An analysis on Rose Bukater`s speech acts in Titanic movie.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

AN ANALYSIS ON ROSE BUKATER’S SPEECH ACTS
IN TITANIC MOVIE
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education

By
AURELIA ANINDITA
Student Number: 081214045

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2012

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

AN ANALYSIS ON ROSE BUKATER’S SPEECH ACTS
IN TITANIC MOVIE
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education

By
AURELIA ANINDITA
Student Number: 081214045

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2012
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A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on

AN ANALYSIS ON ROSE BUKATER’S SPEECH ACTS
IN TITANIC MOVIE

By
AURELIA ANINDITA
Student Number: 081214045

Approved by
Advisor

July 19, 2012
Dr. Retno Muljani, M. Pd.
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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain
the works or part of the works of the other people, except those cited in the
quotations and the bibliography, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta,
The writer

Aurelia Anindita
081214045

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI

KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma
Nama

: Aurelia Anindita

Nomor Mahasiswa

: 081214045

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
An Analysis on Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts in Titanic Movie
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan
kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,
mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan
data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet
atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya
maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya
sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal : 2 Agustus 2012
Yang menyatakan

(Aurelia Anindita)

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ABSTRACT
Anindita, Aurelia. 2012. An Analysis on Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts in Titanic
Movie. Yogyakarta: English Education Study Program, Department of Language
and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma
University.
This thesis analyzes the speech acts used by Rose Bukater or Rose in her
dialogues to Jack Dawson. Only nineteen Rose’s dialogues to Jack are chosen
because they belong to the chosen scene, the climax scene and some scenes

related to the climax scene. Rose’s dialogues are chosen since the character of
Rose in Titanic movie is strong and she can make the film alive. This thesis uses
the theory of pragmatics, speech acts, and also the theory of communication.
There are three research problems in this research. 1) What types of speech
acts are employed by Rose Bukater in her dialogues with Jack Dawson in Titanic
movie?; 2) What message (s) does Rose Bukater’s speech acts convey to Jack
Dawson?; 3) What reaction (s) do Rose Bukater’s speech acts reveal toward Jack
Dawson?
In order to answer those three research problems, this research applied
qualitative research especially content or document analysis. After some steps like
library studying and gathering the data by selecting the dialogues, the data were
classified based on five types of speech act proposed by Searle (1975), types of
message in every chosen dialogue, and based on the type of reaction that appears
in every dialogue.
The first research problem, from nineteen selected dialogues, all of them
belong to types of speech acts proposed by Searle (1975). There is no dialogue
belonging declarations and directives types of speech acts. From nineteen selected
dialogues, seven of them belong to representatives, nine of them belong to
commissives, and the rest of them belong to expressive.
The second research problem, this research found that all nineteen

dialogues contain messages. For representatives’ type of speech acts, there are
seven messages from each dialogue. There is no message from directives type.
From commissives, there are nine messages from each dialogue. And from the last
type, expressive, there are three messages. The types of message are refusal,
confirmation, promise, information, thanking, greeting, and condolence.
For the last research problem, there are fifteen Rose’s dialogues indicating
positive type of reaction. The rest four dialogues indicate negative type of
reaction. There is no dialogue indicating neutral reaction.
The researcher conducts this research to give idea to the English lecturers
or teachers, and also English teachers to be that through the dialogue in the movie,
language learning can be done. It also gives benefit that by learning speech acts
people can avoid misunderstanding in communication.
Key words: speech acts, Titanic movie, pragmatics
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ABSTRAK
Anindita, Aurelia. 2012. An Analysis on Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts in Titanic
Movie. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Bahasa

dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini membahas tindak tutur Rose Bukater atau Rose dalam
dialognya dengan Jack Dawson. Terdapat sembilan belas dialog Rose dengan Jack
yang dibahas karena dialog tersebut termasuk dalam babak puncak dan beberapa
babak yang berkaitan dengan babak puncak di dalam cerita. Dialog-dialog Rose
dipilih karena karakter Rose yang sangat kuat dan karena dialah yang membuat
film Titanic lebih hidup. Skripsi ini menggunakan teori pragmatik, tindak tutur,
dan teori komunikasi.
Skripsi ini menjawab tiga pokok permasalahan. 1) Tipe tindak tutur apa
sajakah yang digunakan Rose di dalam dialognya dengan Jack dawson?; 2) Pesan
apa sajakah yang diungkapkan Rose kepada Jack?; 3) Reaksi apa sajakah yang
diungkapkan Rose terhadap Jack Dawson?
Penelitian ini menggunakan jenis penelitian kualitatif atau secara spesifik
tentang isi sebuah dokumen. Setelah beberapa langkah seperti pembelajaran
melalui studi kepustakaan, pengumpulan data dan pemilihan beberapa dialog, data
tersebut diklasifikasi berdasarkan lima tipe tindak tutur menurut Searle (1975),
tipe pesan yang terkandung didalamnya, dan berdasar tipe reaksi yang muncul di
setiap dialog.
Pertanyaan pertama memaparkan bahwa dari sembilan belas dialog
terpilih, semuanya termasuk dalam tipe-tipe tindak tutur menurut Searle (1975).

