WOMEN’S LANGUAGE FEATURES USED BY LARA JEAN IN THE MOVIE TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE (2018)

WOMEN’S LANGUAGE FEATURES USED BY LARA JEAN IN THE MOVIE TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE (2018)

THESIS

INTRODUCTION

• Background of Study

talking about gender between men and women, there are many things that can be discussed about them, especially the relationship between language and gender. It is interesting to study and analyze the relationship between language and gender. Lakoff (1975) states that there are many things that underlie the emergence of language differences between men and women. Lakoff (1975) states that men’s language is described as more assertive, mature, and men like to speak openly with the right vocabulary. On the other hand, the language used by women is not assertive, not overtly (using figurative words), and is careful when expressing something, often using more refined and polite words or through multiple meanings. Moreover, according to Lakoff (1975), if a woman feels uncertain about a problem, she will question herself and have no confidence in herself. Therefore, many issues that arise end with question marks (Lakoff, 2004 ; Kuntjara, 2004: p. 3-4).

The study of women’s language features has become an important aspect because women’s speech differs from men’s speech and the differences between men’s way of using language and women’s way of using language are due to the structure of the language, the norm of the society or the people of the society who use the language. Lakoff (1975) provides a list of ten features of women’s language. These ten types of women’s language features are lexical hedges or fillers, tag questions, rising intonations on declarative, empty adjectives, precise color term, intensifiers, hypercorrect grammar, superpolite forms, avoiding strong swear words, and emphatic stress..

The study of women ‘s language in a movie is not the first time. In 2016, Aflah conducted a study about women ‘s language and the function that Anna Karenina used as the main character at Anna Karenina movie. The result of her study is she only found 9 features, she did not find the hypercorrect grammar used by Anna and she also found 6 female utterance functions and Oktapiani, T, M. Natsir and Ririn S (2017) also found 9 utterances and 3 functions that are used by female character in the Devil Wears Prada movies.

Aini (2016) analyzed women ‘s language between a male and female character in Mockingjay movie. The result of her study is that she did not find all women’s language features. Women’s language feature used by Katniss as the main character in this movie only found 6 features. While the main male character is only found 5 features and the last is Pamikat (2018) investigated women’s language of Eilis Lacey in The Brooklyn movie script. The result of her study is that she only found eight women’s language features. She did not find the precise color terms and avoidance of strong swear words. This research only focuses on female and male character use women’s language. They could not find all the women’s language features proposed by Lakoff.

The previous study in this field has been concentrated on women’s language features and functions. All of the previous studies that the researcher already explain, researcher have not found all of the women’s language features. Some previous studies found eight, nine even found six women’s language features. Therefore the researcher wants to examine again to see other features.

Women’s language can be observed in literary works like novel, poem, drama and etc. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is one of the literary works which is novel written by Jenny Han that become a best seller and adapted to the movie with the same title. The researcher uses To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie as the subject of the present study. The movie itself tells about a young woman named Lara Jean, who lives with her father and two sisters. Since childhood, Lara likes to confess her out feelings by writing a letter when she likes boys, but she never has the courage to send to each boy she ever loved and choose to stored the letters in the box.A chaotic situation happened, her sister suddenly sent the five letters that stored in the boxto each boy she ever loved without her knowing it. Lara was embarrassed, then three men who she ever loved in the pastcame to approach her and ask about the letter.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie and Lakoff’s theory were chosen because of three reasons. First, the movie has a variety of women characters with different personalities and attitudes for each of the characters. Since the movie about two young lovers so I talk a lot about the love life story of the character. Second, as the author made every character has their special identity like age differences, experiences they’re going through it willgive big effects of how they speak, and how they react to every situation they face. Third, the researcher only focuses on the main female character, named Lara Jean a Korean who grew up in the United States and lived with Asian values, which are famous for the stereotypes that Asians are polite, friendly, and have good at speech. Those reasons will make this present research differ from previous studies mainly because Lara Jean has a different background of culture. The researcher uses Lakoff’s theory because Lakoff is the person who introduced the idea of women’s language features, and also Lakoff’s theory is clear and easy to understand also, it is suited to investigate Lara Jean’s utterances.

The focus of the study will be on the utterances of Lara Jean’s character. This study is hopes to proposed enrich the knowledge about women’s language which occurred into All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie and the researcher also hopes that this study can give a beneficial contribution to all people in this world especially for the students of English Department to know and understand about women’s language well. After knowing this, the researcher hopes that all people know how to perceive women’s speech.

• Research Problems

1. What are women’s language features used by Lara Jean in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie ?
2. What is the most dominant of women’s language features used by Lara Jean?
3. What are the functions of women’s language features used by Lara Jean in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie ?
4. What is the most dominant of the function of women’s language features used by Lara Jean?
   • Significance of The Study

The researcher hopes that this study can be a reference for linguistic students to learn more about women’s language. They can use this study as an example of how women’s language used in the movie.

• Scope and Limitation

The scope of this study focuses on Sociolinguistics study since the study is about the phenomena that often found in the society, especially in women’s language, as seen through the speech of the main female character on To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie. To avoid broadening the discussion, the researcher limits the research and focuses on the features and function of women’s language found in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie.

• Definition of Key Terms

Women’s Language: a language that signifies the characteristics of women, such as avoiding direct and forceful statements.

The Function:The language being used for.

ToAll The Boys I’ve Loved Before Movie: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before Movie is an American teenage romance produced by Jordan Levin, Matthew Kaplan and Dougie Cash in 2018. This movie was directed by Susan Johnson, based on a 2014 novel by Jenny Han of the same name. This movie starring Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Janel Parrish, Anne Cathcart, Madeleine Arthur, Emilia Baranac, Israel Broussard and John Corbett. This movie released by Netflix on August 17, 2018. It presents a high school junior Lara Jean Covey writes letters to boys she feels an intense passion for before locking the letters away in her closet. One night, while hanging out with her little sister, Kitty, Lara Jean falls asleep on the couch, allowing Kitty to sneak into Lara Jean’s room and find her collection of letters and Kitty sent all the letters. The next day Lara Jean was shocked when she realized that all the letters she had kept were in the hands of people she had once liked. Lara Jean pretended to be going out with Peter so that her ex Peter was jealous and also for Josh to think that Lara Jean had lost interest with him. After fake dating for months, they realize that they love each other.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter explains the theory used to support this research.

• Women’s Language Features

In 1975, Robin Lakoff expressed his opinion about the relationship between language and gender. In his research, he suggested that women have certain ways of using language. Lakoff argues that women use certain linguistic features in using language to communicate (Lakoff via Holmes, 1992: 314). Through Holmes (1992: 314), Lakoff argues that women tend to use linguistic features, such as:

• Lexical Hedges or Fillers

Lakoff said that hedging is one of the characteristics of women’s language. This shows an attitude of uncertainty and reflects the feelings of insecurity of women. Poynton (1989: 71) states that hedging is a variation of a feature where one can say something a little short of showing that something is not entirely like that. With hedges, women refer to the use of phrases such as sorta/sort of, like, you know, well, kinda, kind of, I guess, and it seems like. When someone uses hedges linguistically, they avoid saying something definitively and keep their choices open (Coates, 1996: 152). The basis for using hedges is to signal that the speaker is not responsible for what she says. In other words, when someone limits their speech, she is saying that she is not sure what she is saying is expressed in her speech.

