A STUDY OF ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS IN STAND-UP COMEDY.
A STUDY OF ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS IN STAND-UP
COMEDY
A THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Sarjana Sastra
By
GIEL UTAMI PUTRI
Reg. No.: 208222024
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2012
ABSTRACT
Putri, Giel Utami. 208222024. A Study of Illocutionary Acts in Stand-up
Comedy. A Thesis. Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of
Medan. 2012.
This study deals with the types of illocutionary acts in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia and the function of stand-up comedy. The objectives of
this study were to find out which utterances in stand-up comedy performances in
Indonesia show the function of stand-up comedy, to describe the types of
illocutionary acts which were used in stand-up comedy performances in
Indonesia, to discover the type of illocutionary acts which was dominantly used in
stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia, and to describe the implication of
the dominant type of illocutionary acts which was used in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia. This research was based on descriptive design by
applying both quantitative and qualitative method. It took ten performances of
stand-up comedy which is taken randomly from the internet. The findings of this
study show that there was another function of stand-up comedy in addition to
entertaining, informing, and criticizing, which is insinuating. Based on the
analysis, all types of illocutionary acts were used in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia. There were 1378 illocutionary acts in ten stand-up
comedy performances selected, and the percentages of the data were: 55.9% of
representatives, 22.9% of directives, 16.2% of expressives, 3% of declaratives and
2% of commissives. The most dominant type of illocutionary acts found was
representatives. It shows that in delivering their material, the comics dominantly
convey their belief that some proposition is true and they also indirectly tried to
affect the audience to believe their words.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
Alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alamin, all praise and gratitude the writer dedicate
to Allah SWT for His blessings, mercy, guidance, strength, and help which have
been given to her so she can finish this thesis well.
This thesis was written in order to fulfill one of the requirements to obtain
the degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Department of Faculty of Languages and
Arts, State University of Medan.
In the completion of this thesis, the writer was greatly indebted to many
people which without their help; she will not be able to complete this thesis
properly. Therefore, on this occasion the writer would like to express her gratitude
and appreciation to:
Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si. as the Rector of State University
of Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum. as the Dean of Faculty of Languages and
Arts, State University of Medan and to all her staffs.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd. as the Head of English Department, Dra.
Rahmah, M.Hum. as the Secretary of English Department, and Dra.
Meisuri, MA as the Head of Non-Educational English Program thanks for
their educational and non-educational help during the writer’s academic
years in English Department of State University of Medan.
Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S. as the writer’s Thesis Supervisor who has
helped her patiently finishing this thesis by giving guidance, constructive
suggestions, correction, and motivation, since the preliminary manuscript
until the completion of this thesis.
Drs. Elia Masa Gintings, M.Hum. as the writer’s Academic Counselor
who has given advice and support during her study.
All lecturers of English Department for lessons, advices and useful
knowledge.
Mam Enda and Mam Indri for their kind help in providing academic
administrations to the writer.
The best family of the author, her beloved Mama, Mrs. Dra. Sri Hartati
Ekawati, the truly inspiring number one man, her Papa, Mr.
Burhanuddin, S.H. and her two brothers, Abim Bima Dinata and Daffa
Daniswara, for their endless love, support, encouragement, motivation,
prayers, and laughter shared during the writer’s life. She loves them so
much. Also her great family for the support during the completion of this
thesis.
i
The writer’s best friends Dirhamsyah (Dirham) and Monik Caesar
Widya Ningsih (Monik) for the love, friendship, and tremendous help and
support so far. Also for her comrade Dian, for those beautiful songs and
his very useful help with her notebook.
The writer’s special colleagues: Yuni Alfiana (Dipaparang), Riko
Sidabutar (Atok), Ulfian Haitami (Upin), Julianti Hairani S
(Dipapakuw), for the friendship, love, helps, laughter and tears, and for
all the sweet and happy memories shared. She loves them all the way and
will never forget them.
All seniors in English Department, especially Kak Xiant, Kak Vidya,
and Bang Agus who have helped her with her thesis. It means a lot to her.
Tya, Eny, Rehan, Wilda, Penk, Atiqah, Tuti and all of the writer’s
friends in Applied Linguistics A and B 2008, for having a great time
studying, taking photographs, gossiping and having lunch in DPR and
under the stairs. She will be missing those memories.
Everyone who has been involved directly or indirectly in the writing of
this thesis that can not be mentioned one by one, and thanks for all the
memories that the writer got during her study at this beloved campus.
Thank you very much. May Allah bless us all. Amin.