Dalam analisis ini, tidak ada dialog yang termasuk tipe declarations dan
directives. Dari dialog terpilih itu, tujuh diantaranya termasuk tipe
representatives, sembilan diantaranya adalah tipe commissives, dan sisanya
termasuk tipe expressives.
Pertanyaan kedua memaparkan bahwa semua dialog terpilih mengandung
pesan. Untuk tipe representatives, terdapat tujuh pesan di masing-masing dialog.
Tidak terdapat pesan di tipe directives. Terdapat sembilan pesan di setiap dialogue
tipe commissives. Terdapat tiga pesan untuk tipe, expressive. Tipe pesan yang ada
di dalam analisis ini adalah refusal, confirmation, promise, information, thanking,
greeting, dan condolence.
Pertanyaan terakhir menjawab bahwa terdapat lima belas dialog Rose yang
menandakan reaksi positif. Empat dialog sisanya menandakan tipe reaksi negatif,
dan tidak ada dialog yang menandakan reaksi netral.
Penelitian ini ide kepada para dosen, guru, dan calon guru Bahasa Inggris
bahwa melalui dialog film, pembelajaran bahasa dapat terjadi Skripsi ini
memberikan manfaat bahwa dengan belajar mengenai tindak tutur, seseorang
dapat menghindari terjadi salah pengertian di dalam berkomunikasi
Kata kunci: pragmatik, film Titanic, tindak tutur
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This would be a great opportunity for me to express my gratitude to those
who have helped, supported, and facilitated me in the process of doing and
finishing this thesis.
Firstly, I would like to express my biggest gratitude to my Jesus Christ.
Thank God for every blessing and miracle that I could feel in every moment of
doing and finishing this thesis.
I would also like to say thanks to my beloved family for supporting me in
this process. Thank God for having them all.
Next, I would also like to thank my advisor, Dr. Retno Muljani, M.Pd. for
her support, guidance, and criticism in the process of finishing my thesis. I would
like to thank Drs. Barli Bram, M.Ed.,Ph.D. for his valuable time, support, and
guidance. My special thanks also for all lecturers and staff of the English
Education Study Program in Sanata Dharma University for every best moment
during my four-year studying in this university.
I would like to thank my special Kindyra Blessta for his untiring support
and prayer so that I could finish this thesis. For my best friends, I would like to
say thanks for their smiles, spirit, and support that always strengthen me.

Without the help of all of them, I could never have completed my thesis
until this final step.

Aurelia Anindita

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE ..................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGES ......................................................................................... ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY .................................................. iv
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI .................................................. v
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... vi
ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................... vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... ix
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................. xii
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................... xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................... xiv

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Research Background.................................................................................. 1
1.2. Research Problem........................................................................................ 4
1.3. Problem Limitation ..................................................................................... 5
1.4. Research Objective...................................................................................... 6
1.5. Research Benefits ........................................................................................ 6
1.6. Definition of Terms ..................................................................................... 7
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CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Theoretical Description ................................................................................ 9
2.1.1 Theory of Pragmatics .......................................................................... 10
2.1.2 Theory of Speech Acts ........................................................................ 11
2.1.3 Theory of Communication .................................................................. 18
2.2 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................ 21

CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Method.......................................................................................... 23
3.2 Research Setting ........................................................................................... 25
3.3 Research Object ........................................................................................... 25
3.4 Instrument and Data Gathering Technique .................................................. 28
3.5 Data Analysis Technique ............................................................................. 31
3.6 Research Procedure ...................................................................................... 33

CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts
in Her Dialogue with Jack Dawson.............................................................. 35
4.2 The Messages that Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts
Convey to Jack Dawson ............................................................................... 39
4.3 The Reactions Revealed by Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts
Toward Jack Dawson ................................................................................... 44

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CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 48
5.2 Recommendation.......................................................................................... 49

