysis and pragmatic stylistics

is essential to text studies, comprehension of the message of a text and conveying the intention

of the producer of the text.

Considering the feasibility of the approach that the above - mentioned works have used,

the paper presents a similar study conducted using speech acts in the analysis of the

characters direct utterances in Arguillas How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife, a

Philippine short story in English. The study looks into the different styles and kinds of speech

acts as rooted from the individuals different social roles in the community. Meyer (2009)

elaborates this concept by saying that how we demand something from another individual is

very much determined by our social roles: our age, gender, level of education, and so forth.

Tannen (1990, as cited by Ehrlich, 2001) even suggests that women and men, like members of

different cultural groups, learn different communicative styles because of the segregated girls

and boys peer groups they play in as children. These accounts (Meyer, 2009 and Tannen,

1990) show that individuals utterances show their social identities and social relationships with

others.

Framework

Following Faircloughs (1993) concept of the analysis of text as a form and meaning

analysis and the idea of social roles as affecting the form, the meaning and the effect of

individuals utterances (Meyer, 2009; Tannen, 1990; Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014), Austins

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(1962) and Searles (1979) Speech Act Theories are used in analyzing the characters

exchanges of utterances in Manuel Arguillas How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife.

Austin (1962) argues that certain types of verbs performative verbs such as promise, bet,

name do not merely describe state of affairs, but instead have the capacity to perform actions

when uttered under appropriate circumstances. He presents various acts during speaking such

as locutionary acts (the literal meaning of the utterance), illocutionary acts (speakers intention),

and perlocutionary acts (the reaction of the hearer). Having put emphasis on the speakers

intention, Austin (1962) classifies speech acts as Verdictives (make assessments or judgments),

Exercitives (giving a decision in favor of or against a course of action or advocacy of it),

Commissives (committing the speaker to a certain course of action), Expositives (expounding of

views, conducting of arguments, and clarifying), and Behabitives (reacting to other people).

Searle (1979) also classifies speech acts (the illocutionary force of utterances) as follows:

Assertives/Representatives (committing the Speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition),

Directives (attempting to engage the addressee in a certain course of action), Commissives

(committing the Speaker to some future course of action), Declarations (effecting immediate

changes in the institutional state of affairs and which tend to rely on elaborate extralinguistic

institutions), and Expressives (expressing Speakers attitude and specifying different

psychological states). These illocutionary forces may be different from the utterances literal

meaning. These could even be either direct or indirect. A speech act is direct if its intent is

clearly conveyed by the words and structure of the utterance (e.g. Go away!, as compared to

this indirect act: I am really uncomfortable with your being here now.). The force of each

illocutionary act is also dependent on who the speaker and the addressee are. Take for example

an imperative Go! This would definitely have a different effect or may mean differently when

uttered by a child to his father as compared to when uttered by a father to his child.

Since there are overlaps in Austins and Searles classifications, Searles terms are used

in the analysis including Austins Verdictives. The illocutionary terms that are used in the anlysis

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are then Representatives, Declarations, Verdictives, Expressives, Commissives, and Directives.

Moreover, since the explicitness or implicitness, directness or indirectness, and being literal or

not are explained by the Theories on (Im)Politeness (e.g. Brown and Levinson, 1987),

politeness principles are also incorporated in the analysis.

Methodology

The main focus of the analysis of the paper is the characters direct utterances.

Moreover, non verbal communicative gestures are also noted as these may serves as

paralinguistic features in conveying the meaning of the utterances. All the utterances of the

major characters are tabulated according to the characters involved in the exchanges of

utterances (e.g. Table 1: Leon and Marias exchanges of utterances, Table 2: Leon and Baldos

exchanges of utterances, etc.). Each table has four columns labeled as Utterances, and

Illocutionary Acts for each character involved in the conversation (see Appendix I). Through

these tables, the utterances are analyzed and interpreted in terms of their types, length,

frequency, and who the speaker and the addressee are. The characters exchanges of

utterances are also evaluated in terms of politeness principles employed (e.g. the use of

honorifics, hedges, or indirectness) as these may also show characters social roles and

adherence to the notion of patriarchy.

