SPEECH ACT IN THE GREAT GATSBY MOVIE.
SPEECH ACT IN THE GREAT GATSBY MOVIE
A THESIS
Submitted to the English Department of UNIMED
In Partial as Fulfillment of the Requirement for
The Degree of Sarjana Sastra
BY :
Zahrina Putri
Registration Number : 2102220018
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2015
LEMBAR PENGESAHAN PEMBIMBING
Skripsi ini diajukan oleh: Zahrina Putri, NIM. 2102220018
Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris
Program Studi Sastra Inggris/S-1
Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni
Universitas Negeri Medan
Dinyatakan telah memenuhi persyaratan untuk
memperoleh gelar Sarjana Sastra
Medan,
Januari 2015
Disetujui oleh:
Dosen Pembimbing Skripsi,
Dra. Sri Juriati Ownie, M.A.
NIP. 19510831 197903 2 002
LEMBAR PENGESAHAN PANITIA UJIAN
Skripsi ini diajukan oleh: Zahrina Putri, NIM. 2102220018
Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris
Program Studi Sastra Inggris/S-1
Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni
Universitas Negeri Medan
Dinyatakan telah memenuhi syarat
untuk memperoleh gelar
Sarjana Sastra
Panitia Ujian
Medan,
Ketua,
Januari 2015
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum
NIP. 19641207 199103 2 002
Sekretaris,
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd
NIP. 19581021 198303 2 002
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The writer would like to thank Allah SWT for all the blessing, guarding,
guidance and for everything that have been given along her life, especially in
accomplishing this thesis. This thesis is aimed to fulfill one of the requirements to
obtain the S1 degree of Sarjana Sastra at English Department in Faculty of
Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
In completing this thesis, the writer has received a lot of assistance and
academic support from some people. Therefore, the writer would like to express
her sincere gratitude, love and special thanks to:
Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si., the Rector of State University of
Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English Department as the
reviewer at Seminar Proposal., Dra. Meisuri, M.A., as Secretary of English
Department, Dra. Rahmah, M.Hum., the Head of English Literature Study
Program.
Dra. Sri Juriati Ownie, M.A., her Thesis Adviser.
Dra. Tjut Ernidawaty, M.Pd., her Reviewer.
Drs. Elia Masa Gintings, M.Hum., her Reviewer.
All beloved lecturers in English and Literature Department who advised and
guided the writer during academic years.
Her beloved parents, Drs.Syafari, M.Pd and Azizah Ba’awab to whom this
thesis is dedicated for their endless patient, pray, love, moral and financial
support. And also thanks for the love, support and great care all the time from
her sisters Nadira Elfira and Nadia Elfilla.
Her friends Devi, Pijah, Bintang, Kiko, Dona, Ecik, Irwan, Muis, Adi,
Novinda, Eka Presetya, Dini, Syeiha, Romeo and Cimot who always share
their stories, advices, thought, knowledge and always help and support the
writer for everything during the years in Unimed. And her friends from
ii
Applied Linguistics A and B Reg’10, that could not be mentioned one by
one. Thanks for their support, informations, encouragement, and beautiful day
spent together.
Without their deep and sympathetic understanding, this thesis could not
complete. Over all, the writer hopes this thesis can give a bit contribution to the
Applied Linguistics. Therefore, comments, critics, suggestions, and advices are
expected from the readers.
Medan, Januari 2015
The Writer,
Zahrina Putri
Reg. Number: 2102220018
iii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Table of the Great Gatsby Movie Analysis ................................ 42
Appendix 2 The Whole Dialogues of Jay Gatsby ........................................... 50
v
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Language is one of media which cannot be separated from human life.
Human uses language in their speech, either spoken or written. Language is used
every day by everybody to communicate with others.
According to Littlejohn (2002) communication is one of the most
persuasive, important and complex aspects of human life.
In many forms of communications, people need language to deliver their
message and also express themselves. When people express themselves, they do
not only produce utterances containing grammatical structures and words, they
also perform actions via those utterances (Yule 1996).
For example, when someone said “can you stop by in a minute?”, he or she
performed a request although the sentence he or she produces in the form of a
question. This kind of action performed via utterances is called a Speech Act.
