Expressive Illocutionary Act in The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie
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e-Journal of Linguistics
Available online at https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol/index
Vol. 16, No. 2, July 2022, pages: 273--282
Print ISSN: 2541-5514 Online ISSN: 2442-7586
https://doi.org/10.24843/e-jl.2022.v16.i02.p013
Expressive Illocutionary Act in The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie
1Ni Kadek Dian Trisnawati
Mahasaraswati Denpasar University, Indonesia, [email protected]
2Desak Putu Eka Pratiwi
Mahasaraswati Denpasar University, Indonesia, [email protected]
3
Mahasaraswati Denpasar University, Indonesia, [email protected]
Article info
Received Date: 22 February 2022
Accepted Date: 26 February 2022
Published Date:31 July 2022
Abstract*
This article discusses about expressive illocutionary act in The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie. This article analyzing the data used descriptive qualitative method. The aims of this article are to identify the types of expressive illocutionary act and the context of situation in the movie. This article used theory by Searle (1979) to identify the types of expressive illocutionary act and theory by Halliday and Hasan (1985) to analyze the context of situation. The result of this article showed 22 utterances which are produced by the characters.
Keywords:*
expressive, illocutionary act, context of situation, movie
Language is a form that shall allow people to communicate their thoughts and feelings to one another. Noises, symbols such as written or spoken words, postures, gestures, or signs can all be used to transmit feeling and thought, with the receiver interpreting a specific meaning (Day Translations, 2018). Language is used by humans to communicate. The process of receiving and transmitting messages using verbal or nonverbal means, such as speaking, oral, writing, charts, signs, signals, and actions, is known as communication (Nordquist, 2019). In the study of language, pragmatics concern how language is used among people in context. According to Yule (1996) the significance of studying language through pragmatics is that one can discuss people’s intended meanings, their two presuppositions, their aims or goals, and the types of action they are showing when they speak. However, each has their own style of expressing their beliefs, which can often be expressed through speech act.
A speech act is something that is said with the aim of not only informing but also showing something. According to Austin (1962: 94) speech act is explained by saying something is also to do something. That means, when the speaker says something, it is more than just uttering words; the utterance also has the intent to perform acts. Austin also divided
speech act into three kinds. They are locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. Locutionary act is an act of saying something that occurs when the speaker and the hearer convers. Illocutionary act is an act performed in the utterances of the speaker that might cause the hearer to do something. Perlocutionary act is an act that is the hearer performed after hearing to the speaker utterance in certain context. According to Searle (1979: viii) the illocutionary act is divided into five parts. Assertive, directive, commissive, declaration, and expressive. Assertive illocutionary act indicates that the speaker wanted to inform others about how things are going. The speaker uses a directive illocutionary act to make people to do something; it expresses what the speaker requires. Commissive illocutionary act is the speaker committed to do something. Expressive illocutionary act is an act express the speaker attitudes, feeling and emotion. The expression is apologizing, congratulating, thanking, wishing, attitude, and greeting. Declaration illocutionary act is an act that the speaker uses their words that can bring about change in the world.
According to Halliday and Hasan (1985: 12) context of situation divided into three parts. Field, tenor and mode. Field refers to the taken place and what is happening. Tenor refers to the actors, the players, what kinds of relationships among the participants, and mode refers to what language is used in that situation. The researcher would like to show the previous study related in this article. The First study by Tiwul (2018) entitled An Analysis of Expressive Illocutionary Act Found in The Light between Oceans Movie Script. The aims of her study were to identify the types of expressive illocutionary act and find out the meaning of the utterance expressive illocutionary act. Her data were analyzed by using quantitative and qualitative descriptive method and theory proposed by Searle (1969).
The second study by Pratama (2019) entitled The Function of Expressive Illocutionary Act with Special Reference to Chbosky and Spiliotopoulus’s Beauty and The Beast. His study aims to identify the functions of expressive illocutionary act and the context of situation applied in the movie Beauty and The Beast. His study used qualitative descriptive method and theory by Searle (1979) to analyze the data. The last is journal by Sirwan and Yulia (2017) entitled An Analysis of Expressive Speech Acts Used by Steve Rogers as The Main Character in Civil War Movie. Their journal focused to explain kinds of expressive speech act used and the S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model used by Steve Rogers in Civil War movie. Their data analyzed by using the theory by Searle, watching the movie and reading the movie script to collected the data. This article focuses on the types of expressive illocutionary act. The aim of an expressive illocutionary act is to express the feeling and emotion of speaker through an expression. The expressions are apologizing, thanking, congratulating, attitude and wishing and greeting.
