SPEECH ACTS IN THE MAIN CHARACTER’S DIALOGUE ON SYDNEY WHITE MOVIE.

SPEECH ACTS IN THE MAIN CHARACTER’S DIALOGUE
ON SYDNEY WHITE MOVIE

A Thesis
Submitted to the English Department of UNIMED
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degreeof Sarjana Sastra

By:
SUMARNI PARAPAT
Registration Number. 2101220014

ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2015

DECLARATION

Except where appropriately acknowledge, this thesis is my own work, has been expressed on
my own words and has not previously been submitted for assessment. I understand that this

paper may be screened electronically or otherwise for plagiarism.

Medan,

April 2015

Sumarni Parapat
Reg. No. 2101220014

ABSTRACT
Parapat, Sumarni. Reg. No. 2101220014. Speech Acts in Main Character’s Dialogue
on Sydney White Movie: A Thesis. Medan: English Department, Faculty of
Languages and Arts, State University of Medan. 2015
This study deals with Speech Acts used in Sydney White movie’s dialogue. The
purpose of this study is to find out the types of speech acts based on George Yule’s
theory and to find out which types are dominant in the dialogue. This object of this
study was Sydney White. This study analyzed the main character’s utterance. Sydney
White was the main character in “Sydney White” movie. The research was conducted
by using descriptive qualitative approach. There were five types of speech acts in
Sydney White movie script. They were 7 Declarations with the total percentage of

1.97%, 120 Representatives with the percentage of 33.89%, 93 Expressives with the
total percentage of 26.27%, 125 Directives with the total percentage of 35.33%, and 9
Commisives with the total percentage of 2.54%. The findings of this study showed
that Directives was the dominantly used in this movie. There were 125 (35.33%)
utterances that uttered by the main character namely Sydney White in “Sydney White”
movie.
Key words

: speech acts, dialogue on movie

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, the writer would like to thank Jesus, for all His blessing, giving
health, strength to the writer. She also thank to all the people that has helped the
writer during the completion of this thesis as the partial fulfillment of the
requirements for Sarjana Sastra at English Department of Faculty of Arts and
Languages, State University of Medan.
Due to the limited knowledge and experiences, the writer has been helped

by many people, therefore in this occasion she would give her special thanks to:
1. Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si, as the Rector of State University
of Medan.
2. Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M. Hum, as the Dean of Faculty of Language and
Arts.
3. Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd. as the Head of English and Literature
Departments also as her Academic Consultant and Dr. Rahmah, M.Hum
as the Head of Applied Linguistics.
4. Drs. Muhammad Natsir, M.Hum and Juli Rachmadani Hasibuan, M.
Hum both as her Thesis Consultant.
5. Drs. Willem Saragih, Dipl. Appl.,M.Pd, and Dr. Anni Holila Pulungan,
M. Hum both as her Thesis Examiner for their advices.
6. Mam Eis who have helped her in providing the academic administrations.
7. Great thank for my best family, especially her beloved parents, L.M
Parapat and E. Simanullang who never give up to support, pray,
sacrifices, spiritual, big endless love.
8. Her brothers and sisters, Mangara Parapat, Lierma Parapat, Marusaha
Parapat, Ronaldo France Parapat, Rahmat Agustino Parapat, Sabar
Parasian Parapat, and Siti Nurhayati Parapat.
9. Her beloved family, especially her grandmother


P. Silaban, her

grandfather J. Simanullang (+), her uncle Arani Simanullang, Mikael
Simanullang, Hendra Simanullang, Rapolin Simanullang. Her nice
family in Tanjung Beringin Sidikalang H. Saragih, Roni Saragih.

ii

10. Her lovely friends especially Yanti Joseva Munte, Vivien Rismawati
Banurea, Octhviani Tinambunan, Nur Huda, Annisa, kak Eva Purba
and her nice friend Yulia Eunike Trifosa Hutajulu (Dedek). Her friends
in boarding house Pero, Ratna, Ka Resti. Thank you so much guys for
laughing, for suggestion each other, supporting, whole crazy thing we
have done.
11. Her friends in UNIMED Frendy, Charles, kak Tini, Marini, especially
her classmate Applied Linguistics A and B 2010 that she cannot be
mentioned, thanks for the support and advices.
12. For people who direct and indirect contributed in this thesis that cannot
mention one by one, thanks for your kindness means a lot to her.

The writer admits that this thesis is far from being perfect. Therefore she
hopes this thesis still can be usefull for the readers. Finally may God bless
us.

Medan,

April 2015

The Writer

Sumarni Parapat
Reg No. 2101220014

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................

iv

LIST OF TABLE ...........................................................................................

vii

LIST OF APPENDICES ...............................................................................

vii

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION..................................................................

1


A. The Background of the Study ........................................................

1

B. The Problem of the Study ..............................................................

5

C. The scope of the Study ..................................................................

5

D. The Objective of the Study ............................................................

6

E. The Significant of the Study ..........................................................

6


CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE .........................

