vii ABSTRACT
Asri, Nurita Sekar. (2015). Gracie Hart’s women’s language in Miss Congeniality
movie. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program. Department of Language and Arts Education. Faculty of Teachers Training and Education Sanata Dharma University.
This research analyzes women’s language used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie. The way Gracie Hart delivered her speech is a bit different since she worked as an FBI agent and most of her colleagues were men. Therefore, it
encouraged the researcher to conduct a study on women’s language appeared in
Hart’s speech in the Miss Congeniality movie.
There are two research problems in this study: (1) What are the women’s language features used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie? (2) What factors influence the changes of women’s language from femininity into masculinity? In order to answer those two research questions, the researcher applied Lakoff’s (1973 & 2004) theories and Holmes’ (1992) theory about women’s language; Eckert’s (2006) theory about community of practice; McElhinny’s (1995) theory about women in professions; also Morawski’s (1987) theory about psychological view.
This research applied qualitative research in which discourse analysis and document analysis were used in conducting the research. The researcher as human instrument involved significantly to collect the data needed for the research. The researcher also used movie transcript of Miss Congeniality.
Based on the research findings, the researcher discovered six women’s language features used by Gracie Hart. There are hypercorrect grammar, intensifiers, fillers, rising intonations, lexical hedges, and tag questions. On the other hand, the researcher did not find the rest of the features which are emphatic stress, empty adjectives, precise color term, superpolite form, and avoidance of strong swear word. Besides, the researcher found three possible factors which might influence the changes of women’s language. There are community of practice, women in professions, and psychological view.
viii ABSTRAK
Asri, Nurita Sekar. (2015). Gracie Hart’s women’s language in Miss Congeniality
movie.Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini menganalisis bahasa perempuan yang digunakan oleh Gracie Hart dalam film Miss Congeniality. Cara Gracie Hart berbicara sedikit berbeda dengan wanita pada umumnya karena dia bekerja sebagai agen FBI yang sebagian besar rekan-rekannya adalah laki-laki. Hal itu mendorong peneliti untuk melakukan penelitian tentang bahasa perempuan yang diucapkan oleh Hart di film Miss Congeniality.
Ada dua rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini: (1) Apa saja karakteristik bahasa perempuan yang digunakan oleh Gracie Hart dalam film Miss Congeniality? (2) Apa saja faktor yang mempengaruhi perubahan bahasa perempuan dari feminitas ke maskulinitas? Untuk menjawab kedua rumusan masalah tersebut, peneliti menerapkan teori Lakoff (1973 & 2004) dan teori Holmes (1992) tentang bahasa perempuan; teori Eckert (2006) tentang komunitas praktek; Teori McElhinney (1995) tentang perempuan dalam profesi; dan juga teori Morawski (1987) tentang pandangan psikologis.
Penelitian ini menggunakan penelitian kualitatif di mana analisis wacana dan dokumen digunakan dalam melakukan penelitian. Peneliti berperan sebagai “human instrument” yang terlibat secara signifikan untuk mengumpulkan data yang diperlukan untuk penelitian. Peneliti juga menggunakan transkrip film Miss Congeniality untuk menganalisis data.
Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, peneliti menemukan enam karakteristik bahasa perempuan yang digunakan oleh Gracie Hart yaitu hypercorrect grammar, intensifiers, fillers, rising intonations, lexical hedges dan tag questions. Di sisi lain, peneliti tidak menemukan emphatic stress, empty adjectives, precise color term, superpolite form dan avoidance of strong swear word. Selain itu, peneliti menemukan tiga faktor yang mungkin mempengaruhi perubahan bahasa perempuan. Ketiga faktor tersebut adalah komunitas praktek, perempuan dalam profesi dan pandangan psikologis.
GRACIE HART
’S WOMEN’S LANGUAGE
IN MISS CONGENIALITY MOVIE
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Nurita Sekar Asri Student Number: 111214123
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
GRACIE HART’S
WOMEN
’S
LANGUAGE
IN MISS CONGENIALITY MOVIE
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Nurita Sekar Asri Student Number: 111214123
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
iv
DEDICATION PAGE
Every challenging work needs great efforts as well as guidance
especially those who are very close to my heart.
My great efforts I dedicate to my beloved
Father and Mother,
vii ABSTRACT
Asri, Nurita Sekar. (2015). Gracie Hart’s women’s language in Miss Congeniality
movie. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program. Department of Language and Arts Education. Faculty of Teachers Training and Education Sanata Dharma University.
This research analyzes women’s language used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie. The way Gracie Hart delivered her speech is a bit different since she worked as an FBI agent and most of her colleagues were men. Therefore, it
encouraged the researcher to conduct a study on women’s language appeared in
Hart’s speech in the Miss Congeniality movie.
There are two research problems in this study: (1) What are the women’s language features used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie? (2) What factors influence the changes of women’s language from femininity into masculinity? In order to answer those two research questions, the researcher applied Lakoff’s (1973 & 2004) theories and Holmes’ (1992) theory about women’s language; Eckert’s (2006) theory about community of practice; McElhinny’s (1995) theory about women in professions; also Morawski’s (1987) theory about psychological view.
This research applied qualitative research in which discourse analysis and document analysis were used in conducting the research. The researcher as human instrument involved significantly to collect the data needed for the research. The researcher also used movie transcript of Miss Congeniality.
Based on the research findings, the researcher discovered six women’s language features used by Gracie Hart. There are hypercorrect grammar, intensifiers, fillers, rising intonations, lexical hedges, and tag questions. On the other hand, the researcher did not find the rest of the features which are emphatic stress, empty adjectives, precise color term, superpolite form, and avoidance of strong swear word. Besides, the researcher found three possible factors which might influence the changes of women’s language. There are community of practice, women in professions, and psychological view.
viii ABSTRAK
Asri, Nurita Sekar. (2015). Gracie Hart’s women’s language in Miss Congeniality
movie.Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini menganalisis bahasa perempuan yang digunakan oleh Gracie Hart dalam film Miss Congeniality. Cara Gracie Hart berbicara sedikit berbeda dengan wanita pada umumnya karena dia bekerja sebagai agen FBI yang sebagian besar rekan-rekannya adalah laki-laki. Hal itu mendorong peneliti untuk melakukan penelitian tentang bahasa perempuan yang diucapkan oleh Hart di film Miss Congeniality.