Medan, May 2012
The Writer,
Giel Utami Putri
NIM. 208222024
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement ............................................................................................
Abstract .............................................................................................................
Table of Contents .............................................................................................
List of Appendices ............................................................................................
List of Tables ...................................................................................................
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION ..............................................................
A. Background of the Study .............................................................
B. Problem of the Study ...................................................................
C. Objective of the Study .................................................................
D. Scope of the Study .......................................................................
E. Significance of the Study .............................................................
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE .......................
A. Theoretical Framework ................................................................
B. Pragmatics ...................................................................................
1. Speech Acts ............................................................................
2. Types of Speech Acts .............................................................
a. Locutionary Acts ..............................................................
b. Illocutionary Acts .............................................................
c. Perlocutionary Acts ..........................................................
3. Types of Illocutionary Acts ....................................................
a. Declaratives ......................................................................
b. Representatives ................................................................
c. Expressives .......................................................................
d. Directives .........................................................................
e. Commissives ....................................................................
4. The Implication of the Dominant Type of Illocutionary Acts
C. Comedy ........................................................................................
1. Stand-Up Comedy ..................................................................
D. Metro TV .....................................................................................
E. YouTube ......................................................................................
F. The Function of Stand-Up Comedy in the Using of Illocutionary
Acts ............................................................................................
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ....................................................
A. Research Design ..........................................................................
B. Source of Data .............................................................................
C. Technique for Data Collection ....................................................
D. Technique for Data Analysis .......................................................
iv
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CHAPTER IV DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS .......................................
A. The Data ......................................................................................
B. The Types of Illocutionary Acts Used in Stand-Up Comedy ......
C. The Dominant Type of Illocutionary Acts Used in Stand-Up
Comedy ......................................................................................
1. First Show ...............................................................................
2. Second Show ..........................................................................
3. Third Show .............................................................................
4. Fourth Show ...........................................................................
5. Fifth Show ..............................................................................
6. Sixth Show .............................................................................
7. Seventh Show .........................................................................
8. Eighth Show ...........................................................................
9. Ninth Show ............................................................................
10. Tenth Show ..........................................................................
D. The Implication of the Dominant Type of Illocutionary Acts .....
E. The Function of Stand-Up Comedy in the Using of Illocutionary
Acts ............................................................................................
1. Entertaining ...........................................................................
2. Informing ...............................................................................
3. Insinuating .............................................................................
4. Criticizing ..............................................................................
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .........................
A. Conclusions .................................................................................
B. Suggestions ..................................................................................
REFERENCES .................................................................................................
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................
v
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32
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36
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41
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44
46
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52
54
55
55
56
57
59
LIST OF TABLES
Table
Page
Table 1 The Total Number and Percentage of Illocutionary Acts Types ... 31
Table 2 The Dominant Types of Illocutionary Acts Used in Stand-Up
Comedy Show ................................................................................ 32
Table 3 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the First Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 33
Table 4 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Second Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 35
Table 5 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Third Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 36
Table 6 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Fourth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 38
Table 7 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Fifth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 39
Table 8 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Sixth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 41
Table 9 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Seventh Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 43
Table 10 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Eighth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 44
Table 11 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Ninth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 46
Table 12 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Tenth Stand-Up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 47
vii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix
A
B
C
Page
Identification of Functions of the Comics’ Utterances in
Stand-up Comedy Show .......................................................... 59
Identification of Illocutionary Acts Based On the Function of
Stand-up Comedy Show .......................................................... 87
The Transcript of the Selected Stand-up Comedy Show ........ 132
vi
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Language cannot be separated from human in their daily lives. All human
beings can communicate with their respective speech communities using the
language they speak. Besides the primary function of language, which is as a tool
of communication, language also has other functions depending on the users, such
as a means to express themselves, as a means to adapt in one area, as a social
control, as a means to interact, inform, entertain, and so forth. As an example of
using language in comedy, unconsciously, human beings have been using one of
the functions of language, which is entertaining other people.
Comedy, as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work
generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film,
and stand-up comedy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy)
Since a long time ago, comedy has become an important part in the
civilization of humankind. It is proved by the discovery of the king‟s servant such
Semar, Petruk, and Bagong in the tradition of wayang in Java. Historically, they
act as ordinary people who hint at the political and governmental circles through
satirical comedy. It can be said that comedy can also be more than just an
invitation to laugh. But most people today equalize comedy with joke because
generally nowadays, televisions broadcast stories about foolish witty people or
silly jokes which are also called slap-stick. In fact, comedy can be a medium for
2
thinking outside the box about things that happen in everyday life. This is the
point which attempted to be highlighted by stand-up comedy.
