ISSN: 2302-920X

E-Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya Unud

Vol 15.2 Mei 2016: 202-214

THE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S LINGUISTIC FEATURES IN OZ THE GREAT

AND POWERFUL MOVIE SCRIPT

Putu Jayanti Wulandari

English Department, Faculty of Letters and Culture Udayana University

ABSTRAK

Penelitian in bertujuan untuk mengetahui bentuk politeness maxims yang digunakan oleh pria dan wanita dalam naskah film Oz the Great and Powerful. Sumber data dalam penelitian ini adalah sebuah naskah flm berjudul Oz the Great and Powerful. Data dalam penelitian ini dikumpulkan dengan menggunakan metode simak dan diikuti dengan teknik catat. Analisis data dilakukan secara deskriptif kualitatif dengan mendeskripsikan secara terperinci mengenai bentuk politeness maxims yang digunakan oleh pria dan wanita dalam naskah film Oz the Great and Powerful. Hasil analisis data menunjukkan bahwa terdapat perbedaan karakteristik bahasa yang digunakan oleh pri dan wanita dalam naskah film berjudul bentuk politeness maxims yang digunakan oleh pria dan wanita dalam naskah film Oz the Great and Powerful. Karakteristik bahasa yang digunakan oleh wanita adalah menggunakan hedges, bentuk yang sangat sopan, tag questions, menggunakan bentuk italic dan kata keterangan intensif, empty adjectives, menggunakan gramatika yang sangat tepat, kosa kata khusus, intonasi kalimat tanya seperti kalimat deklaratif, serta menggunakan kalimat tanya langsung. Sedangkan, karakteristik bahasa yang digunakan oleh pria adalah membahas topik-topk maskulin, sangat memperhatikan detail, dan menggunakan kata-kata tabu.

Kata Kunci : maksim, karakteristik bahasa, gender

INTRODUCTION

Languages consist of oral and sign which both of the oral and sign contain phonological system.The phonological rules describe the way of symbols used in languages in regard to their functions to form morpheme or word. Another system included in the languages of society is the syntactic system which plays an important role in the combination of morpheme or words to form a phrase or utterance.

Linguists state that a close relationship between language and sex becomes an interesting discussion for recent years. Many sociolinguists suggest that men and

women do not speak exactly the same way in any community. The most noticable difference that affects the use of language is gender (male and female). Most of linguistics students are still confuse in differentiating between men and women language.

According to Labov (1990:205) women are consistently more often use language that forms closer prestigious forms, rather than prevailing among men. In fact, according to Labov in a state of steady sosiolinguistic stratification, men use more of on standart forms, compared to women. Stereotypes such as women talk more politely and women use more questions have been firmly believed by the public. It cannot override these stereotypes, since unlike the former case; these stereotypes have actually been supported through extensive linguistic research. Women’s language has the following features. First, female speakers interrupt less than males in mixed-sex conversations. Second, female speakers use more indirect speech than males. Third, female speakers use more conversational support such as minimal responses than males. Fourth, female speakers use features which indicate tentativeness, such as hedges, tag questions, and other expressions that make them sound hesitant or uncertain.

Related to this topic, there is a writing of an undergraduate thesis from Trianasari (2007) entitled The Analysis of Women and Men language in Woman magazine. The writer analyzed the problem based on the data source from magazines to find the diference between men and women languages. However, the analysis of the data focused more in the women language than men language since the genre of the magazineschose of the data source are women magazines. The magazinesare generally read by women. As the result, most of the language and utterance used in the magazinesare devoted to female.

The next writing is the undergraduate thesis written by Yuliani (2007) entitled The Analysis of Distinction between Men and Women’s Language With Reference to Interview Article in Cosmopolitan and Esquire Magazine. The writer applied the theory by Herring (1993) to analyze the men’ s language features; the theory by Lakoff (1975) to analyze the woman language and the theory proposed by Coates (1986) to compare the difference between women and men language. Yuliani gave a clear explanation about comparison between women and men language in her study. However, there was no concept about men and women’s language on her study.