Ada dua rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini: (1) Apa saja karakteristik bahasa perempuan yang digunakan oleh Gracie Hart dalam film Miss Congeniality? (2) Apa saja faktor yang mempengaruhi perubahan bahasa perempuan dari feminitas ke maskulinitas? Untuk menjawab kedua rumusan masalah tersebut, peneliti menerapkan teori Lakoff (1973 & 2004) dan teori Holmes (1992) tentang bahasa perempuan; teori Eckert (2006) tentang komunitas praktek; Teori McElhinney (1995) tentang perempuan dalam profesi; dan juga teori Morawski (1987) tentang pandangan psikologis.
Penelitian ini menggunakan penelitian kualitatif di mana analisis wacana dan dokumen digunakan dalam melakukan penelitian. Peneliti berperan sebagai “human instrument” yang terlibat secara signifikan untuk mengumpulkan data yang diperlukan untuk penelitian. Peneliti juga menggunakan transkrip film Miss Congeniality untuk menganalisis data.
Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, peneliti menemukan enam karakteristik bahasa perempuan yang digunakan oleh Gracie Hart yaitu hypercorrect grammar, intensifiers, fillers, rising intonations, lexical hedges dan tag questions. Di sisi lain, peneliti tidak menemukan emphatic stress, empty adjectives, precise color term, superpolite form dan avoidance of strong swear word. Selain itu, peneliti menemukan tiga faktor yang mungkin mempengaruhi perubahan bahasa perempuan. Ketiga faktor tersebut adalah komunitas praktek, perempuan dalam profesi dan pandangan psikologis.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest gratitude for those who have helped, supported, and guided me in the process of finishing my thesis. First of all, I praise ALLAH SWT for his blessings and love so that I can finish my thesis.
Secondly, I would like to express my thankfulness to my beloved parents who have raised, educated, supported, and loved me so much. My special thanks are also presented to my handsome brothers, Ikhwan, Ragil, and Catur. I would like to thank Gilang for accompanying me from the very beginning until the end of the process to finish this thesis.
My deepest thanks go to my thesis advisor and also the chairperson of the English Language Education Study Program, Paulus Kuswandono, Ph.D., who takes his time to hear, guide, and keep me on the right path. I acknowledge his guidance and assistance during the thesis writing process until the accomplishment of this thesis. I would like to express my sincere thankfulness to my academic supervisor, Yuseva Ariyani Iswandari, S.Pd., M.Ed., for giving me advice and guidance during my study in this study program. Moreover, I would also like to thank all lecturers in ELESP for the excellent skills and knowledge which I gained throughout my study in Sanata Dharma University.
x
given me care and support. I would also like to express my gratitude to those who could not be mentioned in these acknowledgements.
I am so grateful for having a chance to meet inspiring and wonderful people. Without them, I might have never finished my thesis. I thank them once again for their support in the completion of my thesis.
xi
5) Rising Intonation on Declaratives ... 15
6) Empty Adjectives ... 16
4. The Roots of Femininity and Masculinity... 22
5. Measuring Femininity and Masculinity ... 24
a. Psychological Approach ... 24
b. Sociological Approach ... 25
xii
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ... 36
E. Data Analysis Technique ... 37
F. Research Procedure ... 40
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION A. Women’s language features ... 43
1. Hypercorrect Grammar ... 44
2. Filler ... 47
3. Intensifier ... 48
4. Rising Intonation on Declaratives ... 50
5. Lexical Hedge ... 51
6. Tag Question ... 52
B. Factors That Influence The Changes of Women’s Language ... 53
1. Community of Practice ... 53
2. Women in the Profession ... 55
3. Psychological Approach ... 57
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND
A. List of Women’s Language Features Based on Hart’s Speech in Miss Congeniality Movie………. 70
xiii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Stereotype Traits of Femininity and Masculinity ... 24
Table 3.1 Example of table for women’s language features spoken by Gracia Hart in
Miss Congeniality movie ... 38
Table 4.1 The occurrence of women’s language features spoken by Gracie Hart in
1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of six parts. They are the background of the study, the research questions, the problem limitation, the research objectives, the research benefit, and the definition of the terms. The background of the study concerns with the reason of choosing the topic. Moreover, it also presents why the topic is worth studying. The research questions deal with the problems that will be analyzed in chapter four. The problem limitation is the scope and the focus of the study. The objectives of the study provide the purpose of this study. The next part is the benefit of the study. The last part is the definition of terms which contains important information needed to be explained further.
A. Research Background
information and the interpersonal aspects of communication.In an interaction among people, there are some parts of their speeches’ messages that need to be emphasized or lowered to show their interpersonal aspect. People use language to express the intention to say from other people. Through sociolinguistics the researcher can investigate the influence of language in society.
Holmes (2001) states that sociolinguistics is a study of the relation between language and society. It explains why people use language in different social context. Sociolinguistics deals with real speech within and among communities. They focus on the way language is used in a social context which determines a social group to where it belongs, for example, the use of different dialects used by people who belong to different communities.
Individuals are differentiated by their sexes; man and woman. Each individual has its characteristics on the use of language and it actually reflects society to a great extent. O’Loughlin (2000) points out that “the differences between the language used by men and women have been extensively observed and that male and female conversational styles are quite distinct” (p.2). It means men and women differ in the way they talk and one of the differences between the sexes is the unique ways that men and women communicate. Individual’s sex is reflected through his or her language. When working with language, a person sometimes hears the expressions ‘female language’ and ‘male language’. Sociolinguists find differences in language
women communicate is characterized by women’s language features which differ
from men. Women’s language features provided by Lakoff (1975) is one of the ways to show how people especially women convey the interpersonal message of their speeches.
Kress and Hodge (1979) state that language as a social phenomenon reflects not only the gender identity but also the attitudes towards men and women. As time goes by, it is possible for a woman nowadays whose appearance, attitude, and speech are almost the same as a man and vice versa.