REFERENCES................................................................................................... 51

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LIST OF TABLES
Table

Page

Table 3.4.1 Example of Table for Number of Dialogues
that Belong to Speech Acts ............................................................. 29
Table 3.4.2 Example of Table for Number of Messages
Conveyed by Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts..................................... 30
Table 3.4.3 Example of Table for Proportion of Messages
Conveyed by Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts..................................... 30
Table 3.4.4 Example of Table for Number of Reactions Revealed
by Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts Toward Jack Dawson .................. 31
Table 3.4.5 Example of Table for Proportion of Each Reaction
Revealed in Rose Bukater’s Speech Acts ....................................... 31
Table 4.1.1 The Number of Dialogues that Belong to Speech Acts .................. 36
Table 4.2.1 The Number of The Message Conveyed
By Rose’s Speech Acts ................................................................... 40
Table 4.2.2 The Proportion of The Messages Conveyed
By Rose’s Speech Acts ................................................................... 40
Table 4.3.1 The Number of Reactions Revealed
By Rose’s Speech Acts toward Jack Dawson ................................. 44
Table 4.3.2 The Proportion of Each Reaction
Revealed in Rose’s Speech Acts ..................................................... 45
Table 4.3.3 Positives Reactions from Representatives,
Commissives, and Expressives Speech Acts .................................. 45
Table 4.3.4 Negatives Reactions from
Commissives and Expressives Speech Acts .................................... 47

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure

Page

Figure 3.6.1 Process of Analysis ........................................................................ 34

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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix

Page

APPENDIX A: Review on Titanic Movie ......................................................... 54
APPENDIX B: Synopsis of Titanic Movie........................................................ 56
APPENDIX C: All Dialogues Uttered By Rose Bukater to Jack Dawson ........ 58
APPENDIX D: List of a Dialogue Uttered by Jack Dawson
Before Rose Bukater’s Selected Dialogues
From The Selected Scenes ........................................................ 68
APPENDIX E: Information on Richard Michael Stefanik ................................ 70

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

This chapter describes the background of the research, research problem,
problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits and definition of terms.
Each of them will be described and presented in this chapter.

1.1 Research Background
People in this world cannot be separated from what is called as
communication. Everybody in everywhere will always deal will communication
both spoken and written communication. As social beings, people need others.
People need relationship with others and they need communication to
communicate with each other. Aitchison (n.d), a professor of language and
communication at University of Oxford says,
“We human beings are odd compared with our nearest animal
relatives. Unlike them, we can say what we want, when we want. All
normal humans can produce and understand any number of new words
and sentences. Humans use the multiple options of language often
without thinking. But blindly, they sometimes fall into its traps. They are
like spiders who exploit their webs, but themselves get caught in the
sticky strands.”
That statement differentiates people from other creature. People are
beings that can use language to express what is intended to say from other
creatures. Communication can be done through many ways such as

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conversations, facial expressions, and body language. People are able to choose
what is appropriate to them in order to do communication with others.
Besides saying something, people also act in order to communicate with
another. In this case, there is a term named speech acts in the linguistics field.
Speech act is another kind of act by using language. Bach (n.d., in Routledge
Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry) mentions,
“Speech acts as acts of communication. The popularity of
communication both written and oral can show the reason of why it is
always interesting to study about speech act which can be found through
the dialogue conversations.”
Searle (1974) notes that the reason for concentrating on the study of
speech acts is simply this: all communication involves linguistic acts. In order to
communicate, people act as what is intended to say. That act will support the
language that is produced by people. It will also be useful to explain or describe
what people intended to say through their language. People use language to do a
lot of activities. People use language to convey information, make bets, request
information, give advice, give orders , do apologies, make request, tell jokes,
make threats, pay compliments, give warnings.
In more specific way, this researcher conducts this research to give idea
to the English lecturers, English teachers, and also English teachers to be that
through the dialogue in the movie, language learning can be done. It also gives
benefit also that by learning speech act as a part of pragmatic in English
linguistic, people can avoid misunderstanding in communicate with others.
This study uses nineteen selected dialogues spoken by the Rose Bukater as
one of the main characters in Titanic movie to be analyzed. Those dialogues are