Lexical Hedges is one of the linguistic features that serve to reduce the power of a speech and weaken the effect of a statement. According to Talbot, hedges are used to avoid something that is said with certainty, to prevent overly dogmatic estimates and beliefs of a person (2010: 85). Hedges are multifunctional, and context must be used as consideration. When analyzing hedges such as sort of and I think, in a context, Holmes found that these linguistic features have complex functions. According to Holmes hedges are used differently with different functions. Hedges means different things based on their pronunciation, their position in a speech, the type of speech act that they change and who uses it to whom and in what context (2008: 303).

In addition, there are many different ways to reduce the pressure of speech illocution, and hedges are done using a number of linguistic features. Hedges as an example of women language are modal verbs such as could, might, may, would, should, lexical like perhaps, and pragmatic particles like sorta / sort of, I think, you know, well, kinda / kind of, like and i guess. It refers to the repetition of these phrases in a speech. In addition, the prosody features such as in up and down intonation, and paralinguistic signals such as stops and doubts, can also be used to weaken the power of a speech.

• Tag Question

Tag question is a little more complicated because it has a function to increase (boost) or weaken (hedge) speech. This depends on the context of the conversation because there is no relationship between form and function. Tag constructionfunctions as hedges and booster is an element of capital. This is by what is stated by Talboet because the elements that change the strength of a statement either weaken or strengthen it (2010: 85). In addition, because this linguistic feature is multifunctional, it can be considered a sign of social care.

A woman will use a conversation situation more than a man. This is the rule of forming tag question. Lakoff (via Cameron, 1990: 229) says that tag question, in its use and syntactic form, in English, is between a definitive statement and a yes or no question.

Lakoff believes that asking a question is the best example of insecurity and women’s doubt about something. Women use questions with each other when they are talking. According to Chaika (1994: 216), women tend to ask questions three times more often than men. It can be used in various ways. Questions can be used to find information, to get to know a new topic, to encourage speech partners to engage in conversation, to invite someone to tell a story, and many others. (Coates, 1996: 176).

A woman makes a statement when she believes in her knowledge and believes that her statement will be trusted. Someone will ask a question when he lacks knowledge in some respects and has reason to believe that his ignorance can and will be corrected by the answer of the interlocutor.

Tag question is halfway between the following:

Is Zayn here?

If someone says that sentence, she might not be surprised if the answer is no ‘no’ but if he says: Zayn is here, isn’t he? Then the response will be different. There is one possibility that she has been influenced by positive answers and only wants confirmation from the interlocutor, as she did with yes-no questions, but she has enough knowledge to predict the response of the interlocutor generally in the form of declarative statements. Furthermore, tag question might be thought of as a declarative statement without conjecture that the statement is to be trusted by the interlocutor with a question. Tag question gives the interlocutor freedom, not urging him to agree with the views of the speaker (Lakoff via Cameron, 1990: 229).

Sometimes, tag question is used when the speaker and the interlocutor already know what the real answer is and do not require confirmation. Such a situation when the speaker is starting a small conversation, she is also trying to start a conversation with the interlocutor, like the following sentence:

1. Sure, it’s hot here, isn’t it?

One possible interpretation of the sentence below is that the speaker has a certain yes-no answer but is very hesitant to state it.

1. The way prices are rising is horrendous, isn’t it?

According to Lakoff (via Cameron, 1990: 230), this type of tag question is more appropriate to be used by women than men because this type of sentence provides a means so that a speaker can avoid involving herself and avoid disputes with the interlocutor. The problem is that the speaker might also give the impression that she is not so sure, seeks confirmation from the interlocutor, and does not have her own views. Then,tag question is a kind of polite statement that does not require the approval or trust of the interlocutor.

• Rising Intonation

Based on what Lakoff has found, there is a pattern of sentence intonation that is typical of women that distinguishes it from men. This is not only in the form of a declarative answer to a question, but also has a tone of voice or intonation that is typical of a yes-no question or if there is a doubt (via Cameron, 1990: 230). This is intended by the speaker when she is looking for information on the truth of a thing but on the other hand she might be the only person who has the information.

1. When will dinner be ready?
2. Oh … around six o’clock?

From the above sentence, it can be said that what is meant by sentence (b) is if six o ‘clock’ six o’clock is correct ‘ok with speaker (a) or if the speaker (a) agrees. The speaker (a) is in the position of providing information, and the speaker (b) sounds uncertain. From this example, it seems that the unwillingness to assert an opinion, a huge opinion. This pattern of speech is often used to reflect something real about the character and play a part in taking a woman seriously and giving her real responsibility because she cannot decide on something and is not sure about herself. These features might indicate the fact that women’s language looks more polite than men. One aspect of politeness is leaving decisions open, not imposing thoughts, views, or demands on others.

Women also often use high intonation in declarative sentences to show emotion or empathy for something. Besides, according to Lakoff, one of the women’s language features that often arises is the ‘asking’ intonation as an answer when the woman is asked a question. This shows the tendency of women who often feel unsure of the questions asked to them, or they want to show politeness by asking their opponents back.

• Empty Adjectives

There are adjective groups, which have specific and literal meanings that indicate the agreement or admiration of the speaker for something. Lakoff refers to this adjective as empty adjectives, which means that the word concerns only emotional reactions rather than specific information. Some of these adjectives are neutral, regardless of the gender of the speaker, both men and women may use them. But some adjectives seem to give a limited impression to be used by womenonly. Some adjectives are neutral (great, neat) and are only used for women (adorable, charming, sweet, lovely, divine, gorgeous, cute).

According to Lakoff, if a man uses woman adjectives, it will damage his reputation (via Cameron, 1990: 226-227). On the other hand, a woman may use neutral adjectives as freely as possible. However, a woman using woman adjectives does not have any risk. This is certainly very inversely proportional when men use female adjectives in their conversations. Women have the right and free choice to use neutral words or women’s words in expressing things related to their personality or views about something. This can be seen in the following example:

1. What a terrific idea!
2. What a divine idea!

From the example above, sentence (a) may be used under the right circumstances by a woman speaker, then speaker (b) is more specific and may be used only when the speaker feels that the ideas mentioned are basically unimportant or just a pleasure for the speaker. In other words, the use of neutral words is more appropriate to be used in formal situations, while the use of women’s words is only used in non-formal situations. However, the choice of words for men is not truly free. Limited words for women’s language state that the concept that men use is not relevant to the real world of male influence and power.

According to Lakoff, basically, the words used for women are not feminine, but rather indicate no involvement or no power. However, any group that exists in society (especially men), which uses the words of women, is often considered feminine and not masculine (Cameron, 1990: 228). This is because women’s words refer more to attitudes that show no involvement and no power.

• Precise color terms

Women give more exact color names in naming colors compared to men. Men think that talking about naming specific colors is ridiculous because they consider it trivial and irrelevant to the real world (via Cameron, 1990: 223). Words like beige, lavender, and maroon are examples of vocabulary commonly used by women, but men do not use the word.

The determination of whether to name a color of lavender or mauve is a common thing and is common for women (via Cameron, 1990: 224). In lexical differences, women prefer to use the right words to name colors (mauve ‘light purple’, plum ‘dark red’) and havea richer vocabulary in areas that have traditionally been a specialty of women.

Women can distinguish colors very well. Women can recognize several colors of green well, whereas, according to men, all of the green colors are the same. This can happen because women have two X chromosomes, whereas men only have one X chromosome. The ability to see colors is determined by our ability to see colors in blue, red, and green. Because men only have one X chromosome to see the color green, making it less good at seeing the color spectrum. While women can see many color variations well, women see more colors than men. In general, humans have three types of eye receptors to distinguish colors, while women have 4 to 5 types of receptors.

