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THE DIRECTIVE ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS IN “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD” SCREENPLAY BY HORTON FOOTE

By:

A.A. ISTRI A BINTANG SURYANINGSIH

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND CULTURE, UDAYANA UNIVERSITY

abstrak

Skripsi yang berjudul " The Directive Illocutionary Acts in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Screenplay by Horton Foote " bertujuan untuk mendapatkan jenis directive illocutionary acts yang ditemukan dalam naskah , dan directive illocutionary acts dari ujaran juga bisa mendukung munculnya respon dari para pendengar . Data penelitian ini diambil dari naskah yang berjudul " To Kill a Mockingbird " oleh Horton Foote ( 1962) . Naskah ini dipilih untuk menjadi sumber data karena dialognya mengandung banyak illocutionary acts, terutama directive illocutionary acts. Teori utama yang digunakan untuk mengklasifikasikan directive illocutionary acts adalah teori pragmatik yang di usulkan oleh Leech (1983).

Penelitian ini hanya di fokuskan pada directive illocutionary acts. Ada empat jenis directive illocutionary acts berdasarkan pendapat Leech, mereka adalah : tell, ask, advise, dan invite. Hasil dari penelitian ini yaitu ada 9 data yang diambil untuk tipe directive illocutionary acts. Ciri-ciri directive illocutionary acts adalah: tell mengungkapkan maksud kepada pendengar untuk melakukan sesuatu, ask mengungkapkan keinginan pembicara berharap kepada pendengar untuk melakukan sesuatu, advise mengungkapkan keinginan pembicara untuk merekomendasikan sesuatu untuk pendengar, dan invite mengungkapkan keinginan pembicara untuk memberikan undangan sesuatu untuk pendengar. Juga ada 9 data untuk analisis respon dari para pendengar. Maksud pembicara dalam mengucapkan keinginan adalah untuk mendapatkan respon yang sesuai dari pendengar. Dalam memberikan respon, pendengar harus mampu menafsirkan dengan baik maksud dari pembicara.

Kata kunci : directive illocutionary acts, types of directive, responses of the hearers

  • 1.    Background of the Study

People share their intentions and desire to those they are addressing using language in a communication. Illocutionary act focuses on the subject matter in this study. This study is only concerned with directive illocutionary acts and the types of it as the point of this study were analyzed. This analysis is also connected to illustration the responses of the hearer when the speaker utters directive illocutionary acts.

  • 2.    Problems of the Study

  • 1.    What types of directive illocutionary acts are found in the To Kill a Mockingbird screenplay?

  • 2.    What are the responses of the hearer when the speaker utters directive illocutionary acts in the To Kill a Mockingbird screenplay?

  • 3.    Aims of the Study

  • 1.    To find out the types of directive illocutionary acts found in the To Kill a Mockingbird screenplay so that utterance can direct someone to do something.

  • 2.    To describe the responses of the hearer when the speaker utters directive illocutionary acts in the To Kill a Mockingbird screenplay.

  • 4.    Research Method

The library research uses documentation method to be applied to the data source. The documentation method was applied through reading the screenplay to find out the data to be analyzed according to the problems formulated previously. This study included three prominent steps for the explanation of research method aimed at gaining the valid result of the analysis.

  • 4.1    Data Source

The data of this study were taken from the dialogues of a screenplay entitled To Kill a Mockingbird by Horton Foote (February 8, 1962). This screenplay has 146 pages in English language. To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film which is adapted from Harper Lee’s novel of the same title, it is directed by Robert Mulligan, and starred by Gregory Peck (as Atticus), Mary Badham (as Scout), Philip Alford (as Jem), Robert Duvall (as Boo Radley), and Brock Peters (as Tom Robinson). The To Kill a Mockingbird has an interesting story that takes viewers to the roots of human behavior, childhood innocence and experience. This screenplay was chosen to be the source of data because it has rich scenical situations indicating directive illocutionary acts performed exclusively in the screenplay. The To Kill a Mockingbird was chosen as the data source because it is totally performed in the form of dialogues or conversation.

  • 4.2    Method and Technique of Collecting Data

The process involved some important activities, such as:

  • 1.    First, the movie was downloaded using video download manager.

  • 2.    Second, the screenplay was downloaded in the form of PDF and it was read attentively.

  • 3.    Third, the utterances or conversations indicating the types of directive illocutionary acts were jotted down using electronic notes.

  • 4.    Fourth, the data were classified based on their types.

  • 4.3    Method and Technique of Analyzing Data

After collecting the data from the conversations in the screenplay, next the research was continued by analyzing the data:

  • 1.    The data were analyzed descriptively and qualitatively.

  • 2.    The dialogues that indicate directive illocutionary acts were jotted down.

  • 3.    The classified data were analyzed following Leech’s theory.

  • 5.    THE DIRECTIVE ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS IN “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD” SCREENPLAY BY HORTON FOOTE

The main analysis pointed to some important theories about directive illocutionary acts is proposed by Leech (1983). Based on Leech’s book (1983:205-206), illocutionary acts are devided into five general categories (Assertive, Directive, Commissive, Expressive and Rogative). Leech theory was applied to the analysis of data, it was aimed at identifying the types of Directive illocutionary acts. Tell, ask, advise, and invite are the main parts of directive illocutionary acts. This analysis is also connected to illustration of the responses of the hearer when the speaker utters directive illocutionary acts.

This study has nine data of the types of directive illocutionary acts, and nine data of responses of the heares. Below is a sample of analysis of one of the nine data of directive illocutionary acts and the response of the hearer.