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taken from the climax scene of the story until the end of the movie. The
determination of the climax and the importance of involving the rest of the
dialogues after that will be explained more on the problem limitation part. That is
done to limit the data in order to make the analysis more specific.
Movie is an interesting medium for studying language. Through the
dialogues and conversations in the movie, there can be found real facts about the
use of language and how characters in the movie deliver messages of what they
intend to say. Learning a language through a movie or film can also give a real
example of interaction or communication among people. Avouris (2008) says that,
“Interaction brings into play previous and general knowledge of the world
together with schemata through the formation of mental anchors made
possible by films.”
Movie or film can also gain critical thinking from people who use movie
as a media of learning language. This research chooses movie entitled Titanic.
This is a great movie. It has already become one of masterpiece in movie industry.
That is based on so many awards that have been achieved by Titanic movie.
Moreover, it also tells about the forbidden love story between Rose as the symbol
of wealthy and Jack as the symbol of low social class people who board a ship.
This movie also tells about the sinking of Titanic ship. The setting of the movie is
in ship.This movie is the disaster romance movie directed, written, produced and
edited by James Cameron. As a famous movie director, he amazingly directs,
writes the movie script, and also produces this great disaster movie. This movie
won some nomination awards like best director, best film editing, and best
cinematography. In the 1998, it received awards from American Society of

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Cinematographers Award for outstanding achievement in cinematography releases
and also from Golden Globes for best director motion picture and for best motion
picture drama (cited from www.filmreference.com, retrieved on July 11, 2012)
This study reports an analysis on speech acts used by Rose Bukater in
Titanic movie. In this research, researcher will analyze types of speech acts that
are employed by Rose Bukater in her dialogues with Jack Dawson, to discover the
message (s) that Rose Bukater conveys to Jack Dawson, and to discover the
reaction (s) that Rose Bukater speech acts reveal toward Jack Dawson.

1.2 Research Problem
In this research, there are three research problems. The study is aimed at
addressing:
1. What are types of speech acts employed by Rose Bukater in her
dialogues with Jack Dawson in Titanic movie?
2. What message (s) does Rose Bukater convey to Jack Dawson?
3. What reaction (s) do Rose Bukater speech acts reveal toward Jack
Dawson?

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1.3 Problem Limitation
This study uses theories of content analysis and attempt to find out some
necessary information related to speech acts by using the Titanic movie script
written by James Cameron. This study also includes the Titanic movie starring by
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as Jack Dawson and Rose Bukater.
This study focuses on the nineteen dialogues uttered by Rose to Jack as the
main characters in Titanic movie. Those dialogues are chosen because they
involve Rose and Jack as main characters and because those selected dialogues
belong to the important scene in this movie. Those dialogues are taken from the
climax scene says by Richard Stefanik (2008) and some dialogues happen after
that since they are considered important to be involved in the analysis. Richard
Stefanik is a screenwriting fellow at the American Film Institute and Hollywood
studios, a well-known person in the movie field, and the author of megahit
movies. He writes review on megahit movies, movies that have achieved the
zenith of success at the box office, which includes Titanic, (cited from
www.megahits.com, retrieved on July 11, 2012).
This study uses not only the theory of speech acts as a part pragmatic in
English linguistic, but the theory of communication in order to help the researcher
to do the analysis.

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1.4 Research Objectives
This study aims to describe how speech acts are employed in the certain
dialogue conversation in the movie. Later on, after passing some processes, this
research is expected to come with two objectives. They are:
1. To identify types of speech acts employed by Rose Bukater in her
dialogues with Jack Dawson in Titanic movie.
2. To discover the message (s) that Rose Bukater conveys to Jack
Dawson.
3. To discover the reaction (s) that Rose Bukater speech acts reveal toward
Jack Dawson.

1.5 Research Benefits
This study hopefully will be beneficial for those who deal with language.
They are:
Students from English Department
This study will be useful for the study of English linguistics or literature.
Students of English department are expected to be able to know the meaning of
language and to know how to use the language appropriately. This study may
appear as an idea to study linguistics using movie or to give the students an idea to
study deeper the language.
The English lectures
The results of the research are expected to be a contribution or additional
data for teaching linguistics or other related subjects. It can be a learning media to

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give a good example of interesting learning because learning is not only from
books
Other researchers
The results of this research can be a reference to comprehend more about
speech acts theory.

1.6 Definition of Terms
Speech Acts
According to Sadock (2006), speech acts mean acts done in the process of
speaking. Another explanation also comes from Searle (1996) in Lyons’s book,
“that speech acts are utterances that refer to the process (or activity) of uttering.
Activity or action in this case is a process controlled by an agent. Searle (1974)
also mentioned that every speech events consists of three separate acts: an act of
saying something (message of the speech act), an act of doing something (speech
act), and act of affecting something (reaction). A dialogue saying by someone will
carry message and it will result certain reaction or response. The researcher will
use those term in this study.
Titanic movie
This is the disaster romance movie released in 1997 which is directed,
written, produced and edited by James Cameron. In brief it is about the sinking of
Titanic ship. It also tells about the forbidden love story between Rose Dewitt
Bukater and Jack Dawson who board this ship. This study will use certain scenes
involving dialogue conversations between Rose and Jack. Certain scenes are

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chosen because it contains locutionary acts, illocutionary acts, and perlocutionary
acts
Pragmatics
According to Crystal (n.d), “Pragmatics studies the factors that govern our choice
of language in social interaction and the effects of our choice on others.” This
research will use that definition of pragmatic to guide the analysis of the data.

