SPEECH FUNCTIONS IN ALICES ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND NOVEL.
ABS TRACT
Lubis, Maysyaroh. Reg. No 208222043. S peech Functions in Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland Novel. A Thesis, English Department Faculty of Language and Arts, S tate
University of Medan, 2012.
This study deals w ith the analysis of speech functions in Alic e’s Adventures In Wonderland
Novel. The objectives of the study are to find out the types of speech functions used in Alice’
utterances, to find out the most dominantly used in Alice’s utterances and to explain w hat is the
implication of the dominant mean used by Alice. The method of the study is descriptive
qualitative method. The data are taken from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Novel. The data
are analyzed and classified into four types of speech functions in the procedures namely
statement, question, offer and command. There are 419 clauses representing speech functions.
The findings indicate from the four types of speech functions taken from Alice’s utterances they
are statement are 305 utterances (72.80%), question are 83 utterances (19.81%), offer are 4
(0.95%) and command are 27 (6.44%). Statement is proved as the most dominant used by
Alice. Alice is more likely use statement rather than other types of speech functions implies that
mostly specify giving information by stating in speech because she is in the wonderland so that
she used some statements to express her feeling w henever she w as in w onderland.
Keyw ord: Novel, Speech Functions
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of The S tudy
Lan guage cannot be sep arated from the human being, lan guage is a tool to say any thing and
exp ress the ideas, by lan guage, p eop le can interact well, exch angin g their ideas and also to fulfill
their needs. Lan guage serv es many functions: to give information, to p ersuade p eop le to do
something, etc. language use in peop le daily commun ications. Communication is act of givin g
and asking information, communication itself divided into two forms: spoken and written
communication, spoken communication means the p rocess of exp ressing ideas which is done
orally , and written communication is done in written form, usually find in letter, novel,
magazine, etc.
When exchan gin g and exp ressing the ideas, the human bein g p erform two roles namely
giv ing and demandin g, the commod ity may be information and goods or services. In sy stemic
functional lin guistic, it named sp eech function, speech fun ction is a way of someone delivers the
ideas in commun ication to make the listener understand the ideas well. Sp eech function itself
divided into four kinds: statement, question, command and offer (Halliday , 1994:69). In mood
system, the kinds of sp eech function above realized by declarative, interrogative and imp erative,
offer function is coded by any one of the three moods.
The sp oken communication is usually rep resented by utterances. In every utterances p eop le
used to talk containin g grammatical structure and words. In every word, p hrase or sentence is
alway s p erform the different function and misunderstanding will o ccur if the listener does not
notice what kind of function uses by the sp eaker.
Examp le:
Then y ou keep moving round, I sup p ose?
Come, let’s hear some of your adventures.
Here is the exp lanation, by those examples above the readers or the listeners may be get a bit
confused to notice what kind of function is. In the first examp le, it used question mark even
though the grammatical structure does not contain any kind of question elements such as:
interrogative words (5w+h) or finite but in this sentence the sp eaker requires the listener’s
answer. Then in the second examp le, it is command actually although it used full stop . It is not
so difficult to notice because the listener or reader would know the function by its meaning.
Sy stemic Functional Lin guistics is theory centered on a notion of language
function. It is concerned with the realization between language and context, interp ersonal
meanin g in text. (Hallid ay, 1994:608). Based on theory of SFL, lan guage is used by p eop le to
fulfill the function of language as interpersonal meanin g. Interp ersonal mean in g con cern the
sp eaker’s role in the sp eech function.
Sp eech function is an exchan ge commun ication between sp eaker and listener
where the sp eaker adop ts a sp eech functional role and assigns the addressee a complementary
role. There are four typ es of sp eech function; they are statement, question, offer, and command
(Halliday , 1994:69).
The communicative act or verbal communication is usually rep resented by the utterances. In
attempting to exp ress themselves, p eop le p roduce utterances containing grammatical structures
and words. It shows that every word, phrases or a sentence that is human uttered p erform
different form and if the hearer cannot get the intention of every utterance, it will lead a
misunderstanding.