After reviewing all the three previous studies, there were some differences compare with this undergraduate thesis. Firstly, the writing by Yasa (2010) did not apply the theory proposed by Geoffrey Leech, The second study by Yuliani (2007) chose the data source from a magazine and did not analyze politeness maxims. The third study by Trianasari (2007) has different data source, in which the data was taken from the movie script.

The purpose of this writing are (i) to analyze the linguistic features of men and women’s language found in the Oz the Great and Powerful movie script and (ii) to identify the politeness maxims used by men and women in the Oz the Great and Powerful movie script.

METHODOLOGY

The data in this study was mainly taken from a script of a movie entitledOz the Great and Powerfulpublished in the internet with duration about two hours and thirty minutes. This movie starred by nineteen artists and directed by Sam Raimi. The movie script is also taken as a spoken written text source in order to support the analysis of pronunciation.The script of the movie was chosen as the data source in this study because it consists of many conversations between men - men, women -women and mixed conversations in different context of situations in which the characteristics of men and women’s speech were found. Moreover, the characters in this movie derived from some different social backgrounds which increased the variety of the data.

The data of this studywas collected by observing the script of the movie as well as watching and listening to the movie carefully in order to identify the pronunciation difference. Furthermore, it is important to take note about the linguistic features found in the movie and the politeness maxims. There were four steps in collecting the data, those are:

1. Downloading the movie script from the internet
2. Reading the script of the movie thoroughly to find out the sentences which considered as men and women’s language features and styles.
3. Listening and watching to the conversation of men and women characters in the movie tounderstanding the plot of the movie in order to get clear description about the context of situationand to identify the pronunciation of the words including the stress and intonation of the utterances.
4. Listing and classifying the data into categories of men and women’s linguistic features.

The collected data in this study was analyzed qualitatively and presented descriptively in order to give a clear description based on some theories and perspectives which proposed by Lakoff (1975), Holmes (1992) and Geoffrey Leech (1983). There are three steps in analyzing the data:

1. Determining the data into men or women’s language.
2. Analyzing the collected data which related with form of maxims.
3. Presentingthe analysis descriptively based on the proposed theories. The theories from Holmes(1992) and Lakoff(1975) were applied to analyze the first problem while the problems of maxim wasanalyzed by applying the theory from Geofrey Leech(1983).

DISCUSSION

The most noticable difference that affects the use of language is gender (male and female). Most of linguistics students are still confuse in differentiating between men is and women is language. This writing analyzes this problem. Related to this problem, there is a writing of an undergraduate thesis from Trianasari (2007) entitled The Analysis of Women and Men language in Woman magazine. The writer analyzed the problem based on the data source from magazines to find the diference between men and women languages. However, the analysis of the data focused more in the women language than men language since the genre of the magazineschose of the data source are women magazines. The magazinesare generally read by women. As the result, most of the language and utterance used in the magazinesare devoted to female.

Lakoff (1975) stated that women’s language makes more frequent use of emotionally intensive adverbs such as so, terribly, awfully, and quite. Women also tend to speak with the reference to the rules of politeness, conversational implicature, and

interpersonal explorations. She describes about some functions of women’s linguistic features and also stated about the linguistic features of women’s speech such as: lexical hedges or fillers, tag question, rising intonation in declaratives, empty adjectives, precise color terms, intensifier such as so and just hypercorrect’ grammar, super polite form, avoidance of strong swears words and, emphatic stress. These features are listed below:

1. Hedges

Hedging devices reflect lack of confidence and uncertainty. The use of these devices is to convince the addressee to pay attention on what the speakers say.

2. Super Polite Form

Women are supposed to speak more politely than men. This is related to the hypercorrect in grammar. They are expected to particularly careful to say please, thank you, and to uphold the other social conventions. A woman who fails at these tasks is in more trouble than a man who does so. Example: you know, sort of, well, you see

3. Tag Questions

A tag question is applied when the speaker is stating a claim, but lacks of confidence in truth of claim. It decreases the strength of assertions. Several studies confirmed that English speakers assume a connection between tag question and female linguistic usage. (O'Barrand Atkins 1980 as cited in Coates, 1986: 104).