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CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Chapter two presents a discussion of theories upon which the study was
developed. There are two major areas of concern: The Theoretical Description and
The Theoretical Framework. The theoretical description will discuss the theories
related to the analysis of the speech acts and the theoretical framework will
present the essence of the theories discussed in the theoretical description and how
those theories used for the analysis.

2.1 Theoretical Description
In this part, theories used for analyzing speech acts in the dialogue
conversation will be discussed. The first theory is the theory of pragmatics then it
follows with the theory of speech acts since this study is about the speech acts
used by Rose Bukater in Titanic Movie. Next, it is also important in this part to
discuss communication in order to make the discussion clearer and to support the
analysis. The last, it will be also presented the review of Titanic movie.

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2.1.1 Theory of Pragmatics
This study discusses pragmatics as the branch of linguistics to analyze
Titanic play script written by James Cameron. Morris (1938:6) in Levinson (1983)
states pragmatics as the study of the relation of signs to interpreter. It is the study
of meaning in communication which is held between someone who says
something (speaker or writer) and someone who listens or receives that thing
(hearer or reader).
Yule (1996) notes that pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning. The
meaning states there is the meaning in a certain context or contextual meaning. It
requires the consideration of how speaker organize what they want to say in
accordance with whom they are talking to, where, when, and under what
circumstances (Yule, 1996). Pragmatics is the study of the factors that govern the
choice of language in social interaction and the effects of that choice on others
(Crystal, n.d.).
In addition, pragmatics has several important points. There are several
advantages that can be achieved by studying language using pragmatics. Yule
(1996) mentions four advantages of analyzing language using pragmatics. The
first is that one can talk about people’s intended meaning, their assumption, their
purpose or goal in saying certain utterance, and the kinds of actions that they are
performing when they speak. The last advantage will be closely related to the next
discussion of speech acts.

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2.1.2 Theory of Speech Acts
The theory of speech acts is the theory in the field of pragmatic. Webster
online dictionary (n.d.) notes pragmatics as the study of the ability of natural
language speakers to communicate more than that which is explicitly stated.
Francois Recanati (2006, in the Handbook of Pragmatics) says that pragmatics
deals with speech acts and speaker’s meaning (p.452). The theory of pragmatics
has an important role in dealing with analysis of speech acts as a form of language
usage in conversation. Theory of speech acts includes in the theory of pragmatics
together with some important terms. They are performatives, felicity condition,
and conversational maxims. Those theories are important to discuss briefly as
complementary elements of the discussion of speech acts.
The first is performatives. Recanati (2006) says that performatives are
utterances whereby we make explicit what we are doing. For example, the
utterance begins with “I apologize…”can mean something different and can bring
another effect. It does not only act as the word for apologizing as what
conventional way means. This may carry another message besides apologize for
doing mistake or something else.
The next is felicity condition. The term felicity condition proposed by
Austin (1962) states that
“There must exist an accepted conventional procedure having a certain
conventional effect, that procedure belongs to the uttering of certain
words said by certain persons in certain circumstances.”
The persons saying the utterance must be appropriate with the situation in
the certain case and the procedure must be used correctly and completely by all

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participants belonging in certain situation. The procedure usually is designed to
use by people who have importance and intension to utter certain utterance that
sometimes carries consequential effect (Austin, 1962: p.14-15).
The next part before discussing the theory of speech acts is the discussion
on conversational maxims. Grice (1975) notes what is called as conversational
maxim which works together with four principles in order to make an effective
conversation. They are the principle of quantity, the principle of quality, the
principle of relevance manner, and the principle of cooperative principle.
Quantity principle means that the speaker is expected to give contribution
of information as much as it is required and not to give information more than
what is required.
Quality principle talks about the truth. Speaker should say what is believed
not to be false and something which is not lack of evidence.
Relevance principle manner suggests that the speaker should be relevant,
avoid ambiguity, be brief, and clearly orderly.
The last is cooperative principle. This principle expects the speaker make
their conversational contribution as much as what is required and make it go to the
right and clear goal of the conversation. Besides those specific terms, the more
detail information about speech act will be explained as follow.
Speech act theory is the theory explaining that every utterance will carry
certain act. Saddock (2006) states speech acts as “acts done in the process of
speaking”. Clearer additional information of speech act is proposed by Lyons
(1996) that “speech act is being used throughout in a highly specialized sense and

