AN ANALYSIS ON REDUCING SPEECH DISORDER OF THE STAMMERING FACED BY PRINCE ALBERT IN “THE KING’S SPEECH’ MOVIE

AN ANALYSIS ON REDUCING SPEECH DISORDER OF THE
STAMMERING FACED BY PRINCE ALBERT IN “THE KING’S
SPEECH’ MOVIE

THESIS

By:
ROKIB NUR IBRAHIM
08360173

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
NOVEMBER 2012

AN ANALYSIS ON REDUCING SPEECH DISORDER OF THE
STAMMERING FACED BY PRINCE ALBERT IN “THE KING’S
SPEECH” MOVIE

THESIS

By:
ROKIB NUR IBRAHIM

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
NOVEMBER 2012

AN ANALYSIS ON REDUCING SPEECH DISORDER OF THE
STAMMERING FACED BY PRINCE ALBERT IN “THE KING’S
SPEECH” MOVIE

THESIS
This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve
Sarjana Degree in English Education

By:
ROKIB NUR IBRAHIM
08360173

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
NOVEMBER 2012
i

i

MOTTO AND DEDICATION

MOTTO

‫ال رحمن ال رح يم‬

‫ب سم ه‬

“ Indeed, Allah will never change the condition of the people until they
change what is in themselves (Ar-Rad: 11) ”

DEDICATION:

I dedicated this thesis to:
My beloved father Hossen and my mother Holipa
My sister Kulsum Supriatin and her husband Eko Purwanto
My sweet niece Alda Dewi Sasmitha
My friends
And my sweet dream

iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, the writer wants to praise and thank to Allah SWT, who have
given him mercy, so that the writer can finish this thesis. Besides, he also wants to
give shalawat and salam for the great prophet Muhammad SAW, who has brought the
light for the dark world.
Gratitude he wants to give to his first advisor Dra. Erly Wahyuni, M.Si.,
second advisor Puji Sumarsono, M.Ed., and his previous first advisor Nura Inayati,
S.E, S.S. that he cannot finish his thesis without their guidance.
The writer also wants to present his love to his mother Holipa, who has
given him her love, mother, who has given him life, mother, who has given him
prayer, and father Hossen, who has rendered his energy for him. Besides, he wants to

thank to his sister Kulsum Supriatin, his brother in law Eko Purwanto, and his
beloved niece Alda Dewi Sasmitha, who always give him support and their love.
Special thanks to all of his friends in G class English Department Fanny,
Decky, Lucky, Eby, Feri, Zaros, Dika, Tyas, Intan, Ima, Rena, Enggar, Surya, Siska,
Ida, Nofi, Dina, Mega, and Hana, and his old friends Rohim and Andik, who always
give their support, advice, knowledge, friendship, and caring for him, may Allah
bless you all, amin.
Malang, November 16, 2012
Writer,

Rokib Nur Ibrahim
vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER ..........................................................................................................

i

APPROVAL .................................................................................................. ii

LEGALIZATION ......................................................................................... iii
MOTTO AND DEDICATION ..................................................................... iv
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................ vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................. vii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study ........................................................................... 1
1.2. Statement of the Problem ......................................................................... 5
1.3. Purpose of the Study ................................................................................ 5
1.4. Significance of the Study........................................................................... 5
1.5. Scope and Limitation ............................................................................... 5
1.6. Definition of the Key Terms ...................................................................... 6

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. Language and The Brain............................................................................ 7
2.1.1. Language ............................................................................................... 7
2.1.2. Brain ...................................................................................................... 10
2.2. Speech Disorder ....................................................................................... 12
2.2.1 Type of Speech Disorder ........................................................................ 13

2.2.2 Common speech disorder ....................................................................... 15
2.2.2.1. Stammering ........................................................................................ 15
2.2.2.2. Dysarthria ........................................................................................... 17
2.2.2.3. Apraxia ............................................................................................... 18
2.2.2.4. Lisps ................................................................................................... 19
2.2.2.5. Spasmodic Dysphonia ........................................................................ 19
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2.3. Methods to Reduce Stammer ....................................................................20
2.3.1. Building up the physical organs .............................................................20
2.3.2. The mental equilibrium ..........................................................................20
2.3.3. Synchronizing and harmonizing mental and physical actions .................21
2.3.4. Listening to Music .................................................................................21
2.3.5. Singing ...................................................................................................22
2.3.6. Pausing ...................................................................................................23