7

A. Theoretical Framework ..................................................................

7

B. Pragmatics ......................................................................................

7

C. Speech Acts ....................................................................................

9

D. Element of Speech Acts .................................................................

11


1. Locutionary Act ..........................................................................

11

2. Illocutionary Act .........................................................................

12

3. Perlocutionary Act ......................................................................

12

E. Classification of Speech Act .........................................................

12

1. Declaration..................................................................................

12


2. Representatives ...........................................................................

13

3. Expressives .................................................................................

14

4. Directives ....................................................................................

14

5. Commisives ................................................................................

15

F. Dialogue ........................................................................................

16


iv

G. Characters .......................................................................................

17

1. Main Character ...........................................................................

17

2. Flat Character .............................................................................

17

3. Static Character...........................................................................

17

4. Round Characters .......................................................................

17

5. Dynamic Characters ...................................................................

17

6. Stock Characters .........................................................................

18

7. Protagonists ................................................................................

18

8. Antagonists .................................................................................

18

H. Movie ............................................................................................

19

I. Biography of The writer .................................................................

20

J. The Summary of Sydney White Movie .........................................

21

K. Relevant Studies .............................................................................

24

L. Conceptual Framework ..................................................................

25

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHOD .....................................................

27

A. Research Design ............................................................................

27

B. The Source of Data and The Data ..................................................

27

C. The Technique of Collecting Data .................................................

27

D. The Technique of Analyzing Data .................................................

28

CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS, FINDING AND DISCUSSION ........

29

A. The Data .........................................................................................

29

B. The Data Analysis ..........................................................................

29

C. Research Findings ..........................................................................

40

D. Discussions.....................................................................................

41

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ................................

43

A. Conclusion .....................................................................................

43

B. Suggestion ......................................................................................

44

v

REFERENCES ...............................................................................................

45

APPENDIX .....................................................................................................

46

vi

LIST OF TABLE
Table 4.1 The Total Number and percentage of the Speech Acts Types .........

vi

28

LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A ......................................................................................................
Appendix B ......................................................................................................

ix

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61

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A.

The Background of the Study
A language is complex system of symbols, or signs, that are shared by

members of a community. Human expresses it by using gesture, body movement,
action and appreciate their thought of something like feeling, emotion, desires,
ideas, and all the other things that need expressing. We use language for many
purposes. Language is a tool for people to communicate with others. There is no
communication without language, it means that language is important things.
When we communicate with someone we communicate something and at
the communication we deliver a message. As we know that communication is
successful not when hearers recognize the linguistic meaning of the utterance, but
when they infer the speaker’s “meaning” from it (Allan, 2001:15).
Linguistics is the study of these knowledge systems in all their aspects:
how is such a knowledge system structured, how it is acquired, how it is used in
the production and comprehension of messages, how it changes over time.
Linguists consequently are concerned with a number of particular questions about
the nature of language. The part of linguistics that is concerned with the structure
of the language is divided into Syntax: the study of the formation of words,
Semantics: the study of meaning, Pragmatics: the study of language use.
Yule (1995) states that pragmatics is concerned with the study of meaning
as communicated by a speaker (writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader). It

2

has more to do with the analysis of what people mean by their utterances or what
the words or phrases in those utterances might mean by themselves. Pragmatics
generally is the study of the natural understanding and specifically the study of
how people comprehend and produce a communicative or speech act. According
to Peccei (1999:47) Speech act can be analyzed on three levels: the locution (the
words the speakers uses); the illocution, or illocutionary force (what speakers is
doing by using those words); the perlocution (the effect of those words on the
hearer). The speech act also used in movie because a movie is actually the real of
a representation in a conversation which has naturally society. Almost people like
watching movie because a movie can give fun and entertain our self into the
social. Like the characters between two person in a dialogue, the protagonist has
good character which is full of kindness while the antagonist always have a bad
behavior. Ruggiero (1985) said that recorded conversation like the preceding one
is called dialogue. The earliest form of intellectual commerce, dialogue provided
the basis for drama and as one of the first ways studying philosophy. We don’t
just hear the dialogues; we interpret and evaluate them. But, wherever it is as we
know all that film has a social context.
Dialogue in movie is one of the ways in communication which consist a
written or spoken conversation between characters by two or more people.
Dialogue is communication done by the collaboration of conversation, so they can
speak each other.

3

Dialogue itself is the utterances and it is the application of language. When
we make a dialogue, speech acts are in it. Speech acts are more focus on sense, it
means that what make language work. With speech acts were allowed people to
regulate and modify human reality based on power of words. It means that people
not only treats language as a vice for communication but also as an instrument of
action.
From the explanation above, speech acts occur not only in human’s daily
but also reflected in the movie. It is because movie has conversation, and the
sentences contain of Pragmatics and in specific to be categorized in speech act.
The writer focused in analyzing the types of speech acts in a dialogue in
“Sydney White” movie. A character is the representation of a person in narrative
work of art (such as a novel, play, or film). The characters in Sydney White
Movie is Amanda Bynes, she is the daughter of a plumber, Paul White (John
Schneider) in the movie.
In speech acts terms, the utterances are categorized on declaration,
representatives, expressives, directives, commisives. There an utterance that
uttered by Sydney White which categorized on representatives. Representative
means what the speaker believes to be case or not, statement of fact, assertions,
description, informs, believing, reporting, suggesting.
This is the example of utterance that uttered by the main character which is
belong to Representative type.
Example:
Situation: Campus

4

Features: Professor Carlton, Sydney White
Professor Carlton: We are taught from an early age that this is a government
of the people, by the people, and for the people. But what
many Americans do not know is how much the Founding
Fathers were as scared of democracy as they were of
British oppression. Can anyone tell me why that is?
Sydney:

I have to say that is underestimating the masses a bit,
not to mention overestimating the elites. Aparthied was
an oligarchy, and no one wants that to return.

