MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY LÊ THỊ MỸ NHỚ A STUDY OF INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS USED IN “SPOTLIGHT” Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Assoc. Nguyễn Văn Long e BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN LÊ THỊ MỸ NHỚ NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ HÀNH VI NGÔN NGỮ GIÁN TIẾPĐƯỢC SỬ DỤNG TRONG PHIM “SPOTLIGHT” Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8220201 Người hướng dẫn: PGS. Nguyễn Văn Long e i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I firmly assert that the thesis “A study of indirect speech acts used in “Spotlight”” is accomplished by myself. There have not been any works employed without acknowledgment in the research.
I also certify that this research has not been submitted for the award of any degree in any other tertiary institution. Binh Dinh, 2021 Lê Thị Mỹ Nhớ e ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my sincerely deep gratitude to Assoc. Nguyen Van Long, my supervisor, for his experienced guidance and extremely valuable advice. It goes without saying that I cannot complete this thesis without my supervisor‟s support.
Also, I would like to give big thanks to all the lecturers of the Department of Foreign Languages in Quy Nhon University for their willingness to give me with their knowledge, inspiration during the process of writing the thesis. In addition, I am thankful to authors whose books and materials are very crucial in laying theoretical foundation for my study. Last but not least, I wish to show my special thanks and love to my friends and my family who have supported, encouraged me to finish this research. Binh Dinh, August 2021 e iii ABSTRACT This is a study of indirect speech acts used in the conversations in the movie “Spotlight” in terms of structures and functions.
In the thesis, both quantitative and qualitative approaches, as well as descriptive, analytic, and synthetic methods are employed. Totally, 131 samples in “Spotlight” are analysed, which reveals interesting results relating to indirect speech act structures and indirect speech act functions. To be more specific, as regards indirect speech act structures, intended meaning# literal meaning of others comes in the first place with 58 utterances (44. The second place belongs to interrogative for command/ request with 32 utterances equivalent to 24.
Noticeably, there are no exclamative structures found in “Spotlight”. Regarding indirect speech act functions, there are 24 different indirect speech act functions in the chosen conversations of the movie, in which to request/ order/ command shows the predominance with 22 utterances (16. e iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS. vii LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF GRAPH. Aim and objectives.
Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Organization of the study. Speech Acts Theory.
Levels of Speech Acts. Classification of Speech Acts. The Role of Context in Speech Act Studies. Review of Previous Studies.
Data Collection and Analysis. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Structures of Indirect Speech Acts in “Spotlight” .Functions of Indirect Speech Acts in “Spotlight”. To request/ order/ command.
To express one‟s surprise. To suggest/ offer. To agree/ admit. To ask for permission.
To express one‟s suspicion/ uncertainty. To express one‟s unpleasantness/ anger/ complaint. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS. Conclusions Relating to Indirect Speech Act Structures.
Conclusions Relating to Indirect Speech Act Functions. Implications of the Study. Limitations of the Study. Suggestions for Further Research.
53 APPENDIXES e vii ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS Adj: Adjectives LTD: limited N: Number NP: Noun Phrase qtd: quoted %: Percent/ Percentage Italics are used for quotes, terminology, and emphasis e viii LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page number 3.1 Framework for the analysis of indirect speech acts 23 Distribution of indirect speech act structures realized in 4.1 27 “Spotlight” Distribution of indirect speech act functions realized in 4.2 33 “Spotlight” e ix LIST OF GRAPH Table Graph Page Graph Percentages of indirect speech act structures realized in 4.1 26 “Spotlight” in general e 1 CHAPTER 1. Rationale It is incontrovertible that communication plays a crucial role in our life, and language is one of the most effective means of communication, so language is an extremely important part when we communicate. In fact, when talking to other people, not only do speakers think about their speech content, but they also consider how to discourse on it so that listeners can easily understand what they want to convey. Additionally, talkers usually would rather employ intended meanings of a sentence than utilize literal meanings; listeners, thus, are required to simultaneously determine the speakers‟ implicit meaning.
In a conversation, the speaker wants the hearer to do something as well when producing an utterance. Because of the reasons above, the golden key to successful and efficient communication is to comprehend the relationship between the external surface and the underlying purpose of an utterance. Nowadays, there is a wide range of valuable language resources available in both the media and published books. This is really advantageous for teachers and learners to participate in the daily English and Vietnamese communication.
Clearly, people potentially know more information and widen their knowledge through watching films. Moreover, human beings can enhance their skills of using language in different situations thanks to watching a movie. Interestingly, it can be seen that a popular film which has attracted a large number of viewers is “Spotlight”. The author will choose this film because of some following reasons.