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design ........................................................................................ 26
3.2 Data Source ............................................................................................... 27
3.2 Research Object ......................................................................................... 27

3.3 Research Instrument .................................................................................. 27
3.4 Data Collection ........................................................................................ 28
3.5 Data Analysis .............................................................................................. 29

CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Research Findings ..................................................................................... 30
4.1.1 The method used by Prince Albert in reducing his stammer ...........30
4.1.1.1 Speaking Up With Marbles In ......................................................30
4.1.1.2 Listening to Music ........................................................................31
4.1.1.3 Loosening Jaw ..............................................................................33
4.1.1.4 Body Movement ...........................................................................34
4.1.1.5 Respiration ....................................................................................34
4.1.1.6 Rolling on The Ground .................................................................36
4.1.1.7 Long-word ....................................................................................36
4.1.1.8 Screaming .....................................................................................38
4.1.1.9 Singing ..........................................................................................38
4.1.1.10 Pausing .......................................................................................39
4.1.2 The result of the therapy ................................................................. 41
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4.1.2.1 Sir Blandine-Bentham‟s Therapy ................................................ 41
4.1.2.2 Mr. Lionel Logue‟s Therapies ......................................................41
4.2 Discussion ................................................................................................. 42

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 46
5.2 Suggestion ................................................................................................. 46

REFERENCES
APPENDIXES

ix

REFERENCES
Aitchison, Jean. 2011. The Articulate Mammal; An introduction to psycholinguistics.
Routledge Publisher: United States of America
Ary, Donald et al. 2010. Introduction to Research in Education 8th Edition.
Wadsworth: United States of America
Banich, Marie T. and Mack, Molly. 2003. Mind, Brain, and Language;
Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc: United

Kingdom
Bogue, Benjamin Natael. 2009. Stammering Its Cause and Cure. The Floating Press,
www.thefloatingpress.com
Bowers, Andrew L.. et al. 2010. International Journal of Language &
Communication Disorders VOL. 45, NO. 2, 133–144: Gaze aversion to
stuttered speech: a pilot study investigating differential visual attention to
stuttered and fluent speech. Royal College of Speech & Language
Therapists: http://www.informahealthcare.com
Bricker-Katz, Geraldine et al. 2010. Older people who stutter: barriers to
communication and perceptions of treatment needs. International Journal
of Language & Communication Disorders VOL. 45, NO. 1, 15–30;
http://www.informahealthcare.com
Campble, Don. 2001. The Mozart Effect. HarperCollins e-books
Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA).
2000. Fact Sheet. www.caslpa.ca
Chaer, Abdul. 2009. Psikolinguistik, Kajian teoritik. Publisher Rineka Cipta: Jakarta
Corina, David P. and Knapp, Heather P. 2006. “Psycholinguistic and Neurolinguistic
Perspectives on Sign Languages” in Traxler and Gernsbacher (ed),
Handbook of Psycholinguistics 2nd Edition (p.1001-1024 ). Elsevier Inc.:
United Kingdom

Griffiths, John D. 2012. Dorsal and Ventral Pathways Are Critical for Syntax;
Functional Organization of the Neural Language System: Dorsal and
Ventral Pathways Are Critical for Syntax . http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org
Canseco-Gonzalez, Enriqueta. 2000. “Using the Recording of Event-Related Brain
Potentials in the Study of Sentence Processing” in Grodzinsky et al. (ed),
Language and the Brain. Academic Press: Boston

Lanier, Wendy. 2010. Speech Disorders (Diseases and Disorders). Gale, Cengage
Learning: United States of America
Lingley, Darrent. 2005. Asian EFL Journal Volume 7; Issue 2: Spoken Features of
Dialogue Journal Writing. Kochi University: Japan
Logue, Mark and Conradi, Peter. 2010. The King’s Speech. Quercus Publisher: Great
Britain
Longe, O. et al. 2006. Grammatical Categories in the Brain: The Role of
Morphological Structure. Oxford University Press: United Kingdom
McKinnon, David H. and McLeod, Sharynne. 2007. Language, speech, and hearing
services in schools, vol. 38: The Prevalence of Stuttering, Voice, and
Speech-Sound Disorders in Primary School Students in Australia.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: United States of
America