• Intensifier

Intensifiers such as so, just, very, and quite more indicate the characteristics of the language of women than men. So is stated to have something feminine eternally about it (Jespersen, 1922: 250). Women stop more often before completing their sentences than men because they start talking without having a plan for what they will say. Like the following example sentence:

1. I feel so happy
2. That movie made me so sick!

Men seem to have difficulty using sentences like this when in an unemotional or non-subjective condition without mentioning themselves. Compare sentences (a) and (b) with sentences (c) and (d).

1. That flower is so beautiful
2. Fredi is so dumb

According to Lakoff, substituting intensifiers such as so for absolute superlatives such as very, really, utterly seems to be the best way to involve herself strongly in opinion, rather than using tag questions (via Cameron, 1990: 223). As in (c), for perfect aesthetic judgment or as in (d) for intellectual assessment, one might avoid this method. But it is also strange to avoid describing one’s emotional or mental state. To avoid this situation by looking for and avoid making strong statements as characteristics of women’s language.

• Hypercorrect Grammar

Hypercorrect grammar is the use of language following the standard form of verbs. This includes avoiding abusive language, apologies, and using the most polite form as additional features. In other words, as much as possible, women speak near the standard form of English. Lakoff connects these features because they are all conical to the fact that women are not expected to speak rudely or are less polite than men. (Norman, 2006: 8).

• Superpolite Forms

Lakoff (via Cameron, 1990: 231) suggests that at the same time, a request may also be a very polite order, which does not require open obedience but suggests something to do as a form of help or sympathy for the speaker. Blatant instructions (in the form of imperatives) indicate the superior position of the speaker of the speech partner, while also showing the attitude that the request must be fulfilled. The request from the speaker is not dangerous if the interlocutor does not fulfill it, only the speaker will be happier if what she says can be done by theinterlocutor. All decisions are on the part of theinterlocutor, only the use of advice sounds more polite when compared to order.

A woman more often uses language that is more polite than a man. And below are the reasons why a woman more often uses polite language:

“They are more closely involved with child rearing, and the transmission of culture, and are therefore more aware of the importance, for their children, of the acquisition of (prestige) norms” (Fasold, 1996: 187)

Holmes (1992: 234), has a similar opinion to Fasold, the reason a woman uses language that is more polite than a man in conversation is that a woman is more aware of her status than a man. Women know the facts better, where or with whom they are talking. And it also reflects the social status or background in society and the level of education that also influences the way a person talks.

• Avoidance of Strong Swear Words

Swear word is a type of interjection or interjection that can express anger with very extreme and has been considered a powerful expression (Eckert, 2003: 181). The use of invective sentences is deemed unsuitable for use by women and children. In society, the use of theswear word is often associated with men than women because men more often use the word swear in their speech. In other words, swearing or cursing is a pure male habit so that the use of swear words is identical to the typical male language. This can be seen from the following example sentence:

1. Oh dear! you broke my glass again
2. Shit you broke my glass again

The two types of sentences above are the same in syntactic form and in lexical reference terms. The difference is only in the choice of meaningless particles. The first sentence will be grouped as a women language and the second sentence as a men language.

Men and women have different preferences for using swear words. Men often use abusive and illicit invective words such as damn, bloody hell and shit, which are often found in men language. While women use swear words in a more polite version like oh dear, my dear, my goodness, goodness.

When using swear words, women are more careful and avoid using harsh words. Women give a more subtle impression in the swear words, far from being rude, dirty and painful. This is adjusted to the role of women as guardians of community values. In society, women are not allowed to speak harshly. Society tends to expect better behavior from women than men. Women are also seen as models in behavior in the community. Therefore, it must be reflected in the use of good and polite language forms.

• Emphatic Stress

Women tend to use words that emphasize speech to reinforce the meaning of a speech. For example, it was a brilliant performance, the word brilliant is one example of emphatic stress. This is used to emphasize the meaning of appearance.

• The function of Women’s Language Features
  • Weakening Function (Hedging Devices)

Hedges devices can be used to weaken the power of speech. Hedges devices explicitly indicate a lack of confidence. In other words, this function is used to express uncertainty.

• Strengthening Function (Booster Devices)

Boosting devices can be used to strengthen the power of speech. Boosting devices define the anticipation of speakers for their interlocutors who may still be unsure, so additional information is needed. In short, these features are used to convince interlocutors of the speaker’s speech.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

In this chapter, the researcher discusses the method that the researcher used in this research. There are three sections consists of research design, data collection, and techniques of data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

The type of research is a descriptive qualitative method. Descriptive qualitative research is suitable for this research because it is used to describe women’s language features of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie and to describe the function of women’s language features. Besides that, the data are interpreted and displayed descriptively and systemically based on the theory used in this research.

Qualitative research is not only a set of techniques but also requires the efforts of active researchers (Mason, 2002). Qualitative research does not deal with numbers as the main source of research, but the researcher use numbers as a tool to help the researcher collect data. The researcher also applies content analysis to help the researcher answer research questions. Even so, the researcher focus on the contents of the movie, which was Lara Jean’s utterances.

• Data Collection

3.2.1Data and Data Source

The data of this research were the utterances pronounced by Lara Jean as the main female character of the movie. The data forms are words, phrases and sentences. The source of data in this research is movie script from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The movie script is taken from www.subscene.com

3.2.2 Instrument

The researcher used a humaninstrumentin herstudy because the researcher becomes the key instrumentwhoactively anddirectly involved in datacollection and dataanalysis. The researcher collected the data and analyzed it. The researcher used laptop as themaintoolforwatchedmovie and transcribed this movie.

• Technique of Data Collection

The researcher applied several steps in collectingthe data:

1. The researcher download movie script on subscene.com
2. The researcher was selecting the utterances, the utterances that belong to Lara Jean.
3. The researcher identified Lara Jean’s utterances that belong to women’s language features and the function in the form of an underline.

• Data Analysis

Aftercollecting the data, theresearcheranalyzedthedata based on the related theories by the following steps:

1. The researcher made codes of the data as follows;

Table 3.1. Table of Coding Women’s Language Features

Table 3.2. Table of Coding The Function

2. The researcher categorized Lara Jean’s utterances into women’s language features and the function.
3. The researcher described each women’s language features found in the data by using Lakoff’s theory and interpreted the function of women’s language features, which is used by Lara Jean.
4. The researcher counted the frequency and percentage of each feature and also the function. Then the researcher classified them into Tables 3.4 and 3.5. The researcher calculated the percentage by using a formula. The formula was presented below.

P = x 100%

P = the percentage

F = the frequency

N = the total number

Table 3.3. Women’s Language Features by Lara Jean in the Movie

Table 3.4. The function of Women’s Language Features by Lara Jean in the Movie

5. In the last, the researcher explains the result in a text, and the researcher makes a conclusion.

CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the researcher presents the results of the study. She also explains the kinds of women’s language features of Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and the functions.

4.1 Findings

This subchapter presents the findings of the data as a result of the research. There are four research questions related to this study and presented in this subchapter; the first question is about women’s language features used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The second isthe most dominant women’s language features. The third is the functions of women’s language features. The fourth is the most dominant functions of women’s language features.

4.1.1 Women’s Language Features

The first research question is about women’s language features. According to Lakoff (1975), there are ten features of women’s language. Those are lexical hedges or filler, tag question, rising intonation, empty adjectives, precise color terms, intensifier, hypercorrect grammar, superpolite forms, avoiding of strong swear words and emphatic stress. In this study the researcher found 172 utterances that contain women’s language features. Based on the data the researcher found nine features of women’s language used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before those are, lexical hedges or filler, tag question, rising intonation, empty adjectives, intensifier, hypercorrect grammar, superpolite forms, avoiding of strong swear words and emphatic stress. The detailed analysis of women’s language features can be seen in the subchapter below.