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Here the comics, the performer of
stand-up comedy deliver their comedy materials in stand-up state. Usually
material that is delivered is concerning everyday life. The comic is usually
recounted the experience which he considers strange and unusual and
simultaneously include social criticism about an event. However, only certain
people can catch their actions as criticism. Therefore, stand-up comedy is often
called smart humor for demanding the viewers to think logically upon the words
they utter. In this case illocutionary acts is importantly needed.
Illocutionary act is one type of speech acts covered in pragmatics. Just as
people can perform physical acts, such as hitting a baseball, they can also perform
mental acts, such as imagining hitting a baseball. People can also perform another
kind of act simply by using language; these are called speech acts. (Jennedy,
Polletto, Weldon, 1994: 229)
As stated by Peccei (1999: 44), Austin pointed out that in analyzing a
speech act, we need to make a distinction between the locution and illocution. The
locution is the actual form of words used by the speaker and their semantic
meaning. The illocution is what the speaker is doing by uttering those words:
commanding, offering, promising, threatening, thanking, etc. For example, the
locution of the utterance “Give me some cash” would be “Hand some money over
to me”. Meanwhile the illocution of the same utterance is the speaker performed
the act of requesting the addressee to give him some cash. Austin also
3
distinguished a third part of a speech acts namely the perlocution. This is the
actual result of the locution. (Peccei, 1999: 44) For example, the former utterance
could have any of the following perlocutions: „the speaker persuaded the
addressee to give him the money‟; „the addressee refused to give him the money‟,
etc. The perlocution is defined by the addressee‟s reaction. Austin‟s idea that it is
possible to state the necessary conditions for a particular illocution to „count‟ was
developed further by John Searle (Peccei, 1999: 50)
Some say that illocutionary act is the real speech acts. One general
classification system lists five types of general functions performed by speech
acts: declarations, representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives.
(Yule, 1996: 53) Speakers use commissive to commit themselves to do something
in the future. One example from stand-up comedy, “Gue tantang lu, buka
Facebook, lu search aja „satu juta Facebooker…” is counted as commissive
because the speaker guarantee that there will be the group such „satu juta
Facebooker…‟ found on Facebook. Declarative is the kind of illocutionary acts
that change the world via utterances. For example from one of the stand-up
comedy shows: “Gue mau menggunakan kesempatan ini untuk ngomong
sesuatu.” This sentence is counted as declarative because the speaker intends to
change the world from the former of doing nothing to speak something via his
utterances. Directive has the function of getting the listener to do something. For
example, “Gue ga minta ganja dilegalkan, gue minta untuk diturunkan kelasnya.”
This sentence is counted as directive because it is clearly seen that the speaker
asks someone who has the authority in the circulation of marijuana to lower the
4
class of marijuana in Indonesia because it is included in the first class of drugs.
Expressive is used when the speaker wants to express his feeling and attitudes
about something. For example, the sentence “Karena terus terang, gue ga ngerti
sama orang yang kerjanya memburu tren, ga masuk akal.” is counted as
expressive because the speaker expresses his feeling towards the people who hunt
trends. Representative is describing states or events in the world. For example,
“Ganja masuk narkotika kelas satu, dimana dia sama sekali tidak boleh
dimanfaatkan.” This sentence is counted as representative because the speaker
knows for sure that his statement is true.
Many other studies analyze about illocutionary acts in some different
media. Simamora (2010) analyzed the illocutionary acts used in political
caricature utterances in newspaper. The writer of the study intended to avoid
misunderstanding between the speaker and hearer, in this case, the reader, because
she took the utterances from the written media. Pasaribu (2009) analyzed the
illocutionary acts used in a talk show program on television. The writer of the
study intended to find the common illocutionary acts used in the talk show
without explaining further why some types of illocutionary acts are used more
than other types of illocutionary acts.
Based on explanation above, this study will analyze the illocutionary acts
in the stand-up comedy. This study will be useful to know how the comics
perform illocutionary acts in their utterances when they performing stand-up
comedy and how often they produce certain type of illocutionary acts. This study
is also interesting because it will be much to be gained from the comics‟
5
utterances in stand-up comedy because the words they generally produce are
related to the pragmatics meaning and from this study the reader will know why
one type of illocutionary acts is used frequently than other type of illocutionary
acts.
B. Problem of the Study
As related to the background of the study, the problems of the study are
formulated as the following:
1. What types of illocutionary acts are used in stand-up comedy performances in
Indonesia?