Meunier, David, et al. 2010. Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol 4; Modular and
hierarchically modular organization of brain networks.
www.frontiersin.org
Reed, Phil. 2007. The Journal of Stuttering Therapy, Advocacy & Research 2 (2007)
1 – 13: Development of an operant treatment for content word dysfluencies
in persistent stuttering children: Initial experimental data. Swansea
University, University College: London
Reitzes, Peter. 2006. Journal of Stuttering, Advocacy & Research, 1 (2006) 64 – 78:
Pausing: Reducing the Frequency of Stuttering. Brooklyn Public Schools
Reitzes, Peter. 2006. Journal of Stuttering, Advocacy & Research, 1 (2006) 102 – 110
: Five Fun Activities to Practice Pausing with Children Who Stutter.
Brooklyn Public Schools
Rodd, Jennifer M. et al. 2010. Neuropsychologia; The functional organisation of the
fronto-temporal language system: Evidence from syntactic and semantic
ambiguity. Elsevier Ltd. www.elsevier.com/locate/neuropsychologia
Schneck, Daniel J. and Berger, Dorita S. 2006. The Music Effect, Music Physiology
and Clinical Applications. Jessica Kingsley Publishers: London and
Philadelphia

Wan, Catherine Y. 2010. Music Percept 1; 27(4): 287–295: The Therapeutic Effects
of Singing in Neurological Disorders. The regents of the university of
california. All rights reserved
Whitaker, Harry A. 2010. Concise Encyclopedia Of Brain And Language. Elsevier
Ltd.: United Kingdom
Williams, Dale F. 2008. Stuttering Recovery :Personal and Empirical Perspectives.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc: United Kingdom
Yaruss, J. Scott and Quesal, Robert W. 2004. Stammering Research. Vol. 1. Issues 1;
Partnerships between Clinicians, Researchers, and People Who Stutter in
the Evaluation of Stuttering Treatment Outcomes. the British Stammering
Association: United Kingdom

1

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this part, the writer will explain the background of study, statement of
problems, purposes of study, significant of study, scope and limitation of the study,
and definition of key term.
1.1

Background of the Study
Languange is a part of human life. It cannot be separated from them.
Everyday, people use it for communicating with other people. They make some
conversation, joking, etc by using it. No one leaves it, because when they do not
have a language to say or to express, then they seem like a dead people who
cannot do anything. Therefore, they need a good speaking, understanding, and
hearing while they are communicating each other. Canadian Association of
Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (2000) stated that speaking,
understanding, and hearing are essential skills in our society. But sometimes
people do not have a good speaking, understanding, and hearing in their daily
communication, so that, they get trouble while trying to express what they want
to express. Then it makes the listeners or audiences cannot understand what
they are saying or expressing. It seems like people who get some trouble in
producing the speech, like people with stammer.
People, who have a normal function of their brain and speech organ,
will have a good speech too. It is different from the people who do not have
them. They will get difficulty in producing their speech. Chaer (2009: 148) said
that the people who have thought and speech disorders, of course they have a

2

difficulty in producing speech, neither productive nor receptive. So, it is called
as a language disorders.
According to Chaer (2009: 149), “Speech disorder is divided into two
categories. They are speech mechanism disorder which involved the organic
disorder, and psychogenic disorder.”
Speech mechanism is a process of producing speech, which all organs of
speech involve in this process, such as sound track, tongue, the muscles which
shape pharyngeal and pharynx, and lungs. Therefore, if there are some people
who have a problem with their organs of speech, and cause the speech disorder,
then it is called as speech mechanism disorder.
Whereas the psychogenic disorder is a speech disorder which takes
place while people speaking and it is caused by the mental of people itself.
Usually, this disorder takes place while the psychological of people experience
some problem, for example like stammering, that is one of the motive that is
caused by the effect of psychological.
Stammer or usually called as stutter is a kind of speech disorders that
involves the verbal communication, and the people who suffer it are sometimes
repeating a letter or word while speeching. People who stutter may experience
significant disruption to their communication and other aspects of life that
involve verbal communication (Bricker-Katz et al., 2010). Besides, World
Health Organization (in Yarus and Quesal, 2004) told that disorders in the
rhythm of speech, in which the individual knows precisely what he/she wishes
to say, but at the time is unable to say it because of an involuntary, repetitive

