Directive Function of Utterance Used in Bowden’s Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
on
ISSN: 2302-920X
Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud
2017: Vol 19.1 Mei 2017: 206-214
Directive Function of Utterance Used in Bowden’s Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Made Ayu Sobhita Sistasari1*, Ida Bagus Putra Yadnya2, I Gusti Ayu Gde Sosiowati3
[123]English Department, Faculty of Arts, Udayana University 1[e-mail: sobhitasistasari@gmail.com] 2[e-mail: putrayadnya@yahoo.com] 3[email:sosiowati@yahoo.com] *
Corresponding Author
Abstrak
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi tipe dan fungsi dari tindak tutur direktif serta strategi kesopanan yang digunakan untuk mengekspresikan ujaran tersebut. Penelitian ini fokus pada ujaran tokoh utama dan lawan bicaranya. Data diambil dari novel berjudul Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood oleh Bowden (2010). Jenis penelitian ini adalah studi pustaka. Data dikumpul melalui teknik membaca dan mencatat. Data yang terkumpul dianalisis secara kualitatif dan deskriptif. Teori yang digunakan untuk menganalisis data adalah teori oleh Bach dan Harnish (1979), dan teori Kesopanan oleh Brown dan Levinson (1987). Penjelasan tentang perbedaan antara requestive, requirement, dan advisories oleh Vine (2004) juga digunakan untuk mendukung hasil analisis. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa tipe tindak tutur direktif yang ditemukan adalah requestives, questions, requirements, prohibitives, permissives, dan advisories. Strategi kesopanan yang digunakan untuk mengekspresikan ujaran adalah strategi bald-on-record, strategi kesopanan positif, dan strategi kesopanan negatif.
Kata kunci: Fungsi, Tindak tutur direktif, Kesopanan
Pragmatics is related to the study of meaning as communicated by speaker (or writer) and interpreted by the listener (or reader). It necessarily involves the interpretation of what people mean in a particular context and how the context influences what is said. According to (Yule, 1996: 3), language also has specific functions in conveying the meaning delivered, generally the functions of language, such as requesting, giving impression, asking for and many others. According to Leech (1981: 40), language has five functions; they are informational in which everyone tends to assume that it is the most important, expressive function which is used to express the speaker’s feeling, directive function is used to influence the behavior or attitudes of others, phatic which is to keep communication lines open and good social relationship, and aesthetic function which can be defined as ‘the use of language for the sake of the linguistic artifact itself and for no ulterior purpose’.
Directive illocutionary act is a kind of speech act in which speakers make somebody do something, and express their intention to others and ask them to do what speakers say. This kind of speech act is often found in our daily communication, it could be direct or indirect speech act. Directive function is a function of directive illocutionary act; it can be stated as a function of language that influences somebody’s behavior to doing something. This term explains what the functions of utterances of directive illocutionary act are. Many linguists have classified specifically what the functions of directive illocutionary acts are. The common examples of directive function are commanding, requesting, asking, and agreeing to something.
This study analyzed the directive function of utterance as well as the politeness used in “Assassin’s Creed ‘Brotherhood’” by Bowden (2010). This topic was chosen since the theories used to analyze the object are relevant; this theory is also rarely used in the other pragmatic studies. Empirically, directive function of utterance is part of language in our daily life conversation both in family or society environment, thus this topic is appropriate to be analyzed. Practically, the topic of this analysis is interesting. The “Assassin’s Creed ‘Brotherhood’” by Bowden (2010) was chosen since the language used in this novel is easy to understand, has a good range of dictions which means that there are no dirty word usage as well as the use of third point of view, which makes the reader understand more about the addressed characters.
Based on the background stated above, the problems discussed in this study can be formulated as follows:
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1. What types and functions of directive illocutionary acts are found in the novel Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood?
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2. What types of politeness strategies and sub-strategies are used to soften the directive illocutionary acts in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood?
Based on the problems mentioned, the aims of this study can be formulated to be as follows:
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1. To identify the types and functions of directive acts found in this novel.
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2. To explain the politeness strategies and sub-strategies used to soften the directive acts in this novel.
There are three aspects of the research methodused in this study, namely data source, method and technique of collecting data, and method and technique of analyzing data.
The data were taken from the novel entitled “Assassin’s Creed ‘Brotherhood’” by Bowden (2010). The language used in this novel is easy to understand and simple, with good diction which means that there are no dirty words used within the data. This novel is adopted from video games by Ubisoft entitled “Assassin’s Creed”; which is about history and assassination in Italy on Renaissance era. The novel was firstly published in 2010 by ACE Book, Penguin books.
