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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter consists of four parts: literature review, previous studies, conceptual framework, and analytical construct. Literature review provides the relevant theories
while the summary of the previous research is provided in the subtopic of previous studies. Conceptual framework and analytical construct of the research are presented
in the latter part of the chapter.
A. Literature Review
1. Pragmatics
Human communicates with each other through language. The use of language in human’s communication cannot be separated from its context. The study of language
in contextual meaning is called pragmatics. Yule 1996:3 states that pragmatics is concerned with the study of interpreting the meaning of what is being communicated
by a speaker. It deals with the analysis of what people mean by their utterances than what the words or phrases might mean by themselves. Levinson 1983:5 states that
pragmatics is a study of language usage. It is the study of the relation between language and context which are essential to an account of language understanding. In
other words, pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning. Yule 1996: 4 defines pragmatics as the study of the relationship between
linguistic forms and the users of those forms. By studying language via pragmatics, someone is able to identify people’s intended meanings, their purposes or goals, and
the kinds of actions that they are performing when they talk. Furthermore, as the study of hidden meaning which is not actually said or written, pragmatics necessarily
involves interpretation of what people mean in a particular context and how the context influences what is said. It requires the consideration of how speakers organize
what they want to say, whom they are talking to, and the setting and the situation when the talk occurs.
Pragmatics also explores how listeners can make inferences about what is said in order to arrive at an interpretation of the speaker’s intended meaning. This type of
study investigates how the hidden meaning intended by the speaker can be recognized by the hearer. A speaker or writer must be able to depend on their purposes and the
types of action that they are performing. Thus, their intended meaning can be successfully delivered to the hearer.
In brief, pragmatics is the study of language in context. Therefore, based on the description of pragmatics explained above, this research conducts pragmatic study to
reveal the use of illocutionary act by the main characters in a movie entitled The Back-up Plan.
2. Context
A crucial aspect in studying pragmatics is context. According to Nunan 1993: 7, context refers to the situation giving rise to the discourse, and within which the
discourse is embedded. In other words, context is background knowledge that is assumed to be shared by a speaker and a hearer and which contributes to the hearer’s
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