2. What is the dominant type of illocutionary acts used in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia?
3. What is the implication of the dominant type of illocutionary acts which used
in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia?
4. Which utterances in stand-up comedy performances show the function of
stand-up comedy?
C. Objective of the Study
In relation to the problems of the study, the objectives of the study are:
1. to find out the types of illocutionary acts in stand-up comedy performances in
Indonesia
2. to discover what type of illocutionary acts is dominant in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia
6
3. to describe the implication of the dominant type of illocutionary acts which is
used in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia
4. to find out which utterances in stand-up comedy performances show the
function of stand-up comedy
D. Scope of the Study
The scope of the study will be limited to the types of illocutionary acts as
found in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia, the implication of the using
of illocutionary acts in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia, and the
function of stand-up comedy. The source of data is taken from the transcription of
the comics‟ utterances in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia.
E. Significance of the Study
The study is expected to be useful for:
1. the readers who want to have wider insight about illocutionary acts, especially
in its application in stand-up comedy
2. the audiences of the stand-up comedy who want to know more about the
application of illocutionary acts in everyday life
3. the fans of the stand-up comedy show who want to know more about the
stand-up comedy show and what is behind the humor of the comics
4. other researchers who are interested in doing further research related to the use
of illocutionary acts
55
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
After analyzing and determining the functions of stand up comedy, the use
of illocutionary acts in stand up comedy performances and also categorizing the
types of illocutionary acts, some conclusions are drawn as follows:
1. All types of illocutionary acts were used in the selected stand-up comedy
performances. Total number of illocutionary acts was 1378, which consisted
of 770 representatives, 315 directives, 224 expressives, 42 declaratives, and 27
commissives.
2. The percentages of each types of illocutionary acts used in the selected standup comedy shows are 55.9% of representatives, 22.9% of directives, 16.2% of
expressives, 3% of declaratives, and 2% of commissives.
3. The type of illocutionary acts which is dominantly used in the selected standup comedy shows was representatives with the total number of 770, and total
percentage of 55.9%. In using representatives, the speaker conveys his belief
that some proposition is true. Indirectly, the comics hope that their statements
could affect the audience, and then they could change their point of view of
something according to the materials conveyed.
4. There is another function of stand-up comedy, in addition to the function of
entertaining, informing, and criticizing, which is insinuating. Thus, there are
four goals of stand-up comedy that was realized in stand-up comedy
56
performances in Indonesia, namely, entertaining, informing, insinuating, and
criticizing. All functions of stand-up comedy can be realized in all types of
illocutionary acts.
B. Suggestions
By considering the conclusions above, there are some suggestions offered:
1. The audience of stand-up comedy show is supposed to have a sense of humor
and broad thinking in order to understand the materials provided by the
comedian. They also must be able to choose the material which aims to build,
and which material is only as entertainment. Moreover, the audience of standup comedy show should have to possess noble hearts to take all given
statements without being easily offended.
2. Besides the students, everyone is also important to study the types of
illocutionary acts, because by understanding this material, it would be easier
for them to understand why and for what purpose someone produces an
utterance.
3. For other researchers who want to have clearer vision of the types of
illocutionary acts application in society or for those who want to make further
research about the use of illocutionary acts in society may have this thesis as a
reference.
REFERENCES
Arikunto, S. 2010. Prosedur Penelitian: Suatu Pendekatan Praktik. Jakarta:
Rineka Cipta.
Clark, H. H., and Clark, E. V. 1977. Psychology and Language: An Introduction
to Psycholinguistics. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Cruse, D. A. 2000. Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and
Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press
Encyclopedia Britannica (Macropaedia) 15th Edition, Vol. 4. I975. Chicago:
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Hurford, J. R., and Heasley, B. 1983. Semantics: a coursebook. London:
Cambridge University Press.
Jennedy, S., Polletto, R. & Weldon, T.L. (eds) 1994. Language Files: Materials
for an Introduction to Language and Linguistics. Columbus: Ohio State
University Press.
Oliver, P. 2004. Writing Your Thesis. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Ownie, S. J., Haswani, F., & Andayani, W. 2011. Pragmatics. Medan: Lecture
Materials.
Parera, J.D. 2004. Teori Semantik. Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga
Palmer, D. J. (ed) 1984. Comedy: Developments in Criticism. London and
Basingstoke: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
Peccei, J. S. 1999. Pragmatics. London: Routledge.
Rahardi, K. 2005. Pragmatik: Kesantunan Imperatif Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta:
Penerbit Erlangga.