Professor Carlton: Interesting
The bold sentences above explain that Sydney White’s utterance try to
state something, make others recognize her authority and believe her statement to
be case or not.
The writer used Sydney White dialogue movie as media because the
dialogues are easier to be understood when it is spoken by the actor. Sydney
White movie was released on September 21, 2007 and directed by Joe Nussbaum.
The movie has 107 minutes running time, box office $13,620,075.
Sydney White tells about this modern retelling of the classic fairytale
follows a beautiful college freshman as she pledges her late mother's once
dignified sorority. But after discovering that today's sisterhood is not what it used
to be, Sydney finds her new home away from home with seven outcasts. With the

5

help of her socially challenged new friends, Sydney will take on the reigning
campus queen to attempt and to transform the school's misguided social hierarchy.
Sydney White story is also interesting to be analyzed especially about the
female character because it can influence human personality that is reflected in
behavior, action and thought. There are two reasons for choosing this movie.
First, the movie has a sociality character, education and friendship. Second, this
movie is a great adventure story because it also educates people how to discover
problems in their life and do another better thing. Based on the statement above,
the writer will analyze the movie with the specification to the main character of
the female character namely Sydney White.

B.

The Problems of the Study
Based on the background of the research, the problems of this research

were formulated as following:
1.

What are the types of speech acts used by the main character namely
Sydney White in “Sydney White” movie?

2.

What type of speech acts is dominantly used in the main character’s
dialogue in “Sydney White” movie?

3.

Why is the speech act dominantly uttered by the main character on Sydney
White Movie?

C.

The Scope of the Study

6

The scope of the study was limited to the main character’s utterances,
namely Sydney White in the “Sydney White” movie’s dialogue. The writer
discussed the five types of speech acts based on Yule’s theory (1996:53), they are:
declarations, representatives, expressive, directives and commissives and to
analyze what was the implication of the dominant type of speech act used in
“Sydney White” movie’s dialogue.

D.

The Objectives of the Study
Related to the problems of study, the objectives of the study were:

1.

To find out the types of speech act in main character dialogue that uttered
on Sydney White movie.

2.

To find out the dominantly speech act in main character dialogue that
uttered by Sydney White Movie.

3.

To give a reason of dominant speech act in main character dialogue on
Sydney White Movie.

E.

The Significance of the Study
The benefits of the study are in theoretically and practically.
Theoretically, the result of research can be a reference for the researcher or

those who plan to do the further researcher in the similar topic in linguistics field
especially on speech act and the reader who wants to increase their knowledge
about pragmatics, especially the application of speech acts in the movie.

7

Practically, the writer hopes that this study will be useful for the students of
English Department who are interested of analyzing the study or research using
pragmatics subject.

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A.

Conclusion
Based on the findings of this research, it can be concluded that:

1.

There are five types of Speech Acts are found in Sydney White movie
based on Yule’s theory, they are (1) Declaration that intends to declared,
christening, firing, marrying, bidding, blessing. (2) Representative that
intends

to

asserting,

claiming,

statement,

hypothesize,

conveys,

concluding, reporting, believing, denying, describing, and informing. (3)
Expressive that intends to thanking, apologizing, welcoming, complaining,
deploring, condoling, congratulations. (4) Directive that intends to
commands, orders, requests, suggestion, warning, permitting, urging,
questioning, advising, begging, challenging and (5) Commisive intends to
promises, threats, contracts, vows, guarantees, refusals, pledges. The total
number of those five types of speech acts that uttered by the main
character, namely Sydney Whiteare 354 utterances consists of Declarations
was 7 (1.97%) utterances, Representatives 120 (33.89%) utterances,
Expressives 93 (26.27%) utterances, Directives 125 (35.33%) utterances,
and Commisives 9 (2.54%) utterances.
2.

After classifying 354 utterances based on the five types of speech acts, the
writer found Directives as the dominant type of speech act with the total
number of utterances that is 125 (35.33%) utterances.

44

45

3.

Directives act is the dominantly used in “Sydney White” movie’s dialogue
with 125 utterances with the total percentage of 35.33%, it is because
Directives uttered when the main character intends to give commands,
orders, requests, suggestion, warning, permitting, urging, questioning,
advising, begging, challenging.

B.

Suggestions
In relation to the conclusion above, some suggestions are given as
following:

1.

For student English Department especially to the literature studentsto learn
more about how the Speech Acts are used in a text, book, journal,
especially in dialogue of movie.

2.

For further researches, this research can be used as a reference for further
research about analysis of speech act.

45

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