ILLOCUTIONARY AND PERLOCUTIONARY ACTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT IN SONG WOO-YEON’S INTERACTIONS WITH SPIRIT FINGERS CLUB

Abstract

Encouragement is an other-oriented speech act whose success depends on both the speaker's intention and its impact on the listener. This study analyzes encouragement in the Korean drama Spirit Fingers (2025) using Austin's (1962) illocutionary-perlocutionary framework and Searle's (1970) definition of illocutionary acts. This study aims to identify the forms of illocutionary acts of encouragement that members of the Spirit Fingers club direct at the main character, Song Woo-yeon, and to describe the perlocutionary effects these utterances produce in her. Using a descriptive qualitative approach with content analysis, the data consist of dialogue from all twelve episodes that is spoken by club members to Woo-yeon and functions as encouragement. The data were analyzed following Miles and Huberman's (1984) procedures of data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The findings show four forms of encouragement: reassurance, praise, motivation, and encouragement to take action. These are realized through three illocutionary types, namely assertives, expressives, and directives, while commissives and declaratives do not appear. Assertives challenge Woo-yeon's inaccurate self-judgment, expressives provide emotional support, and directives push her toward action. The perlocutionary effects are emotional (reduced anxiety and self-doubt, increased confidence, feeling valued) and behavioral (willingness to try and to voice what she wants). Emotional effects are more frequent and often precede behavioral ones. Woo-yeon’s responses also shift from hesitation and a lack of self-confidence to being highly proactive and self-assured, indicating that these encouragements accumulate over time.