Expressive The data findings of the kinds of Speech Acts presented in Emma
As it has been elaborated in the previous explanation, this utterance was included in the opening. It is because this was
used by Emma to open her speech by addressing the invited guests. It had been known that the meeting was very formal for
there were many prominent people attending it and also the representative of countries in the world. The audience were
giving her a serious gaze because everything discussed in this hall would always be about something very serious and that
become the concern of many people in the world. “Your Excellences” was used to address as well as to greet
and open her speech. It showed that she wanted to be formal but also straightforward. G
reeting is usually used to gain people’s attention, but in this hall, Emma has got that attention. That is
why she should make her speech effective but still formal. The people mentioned was ordered based on the degree of respect
which she wanted to do it more personally. She chose the word “distinguished guests” instead of “ladies gentlemen” because
she wanted to show more respect to the audience.
2 Relieving
Relieving means to state feeling of how the fear and unpleasant feeling seems less strong. The examples of relieving
in Emma Watson’s HeForShe are elaborated below.
And this seemed uncomplicated to me. SP102.21-02.24
Emma had experienced and witnessed gender inequality in her life. Many people face the same case but they choose to be
silent, but Emma was very eager to be a feminist. “Uncomplicated” was prioritized than the word “not
complicated” because the speaker wanted to show that being a feminist is not something too easy but also not too complicated
as well. The word “and” was put in front of the utterance because she wanted to send a message that the previous
utterance was strengthened by this one. Emma realized that people are afraid to be a feminist,
therefore, she wanted to encourage them by telling about her story in becoming a feminist which she considered is as
something not too hard to do. She delivered this utterance with the relax gazed but flat tone to make people believe that what
they need to do is not worrying the society’s judgement but be
themself to help the unlucky people who get the unfair treatment. This strategy was considered very powerful.
We are struggling for a uniting world but the good news is we have a uniting movement.
SP111.24-11.33
Emma told the audience that we could together fight the stereotypes and bring the equality between genders, so that all
women and men in the world would no longer suffer from the judgements. In order to create the equality, it is really needed to
unite people into one spectrum which consists of those who believe in the human rights and happiness. However, people
need a platform for this movement to support their move and actions. Therefore, Emma tried to answer their doubts by giving
“the good news” which was about how there is a right strong platform for them to deal with gender problems.
In the beginning of her speech, Emma had told the audience that the day she delivered the speech was the launching day for
a campaign called HeForShe. Therefore, what she meant with “uniting movement” was HeForShe which supports the freedom
of both women and men. With a big smile, soft eyes, and slow pace, Emma implied that this is the right platform for the people
to fight for their freedom.
3 Deploring
Deploring is used to state something which is very bad. The examples of d
eploring in Emma Watson’s HeForShe are shown below.
But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.
SP102.24-02.31
The unfair treatments are given to all women in the world, but most of them choose to stay silent and feel the pain alone.
They deceive themselves that what the society tell them is always right. Therefore, they try very hard to force their own
heart and mind to believe in it too, even if they have to put aside their own happiness.
“Unpopular” means that it is not a well-known issue or an issue which many people do not put their concern on. This word
was really powerful to prove that the feminism is not really familiar with them. It also means that very less people involve
in the movement. Furthermore, she brought the fact that very few people realize about the gender equality and wom
en’s fundamental rights in which this condition is a true disaster for
women. Women are the main victim in this problem. The deplorable fact is that realizing how the people cannot bring the
equal rights simply because women since at the very first place are not aware with it. This is the unpleasant fact that Emma
wanted the audience to know because the possibility to be successful in upholding gender equality will be very small.
“Recent research” was used to emphasize that the research is relevant with the current condition. It strengthened that the
gender especially women’s problem is very severe happening in
the status quo. This is very powerful to make people believe that
it is scientifically proven that what Emma said was not just an assumption.
Not to mention, the way how Emma delivered this utterance was by giving a regretful gaze and melancholic tones to add the
emotion feeling about the fact that not many people are involved in upholding the equality between genders. Because of the
reasons, this statement made the audience feel more convinced to become a feminist.
Why has the world become such an uncomfortable one? SP1 02.59- 03.06
As it has been explained in the previous elaborations, the moral values about gender that have been rooted in the society
bring more harms than good towards the women and men as well. This condition makes the women unable to get the same
treatment as men, to be seen as a complete version of human being, and to be respected based on their intelligent and merit.