This research studies the movie Miss Congeniality. The movie used for this study is directed by Donald Petrie, a well-known director in the United States. The movie was released in the United States on December 22nd, 2000. The researcher used
Miss Congeniality movie because the main character is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) female agent. Since most FBI agents are male, the main character who is a woman is surrounded by males most of the time. The researcher wants to find out whether the main character still uses women’s language or not.
The movie is about FBI female agent named Gracie Hart who shows no signs of having any femininity in her attitude or appearance. Sheworks for the bureau with Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt) as a Special Agent. As she works in man’s workplace, she does not show and suppress her femininity.
annual Miss United States beauty pageant in San Antonio, Texas from notorious domestic terrorist "Citizen".
Since Hart is chosen to be a contestant as Miss New Jersey, she has to complete the mission although she pays little attention on her femininity. The coach Victor Melling teaches the tomboyish Hart how to dress, walk, and act like a contestant. Actually, she is not used to such behavior but she has to do that.
This study reveals how language is used by women. Gracie Hart shows the significant differences compared to the way women communicate and behave. The difference in language use between men and women is a consequence of male dominance and female subordination (Lakoff, 1975). On the other hand, Coates (1988) believes that men and women belong to different subcultures and that any linguistic differences can be attributed to cultural differences. Actually, language helps people to create identity and gender so the language of men and women were noticed as being very different from one another.
This research is expected to enrich the examples of phenomena related to women’s language features comprehensively. This analysis will begin with how
language is used by women by looking at a movie entitled Miss Congeniality. By analyzing the movie, the researcher will examine some evidences of women’s language features and find out how women change the femininity into masculinity in the way they speak.
Idol season 12 by Diana Chandra (2010). In this research, the use of women’s language used by Nicky Minaj appeared to be different from the use of it by common women. Women’s language features which appeared in Nicky Minaj were intensifier, emphatic stress, filler, rising intonation, and lexical hedge. From the features that appeared in Nicky Minaj’s speech, the researcher tried to analyze the relation between the theories of the possible factors that cause the absence of women’s
language features.
Besides, Ciciliawati (2010) also analyzed similar topic about the use of women’s language in a live radio talk show, Chatville in Instakalisa Yogyakarta 96.2
FM. In that research, nine women were given a topic about some events like The Super LOs, Korean Day 2013, and English Monologue 2013. They talked about whatever they wanted. There were eight women’s language features employed in
Chatville in Istakalisa Yogyakarta 96.2 FM, which were lexical hedges and fillers, question tags, rising intonation, ‘empty’ adjectives, intensifiers, intensifiers,
hypercorrect grammar, superpolite form, and emphatic stress. The research showed that women frequently use the women’s language features.
The previous research attracted the researcher’s interest to analyze more about women’s language used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie. It is important to discuss because it presents more about women’s language features use compared to
B. Research Questions
Based on the background of study stated above, this study intends to answer two questions:
1. What are the women’s language features used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie?
2. What factors influence the changes of women’s language from femininity into masculinity?
C. Problem Limitation
This research focuses on two points. The first is women’s language features in
Miss Congeniality movie. This study also includes the Miss Congeniality movie starred by Sandra Bullock as Gracie Hart. The researcher only focuses on one character because she appears frequently than others do, which means she is the main character in the movie. The features of women’s language are analyzed only through dialogue uttered by Hart.
In the second part, the researcher gives some points to describe the factors that influence the changes of women’s language from femininity into masculinity. This process describes the factors of the changes of women’s language in Hart’s speech.
D. Research Objectives
of women’s language used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality. Second, this study
aims to find out factors influencing the changes of women’s language from femininity into masculinity.
E. Research Benefits
The researcher believes that this study will contribute and will be beneficial for the readers especially for those who deal with language. They are:
1. English Language Education Study Program Students
This study will be useful for the study of English linguistics and literature. This study will help students know more about the features of women language. Through this study, the students can enrich their knowledge towards women’s language which is learned in Sociolinguistics class. For example, this study can be a reference about one of the branches in sociolinguistics, namely women’s language. Moreover, this study will also help the students know the message of the speech which is used by women and to know how to use language appropriately.
2. English Lecturers
the factors of the changes of women’s language which are not explained deeply in Sociolinguistics class.
3. Readers
This study provides useful information related to women’s language and hopefully it can broaden readers’ knowledge of existing women’s language. Moreover, men’s and women’s language are different. This study is expected to provide information to readers on the language used by men and women which is quite distinct so that the readers can avoid stereotyping about women’s language.
4. Future Researchers
This study will hopefully be a good reference to future researchers to conduct further research on Sociolinguistics. This study will also give valuable information to help future researchers to conduct research under a similar topic and enrich the existing research in the field of women’s language features.
F. Definition of Terms
1. Women’s language
Women use language differently compared to men. Those differences lead the women in subordinate position in society (Eckret & Ginet, 2003, p.19). Lakoff (1975) states that women were using language which reinforced their subordinate status. They were colluding in their own subordination by the way they spoke. The language that makes women as subordinate group is known as women’s language.
There are women’s language features which are used in women language. The women’s features are lexical hedge or filler, intensifier, emphatic stress, tag question, rising intonation on declaratives, ‘empty’ adjectives, precise color terms,
‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, and avoidance of strong swear word.
Lakoff (1975) notes that “men’s language is superior and the norm from which women deviates. A number of language features that are used by women express uncertainty and lack of confidence” (p.38). It means that women’s language makes women have a lower position in society.
2. Miss Congeniality Movie
Miss Congeniality is an American movie directed by Donald Petrie. In brief, this movie is about an FBI female agent named Gracie Hart who shows no signs of having any femininity in her attitude or appearance. She has to join the team working the case which forces her to be a Miss New Jersey.
11
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of two parts. They are the theoretical description and the theoretical framework. In the theoretical description, the researcher reviews some theories used in this study. In the theoretical framework, the researcher will elaborate how to use the theories for analyzing the movie.