4.1.1.1 Lexical Hedges or Fillers

According to Lakoff (2004), hedges appear to reduce the force of an utterance. Expressing like well, you know and i think are described as hedges. Fillers are meaningless particles used by women and those are assigned to the same category as pause fillers such as oh, um, uh and ah.

Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses lexical hedges or fillers 48 times or 28% out of the total data. The example of lexical hedges or fillers used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 1

KITTY: I forgot I had to drive with Lara Jean now.

LARA: Well, feel free to take the bus.

Kitty is Lara’s younger sister and she has one older sister named Margot, who had to go to college in Scotland. Basically, three of them, Margot, Lara Jean and Kitty go to school together but since Margot must go out of town to continue her education, so the one who takes Kitty to school is Lara Jean. Lara Jean is not good at driving, and it makes Kitty afraid to go to school with her. Lara proposed Kitty to take the bus and Lara does not really mean it. So that is why, before her statement, she uses “well” to avoid firm statements.

The data above shows that Lara uses well before delivering her statement. The statement is to respond to her sister if she does not want to go to school with Lara, she can take the bus. Lara used well to refine her words so she does not look firm because Lara does not want her sister to think that she is a bad and fierce sister. If Lara becomes fierce, then Lara will lose her image as a woman, because basically, a woman is humble and polite.

Another variant of fillers found in Lara Jean’s utterances is the word you know. Women use a lot of filler you know to convey uncertainty (Holmes, 1986). Here are some of the evidence:

Data 2

PETER: if I’m not allowed to kiss you?

LARA: Wait, you know, you might be the James Dean of this kind of stuff but I have never had a boyfriend before.

Lara Jean gives some rules to Peter. One of the rules is Lara does not want Peter to kiss her anymore. Then, Peter does not agree because no one will believe that they are dating if Peter is not allowed to kiss Lara. Then, Lara compares Peter with James Dean, the American Actor who died at a very young age. The actor does not have a chance to kiss or to date in his life. From the data, Lara uses lexical hedges or fillers “you know” to avoid making a firm statement of what she means towards her statement. Because she uses “you know” before her statement, she wants to refine her statement to sound that she is not too strict.

Data 3

PETER: What’s that in your hand?

LARA JEAN: Oh, uh, nothing.

Lara goes to school and drives by herself to meet Peter. Peter is on the field playing lacrosse. Then, Lara approaches Peter to give a love letter but because Lara is too shy to provide a love letter. So Lara discouraged and meant to leave, but Peter sees the love letter. Lara hid the love letter behind her body. So, Peter asks Lara what she brings in her hand. Lara uses “oh, uh” before her statement indicated that Lara feels uncertainty about her answer because she gets caught by Peter.

Data 4

MARGOT: But I also just don’t understand why you didn’t tell me all this was happening in the first place.

LARA:  ‘Cause I thought you were going to hate me.

Lara accidentally makes a sex tape when she is skiing trip with Peter. Lara and Peter kiss each other outdoor where they know that would have a consequence for people watching. They do not expect that the kiss scene is recorded by someone and then shares on Instagram and it looks like a sex tape even though they have not even had sex. Margot feels disappointed because Lara does not tell her what is happening with her. Lara explains to her sister that Margot will hate her. She knows that Margot never ever hate her. That is why Lara unsure about what she said.

Lara uses “I thought” at the beginning of her statement because she feels unsure about what she is saying. She feels unsure whether Margot will hate her or not. That is why when Margot says that Lara should tell her, she uses “I thought” to express uncertainty. Lara also avoids making a firm statement. Lara avoids firm statements so as not to make her old sister hurt by her statement. She refined her firm words so she would not have been fierce because if she becomes fierce, then she will tarnish the image of women where women basically humble and polite.

Data 5

PETER: you have this like, this whole judgy face scenario going on.

LARA: Well, I guess I just think that it’s really weird that you still talk to your ex-girlfriend on the phone.

After Peter broke up with her ex-girlfriend Genevieve, Peter still talks to her on the phone that for Lara, it is very uncommon to contact each other after break up. So, Lara gives a judgy face and tells Peter that what is doing with her ex is weird for her. Even she knows that she never been on dating before so she does not really know how dating should be and unsure about what is right so she uses “I guess” indicates that the speaker uncertain with what she is talking about. It happens because the speaker lacks confidence when delivering the statement. The word Iguess indicates that Lara does not want a definite statement so that it loosens the impact of the statement. Lara wants to reduce the impact of the statement because Lara does not want Peter to feel offended by her words so she has to reduce the impact of her statement.

Data 6

LARA JEAN:  So, actually, I think I’m gonna go and do that, but it was so good to see you, Margot.

MARGOT: Wait, Lara Jean!

LARA JEAN: Okay, bye

Margot makes a video call to Lara because she does not see her long time. Before Lara picks up Margot’s video call, she does practice before, because Lara does not want to Margot discovers that she has a fake boyfriend. Lara does not want Margot to know that she had been lying all this time. At first, they ask each other condition. But Lara is frantic about her own feelings so she wants to end the conversation immediately. Then, Lara immediately ended the conversation by saying that she is leaving soon. She knows that she does not go anywhere. She is unsure about what she said. Lara uses “I think” it indicates that the speaker is uncertain with what she talks about. It happens because the speaker is lack of confidence when she delivers the statement. The word “I think” also indicates that Lara does not want a definite statement so that it loosens up the impact of the statement. Lara does not want Margot to feel left out or Lara does not want Margot to feel disappointed so she has to loosen up the impact.

4.1.1.2 Tag Question

Women who employ tag question in their speech are expressing doubt or uncertainty (Lakoff, 2004, p.74). This feature is usually used when the speaker does not have enough information, so that makes them doubt their utterance. There are several examples of tag question found in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The data are shown below.

Data 7

PETER: my dad left us?

LARA JEAN: Yeah. That was a while ago, right?

PETER: Two summers ago.

Lara and Peter are in the cafe. They are telling stories about their family. Then Lara told him that her mother died and every day she really miss her. Peter also tells Lara that his father left him, his mother and his brother. Peter also tells Lara that two years ago, his father has a new wife and child. Peter feels sad because his father looks happier with his new family, where he sometimes misses it too. Then, Lara asked a question just to ensure that his father left a while ago.

The data shows that Lara reflects the state in persuading Peter that his father left him a while ago. The utterance, “Yeah. That was a while ago, right?” here indicated that Lara wants approval from Peter that his father left him a while ago because she does not have enough information about his father. The forms of tag question is not really question but midway between an outright statement and yes-no question. So, this is the way how Lara asking it is true or not to Peter if his dad left him a while ago. It shows that Lara has soft heart because  concerned with the sadness of Peter left by his father and his father lives happily with his new family. The utterance, “Yeah. That was a while ago, right?” indicates that Lara does not want to ask anything explicitly, so Lara uses the tag question “right?” in order to refine her words. Lara also does not want Peter to feels disturbed by her words. If Lara does not weaken her words, Peter would feel sad because he remembers his father.

Data 8

LARA JEAN: Um… You didn’t tell anyone about last night, did you?

PETER: No. No, that’s just how people act with couples on the ski trip.

Lara and Peter go on a ski trip with school friends. They take on a bus to return home as the ski trip has ended. When Lara gets into the bus, everyone gives her applause and Lara surprise also does not know what the applause for. So she asks to incase Peter tells their friends about the hot tub moment and she needs to know the truth.