The same with men, they are unable to be free from any prejudices that force them to be in a certain state of psychology.
Happiness is the essence of life. The reason why humans keep surviving is because they want to reach their ultimate
happiness. If they cannot reach their happiness simply because other people hamper and tell them to stop reaching it, because it
backlashes with the current moral values, it will make them suffer even more. Emma started to make the audience to ask to
themselves why the world is really this uncomfortable for the human to live in.
This sarcastic utterance combined with the resentful gaze Emma shown to the public, made the message strong that being
silent means being contributive in making the people suffer from the prejudices. This utterance sounded so bold and
powerful to achieve its goal.
But what stood out for me the most was that less than 30 of the audience were male.
SP105.14-05.24
This statement wa s addressed to Hillary Clinton’s speech in
Beijing in 1995. She had a speech about women’s right toward their own reproduction system. This was known as the first
speech about women’s issues. However, this speech was not successful to achieve its goal which was to make the women
aware that One Child Policy brings more harms than good for them. It was even failed to bring any changes in the society and
government in order to have a better discourse about the policy. Emma claimed that one of the biggest reason why this speech
was failed because there were lack of men attended the occasion where Mrs Clinton addressed the speech. This is because Emma
believed that men hold the bigger power than women to change the condition in the status quo. The society perceives men as the
controller, the leader and the one who holds bigger authority. So, it is very possible for them to have a chance to change the
perspective towards women. Therefore, the involvement of the men is very needed in any discourses about gender.
After listening to this utterance delivered by Emma with her mean and sharp eyes yet deploring tone, the male audience
would feel that it is very urgent for them to involve in the movement to fight against any gender stereotypes. It is because
at the end when women are free from the stereotypes, the men will automatically be free too from the stereotypes. So, both
genders can have freedom to determine what they want to be.
4 Regretting
Regretting means the speaker feels sorry about a situation. The examples of r
egretting in Emma Watson’s HeForShe are shown below.
But sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.
SP103.50-03.54
Emma had mentioned that women should be treated equally for their work, existence, respect, decision, and freedom. This is
the thing that all women also hope to happen in the real life.
However, not all people care for this. “But sadly” was used to
show how the fact is very opposite and deplorable for her. “No one country” emphasized the fact that there is no single
country, even the country members of the UN, where the women get their fundamental freedom. Emma regretted this fact which
was proven by the droopy eyes, resentful yet melancholic gaze that she shown to the public whenever she delivered this
utterance. She wanted to tell the audience that the dreams to receive the
equal respect and rights can still be gotten if the people join the movement. This utterance made the audience believe what they
have done towards women is wrong and needs to be fixed soon. The sentence was a complex sentence because it consisted of
an independent clause But sadly I.. and dependent clause there as the object and where.. as the adverb of place.
Sadly many of the things that she wanted to change are still true today.
SP105.08-05.14
The speech of Hillary Clinton in Beijing in 1995 was not really heard by the local government and society. She talked
about how women are also own the rights called the human rights. At that time not many people were aware that women
possessed the same freedom as men did. She even used the term
“human rights” in order to show that women were also a human that should be treated like how a human should be properly
treated too. The issue about this inhuman action in China was about how women did not possess the right of their own
reproduction. Their body autonomous right was not granted. It was proven by how China applied One Child Policy.
The policy prohibits a family to have more than one child. It really makes the women there suffer because they cannot have
full freedom upon their own reproduction. They do not possess any right to determine how many babies they want to bear to the
world as their legitimate children. Mrs Clinton wanted to emphasize that women should never be treated that way. It
should be legal for women to execute their body autonomous right including their right upon their reproduction.
Until now this policy is still applied. Most of the people in China do not realize that it truly
violates the women’s right that much. Very less people realize it and they choose to be silent.
They are not only afraid toward their communist government but also afraid toward t
he society’s judgement. “Sadly” was put in front of the utterance because she wanted
to emphasize her sad feeling that the condition which Hillary wanted to change does not happen. “True” is used to show that
the condition on women’s right violation still exists today.
5 Praising
Praising is used to express admiration or approval towards something. The examples of p
raising in Emma Watson’s HeForShe are elaborated below.
And it is really a good question. SP109.28-09.30
In the data above Emma tried to praise the audience for what they had been wondering before. Emma realized that the
audience started to question the existence of her in the UN General Assembly. People know her as the Hollywood artist.