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like utterance, on the other hand, and inscription or text, on the other is intended
to cover the production of both written and spoken language” (p.236).
Speech acts are not only simply doing certain acts while speaking. In order
to make the speech acts valid, it needs certain conditions which need to be
fulfilled. These conditions are named felicity condition. This may include
sincerity of the speaker in making certain utterance, the agent or speaker’s
authority in uttering something, and also the availability of the speaker for
receiving certain consequences.
Searle (1974) also mentioned that every speech events consists of three
separate acts: an act of saying something (message in a speech), an act of doing
something (speech act), and act of affecting something (reaction or response).
Those were said as locutionary acts, illocutionary acts, and perlocutionary acts.
Those mentioned above are exactly the same as what Austin notes in Bach
(2006). Austin identifies 3 distinct levels of action beyond the act of utterance
itself. He distinguishes the act of saying something, what one does in saying it,
and what one does by saying it. Austin (1962) states that “locutionary are acts of
speaking”. Those acts involved in the construction of speech, such as uttering
certain sounds or making some signals or marks that represent the message in a
communication.
Illocutionary acts are acts done in speaking including the acts that have
apparent or explicit purpose by using performatives sentence. Leech (1983)
divides this act into five parts. Those are called speech act types by Searle (1975).
They are assertive (e.g. state), directives (e.g. request), commissives (e.g.

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promise), expressive (e.g. thank), and rogative (e.g. query). Those will be
discussed on the part of speech acts classes.
Perlocutionary acts are consequential effect that appears as product of
speaking or uttering something whether it is intended or not. In the
communication theory this is what is called as response or reaction.
The next discussion is types of speech acts. Searle (1976) in Joan Cutting
(2002) mentioned five classes of speech acts. They are declarations,
representatives, commissives, directives, and expressive. This will be the guidance
theory to do the analysis.
Declarations
Declarations are words and expressions that change the world by their very
utterance. The verbs used in this type of speech acts are like pronounce (usually
used by a priest in a marriage ceremony; “I pronounce you as a husband and
wife”), declare, and resign. This usually creates a new fact. Vanderveken and
Kubo (2001) say that the new facts are not further speech acts but “wars,
marriage, adjournments, etc”.
Representatives
Representatives are acts in which the words state what the speaker believes
to be the case. The example is the use of some verbs like describe, claim,
hypothesize, insist, and predict. Bach (2006) mentions this type as constatives.
The examples are the verbs used in affirming, announcing, answering, attributing,
claiming, classifying, confirming, identifying, informing, insisting, predicting,
reporting, and stating. In addition, there is a key word that may determine an

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utterance to belong to this type, namely question tag. It is a questioning phrase
inserted at the end of a regular declarative statement, (Ayim, 1997). Question tags
commonly happen in the end of an utterance are like “isn’t it?”, “Won’t he?”
“Okay?”, “Right?” Fries, Muller, and Schneider (1997) agree with those examples
and add “you know?” for the commonly used tag-question in standard British
English. The existence of this question tag can show the meaning of confirmation.
According to Egle (n.d.) pitch in the way the utterance delivered by the speaker
also determine the message of it. “A falling pitch on a tag question tells the
listener that the speaker is intending the statement as confirmation of or
agreement” (Egle, n.d.). Besides the use of tag question, the existence of a
statement can also define an utterance to belong to this type. It carries the message
of informing, answering, reporting and stating. In a statement, information will
appear. It appears when there is an initial requesting for information. It places the
hearer to give information or “I give the information requested” (Halliday and
Webster, 2006).
Commissives
Commissives are acts which the words commit the speaker to the future
actions. The first key word that can help to determine this type of speech act is the
use of future tense. It can be the sign of this type of speech acts since by using this
tense, future action appears in a way with sincerity. Sincerity is needed since
commitment is important in this speech act (Sternberg and Mio, 2009). According
to Kirkham (1983), future tense represents a future action, “that will be fully
accomplished at or before the time of another future action”. The use of shall or