The study that used speech function theory is in SMS Broadcast on Flexi (Siti Utami, 2007).
The writer focuses in SM S Broad cast on Flexi that want to know how the act of commun ication
between comp any and their customer by using SM S Broadcast. What the sp eech functional role
and commod ity exchan ge that comp any use. After the analy zing the data, the writer found that
there are some sp eech functions and the dominant sp eech function that used in SM S Broadcast
on Flexi is command.
Another The study used Sp eech Function theory is in Advertising Texts (Ayu
Wandia, 2007). In adv ertising text, the writer focuses on adv ertising text that aimed to ch ange
the human thinking about advertisement is not only to p romote the p roduct but also give
information. After the analyzing the data, the writer found that there are some sp eech functions
in advertising text and the domin ant sp eech function that used in advertising text is offer.
From the examp les above, the writer wants to give the deep ly exp lanation about sp eech
functions which contain of two parts they are givin g and demandin g which are the essence of
communication must be noticed well to avoid misunderstandings occur towards the speaker and
the listener. When the sp eaker utters something throu gh question, he/she is actually requirin g the
listener to receive it. While requ irin g to give information when he/she utters something through
command or offer. The writer aware this issue so that she wants to analyze the sp eech functions
of novel utterances. In case there are some research throu gh this theory and found some
conclusions, for the examp les in hy p nosis utterances tent to use question as the highest
p roportion because the hypnotist ask some question to get the information as much as p ossible
(Anggrain i: 2011). Another research found that the highest p roportion in comic is statement. By
this study , the writer will exp lain the form of utterances used by Alice on Alice’s Adventures In
Wonderland Novel by using the sp eech functions theory. The writer chooses this novel because
she is interested to the story , p lot and also the setting moreover the readers will be curious to its
fantastical story and find the revelation in the end of story . In case Alice was in the wonderland
then she found many things op p osite to her real life that was something weird so that she used to
talking to exp ress her feelin gs. Besides this novel can be read by whole ages, it is no lon ger read
by children, its charm and imaginative story can survive for the adult reader. Through sp eech
functions used by the main character in this novel, p eop le can analy ze the form of utterances and
app ly it in their daily communication. Based on the p revious exp lanation, the writer would like
to do study on sp eech functions in Alice’s direct sp eech in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Novel.
B. The Problems of The Study
The Problems of The Study are:
a. What types of speech functions are used in Alice’s utterances?
b. What types of speech functions are most dominantly used in Alice’s utterances?
c. What does the dominant mean used in Alice’s utterances?
C. The S cope of The S tudy
The study analyzes the typ es of speech functions in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Novel. There are four primary sp eech functions, they are: statement, question, offer and
command. The writer uses M .A.K. Halliday ’s theory to identify sp eech functions that are found
on Alice’s dialo gue in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Novel.
D. The Objectives of The S tudy
Related to the p roblems of the study formulated above, the objectives of the study are as
follows:
a. To find out the typ es of sp eech functions which are used in Alice’s utterances.
b. To find out the most dominant typ es of sp eech functions that is used in Alice’s utterances.
c. To exp lain why the dominant used by Alice.
E. The Significances of The Study
The finding of the study is expected useful for:
a. The readers who want to know about sp eech functions and how they are used in nov el
utterances.
b. Students of English department p articularly to imp rove their knowledge of sp eech functions.
c. Researchers who want to deepen their knowledge and to conduct further studies about sp eech
functions.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIO N
A. Conclusions
After analy zing the used of speech functions in the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Novel,
the conclusion can be drawn as follows:
1. The four typ es of sp eech functions were ap plied in the utterances used by Alice in Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland Novel, they were statements are 72.80%, questions are 19.81%,
commands are 6.44% and offers are 0.95%.
2. The most dominant typ e in the utterances by Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Novel is statements 72.80%.
3. Dominant mean the highest prop ortion. The highest p rop ortion in the use of statement, in
case Alice found herself in the unusual cond itions. Many things happ ened toward her durin g
the adventures in wonderland so that she used to statements to exp ress her feeling.