This article used The Little Mermaid 1989 movie as the data. The data were collected by observation method. It was done by watching the movie, reading the movie script, taking note the utterance and classifying the data based on the types of expressive illocutionary act. This article used descriptive qualitative method and some theories to analyzed the data. First, theory proposed by Searle (1979) to classifying the types of expressive illocutionary act and second theory proposed by Halliday and Hasan (1985) to analyze the context of situation. Formal and informal method used in presenting the data.
Table 1
Types of Expressive Illocutionary Act
|
Expressive Illocutionary Act |
Frequency |
Percentage (%) |
|
Apologizing |
5 |
22,72% |
|
Thanking |
3 |
13,64% |
|
Congratulating |
3 |
13,64% |
|
Wishing |
3 |
13,64% |
|
Attitude |
6 |
27,27% |
|
Greeting |
2 |
9,09% |
|
Total |
22 |
100% |
Expressive is one of illocutionary act classification used to express the feeling of the speaker. According to Searle (1979) there are six types of expressive illocutionary act. Apologizing, thanking, congratulating, wishing, attitude and greeting.
Apologizing is an utterance used to express a regret. The expression such as ask forgiveness, plead guilty, beg pardon and so on.
Data 1
Grimsby : You know, Eric, perhaps our young guest might enjoy seeing some
of the sights of the kingdom. Something in the way of a tour?
Eric : I’m sorry, Grimsby, what was that?
Grimsby : You can’t spend all your time moping about, you need to get out.
Do something, have a life. Get your mind off-
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 00:54:56)
The utterance above categorized as expressive for apologizing. Eric expresses beg pardon because he did not understand what Grimsby said. Castle dining room is the field. Grimsby and Eric were chatting and have dinner in the dining room. Grimsby told Eric to take his young guests on a tour of the kingdom's sights. However, Eric did not understand and had no idea what Grimsby was talking about. In this utterance Eric did not apologize for making a mistake, but for asking a repetition to re-explained what Grimsby meant. The participants in this conversation are Eric and Grimsby. The relations between participants are a Prince and his caretaker. In this conversation the mode is Eric. His expression was uttered by spoken mode can be considered as informal because they already know each other and it just daily conversations.
Data 2
Triton : Oh, what have I done? What have I done?
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 00:57:15)
This utterance can be classified as an expressive of apologizing because the speaker expressed his feeling of regret. Triton regretted to Ariel for making Ariel leave the palace. This utterance took place in undersea palace, when Triton realized his actions for destroying all of Ariel's collections. The collections kept human items. He did that because he really
hated anything about human. Because of that, Ariel was very sad, then left the palace. Triton realized that when he was alone and Ariel was nowhere to be found. In this utterance the tenor is Triton. He really regretted his actions. He did that because he did not want Ariel fell in love with human. Triton expressed her feeling of regret through his utterance. This expression was uttered by spoken mode in an informal way.
Thanking is used to express the speaker gratitude to the hearer through an utterance.
Data 3
Ariel : Oh, Eric, I - I wanted to tell you.
Vanessa : ERIC NO! (The sun sets and Ariel becomes a mermaid)
Ursula : You're too late! You're too late! So long, loverboy.
Eric : Ariel!
Ursula : Poor little princess - it's not you I'm after.
I've a much bigger fish to –
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 01:10:09)
In this conversation the speaker expressed her feeling of grateful. This utterance classified as an expressive of thanking. In this utterance, the speaker expressed her gratefulness because the situation supports her plan. The field is on the ship, when Ursula almost succeeded in marrying Eric. Ariel and her friends succeed to stop their marriage. Ariel regained her voice and caused prince Eric to wake up from Ursula's magic. But at the last step, Ariel was too late to kiss prince Eric before sunset and at that time Ariel turned back into a mermaid. Therefore, Ursula laughed and was very grateful because the situation had supported her plan to turn Ariel into a mermaid again. The tenor are Ursula, Ariel and Prince Eric. At that time, Ursula as the speaker was very grateful and happy because Ariel became hers. The mode is Ursula, she expressed her grateful to the situation by spoken mode. Her expression can be considered as informal way because she expressed her feeling with an evil laugh.