Thus Emma addressed their doubts and accepted the truth that it was a very common for them to question why a Harry Potter girl
had a privilege to speech in the UN podium. Affirming the people’s doubt, accepting it as a common
response, giving the right answer, and praising the complaint were good to make the people more believed in what Emma
said. She delivered it with light hearted, soft eyes and friendly joking gaze shows how she is not offended at all with this. This
was the proof of how Emma could be so appropriate in delivering the right utterance in the right moment.
And for this I applaud you. SP111.21-11.24
Emma told the audience about her past experiences about gender problem. She knew that many of her female and male
friends’ freedom were limited because of the stereotypes. However, she was glad that she knew many people did not see
her based on the stereotypes. She called them as the inadvertent feminists because they believed in the equality and did not
discriminate one and another based on the gender. Emma was not naive considering that among the audience
there must be some people who are pro-equality and have done many things that resembles the action of feminism. It is because
she realized she was speaking in the UN podium in which the audience were mostly the smart and educated people who had
got the understanding of how essential the human rights is. Therefore, these people might have a chance to be a feminist
before Emma delivered the speech. Giving them the praise was a form of respect that Emma gave
to them. This is also important to make them more enthusiastic to be a better feminist. However, the main point that Emma
wanted to deliver was that how it is not enough for them to only become the inadvertent feminist. They have to join the
movement as well in order to prove that they have a strong and bold stance to achieve the equality between genders so that the
goal will be achieved.
6 Thanking
Thanking is used to express that you are pleased about or grateful for something that someone have done. The examples
of thanking in Emma Wats on’s HeForShe is elaborated below.
Thank you very very much. Standing applause SP111.52-11.57
Thanking can be used to end the speech and to indicate that the speaker is very grateful for successfully grabbing the
audience attention to listen to her speech. The way of saying like “Thank you” is very simple yet effective to show how pleased
the speaker for something that she receives. In the status quo right now people do not really aware that there is a gender
problem, that women and men are treated differently not because of their merit but rather because of their gender. It is
considered very unfair since human does not counted based on their actual power which is their intelligent and skill but simply
based on their identity. This kind of assessment will lead into an inhuman action such as
undermining one’s capability, the absence of acknowledgement toward one’s freedom, option and
determination, and also unfairly violating one’s rights.
Based on Emma’s research, it is found that very less people w
ho are familiar with the term “Feminism”. Even if they are,
they define the word as man-hating and very aggressive in fighting the current norms and values. Feminists are well-
antagonized by the society for so many times so that it makes people easily hate the feminists since at the very first time they
hear the word. In this occasion, Emma wanted to clarify and tell them about what it means by being a feminist and how its idea
can bring better life in the future. She knew that it is very difficult to make people, especially
the conservative ones, interested in listening to her feminism speech. The first step of making them aware of the gender issue
was to make them willing to listen. It is because once they listen, they will at least realize that the world is not monochrome.
Every people have different perspective and it does not always mean you cannot live together. When you as a woman believes
that you want to be a carrier woman then be it, but it is not right for you to force other women to be like you too. When you
believe that you will be happy if you stay at home and become housewife then be it, but you can never antagonize other wives
who do not have the same option with you. The messages above were the proof that people should never
have right to det ermine other’s people rights including their
freedom and self-determination. Happiness should never be standardized. Everybody should be free from any prejudices and
forces. This is the thing that Emma wanted to deliver in her speech, that women and men deserve the same portion of rights,
freedom and determination. Seeing the good attention and response from the audience, she felt so thankful and appreciated
them. Therefore, the way how she expressed it was done by saying
“Thank you very very much”. Furthermore, in 1995 Hillary Clinton, the first lady of USA,
happened to deliver the gender issue too in Beijing China. The speech was not really successful to bring a change since there
were not any audience pay attention and interested to listen to her deconstructing speech. Seeing that failure, Emma realized
th at grabbing people’s attention was very hard to do. Thus, she
needed to make her speech urgent, effective and interesting. However, in her turn to speech, surprisingly the people gave her
higher attention and support in order to solve the root of the problem of the gender inequality. It was also proven from the
long applause that was given to Emma. Therefore, “very” was
mentioned twice to emphasize how grateful Emma was to see the great attention, response and support of the audience to
HeForShe movement.