  • 5.1    Directive Illocutionary Acts of “Ask”

    DATA 4 (Page: 11-12)

STEPHANIE :      Well, you’d better believe him, Mr. Dill Harris.

JEM        :      Tell him about the time Boo tried to kill his papa.

STEPHANIE :     Well, I was standing in my yard one day when his mama

come running out and yelling, “He’s killing us all.”Turned Out Boo was sitting in the living room cutting up the paper for his scrapbook and when his daddy come by, he reached over with his scissors and stabbed him in his leg, pulled them out, and went on back cutting the paper.

The dialogue in data 4 is conducted by two people, they are Jem and Stephanie. The dialogue suggests that, Jem acts as the speaker and Stephanie as the hearer. Jem as the speaker because his utterance is a kind directive illocutionary acts of “ask”. In the dialogue, Jem uses imperative form in communication when he utters, “Tell him about the time Boo tried to kill his papa”. Jem has a close relationship with Stephanie, because Stephanie is his neighbor. The conversation occurs because someone must know about why Boo’s papa died, and Jem tells about that to Stephanie. Based on the theory of Leech about the directive illocutionary acts, the sentence “Tell him about the time Boo tried to kill his papa” it belongs to ask form, in which ask expresses that the speaker’s desire to wish the hearer (H) to do something (X). In uttering expression (e), speaker (S) wishes the hearer (H) to do something (X). Jem, as the speaker, directs Stephanie as the hearer to do something based on his desire. Jem’s utterance belongs to request form, in which request is the part of directive illocutionary act “ask”.

  • 1.    The desire that makes Stephanie as the hearer do something.

  • 2.    The wish that Stephanie as the hearer on that dialogue does something because of Jem’s desire in the dialogue.

It means that Jem wants Stephanie to do something based on his desire. Jem requests Stephanie to tell someone about the time when Boo Radley killed his papa. As a result, Stephanie does an action, in this case she should tell the story clearly. Based on Leech’s book “Principles of Pragmatics” in 1983 (1983: 216-217), the semantic analysis of directive illocutionary acts used to get the types of the utterance in Jem’s desire is as follows:

  • 1.    X follows the speech act.

It means that something of Jem’s desire has followed the speech act, Jem utters, “Tell him about the time Boo tried to kill his papa” his utterance belongs to request form, in which request is the part of ask in directive illocutionary acts based on Leech’s perspective (1983).

  • 2.    H involved in X.

Stephanie, as the hearer, has been involved in something that Jem’s desire wants Stephanie to do. It means that Stephanie must tell someone about the story of the time when Boo killed his papa by uttering “Well, I was standing in my yard one day when his mama come running out and yelling, “He’s killing us all.”Turned Out Boo was sitting in the living room……”.

  • 3.    If X follows the speech act, it is conditional.

The utterance of Jem has followed the speech act and it is conditional.

  • 5.2 Response to the Hearer to the Directive Illocutionary Acts “Ask”

DATA 13

JEM                :      Tell him about the time Boo tried to kill his papa.

STEPHANIE      :     Well, I was standing in my yard one day when his

mama come running out and yelling, “He’s killing us all.”Turned Out Boo was sitting in the living room cutting up the paper for his scrapbook and when his daddy come by, he reached over with his scissors and stabbed him in his leg, pulled them out, and went on back cutting the paper. (Response)

Data 13 shows that there are two participants in the conversation. Stephanie as the hearer and Jem as the speaker when he utters, “Tell him about the time Boo tried to kill his papa”. Stephanie should understand the intention of Jem’s utterance. She gives the response to Jem’s utterance after listening to him by uttering, “Well, I was standing in my yard one day when his mama come running out and yelling”, “He’s killing us all.” Turned Out Boo was sitting in the living room cutting up the paper for his scrapbook and when his daddy come by, he reached over with his scissors and stabbed him in his leg, pulled them out, and

went on back cutting the paper”. Stephanie’s answer indicates that she has understood what is intended by Jem. She knows that the speaker wants her to tell someone about the time that Boo killed his papa.

  • 6.    Conclusion

Based on the analysis in chapter three, it can be concluded that there are four types of directive illocutionary acts. The types of directive illocutionary acts that were found include: tell, ask, advise, and invite. Nine data indicating directive acts were found in the screenplay entitled To Kill a Mockingbird. The classification types of directives illocutionary acts were based on the theory of Leech “Principles of Pragmatics” (1983). Each of them has its own characteristics differing one type of directive acts from the others. Tell expresses the intention that the hearer to do something, ask expresses the speaker’s desire to wish the hearer to do something, advise expresses that the speaker’s desire to recommend something to the hearer, and invite expresses the speaker’s desire to give an invitation of something to the hearer.

Looking from the responses of the hearers to the speakers, it can be described that the intention of the hearers’ responses toward the speakers’ utterances in performing directive acts. There are nine data indicating responses of the hearers. In giving the responses, the hearers are able to interpret the speakers’ intentions and they fully understand it. They can also give the appropriate response in accordance with the speaker’s desire.

  • 7.    Bibliography

Bach, Kent and Robert M. Harnish. 1979. The Taxonomy of Communicative Illocutionary Act. London : The MIT Press.

Leech, Geoffrey N. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. New York: Longham Group Ltd.

Foote, Horton. Screenplay: “To Kill a Mockingbird”. February 8, 1962 (1-146).

Available from: http://www.screenplaydb.com