A. Theoretical description 1. Women’s Language
Men and women show that gender aspect is influential in the way they present their language. Moreover, women use language differently compared to men. According to Cheshire (1984), an individual’s age, socio-economic class, and sex are
a. Features of Women’s Language
Generally, the differences of gender determine the expressional approaches to speak the same language, even utterance in the same content. According to Lakoff (1975), there are some features which are used more often by women than men to express women’s uncertainty and lack of confidence. These features are labeled as women’s language. Lakoff (1975) states that there are several women’s language
features, including lexical hedge or filler, intensifier, emphatic stress, tag question, rising intonation on declaratives, ‘empty’ adjectives, precise color terms,
‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, and avoidance of strong swear word.
1) Lexical Hedge or Filler
Lakoff (1975) states that lexical hedge are “parts of lexical hedging which can be used to weaken the strength of an assertion” (p.48). There is also distinction between ‘fillers’ and ‘hedges’, with sort of, kind of classified as a hedge, while well
and you seedescribed as ‘meaningless particles’ and assigned to the same category as
‘pause fillers’ such as uh, um, and ah (Holmes, 2008, p. 315). However, lexical
Lakoff identifies lexical hedges are means of expressing uncertainty or tentativeness. In society, women have a lower position than men, so they talk indirectly and tend to speak more politely. For instance, sort of isused to weaken the strength of an assertion that might cause offense, as in ‘John is sort ofshort’. It shows that the speaker talks about a thing politely so as not to offend others. Besides, “women use hedges to arise out of a fear of seeming too masculine by seeing
assertive and saying things directly” (Lakoff & Bucholtz, 2004, p.79).
2) Intensifier
Intensifier indicates on increase or decrease of the intensifying with which she expressed. The intensifier (e.g. really, so, very) is supposed to strengthen the intended meaning (Holmes, 2008, p.323). For instance, so as in ‘I like him so much!’ shows that women use intensifier to show their excitement by making strong assertion in their utterance. The use of intensifier is used more frequently by women than men. Lakoff (2004) also states that it has subsequently been viewed as a boosting device.
3) Emphatic Stress
Emphatic stress is used to show that women tend to emphasize the most important word in their sentence (Lakoff & Bucholtz, 2004). Emphatic stress refers to speaking in italics as the strong expression that are shown by women, as in ‘What a
states that women use-the-top emphasis because they anticipate not being taken seriously.
4) Tag Questions
Tag question is “syntactic device” which expresses uncertainty. “The tags
contain an inverted auxiliary form, determined by the auxiliary in the main clause, and the pronoun that agrees with the subject of the main clause” (Eckert & Ginet,
2003, p.167). For instance, “It’s a fantail, isn’t it?” or “That was a bit of a daft thing
to do, wasn’t it?” Based on the examples, they turn a statement into a question, so
that its force is reduced. According to Lakoff (1975), tag question refers to indications of approval-seeking. Moreover, by using tag question a woman wants to get a confirmation of her claim from the addressee.
According to Holmes (2008), there are four functions of tag questions. They are to express uncertainty, to show positive politeness devices, to soften a directive or a criticism, and to show confrontational and coercive devices. First, tag question functions to express uncertainty. A woman inserts tag question at the end of the sentence is not to ask, but to show uncertainty about what she is saying. For instance,
“English test is tomorrow, isn’t it?” In this case, it shows that the speaker is not really sure and tries to look for other’s confirmations. Second, tag question functions
example, (a) “Andrew, this is our new neighbor, Frank. Andrew has just changed
jobs, haven’t you?” (b) “Yes, I am now a well-paid computer programmer instead of
a poorly paid administrative assistant”. In this case, the speaker provides the guest
with a topic of conversation. Tag question in that case makes it easier for the guest to participate in the conversation. Third, tag question functions to soften a directive or a criticism. Someone who wants to criticize others often uses it. For instance,” That
was a bit of a daft thing to do, wasn’t it?” In this case, the tag functions not to
express uncertainty, but rather reflects concern for the addressee’s feelings. Sometimes, women use this tag to show politeness even though it criticizes someone. Fourth, tag question functions as a confrontational and coercive device. This tag is used to force feedback from an uncooperative addressee. For instance, a police superintendent is interviewing a detective constable and is criticizing the constable’s
performance. “Now you fully understand that, don’t you?” The tag in that case functions not to hedge but rather to strengthen the negative force of the utterance in which it occurs. It emphasizes the negative force that is not cooperative (Holmes, 2008).
5) Rising Intonation on Declaratives
There is an intonation-pattern in a declarative answer which is actually used as a question. This is Lakoff’s example: (a) “When will dinner be ready?” (b) “ohh…
around six o’clock?” Based on this case, it could be seen that the answer from
speaker a turns into a question when it has a rising intonation in it. This is supposed to turn a statement into a question, thereby weakening the force of it making the speaker sound uncertain.
6) Empty Adjectives
Many words have affective meaning to do with expressing feeling, not referential meaning which referring to some objects or state of affairs. Lakoff (1975) suggests that there are many adjectives used in expressing approval or admiration which are marked as feminine, such as divine, adorable, and charming.
Representative lists of both types are below:
Neutral
Women only
Great Adorable
Terrific Charming
Cool Sweet
Neat Lovely
Divine
7) Precise Color Term
Women make more precise discriminations in naming colors than men do. It means women tend to differentiate all colors in detail. They are like beige, ecru, aquamarine, lavender, and those are unremarkable in a woman’s vocabulary, but absent from that of most men. Women often use those colors but men find such discussion amusing because they consider them trivial and irrelevant to the real world (Lakoff, 1975). It is agreed that this lexical disparity reflects a social inequity in the position of women.
Lakoff (1973) states that “men tend to relegate to women things that are not of concern to them, or do not involve their egos” (p.6). Since women have a lower position in society, there is no one who can force men to use those color terms. Moreover, Lakoff (1975) points out that we might rephrase this point by saying that since women are not expected to make decisions on important matters, such as what kind of job to hold, they are relegated to non-crucial decisions.
8) Hypercorrect Grammar
using standard forms. Women are designed the role of modeling correct behavior in the community. Then, the society expects women to speak correctly and standardly, especially when they are serving as models for children’s speech.