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prolongation or cessation of a sound. Stuttering onset is usually during the preschool years and while some people recover others continue to stutter into older
age (Bricker-Katz et al., 2010).
Besides, Wingate (in Yarus and Quesal, 2004) told that;
“I. (a) Disruption in the fluency of verbal expression, which is (b)
characterized by involuntary, audible or silent, repetitions or
prolongations in the utterance of short speech elements, namely: sounds,
syllables, and words of one syllable. These disruptions (c) usually occur
frequently or are marked in character and (d) are not readily
controllable.
II. Sometimes the disruptions are (e) accompanied by accessory
activities involving the speech apparatus, related or unrelated body
structures, or stereotyped speech utterances. These activities give the
appearance of being speech-related struggle.
III. Also, there are not infrequently (f) indications or report of the
presence of an emotional state, ranging from a general condition of
„excitement‟ or „tension‟ to more specific emotions of a negative
nature such as fear, embarrassment, irritation, or the like. (g) The
immediate source of stuttering is some incoordination expressed in the
peripheral speech mechanism; the ultimate cause is presently unknown
and may be complex or compound”
It can be concluded that stammer is a speech disorder which people
always repeat the word they are saying. So it makes another people who listen
cannot understand what they are saying.
The King’s Speech is a movie which tells about a guy who suffers
stuttering. He is a son of King of England (King George V), namely Prince
Albert, that is cast by Colin Firth. He is the main character of this movie, that is
in the middle of story he is crown as the King George VI. He is a stammering
person in this movie, who cannot produce a speech fluently. He always repeats
the letters or words he is saying, for example like “I have received from his
majesty „t‟ek t‟ek‟ the King”, and it makes listeners cannot understand what he

4

is saying. After his first failed speech in front of audience, he and his beloved
wife try to find a doctor who can help him to treat his problem. Then finally, his
wife finds a doctor who can decrease the prince stammer.
“The King‟s Speech” movie is chosen by the writer as the object of the
study because of this movie tells about the real life of King George VI (The
King of England) and his friend, Lionel Logue, which took place in 1939s.
Besides, there are three movies which tell about stammering character, such as
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character with stammer in “I Haven't Got a
Hat” movie, William H. Macy is a stammering character in “Door to Door”
movie, and the newest one is Colin Firth with the stammering character in “The
King‟s Speech” movie, and it is the only one movie which tell about the
stammering person with the therapist.
The previous research about speech disorder, which analyzed about
the stammering people in same movie “The King‟s Speech” that had been
conducted by Hinayati (2012), entitled “An Analysis of Bertie‟s Stammer in
David Sadler‟s Film „The King‟s Speech‟” just focused on the basic problem of
stammering suffered by Bertie (Prince Albert). It did not tell deeper about the
result of therapy and some techniques suggested by speech therapist to be used
by sufferer while speaking, in order to reduce the stammering. Therefore, it
inspires the writer to conduct similar research in other problems, entitled “An
Analysis on Reducing Speech Disorder of the Stammering Faced by Prince
Albert in “The King’s Speech” Movie”.

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1.2

Statements of the Problem
Based on the background above, the problems of this study are as follows:
1.2.1 What kind of method used by Prince Albert in reducing his stammer?
1.2.2 How is the result of the therapy?

1.3

Purposes of the Study
Based on the research problems stated above, the objectives of the study are:
1.3.1. To know the method used by Prince Albert in reducing his stammer.
1.3.2. To know the result of the therapy.

1.4

Significance of the Study
The result of this study is expected to be able to give information about
psycholinguistics study, especially about “speech disorders” in order to enrich
the knowledge related to this theory.
Besides, it is also expected to give more explanation about speech
disorders, which is focused in stammering and how people can reduce it.
Moreover, this study is aimed to add the problems appeared in
previous study that just focused on basic problems. So that, it can be useful for
future researcher who will conduct similar research focus on stammering
people.

1.5

Scopes and Limitations
Since many problems and events happened in “The King‟s Speech”
movie, and the previous researcher has analyzed some, then the writer just
limits the study on the speech disorder, the result of therapy, and method used
by stammering man in reducing the stammer in his speech.

6

1.6

Definition of the Key Terms
To clarify and avoid misunderstanding the meaning of this research title,
the terms are necessary to be defined as follows:
1. Stammering

: Stammering is a condition in which the person
afflicted is unable
matter how

to begin a word or a sentence no

much effort may be directed toward the

attempt to speak, or how well they may know what they
wish to say (Bogue, 2009).
2. Speech Disorder

: a disability in producing speech sound, which is
caused by some problems in the organs of speech
(Chaer, 2009).

3. The King‟s Speech

: The movie which was adapted from the real life of
The King of England, King George VI (The Duke of
York), who suffered the speech disorder (stammer) and
his speech therapists was Lionel Logue, who helped the
King in reducing the speech disorder (Logue and
Conradi, 2010).