The Gist of the Story

How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife is a Philippine short story in English

written by the Filipino writer Manuel Arguilla. It won first prize in the 1940 Commonwealth

Literary Contest and is considered as Arguillas most popular work. Basically, it is a story of

Leon introducing Maria, his city born wife, to his more provincial family. Told from the

perspective of Baldo, Leons younger brother, the short story reveals how Maria discovers how

the barrio/provincial life is different from that of the city and how she tries to reconcile the

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differences in order to join Leon and to better present herself to Leons family, especially to his

father. More than these aspects mentioned, the story reveals other interesting aspects and

concepts, one of which is the Filipinos high regards for patriarchy as revealed from how the

characters value social roles like marital position, age, education and parental position. This

story has been chosen as the subject of study among Arguillas works as it contains a lot of

direct utterances; hence, make it suitable for speech act analysis. In relation to this, this paper

suggests that the high regards of Filipinos for patriarchy is evidently expressed in the story

through the characters exchanges of utterances and non verbal communicative gestures.

The Filipinos High Regard for Marital Position

The Filipinos high regard for marital position (husband and wife) is shown in Leon and

Marias exchanges of utterances and non-verbal gestures towards each other. Remarkably, the

difference in Leons and Marias utterances is not as high as compared to Leons and Baldos

utterances (see Tables 1 and 2, Appendix I). This perhaps shows their taking equal turns in

communication to probably maintain stable and mutual understanding. It could also be noted

that each of them takes turn in starting the exchange of their utterances (i.e. Exchange 1: Leon,

Exchange 2: Maria, Exchange 3: Leon, Exchange 4: Maria, Exchange 5: Maria). These

observations may suggest that there is no explicit imposition of power of any one of them over

the other. They probably recognize themselves as a new couple and that acknowledging and

supporting each others ideas and feelings would help establish and strengthen their marital

relationship. Though Leon used Directives in addressing Maria, none of them shows strong

illocutionary force (e.g. orders and asks/questions), except for his utterance in paragraph 26

(Maria, sit down on the hay and hold on to anything.), which is a command. The said utterance,

however, does not explicitly show the lowering Marias status, but rather suggests more of a

concern for Maria and the necessary urgency in Marias action (to hold on to anything) as

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 Labang is misbehaving at that moment. Likewise, though Maria also used Directives in

addressing Leon, they are either simple orders or questions and do not show an imposition of

power over Leon. Similarly, their nonverbal gestures clearly support that they are in a special

kind of relationship (i.e. She moved closeand slipped her arms through his. par. 11; they

looked at each otherthere was a world of laughter between them and in them. par. 23;

she took my brother Leons hand and put it against her face. par. 46).

Table 1. Leon and Marias Exchanges of Utterances (F = frequency; % = percentage: Frequency/Vertical Total)

ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS
CHARACTER TOTAL
S Representative Declaration Verdictive Expressive Commissive Directives
s s s s s
F % F % F % F % F % F % F %
Leon 7 53. 8% 0 0 6 66.7% 3 37.5% 2 66.7% 9 56.3 2 55.1
% 7 %
Maria 6 46. 2% 0 0 3 33.3% 5 62.5% 1 33.3% 7 43.7 2 44.9
% 2 %
TOTAL 13 100% 0 0 9 100% 8 100% 3 100% 1 100% 4 100%
6 9
Note: All possible illocutionary acts of one utterance are counted separately (see Table 1, Appendix I for the list).

Though it is noted that the difference in Leons and Marias utterances is not as high as

compared to Leons and Baldos utterances, a difference is still a difference. Table 1 above

shows that Leons illocutionary acts are still greater than that of Marias in general (except in

Expressives). Most of Leons complete utterances in each turn are also longer than that of

Marias (see Table 1, Appendix 1). This may entail Leons familiarity of the concepts (e.g.

Labangs peculiarity, the camino real, his fathers attributes, etc.) he is trying to convey.

Moreover, Leon has uttered more Verdictives (6) as compared to Maria (3). This difference may

suggest that Leon is more capable of doing assessments or judgements about an entity or a

state of affair (Verdictives). Moreover, though it has been noted earlier that the Directives

uttered by Leon to Maria are not as strong as what Leon uttered to Baldo, the Directives of Leon

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are still higher by two frequency than that of Marias.These observations may implicitly suggest

then that Leon, being a male, has been still given a higher role than Maria.

The Filipinos High Regard for Age and Educational Attainment

The other social role that Filipinos have high regard for is age. This is clearly shown in

Baldos being cognizant of his age and the lower position it carries as reflected in his utterances

and behaviors towards his older brother Leon and Leons wife. Baldo may not have used

Manang as a polite marker in addressing Maria, his older brothers wife, for the first time, but

he made sure of showing politeness in his use of the modal auxiliary may in his Directive

utterance to Maria (You may scratch his forehead now. par. 3).

