An Assertive Speech Acts Analysis on Mei Lee’s Utterances in Turning Red Movie

This research examines Mei Lee's assertive speech acts in the Turning Red movie with the aim of identifying and categorizing them. It utilizes a qualitative descriptive method to analyse these speech acts and complements the analysis with a simple quantitative approach for numerical representation. The findings of the research reveal 53 assertive speech acts utterances by Mei in the movie, which are classified into seven types: stating, claiming, reporting, reminding, admitting, predicting, and explaining. Among these, stating is the most frequently used 19 data, followed by claiming 13 data, while explaining and admitting each occur 6 data. Predicting and reporting both appear 4 data. The dominant speech act in this study is stating, which serves the function of explaining or describing something. This followed by claiming, which asserts truths in situations where some may argue otherwise. Explaining provides clarification to enhance understanding, while suggesting recognizes the truth of specific propositions or statements. Predicting makes future-oriented statements with evidence, and reporting conveys information about events. Reminding reaffirms information to listeners who may have previously known but possibly forgotten it. Notably, the speech act of suggesting, which typically provides ideas to the listener, was not found in Mei's utterances in the Turning Red movie.