B. Suggestions
Referring to the result of this research, there are some su ggestions as follow:
1) The further researchers who want to analy ze the sp eech functions in novel can use this
research as their reference
2) The students of English dep artment who are interested to deepen their knowledge about
Sp eech Functions can use this research to enrich their knowled ge.
3) The readers can use this research to get know how to use Sp eech Functions in their daily
conversations to avoid misunderstanding.
4) Those who are interested in analy zing novel are suggested to enlarge their knowledge
what typ es of sp eech functions in functional grammar.
REFERENCES
Anggrain i. Tri Sand i. 2011. Speech Fun ctions Used in Reality Show “Uya Emang Kuya”.
M edan: Universitas Negeri M edan.
Bloor, Thomas & Bloor, Mariels. 1995. The Functional Ana lyzing o f English. London: O xford
University Press.
Gee, James P. 1999. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis “Theory and Method”. London and
Newy ork: Routledge.
Grolier, A. 1992. New Webster’s Dictionary. Connecticut: Grolier Inc.
Hasibuan. Anwar. Speech Functions in Detective Conan Comic. Medan: Universitas Negeri
M edan
Halliday , M.A.K. 1994. An Introduction to Fun ctiona l Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Hornby , A.S. 2000. Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Great Britain: Oxford
University Press.
M artin, J.R. 1992. English Text “System and Structure”. Amsterdam: University of Sy dney .
Saragih, Amrin. 2006. In troduction S ystemic Functional Grammar. Medan. State University of
M edan (Unpublished)
Ye, Ruijuan. 2010. “The Interp ersonal M etafunction Analy sis of Barrack Obama’s Victory
Sp eech”. Eng lish Language Learning 3, 147.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland R etrieved: M arch 5, 2012
http://www.creative-writing-now.com/types-of-novels.html Retriev ed: July 28, 2012
http://www.insite.com.br/rodrigo/text/lewis_carroll.html R etrieved: July 28, 2012
Lubis, Maysyaroh. Reg. No 208222043. S peech Functions in Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland Novel. A Thesis, English Department Faculty of Language and Arts, S tate
University of Medan, 2012.
This study deals w ith the analysis of speech functions in Alic e’s Adventures In Wonderland
Novel. The objectives of the study are to find out the types of speech functions used in Alice’
utterances, to find out the most dominantly used in Alice’s utterances and to explain w hat is the
implication of the dominant mean used by Alice. The method of the study is descriptive
qualitative method. The data are taken from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Novel. The data
are analyzed and classified into four types of speech functions in the procedures namely
statement, question, offer and command. There are 419 clauses representing speech functions.
The findings indicate from the four types of speech functions taken from Alice’s utterances they
are statement are 305 utterances (72.80%), question are 83 utterances (19.81%), offer are 4
(0.95%) and command are 27 (6.44%). Statement is proved as the most dominant used by
Alice. Alice is more likely use statement rather than other types of speech functions implies that
mostly specify giving information by stating in speech because she is in the wonderland so that
she used some statements to express her feeling w henever she w as in w onderland.
Keyw ord: Novel, Speech Functions
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of The S tudy
Lan guage cannot be sep arated from the human being, lan guage is a tool to say any thing and
exp ress the ideas, by lan guage, p eop le can interact well, exch angin g their ideas and also to fulfill
their needs. Lan guage serv es many functions: to give information, to p ersuade p eop le to do
something, etc. language use in peop le daily commun ications. Communication is act of givin g
and asking information, communication itself divided into two forms: spoken and written
communication, spoken communication means the p rocess of exp ressing ideas which is done
orally , and written communication is done in written form, usually find in letter, novel,
magazine, etc.