The data shows that Lara reflects uncertainty about Peter. She encourages herself to ask Peter as she wants to convince her that her doubt about Peter is wrong so that she uses tag question “did you?”. It also shows Lara hesitancy, in the beginning, she asks Peter with her utterance “Um..”. Therefore, she states the question to Peter to expect confirmation from him so that she will know the truth. The utterance “Um… You didn’t tell anyone about last night, did you?” indicates that Lara wants to know the truth by asks Peter in a smooth way rather than subtle words to avoid Peter feels offended or even label Lara as a rude woman.

4.1.1.3 Rising Intonation on Declarative

According to Lakoff (2004, p. 77) Rising intonation is applied to a sentence which is a declarative answer, the declarative answer that becomes a question. While according to Eckert & Ginet (2003, p. 173) Rising intonation on declarative is the use of a high-rising tone at the end of a sentence. It can be concluded that rising intonation on declarative is turning a declarative answer into a question by adding a high-rising tone at the end of a declarative answer. There are several examples of rising intonation on declarative that found in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The data are shown below.

Data 9

PETER: I appreciate it, but it’s never gonna happen.

LARA JEAN: I’m sorry, ↗what?

Peter gets a love letter from Lara. Peter wants to ask the truth about the love letter. Therefore Peter meets Lara while she exercises at the field and tells Lara that they will not be in a relationship. So Lara is shocked by Peter’s explanation because Lara does not understand what Peter means. But it turns out that Peter gets a love letter she writes to convey her feeling to Peter and she keeps for a long time. Lara would never send that, and when Peter walks to her and suddenly says, “I appreciate it, but it’s never gonna happen.”it confused her for what Peter talk about.

The utterance “I’m sorry, ↗what?” indicates rising intonation because the speaker raises her intonation while uttered the sentence in order to give stressing so that it can evoke audience’s attention so that the audience consider the question is something important to be concerned. The purpose of uses rising intonation is to get information for the audience about a certain idea which is stated by the speaker. In this utterance, Lara applies rising intonation in order to get a clear answer from Peter. It also indicates that Lara Jean uses it to refine the question even with high intonation. Lara refines her words even with a high note because she does not want Peter to see her as a rude woman, as women should have a friendly and polite image.

Data 10

LARA JEAN: ↗Stop. Don’t finish that sentence.

Josh and Lara talk about their relationship where their relationship will not be the same again as before because Josh already knows Lara’s true feelings. Lara does not want Josh to continue with his sentence because when he does that, he will lose both Lara and Margot. Lara uses rising intonation so Josh immediately stops his sentence. She uses the command words with high intonation so that Josh has no choice besides obeying what she says. It also indicates that Lara uses it to make Josh follow her commands with the word “Stop” that it would never hurt Josh. Lara does not want to hurt Josh because Josh is the man she once loved so even though Lara gives command with high intonation, she knows to choose right words to make Josh see her as a friendly woman who never used abusive words, because if she uses abusive words then she will lose her image as a woman.

4.1.1.4 Empty Adjectives

According to Lakoff (1975:51) Empty adjectives is adjectives that only used by women. If men use some of empty adjectives words, it will damage men’s reputation. There are several examples of empty adjectives found in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The data are shown below.

Data 11

LARA JEAN: I was super happy for Margot. She deserves a great guy like Josh.

Lara Jean tells about boys that she ever loved before. She tells about Margot dating Josh and when they are dating, Margot always invited Lara. Lara feels like she is the third wheel because she likes her old sister’s boyfriend. She does not want to take it. She feels super happy that her old sister has Josh in her life because Margot deserves it.

From the data, it can be seen that Lara uses those adjectives to show her admiration that Josh is so kind and worth to dating with Margot. Empty adjective is implemented to express an emotional reaction rather than specific information. Lara uses these words to reinforce her statement or opinion. Lara uses “great” so that Lara is taken seriously with her interlocutor.

Data 12

LARA JEAN: And Margot would say, I’m being dramatic, but I think drama can be fun

Lara tells about five people she ever likes. Then, Lara rereading her love letter and it reminds her of how powerful her emotions can be back then. Margot once said that Lara is so dramatic. From the data, it can be seen that Lara uses those adjectives to show that she is indeed a dramatic person. Lara needs an empty adjective to strengthen her statement. Lara must strengthen her words to express her feelings so that people know that Lara is serious about her words because if she uses weak words then the interlocutor will underestimate her words.

Data 13

LARA JEAN: Do you really think that my boots are amazing?

Lara Jean is feeling insecure because the shoes that she wears are being laughed at by Genevieve. Because of this, Lara asks her friend whether her shoes look good or not. Then, her best friend answers that her shoes are very cool and tell Lara to be confident do not need to be insecure because it will ruin the whole vibe. From the data, it can be seen that Lara wants to emphasize to herself that her shoes are amazing and also Lara wants to confirm and strengthen her statement. Lara reinforces her words so that the interlocutor immediately confirms the question and Lara wants her interlocutor to answer yes or no because if she answers yes, Lara is happy and if the answer is no then she is sad because her chosen shoes turns out does not suit her.

Data 14

PETER: I could write you notes, every day.

LARA JEAN: You’d do that?

PETER: Sure. Gen was always on me to write her them. I never did, so if I start sending them to you, she’ll be pissed, it’ll be good.

LARA JEAN: Wow, how romantic.

Lara and Peter make a contract to fake their relationship. Then, Peter gives Lara the idea that Peter can write her notes every day. Genevieve is Peter’s ex-girlfriend, who always tells Peter to write notes when they are dating but he never does so. So, if Peter writes notes for Lara every day, then it will make Genevieve pissed off. Lara says that it is very romantic. From the data, it can be seen that Lara uses “romantic” to confirm to Peter that his treatment of writing notes to her every day is very romantic and also Lara wants to emphasize her statement. Lara has to emphasize her words because Lara wants Peter to know that she is amazing because Lara has just found out that Peter could do such romantic things. She wants Peter to know that she is serious about her words, so she emphasizes her statement because she wants her interlocutors to know that she is serious.

Data 15

LARA JEAN: So, Owen’s a pretty shy kid, huh?

PETER: Yeah.

Lara and Peter are in Peter’s home kitchen. Lara has dinner with Peter’s family and then she talks with Peter’s mother. Lara sees that Peter’s brother is so shy that is why Owen does not speak at all at dinner. From the data, it can be seen that Lara wants to express her emotion about what she feels about Owen to Peter. Lara also uses those adjectives to show her admiration towards something and also Lara wants to emphasize her feelings with strong words that will strengthen her statement. Lara wants to emphasize her feelings so Peter knows what she feels about his brother and also to make Peter know that she is serious about what she said.

4.1.1.5 Intensifiers

According to Lakoff (1975:54) men seem to have the difficulty to use this construction when the sentence is an unemotional condition or non-subjective without reference to the speaker himself while women much more often than men break off without finishing their sentence because they start talking without having thought out what they are going to say. There are several examples of intensifier that found in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The data are shown below.

Data 16

LARA JEAN: That’s very funny.

Kitty takes a helmet bike. Kitty takes her bicycle helmet when she does not ride a bike and she rides the car that Lara drives. Kitty feels that the helmet is very necessary because it would maintain its safety. But Lara thought that it is hilarious to ride a car wearing a bicycle helmet. Intensifiers are used to emphasize certain opinions. In order to emphasize the opinion, some people use the device to strengthen the meaning of their utterance. Lara persuades and strengthens the meaning to Kitty about her helmet that she is hilarious uses a bike helmet but rides a car. By intensifies the utterance, she wants to convince her to take her seriously about what she said, so she hopes Kitty will be releasing her helmet. Her statement to convince Kitty that what she is wearing is very funny and wants kitty to take her seriously.