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will becomes the sign of future tense (Hull, 1928). This appears in the utterance of
promising, vowing, swearing, and agreeing. Vanderveken and Kubo (2002) add
that “the importance of a promise is the intention of the speaker in saying that
utterance. The examples of commissives verbs are promise, offer, threaten, refuse,
and vow. Bach (2006) adds some examples of this type of speech act. They are the
verbs used in agreeing, betting, guaranteeing, and swearing. This type of speech
acts highlights the problem of truth-conditional speech acts (Jucker and Irma,
2007). Not only the use of future tense, but also the use of negation in an utterance
can help to define an utterance to belong to this type of speech acts. Negation is
“the device for undoing the repression of its contents” (Brann, 2001). It can be in
a form of sentence with no like in “I have no money” or not in “I don’t want”.
Negation can show the message of refusal. It can be used to invert concept and to
show refusal of opinion, (Andersen, 2008)
Directives
Directives covers acts in which the words are aimed at making the hearer
do something. The examples are commanding, requesting, inviting, forbidding,
suggesting. Bach (2006) mentioned several additional examples for this type.
They are advising, asking, begging, excusing, forbidding, instructing, ordering,
permitting, requesting, requiring, suggesting, urging, and warning. Requesting,
following simple direction like suggestion, instruction, warning or forbiddance,
performing social and directives function belongs to minimal communicative
competence, (Jones, 2008). The first key that may define an utterance to belong to
this type especially message of requesting and asking is the use of W-H (what,

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when, where, who, which, and how) pronoun. After that, if the clause has an
auxiliary like be, have, and modal, that should be placed directly after those W-H
pronoun, (Givon, 1993). In this speech act’s type, speaker attitudes are special
concern, with politeness issues at forefront (Jucker and Irma, 2007).
Expressives
Expressives is the last type of speech acts. This includes the words stated
what the speaker feels. Searle (1979:15) in Jucker and Irma (2007) mentions this
speech act includes “the psychological state specified in the sincerity condition
about a state of affair specified the proportional content”. The examples are verbs
us ua l l y

us e d

f or

apologizing

(“I

apologize”),

praising,

congratulating

(congratulation!), deploring, condoling, and regretting. Bach (2006) notes this
type of speech act as acknowledgements. He added some examples like greeting,
thanking (“Thank you”), and accepting.
In addition, previous study conducted by Rika Meidaratika, the analysis is
only on the expressives type of speech acts. This undergraduate thesis used all
five types of Searle’s five types of speech acts. In her literature study, she saw a
movie as an object to do the analysis not only from plot and character but she
involved the theory of pragmatics and stylistics. In this thesis, movie appears as a
medium to learn a language. Movie also becomes a tool to teach and to learn
language.

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2.1.3 Theory of Communication
Since this research discusses one character’s dialogues in a play script and
their meaning, it is also necessary to discuss the theory of communication.
Communication (McConnell and Liebler, 2005) is “the exchange of ideas,
thoughts, or emotions between or among two or more people”. It is like an activity
of transferring certain meaning through dialogue.
Dialogue is a part of communication. It can be said that dialogue saying by
the speaker is a way to communicate one another. The important thing, or the
point that the speaker is intended to say is delivered through certain dialogue as a
part of communication. That intention or purpose in uttering certain dialogue is
located inside what is called as meaning in the message of a dialogue.
Communication has two components. They are verbal and non verbal
components. Verbal communication (McConnell and Liebler, 2005) has three
parts like the voice, the content of the message, and the response and the method
used to transmit the information. Verbal communication is like human
communication that usually done in daily life.
The next component is non verbal communication. Non verbal
communication according to McConnell and Liebler, (2005) is communication
that has both conscious and unconscious aspects. It includes thoughts, feeling,
emotions, and people’s awareness.
Communication has some elements. Samovar, Porter, and McDaniel
(2011) mention eight important elements in communications. They are message,
sender, channel, receiver, response, feedback, environment, and noise.

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Message is the information that is going to deliver by the sender or the
speaker. Message can be in a form of verbal and non verbal. According to Turner
and West (2010), message is “spoken, written, or unspoken information sent from
a sender to receiver.” In previous thesis written by Rika Meidaratika entitled A
Study of Lady Chiltren’s Expressive Speech Acts in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal
Husband, the message of expressives type of speech acts was done. Here, the
analysis is not only in a part of expressives type but also from four other types of
Searle’s speech acts (1975).
Message has its importance in a communication. First, message carries
meaning in the communication. Meaning is inside a message. In order to avoid
misunderstanding, message in communication should be clear and relevant.
Turner and West say that “meaning is what people extract from a message.” The
second is that message is important since it becomes a requirement so that a
communication happens. “When a message is sent and received, communication
takes place,” (Turner and West, 2010)
Sender is the person who has a need to communcicate with others. Sender
is usually called speaker.
The third is channel. Channel is something that provides a path for moving
the message from sender to the receivers or hearers. Receiver is recipient of the
message. Receiver is also a location where meaning is created.
The next is response. Response is a reaction. Reaction means something
that the receiver may prepare after getting the message. Viviers and Schalkwyk
(1992) note three types of reaction. They are positive, negative, and neutral

