46 Stark and Pepper Potts, the ones who had bigger roles in applying it, flouted this
maxim to implied statements to for the others.
Table 4.5: Utterances Based on Maxim of Manner Produced by the Characters
Character Maxim of Manner
Tony Stark 18 times
Pepper Potts 5 times
Colonel 1 times
Obadiah 1 times
J.A.R.V.I.S -
TOTAL 25
Based on the data in Table 4.5, utterances based on maxim of manner was the third most applied maxim among the characters of Iron Man movie. The total
number of their utterances concerning the strategy was twenty five. Tony Stark still showed the most utterance than the other character, it was eighteen. Pepper
Potts was the second who uttered it in five times, followed by Colonel and Obadiah who flouted the maxim of manner in one time.
B. The Speech Acts Used in Speaking by the Characters in Iron Man Movie
This section discusses the speech acts used in speaking by the characters based on the theory proposed by Searle. According to Searle 1987, speech of
acts is the expression that uttered by the speaker to show the three things, it is namely an act of saying something, act of doing something, and act of affecting
someone p. 54. It was adopted from Austin and the terms are locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.
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1. Locutionary Acts
Locutionary act is saying something the locution with a certain meaning in traditional sense Searle, 1987. This may not constitute a speech act. Two
types of locutionary act are utterance acts, where something is said or a sound is made and which may not have any meaning, and propositional acts, where a
particular reference is made. The utterances used by the characters in this movie contain some literal
meaning from the conversation. It is not only about the maxim but it is about the meaning of the sentence which uttered. This part will show the literal meaning
from the sentence that related to the utterances. It was started when Colonel and Tony Stark did the conversation in a plane. Colonel employed the locutionary to
make Tony Stark understand what he felt because he was angry. It showed how Colonel assimilated the context of situation. He was patience and uttered “Im just
your babysitter” . It could be perceived as its literal meaning from Colonel
because babysitter is someone who takes care of baby or child but Tony Stark is not baby or child. He just implied that he was a partner who just helped in any
situation. Besides, Colonel not only uttered the locutionary in one way to show that he was really mad to Tony Stark. This expression had also implied another
meaning of speech act. “Im indifferent
”
notice how Colonel did not respond to Tony Starks question by saying, Yes, I am really mad now because you are late
to come” what he actually said. It is the way to talk from Colonel to respond the statement from Tony Stark because the way he produces an utterance has another
meaning what he says literally.
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2. Illocutionary Act
In this part of speech acts show the relation with the locutionary which is about the addressee understand what the speaker means in the conversation. In the
illocutionary there were some categories which needed to be a standard in determining the utterances related to speech act. For instance, act of stating,
apologizing, predicting, ordering, complaining, refusing, and requesting. Based on the movie which has been analyzed, there were some expressions by the
characters uttered the illocutionary act which implied another meaning. It happened in Tony Stark’s house, when he prepared to war with Obadiah. It was
the first time for Colonel knew that Tony Stark was Iron Man and made him surprised. Colonel uttered “You need me to do anything else?” it was responded
by Tony Stark “Keep the skies clear”. The statement from Tony Stark was the utterance related to illocutionary especially the act of ordering something. Tony
Stark just wanted him to monitor the situation in the air so that his soldiers did not attack when he took off into the air. Another example from Tony Stark when he
prepared the suit of war with J.A.R.V.I.S, he was designing commencing automated assembly especially for the estimated completion time is five hours.
Illocutionary was shown by Tony Stark when he requested him by saying that “Dont wait up for me, honey”. The simple utterance was the one thing could be an
order to make the suit of war quickly before he back home again because five hours is a long time for him.
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3. Perlocutionary Act
A perlocutionary act is the speech acts that have an effect on the feelings, thoughts or actions of either the speaker or the listener. In daily activities
especially in the conversations perlocutionary acts is used as the tools to push the addressee to do something by using the language. For instance, it contains acts of
persuading, inspiring, intimidating, and embarrassing as stated by Searle 1987. It started when Tony Stark go to the airport for the flight but Colonel almost for
three hours waiting him. Colonel complained to him, he just cut the conversation and uttered “Wheels up Rock and roll.” That utterance especially the way of
communicating which persuaded by Tony Stark is a language to utter something to Colonel and he needed to do what Tony Stark was urging at that time. Another
example from the utterance related to perlocutionary acts is “I know the math Do It. The utterance is stated by Tony Stark when they were trying the suit of war
with J.A.R.V.I.S. J.A.R.V.I.S wanted to upgrade the armor but only 15 power of reaching it. It seen Tony Stark persuaded J.A.R.V.I.S by using the language as a
motivation or a tool to be responded by J.A.R.V.I.S. He showed the acts of persuading twice when he created the suit of war. Additionally, another
perlocutionary acts of inspiring is “J.A.R.V.I.S Sometimes you got to run before you can walk.”
The expectations came from Tony Stark when he gave the statement to J.A.R.V.I.S because he felt doubtful in running the Iron Man with
Tony Stark. The way the characters by using the language to utter something that had another meaning to focus on what the speaker expected.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS
This part consists of conclusions,
implications, and suggestions. Conclusions aim to sum up the result especially the data and the research finding.
Implications are in reference to the involvement of the study in education. Suggestions are given by the writer for future researchers and language learners to
conduct further studies on the similar topic.
A. Conclusions
This research deals with the use of maxims of conversation and speech acts in Iron Man movie. This study specifically aims at revealing two research
findings. The discussion focuses on the maxims of conversation and the speech acts in speaking by the characters in their utterances. The writer employed the
theory of Grice’s maxim of conversation 1989 to find out the utterances based on five characters – Tony Stark, Lt. Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Obadiah,
Pepper Potts, and J.A.R.V.I.S for the first research problem. The theory of Searle 1987 focuses on the speech acts used in speaking by the characters. This theory
was included to solve the second research problem. In this study of the utterances based on maxims of conversation, there are
five characters who flouted four maxims of conversation, namely maxim of quality, maxim of quantity, maxim of relevance, and maxim of manner. The
frequency of their occurrences, however, indicated maxim of relevance was