Data 17

LARA JEAN: It’s actually really nice having someone to talk to about this stuff.

Lara and Peter in Peter’s home kitchen. They are talking about losing someone, someone left or left by someone. Lara lost her mother because she passed away meanwhile Peter left by his father, who seems to have a better life together with his new family. Lara never tells her heart’s confusion to anyone but only to Peter, for Lara has someone who can listen to our story that used to keep and never talk to anyone else but them it is really nice.

It can be seen that Lara uses an intensifier to make the addressee knows the strong feeling of the speaker. The word “really nice” indicates that Lara persuades and strengthen the meaning to Peter about her utterance that she feels really nice having someone to talk to about her fidgetiness and she wants to Peter knows that she feels really happy that Peter listens to all the complaints and Lara want Peter to know how she feels.

Data 18

LUCAS: He can’t really figure you out, but he’s having a lot of fun trying.

LARA JEAN: It doesn’t matter, he’s still so obsessed with Gen and I’m just another one of the stupid girls who fell for Kavinsky.

Lucas and Lara in the share room for the ski trip. They are joined ski trip but not have the idea to also join to do the ski so they just choose to spend time in the room. Lara tells Lucas that she falls in love with Peter while Peter is still cannot move on from her ex, Gen. But for Lucas, Lara is wrong, the one who is falling in love here is Peter. It really can be seen from how Peter treats Lara and Lucas notices that as Peter sees Lara like a sexy little Rubik’s cube.

From the data, it can be seen Lara uses “so” to emphasize the intended meaning towards her statement. Lara intensifies the intention to Lucas about her sentence. She feels that Peter so obsessed with Gen. The word “so obsessed” indicates that Lara persuades and strengthens the meaning to Lucas about her utterance. She feels that Peter still so obsessed with his ex Genevieve and she uses strength words because Lara wants Lucas to know her disappointment with Peter.

4.1.1.6 Hypercorrect Grammar

According to Lakoff (2004) hypercorrect grammar is the consistent use of standard forms and also the use of g’ in the word doin’, which is dropped more by men than what women do. There are several examples of hypercorrect grammar found in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The data are shown below.

Data 19

LARA JEAN: Should we go down and help him?

MARGOT: Oh, you know, he wants to do it himself, but please come help me set the table.

Lara’s father prepares Korean food to eat with his children. Lara wants to help her father so she asks Margot if she should go down to help him but Margot wants Lara to just help her.

From the data it can be seen that Lara uses the standards English forms, such as the use of correct simple tense. Lara is a very polite person so she speaks with Margot using “Should we go down and help him?” instead of “are we going down and help him?” the word “should” indicates that Lara avoids rough words and also be polite to her sister because Lara is a woman who is humble and polite to her siblings so if she uses rough words or language that is not polite then she will lose her image as a humble woman.

Data 20

LARA JEAN: Until you start going to pubs and eating haggis.

Lara’s family at the airport. They are sending Margot off to Scotland to study. Lara worries about herself that she is no longer has someone who would accompany her to eat and someone to talk about school. Lara is afraid of being forgotten by Margot because Margot is a friendly person and easily to get along and she probably forgot about Lara when she goes to pubs and eating haggis with her Scottish friends.

From the data, it can be seen that Lara is polite people she uses going to instead of gonna and also she uses “eating” instead of “eatin”. The words “going to” and “eating” indicates that Lara avoids rough words and also be polite to her sister because Lara usually uses polite language to her sister so she keeps that image.

4.1.1.7 Superpolite Forms

According to Lakoff (1975:56) women usually use many polite words, polite language and speech sound, which is more polite than men. There are several examples of Superpolite forms found in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The data are shown below.

Data 21

LARA JEAN: Kitty, why would you say that?

Lara talks to her young sister Kitty that she misses Margot, who used to watch TV together. Lara thinks about what Margot does in Scotland now. Kitty replies that Margot is having fun with her friends but Kitty answers it in harsh language. Therefore Lara is shocked by Kitty’s answer and Lara asks kitty back why she says harshly.

From the data, it can be seen that Lara is kind and polite people because if she talks with her young sister, she still uses polite words. Although answer by Kitty in rough language. The words “would” indicates that Lara uses “would” instead of “will” and also Lara avoids rough words and be polite with her young sister and also Lara is a person who takes care of her speech, no matter the interlocutor is old or young, she keeps her words polite because if she uses rough words, she loses her image as a polite woman.

Data 22

MARGOT: I’m busy.

LARA JEAN: Wait, Margot, please. I need your help.

Lara and Margot have an argue because Lara never tells Margot about anything now, especially when it came to Lara’s feelings. Margot feels she is not needed as a sister because her sister is not honest with her. So when Lara wants to ask Margot for help, Margot says she is busy but Lara still asks Margot for help in very polite language.

From the data, it can be seen that Lara does not need the agreement but just suggesting. Lara desperately needs Margot’s help. She is encouraged to ask her politely, which is related to her frightening that Margot will help her. Lara tends to show her request in conveying her idea to Margot to help her. Therefore, she tries to say her polite request to Margot whether her request will be responded to or refused. So in that condition, Lara asks Margot to help her by uses superpolite forms so that Margot does not have any optional except do what Lara requests. The word please indicates that Lara wanted to get help from Margot so she uses soft and polite language so that Margot assisted her.Lara wants help from Margot so she must use gentle words because if she uses rough words or by shouting, Margot will not help her.

Data 23

LARA JEAN: Can you turn around? Please

Lara goes to meet Peter at school so she could give Peter a love letter but Lara is very embarrassed to give it so she hides it behind and just escapes with go home. Peter already sees it, so Peter suggests Lara that if the letter for him, then give the letter and let him read it. But Lara does not give it to him, she chooses to read it to Peter but because she is too shy, Lara wants Peter to turn around.

The utterance “please?” indicates the request that does not need the agreement but just suggestion. It also indicates that Lara wants Peter to turn around. She asks him politely so that Peter does not have any optional except do what has requested by her. The word “please” indicates that Peter immediately did her command but in very polite and refined language. This utterance uses superpolite forms so that Peter immediately obeys Lara’s command because if she uses a rude sentence, then Peter would not want to follow Lara’s command.

4.1.1.8 Avoidance of Strong Swear Words

According to Lakoff (1975:50) women used such kinds of words like ‘dear’ or ‘goodness’ instead of words like ‘shit’, ‘damn’, ‘hell’, etc. There are several examples of avoidance of strong swear words found in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The data are shown below.

Data 24

LARA JEAN: Oh, my God, it’s Gen.

Lara is walking down the school and accidentally bumps into Genevieve. Lara shocks because she bumps into Genevieve and does not expect to hit her. Genevieve is a post-middle school friend but she is now no longer friends with Genevieve because she is a famous girl in her school that would never befriend Lara, who is a bookworm and not easy going.

From the data, it can be seen that Lara feels shocked to meets Genevieve accidentally. Lara uses “Oh, my God” instead of “oh, damn”. Even though she uses strong swear words, she prefers weak swear words. She is showing that Lara’s utterance does not look like rough language. Even though Lara is swearing, she still uses subtle swear words because Lara does not want to lose her image as a good and polite woman, because basically women are people who have gentle speech and polite language.