According to Yule (1996) speaker normally expects that his or her
communication intention will be recognized by the hearer. Commonly, speech is
given for specific intention, such as apology (I’m sorry), complaint (yesterday’s
show was the worst), compliment (I really like your tie), invitation (we’re having
a party tomorrow. I’d like you to come), promise (I’ll visit you next week), or
request (could you pass me the mashed potatoes, please?).
1
2
Most people know that speech is just a matter of producing utterances
containing grammatical structures and words. In fact, there are actions implied in
those utterances.Speech Act discusses what other people mean in their utterances.
People might be mistaking between Speech Act and Speech Function.
Both are discusing about what is performed by a speaker in his utterances. In
Speech Function, it focuses on analyzing the function performed in one’s
utterances, meanwhile Speech Act focuses on the action implied in an utterances.
Speech Act can be found in a communication. One of them is in a movie,
since a movie tells a story about human activities.
Considering of how people are addicted toward movie, the writer decided
to analyze speech acts in a movie. A movie consists of many dialogues between
its characters that can be analyzed using the speech act theory. Therefore, the
writer chose a movie entitled The Great Gatsby, which is based on a 1920’s novel
with the same title.
Considering how the speaker uses the language in the social interaction
with others, the usage of speech is also used in a movie because a movie is
actually a representation of a real conversation in natural society and also one of
the medium where Speech Act can be found.
The writer studied pragmatics and becomes interested in Speech Act which
studies natural language understanding and realized that Speech Act can be found
in daily conversation. While watching a movie the writer may find some
difficulties in understanding what the characters’ dialogues mean. It motivated the
3
writer to choose analyzing Speech Act in a movie. By analyzing Speech Act
uttered in a movie, it helps the audience to understand more about the movie.
The research about Speech Act has also been done by Maeda Elsera
Siagian (2010)with the topic “An Analysis of Speech Act in Billboard”. Maeda
focuses on the words contained in cigarette billboards. The resercher concerned
about how cigarette is advertised through the words. After analyzing the data, she
found out that there were some Speech Acts in Billboard and the dominant one
used is representative.
Other study on Speech Act field was cunducted by Caleb T. Carr (2012).,
who was focusing on Speech Act within Facebook Status Messages. Content
analysis of the data revealed that status messages were most frequently
constructed with expressive speech acts, followed by assertives. Additionally,
humor was integrated into almost 20% of the status messages.
Illyas and Khushi (2012) also studied about Speech Act in facebook status
updates. The results revealed that status messages were most frequently
constructed with expressive speech acts, followed by assertives and directives. In
addition, a new category of poetic verses was also found in the data. The findings
also showed that various socialization patterns emerge through the sharing of
feelings, information and ideas.
The other study was done by Ariff and Mugables (2013), the result of the
analysis of Speech Act of Promising among Jordanians was that Jordanians for
either one or more of the strategies when issuing their promises: discourse
conditionals,
tautological-like
expressions,
body-part
expressions,
self-
4
aggrandizing expressions, time expressions, courtesy-like expressions, swearing
in Jordanian Arabic that are utilized by Jordanians to forge promises with
reference to expressions, adjacency pairs and false promises.
Moreover, the analysis of this article have shown that there is a gender
difference in the use of linguistic forms in the speech act of promising among
Jordanian, i.e, use of body-expressions among women once they issue their
promises. In account of that, women typically speak and hear a language of
connection and intimacy stressin confirmations and support within their specific
online communities.
The reason of choosing this movie is because the writer wanted to let
people know that Gatsby is a fictional character from a novel. The name Gatsby is
known by many people but only a few know where it is come from.. And the
other reason is The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism,
resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz
Age or the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale
regarding the American Dream. Roaring Twenties is the era known for the
unprecedented economic prosperity, the evolution of jazz music, flapper culture,
and bootlegging and other criminal activity.
Based on the explanation above the writer decided to analyze Speech Act
in The Great Gatsby movie because she wants to know the meaning of the
dialogues said by the characters. It is also very helpful to understand more about
this movie.
5
B. The Problem of the Study
1. What types of Speech Act are uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby
movie?
2. What is the dominant type of Speech Act are uttered by Jay Gatsby in The
Great Gatsby movie?
3. What is the implication of the dominant type of Speech Act uttered by Jay
Gatsby in The Great Gatsby movie?
C. The Objective of the Study
1. To find out types of speech act uttered by Jay GatsbyinThe Great Gatsby
movie.