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reaction. Those types of reaction measure the success of communication. Besides
that, the previous study used the term response and this thesis was adopted the
term from the study conducting by Rika Meidaratika (2008). In her study, three
types of response were used to analyze the dialogues belonging to the expressives
type of speech acts. In this thesis, those types of response or reactions use to
analyze all selected dialogues.
Positive reaction is a kind of reaction that delivered by someone who agree
with the intended meaning of a dialogue. This usually shows happiness or
amusement, (Fussell, 2002). This type of response can happen in an open
communication like sharing or expressing feeling and asking explanation
according to Fussell (2002). Positive reaction can be in a form of offering goods,
food, help, information, comfort, approval, attention, or praise (Williams, 1975)
Negative reaction is something appears as the opposite of positive
response. According to Buunk and Bringle (1987) in Kalbfleisch (1993), this type
of reaction is aggressive, non-productive, blaming, nagging, and complaining.
This can be seen in the dialogue of telling to stop or move away, threatening,
annoying, and taking thing, Kalbfleisch (1993).Williams (1975) mentions that this
response happens because people feel different emotions on hearing various types
of ironic statements, sarcasm, rethoric question and overstatements.
The last is neutral reaction. This response carries ambiguous meaning,
concerns social behavior or etiquette, (Williams, 1975). Social behavior refers to
what someone usually does in daily. Hatch (1992) states that a neutral response
allows the caller to conclude the opening and provides an anchor point for

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introduction of the topic or reason for the call. This commonly happens in
greeting someone. People choose what they will use to greet others and actually
they have expected or they have set what response that may appear. Redman and
Zwier (2010) mentions hi, hello, how are you? and how about you? as the
examples of neutral response. Those usually happen in greeting someone.
The next is feedback. Sometimes, some people will say that feedback is
the same as response. This is different from response which means reaction.
Feedback is a helpful component of communication that helps people to evaluate
the effectiveness of a message.
Environment is the next element of communication. It is the location
where the communication occurs.
The last component of communication is noise. Noise is the distraction
that occurs in the communication.

2.2 Theoretical Framework
The brief explanation of some related theories of this study have been
mentioned in this chapter two. The five types of speech acts proposed by Searle
(1976) are used as the guidance that leads this discussion. Those types of speech
acts are used since it usually appears in the communication.
The theories of pragmatic, speech act, communication, and also some
information about Titanic movie are clearly described to help to answer the
problems proposed in the first chapter. All theories explained above are aimed at

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helping the writer to answer the research questions. They are; types of speech acts
that are employed by Rose Bukater in her conversation with Jack Dawson, the
message (s) that Rose Bukater conveys to Jack Dawson, and the reaction (s) that
Rose Bukater’s speech act reveal toward Jack Dawson
The theory of pragmatics and speech acts will be used to enter the
classification of the selected dialogues into certain types of speech acts proposed
by Searle (1976). Those will answer the first and second problem. In addition,
there are several criteria used to determine the message of the dialogue.
The theory of communication mentioned before gives information about
the component of communication and the type of reaction which will be helpful to
answer the third problem question in the first chapter.

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CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research method, research setting, research
object, instrument and data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and
research procedure. Each of them will be described and presented in this chapter.

3.1 Research Method
This research analyzes the dialogues of Rose Bukater or Rose as the main
character in Titanic movie. This analysis used the movie script written by James
Cameron. In order to analyze the movie script, the researcher applied qualitative
method.
Qualitative research is intended to “approach the world out there and to
understand, describe, and sometimes explain social phenomena from inside a
number of different ways” (Ripley and Flick, 2007). The different ways
mentioned in the definition were related to the technique of analyzing. It could be
an analysis of certain behavior, document, or interaction in communication with
other people. By using this method, the researcher did the analysis in the
dialogues uttered by Rose to Jack Dawson, two major characters in the Titanic
movie. The researcher was the main instrument in this research, but for sure the
analysis was done using the criteria mentioned previously. According to Brinberg
and McGrath 1985:13 in Halinen (1996), “Validity is not a commodity that can be

23

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purchased with techniques… Rather, validity is, like integrity, characters, and
quality, to be assessed relative to purposes and circumstances.”
Several things appeared as the reasons why this rese