Forms of Directive Illocutionary Acts from the Main Character in Twelve Angry Men (1957) Movie

Abstract

As a popular form of mass media, film effectively conveys the realities of society through the interactions between characters within its storyline. This means it can serve as an object of study in language sciences. In pragmatics, every utterance carries a hidden meaning depending on the context, including the action, known as a speech act. Speech acts can also be found in films, such as Twelve Angry Men (1957). This study focuses on the utterances of the film’s main character. The objective is to identify the types and forms of directive speech acts using the pragmatic identity method and the pragmatic competence-in-equalizing technique. The research identified three forms of directive acts: declarative, imperative, and interrogative, with interrogative being the most used. These acts are used for several purpose, including suggestions, questions, requests, commands, prohibitions, and reminds.

Keywords: Film, Pragmatics, Directive Speech Acts