First, “Spotlight” is directed by Tom McCarthy, who is an American film director, screenwriter, and actor who has appeared in several films, including Meet the Parents and Good Night, and Good Luck, and television e 2 series such as The Wire, Boston Public, Law & Order etc. Moreover, McCarthy has received critical acclaim for his writing/direction work for the independent films: The Station Agent (2003), The Visitor (2007), Win Win (2011), and Spotlight (2015), the last of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, won McCarthy the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director. In addition, McCarthy co-wrote the film Up (2009) with Bob Peterson and Pete Docter, for which they received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. McCarthy also wrote the film Million Dollar Arm (2014) and served as a director and executive producer for the Netflix television series 13 Reasons Why (2017).
Secondly, the movie “Spotlight” was shown in the Out of Competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival and the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released on November 6, 2015, by Open Road Films and grossed $98 million worldwide. It received widespread critical praise, with critics lauding the performances of the cast, historical accuracy and screenplay; it won numerous guilds and critics' association awards, and was named one of the best films of 2015 by various publications. Spotlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture, along with Best Original Screenplay, from six total nominations, making it the first Best Picture winner since The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) to win only one other Oscar, which helps to draw more audiences‟ attention.
Last but not least, we can see the efficiency of using indirect speech acts in different situations in “Spotlight”. Hence, that there is a deeper look and interpretation of indirect speech acts in “Spotlight” would be very helpful for people to intensify their pragmatic abilities, which also assists them in successful communication in English as well as in Vietnamese. e 3 One more reason for doing the study is that there are not a lot of researches on indirect speech acts in films, especially the film “Spotlight”; this study, therefore, is hopefully a more complete and relevant source of speech acts for teaching, learning as well as daily communicating. By virtue of these above reasons, the researcher has been motivated to conduct this study “A study of indirect speech acts used in “Spotlight””.
Aim and objectives 1. Aim The study is carried out to investigate linguistic features of indirect speech acts used in “Spotlight”. Objectives In order to achieve this aim, the researcher tried to fulfill the following objectives: -To classify the structures of the examined indirect speech acts in the movie “Spotlight”. -To classify the functions of the examined indirect speech acts in the movie “Spotlight”.
Research questions Based on the above aim and objectives, the author collected data and analyzed it so as to answer the following questions: 1) What are the structures of indirect speech acts used in the movie “Spotlight”? 2) What are the functions of indirect speech acts used in the movie “Spotlight”? 1. Scope of the study The scope of the study is to focus mainly on examining the structures and functions of indirect speech acts used in the movie “Spotlight” without e 4 analyzing other parts of speech acts because of the fact that not only are there various kinds of speech acts, but the time is also limited. Significance of the study In terms of theory, the study is expected to make a significant contribution to the field of pragmatics studies, especially indirect speech acts research. Another significance of the study is to help to clarify the indirect speech act theory thanks to detailed analysis and interpretation of the indirect speech acts used in the movie “Spotlight” In terms of practice, the study partly contributes to reinforce the effectiveness and efficiency of communication and process of teaching and learning speech acts.
Also, thanks to the findings of the thesis, people will be able to recognize the roles of indirect speech acts and make good use of this type in communication. Organization of the study There are five following chapters contained in the study: Chapter 1, introduction, provides the rationale, aims, objectives, research questions, the scope of the study, significance and organization of the study. Chapter 2, literature review, demonstrates the previous relevant studies and relevant theoretical aspects. Chapter 3, method, presents the research methods, research procedures, data collection and analysis.
Chapter 4, findings and discussion, mentions the research findings and discussion based on the theoretical background and frameworks presented in chapter two and chapter three. Chapter 5, conclusions and implications, condenses chief findings of the study and provides implications, limitations as well. Several research topics are also suggested for further researches. Speech Acts Theory According to Austin (1975), in the philosophy of language and linguistics, speech act is something expressed by an individual that not only presents information but performs an action as well.
For example, the phrase "I would like the kimchi, could you please pass it to me?" is considered a speech act as it expresses the speaker's desire to acquire the kimchi, as well as presenting a request that someone pass the kimchi to them. According to Kent Bach, "almost any speech act is really the performance of several acts at once, distinguished by different aspects of the speaker's intention: there is the act of saying something, what one does in saying it, such as requesting or promising, and how one is trying to affect one's audience". The contemporary use of the term goes back to J. Austin's development of performative utterances and his theory of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.
Austin (1962) is the first philosopher to formulate the concept of speech acts. In the opinion of Austin (1962), all utterances that the speakers produce in conversations with others should be viewed as actions. He defined that speech acts are actions intended to perform by a speaker on saying something. This means that when a speaker utters well-formed utterances, she often prefers to produce them with several kinds of function in her mind and intends to perform actions through those utterances as well.