e-Journal of Linguistics


Available online at https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol/index

Vol. 15, No. 1, January 2021, pages: 83-87

Print ISSN: 2541-5514 Online ISSN: 2442-7586

https://doi.org/10.24843/e-jl.2021.v15.i01.p10

The Perlocutionary Acts of the Characters in Wonder a Novel by R.J. Palacio

Ni Wayan Prami Wahyudiantari Denpasar, Indonesia, [email protected]

Article info

Received Date: 20 November 2020

Accepted Date: 24 November 2020

Published Date: 31 January 2021


Keywords:*

perlocutionary acts, utterances, characters


Abstract*

This research discusses the use of perlocutionary acts uttered by the characters in Wonder a novel by R.J. Palacio. It explores how the acts of perlocutionary are conveyed by the characters in the whole novel. The purpose of this study are to find the type of perlocutionary acts uttered by the main characters, the intended meaning of utterances, and the character’s purposes in using such perlocutionary acts. This research applies pragmatics theory about speech acts to analyze the use of perlocutionary acts in conversations. This study is qualitative research and it uses document as the source of the data that is Wonder a novel by R.J. Palacio. The result of this study show that there are three types of perlocutionary uttered by the characters. The types of the illocutionary acts are verbal perlocutionary acts, non verbal perlocutionary acts and verbal non verbal perlocutionary acts. Those utterances have the intended meanings that are influenced by the context of situation in every phenomenon.

  • 1.    Introduction

Speech acts have been found in the language of communication. Speech act is product of an utterance under certain conditions and the smallest of the communication language that determines the meaning of the sentence. Speech act is a pragmatic element that involves a speaker, listener or reader. In its application, speech acts used by several disciplines. The terms of speech act appears because the speakers utter something not merely stating speech, but also have the intent behind utterance. On any occasion, the action performed by producing an utterance will consist of three related acts, first locutionary act, which is the basic act of utterance, or producing of meaningful linguistic expression. Second is illocutionary act, the intended meaning of the utterance by the speaker. Third is perlocutionary act the action that results from the locution. In communicated with other people can be done in various ways which one of them is done by speech. Speech is an activity of public speaking or giving speeches to express their opinions, or give an idea about something. Speech is usually performed by a person who gives speeches and statements about some things / events that are important and should be discussed. A speech produce by the speaker must have purpose and function, which is addressed to the listener to convey information to the listener.

As in daily conversation, conversation that happens in a novel can be one of the objects to be analyzed because novel is the reflection of social life. In this occasion, this study concerns with the use of illocutionary acts produced by the characters in Wonder a novel by R.J. Palacio.

This study is a research about a novel called Wonder with the main character named Auggie who has a genetic disorder called Mandibulofacial Dysostosis, so he got a lot of abuse from his classmates at school.

In this novel there are many obvious phenomena that happen and make the characters produce various speech acts in a variety of events, such as verbal, non verbal and verbal non verbal sppech acts which pragmatically indicate the perlocutionary acts. The characters in this novel seem to have different intentions by uttering the perlocutionary utterances which are influenced by the context of situation. Therefore, this study is conducted to know the types of perlocutionary acts by the characters, the intended meanings of utterances, and also the speakers' purposes in uttering the utterances.

In regard to express the feelings, people do not only produce utterances containing grammatical structure, but also certain acts performed via those utterances. The speaker normally expects that the act performed through the utterance will be recognized by the hearer. After that, the hearer can give the response as the effect of utterance that has been uttered. One of the functions of speech act is to convey information to others.

  • 2.    Research Methods

According to Searle (1969:25), "In the perlocutionary instance, an act is performed by saying something. For example, if someone shouts 'fire' and by that act causes people to exit a building which they believe to be on fire, they have performed the perlocutionary act of convincing other people to exit the building.. Thre are three types of perlocutionary act : verbal perlocutionary act, non verbal perlocutionary acts and verbal non verbal perlocutionary act.

This study is a qualitative research. Qualitative research is a research based on descriptive data without using quantification and statistical procedures (Mackey and Gass, 162163). This research uses document as the source of the data that is a novel titled Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Furthermore, the utterances that indicate perlocutionary acts are given highlight and rewritten to get the clear data. From the data that have been gained, the utterances are classified based on the types. Then it is analyzed further to know the intended meaning, the reasons, and the way main characters produce utterances which are influenced by the context.

  • 3.    Discussions

The result of this study shows that there are 272 perlocutionary utterances that uttered by the characters in Wonder a novel by R.J. Palacio. Perlocutionary acts which are categorized into some types namely verbal perlocutionary act, non verbal perlocutionary acts and verbal non verbal perlocutionary act.

  • a.    Verbal Perlocutionary Act

Julian : "Are you talking about the baby chicks in science? Those get donated to a farm at the end of every school year. But they hatch new ones every year in science. So August will be able to see them again in the spring." (page 30)

Mom : "Oh, good, they were so cute, August." (page 30)

Julian explained that the baby chicks in science class have been donated to the farm at the end of each school year. Besides that, Julian explained that the chicken eggs will hatch again in the spring and August will be able to see this. Mother told Auggie that the chicks were very cute. The speech spoken by the mother is a type of variation of verbal perlocutionary act because the mother strengthens the statements given by Julian by using words without actions.