The data were collected using the note taking technique. First, the novel was read carefully. Second, the utterances which consist of directive act were noted down in the form of conversation said by Ezio Auditore Da Firenze and his interlocutors as the quotation.
The collected data were qualitatively and descriptively analyzed based on the theory proposed by Bach and Harnish (1979); in addition, the explanation about differences among requests, requirement, and advisories by Vine (2004) was also used to support the data analysis. Then, the type of politeness used is based on the theory of politeness by Brown and Levinson (1987). The analysis was also controlled by using the triangulation technique. First, the data were checked one by one by reading carefully. The second was that the data were rechecked by comparing the notes and the novel to obtain right utterances and situation. Third, the data were crosschecked by observing the other source; in this point, the game Assassin’s Creed particularly Brotherhood series was used to support the source to obtain the same situation and utterances.
There were seven examples of this research; each example was typed in bold and has two points analysis. The first point (a) is the analysis of directive act and function, the second (b) is the analysis of type of politeness strategies. The analysis can be presented as follows:
(Datum 1) “I am sorry friend,” said Ezio, releasing the hidden blade.
“What? No! No!” the agent jabbered. “Look, take the money! It’s yours! It’s yours! (Bowden: 263)
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a. The utterance “Look, take the money! It’s yours! It’s yours!” said by the agent is the requesting type of directive act. It can be seen from the function of utterance which is to implore; it is a kind of asking strongly. In this situation, the agent implored to take the money to Ezio, when he saw Ezio releasing the hidden blade and tried to kill him, since the agent was in great desperation of being murdered by Ezio, thus strongly asking Ezio to take the money in order to be released by Ezio.
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b. The politeness strategy used to soften the utterance is bald on record substrategy 2: metaphorical urgency of emphasis. It can be seen from word “Look,” in which the S emphasizes something to the H in order to make H pay attention and listen to him. The thing emphasized by the agent is “Look, take the money! It’s yours! It’s yours!”
(Datum 2) “I will come when I can,” said Ezio. “Give her my love; ask her to forgive my neglect.”
“She understands the work you have to do. She knows that you do it not only for the good of us all, but for the sake of our departed kinsmen.” said Claudia. (Bowden 419)
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a. The utterance “Give her my love; ask her to forgive my neglect.” is said by Ezio, which is the requestive type of directive act. It can be seen from the function of the utterance that is begging. The S expresses his desire that the hearer does something as what he wants. In the situation, Ezio begged Claudia to deliver his message to their mother; he also wanted Claudia to ask their mother to forgive Ezio for what had
happened to them. Besides, he wanted his sister to deliver his love to his mother which means he really loved her.
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b. The utterance “Give her my love; ask her to forgive my neglect.” The S uses negative politeness sub-strategy: apologizing. The S conveys his guilty to the H. In this situation, Ezio wanted his sister, Claudia to ask his mother to forgive him. In this context, it means that Ezio apologizes something that has happened to his mother by saying the message to Claudia.
(Datum 3) “Not here, you won’t friend. On your way.” he pointed back in the direction they’d come from. said the sergeant
“Isn’t it allowed? askedEzio.
“No”
“Why not?” asked Ezio (Bowden 114)
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a. The utterance “why not?” is categorized as the question type of directive act. The function is to inquire something. It can be seen from the utterance that Ezio asked the sergeant why it could not be possible to go back to the direction they had come from. In this situation, the S asks something to the H who thinks that he has the answer of the S’s question. The S inquires the truth why the way that is passed is not allowed.
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b. The type of politeness used to soften utterance “why not?” uttered by Ezio is the positive politeness sub-strategy: give (or ask for reason). It can be seen from the utterance expressed by the words “why not”, meaning that S asks the reason why something is being impossible. The S also needs a reason to make the S have a good feeling about him. In this situation, Ezio asked the sergeant the reason why something he asks is not allowed in their trip to get horses during in Rome.
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5.3 Requirement
(Datum 4) “Look. Let’s take them on first. You go and command the cannon on the ramparts.” said Mario
“And you?” Ezio asked
“I’ll lead a frontal assault. Take the battle to the bastards” (Bowden 59)
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a. The utterance “look. Let’s take them on first. You go and command the cannon on the ramparts” uttered by Mario is the requirement type of directive act. It can be seen from the function of the utterance which is to charge the H or Ezio to do
something. In this situation, Mario charges Ezio to go and give the command the cannon against the enemy. The S gives the H’s responsibility for taking an appropriate action with the S’s intention.