Yule, G. 1996. Pragmatics. London: Oxford University Press.
http://arts.monash.edu.au/linguistics/staff/kallan-speech-acts.php
January, 16th, 2012 at 11.00 am)
(accessed
on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy (accessed on November 5th, 2011 at 8.15
pm)
57
58
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_TV (accessed on February 5th, 2012 at 3.45
pm)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-up_comedy (accessed on December 18th, 2011
at 5.40 pm)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube (accessed on February 5th, 2012 at 4.00pm)
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/genpsyqualmeth.html (accessed on November
15th, 2011 at 10.20 pm)
http://www.metrotvnews.com/web/microsite/standupcomedy/ (accessed on
December 18th, 2011 at 6.00 pm)
http://www.pandji.com/ (accessed on December 20th, 2011 at 11.05 pm)
http://www.pc.scu.edu.tw/admin/activites/upload/3.1%20Speech%20Act%20The
ory.pdf (accessed on November 26th, 2011 at 10.05 pm)
http://www.southalabama.edu/coe/bset/johnson/lectures/lec14.htm (accessed on
November 16th, 2011 at 9.48 pm)
http://toelanksingo.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/stand-up-comedy-monolograditya-dika/ (accessed on January, 22nd, 2012 at 11.15 am)
COMEDY
A THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Sarjana Sastra
By
GIEL UTAMI PUTRI
Reg. No.: 208222024
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2012
ABSTRACT
Putri, Giel Utami. 208222024. A Study of Illocutionary Acts in Stand-up
Comedy. A Thesis. Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of
Medan. 2012.
This study deals with the types of illocutionary acts in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia and the function of stand-up comedy. The objectives of
this study were to find out which utterances in stand-up comedy performances in
Indonesia show the function of stand-up comedy, to describe the types of
illocutionary acts which were used in stand-up comedy performances in
Indonesia, to discover the type of illocutionary acts which was dominantly used in
stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia, and to describe the implication of
the dominant type of illocutionary acts which was used in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia. This research was based on descriptive design by
applying both quantitative and qualitative method. It took ten performances of
stand-up comedy which is taken randomly from the internet. The findings of this
study show that there was another function of stand-up comedy in addition to
entertaining, informing, and criticizing, which is insinuating. Based on the
analysis, all types of illocutionary acts were used in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia. There were 1378 illocutionary acts in ten stand-up
comedy performances selected, and the percentages of the data were: 55.9% of
representatives, 22.9% of directives, 16.2% of expressives, 3% of declaratives and
2% of commissives. The most dominant type of illocutionary acts found was
representatives. It shows that in delivering their material, the comics dominantly
convey their belief that some proposition is true and they also indirectly tried to
affect the audience to believe their words.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
Alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alamin, all praise and gratitude the writer dedicate
to Allah SWT for His blessings, mercy, guidance, strength, and help which have
been given to her so she can finish this thesis well.
This thesis was written in order to fulfill one of the requirements to obtain
the degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Department of Faculty of Languages and
Arts, State University of Medan.
In the completion of this thesis, the writer was greatly indebted to many
people which without their help; she will not be able to complete this thesis
properly. Therefore, on this occasion the writer would like to express her gratitude
and appreciation to:
Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si. as the Rector of State University
of Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum. as the Dean of Faculty of Languages and
Arts, State University of Medan and to all her staffs.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd. as the Head of English Department, Dra.
Rahmah, M.Hum. as the Secretary of English Department, and Dra.
Meisuri, MA as the Head of Non-Educational English Program thanks for
their educational and non-educational help during the writer’s academic
years in English Department of State University of Medan.
Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S. as the writer’s Thesis Supervisor who has
helped her patiently finishing this thesis by giving guidance, constructive
suggestions, correction, and motivation, since the preliminary manuscript
until the completion of this thesis.
Drs. Elia Masa Gintings, M.Hum. as the writer’s Academic Counselor
who has given advice and support during her study.
All lecturers of English Department for lessons, advices and useful
knowledge.
Mam Enda and Mam Indri for their kind help in providing academic
administrations to the writer.
The best family of the author, her beloved Mama, Mrs. Dra. Sri Hartati
Ekawati, the truly inspiring number one man, her Papa, Mr.
Burhanuddin, S.H. and her two brothers, Abim Bima Dinata and Daffa
Daniswara, for their endless love, support, encouragement, motivation,
prayers, and laughter shared during the writer’s life. She loves them so
much. Also her great family for the support during the completion of this
thesis.
i
The writer’s best friends Dirhamsyah (Dirham) and Monik Caesar
Widya Ningsih (Monik) for the love, friendship, and tremendous help and
support so far. Also for her comrade Dian, for those beautiful songs and
his very useful help with her notebook.