When exchan gin g and exp ressing the ideas, the human bein g p erform two roles namely
giv ing and demandin g, the commod ity may be information and goods or services. In sy stemic
functional lin guistic, it named sp eech function, speech fun ction is a way of someone delivers the
ideas in commun ication to make the listener understand the ideas well. Sp eech function itself
divided into four kinds: statement, question, command and offer (Halliday , 1994:69). In mood
system, the kinds of sp eech function above realized by declarative, interrogative and imp erative,
offer function is coded by any one of the three moods.
The sp oken communication is usually rep resented by utterances. In every utterances p eop le
used to talk containin g grammatical structure and words. In every word, p hrase or sentence is
alway s p erform the different function and misunderstanding will o ccur if the listener does not
notice what kind of function uses by the sp eaker.
Examp le:
Then y ou keep moving round, I sup p ose?
Come, let’s hear some of your adventures.
Here is the exp lanation, by those examples above the readers or the listeners may be get a bit
confused to notice what kind of function is. In the first examp le, it used question mark even
though the grammatical structure does not contain any kind of question elements such as:
interrogative words (5w+h) or finite but in this sentence the sp eaker requires the listener’s
answer. Then in the second examp le, it is command actually although it used full stop . It is not
so difficult to notice because the listener or reader would know the function by its meaning.
Sy stemic Functional Lin guistics is theory centered on a notion of language
function. It is concerned with the realization between language and context, interp ersonal
meanin g in text. (Hallid ay, 1994:608). Based on theory of SFL, lan guage is used by p eop le to
fulfill the function of language as interpersonal meanin g. Interp ersonal mean in g con cern the
sp eaker’s role in the sp eech function.
Sp eech function is an exchan ge commun ication between sp eaker and listener
where the sp eaker adop ts a sp eech functional role and assigns the addressee a complementary
role. There are four typ es of sp eech function; they are statement, question, offer, and command
(Halliday , 1994:69).
The communicative act or verbal communication is usually rep resented by the utterances. In
attempting to exp ress themselves, p eop le p roduce utterances containing grammatical structures
and words. It shows that every word, phrases or a sentence that is human uttered p erform
different form and if the hearer cannot get the intention of every utterance, it will lead a
misunderstanding.
The study that used speech function theory is in SMS Broadcast on Flexi (Siti Utami, 2007).
The writer focuses in SM S Broad cast on Flexi that want to know how the act of commun ication
between comp any and their customer by using SM S Broadcast. What the sp eech functional role
and commod ity exchan ge that comp any use. After the analy zing the data, the writer found that
there are some sp eech functions and the dominant sp eech function that used in SM S Broadcast
on Flexi is command.
Another The study used Sp eech Function theory is in Advertising Texts (Ayu
Wandia, 2007). In adv ertising text, the writer focuses on adv ertising text that aimed to ch ange
the human thinking about advertisement is not only to p romote the p roduct but also give
information. After the analyzing the data, the writer found that there are some sp eech functions
in advertising text and the domin ant sp eech function that used in advertising text is offer.
From the examp les above, the writer wants to give the deep ly exp lanation about sp eech
functions which contain of two parts they are givin g and demandin g which are the essence of
communication must be noticed well to avoid misunderstandings occur towards the speaker and
the listener. When the sp eaker utters something throu gh question, he/she is actually requirin g the
listener to receive it. While requ irin g to give information when he/she utters something through
command or offer. The writer aware this issue so that she wants to analyze the sp eech functions
of novel utterances. In case there are some research throu gh this theory and found some
conclusions, for the examp les in hy p nosis utterances tent to use question as the highest
p roportion because the hypnotist ask some question to get the information as much as p ossible
(Anggrain i: 2011). Another research found that the highest p roportion in comic is statement. By
this study , the writer will exp lain the form of utterances used by Alice on Alice’s Adventures In
Wonderland Novel by using the sp eech functions theory. The writer chooses this novel because
she is interested to the story , p lot and also the setting moreover the readers will be curious to its
fantastical story and find the revelation in the end of story . In case Alice was in the wonderland
then she found many things op p osite to her real life that was something weird so that she used to
talking to exp ress her feelin gs. Besides this novel can be read by whole ages, it is no lon ger read
by children, its charm and imaginative story can survive for the adult reader. Through sp eech
functions used by the main character in this novel, p eop le can analy ze the form of utterances and
app ly it in their daily communication. Based on the p revious exp lanation, the writer would like
to do study on sp eech functions in Alice’s direct sp eech in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Novel.
