AN ANALYSIS OF DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS

IN THE MOVIE SLEEPING BEAUTY

Keylli Kristani
Binus University, Jakarta, 081932555261, [email protected]

Drs. Muhartoyo, M.A
Binus University, Jakarta, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia



ABSTRACT

Pragmatics is one of linguistics studies that attracts the writers to learn more about it. This study
aims to identify the directive speech acts performed in Sleeping Beauty movie. Likewise, it will find
out how often the directive speech acts performed and which type of directive speech acts that are
most frequently used in the movie. The writer uses qualitative method by collecting data from
watching the movie, analyzing the body movement and the dialogues of each characters, read the
script and library research. A total of 139 directive speech acts were successfully identified. The
result of analysis shows that the directive speech acts of ordering is the most frequently used in the
movie (21,6%). The least frequently used directive speech acts is inviting directive speech acts
(0,7%). The study also reveals the importance of directive speech acts in keeping the flow of storyline
of the movie. This study expected to give some useful insights in understanding what directive speech
acts is.


Keywords: directive speech acts, movie, dialogue, qualitative

Introduction
Language is an important aspect in our lives. Every person in the world uses language to communicate
each other. Language is a cultural product used for communication in social life. As human being is social
creature, language plays a very important role in human life. People from different regions may speak different
dialects or languages. Every country or region has a different cultural background which has influences to the
language in that region or country. Therefore, there are a lot of different dialects and languages in the world.
Language is a sound of symbols that convert some words in mind.
In communication, we need a partner or a hearer to understand and respond what we talk about.
Speakers and hearers usually use the same language to communicate so the message can get across easily. But,
in some communication cases, speakers could not get their messages across due to a different cultural
background or divergences. Divergences may result in some misunderstanding between interlocutors or hearers
and speakers in a conversation. Consequently, the message will not be easily well delivered to hearers as the
way it is. Some ways to avoid that kind of misunderstanding is by learning about speech acts. Having learned
the principles of speech acts we will be able to implement them in the daily social interaction in our life. Speech
acts are part of Pragmatics.
There are several definitions about pragmatics. According to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
pragmatics is the utterances of specific events and the intention of the speaker to the hearer at times and places
involving language. Pragmatics consists of several aspects including context, deictic, presupposition,
implicature, and speech acts. Speech acts is a central point of pragmatics. In communication, we use utterances
in acting that is known as speech acts. Speech acts themselves can be divided into three elements or aspects:
locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary.
The writer is very much interested in exploring the use of directive speech acts in the movie and she is
very curious to find the answers of the following problems in her study: How often does the directive speech
acts appear in the dialogue in the movie? Which type of directive speech acts are most frequently used in the
movie? What is the importance of directive speech acts in the movie?
The writer aims some goals in this research. The goals of the research are to find out how often the
directive speech acts appears in the movie, to find out which directive speech acts most frequently used in the
movie and to find out the importance of directive speech acts in the movie.
This research aims to make the reader understand more about directive speech acts. By watching this
movie, the viewer will learn about words, action and utterances. The viewer can learn about pragmatics,
especially speech acts by observing the dialogues and their context in every scene of the movie. The viewer can
see the importance of directive speech acts in keeping the smooth flow of the story lines of the movie. The
viewer can also learn grammar, pronounciation, and vocabulary from what they see and hear. They can imitate
the action that the characters performing in the movie.

Research Methods
The writer uses a qualitative method which means the writer will collect qualitative data and interpret
data qualitatively. To obtain sound theoretical basis for this study, the writer conducted a library research.
Different types of references such as books, journal articles, encyclopedia, were consulted to get relevant
scientific information to support the research. Information retrieval through the Internet was also conducted to
retrieve the relevant articles or references. The data for this thesis was taken from the script that the writer
retrieved from the internet.
The data will be analyzed by using speech acts theories. The other source of data was derived from the
VCD. The writer will analyze gestures or the body movements of the characters that can be seen from the movie
to find out the hidden/ implicit meaning that cannot be interpreted only from the script. The data were taken in
the form of dialogues spoken by the characters, and the description of the characters actions such as gestures or
body movements, which were transferred into the form of sentences.

