SPEECH ACT IN THE GREAT GATSBY MOVIE.

SPEECH ACT IN THE GREAT GATSBY MOVIE

A THESIS

Submitted to the English Department of UNIMED In Partial as Fulfillment of the Requirement for

The Degree of Sarjana Sastra

BY :

Zahrina Putri

Registration Number : 2102220018

ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS

LEMBAR PENGESAHAN PEMBIMBING

Skripsi ini diajukan oleh: Zahrina Putri, NIM. 2102220018 Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris

Program Studi Sastra Inggris/S-1 Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni Universitas Negeri Medan

Dinyatakan telah memenuhi persyaratan untuk memperoleh gelar Sarjana Sastra

Medan, Januari 2015

Disetujui oleh: Dosen Pembimbing Skripsi,

LEMBAR PENGESAHAN PANITIA UJIAN

Skripsi ini diajukan oleh: Zahrina Putri, NIM. 2102220018 Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris

Program Studi Sastra Inggris/S-1 Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni Universitas Negeri Medan

Dinyatakan telah memenuhi syarat untuk memperoleh gelar

Sarjana Sastra

Panitia Ujian

Medan, Januari 2015 Ketua,

Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum NIP. 19641207 199103 2 002

Sekretaris,

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The writer would like to thank Allah SWT for all the blessing, guarding, guidance and for everything that have been given along her life, especially in accomplishing this thesis. This thesis is aimed to fulfill one of the requirements to obtain the S1 degree of Sarjana Sastra at English Department in Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.

In completing this thesis, the writer has received a lot of assistance and academic support from some people. Therefore, the writer would like to express her sincere gratitude, love and special thanks to:

 Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si., the Rector of State University of

Medan.

 Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts.

 Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English Department as the

reviewer at Seminar Proposal., Dra. Meisuri, M.A., as Secretary of English Department, Dra. Rahmah, M.Hum., the Head of English Literature Study Program.

 Dra. Sri Juriati Ownie, M.A., her Thesis Adviser.

 Dra. Tjut Ernidawaty, M.Pd., her Reviewer.

 Drs. Elia Masa Gintings, M.Hum., her Reviewer.

 All beloved lecturers in English and Literature Department who advised and guided the writer during academic years.

 Her beloved parents, Drs.Syafari, M.Pd and Azizah Ba’awab to whom this thesis is dedicated for their endless patient, pray, love, moral and financial support. And also thanks for the love, support and great care all the time from her sisters Nadira Elfira and Nadia Elfilla.

 Her friends Devi, Pijah, Bintang, Kiko, Dona, Ecik, Irwan, Muis, Adi, Novinda, Eka Presetya, Dini, Syeiha, Romeo and Cimot who always share

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Applied Linguistics A and B Reg’10, that could not be mentioned one by

one. Thanks for their support, informations, encouragement, and beautiful day spent together.

Without their deep and sympathetic understanding, this thesis could not complete. Over all, the writer hopes this thesis can give a bit contribution to the Applied Linguistics. Therefore, comments, critics, suggestions, and advices are expected from the readers.

Medan, Januari 2015 The Writer,

Zahrina Putri

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1 Table of the Great Gatsby Movie Analysis ... 42

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Language is one of media which cannot be separated from human life. Human uses language in their speech, either spoken or written. Language is used every day by everybody to communicate with others.

According to Littlejohn (2002) communication is one of the most persuasive, important and complex aspects of human life.

In many forms of communications, people need language to deliver their message and also express themselves. When people express themselves, they do not only produce utterances containing grammatical structures and words, they

also perform actions via those utterances (Yule 1996).

For example, when someone said “can you stop by in a minute?”, he or she

performed a request although the sentence he or she produces in the form of a question. This kind of action performed via utterances is called a Speech Act.

According to Yule (1996) speaker normally expects that his or her

communication intention will be recognized by the hearer. Commonly, speech is given for specific intention, such as apology (I’m sorry), complaint (yesterday’s

show was the worst), compliment (I really like your tie), invitation (we’re having a party tomorrow. I’d like you to come), promise (I’ll visit you next week), or

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Most people know that speech is just a matter of producing utterances containing grammatical structures and words. In fact, there are actions implied in

those utterances.Speech Act discusses what other people mean in their utterances. People might be mistaking between Speech Act and Speech Function.

Both are discusing about what is performed by a speaker in his utterances. In Speech Function, it focuses on analyzing the function performed in one’s

utterances, meanwhile Speech Act focuses on the action implied in an utterances.

Speech Act can be found in a communication. One of them is in a movie, since a movie tells a story about human activities.

Considering of how people are addicted toward movie, the writer decided to analyze speech acts in a movie. A movie consists of many dialogues between

its characters that can be analyzed using the speech act theory. Therefore, the writer chose a movie entitled The Great Gatsby, which is based on a 1920’s novel

with the same title.

