Direct and Indirect Expressive Illocutionary Acts in The Movie Onward
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e-Journal of Linguistics
Available online at https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol/index
Vol. 15, No. 2 July 2021, pages: 279-286
Print ISSN: 2541-5514 Online ISSN: 2442-7586
https://doi.org/10.24843/e-jl.2021.v15.i02.p14
Direct and Indirect Expressive Illocutionary Acts in The Movie Onward
Anak Agung Ratu Paratistha Wijayanti1, Ni Made Ayu Widiastuti2 1[email protected], 2[email protected]
1Denpasar-Bali Indonesia ,2,English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University
Article info
Received Date: 5 March 2021
Accepted Date: 16 May 2021
Published Date: 31 July 2021
Abstract*
Keywords:*
Speech Act Types, Expressive Illocutionary Acts, Ethnography of Speaking.
This study entitled “Direct and Indirect Expressive Illocutionary Acts in the Movie Onward” is concerned with identifying the direct and indirect expressive types of illocutionary acts and also explain and analyze the meaning of the utterances interpreted by the hearers. The data were taken from a movie entitled Onward since many utterances were identified as expressive of illocutionary acts. The observation and documentation method used in collecting the data since the data are obtained from a spoken source like a movie. The method used in analyzing the data was descriptive qualitative since this study was intended to analyze social phenomena like speech acts. Two theories used in analyzing the problems. The first theory is proposed by Searle (1976) to analyze the type of expressive illocutionary acts. The second theory is proposed by Dell Hymes (1972) about context of the situation (S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model) to analyze the meaning of expressive illocutionary acts hearers can interpret. Based on the analysis, there were six expressive types of illocutionary acts found in the movie: Thanking, Apologizing, Congratulating, Greeting, Wishing, and Attitude. In this study, we found all of the six types of direct and indirect expressive in the movie Onward. The hearers interpret the meaning of the utterance depending on context of situation consisting of setting and scene, participants, ends, act sequence, key, instrumentalities, norm, and genre.
When an utterance is produced, an act is performed. Two ways to perform speech acts are available. It can be carried out directly as well as indirectly. The meaning and purpose of the utterance were the same when people produced an utterance, meaning that they are doing a direct speech act. Conversely, when people make the utterance, their meaning and purpose convey something indirectly behind the utterance, which means they are doing an indirect speech act.
Humans should not be isolated from communication since sharing ideas, messages, or information is essential. Nevertheless, a person may be hurting the other person through the words that they are saying accidentally. To know the literal meaning, a person must know where or when the utterance was produced or based on the context in.order.to.achieve.the.goal.of.the utterance itself. Context is also important to help hearers interpret the meaning of speech because context is an environmental situation that allows speakers and hearers to interact, and makes utterances understandable. Communication not only exists in our real life but in a movie that cannot be separated from communication. A movie sometimes has utterances that do not yet conform to the primary form of written rules in a language, but the most important thing is that the language can be easily understood. Some movies have their characteristic and moral values that can be inspirational because they are based on actual phenomena.
It is easier for the hearers to understand the importance of the direct speech act because what the speaker says is the same as what the speaker does. Sometimes, in many instances, the speaker indirectly performs the speech act. There is a difference between what a speaker says and what a speaker does. To imply another meaning, they produce an utterance. The purpose, however, depends on the context and circumstance of the utterance’s speakers and hearers. Therefore, to minimize the misunderstanding of the literal meaning of an utterance in the movie, we have to interpret it using a theory called the context of the situation theory.
The object of this study choose an American computer-animated movie. In the movie, the audience hears each character’s utterances and sees the context of the situation in the movie with an eye-catching form of a picture. One of the American computer-animated movies is the movie Onward that has direct and indirect expressive illocutionary act utterances. In this movie, Ian from the Lightfoot family is the main character going on a journey to find out if there’s still any magic left to spend last time with his.father,.who.died.when.he.was.too.young.to remember.him. Therefore, this study analyzes the context of the situation to get a literal meaning in what the Lightfoot family utterances want to tell to the audience in this movie.