Analysis
3.1. Technique of Collecting Data
The data needed for this research is directive speech acts used in the communication or social
interaction. Because this research does not need any questionnaire, the data were obtained by watching the
Sleeping Beauty movie and read the script of the movie. The writer tried to understand each of the dialogues
and figured out the directive speech acts performed in this movie. The writer only took the dialogues that
contain directive speech acts in this movie. Likewise, the writer downloaded the script from the internet and
printed it. The writer marked the dialogue that contains directive speech acts and identified what kind of the
directive speech acts were performed in the dialogue. The data obtained from this research were then analyzed
based on the theory collected through the library research.
3.1.1 Source of Data
The writer analyzes the movie by watching the VCD version of Sleeping Beauty. The movie is also
available on Youtube but there is no subtitle. In order to prepare if there was any trouble with the VCD, the
writer also downloaded the movie from Youtube. The duration of Sleeping Beauty is 1.52.37 excluding
credits given to those involved in the production process. The writer also downloaded the script to help the
writer in finding the directive speech acts performed in this movie.
3.2 Data Analysis
All the data collected from this research will be tabulated and analyzed based on their directive speech
act sub-categories. Directive speech act consists of 20 sub-categories, i.e. advising, admonishing, asking,
begging, challenging, daring, demanding, dismissing, excusing, forbidding, instructing, inviting, ordering,
permitting, recommending, requesting, requiring, suggesting, urging and warning. Characters that perform
similar category of directive speech acts will be tabulated in the same table. Analysis on illocutionary and
perlocutionary aspect of the directive speech acts will be given in each category. The writer also provides the
table of responses of the hearers as the proof of the directive speech act performed. The utterances given in the
table are the representations of each categories. The representations describe different style of each utterances
so not all of the utterances will be explained in the table. The explanation provides below the table.

Table 1 Analysis 1

Advising

No. Character
(Speaker)
Character
(Hearer)
Dialogue
Time Scene NR R
1. Flora King Stefan Don't despair,
your majesties.
Merryweather still
has her gift to
give.

10:20-
10:25
1
2. Fauna Merrywether Just do your best,
dear.
10:40-
10:41
1
3. King Hubert King Stefan Oh now, come on,
wake up, battle's
over, girl's as
good as here.

40:51-
40:55
7
4. King Hubert King Stefan Ah, excellent
vintage. And now,
to the new home,
ey?

41:53-
41:58
7
5. Fauna Flora,
Merrywether
Maybe we should
tell King Stefan
about the boy.

50:50-
50:54

8
6. Flora Philip So arm thyself
with this
enchanted shield
of virtue and this
mighty sword of
truth. For these
weapons of
righteousness will
triumph over evil.
1:06:17-
1:06:28
12

There are nine utterances of advising directive speech acts spoken by four characters. Among these
advising directive speech acts, two utterances can be classified under illocutionary aspect as these speech acts
reflect the intention of the speakers only. While seven directive speech of advising acts fall under the
perlocutionary aspects because the speaker intention was responded by the real action of the hearer. The writer
analyzes the utterances by checking the body movements and gestures of each hearer who performed the
advising directive speech acts.



Table 2 Analysis 2

No. Character
(Speaker)
Character
(Hearer)
Dialogue Time Scene NR R
1. Flora King Stefan Don't despair,
your majesties.
Merryweather still
has her gift to
give.

10:20-
10:25
1
2. Fauna Merrywether Just do your best,
dear.
10:40-
10:41
1
3. King Hubert King Stefan Oh now, come on,
wake up, battle's
over, girl's as
good as here.

40:51-
40:55
7
4. King Hubert King Stefan Ah, excellent
vintage. And now,
to the new home,
ey?

41:53-
41:58
7
5. Fauna Flora,
Merrywether
Maybe we should
tell King Stefan
about the boy.

50:50-
50:54

8
6. Flora Philip So arm thyself
with this
enchanted shield
of virtue and this
mighty sword of
truth. For these
weapons of
righteousness will
triumph over evil.

1:06:17-
1:06:28
12


The utterances of illocutionary above represent advising directive speech acts because the speakers
advise something to the hearers based on the dialogue. This table will continue until all of the categories
elaborated. By seeing the total of occurences, the writer summarized it into a table.

Table 3 The Summary of Directive Speech Act Occurrences


No.
Directive Speech Act Sub-
Categories
Frequency
Percentage
ILC PLC
1.
Advising 2 7 6.5%
2
Admonishing 1 3 2.9%
3
Asking 2 10 8.6%
4
Begging 1 3 2.9%
5
Challenging 1 8 6.5%
6
Daring 0 5 3.6%
7
Demanding 1 5 4.3%
8
Dismissing 1 1 1.4%
9
Excusing 0 3 2.1%
10
Forbidding 1 7 5.8%
11
Instructing 0 7 5.0%
12
Inviting 0 1 0.7%
13
Ordering 3 27 21.6%
14
Permitting 2 1 2.1%
15
Recommending 1 3 2.9%
16
Requesting 2 3 3.6%
17
Requiring 0 3 2.1%
18
Suggesting 3 4 5.0%
19
Urging 0 5 3.6%
20
Warning 0 12 8.6%
Total 21 118 100%

Total of directive speech acts occurrences is = ILC+PLC = 21+118 = 139

Percentage is calculated using this formula = ILC + PLC 100% =
Total (139)
The table of summary proves that directive speech acts are used 118 times throughout the movie. The
most frequently used illocutionary aspect is in ordering and suggesting sub-categories with total three
occurrences in each sub-category. The writer did not find any illocutionary aspect under daring, excusing,
instructing, inviting, requiring, urging and warning sub-categories.
The most frequently used perlocutionary aspect is in ordering sub-category with total 27 utterances.
The least used perlocutionary aspect is in dismissing, inviting and permitting directive speech acts with total
one utterance in each sub-category.