The writer’s special colleagues: Yuni Alfiana (Dipaparang), Riko
Sidabutar (Atok), Ulfian Haitami (Upin), Julianti Hairani S
(Dipapakuw), for the friendship, love, helps, laughter and tears, and for
all the sweet and happy memories shared. She loves them all the way and
will never forget them.
All seniors in English Department, especially Kak Xiant, Kak Vidya,
and Bang Agus who have helped her with her thesis. It means a lot to her.
Tya, Eny, Rehan, Wilda, Penk, Atiqah, Tuti and all of the writer’s
friends in Applied Linguistics A and B 2008, for having a great time
studying, taking photographs, gossiping and having lunch in DPR and
under the stairs. She will be missing those memories.
Everyone who has been involved directly or indirectly in the writing of
this thesis that can not be mentioned one by one, and thanks for all the
memories that the writer got during her study at this beloved campus.
Thank you very much. May Allah bless us all. Amin.
Medan, May 2012
The Writer,
Giel Utami Putri
NIM. 208222024
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement ............................................................................................
Abstract .............................................................................................................
Table of Contents .............................................................................................
List of Appendices ............................................................................................
List of Tables ...................................................................................................
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION ..............................................................
A. Background of the Study .............................................................
B. Problem of the Study ...................................................................
C. Objective of the Study .................................................................
D. Scope of the Study .......................................................................
E. Significance of the Study .............................................................
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE .......................
A. Theoretical Framework ................................................................
B. Pragmatics ...................................................................................
1. Speech Acts ............................................................................
2. Types of Speech Acts .............................................................
a. Locutionary Acts ..............................................................
b. Illocutionary Acts .............................................................
c. Perlocutionary Acts ..........................................................
3. Types of Illocutionary Acts ....................................................
a. Declaratives ......................................................................
b. Representatives ................................................................
c. Expressives .......................................................................
d. Directives .........................................................................
e. Commissives ....................................................................
4. The Implication of the Dominant Type of Illocutionary Acts
C. Comedy ........................................................................................
1. Stand-Up Comedy ..................................................................
D. Metro TV .....................................................................................
E. YouTube ......................................................................................
F. The Function of Stand-Up Comedy in the Using of Illocutionary
Acts ............................................................................................
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ....................................................
A. Research Design ..........................................................................
B. Source of Data .............................................................................
C. Technique for Data Collection ....................................................
D. Technique for Data Analysis .......................................................
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CHAPTER IV DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS .......................................
A. The Data ......................................................................................
B. The Types of Illocutionary Acts Used in Stand-Up Comedy ......
C. The Dominant Type of Illocutionary Acts Used in Stand-Up
Comedy ......................................................................................
1. First Show ...............................................................................
2. Second Show ..........................................................................
3. Third Show .............................................................................
4. Fourth Show ...........................................................................
5. Fifth Show ..............................................................................
6. Sixth Show .............................................................................
7. Seventh Show .........................................................................
8. Eighth Show ...........................................................................
9. Ninth Show ............................................................................
10. Tenth Show ..........................................................................
D. The Implication of the Dominant Type of Illocutionary Acts .....
E. The Function of Stand-Up Comedy in the Using of Illocutionary
Acts ............................................................................................
1. Entertaining ...........................................................................
2. Informing ...............................................................................
3. Insinuating .............................................................................
4. Criticizing ..............................................................................
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .........................
A. Conclusions .................................................................................
B. Suggestions ..................................................................................
REFERENCES .................................................................................................
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................
v
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LIST OF TABLES
Table
Page
Table 1 The Total Number and Percentage of Illocutionary Acts Types ... 31
Table 2 The Dominant Types of Illocutionary Acts Used in Stand-Up
Comedy Show ................................................................................ 32
Table 3 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the First Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 33
Table 4 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Second Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 35
Table 5 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Third Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 36
Table 6 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Fourth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 38
Table 7 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Fifth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 39
Table 8 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Sixth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 41
Table 9 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Seventh Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 43
Table 10 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Eighth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 44
Table 11 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Ninth Stand-up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 46
Table 12 The Illocutionary Acts Used in the Tenth Stand-Up Comedy
Show .............................................................................................. 47
vii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix
A
B
C
Page
Identification of Functions of the Comics’ Utterances in
Stand-up Comedy Show .......................................................... 59
Identification of Illocutionary Acts Based On the Function of
Stand-up Comedy Show .......................................................... 87
The Transcript of the Selected Stand-up Comedy Show ........ 132
vi
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Language cannot be separated from human in their daily lives. All human
beings can communicate with their respective speech communities using the
language they speak. Besides the primary function of language, which is as a tool
of communication, language also has other functions depending on the users, such
as a means to express themselves, as a means to adapt in one area, as a social
control, as a means to interact, inform, entertain, and so forth. As an example of
using language in comedy, unconsciously, human beings have been using one of
the functions of language, which is entertaining other people.