  • b.    Non Verbal Perlocutionary Act

Mr. Thusman : "Thanks so much for coming, guys—especially since school doesn’t start until next month!" All of them nodded. (page 23)

Mr. Tushman was grateful that Jack, Julian and Charlotte wanted to come to school even though they were still in the atmosphere of school holidays until next week, Jack, Julian and Charlotte just nodded but neither of them said anything. Jack, Jullian and Charlotte use non-verbal perlocutionary act because they do not respond to Mr. Tushman's gratitude with words but through actions.

  • c.    Verbal non Verbal Perlocutionary Act

Auggie: “Why I’m so ugly mommy?”

Mom : "No, baby, you're not . . ." wiping my tears with the back of her hand. She kissed me all over my face. She kissed my eyes that came down too far. She kissed my cheeks that looked punched in. She kissed my tortoise mouth (page 50)

Auggie who asked why he was born with such a terrible face, why he was not born normal like his friends, why he had to experience bullying. Mother encouraged Auggie as she wiped her tears and kissed her face, kissed her eyes that fell to her cheeks, kissed her cheeks which looked swollen as if they had been beaten and kissed her turtle-shaped mouth.

The speech spoken by the mother is verbal non-verbal perlocution because she encourages Auggie by using words accompanied by actions and expressions

  • 4.    Novelties

Based on the description in the analysis results, it can be explained that the theoretical findings in this study are that there is a main character in NW, namely Auggie who is a protagonist, besides that there are also protagonist supporting figures including Mrs. Auggie, Father Auggie, Via, Justin, Jack, Mr. Tushman, Summer , Mr. Browne, Mrs. Petosa, Miranda and Veronica. For supporting roles, the protagonists in NW include Julian, Eddie, Henry and Amos. In this NW, the mother character is a character who greatly influences Auggie's life, the mother makes many big decisions in Auggie's life, the mother sacrifices many things and sacrifices her own happiness for Auggie, sometimes Auggie feels that what her mother does makes her often get bullies from friends - her friend. But finally he realized that what mother did to make Auggie a strong and tough person and a smart child and inspired many people until Auggie received the highest award from his school. Meanwhile, you think Auggie is a gift, you are very grateful to have Auggie in her life. Auggie teaches the meaning of patience, teaches sincerity and teaches the meaning of genuine love. Mother thought Auggie was a miracle.

It can be said that findings of this study are in this novel are full of bullying, there are a lot of stories that violate the principle of appreciation because in this novel Auggie gets a lot of bullying both verbally, physically and mentally. This is of course different from romance novels which are full of seductive, romantic, and utterly devoted speeches and utterances that are full of longing and affection.

  • 5.    Conclusion

Research about perlocutionary acts on character in Wonder has succeeded in finding, identifying, classifying, analyzing and explaining the perlocutionary acts of the characters in the novel. However, there are many things that can be explored from this novel, especially from a non-linguistic aspect. Therefore, other researchers can carry out further research related to non-

linguistic aspects and to base this research, this research can be used as a reference source so that more in-depth related research is produced.

For the government, this research is expected to be one of the considerations for making policies regarding bullying that occurs in society, especially that which occurs in children both verbally and non-verbally (physically). The government is expected to also control bullying that occurs in schools, public places or through social media. Therefore, it is hoped that everyone can maintain their speech acts so as not to harm others and not disturb someone psychologically.

For teachers at school (teachers), the teacher should teach how students should speak to their friends without offending other people's feelings. Do not make fun of and give mock names to his friends. Not bullying his friends, both verbal and non-verbal bullying.

For researchers in the field of linguistics, this study is expected to be used as additional reference material and become further comparison material for conducting linguistic studies, especially on pragmatic studies. The results of this study are expected to provide a scientific explanation to readers about speech acts. This study analyzes the type of speech acts, the application of cooperation principle in novel, and the application of the politeness principle to characters in novel where it can become linguistic documentation so that it can be a reference for further research. In addition, this research is also expected to provide input and add insight, especially regarding pragmatic studies on speech acys for linguists, researchers or the general public.

For language teachers (lecturers), this research is expected to be a reference in teaching pragmatics courses. Through this research, teachers can provide explanations and provide examples of speech acts regarding the types of speech acts, the role of the principle of cooperation in ovel, and the principle of politeness which is part of pragmatic teaching.

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Biography of Author

Ni Wayan Prami Wahyudiantari, S.Pd, M.Pd was born ini Mataram on June 8th 1987. She is a lecturer in Universitas Pendidikan Mandalika. She graduated her bachelor’s degree in IKIP Mataram in 2009. She finished her master degree im the post graduate program, magister program in Ganesha University in 2012. She continue her study in Doctoral Degree in 2014. Currently she is completing her dissertation at Udayana University.

Biography of Author


Ni Wayan Prami Wahyudiantari,S.Pd.,M.Pd. was born in Mataram on Juny 08th 1987. She is lecturer in Mandalika University, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Mataram, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia, Ph. +6281339728111. She finished his master degree in the postgraduate program, magister program, English education, Negeri Surabaya University of Education in 2012.

Email: [email protected]