Data 4
Ariel : I love you Daddy.
(Ariel and Triton hugged each other)
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 01:17:36)
The utterance above classified as an expressive of thanking because Ariel expressed her feeling by say something. She said “I love you” not “thank you” to thanks her father. The utterance took place on the ship at Ariel’s wedding, she was very happy because her dream to become a human and marry a human was realized by Triton. At first Triton really hated everything about human, but Ariel never gave up. She did everything to become a human. Until finally her father realized her dream of becoming a human and marrying a human. So, Ariel thanked her father by saying “I love you Daddy” for making her dream come true. In this utterance the participants are Ariel as the speaker and Triton as the hearer. Ariel thanked to Triton by saying “I love you Daddy”. However, Triton only responded to Ariel with a hug to show his happiness. In this utterance the mode is Ariel, she expressed her gratitude towards Triton for everything her father gave and had done. The utterance was uttered by spoken mode in an informal way, but still with feeling grateful.
This utterance is used to express feeling of happiness for the luck of the hearer.
Data 5
Grimsby : Silence! Silence! It is now my honor and privilege to present
our esteemed Prince Eric with a very special, very expensive, very large birthday present.
Eric : Ah, Grimsby - y'old beanpole, you shouldn't have.
Grimsby : I know. Happy birthday, Eric!
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 00:21:03)
This conversation above could be categorized as an expressive illocutionary act. Grimsby expressed his feeling of happy towards Eric. He really enjoyed Eric’s birthday celebration. The utterance uttered by the speaker relates to the expressive of congratulating. The field is on the ship, when Eric's birthday. Grimsby was very happy on Eric's birthday because Eric still given a long life. Grimsby gave a very large statue to Eric as a birthday present. His uttered "Happy birthday Eric" showed his happiness to Eric. There are two participants in this conversation, they are Grimsby and Eric. In this conversation Grimsby wanted everyone enjoy the celebrations. The relation between participants is a Prince and his caretakers. The mode in this conversation is Grimsby, expressed his feeling by spoken mode and informal way. So, it just daily conversation.
Data 6
Scuttle : Ariel! Ariel, wake up! Wake up! I just heard the news.
Congratulations, kiddo, we did it!
Sebastian : What is this idiot babbling about?
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 01:04:18)
In this utterance above, the speaker expressed his feeling of happy by say something. His expression relates to the expressive of congratulating. In this utterance, Scuttle was shouting something to Ariel to express his emotions. The setting in this conversation is in castle at Ariel’s room, when Scuttle came to Ariel to told the news that he heard. He heard Prince Eric's would marry very soon. He thought that their plan had been a success for Ariel to marry Prince Eric. He woke up Ariel by shouting congratulations to Ariel who was still sleeping. The tenor in this conversation is Scuttle as the speaker, Ariel and Sebastian as the hearer. In this conversation Scuttle thought that their plan had worked. Therefore, he came to Ariel with a shout and congratulate them on their success. The relation among the participants is a friend. In this conversation the mode is Scuttle, he expressed his happiness towards Ariel by spoken mode in an informal way, since Scuttle expressed his feeling by shouting to his friends.
Wishing is used to express the speaker’s wish to the hearer to became a fact.
Data 7
Ursula : Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I can't stand it - it's too easy.
The child is in love with a human. And not just any human – a prince!
her daddy will love that. King Triton's headstrong, lovesick girl would make a charming addition to my little garden.
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 00:27:14)
This scene Ursula’s utterance can be classified as an expressive of wishing. Ursula was very satisfied about Ariel fell in love. She knew Ariel would make her father angry. In Ursula’s utterance, she not only saying something but also hoping something. In this scene the field is in Ursula’s cavern. Ursula always monitoring Ariel from her cavern to find out Ariel’s activities. She did that for revenge on Triton. At that time, she knew Ariel fell in love with a human. She was very satisfied because she knew Triton would be angry with that. She thought it would be the beginning for her to take revenge on Triton. Ursula really knew Triton, therefore she said “her daddy will love that” in hoped Triton would be angry if Ariel fell in love with human. The mode is Ursula. Her utterance expressed feeling of hoping by spoken mode. It can be considered as informal way because her utterance expressed with an evil laugh.