9) Superpolite Forms
Women tend to use superpolite form to avoid using swear words and extensive use of euphemism (Lakoff, 1975). Euphemisms are veiled, indirect expressions (passed away instead of died, put down instead of killed). Women often use euphemism to utter the taboo things in daily conversation. They are supposed to be polite by selecting the appropriate words in their speech. For instance, (a):“Would
you mind closing the door for me?” or (b)“Close the door!” Women tend to use (a)
rather than (b) because it is more polite. Moreover, the purpose of the sentences is similar which is to order someone to do something.
10) Avoidance of Strong Swear Word
Swearing is considered as a strong feeling. Women who use swear words are supposed to be ‘unladylike’. According to Eckert & Ginet (2003), swearing is
considered as a strong language that shows profanity that is unsuitable for women and children.
Lakoff and Bucholtz (2004) provide two different examples between women and men. For instance, (a) Oh dear, you’ve put the peanut butter in the refrigerator
examples, Lakoff and Bucholtz (2004) state that people would easily identify speaker (a) as a woman and (b) as a man. The speaker (a) avoids using swear words by using
(oh dear) when she gets upset. It shows that the speaker (a) is a woman. While the speaker (b) uses a strong swear word (shit). Men use swear words in order to show their superior position to the addressee and to express the strong feeling.
Based on the features above; lexical hedge or filler, intensifier, emphatic stress, tag question, rising intonation on declaratives, ‘empty’ adjectives, precise color terms, ‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, and avoidance of strong
swear words actually effect in women’s language as inferior. Lakoff (1975) notes that “men’s language is superior and the norm from which women deviates” (p.38). Moreover, for gender differences in language use in terms of women’s deficiencies
does not match up to men’s.
2. Dominance
A dominance approach shows a traditional and negative evaluation of women language, which is a direct consequence of women’s political and cultural subordination to men. Cameron (1992) explains that “male dominance as operative in the everyday verbal interactions of women and men, in turn giving rise to linguistic reflexes of dominance and subordination” (p.306). Lakoff (1975) also argues that
All men are in a position to dominate all women (Spender, 1985). She also notes that “men have a monopoly on the production of meaning, and therefore on the production of our perception of reality. In contrast, women’s meanings are not
encoded in the language so that the reality is defined by men” (p.42). According to Spender (1985), men effectively block women’s versions of reality and women’s positions are systematically suppressed.
According to Uchida (1998), dominance is seen to be in the same category as weakness, passivity, and deficiency. The dominance will effectively portray women as disempowered members of society. Moreover, Jaggar (1983) also states that dominance can be seen as a distortion of reality, “depreciating the amount of power women have succeeded in winning and minimizes the chances of further resistance” (p.115). Actually, there are some reasons why men dominate women. One of them is due to men’s early socialization which will be discussed in difference theory.
3. Difference
concentrates on interdependencies between people (Chodorow, 1978). On the other hand, men value the autonomy, detachment, and seek independence, focusing on hierarchical relationships. However, many people would attribute such differences to socialization rather than biology.
Another reason for explaining differences in male and female linguistic behavior is the social power. According to Zimmerman and West (1987), men’s greater degree of social power leads to their domination of interactions. Deuchar (1987) also suggests that the powerless members of society must also be more polite. Thus in communities where women are the powerless members, their speech would contain more elements of linguistic politeness.
Those who adhere to the difference approach claim that men’s conversational style is based on competitiveness while women have a more cooperative conversational style (Cameron, 1988). Women are found to have made characteristic use of gradual topic development, frequent and well placed minimal responses, which women tend to use more frequently than men. Coates (1988) concludes that overlapping speech and linguistic forms that tone down what the speaker is saying are features of cooperative talk. Coates (1988) makes the further that women aim to maintain social relationships, thus their goal of consolidating friendships is reflected in how they talk.
play almost exclusively in larger, more hierarchically organized groups” (McElhinny, 1995, p.240). Therefore, gender differences are created in similar ways to regional and social differences in language use through physical and social separation.
Eckert and McConnell (2003) identify further limitations of the difference and dominance paradigms. Firstly, the difference and dominance paradigms adopt extreme stances, where power and male dominance are emphasized in once while the other places emphasis on gender separation and difference. Secondly, adopting a single approach is too simplistic as this can cause omission of important details, thus distorting the overall picture. Finally, a focus on dominance does not take into consideration the importance of differences in experience and beliefs. Besides dominance and difference theories, it is also important to know where masculinity and femininity come from. It will be discussed further in the roots of femininity and masculinity.
4. The Roots of Femininity/Masculinity
Actually, femininity and masculinity do not exist in a person from birth but are based upon social and cultural conditions. According to Stets and Peter (1996), “in western culture, stereotypically, men are aggressive, competitive, and
gender identification, for example, feminine males or masculine females (Terman & Miles, 1936). Anthropologist Mead (1935: p.4) claims that:
There are no necessary differences in traits or temperaments between the sexes. Observed differences in temperament between men and women were not a function of their biological differences. Rather, they resulted from differences in socialization and the cultural expectations held for each sex.
There are some conclusions in Mead’s study which show that three societies
in Papua New Guinea are varied compared to our own. The first is among Arapesh, both males and females are considered as having a "feminine" temperament (passive, cooperative, and expressive). The second is among the Mundugamor, both males and females are considered as having a "masculine" temperament (active, competitive, and instrumental). Finally, among the Tchambuli, men and women displayed temperaments that are different from each other. In that society, men are emotional and expressive while women are active and instrumental. Based on Mead’s study, it shows that biological sex could no longer be linked with gender-related traits, temperaments, roles, and identities.
5. Measuring Femininity and Masculinity
a. Psychological Approach
Conceptualizing masculinity and femininity and measuring these orientations in men and women originated in the work of Terman and Miles (1936: p.6). Actually, they made 455 items test that detected masculinity and femininity. They labeled it as the Attitude Interest Analysis Test (AIST) to conceal its purpose from subjects. Word associations, interest items, and introversion-extroversion items are the things that are included in the test. The result finding of the interest items is that persons got femininity and masculinity points when they are:
Table 2.1 Stereotype Traits of Femininity and Masculinity
Femininity Masculinity
Liking nursing, babies, and charades Disliking nursing, babies, and charades. Disliking people with loud voices and
hunting.