This research used qualitative descriptive methods. “Qualitative research is descriptive data, the data collected is in the form of words or pictures rather than numbers." (Bodgan and Biklen, 1982: 27).
The data sources in this study were taken from a movie and also from a movie script. The data used in this study was taken in the form of utterances spoken orally from the Lightfoot family in an animation movie entitled Onward and movie script provided on the internet in order to describe the sentence forms accurately. Onward, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, is a fantastic American computer-animated urban fantasy-adventure film with moral meaning.
This.study is library research. The methods that used.in.collecting.the.data are observation and documentation using a note-taking technique. The data were taken from a movie entitled Onward since all types of expressive illocutionary acts are obtained. There.are.several.steps.in.collecting the.data. First, the movie and movie script downloaded from the internet. Second, movies are watched closely and several times. Next, the movie script is read and compared with the movie. Then, the Lightfoot family’s dialogues noted to which utterance is categorized as expressive illocutionary act. Last, the related data are classified into the types of the illocutionary act and relate it to direct and indirect illocutionary acts.
The data is analyzed descriptively using a qualitative method. Qualitative data is essential to find a comprehensive analysis to understand the phenomena of the subject better, and descriptive means reviewing the data to be understood better and explained clearly. There are several steps of analyzing data. First, movies Onward watched to understand the storyline. Second, direct and indirect type of expressive illocutionary act analyzed using theory by Searle (1976). Next, analyze the context of the situation using the Ethnography of Communication proposed by Dell Hymes (1972) about the context of the situation (S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model). Finally, the meaning of the expressive illocutionary act is interpreted by the hearers.
This study used the descriptive qualitative method in presenting the analysis. Descriptive qualitative methods mean that the data were presented descriptively based on the theory by explaining and describing it in words within sentences. Besides, the data presented descriptively in order to get a better understanding. The analysis is presented by first grouping direct and indirect data and presenting it in a conversation. The utterance, which is an expressive illocutionary act type, is bold so that the reader can easily understand the expressive illocutionary act. The analysis of expressive illocutionary acts and interpretation of meaning is further explained descriptively by applying the expressive illocutionary type theory proposed by Searle (1976) and the context of the situation proposed by Dell Hymes (1972).
In this analysis, six conversations are considered as direct of expressive illocutionary act found in the movie Onward.
Ian : What are you doing?!
Barley : I’m getting us food
(Ian pushes a few bags of cheese puffs forward to the cashier.)
Ian : Alright, I got it. And a couple of these, thank you.
Barley : Pssst! I have to go to the bathroom!
Ian : Can it wait?
Barley : It’s your pocket.
(Ian asked the cashier.)
Ian : Can we have the bathroom key, please?
The first data is identified into expressive type for thanking. It is an utterance that contains the meaning of a high appreciation for those who often say and receive these words. This utterance is also identified as a direct speech act since the speaker utters his sentence literally and means what he says. The result is that the speaker wants to reach to express his feeling about the gratitude that he feels to the hearer. The utterance’s meaning is that Ian thoughtfully expresses his feeling to appreciate the cashier for serving him well. Context of the situation helps to interpret the right meaning of the utterance based on the situation and condition of the spoken utterance, the participants, the aim and content of the utterance, voice tone and gesture, and the social status of the speaker and the hearer. It started when the van being driven by Barley, Ian, and half of his father’s body ran out of fuel. They decided to walk to the gas station to buy fuel. Once there, they buy fuel for their van, and Barley picks up two snacks from the counter. Ian told the cashier that he wanted to buy fuel, two snacks and thanked the cashier at the end for serving him.
(The Manticore straightens.)
Ian : Mom!
Laure : Go see your father!
Barley : It’s okay! If they stab the beast’s core with that sword, the curse will be broken!
Come on!
(As they meet at the top, Barley hands Ian the staff.)
Ian : Barley, what I said before, I am so sorry.
Barley : There’s no time! The sun is about to set!