4. Speaking in italics or intensive adverbs

Intensive adverbs can be used to strengthen an assertion. It is also used to hedge on one's feelings as well as to show strong emotions.

5. Empty adjectives

The used of empty adjectives is to show the speaker's approbation or admiration for something. There are group of adjectives which have, besides their specific and literal meanings, another use, that of indicating the speaker's approbation or admiration for something. Some

these adjectives are neutral as to sex of the speaker, either men or women may use them.

6. Hypercorrect Grammar

Hypercorrect grammar is related to politeness in utterances and the aloofness of the relationship between the speaker and the addressee. Women are not supposed to talk rough.

7. Special vocabularies

The used of precise color term because it is related to their specific interest Women use the precise color term to show that she is good in their own field. Women used the precise color term because it is related to their specific interest, so that women use the precise color term to show that she is good in her own field.

8. Question Intonation in Declarative Context

Rising or question intonation in declarative is used when the speaker is seeking for confirmation for confirmation though at the same time the speaker may be the only one who has the requisite information. There is peculiar sentence intonation pattern among women, found in English, which has the form of a declarative answer to a question, and it used as such, but has the rising inflection typical of a yes-no question, as well as being especially hesitant.

9. Direct Quotations

Women tend to directly quoting somebody else's statement. This is due to the lack of confidence and the avoidance of making greater mistake. It also reflects hesitance.

Coates (2003:87) investigated a group of men and found out that there are several stereotypes in men's language.

1. Stereotypically masculine topics; which released as trivial topics such as nutrition, fashion and relationship.
2. Men only. In men's conversation, there would be only men only who would be the topic of discussion, whether the story of his success or his failure.
3. Great attention on details. The men have a propensity to pay attention on details in their conversation.
4. Elaborate use of taboo words. The men swear more than women and use more taboo words are widespread. It is heard that masculine to use taboo words.

Dialog 1:

Oz	: To calm a throne? You mean, like a king’s throne?
Theodora	: Well, yes, because you will be our king?
Oz	: Your king?
Oz	: Like in a palace with a crown and scepter?
Theodora	: Yes, a beautiful scepter and a grand palace. And you will save all the people.

The first example of hedge is the word well in the sentenceWell, yes,because you will be our king?Theodora used this word to show her uncertainty to the hearer’s (Oz) answer to whom she called aking.The hedges well used intensively in the dialogue both by male and female speakers. Those can be found on the third, sixth, and fourth scenes. Dialog 2:

Evanora	: Thanks goodness. Knuck will show you to your chambers and the...
Evanora	: We can chat more later.
Oz	: Can’t wait.
Oz	: Monkey, my bag.
Finely	: Yes, wizard. Right away, oh great and powerful one.
Oz	: Thank you, sour puss.

Super polite form was found in the word thanks goodness that spoken by Evanora. This form was said by Evanora to show her politenesssince she rwspected the hearer (Oz).

Dialog 3:

Theodora	: You’re the wicked one! Not Glinda.
Theodora	: Sister, you lied to me.
Evanora	: It’s nice, isn’t it? How clear everything become.
Theodora	: What is happening to me?
Evanora	: it’s just your heart withering away. Fear not, Theodora. Soon you will feel nothing at all, except beautiful wickedness

Theodora : Yes. There’s more gold than you could ever imagine. And Oz will now be what it once was. Because you are the wizard, aren’t you?

The two female speakers discussed about the truth of something. Evanora askedfor agreement from Theodora by saying the tag question in the end of his speaking. The data is the sentence it is nice, isn’t it?whichcan be found in the fifth scene, in the dialogue between Theodora and Evanora. Evanora described her feeling of something to Theodora by emphasizing the circumstance of the thing. From this analyzed data, there are variety forms of question tag found in the data source. Most of the question tag were used to ask for agreement of an opinion to avoid conflict.

Dialog 4:

Theodora : I’ve cried for so long. I live a lonely life, then you showed up. Not only are you the wizard, but you’re the person I belong with.