Comedy, as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work
generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film,
and stand-up comedy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy)
Since a long time ago, comedy has become an important part in the
civilization of humankind. It is proved by the discovery of the king‟s servant such
Semar, Petruk, and Bagong in the tradition of wayang in Java. Historically, they
act as ordinary people who hint at the political and governmental circles through
satirical comedy. It can be said that comedy can also be more than just an
invitation to laugh. But most people today equalize comedy with joke because
generally nowadays, televisions broadcast stories about foolish witty people or
silly jokes which are also called slap-stick. In fact, comedy can be a medium for
2
thinking outside the box about things that happen in everyday life. This is the
point which attempted to be highlighted by stand-up comedy.
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Here the comics, the performer of
stand-up comedy deliver their comedy materials in stand-up state. Usually
material that is delivered is concerning everyday life. The comic is usually
recounted the experience which he considers strange and unusual and
simultaneously include social criticism about an event. However, only certain
people can catch their actions as criticism. Therefore, stand-up comedy is often
called smart humor for demanding the viewers to think logically upon the words
they utter. In this case illocutionary acts is importantly needed.
Illocutionary act is one type of speech acts covered in pragmatics. Just as
people can perform physical acts, such as hitting a baseball, they can also perform
mental acts, such as imagining hitting a baseball. People can also perform another
kind of act simply by using language; these are called speech acts. (Jennedy,
Polletto, Weldon, 1994: 229)
As stated by Peccei (1999: 44), Austin pointed out that in analyzing a
speech act, we need to make a distinction between the locution and illocution. The
locution is the actual form of words used by the speaker and their semantic
meaning. The illocution is what the speaker is doing by uttering those words:
commanding, offering, promising, threatening, thanking, etc. For example, the
locution of the utterance “Give me some cash” would be “Hand some money over
to me”. Meanwhile the illocution of the same utterance is the speaker performed
the act of requesting the addressee to give him some cash. Austin also
3
distinguished a third part of a speech acts namely the perlocution. This is the
actual result of the locution. (Peccei, 1999: 44) For example, the former utterance
could have any of the following perlocutions: „the speaker persuaded the
addressee to give him the money‟; „the addressee refused to give him the money‟,
etc. The perlocution is defined by the addressee‟s reaction. Austin‟s idea that it is
possible to state the necessary conditions for a particular illocution to „count‟ was
developed further by John Searle (Peccei, 1999: 50)
Some say that illocutionary act is the real speech acts. One general
classification system lists five types of general functions performed by speech
acts: declarations, representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives.
(Yule, 1996: 53) Speakers use commissive to commit themselves to do something
in the future. One example from stand-up comedy, “Gue tantang lu, buka
Facebook, lu search aja „satu juta Facebooker…” is counted as commissive
because the speaker guarantee that there will be the group such „satu juta
Facebooker…‟ found on Facebook. Declarative is the kind of illocutionary acts
that change the world via utterances. For example from one of the stand-up
comedy shows: “Gue mau menggunakan kesempatan ini untuk ngomong
sesuatu.” This sentence is counted as declarative because the speaker intends to
change the world from the former of doing nothing to speak something via his
utterances. Directive has the function of getting the listener to do something. For
example, “Gue ga minta ganja dilegalkan, gue minta untuk diturunkan kelasnya.”
This sentence is counted as directive because it is clearly seen that the speaker
asks someone who has the authority in the circulation of marijuana to lower the
4
class of marijuana in Indonesia because it is included in the first class of drugs.
Expressive is used when the speaker wants to express his feeling and attitudes
about something. For example, the sentence “Karena terus terang, gue ga ngerti
sama orang yang kerjanya memburu tren, ga masuk akal.” is counted as
expressive because the speaker expresses his feeling towards the people who hunt
trends. Representative is describing states or events in the world. For example,
“Ganja masuk narkotika kelas satu, dimana dia sama sekali tidak boleh
dimanfaatkan.” This sentence is counted as representative because the speaker
knows for sure that his statement is true.