Diagram 1 Pie Chart

Advising
Admonishing
Asking
Begging
Challenging
Daring
Demanding
Dismissing
Excusing
Forbidding
Instructing
Inviting
Ordering
Permitting
Recommending
Requesting
Requiring
Suggesting
Urging
Warning

Explanation:
The total percentage is 100%. The most frequently used sub-category of directive speech acts is ordering
directive speech acts with 21.6% and the least used sub-category of directive speech acts is inviting directive
speech acts with 0.7%.

3.2.1 The Importance of Directive Speech Acts
Directive speech acts play very important roles in keeping the smooth flow of storylines of the movie.
Without directive speech acts, the storylines will be monotonous and not attractive. The following examples
prove about it.

Example:

No. Character
(Speaker)
Character
(Hearer)
Dialogue Time Scene
1 King Stefan Soldiers Seize that
creature!
10:04-
10:06
1

No. Character
(Speaker)
Character
(Hearer)
Dialogue Time Scene
1 Flora Merrywether If humans can
do it, so can we.

14:52-
14:53

2

The examples above show that the importance of directive speech acts in the movie. At the first
example, if King Stefan did not order the soldiers to seize Maleficent, the soldiers would never want to seize
Maleficent and Maleficent would not run away. At the second example, if Flora did not motivate Merrywether
to disguise herself as a human and did human chores, she would never be a human and could not help Aurora.
The storyline will be different and monotonous because a movie must have a plot leading to the ending which is
supported by the existence of directive speech acts in this movie.
Conclusion and Suggestion
4.1. Conclusion
Sleeping Beauty movie contains many interesting and memorable dialogues that can be categorized
as the directive speech acts. The conversations in the movies attract us from the way of speaking, acting and
body movement. It also happens in Sleeping Beauty, the drama and live action help viewers to focus on what
the characters are doing.
Based on the data analysis in the previous chapter, the writer concludes that directive speech acts are
an action that always happens around us. Because directive speech acts are essential actions in social
interactions, they are also applied in the movie. Directive speech acts cannot be separated from daily social
interactions, therefore, Walt Disney uses them in their movie to show that the movie represents the social
interaction of human life.
Based on the data analysis, the directive speech acts are frequently performed in the movie. It can be
seen from the tables in the previous chapter that elaborate the use of the directive speech acts. The 20 tables
show that 139 directive speech acts are performed in the movie. The last table of summary and the pie chart
show that the directive speech acts of ordering is the most frequently used in the movie (21.6%). The percentage
shows the most frequently used directive speech acts by calculating the percentage of each category of directive
speech acts. While the least used directive speech acts are the directive speech act of inviting (0.7%).

4.2. Suggestion
Based on the conclusions above, the writer would like to offer some suggestions. First, many people
can learn speaking skill in addition to directive speech acts from Sleeping Beauty. The writer hopes that many
people will benefit from watching this movie not just for entertainment but also for study. For example, many
schools and universities nowadays might use movies not only to help the students to improve their speaking
ability but also to teach directive speech acts.
Second, the study in this thesis is only focused on the directive speech acts. More comprehensive
research on the psychological aspects of illocutionary and perlocutionary speech acts in this movie will be very
interesting to do. Through this study we will have better understanding why and how people react or response to
directive speech acts based on the psycho-analysis.

References
Ahmed, S. (2005). The Non-Performativity of Anti-Racism. Borderlands e-journal , 5.
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do Things with Words (2th ed.). London: Routedge.
Horn, L. R., & Ward, G. (2004). The Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing.
Hurford, James R; Heasley, Brendan; Smith, Michael B. (2007). Semantics: A Coursebook. New York:
Cambrigde University Press
Jucker, A. H., & Taavitsainen, I. (2008). Speech Acts in the History of English
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Nastri, J., Pea, J., & Hancock, J. T. (2006). The Construction of Away Messages:
A Speech Act Analysis . Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication .
Pragmatics. (2006). Retrieved from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pragmatics/
Searle, J. R., Kiefer, F., & Bierwisch, M. (1980). Speech Act Theory an
Pragmatics. Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company.
Sinha, M. P. (2005). Modern Linguistics. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers &
Distributors.
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Autobiography
Keylli Kristani was born in Jakarta, on November 19
th
1990. She received her Bachelor Degree in English
Literature from Binus University at 2012.