An apology means that a person admits their wrongdoing and feels that the hurt person should understand what happened, not prolong the problem. This conversation is classified into expressive type for apologizing since the speaker, in this case, Ian performing an action of regret for what was done to her brother, Barley, as the hearer. The data is also classified into a direct speech act because the speaker utters his sentence and literally what he says. The result that Ian wants to reach is telling Barley that he regretted what he had done before, and Barley forgave him. Context of the situation helps to interpret the right meaning of the utterance based on the situation and condition of the spoken utterance, the participants, the aim and content of the utterance, voice tone and gesture, and the social status of the speaker and the hearer. It happened when Barley managed to retrieve the phoenix gem, which angered the stone guardian dragon. The stone dragon attacked Barley and Ian. Because the stone dragon had fallen to the ground by the manticore’s sword. Ian and Barley, go up the hill to meet his father. They immediately ran towards the hill. When they reached the top of the hill, before Ian bewitched his father, he apologized to Barley for all the wrong he had done.
(Ian is trapped when the dragon happily lick his face)
Ian : Shh! Down Girl! Please!
Laurel : Oh! Blazey, Down!
Ian : Ah! Stop, girl, stop!
Laure : Bad dragon! Back to your lair!
Laurel : Happy Birthday, mister adult man!
Ian
Laurel
: Ugh, no, Mom! Ah! Gross.
: Hey buddy, don’t wipe off my kisses!
The third data is identified as expressive type for congratulating. This is because Laurel expresses her feeling of Ian’s happy life event on his birthday. This data is also distinguished as a direct speech act since the speaker utters her sentence, literally what she says. The speaker wants to congratulate Ian as the hearer because it was his sixteenth birthday by saying, “Happy Birthday”. Context of the situation helps to interpret the right meaning of the utterance based on the situation and condition of the spoken utterance, the participants, the aim and content of the utterance, voice tone and gesture, and the social status of the speaker and the hearer. This utterance happens at the beginning of the movie, at the time when Ian, as the main character, gets ready to go to school and see the calendar that today is his sixteenth birthday. He came downstairs feeling happy and saw his mother was following a gymnastics program on television. On that occasion, Laurel remembered that today was her son’s birthday and immediately congratulated his son a happy birthday with a light-hearted while kissing his cheek.
There are six conversations which considered as indirect of expressive illocutionary act found in the movie Onward
(Barley singing)
Barley : we’re heading on our quest, our father we must retrieve, the Lightfoot Brothers
can’t be stopped....something, something that rhymes with retrieved!
(Ian awaken in back. Dad also wakes up)
Barley : Well, good morning to thee, dear Lightfoot men! Welcome to the Path of
Peril!
(Ian looks out the window)
Ian : It’s not much of a path.
Barley : Well, you know, they never really developed around here. So heads up, we could
run into anything.
Ian : Yeah, we’re still here.
The data is classified as expressive type for greeting since Barley saw Ian and half his father’s body wako up in the morning. The result that the speaker wants to reach is greeted the hearer and the utterance also is classified as an indirect speech act. The first meaning is Barley announced that they had reached the path of peril. The second meaning is that Barley wants to greet Ian and half of his father’s body in the morning. Context of the situation helps to interpret the right meaning of the utterance based on the situation and condition of the spoken utterance, the participants, the aim and content of the utterance, voice tone, and gesture, and the social status of the speaker and the hearer. The utter is uttered when Ian gave Barley the opportunity and trust to use the Path of Peril as a route to Ravens Point. The next morning, while passing the Path of Peril, Ian and half of his father’s body were awoken by his car’s shock. Knowing that they were awake, Barley informed them that they were already on the Path of Peril and indirectly to greet them.
Manticore : No, I am not giving you the map! That’s it! I’m done talking!
(Ian stands up straight and looks determined.)
Ian : Wel... well, I’m not!
Barley : Whoa. Whoa, whoa!