Data 25

DR COVEY: Pulling out’s not protection.

LARA JEAN: Oh, my God. I’m getting out of the car.

Dr. Covey gives Lara sex education before going on a ski trip. They talk in the car when Lara’s father drove Lara to her school for a ski trip. But Lara feels uncomfortable when her father provided such information. Especially when her father provides some information to her about safety.

From the data, it can be seen that Lara feels uncomfortable about the information. So she immediately gets out of the car so that her father immediately ends up the conversation about sexual health. Lara is also shock why her father gives that kind of information and therefore, Lara uses swear words but it was still at a subtle level. Lara is not considered a rough person by her father. If Lara becomes a rough person, she loses woman figures where the woman figure is the person who keeps her speech and polite.

Data 26

LARA JEAN: God, how did I let this happen?

Lara is in Margot’s room. Lara is telling Margot about ski trip and sex tape and she asks Margot for help so that the sex tape is immediately deleted from Instagram. Lara does reflect on her mistakes and thinks about how this is can happen to her. She feels frustrated because of the sex tape.

From the data, it can be seen that Lara feels frustrated about her situation now. She does not know what to do, feel sorry and then she curses herself stupid. Lara uses the word “god” because Lara is frustrated and she thinks that she is stupid to let that happen to her. Lara also feels frustrated and stupid but she still speaks polite words, keeps her words and steers clear of abusive language. Even though she is angry, Lara keeps her word because she does not want to lose her image as a real woman.

4.1.1.9 Emphatic Stress

According to Lakoff (1975) women tend to use emphatic stress to emphasize the utterance or strengthen the meaning of an utterance. There are several examples of emphatic stress found in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The data are shown below.

Data 27

LARA JEAN: I’m tired of being second best or fake best.

Peter and Lara are fighting in front of Lara’s house. Lara is very angry with Peter because Peter still cares about his ex, Genevieve. Peter explains why he goes to Genevieve’s room that night. Lara is tired of Peter’s reasons, even before Peter can tell the truth. Lara only considers herself as the second-best or fake best for Peter.

From the data, it can be seen that Lara feels disappointed and angry with Peter because, from all the time they spend together, Lara is his number second. She uses emphatic stress to expresses feelings of disappointment and anger at Peter. Lara uses it to make Peter sure of her utterance. Lara wants Peter to know that she is serious and angry with Peter so she uses encouraging words to convince Peter of her words.

4.1.2 The Most Dominant Women’s Language Features

            The second research question is the most dominant women’s language features used by Lara Jean in the movie. Based on the data, the researcher found that Lara Jean uses the most lexical hedges or fillers and uses the least tag question and emphatic stress. For more detail of the findings, the researcher shows the chart below:

Figure 4.1 Women’s Language Features

Figure 4.1 shows that Lara Jean’s utterances in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before are 28% for lexical hedges, 2% for tag question, 22% for rising intonation, 5% for empty adjectives, 21% for intensifier, 13% for grammar, 3% for superpolite forms, 4% for avoidance of strong swear words, 2% for emphatic stress, precise color terms is not found in Lara Jean’s utterances. It can be concluded that the most dominant women’s language is lexical hedges or fillers because Lara frequently uses this feature to show uncertainty. Lara rarely uses tag question and emphatic stress because she rarely asks something that she actually knows the answer and also rarely presses her words. Precise color terms is not found because Lara does not talk about themes that related to color.

4.1.3 The Functions of Women’s Language Features

The third research question is about the function of women’s language features. There are two functions. These are weakening function and strengthening function. The researcher finds 172 utterances that contain the function of women’s language.

4.1.3.1 Weakening Function

Weakening function serves to weaken an utterance. Serves to signify a lack of confidence and also expresses uncertainty. Women’s language features that have a weakening function are lexical hedges or fillers, tag question, rising intonation, hypercorrect grammar, superpolite forms and avoidance of strong swear words. The detailed analysis of the function can be seen in the subchapter below.

4.1.3.1.1 Lexical Hedges or Fillers

            Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses weakening function in lexical hedges or fillers 48 times. The example of weakening function in lexical hedges or fillers used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 28

PETER: You got rules? Come on, you really know how to zap the fun out of a situation.

LARA JEAN: Well, it’s important to knowwhere you stand on certain issues.

Lara Jean is discussing with Peter about dating rules before they go through a fake relationship. Lara Jean uses “well” to weaken her sentences so that she does not look firm when expressing her opinion. This sentence contains a weakening function because it functions to soften her utterance and also to show uncertainty. The uncertainty arises because there is a “well” in her utterance which makes Lara’s opinion look like she is not sure whether she should submit the opinion or not.

4.1.3.1.2 Tag Question

Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses weakening function in tag guestion 4 times. The example of weakening function in tag question used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 29

LARA JEAN: Um… You didn’t tell anyone about last night, did you?

PETER: No. No, that’s just how people act with couples on the ski trip.

Lara and Peter go for a ski trip with school friends. They take on a bus to return home as the ski trip has ended. When Lara gets into the bus, everyone gives her applause and Lara surprises also do not know what the applause for. So she asks to incase Peter tells their friends about the hot tub moment and she needs to know the truth. From the data, Lara uses tag question “did you?” to show uncertainty to Peter. She states the question to Peter to expect confirmation from him so that she will know the truth and also have weakening function because Lara wants to know the truth by asks Peter in a smoooth way than subtle words so that Peter does not label Lara as a rude woman.

4.1.3.1.3 Rising Intonation

Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses weakening function in rising intonation 38 times. The example of weakening function in rising intonation used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 30

LARA JEAN: Peter, ↗go home!

Peter and Lara are fighting in front of Lara’s house. Lara is jealous of Peter and Peter who are trying to explain what problems they are having. From the data, Lara usesa weakening function when she is angry with Peter. Even though she is angry with Peter and uses high intonation she kept her sentence and also she uses a high tone so Peter know that she is angry and she is not in the mood to be invited to talk that is why the phrase “go home” appeared so that Peter realized that she is angry and want Peter to leave her house immediately.

4.1.3.1.4 Hypercorrect Grammar

Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses weakening function in hypercorrect grammar 22 times. The example of weakening function in hypercorrect grammar used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 31

LARA JEAN: I was trying to convince your ex-boyfriend that I wasn’t in love with him.

Lara is practicing speaking before Margot called. She practiced like that so Margot does not know that she is lying. From the data, Lara uses “going to” instead of “gonna” to weaken her sentences and also away from rough words and also be polite to her sister because Lara usually uses polite language to her sister so she keeps her image.

4.1.3.1.5 Superpolite Forms

Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses weakening function in superpolite forms 5 times. The example of weakening function in superpolite forms used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 32

LARA JEAN: Can you turn around? Please

Lara is on the school ground meets Peter who is exercising Lacrosse. Lara wants to convey her love letter to Peter but she is too shy to read it in front of Peter so Lara wants Peter to turn around. From the data “please” appears to weaken the command sentence. Lara told Peter in a polite and refined language. This utility has a weakening function so that Peter immediately obeys Lara’s command, because if she uses a strong sentence then Peter will not want to follow Lara’s command.

4.1.3.1.6 Avoidance of Strong Swear Words

Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses weakening function in avoidance of strong swear words 7 times. The example of weakening function in avoidance of strong swear words used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 33

LARA JEAN: Oh, my God, it’s Gen.