Liking people with loud voices and hunting.
On the introversion-extroversion items’ result finding: preferring someone else to take lead, and that they are often afraid of the dark
On the introversion-extroversion items’ result finding: preferring someone else NOT to take lead, and that they are NOT afraid of the dark
Disagreeing that as children they were extremely disobedient, and they can stand as much pain as others
Agreeing that as children they were extremely disobedient, and they can stand as much pain as others
Based on the result findings, it can be concluded that the responses discriminate between the sexes with men reporting higher masculinity and women reporting higher femininity. The timing happened with the re-emergence of the women's movement. According to Morawski (1987: pp.44-69)
opposite ends of a continuum where masculinity on one end precludes one from being feminine on the other end, in androgyny, masculinity and femininity are separate dimensions that can be combined.
People can be masculine, feminine, or both (androgynous). Two of the more famous inventories that emerge from the impetus to measure masculinity and femininity on separate and independent dimensions are in psychology.
b. Sociological Approach
One's gender identity as masculine or feminine is based on the meanings individuals have internalized from their association with the role of male or female in society. Gender identity in the context of a body of research known as identity theory (Stryker, 1980). According to identity theory, the self is an organized collection of hierarchically arranged identities (self-meanings) that serve as a source of motivation for our behavior (Burke 1980). In recent developments in identity theory, “identities
are organized as control systems that act to maintain congruency between the internalized self-meanings (one's identity standard) and perceptions of the meaning of the self in ongoing social situations” (p.11). The key in this is one's self-meanings (Osgod, Succi & Tannenbaum, 1957). One’s self-meaning means to be able to know who the person is and what his or her purpose is in life.
stand in isolation but presuppose and are related to counter roles” (Lindesmith & Anselm, 1956: p.11).
The meaning of male is masculinity and female is femininity (Stryker, 1980). The meanings of masculine and feminine are necessarily contrastive. To be male (masculine) is not to be female (feminine) and vice versa. Gender meanings are related to one another as opposite ends of a single continuum, returning to the bipolar conceptualization of masculinity and femininity. Indeed, masculinity and femininity are negatively related when individuals are asked to judge themselves based on the self-descriptors "masculine" and "feminine" (Spence, 1993).
6. Community of Practice
According to Eckert and Ginnet (1992), communities of practice develop activities and ways of engaging in those activities, they develop common knowledge and beliefs, ways of relating to each other, and ways of talking. Some communities of practice may develop more distinctive ways of speaking than others. Thus, it is within communities of practice that linguistic influence may spread within and among speech communities. Eckert and Ginet (1992) also state that “the importance of the community of practice lies in the recognition that identity is not fixed, that convention does not pre-exist use, and that language use is a continual process of learning” (p.10). The community of practice is a prime locus of this process of
identity and linguistic construction.
7. Women in the Profession
The difference approach to language and gender presupposes the existence of differences in men’s and women’s linguistic behavior. According to Tannen (1990), women and men, like members of different cultural groups, learn different communicative styles because of the segregated girls’ and boys’ peer groups they
play in as children.
Freed and Greenwood’s experimental conditions point out that the speech style produces in this context to be concomitantly “gendered” as feminine. According
to Coates (1988), women may be more likely to be found in contexts symbolically associated with femininity and men, likewise symbolically associated with masculinity. Freed (1996) points out “an experimental setting puts women and men in symmetrical social relations, performing identical tasks, elicited in the women and men the same kind of talk” (p.317).
Based on McElhinny’s (1995) study of the interactional styles of male and
female, police officers in Pittsburgh offer a particular striking example of such a setting. McElhinny notes that “in moving into a masculine workplace, female police
officers did not adopt an empathetic and warm interactional style associated with many traditionally workplace (e.g., nursing, secretarial work, social work), as might be expected; rather they appropriate a masculine identity in dealing with the public (1995: p.317)”. Moreover, McElhiny argues that women in the police force adopted a
“bureaucratic” interactional style, a rational, emotionless, and efficient interactional
emotionless and hyper-rational interaction style associated with male and masculine workplace.
McElhinny (1995) also points out that women are able to create a space for themselves in a largely masculine workplace by challenging “the hegemonic
definition of a police officer (and of working-class masculinity) and orienting to an alternative kind of masculinity” (p.318). By looking at some theories which claim women language as inferior, women want to prove that they are able to be like men.
B. Theoretical Framework
In this part, this study explains the theories that were used to analyze the problem formulations of this study. All major theories are summarized and synthesized. It also explains the reason why the theories are needed and how this study will apply the theories in the analysis.
Women have their own features in the way they speak. In society, women are expected to be polite, indirect, and emotive in communication. Therefore, women have their special features which are called as women’s language. In order to answer research question number one, the researcher applied Lakoff’s theory. Lakoff (1975) states that there are several women’s language features, including lexical hedge or
filler, intensifier, emphatic stress, tag question, rising intonation on declaratives, ‘empty’ adjectives, precise color terms, ‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms,
their utterance so that the addressee will take them seriously. Moreover, those features mark women’s uncertainty and lack of confidence.
Lexical hedges or fillers are used to weaken the strength of an assertion. There is a distinction between hedges and fillers which is stated by Holmes. Fillers are used to pause when someone is not yet finished speaking and they belong to meaningless particles (Holmes, 2001, p.315). Intensifier and emphatic stress are used to emphasize and strengthen the most important word in statements (Lakoff, 1975). Another feature stated by Lakoff is tag question which expresses uncertainty.
shows profanity that is not suitable for women and children (Eckert & Ginet, 2003, p.181).
The study of women’s language is aimed to reveal the changes of women’s
language from femininity to masculinity. In order to answer research question number two, the researcher used the theories of Eckert (2000), McElhinny (1995), and Morawski (1987). There are some factors why women change their language. The first factor is community of practice. According to Eckert (2000), the community of practice is a rich locus for the study of situated language use, of language change, and of the very process of conventionalization that underlies both. Community of practice causes the changes of women’s language.