The data is identified as expressive for wishing since Ian needed the map in order to get to the phoenix gem. The utterance is also classified as an indirect speech act. The result that the speaker wants to reach is to get the map and hope that Manticore gives him so that he can get the phoenix gem before sunset the next day. The first meaning is that Ian told the Manticore that he desperately needed the map to get the phoenix gem and turn his father into a complete one. Secondly, it is not only about Ian informing the Manticore but also Ian hopes that the Manticore will give him the map so he can meet his father. Context of the situation helps to interpret the right meaning of the utterance based on the situation and condition of the spoken utterance, the participants, the aim and content of the utterance, voice tone, and gesture, and the social status of the speaker and the hearer. It started when Ian and Barley went to the Manticore’s tavern to get a map of where the phoenix gem was. Once there, Barley and Ian meet the Manticore and ask about the map to the phoenix gem. The Manticore didn’t want to give a map because the journey of the phoenix jewel was quite dangerous and contained a curse for teenagers like them. Ian tells The Manticore that they need a map to get his father back intact while showing him half of his father’s body. Indirectly, Ian hoped that the Manticore would provide a map to the phoenix jewel and bewitch his father all over the body.
( Barley highlights barely-perceptible road on the map)
Barley : And it’s telling me, we take an ancient trail called the Path of Peril.
Ian : But the expressway is faster!
Barley : Maybe not in the long run.
Ian : I know you want to this to be like one of your adventure games, but all that
matters is that we get to spend as much time as possible with Dad.
(Their Dad taps his foot against Barley. Barley pats Dad’s foot and sighs)
Ian : so, we should just take the expressway. Right?
Barley : Yeah. You’re right. But if you end up inside a gelatinous cube, you are on your own.
The data is classified into expressive for attitude since Ian disagrees about Barley’s statement that he would use the path of peril to Ravens Point. The result is to complain of Barley’s attitude because he makes his own decisions by choosing the path of peril as the path to Ravens Point, which takes quite a long time than using the expressway. The first meaning is that Ian told Barley that using the expressway takes less time to get to the path of peril. Secondly, it is not only about telling Barley that taking the expressway was getting faster but also that he wanted to complain to Barley because he made his own decisions. Context of the situation helps to interpret the right meaning of the utterance based on the situation and condition of the spoken utterance, the participants, the aim and content of the utterance, voice tone, and gesture, and the social status of the speaker and the hearer. When the Manticore’s tavern caught fire. Ian, Barley, and half of his father’s body decided to leave there. Ian and Barley got a clue where the phoenix gem was. Ravens Point becomes their destination based on the puzzle paper taken at the Manticore’s tavern. Ian immediately checked their city map to see where Ravens Point was located. Two routes can be used to get there, namely the Path of Peril and the expressway. Barley
285 was excited to use the Path of Peril, but Ian told Barley that using the expressway was faster. Barley agreed to use the expressway as their route to Raven’s point.
On Dell Hymes' (1972) theoretical understanding of the S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G Model to analyze the context of the situation in the movie Onward, used as a source of better understanding of speech acts. S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G Model helps to know the speech act has direct or indirect meaning and how people act through their speech, what is the purpose of their utterance and also to understand the meaning of the conversation in the movie.
Based on the previous analysis, two points can be drawn as a conclusion in this study. Expressive is one of the five types of an illocutionary act that expresses the speaker’s attitudes and feelings against a specific proposition. This study shows that all of the six types of direct and indirect expressive illocutionary acts were found in the movie Onward. The speaker used direct and indirect speech acts in expressing the utterances. The second point of this study is that to get the correct interpretation and literal meaning behind the utterance, the hearer must consider what can be seen from the context of the situation of the utterances. The context of the situation is needed since the speaker’s utterance may have more than one meaning in a different context. Therefore, it is essential to consider several factors found in the analysis of the data that influence both speaker and hearer in understanding the utterance of the speech act.
References
Boglan, R.C., Biklen, S.K. 1982. Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theory and Methods. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Inc.
Hymes, D. 1972. Toward Ethnography of Communication: The Analysis of Communication Events. In Giglioli 1972: 22-24.
Searle, J.R. 1976. The Classification of Illocutionary Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Yule, George. 1996. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Biography of Authors
Anak Agung Ratu Paratistha Wijayanti was born in Denpasar on July, 30th 1999. She is an undergraduate student in English Department of Faculty of Letters in Udayana University.
Email: [email protected]
Ni Made Ayu Widiastuti, S.S., M.Hum. is an active lecturer in English Department of Faculty of Letters in Udayana University.
Email: [email protected]
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