Oz : Well, we sure get along and uh…

Evanora : I do so hope you like it, because I’ve been personally watching

over it, awaiting your arrival.

Oz : Oh, much obliged.

Theodora used the device for emphasizing that she had been in a sorrow for a long time until Oz came to her life and changed everything to make her happy. Modifier, such asso, truly, and very, are called intensifiers. Traditionally classed as adverbs, intensifiers are used to modify adjectives and adverb by adding force or emphasis, but they do not usually modify verbs. In the sentence above, it was used tomodify the adverb long.

Dialog 5:

Annie : That was wonderful show.

Oz : Oh, don’t tell me you watched that debacle?

Annie : I don’t why you didn’t just that poor girl the truth

The adjective wonderful was added to the noun show which means that Annie admired about Oz’s performance. The word pretty face is a reflection of the Evanora’s feeling who admiredabout the hearer. The empty adjective is pretty. Evanoraused this word when she spoke toGlinda.

Dialog 6:

Evanora	: Oh, praise be. You are here at last, and the prophecy shall be fulfilled. Oh, this is a glorious day for us all. And may I add, you’re as handsome a king we’ve ever had.”
Oz	: Flatterer. Who is this fetching woman?

. The hypercorrect grammar were applied in thoses sentencesto describe the different status or level between the speaker and the addressed. Evanora, in the first conversation,played a lower status than Oz. The difference of gender also influenced the useof hypercorrect grammar.

Dialog 7:

Knuck :	Theodora, we’ve been expecting you. I shall blow aq fanfare.
Theodora	: No, no, no! No! Not now! This is the wizard
Oz	: How do you do, sir?
Knuck	: This is the wizard
Oz	: is there a problem?
Knuck	: Yeah.
Knuck	: All hail the wizard

The term wizard is related with special vocabularies which cannot be used by all people because the word wizardhas different context and situation meaning. Itrefers to someone profession. The use of words wicked witched in the fifth scene refers to a cruel woman with a supernatural power.This special vocabulary was used to describe the feeling of dislike. To describe a specific thing, women used the wordswicked witch. Dialog 8:

Theodora : Isn’t he wonderful? Didn’t I say he would come?

Evanora : You dare escort that oaf in here and …and allow climb on the

hallowed throne!”

The speaker said Isn’t he wonderful? Didn’t I say he would come? to represent the speaker’s question which consisted an essential information inside of it. The data was found in the ninth scene. Evanora asked a question which need to be answered from Theodora. The speaker (Evanora ) truly knew more about what she asked about and the speaker seeked for the confirmation.

Dialog 9:

Theodora : May I have this dance?

In the conversation above, Theodora used the direct quotations based on Oz’s statement when they met for the first time, she repeated the word May I have this dance? to make Oz remembered about her when she turned from a beautiful witch into a green-skinned witch.

Dialog 10:

Oz : Tinkers, gather round!

Master Tinker : Quickly now!

Oz : This is what you’re gonna build. Where I come from, this is

called a praxinoscope. Although I’ve made a few modifications.

The conversation above was a conversation between Oz and Master Tinker. They both were men and they discussed about modern technology at that time such as praxinoscope. According to the background of the story, it was set in 1905 when Oz considered Thomas Alva Edison as a great man in founding a modern technology in his era. Oz considered himself as genius as Thomas Alva Edison with his invention in The Emerald City which was unreachable by modern technology in Kansas where Oz was living. The conversation was found the twelveth scene. This data was found in the chapter eleven.

Dialog 11:

O: Alright, here’s your cut. For you, the applause will be approbation enough. (May looks pleased, Frank looks at Oz holding out his hand with the two coins Oz gave him) Well, how do you think I feel? Man of my talents, I should be playing the Orpheum Circuit instead of some dusty Podunk! My second hand jacket falling apart the seams! (Oz puts on the jacket that Frank is holding out for him) You’re gonna have to patch this again.

