A Pragmatic Analysis of Indirect Speech Act in The Way We Speak Movie

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the indirect speech acts in The Way We Speak (2024) using Yule (1996) theory. This study analyses the structure of indirect speech acts and the communicative functions performed by the speakers through indirect speech acts. Indirect speech acts occur because the structural forms of an utterance do not coincide with the function that is supposed to be performed by the speaker, thus making the listener understand the utterance depending on the context. For this study, a descriptive qualitative design was adopted from the pragmatic perspective. The data for this study were obtained from the dialogues of the characters in The Way We Speak (2024). According to the results of this study, there are 66 indirect speech acts that have been found and consist of 40 declaratives (61%), 12 interrogatives (18%), and 14 imperatives (21%). There are several functions performed by the indirect speech acts, namely, reassurance, advice, request, encouragement, suggestion, and apology. Reassurance is the most frequent function that occurs in 17 data (26%), while advice and request are the next two functions that occur in 16 data (24%) each. The findings demonstrate that the communicative meaning of indirect speech acts cannot always be predicted based on their structural forms, as their interpretation requires consideration of the context of communication.