Data 8
Ariel : He loves me . . . hmmm, he loves me not.... He loves
me! I knew it! (Picking petals off a flower)
Sebastian : Ariel, stop talking crazy
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 00:28:37)
The conversation above classified as an expressive illocutionary act. The speaker expressed her feeling of hoping. The utterance uttered by Ariel belongs to the expressive of wishing. Undersea palace is the field. When Ariel was feeling in love, she was also expecting something. She had a dream to marry with a human. At that time, it was the first time she saw Prince Eric. Ariel was very amazed because she had never seen a human. In the conversation she also expecting something while picking petals off a flower. She hoped get the flower petals that Prince Eric loved her. The participants in this conversation are Ariel as the speaker and Sebastian as the hearer. Ariel really hoped Prince Eric also love her and she expressed her hope by saying “He loves me . . . hmmm, he loves me not.... He loves me! I knew it!”. The relation between the participants are a King Triton’s daughter and her supervisor. The mode is Ariel. She expressed her feeling of hoping by saying something and it was uttered by spoken mode in an informal because their conversation was in daily life.
This utterance used to express the feeling of disagreement or dislike with the hearer’s attitude.
Data 9
Triton : I'm really looking forward to this performance, Sebastian
Sebastian : Oh, Your Majesty, this will be the finest concert I have
ever conducted. Your daughters - they will be spectacular!
Triton : Yes, and especially my little Ariel.
Sebastian : Yes, yes, she has the most beautiful voice. If only she'd
show up for rehearsals once in a while.
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 00:04:21)
Based on expressive illocutionary theory the utterance above could be categorized as an expressive of attitude. The speaker expressed his feeling of complain by say something, however he did not directly express his complaint to the hearer. The setting took place in undersea palace at the concert hall, when the big concert would start. Ariel had a beautiful voice and she would be singing there. Triton was very excited for Ariel’s performance. At that time, Triton talked about Ariel had a beautiful voice to Sebastian. At the beginning,
Sebastian admits that Ariel had a beautiful voice. But after that his expression turned into a complain because Ariel never rehearsals. However, Sebastian never reported to Triton. The participants are Sebastian and Triton. In this conversation Sebastian complains about Ariel was never rehearsals. However, he did not directly complaint to Triton. The relation between participants is King and his advisor. Sebastian is the mode in this conversation, he expressed his feeling by spoken mode. His expression belongs to the informal way because he did not complaint in front of Triton.
Data 10
Grimsby : I know. Happy birthday, Eric!
Eric : Gee, Grim. It's, err, it's, err - it's really something....
Grimsby : Yes, I commissioned it myself. Of course,
I had hoped it would be a wedding present, but . . .
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 00:21:21)
In the conversation above, Eric expressed his feeling of dislike. His expression relates to the expressive of attitude. In the conversation, Eric did not directly express his feeling of dislike. The speaker actually did not like the birthday present given by the hearer. This conversation took place on the ship, when Prince Eric’s birthday celebration. He got a birthday present from Grimsby. It was a large statue that resembled Prince Eric. However, Prince Eric did not like the statue. In the conversation he did not say that he did not like directly. He only response with spoke brokenly and flat expression. His expression showed that he does not like the birthday present given by Grimsby. There are two participants, they are Prince Eric and Grimsby. Prince Eric as the speaker got a birthday present from Grimsby. However, he did not like the birthday present. The mode is Prince Eric who expressed his dislike by spoken mode. His expression can be considered as informal way, since it just a daily conversation.
This utterance is an expression of greeting. It is used to welcoming the hearer.
Data 11
Seahorse : Ahem . . . His royal highness, King Triton!
Triton : I'm really looking forward to this performance, Sebastian.
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 00:03:47)
In this conversation the speaker expressed his feeling of welcoming. His utterance can be categorized as expressive for greeting. The speaker welcomed Triton by saying something. He did not directly say welcome. The field is in undersea palace at the concert hall. It was the day that King Triton had been waiting for. At that time, King Triton would be led the concert. Therefore, Seahorse welcomed King Triton. He did not directly say welcome however, he greeted. King Triton very excited and respectful. The tenor in this conversation are Seahorse, Triton and Sebastian. In this conversation the speaker welcomed the King when open the concert. The mode in this conversation is Seahorse. He showed his greets towards King Triton by spoken mode. His expression belongs to the polite and formal way because the speaker greetings for a King.