The conversation above was a conversation between Oz and Frank, both were men and they were jabbering each other, it seemed to be a natural conversation between men. Although there was May (woman character) arround them, they seemed to ignore the presence of May in their talk.

Men usually have their propensity to pay attention on details in their masculine talk. Below are the expressions of great attention on details found in the dialogue: Dialog 12:

Glinda : What is it?

Oz : A battle plan,

Oz : It’s all in there. Illusion, misdirects, slight of hand. Look, I know

I’m not the wizard that you were expecting, but I might just be the wizard that you need.

Glinda : You said you were just a con man.

Oz : Precisely.

Glinda : Nothing but a trickster?

Oz : Yes.

Glinda : A terrible cheat?

Oz : The best there is.

Glinda : Carnival magician’s going to put on a show.

Men use more taboo and swear words than women. These words seem to be created for men to use and only men. It seems to be real masculine when the men use taboo words in their talk.

Dialog 13:

Oz : Who!

Clown : He’s out here!

Strong Man : I’m gonna crush you up! I’m gonna crush you up! Oz, where are you going?

There were some maxims that used in the conversation. This maxim refers to the special lexical choices and good attitude in speaking. The politeness in the conversation will effect to the respond of the hearing. The hearing and the condition of the conversation affected the politeness maxim spoken by the speaker. Related to the theories of Leech, there are some classifications of politeness maxims used by human in their communication. There are six kinds of politeness maxims found in the primary data, Oz the Great and Powerful, which was published on 2013 in fourteen scenes.

CONCLUSSION

In terms of the use of hedging devices, the linguistics features of language used by men and women in Oz the Great and Powerful: Movie Script are that many expressions used to show lack of confidence about something. The hedges were used intensively by

both men and women. However, women spoke more polite languages than men. Politeness was used to make the hearer believed about what she was saying. Politeness also used in women languages to reduce friction in personal interaction. There are two forms of politeness used by women in their languages, those are the politeness which shows the feeling of certainty of the speaker and the politeness which shows that the speaker respected the hearer.

There are variety forms of question tag found in the data source. Most of the question tag were used to ask for agreement of an opinion to avoid conflict. Questions tag was mainly used by women in their languages as well as the use of intensive adverbs. Intensive adverbs were used to show strong emotion or assertation.

Empty adjective is another language devices used in Oz the Great and Powerful: Movie Script. There were many empty adjectives in the dialogue. Empty adjectives were used to soften element to the sentence and to show approbation of something. The China Girl used many of empty adjectives which reflects that this device was mainly used by women.

Some linguistics features of men’s languages were very different compare to women’s languages. Men were frequently used stereotypical masculine topic, have great attention in details, and elaborate the use of taboo words.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Coates,Jennifer.1986.”Women, Men, Language”, UK: Longman Group Limited

Holmes .1992.An Introduction to Sosiolinguistic.Oxford:Blackwell

Holmes, Janet. 1984. ”Wome’s Language : A Functional Approach”. General Linguistic 24/3 : 149-178

Hudson.1967 (Citied in Wardaughh,1986).Social Research.632-647.

Lakoff, Robin. 1975.Language and women’s Place. New York.

Leech ,Geofrhy. 1983. “The Principle of Pragmatic”. London : Longman University

Lorbett, Greville G. 1991. Gender. New york : Cambridge University

Trianasari, Eva Ni Nyoman. 2007. “The Analysis of Women and Men’s Written Language in Women and Men Magazine (Thesis)”. Denpasar:Udayana University

Yasa, KadekKertaRusmana. 2010. “The Analysis of Men’s and Women’s Language in the Movie Script of Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling”. Denpasar: Udayana University

Yuliani.2007. “The Analysis of Distinction between Men and Women’s Language With Reference to Interview Article in Cosmopolitan and Esquire Magazine”

Wardough, R. 1986. An Introduction Sosiolinguistic.London:Longman

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THE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S LINGUISTIC FEATURES IN OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL MOVIE SCRIPT

THE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S LINGUISTIC FEATURES IN OZ THE GREATAND POWERFUL MOVIE SCRIPT