Baldos assuming of lower social role as the younger brother is further shown in his

almost being silent and having uttered only two Representatives as responses to his older

brother Leon (see Table 2, Appendix I, and Table 2 below). It is also important to point out

Baldos consistent use of Manong in addressing Leon, not just as a vocative but as a polite

marker as well. He could have just simply used Leon as a vocative, but instead he used

Manong, a polite marker used to identify an older brother. His showing of deference to Leon is

also emphasized with his consistent use of my brother in describing Leon. Baldos lower

position, being Leons younger brother, is further shown in his not going against Leons

command and even in his not complaining about Leons bossy attitude. This somehow indicates

his awareness that being younger than his brother Leon, he simply needs to follow and is not in

the position to complain, thus making him more passive in contrast to Leons being active and

dominating in their exchange of utterances. As what the Table 2 below shows, Leon has made

nine (9) illocutionary acts (7 of which are Directives) while Baldo has only made two (2)

illocutionary acts, all are Representatives.

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 Table 2. Leon and Baldos Exchanges of Utterances (F = frequency; % = percentage: Frequency/Vertical Total)
ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS
CHARACTER TOTAL
S Representative Declaration Verdictive Expressive Commissive Directive
s s s s s s
F % F % F % F % F % F % F %
Leon 1 33.3% 0 0 1 100% 0 0 0 0 7 100% 9 81.8
%
Baldo 2 66.7% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 18.2
%
TOTAL 3 100% 0 0 1 100% 0 0 0 0 7 100% 11 100%

Leons being active and dominating in their exchange of utterances is somehow related

to age and even educational attainment. Being an older brother and perhaps having studied in

the city (see par. 56), Leon has assumed power over Baldo. This is supported by Leons

Verdictive and strong Directives (strong questions/orders and commands, one is even a threat

already par. 33) uttered to Baldo. In addition, Leons utterances to Baldo (e.g. Hitch him to the

cart, Baldo, par. 18) do not show any explicit or implicit politeness or deference. These

observations clearly show Leons imposition of power to Baldo. This taking of a higher social

role of Leon over Baldo is even further heightened in paragraphs 30 34, with his very strong

directive that sounds more of a threat already (Baldo, you fool, answer me before I lay the rope

of Labang on you. . . . , - par. 33), and his nonverbal gestures (my brother Leon laid a hand

on my shoulder and said sternly, - par. 30 ; His hand was heavy on my shoulder . . . ., - par.32;

His fingers bit into my shoulder, - par.34). In addition, the difference in the placement of the

vocatives in Leons utterances to Baldo and Maria (, Baldo par. 18 and 26; as compared to

Maria, par. 26) clearly differentiates his treatment between the two: Baldo, as a younger

brother with a lower social role; Maria, as her wife with an almost equal social role as his.

Baldos almost being silence in the conversation with his brother should not be taken as

being impolite as, though he did not verbally respond to Leon, he followed Leons Directives

(par. 18 and par. 26). Similarly, though it takes him a little time to reply to Leons questions (par.

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 31 and par. 33), it shows not much of being impolite but of his weighing two opposing orders

and forces: his brothers and fathers. He is somehow hesitant to answer his brother as it is their

father who ordered him to drive through the fields (see par. 30 - 35).

The Filipinos High Regard for the Patriarchal Hierarchy in Families

Unlike the exchange of utterances between Baldo and his brother Leon, the exchange of

utterances between Baldo and his Father shows no domination (in terms of number) of

utterances of the Father (see Table 3 below). In fact, Baldo is active in his conversation with his

father unlike in his conversation with Leon. In their conversation, however, the Father is made

sure to be presented as having a higher social position than Baldo and the other family

members, and thus shows Filipinos high regard for parental position especially in the traditional

patriarchal nature of families. Though Fathers utterances do not show dominating Baldos

utterances, his illocutionary acts are short and direct Directives (5 questions and 1 order), as

what Table 3 below, and Table 4 in the Appendix show. This somehow reveals a typical

traditional concept of a man, especially that of a father, as a person of a few, yet forceful words.

Furthermore, the given weight and value of the fathers questions could be reflected from

Baldos active and direct responses to his father. Baldos behavior may be attributed to the fact

that it was his Father who asked him and thus, as a son, he needed to reply truthfully, clearly,

appropriately, and respectfully. Even though Baldo made a sort of digression in adding his

remark about Maria (She is very beautiful, Father, par. 77) in one of his answers, this does

not lower the social position of the father as Baldo is just trying to be as informative as he could.