Considering how the speaker uses the language in the social interaction with others, the usage of speech is also used in a movie because a movie is

actually a representation of a real conversation in natural society and also one of the medium where Speech Act can be found.

The writer studied pragmatics and becomes interested in Speech Act which

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writer to choose analyzing Speech Act in a movie. By analyzing Speech Act uttered in a movie, it helps the audience to understand more about the movie.

The research about Speech Act has also been done by Maeda Elsera Siagian (2010)with the topic “An Analysis of Speech Act in Billboard”. Maeda

focuses on the words contained in cigarette billboards. The resercher concerned about how cigarette is advertised through the words. After analyzing the data, she found out that there were some Speech Acts in Billboard and the dominant one

used is representative.

Other study on Speech Act field was cunducted by Caleb T. Carr (2012).,

who was focusing on Speech Act within Facebook Status Messages. Content analysis of the data revealed that status messages were most frequently

constructed with expressive speech acts, followed by assertives. Additionally, humor was integrated into almost 20% of the status messages.

Illyas and Khushi (2012) also studied about Speech Act in facebook status

updates. The results revealed that status messages were most frequently constructed with expressive speech acts, followed by assertives and directives. In

addition, a new category of poetic verses was also found in the data. The findings also showed that various socialization patterns emerge through the sharing of feelings, information and ideas.

The other study was done by Ariff and Mugables (2013), the result of the analysis of Speech Act of Promising among Jordanians was that Jordanians for

self-4

aggrandizing expressions, time expressions, courtesy-like expressions, swearing in Jordanian Arabic that are utilized by Jordanians to forge promises with

reference to expressions, adjacency pairs and false promises.

Moreover, the analysis of this article have shown that there is a gender

difference in the use of linguistic forms in the speech act of promising among Jordanian, i.e, use of body-expressions among women once they issue their promises. In account of that, women typically speak and hear a language of

connection and intimacy stressin confirmations and support within their specific online communities.

The reason of choosing this movie is because the writer wanted to let people know that Gatsby is a fictional character from a novel. The name Gatsby is

known by many people but only a few know where it is come from.. And the other reason is The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz

Age or the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. Roaring Twenties is the era known for the

unprecedented economic prosperity, the evolution of jazz music, flapper culture, and bootlegging and other criminal activity.

Based on the explanation above the writer decided to analyze Speech Act

in The Great Gatsby movie because she wants to know the meaning of the dialogues said by the characters. It is also very helpful to understand more about

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B. The Problem of the Study

1. What types of Speech Act are uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby

movie?

2. What is the dominant type of Speech Act are uttered by Jay Gatsby in The

Great Gatsby movie?

3. What is the implication of the dominant type of Speech Act uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby movie?

C. The Objective of the Study

1. To find out types of speech act uttered by Jay GatsbyinThe Great Gatsby movie.

2. To find out types of Speech Act that is dominantly uttered byJay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby movie.

3. To find out the implication of the dominant type of Speech Act uttered by

Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby movie.

D. The Scope of the Study

This study focuses on analyzing Speech Acts in TheGreat Gatsby movie. To avoid a wider discussion, the writer limits this study only on the analysis of Jay Gatsby’s utterances in the movie.

The writer uses George Yule’s theory to identify the Speech Act found in

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to its function become the scope of the study such as; declarations, representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives.

E. The Significance of the Study

This study is expected to give valuable contribution theoretically and practically. Theoretically, the result of this study is expected to contribute on the development of pragmatic study, especially on how to analyze text using the speech act theory.

Practically, the result of this research is expected to be useful:

1. For Student of English Department. It is expected that the students obtain

more information about Speech Act, especially Speech Act of action based on appropriate situational context.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions

After the data has been analyzed, it can be concluded as the following:

1. There are four types of Speech Act uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby Movie. The total number of utterances are 217 utterances. The precentages of those Speech Act are commisives (13%), representatives (

39%), directives (31%), expressives (17%).

2. The dominant type of Speech Act Uttered by Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby Movie is Representatives (39%).

3. The implication of the dominant type uterred is that Gatsby’s previous life who was from a very poor family and dreaming to be rich and also how his

love left him because of his poverty is the main reason why he boasts everything he has. He doesn’t want to be looked down by other people so

he shows off everything that he has to keep his pride high

B. Suggestions

Related to the conclusion above, the suggestion which are useful for the reader are the following; theoretically, the result of this study is expected to contribute on the development of pragmatic study, especially on how to analyze

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Practically, the result of this research is expected to be useful:

1. For Student of English Department. It is expected that the students obtain

more information about Speech Act, especially Speech Act of action based on appropriate situational context.