Many other studies analyze about illocutionary acts in some different
media. Simamora (2010) analyzed the illocutionary acts used in political
caricature utterances in newspaper. The writer of the study intended to avoid
misunderstanding between the speaker and hearer, in this case, the reader, because
she took the utterances from the written media. Pasaribu (2009) analyzed the
illocutionary acts used in a talk show program on television. The writer of the
study intended to find the common illocutionary acts used in the talk show
without explaining further why some types of illocutionary acts are used more
than other types of illocutionary acts.
Based on explanation above, this study will analyze the illocutionary acts
in the stand-up comedy. This study will be useful to know how the comics
perform illocutionary acts in their utterances when they performing stand-up
comedy and how often they produce certain type of illocutionary acts. This study
is also interesting because it will be much to be gained from the comics‟
5
utterances in stand-up comedy because the words they generally produce are
related to the pragmatics meaning and from this study the reader will know why
one type of illocutionary acts is used frequently than other type of illocutionary
acts.
B. Problem of the Study
As related to the background of the study, the problems of the study are
formulated as the following:
1. What types of illocutionary acts are used in stand-up comedy performances in
Indonesia?
2. What is the dominant type of illocutionary acts used in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia?
3. What is the implication of the dominant type of illocutionary acts which used
in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia?
4. Which utterances in stand-up comedy performances show the function of
stand-up comedy?
C. Objective of the Study
In relation to the problems of the study, the objectives of the study are:
1. to find out the types of illocutionary acts in stand-up comedy performances in
Indonesia
2. to discover what type of illocutionary acts is dominant in stand-up comedy
performances in Indonesia
6
3. to describe the implication of the dominant type of illocutionary acts which is
used in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia
4. to find out which utterances in stand-up comedy performances show the
function of stand-up comedy
D. Scope of the Study
The scope of the study will be limited to the types of illocutionary acts as
found in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia, the implication of the using
of illocutionary acts in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia, and the
function of stand-up comedy. The source of data is taken from the transcription of
the comics‟ utterances in stand-up comedy performances in Indonesia.
E. Significance of the Study
The study is expected to be useful for:
1. the readers who want to have wider insight about illocutionary acts, especially
in its application in stand-up comedy
2. the audiences of the stand-up comedy who want to know more about the
application of illocutionary acts in everyday life
3. the fans of the stand-up comedy show who want to know more about the
stand-up comedy show and what is behind the humor of the comics
4. other researchers who are interested in doing further research related to the use
of illocutionary acts
55
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
After analyzing and determining the functions of stand up comedy, the use
of illocutionary acts in stand up comedy performances and also categorizing the
types of illocutionary acts, some conclusions are drawn as follows:
1. All types of illocutionary acts were used in the selected stand-up comedy
performances. Total number of illocutionary acts was 1378, which consisted
of 770 representatives, 315 directives, 224 expressives, 42 declaratives, and 27
commissives.
2. The percentages of each types of illocutionary acts used in the selected standup comedy shows are 55.9% of representatives, 22.9% of directives, 16.2% of
expressives, 3% of declaratives, and 2% of commissives.
3. The type of illocutionary acts which is dominantly used in the selected standup comedy shows was representatives with the total number of 770, and total
percentage of 55.9%. In using representatives, the speaker conveys his belief
that some proposition is true. Indirectly, the comics hope that their statements
could affect the audience, and then they could change their point of view of
something according to the materials conveyed.
4. There is another function of stand-up comedy, in addition to the function of
entertaining, informing, and criticizing, which is insinuating. Thus, there are
four goals of stand-up comedy that was realized in stand-up comedy
56
performances in Indonesia, namely, entertaining, informing, insinuating, and
criticizing. All functions of stand-up comedy can be realized in all types of
illocutionary acts.
B. Suggestions
By considering the conclusions above, there are some suggestions offered:
1. The audience of stand-up comedy show is supposed to have a sense of humor
and broad thinking in order to understand the materials provided by the
comedian. They also must be able to choose the material which aims to build,
and which material is only as entertainment. Moreover, the audience of standup comedy show should have to possess noble hearts to take all given
statements without being easily offended.
2. Besides the students, everyone is also important to study the types of
illocutionary acts, because by understanding this material, it would be easier
for them to understand why and for what purpose someone produces an
utterance.
3. For other researchers who want to have clearer vision of the types of
illocutionary acts application in society or for those who want to make further
research about the use of illocutionary acts in society may have this thesis as a
reference.
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