Speech Acts Analysis of the Main Character in Dolittle Movie (2020)

Abstract

In the study of language, what people do through their utterances is called speech acts. This study concerns with speech acts that are employed by Dolittle as the main character in Dolittle movie (2020). The aims of this study are to find out the types of illocutionary acts which are produced by the main character in the movie and to find out the implied meanings behind the main character’s utterances. Searle’s (1979) theory about five types of illocutionary acts and Halliday’s & Hasan’s (1985) theory about three features of context of situation are applied in this study. The result shows that there are four types of illocutionary acts which are found in the main character’s utterances. They are assertives (2 utterances), directives (10 utterances), commissives (2 utterances), and expressives (6 utterances). The total of his utterances which have implied meanings are 20 utterances. The main character tends to use directive type in his utterances because he is the captain of a team. The implied meanings behind the main character’s utterances are clear by knowing context of situation.