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b. In the utterance “look. Let’s take them on first. You go and command the cannon on the ramparts”, the type of politeness used to soften is bald on record substrategy 2: metaphorical urgency for emphasis. The S gives emphasis to the H. It can be seen from the word “look” said by Mario, which means that there is something important that makes Ezio have to pay attention to the way of rescuing the people in the town and commanding the cannon for the next action. The thing that is asserted by the S is “let’s take them on first. You go and command the cannon on the rampart” which should be done by H.
(Datum 5) “Hurry!Ezio urged the citizens. “Don’t panic! Be quick but don’t run! We don’t want a stampede in the tunnel.”
“And what of us? What of Mario? aked his mother.
“Mario—how can I tell you this?—Mario has been killed. I want you and Claudia to make your way home to Florence.” (Bowden 80)
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a. The utterances “don’t panic! Be quick but don’t run!” is categorized as the prohibitive type of directive act. The function is restricting the H. In this term the S stops H from moving freely. In this situation, Ezio asks people to keep calm and hurry but they should not run to escape from the town before the other attack comes. In this context, there is something that is limited; Ezio asks people to move quickly, however, at the same time he also limits people’s movement by saying “Be quick but don’t run!” which emphasizes people to be quick but not run.
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b. The type of politeness used to soften the utterance is bald on the record substrategy 1: maximum efficiency. It can be seen on the utterance “don’t panic! Be quick but don’t run!” where the S says something in urgent situation until when he should communicate with maximum efficiency. In the situation, Ezio says the utterance since he and other people in town are in attack of the armies of enemy, thus they are in great urgency situation. Previously, Ezio has urged the people to be hurry that can be seen in the conversation. Then, he warns again the people to be quick and be quiet. Besides, the
S also gives his care to the H by the utterance “we don’t want a stampede in the tunnel” that shows that the S does not want more victims caused by the attack.
(Datum 6) “I want to know where Cesare’s banker is. Where he works.Where he lives. And most of all, who he is.” said Ezio
“Right! I need to arrive with the money,” said Egidio. “Problem is, I have none.” (Bowden 254)
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a. The bold sentence above is an utterance that contains the permissive type of directive act. It can be seen from the function of the utterance that is to grant something. In the situation, Ezio asks Egidio to find out about Cesare’s life, work, banker, and who the actual him is. At the same time, Egidio grants Ezio’s intention to find out his enemy. The utterance “Right! I need to arrive with the money” said by Egidio shows that he agrees with what Ezio asked for and is able to seek the information.
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b. The utterance “right!i need to arrive with the money” uses the positive politeness as the politeness strategy to soften the utterance, particularly the positive politeness sub-strategy: assume or assert reciprocity. It can be seen from the meaning of the utterance said by Egidio that means that he is able to cooperate with Ezio, yet there is the condition so both sides (S and H) can get advantage in the cooperation. In this situation, Egidio asks for money to Ezio as the form of cooperation.
(Datum 7) “Just tell me how I may find them.”
“I suggest looking for signs of distress within any given city district. Visit the people there. Perhaps you’ll uncover citizens who can point you in the right direction.” Machiavelli considered.
“Did you get this information from a Borgia official?” asked Ezio.
“Yes” said Machiavelli carefully. (Bowden: 190)
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a. The bold sentence in the utterance above could be categorized as the advisory type of the directive act. It can be seen from the function of utterance, that is, to suggest. The S tells somebody to do something. In this situation, Machiavelli suggests Ezio to find the Borgia by looking for sign and asking people there to point the right direction after Ezio asks him how he can find them.
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b. The type of politeness strategy used to soften the utterance “I suggest looking for signs of distress within any given city district. Visit the people there. Perhaps you’ll uncover citizens who can point you in the right direction.” said by Machiavelli is the positive politeness strategy sub-strategy: giving gift to H. in this situation, Machiavelli (S) gives gift in the form of cooperation with Ezio (H) by answering what has been asked by H who says the utterance after he is asked by Ezio how he can find the Borgia.
From those examples, all types of the directive act were found in the novel Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood they are: requestive, question, requirement, prohibitive, permissive, and advisories. The found utterances have different functions. As the second conclusion; types of the politeness strategy used to express the entire utterances said by the characters of novel were the bald-on-record strategy, the positive politeness strategy, and the negative politeness strategy. Most politeness strategies used to soften the utterance by the character in the novel is bald-on-record since this type of politeness involves the speakers who have close relationship. Mostly, the characters in the novel are relatives or close friends.
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