2. To find out types of Speech Act that is dominantly uttered byJay Gatsby in
The Great Gatsby movie.
3. To find out the implication of the dominant type of Speech Act uttered by
Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby movie.
D. The Scope of the Study
This study focuses on analyzing Speech Acts in TheGreat Gatsby movie. To
avoid a wider discussion, the writer limits this study only on the analysis of Jay
Gatsby’s utterances in the movie.
The writer uses George Yule’s theory to identify the Speech Act found in
The Great Gatsby movie. All the kinds of Speech Act that are classified according
6
to its function become the scope of the study such as; declarations,
representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives.
E. The Significance of the Study
This study is expected to give valuable contribution theoretically and practically.
Theoretically, the result of this study is expected to contribute on the development
of pragmatic study, especially on how to analyze text using the speech act theory.
Practically, the result of this research is expected to be useful:
1. For Student of English Department. It is expected that the students obtain
more information about Speech Act, especially Speech Act of action based
on appropriate situational context.
For readers, this research will give information and enrich their knowledge about
speech act and how speech act used in
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
After the data has been analyzed, it can be concluded as the following:
1. There are four types of Speech Act uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great
Gatsby Movie. The total number of utterances are 217 utterances. The
precentages of those Speech Act are commisives (13%), representatives (
39%), directives (31%), expressives (17%).
2. The dominant type of Speech Act Uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great
Gatsby Movie is Representatives (39%).
3. The implication of the dominant type uterred is that Gatsby’s previous life
who was from a very poor family and dreaming to be rich and also how his
love left him because of his poverty is the main reason why he boasts
everything he has. He doesn’t want to be looked down by other people so
he shows off everything that he has to keep his pride high
B. Suggestions
Related to the conclusion above, the suggestion which are useful for the
reader are the following; theoretically, the result of this study is expected to
contribute on the development of pragmatic study, especially on how to analyze
text using the speech act theory.
39
40
Practically, the result of this research is expected to be useful:
1. For Student of English Department. It is expected that the students obtain
more information about Speech Act, especially Speech Act of action based
on appropriate situational context.
2. For readers, this research will give information and enrich their knowledge
about Speech Act and how Speech Act used in the daily communication.
A THESIS
Submitted to the English Department of UNIMED
In Partial as Fulfillment of the Requirement for
The Degree of Sarjana Sastra
BY :
Zahrina Putri
Registration Number : 2102220018
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2015
LEMBAR PENGESAHAN PEMBIMBING
Skripsi ini diajukan oleh: Zahrina Putri, NIM. 2102220018
Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris
Program Studi Sastra Inggris/S-1
Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni
Universitas Negeri Medan
Dinyatakan telah memenuhi persyaratan untuk
memperoleh gelar Sarjana Sastra
Medan,
Januari 2015
Disetujui oleh:
Dosen Pembimbing Skripsi,
Dra. Sri Juriati Ownie, M.A.
NIP. 19510831 197903 2 002
LEMBAR PENGESAHAN PANITIA UJIAN
Skripsi ini diajukan oleh: Zahrina Putri, NIM. 2102220018
Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris
Program Studi Sastra Inggris/S-1
Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni
Universitas Negeri Medan
Dinyatakan telah memenuhi syarat
untuk memperoleh gelar
Sarjana Sastra
Panitia Ujian
Medan,
Ketua,
Januari 2015
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum
NIP. 19641207 199103 2 002
Sekretaris,
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd
NIP. 19581021 198303 2 002
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The writer would like to thank Allah SWT for all the blessing, guarding,
guidance and for everything that have been given along her life, especially in
accomplishing this thesis. This thesis is aimed to fulfill one of the requirements to
obtain the S1 degree of Sarjana Sastra at English Department in Faculty of
Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
In completing this thesis, the writer has received a lot of assistance and
academic support from some people. Therefore, the writer would like to express
her sincere gratitude, love and special thanks to:
Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si., the Rector of State University of
Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English Department as the
reviewer at Seminar Proposal., Dra. Meisuri, M.A., as Secretary of English
Department, Dra. Rahmah, M.Hum., the Head of English Literature Study
Program.
Dra. Sri Juriati Ownie, M.A., her Thesis Adviser.
Dra. Tjut Ernidawaty, M.Pd., her Reviewer.
