Speech Acts in the Dialogue of the Characters in Thai Film Entitled “LAHN MAH”

Abstract

The objective of this research article was to analyze speech acts in the Thai film called Lahn Mah or How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies according to pragmatics through the application of the criteria of speech acts classification regarding the felicity conditions postulated by Searle (1969) as an utterance analysis tool. The result found twelve types of speech acts: 1. affirm, 2. question, 3. command, 4. advise, 5. request, 6. promises, 7. argument, 8. thank, 9. warn, 10. apology, 11. reproach, and 12. complaining. It was noted that the expressive speech acts, six groups in total, occurred the most in the characters’ dialogue, namely argument, thank, warn, apology, reproach, and complaining. They signified the characters’ emotion, feeling, and mind and enabled audiences to understand the characters better.

The speech acts found in the characters’ dialogue in the film Lahn Mah were relevant to the contexts of Thai society and culture, especially that of Thai-Chinese people, reflecting their beliefs and values on family relationships, elderly care, hard work, money saving, inheritance division, Chinese New year celebration, Ching Ming or Ancestors respect paying, Feng Shui, Chinese language use, traditional Chinese culture involved in the imperial examination, and age gap between the elderly and their grandchildren. The utterances in the characters’ dialogue helped the audiences to recognize the value both of time and of the people closest to them.