“Congratulations” in the conversation above are the examples of expressive illocutionary act which have the illocutionary forces of apologizing to someone and
congratulating someone. Expressive forces can be present in many forms, such as thanking, apologizing,
complimenting, congratulating, hoping, greeting, or joking. The language features that indicate expressive acts are verbs such as apologize, congratulate, thank,
compliment, deplore, condole, and welcome.
4 Directive
Mey 1993: 164 asserts that directive act embodies an effort on the part of the speaker to ‘direct’ the hearer towards some goal of the speaker, mostly. According
to Yule 1996: 53, directive act is the type of speech act that the speakers use to get someone else to do something. They express the speaker’s desire or wish for the
addressee to do something. Directive act contains what the speaker wants. By using directive act, the speaker attempts to adapt the world into the uttered words. The
examples of directive illocutionary act are presented below. a
Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black. b
Could you lend me a pen, please? Yule, 1996: 54
The examples above are the utterances which involve the performance of directive illocutionary acts. The first example is a directive illocutionary act in the
form of ordering while the second example is a directive illocutionary act in the form
of requesting. The speakers of the utterances attempt to make the world fit the word via the hearers.
Directive forces can be present in many forms, such as requesting, suggesting, commanding, asking, begging, warning, or advising. The language features that
indicate directive acts are verbs such as request, ask, order, command, solicit, incite, invite, beg, suggest, advise, recommend, supplicate, entreat, and pray.
5 Commissive
Commissive act refers to speech act that commits the speaker to do something in the future such as promising, offering, threatening, refusing, vowing, and
volunteering. Yule 1996: 54 states that commissive act is the type of speech acts that the speakers use to commit themselves to some future action. They express the
speaker’s intention and can be performed by the speaker alone or by the speaker as a member of a group. The examples of commissive illocutionary act are presented
below. a
I’m going to get it right next time. b
I’ll be back. Yule, 1996: 54
The content of commissive act has something to do with a future and possible action of the speaker. The modal ‘will’ or to be going to in certain rules, contexts
and situation signifies a promise in which it is considered as commissive act. In the examples above, the speaker in the first example performs a commissive illocutionary
act of predicting in which he or she predicts that he or she is going to get a thing right
next time. Meanwhile the speaker of the utterance in the second example performs a commissive illocutionary act in the form of promising that he or she will be back at
certain time in the future. Commissive forces can be performed in many forms, such as offering, promising,
threatening, betting, denying, or refusing. The language features that indicate commissive acts are verbs such as commit, promise, threaten, accept, pledge, vow,
consent, covenant, and guarantee.
d. The Functions of Illocutionary Act
Illocutionary act is central to linguistic communication. When saying something, the illocutionary act that a speaker produces actually has functions. According to
Leech 1983: 104, there are certain functions of illocutionary act and he divides them into four social functions as listed below.
1 Competitive
This illocutionary goal competes with the social goal. This function is intended for showing politeness in the form of negative parameter. The point is to reduce the
discord implicit in the competition between what the speaker wants to achieve and what is ‘good manner’. The examples of this goal are ordering, asking, demanding,
and begging. Competitive goals are those which are essentially discourteous, such as getting someone to lend his or her money.
2 Convivial
This illocutionary goal coincides with the social goal. On the contrary with the previous category, the convivial type is intrinsically courteous. It means that
politeness here is in the positive form of seeking opportunity for comity. As an example, if someone has the opportunity to congratulate his or her friend on his
birthday, he or she should do so. The examples of this goal are offering, inviting, greeting, thanking, and congratulating.
3 Collaborative
This illocutionary goal is indifferent with the social goal. In this illocutionary function, both politeness and impoliteness are relevant. This function commits the
speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition. It can be found in most of written discourse. The examples of this goal are asserting, reporting, announcing, and
instructing.
4 Conflictive
This illocutionary goal conflicts with the social goal. Similar to the collaborative function, politeness does not need to be questioned as the terms in this illocutionary
function are used to cause offence or hurt the feeling of the hearer. The examples of conflictive function are threatening, accusing, cursing, and reprimanding.
5. Movie
a. The Definitions of Movie
A movie can be regarded as a representation of a real life. A movie or a film is defined as a series of moving pictures recorded with sounds that tells a story, shown
on television or at the cinemamovie theater Hornby, 2000: 496. A movie is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera, drawings or miniature
models using traditional animation, or a combination of some or all of these
techniques and other visual effects. To analyze a movie, one has to understand its elements. Some elements of a movie are listed below.
1 Scene: A section of a movie or film usually made up of a number of shots, which
is unified by time, setting, character, etc. 2
Plot: The unified structure of incidents in a movie or film. 3
Character: An imaginary person in a movie or film. 4
Point of view: The angle of vision from which a story is narrated.
b. The Back-up Plan
The Back-up Plan , previously known as Plan B, is a 2010 romantic comedy film
directed by Alan Poul, starring Jennifer Lopez and Alex OLoughlin. It was released theatrically in the U.S. on April 23, 2010, and later in other regions.
Picture 1. The Back-up Plan Movie DVD Poster
The genre of this movie is the combination of romance and comedy that explores dating, love, marriage, and family life. After many years of dating, Zoe had decided
that waiting for the right man takes too long time. Determined to become a mother, she was inseminated to get a baby. She made an appointment and decided to go
through the insemination alone. That same day, Zoe met Stan, a man who captivated her heart. Zoe never expected that she would meet a guy and fall in love with him.
Unfortunately, Zoe got pregnant when her relationship with Stan was doing well. She became complicated on how she should explain everything to Stan. Stan finally
figured out that she was pregnant with twins. He assured Zoe that everything would be okay even though they were going to be parents for twins.
However, things did not go well as planned. Stan incidentally revealed to the public that the babies were not his and it made Zoe angry and left. As time went by,
both Stan and Zoe realized that they could not live separately from each other. They finally reunited right at the time Zoe was in labor. Stan accompanied her during the
birth delivery, promised to be on her side since then and become a good father for the babies.
The Back-up Plan movie tells about how a woman deals with donor insemination
to get a baby. In the movie, donor insemination is featured in the storyline as a way for a woman who does not want a marriage could still have a child. According to
American Pregnancy Association APA, donor insemination is legal in the United States. In December 2014, Fox News reported that the government of the United
States brokered a deal to help a wife of a Cuban spy become pregnant through artificial insemination. This shows that this process is one of the ways for women
who want to be mothers and were not able to have child could have hope.