Drs. Elia Masa Gintings, M.Hum., her Reviewer.
All beloved lecturers in English and Literature Department who advised and
guided the writer during academic years.
Her beloved parents, Drs.Syafari, M.Pd and Azizah Ba’awab to whom this
thesis is dedicated for their endless patient, pray, love, moral and financial
support. And also thanks for the love, support and great care all the time from
her sisters Nadira Elfira and Nadia Elfilla.
Her friends Devi, Pijah, Bintang, Kiko, Dona, Ecik, Irwan, Muis, Adi,
Novinda, Eka Presetya, Dini, Syeiha, Romeo and Cimot who always share
their stories, advices, thought, knowledge and always help and support the
writer for everything during the years in Unimed. And her friends from
ii
Applied Linguistics A and B Reg’10, that could not be mentioned one by
one. Thanks for their support, informations, encouragement, and beautiful day
spent together.
Without their deep and sympathetic understanding, this thesis could not
complete. Over all, the writer hopes this thesis can give a bit contribution to the
Applied Linguistics. Therefore, comments, critics, suggestions, and advices are
expected from the readers.
Medan, Januari 2015
The Writer,
Zahrina Putri
Reg. Number: 2102220018
iii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Table of the Great Gatsby Movie Analysis ................................ 42
Appendix 2 The Whole Dialogues of Jay Gatsby ........................................... 50
v
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Language is one of media which cannot be separated from human life.
Human uses language in their speech, either spoken or written. Language is used
every day by everybody to communicate with others.
According to Littlejohn (2002) communication is one of the most
persuasive, important and complex aspects of human life.
In many forms of communications, people need language to deliver their
message and also express themselves. When people express themselves, they do
not only produce utterances containing grammatical structures and words, they
also perform actions via those utterances (Yule 1996).
For example, when someone said “can you stop by in a minute?”, he or she
performed a request although the sentence he or she produces in the form of a
question. This kind of action performed via utterances is called a Speech Act.
According to Yule (1996) speaker normally expects that his or her
communication intention will be recognized by the hearer. Commonly, speech is
given for specific intention, such as apology (I’m sorry), complaint (yesterday’s
show was the worst), compliment (I really like your tie), invitation (we’re having
a party tomorrow. I’d like you to come), promise (I’ll visit you next week), or
request (could you pass me the mashed potatoes, please?).
1
2
Most people know that speech is just a matter of producing utterances
containing grammatical structures and words. In fact, there are actions implied in
those utterances.Speech Act discusses what other people mean in their utterances.
People might be mistaking between Speech Act and Speech Function.
Both are discusing about what is performed by a speaker in his utterances. In
Speech Function, it focuses on analyzing the function performed in one’s
utterances, meanwhile Speech Act focuses on the action implied in an utterances.
Speech Act can be found in a communication. One of them is in a movie,
since a movie tells a story about human activities.
Considering of how people are addicted toward movie, the writer decided
to analyze speech acts in a movie. A movie consists of many dialogues between
its characters that can be analyzed using the speech act theory. Therefore, the
writer chose a movie entitled The Great Gatsby, which is based on a 1920’s novel
with the same title.
Considering how the speaker uses the language in the social interaction
with others, the usage of speech is also used in a movie because a movie is
actually a representation of a real conversation in natural society and also one of
the medium where Speech Act can be found.
The writer studied pragmatics and becomes interested in Speech Act which
studies natural language understanding and realized that Speech Act can be found
in daily conversation. While watching a movie the writer may find some
difficulties in understanding what the characters’ dialogues mean. It motivated the
3
writer to choose analyzing Speech Act in a movie. By analyzing Speech Act
uttered in a movie, it helps the audience to understand more about the movie.
The research about Speech Act has also been done by Maeda Elsera
Siagian (2010)with the topic “An Analysis of Speech Act in Billboard”. Maeda
focuses on the words contained in cigarette billboards. The resercher concerned
about how cigarette is advertised through the words. After analyzing the data, she
found out that there were some Speech Acts in Billboard and the dominant one
used is representative.
Other study on Speech Act field was cunducted by Caleb T. Carr (2012).,
who was focusing on Speech Act within Facebook Status Messages. Content
analysis of the data revealed that status messages were most frequently
constructed with expressive speech acts, followed by assertives. Additionally,
humor was integrated into almost 20% of the status messages.
