A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF SPEECH ACTS OF THE MAIN CHARACTER IN RYAN FLECK’S HALF NELSON

Abstrak / Ringkasan

This research aims at (1) identifying and describing the types of speech
acts in terms of the locutionary acts, the illocutionary acts and the perlocutionary
acts delivered by the main character in Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson outside and
inside the school and (2) describing the way the main character copes with the life
outside and inside the school.
This research employed a descriptive qualitative method. The existence of
number was used to reveal the frequencies of the types of speech act. The object
of this research was the main character’s utterances in Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson.
The data were in the form of scenes that were analyzed based on Austin’s
classification of types of speech act and Searle’s classification of illocutionary
acts, and Holmes’s theory of context. The researcher was the primary instrument
in this research. The secondary instrument was the data sheet. The data analyses
of this research were based on the types of speech acts outside and inside the
school.
The results show that: first, related to the types of speech act, in terms of
locutionary acts, there are three kinds of form, i.e. declarative, interrogative, and
imperative. Declarative is the most dominant form used outside and inside the
school. It is used in almost all functions of illocutionary act types. Regarding with
the illocutionary acts, the main character, Dan, employs four types of act outside
the school, i.e. assertive, directive, expressive, and commissive. Assertive holds
the highest frequency. In the daily life, he feels that the condition around him is
not in line with his opinion. Therefore, he uses his utterances to assert what he
believes to be the case. Declaration is not performed by him outside the school
since he is as a common person, who has no institutional position. On the other
hand, inside the school, directive, assertive, expressive, commissive, and
declaration are found. Directive is in the highest frequency because he is a teacher
and a basketball coach who performs questioning, requesting, commanding,
encouraging, suggesting, etc. Concerning the perlocutionary acts, there are four
types of act found outside the school, i.e. get h to know, get h to do something, to
express feeling, and get h to expect something. The most-dominant act is get h to
know. He often expresses what he believes to others, so that they recognize it.
Further, there are five kinds of perlocutionary act found inside the school, i.e. to
get h to do something, get h to know, express feeling, praise, and get h to expect
something. As a teacher, he employs the acts aimed to get h to do something most,
such as questioning, requesting, commanding, etc. Second, he cannot completely
split between both lives, outside and inside the school because of the effects of
cocaine on his brain. However, he can be honest to tell what he thinks and feels
about his life to people he likes or considers them as his ‘friends’ everywhere.

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