The second factor is women in the profession. McElhinny (1995) notes that in moving into a masculine workplace, women did not adopt an empathetic and warm interactional style associated with many traditionally workplace (e.g., nursing, secretarial work, social work), as might be expected; rather they appropriate a masculine identity in dealing with the public. Language changes spread through the social network of individuals. It meant workplace introduces changes in the way women deliver a speech.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter is divided into five parts. They are the research method, the research setting, the research subject, the instruments and the data gathering technique, the data analysis technique, and the research procedure. The first part is the research method which deals with definition of the type of chosen research. The second part is about where and when the research was conducted. The third is about the subject of the study. The fourth is about the instruments and the data gathering technique which explain about research instruments in the study. The fifth part is the data analysis technique which describes the ways of how the findings are analyzed to answer the research questions. The last part is the research procedure which summarizes the steps taken in conducting the study.
A. Research Method
This research analyzed the dialogues of Gracie Hart as the main character in
In conducting this research, the researcher applied qualitative research. Qualitative research is an approach to study human behavior and social phenomena from the insider’s perspective (Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh & Sorensen, 2002, p.422). The
different ways could be an analysis of certain behavior, document, or interaction in communication with other people. By using this approach, the researcher did the analysis in the dialogues uttered by Gracie Hart. In addition, Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh and Sorensen (2002) state that “the goal of qualitative research is a holistic picture and depth of understanding, rather than a numeric analysis of data” (p.29). There are
various types of qualitative research. They are phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narratives, and interpretive description. Among those types of qualitative research, this research used discourse analysis.
Discourse analysis is “an interdisciplinary research branch that investigates the many dimensions of text, talk, and their cognitive, social, and cultural context” (Van Dijk, 1985, p.35). Discourse data includes the words that were spoken and the text that was written. The researcher applied discourse analysis as the method since it was used to study linguistics units to examine the relationship between words and their meanings (Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh & Sorensen, 2002, p.475). Therefore, discourse analysis was used by the researcher since the situation where Gracie Hart communicated was relevant to what the researcher attempted to study. This theory is also supported by Cook’s theory that discourse analysis concerns with the interaction
language but also something which exists in people. Discourse analysis involves a number of assumptions that are important to be used as a foundation for doing discourse-analytic research. Thus, the researcher deduces that the discourse does focus on language in abstract, but on language in use.
Moreover, the researcher also conducted the research by having document analysis. According to Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh, and Sorensen (2002), the term
document refers to a wide range of written, physical, and visual materials. Documents may be personal, such as books, films, and videos. Document analysis can be of written or text-based artifacts (textbooks, novels, journals, newspapers, transcripts, etc.) or of nonwritten records (photographs, audiotapes, videotapes, YouTube videos, etc.). Therefore, the researcher obtained the data by listing some features were found in movie script and categorizing into each feature of women’s language by Lakoff
(1975). Thus, the data was collected in a form of thick description that was explained in a qualitative way.
B. Research Setting
This research was conducted in English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University by using library study and movie script. The researcher chose to conduct in ELESP of Sanata Dharma University since there were lots of sources available there. The research started in October 2014.
speech towards women’s language. Since Miss Congeniality movie has two seasons, I
could find lots of information related to this study.
C. Research Subject
The subject of this research was the main character of Miss Congeniality movie, namely Gracie Hart. Hart is an FBI female agent who shows no signs of having any femininity in her attitude, appearance, and language. The researcher analyzed Hart’s speech by using movie script. However, the researcher only analyzed Hart’s speech when she becomes FBI agent, not as a Miss Jersey because she has to
complete the mission. It was because when Hart as a FBI agent, she never shows any sign of having femininity. In contrast, when she had to complete the mission as an undercover team, she should act like most of women did.
This research was conducted in order to investigate the features of women’s
language used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie and how women’s language was used in the movie. In order to answer the two research questions, the researcher analyzed the data by using movie script.
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
writer collected the data by analyzing the characters’ utterances from the script. Guba
and Lincoln (1994) state, “human as instrument is the only instrument flexible enough to capture the complexity, subtlety, and constantly changing situation which is the human experience, as expressed in the stories” (p.193). The writer as human instrument involved significantly to collect the data needed for the research because it captured complexity of experiences and actions.
There were six steps taken by the researcher to obtain the data or documents of women’s language. First, the researcher watched the movie. The researcher
watched movie three times. Watching movie was done in order to understand the main idea of the movie itself. Second, the researcher looked for transcript of the movie. She took some important dialogues which were spoken by women in order to see the women’s language. Third, the researcher collected some statements that contained women’s language. In this step, Hart’s dialogues in the movie script were
selected. Fourth, after some data were collected, the researcher classified the data into nine features of women’s language by using table. Fifth, the researcher calculated the percentage of each women’s language features. Based on the explanation, the
E. Data Analysis Technique
In order to answer the two research questions, the data were analyzed by using several steps. According to Merriam (2009), “data analysis is the process of making sense out of the data” (p.175). First, the researcher as a human instrument analyzed
the data by using table and checklists. The purpose of using table and checklist were to check the language used by Gracie Hart whether women’s language features exist or not. Then, the researcher tried to classify some statements which were based on women’s language features proposed by Lakoff (1975). Then, the researcher
calculated the frequency in which the data appeared. After the data were collected, the researcher placed the data into a table. In addition, the table was to make the analysis clearer and easier to be understood.
(e.g. really, just, so) table, the researcher was able to know the features which were used by Gracie Hart in
Miss Congeniality movie. Next, the researcher went beyond the descriptive data to analyze the meaning and insights of the data. In this case, the researcher reported the whole data completely.
To answer the second research problem, namely the factors that influence the changes of women’s language from femininity into masculinity, the researcher
was done, the researcher interpreted the result and made it into a report by providing explanation about the connection.
F. Research Procedure
This research took several steps in order to finish the analysis. The researcher studied the movie and found some relevant theories. The researcher also used some movie reviews to define the dialogues that would be analyzed. The procedures of conducting this research were stated in the following section.