Illyas and Khushi (2012) also studied about Speech Act in facebook status
updates. The results revealed that status messages were most frequently
constructed with expressive speech acts, followed by assertives and directives. In
addition, a new category of poetic verses was also found in the data. The findings
also showed that various socialization patterns emerge through the sharing of
feelings, information and ideas.
The other study was done by Ariff and Mugables (2013), the result of the
analysis of Speech Act of Promising among Jordanians was that Jordanians for
either one or more of the strategies when issuing their promises: discourse
conditionals,
tautological-like
expressions,
body-part
expressions,
self-
4
aggrandizing expressions, time expressions, courtesy-like expressions, swearing
in Jordanian Arabic that are utilized by Jordanians to forge promises with
reference to expressions, adjacency pairs and false promises.
Moreover, the analysis of this article have shown that there is a gender
difference in the use of linguistic forms in the speech act of promising among
Jordanian, i.e, use of body-expressions among women once they issue their
promises. In account of that, women typically speak and hear a language of
connection and intimacy stressin confirmations and support within their specific
online communities.
The reason of choosing this movie is because the writer wanted to let
people know that Gatsby is a fictional character from a novel. The name Gatsby is
known by many people but only a few know where it is come from.. And the
other reason is The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism,
resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz
Age or the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale
regarding the American Dream. Roaring Twenties is the era known for the
unprecedented economic prosperity, the evolution of jazz music, flapper culture,
and bootlegging and other criminal activity.
Based on the explanation above the writer decided to analyze Speech Act
in The Great Gatsby movie because she wants to know the meaning of the
dialogues said by the characters. It is also very helpful to understand more about
this movie.
5
B. The Problem of the Study
1. What types of Speech Act are uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby
movie?
2. What is the dominant type of Speech Act are uttered by Jay Gatsby in The
Great Gatsby movie?
3. What is the implication of the dominant type of Speech Act uttered by Jay
Gatsby in The Great Gatsby movie?
C. The Objective of the Study
1. To find out types of speech act uttered by Jay GatsbyinThe Great Gatsby
movie.
2. To find out types of Speech Act that is dominantly uttered byJay Gatsby in
The Great Gatsby movie.
3. To find out the implication of the dominant type of Speech Act uttered by
Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby movie.
D. The Scope of the Study
This study focuses on analyzing Speech Acts in TheGreat Gatsby movie. To
avoid a wider discussion, the writer limits this study only on the analysis of Jay
Gatsby’s utterances in the movie.
The writer uses George Yule’s theory to identify the Speech Act found in
The Great Gatsby movie. All the kinds of Speech Act that are classified according
6
to its function become the scope of the study such as; declarations,
representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives.
E. The Significance of the Study
This study is expected to give valuable contribution theoretically and practically.
Theoretically, the result of this study is expected to contribute on the development
of pragmatic study, especially on how to analyze text using the speech act theory.
Practically, the result of this research is expected to be useful:
1. For Student of English Department. It is expected that the students obtain
more information about Speech Act, especially Speech Act of action based
on appropriate situational context.
For readers, this research will give information and enrich their knowledge about
speech act and how speech act used in
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
After the data has been analyzed, it can be concluded as the following:
1. There are four types of Speech Act uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great
Gatsby Movie. The total number of utterances are 217 utterances. The
precentages of those Speech Act are commisives (13%), representatives (
39%), directives (31%), expressives (17%).
2. The dominant type of Speech Act Uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great
Gatsby Movie is Representatives (39%).
3. The implication of the dominant type uterred is that Gatsby’s previous life
who was from a very poor family and dreaming to be rich and also how his
love left him because of his poverty is the main reason why he boasts
everything he has. He doesn’t want to be looked down by other people so
he shows off everything that he has to keep his pride high
B. Suggestions
Related to the conclusion above, the suggestion which are useful for the
reader are the following; theoretically, the result of this study is expected to
contribute on the development of pragmatic study, especially on how to analyze
text using the speech act theory.
39
40
Practically, the result of this research is expected to be useful:
1. For Student of English Department. It is expected that the students obtain
more information about Speech Act, especially Speech Act of action based
on appropriate situational context.
2. For readers, this research will give information and enrich their knowledge
about Speech Act and how Speech Act used in the daily communication.