B. The Problems of The Study
The Problems of The Study are:
a. What types of speech functions are used in Alice’s utterances?
b. What types of speech functions are most dominantly used in Alice’s utterances?
c. What does the dominant mean used in Alice’s utterances?
C. The S cope of The S tudy
The study analyzes the typ es of speech functions in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Novel. There are four primary sp eech functions, they are: statement, question, offer and
command. The writer uses M .A.K. Halliday ’s theory to identify sp eech functions that are found
on Alice’s dialo gue in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Novel.
D. The Objectives of The S tudy
Related to the p roblems of the study formulated above, the objectives of the study are as
follows:
a. To find out the typ es of sp eech functions which are used in Alice’s utterances.
b. To find out the most dominant typ es of sp eech functions that is used in Alice’s utterances.
c. To exp lain why the dominant used by Alice.
E. The Significances of The Study
The finding of the study is expected useful for:
a. The readers who want to know about sp eech functions and how they are used in nov el
utterances.
b. Students of English department p articularly to imp rove their knowledge of sp eech functions.
c. Researchers who want to deepen their knowledge and to conduct further studies about sp eech
functions.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIO N
A. Conclusions
After analy zing the used of speech functions in the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Novel,
the conclusion can be drawn as follows:
1. The four typ es of sp eech functions were ap plied in the utterances used by Alice in Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland Novel, they were statements are 72.80%, questions are 19.81%,
commands are 6.44% and offers are 0.95%.
2. The most dominant typ e in the utterances by Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Novel is statements 72.80%.
3. Dominant mean the highest prop ortion. The highest p rop ortion in the use of statement, in
case Alice found herself in the unusual cond itions. Many things happ ened toward her durin g
the adventures in wonderland so that she used to statements to exp ress her feeling.
B. Suggestions
Referring to the result of this research, there are some su ggestions as follow:
1) The further researchers who want to analy ze the sp eech functions in novel can use this
research as their reference
2) The students of English dep artment who are interested to deepen their knowledge about
Sp eech Functions can use this research to enrich their knowled ge.
3) The readers can use this research to get know how to use Sp eech Functions in their daily
conversations to avoid misunderstanding.
4) Those who are interested in analy zing novel are suggested to enlarge their knowledge
what typ es of sp eech functions in functional grammar.
REFERENCES
Anggrain i. Tri Sand i. 2011. Speech Fun ctions Used in Reality Show “Uya Emang Kuya”.
M edan: Universitas Negeri M edan.
Bloor, Thomas & Bloor, Mariels. 1995. The Functional Ana lyzing o f English. London: O xford
University Press.
Gee, James P. 1999. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis “Theory and Method”. London and
Newy ork: Routledge.
Grolier, A. 1992. New Webster’s Dictionary. Connecticut: Grolier Inc.
Hasibuan. Anwar. Speech Functions in Detective Conan Comic. Medan: Universitas Negeri
M edan
Halliday , M.A.K. 1994. An Introduction to Fun ctiona l Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Hornby , A.S. 2000. Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Great Britain: Oxford
University Press.
M artin, J.R. 1992. English Text “System and Structure”. Amsterdam: University of Sy dney .
Saragih, Amrin. 2006. In troduction S ystemic Functional Grammar. Medan. State University of
M edan (Unpublished)
Ye, Ruijuan. 2010. “The Interp ersonal M etafunction Analy sis of Barrack Obama’s Victory
Sp eech”. Eng lish Language Learning 3, 147.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland R etrieved: M arch 5, 2012
http://www.creative-writing-now.com/types-of-novels.html Retriev ed: July 28, 2012
http://www.insite.com.br/rodrigo/text/lewis_carroll.html R etrieved: July 28, 2012