1. Selecting the Research Questions
The first step, the researcher decided to choose women’s language for
this study. The researcher also chose Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie as the subject of the research. The research came up with two research problems in this study. The first one deals with women’s language features used in Miss Congeniality movie. The second one deals with the changes of women’s language into masculinity based on the way women speak.
2. Reviewing Related Literature
The researcher reviewed some theories about women’s language in order to answer the research question. The theories of women’s language proposed by Lakoff (1975) which were supported by some others experts. Besides, the researcher searched for some theories which possibly cause the changes of women’s language into masculinity based on the way women
3. Selecting Research Instrument
The instrument of the research was the researcher as human instrument. To collect the data, the researcher chose Gracie Hart as the main character in
Miss Congeniality movie. Then, the researcher made a table which consisted of women’s language features to analyze the data.
4. Collecting Data
The researcher searched for Miss Congeniality movie and then watched it. While watching the movie, the researcher tried to analyze the features used by Hart. After watching the movie, the researcher searched for the transcript of the movie.
5. Analyzing Data
When the transcript was found, the researcher started to analyze the data by using the table and checklist which contained women’s language features. In analyzing the data, the researcher categorized the statements which were used by Hart into features of women’s language proposed by Lakoff (1975).
After categorizing the data, the researcher identified each statement and classified those statements into each feature of women’s language where they
belonged.
6. Drawing Conclusion
provided a report about language used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality
movie to women’s language features. For the second research question, the
researcher explained the changes of women’s language into masculinity based on the way she spoke. Thus, the researcher drew the conclusion based on the findings related to the study.
43
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter consists of two parts which discuss the findings of research. The first part answers the first research question about the women’s language features which are used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie. The second part answers the second question, which investigates the changes of women’s language from femininity to masculinity.
A.Women’s Language Features
The first research problem focuses on the features of women’s language which are used by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie. In order to answer the first research question, the researcher analyzes women’s language features by applying Lakoff’s theory. Besides, the researcher also uses Holmes’ theory to support Lakoff’s
theory.
To answer the first research question, the researcher will present and discuss features of women’s language used by Gracie Hart. Women’s language features which are proposed by Lakoff (1975) are lexical hedge or filler, intensifier, emphatic stress, tag question, rising intonation on declaratives, ‘empty’ adjectives, precise color terms, ‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, and avoidance of strong
Table 4.1 The occurance of women’s language features spoken by Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality movie
No. Women’s language features The frequency of
each features
8 ‘Hypercorrect’ Grammar 17 34.7
9 Emphatic stress 0 0
10 Superpolite form 0 0
11 Avoidance of strong swear word 0 0
The number of features 49 100
The total of women’s language features which were found in Miss Congeniality
movie are 46. There were 17 (34.7%) hypercorrect grammar that appeared the most in the movie. There were 11 (22.5%) intensifiers and fillers, six (12.3%) rising intonations, and two (4.1%) lexical hedges and tag questions. Emphatic stress, empty adjectives, precise color term, superpolite form, and avoidance of strong swear word did not appear in the movie. The results and evidences are provided and discussed in the following section.
1. Hypercorrect Grammar
this feature because of their speech role model. Moreover, women use Standard English form to show good behavior in society.
The researcher found 17 sentences (33.3%) that used hypercorrect grammar. In this study, the researcher analyzed the conversation that used English standard forms. The researcher decided to choose long and correct sentences in Hart’s speech that were categorized as hypercorrect grammar. As a woman, Hart uses hypercorrect grammar in her speech. In the movie, Gracie Hart ensured whether or not Mr. McDonald got angry about the last case. It happened because Hart did not follow order commanded by Mr. McDonald. She uses hypercorrect grammar in her statement as shown in [1]. Moreover, hypercorrect grammar can also be found when Hart makes excuses [2] and [3] (see appendix 1).
[1] I didn’t realize it was stupidity.
[2] I had a bite of my bagel and I forgot to pray.
[3] I was dating him for a little while because he said he had an incurable disease.
Based on the statements [1], [2] and [3], they are considered correct grammar since Hart consistently uses past tense form in her sentences. The above sentences are few examples of hypercorrect grammar. It is proven that women are capable in delivering good English. By using hypercorrect grammar means that a woman uses the English standard form constantly (Milroy & Milroy, 2002, p.30).
order to be a Miss Jersey, she became a real woman. Hart attempted to say something to Mr. Melling as shown in [4].
[4] Can I get some Novocain? [5] Mike, can you give me a pint?
From statement [4] and [5], the speaker uses correct form of grammar in using modal to ask something or to ask someone to do something. The statements also show that the speaker wants to be polite when asking someone. Holmes (2008) states that women use English standard forms than men because women are looking after their need to be valued. In contrast, men sometimes do not use modal like what women did to ask something, for instance, give me a beer? Another hypercorrect grammar was seen in [5].
[6] You might want to call San Antonio.
In statement [5], Hart tends to use simple sentence with a correct form of grammar. She uses correct sentence by using modal verb and it is followed by simple and correct verb. Although the speaker uses simple sentence still she pays attention to standard form.
2. Filler
Filler is also described as ‘meaningless particles’ and assigned to the same category as ‘pause fillers’. The occurrence of filler does not alter the intended
meaning (Lakoff and Bucholtz, 2004, p.48). This feature indicates that the speaker is unconfident and uncertain (Holmes, 2008, p.298). In the movie, Hart seemed so surprised looking that her friend came to her room. It was already midnight and her friend wanted to have a conversation with Hart while she felt tired. She felt doubtful to let her in. The use of filler in [7] indicated that Hart was uncertain about the way of her speech.
[7] Oh, no, I was just, you know... grooming.
Based on sentence [7], the speaker seems doubtful to tell her condition to the addressee. She uses filler you know to show her uncertainty since she is about lying to the addressee. It gives Hart time to think for a while to respond to the addressee. Filler is also repeated in Hart speech. It happened when Hart gathered with the entire Miss United States finalists. At first, she was annoyed by great sound that put in her ear. Then, she screamed and tried to make an excuse.
[8] Ohh, I uhh... I'm sorry. I had a bite of my bagel and I forgot to pray.