Table 3. Father and Baldos Exchanges of Utterances (F = frequency; % = percentage: Frequency/Vertical Total)
ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS
CHARACTER TOTAL
S Representative Declaration Verdictive Expressive Commissive Directive
s s s s s s
F % F % F % F % F % F % F %
Father 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 100% 6 42.9

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 %
Baldo 5 100% 0 0 2 100% 1 100% 0 0 0 0 8 57.1
%
TOTAL 5 100% 0 0 2 100% 1 100% 0 0 6 100% 1 100%
4

Another important factor to consider is the fact that Fathers presence is felt in the

course of the story though he is not physical present in the most part of the story. It is clearly

shown in paragraph 36 when Leon swiftly removed his hand on Baldos shoulder upon Baldos

admission that it was his father order to drive through the fields. It could also be infer from that

incident that Leon has simply accepted the fact the not one could do anything to go against their

fathers order. It is to be noted that Leon did not show any disgust, and instead, he sat back,

and laughing still. He likewise stopped complaining to Baldo. Leons acceptance of the fathers

order is further illustrated in his utterance in paragraph 37 And I suppose Father also told you

to hitch Labang to the cart and meet us with him instead of with Castano and the calesa. As to

Baldo, he followed the Fathers order despite going against the Filipino custom of hospitality

(giving visitors what the Filipinos could best offer) and somehow appeared to be a rude

welcome to Maria as a visitor. Baldos following Fathers order despite the negative impression it

might give Maria evidently shows that it is important to follow their father at any given

circumstance.

The high regard of Filipinos for a traditional patriarchal type of Filipino families is further

highlighted by Leons brief encounter with his mother when they arrived home. Leon made

gestures (custom of hand - kissing) that show his respect to his mother, but there is no other

sign that would show Leons higher, or even equal regard for his Mother as compared to that for

his Father. The hand kissing simply represents an obligatory deferent to her being a mother,

and not as someone who holds an authority. In fact, the very first and only words Leon uttered

after kissing his Mothers hand were Father.where is he? instead of introducing Maria first to

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her Mother. The Mother did not even bother to demand Leon to introduce herself first to Maria,

instead she simply answered Leons question (see to Table 5, Appendix I and par. 68 - 70). This

reaction of the Mother shows her tolerance of his sons action. This somehow also shows her

support to the traditional view of a patriarchal nature of Filipino families. Likewise, this is the

same concept that could be inferred from Marias reaction in her last utterance (I am afraid. He

may not like me. par. 65 Exchange 5, Table 1, Appendix I). She explicitly said her fear for

Leons Father, whether he would like her or not, clearly showing the typical patriarchal type of

family in which the fathers word carry more weight than that of a mother.

Conclusion

Taking into consideration the characters exchanges of utterances and their nonverbal

communicative gestures, it is then safe to say that Arguillas How My Brother Leon Brought

Home a Wife is not simply about Marias travelogue as she is to be introduced by Leon to his

provincial family. The characters exchanges of utterances and nonverbal gestures in the story

reveal much about the Filipinos high regard for patriarchy as reflected from the characters

giving value to social roles such as marital position, age, education, and parental position. The

story then shows that Filipinos actions, behaviors, and utterances are molded and determined

by their social roles in a community or in a family. Following Faircloughs (1993) notion of text as

socially shaped and at the same time socially shaping, it could also be suggested that Arguillas

short story How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife is shaped by the Philippine societys

notion of patriarchy. Having established this relationship, it is now important to look into how this

short story, and other short stories that share the same concept of patriarchy, have shaped the

nature of the concept of patriarchy at present. Considering the limitation of studying primarily the

direct utterances in the story, one may also venture on studying other aspects of the story (e.g.

the clausal descriptions of the character) using other discursive tools (e.g. transitivity).

Moreover, one may also validate if the concept of patriarchy is still prevalent at present by

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examining recent short stories. Doing so may also lead to further studies on how the concept of

patriarchy affects power relations, and gender inequalities and inequities in the past and in the

present societies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abushihab, I. (2015). A Pragmatic Stylistic Framework for Text Analysis. In International

Journal of Education, Vol. 7, No. 1. Macrothink Institute.

Altikriti, S. (2011). Speech Act Analysis to Short Stories. In Journal of Language Teaching and
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Austin, JL. (1962). How to Do things with word. JO Ormsun and Marina Sbisa. Editors.
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Ehrlich, S. (2001). Miscommunication and Acquaintance Rape; In Representing Rape:

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Fairclough, N. (1993). Critical Discourse Analysis and the Marketization of Public Discourse:
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Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. (2014). An Introduction to Functional Grammar

(4th ed.). London and New York: Routledge

Mudzakir, A. (2013). A Speech Act Analysis of Direct Utterances on Short Story Mr. Know All.
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Meyer, C. (2009). Introducing English Linguistics. USA: Cambridge University Press, New
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Searle, J. (1969). Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge:

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Vinitwatanakhun, A. (2014). Interpreting a Thai Classical Play: Analysis of Speech Act. In

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