Data 12
Ariel : Morning, Daddy
Atina : Oh, she's got it bad.
Triton : What? What has she got?
(The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie, 00:28:05)
In the utterance above classified as an expressive illocutionary act. Ariel expressed her feeling of greeting. Her utterance relates to the expressive of greeting. The setting took place in undersea palace at dressing room. At that time, Ariel just came out to the dressing room and she saw all her sisters. She also saw her father therefore she greeted her father with a very happy face. The participants in this conversation are Ariel, Triton, Atina, and Andrina. In this conversation the speaker greeted the hearer with a happiness. The relation between the participants are daughters and their father. Ariel is the mode in this conversation. She showed her greets towards Triton by spoken mode. Her expression belongs to the informal way because the speaker greeted her father and it just daily conversation.
Expressive illocutionary act is one of the classifications of illocutionary act used to express a feeling of the speaker. The novelties from this article is an expressive illocutionary analysis of old movies. The movie was produced by Disney in 1989. This movie is well known to many people. In addition to Disney production, this movie has an interesting story. Where a mermaid falls in love with a human. The Little Mermaid 1989 also has good moral values. This article shows how expressive illocutionary act is used in this movie. In analyzing this movie is very necessary a thoroughness. Interestingly, this article is figuring out expression that have hidden meanings. This article also analyzed the context of situation in The Little Mermaid 1989 movie.
This article analyzed expressive illocutionary act in The Little Mermaid 1989 Movie. Based on the discussion above it can be concluded there were 22 data that contained expressive illocutionary act. The result shows there are 6 types of expressive illocutionary act found the movie. There are apologizing (5), thanking (3), congratulating (3), wishing (3), attitude (6) and greeting (2). This article also supports by the context of situation. There are three parts that relates in the characters, such as field, tenor and mode. The field refers to the taken place and what is happening. The tenor refers to the actors, what kinds of relationships among the participants, and the mode refers to what language is used in that situation.
References
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Biography of Authors
Ni Kadek Dian Trisnawati, S.S. was born in Buleleng, August 13th, 1999. She is a graduated student from the Faculty of Foreign Language, Mahasaraswati Denpasar University. She graduated from Mahasaraswati University in 2022 with bachelor degree in English study program. She is interested in pragmatic.
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Desak Putu Eka Pratiwi, S.S., M.Hum. is a lecturer at Mahasaraswati Denpasar University. Especially, in English Study Program, Faculty of Foreign Languages. Graduated from her bachelor degree in English Literature at Udayana University in 2007. She continued to Master degree in 2009 and Doctoral degree in 2015 from Linguistics Department at Udayana University. She got Sandwich scholarship in 2013 from Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic Indonesia and attended a short study in the Linguistics Department of Sydney University, Australia. She actively published her articles in national and international journals also attends national and international conference and presents her articles. She is interested in Linguistic Anthropology, Pragmatics, Semantics and Semiotics.
Email: [email protected]
I Putu Andri Permana, S.S., M.Hum. (Andri) is a Lecturer at Mahasaraswati University Denpasar as well as an English private teacher, copywriter and MC both in Indonesian and English. He is already happy with the world of language, especially English, starting from junior high school to college taking the English Department at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences Udayana Denpasar Bali. Still feeling thirsty for knowledge, he continued to Masters’ Degree taking language teaching and learning (applied linguistics) still at Udayana University Bali. He started his career as a teacher in 2006 as an English course teacher in Denpasar while taking undergraduate program. Graduated from his Bachelor's
Degree while continuing Masters’ Degree, he became teacher at a foundation in Ubud part time while working at Villa Management as Reservation and Sales officer full time. His career in English had also given him the opportunity to work with one of the Rotary International Members in Perth Western Australia focusing in Kindergarten Teacher Training Program both in Australia and Bali. He also has an experience working in Hotels as an HR Assistant Manager. He is currently working as a lecturer in Mahasaraswati University and actively being involved in teaching, researches and community service
programs.
Email: [email protected]
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