Lara is passing through the school corridor and she accidentally bumped into Genevieve. From the data it can be seen Lara uses “oh my god” instead of “oh shit” she uses swear words but she prefers polite swear words than rough swear words. The utility has weakening function because Lara wants to weaken the sentence so that it does not look, rude woman. Lara uses a weakening function so that Lara does not lose her image as a good and polite woman because basically women are people who have gentle and polite language.

4.1.3.2 Strengthening Function

Strengthening function serves to strengthen an utterance. It serves to illustrate the anticipation of the speaker to the interlocutor who is not sure of her/his utility and provided with additional information. The point is that this function to convince interlocutors of the speaker’s utterance. Women’s language features that have a strengthening function, i.e. empty adjectives, intensifiers and emphatic stress.

4.1.3.2.1 Empty Adjectives

Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses strengthening function in empty adjectives 9 times. The example of strengthening function in empty adjectives used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 34

LARA JEAN: Well, great. If that was the reason you came over to talk to me

Lara is talking to Josh in front of Lara’s house. They talk about Lara who writes love letters. From the data Lara uses “great” to show if she uses the strengthening function. Lara uses the strengthening function because Lara uses these words to reinforce her statement. Lara uses strengthening words so that Lara is taken seriously with her interlocutor if she uses weak words to convey her feeling the interlocutor will not take Lara’s words seriously.

4.1.3.2.2 Intensifier

Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses strengthening function in intensifier 36 times. The example of strengthening function in the intensifier used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 35

LARA JEAN: I’m so stupid.

Lara in Margot’s room. Lara is asking Margot for help about what had happened to her. From the data, it can be seen Lara uses “so” indicates strengthen function because Lara persuades and strengthens the meaning to Margot about her utterance. She feels that she is so stupid to let something like this happen to her. She uses strength words because Lara wants Margot to know that she is disappointed in herself.

4.1.3.2.3 Emphatic Stress

Based on the data, it is found that Lara Jean uses strengthening function in emphatic stress 3 times. The example of strengthening function in emphatic stress used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before can be seen below.

Data 36

LARA JEAN: No, it’s totally fine. I completely understand.

Lara and Peter are at the cafe after returning from their friend’s party. They are talking about family members who left them. Her mother left Peter’s father who left Peter since he was a child and had a new family and Lara. The data expresses the power pressure in Lara’s utterance which she conveyed to Peter. Lara refused Peter’s opinion and argued that she understood what Peter feels. “Totally” and “completely” reflects Lara’s feeling that she fully understands Peter’s situation by convincing and emphasizing her utterance. “Totally” and “completely” contain a strengthening function because Lara is convincing and emphasizing her utterance when she talks to Peter.

4.1.4 The Most Dominant Function of Women’s Language Features

            The fourth research question is the most dominant function of women’s language. Based on the data, the researcher found 172 utterances that are divided into two functions, namely the weakening and strengthening function. The most dominant function is weakening, which amounts to 72%.

Figure 4.2 The Function of Women’s Language Features

Figure 4.2 shows that Lara Jean’s utterances in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before are weakening function 72% and strengthening function 28%. All of the functions are found in Lara Jean’s utterances. It can be concluded that Lara uses a lot of weakening functions because Lara often feels lack of confidence and also to express uncertainty. Lara rarely uses the strengthening function because Lara rarely confirms her statement. She keeps her words soft so she is not labeled as a rude woman.

4.2 Discussions

In this section, the researcher tries to explain the results of the findings. The researcher elaborates the results into four points based on the research question. The first question is the feature of women’s language used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The results show that Lara Jean just uses 9 features from 10 features of women’s language. Those are a lexical hedges or fillers 28%, tag question 2%, rising intonation 22%, empty adjectives 5%, intensifiers 21%, hypercorrect grammar 13%, superpolite forms 3%, avoidance of strong swear words 4% and emphatic stress 2%. In this movie does not occur precise color terms. There are three related research from Safitri (2017), Mazidah (2013), and Rubbyanti (2017) which have been reviewed by the researcher that precise color terms did not found in their research object. Lara Jean’s character does not show that she is a fashionable person. Her character shows that she is an ordinary school girl even she is a girl who is consider as a nerd, a homebody, not an easy-going person, and type of girl who often feel insecure with herself as well as the clothes or things she wears. There are no scenes in the movie which shows Lara Jean referencing or describing colors. Thus, the precise color terms is not found in the movie.

The second question has been answered by the researcher by showing the most dominant feature used by Lara Jean. Lara Jean uses many lexical hedges or fillers. Which are shown by the amount of data that is 28%. Lara Jean uses a lot of lexical hedges or fillers because Lara Jean often feels unsure of her statements because she does not feel confident about herself. Lara also avoids making definite statements because she is afraid of being wrong with her words.

The third question is the function of women’s language used by Lara Jean. Two functions appeared in the movie; those are weakening function (hedging devices) 72% and strengthening function (booster devices) 28%. All of the functions found in the movie. And the last question is the most dominant function used by Lara Jean is weakening function. Lara Jean uses a lot of weakening functions because Lara Jean wants to loosen the impact of the statement. Lara wants to reduce the impact of her words because she does not want her interlocutors to see Lara as a stubborn person and forcing the will, then to show that Lara Jean was uncertain with her statement. Lara shows uncertainty because she anticipates that the statement she says is wrong or Lara only needs statements from other people who can convince her that what she says is true. Then to avoid makes definite statement because Lara is a person who is not confident with her abilities or herself so Lara avoids definite statements, to show the lack of confidence in states her opinion because basically women are people who are hesitant to make choices and Lara is someone who easily feels insecure, and also to get attention from interlocutor, Lara wants to be appreciated by her interlocutor and if her interlocutor does not notice her, then Lara feels unnoticed and also that Lara can also think that her interlocutor is not interested in her words.

Based on the findings above, the researcher tends to compare the present study with the previous study. The first study is Features and Functions of Women’s Language in Anna’s Character of Anna Karenina Movie by Laila (2016). She focused on Anna’s character of the movie Anna Karenina and she wanted to know about women’s language features and the function. She used Lakoff’s theory to conduct the research. She used six functions to analyzed women’s language. On the other hand, Sekar (2018) conducted Women’s Language Features of Eilish Lacey in the Brooklyn Movie Script. This research investigated how Eilish Lacey able to survive in Brooklyn. She used document analysis with Lakoff’s theory. Relating to the two previous studies above, the researcher gives the new findings of the women’s language feature analysis. None of the previous studies that are analyzed movie whose main character has an Asian background and also none of the previous studies that used weakening and strengthening function.

After analyzing women’s language and the function in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, the researcher gets to know about women’s language and how the way women speak. In this research explains women’s language and how the way women speak. The way women speak is not the new thing in the Islamic perspective. How women speak also find in Islam, Islam encourages women to speak nicely as a way of protection for themselves and it can be found in the QS Al-Ahzab: 32, Allah says

يَا نِسَاءَ النَّبِيِّ لَسْتُنَّ كَأَحَدٍ مِّنَ النِّسَاءِ ۚ إِنِ اتَّقَيْتُنَّ فَلَا تَخْضَعْنَ بِالْقَوْلِ فَيَطْمَعَ الَّذِي فِي قَلْبِهِ مَرَضٌ وَقُلْنَ قَوْلًا مَّعْرُوفًا – 33:32

“O wives of the Prophet, you are not like anyone among women. If you fear Allah, then do not be soft in speech [to men], lest he in whose heart is disease should covet, but speak with appropriate speech.” (Qs Al-Ahzab: 32)

The verse describes how women should speak properly. Women must speak using good words to others and use words that are following the guidance of the Shari’a. So, we as the Muslim and as women must speak using polite words, use good words, not use harsh language and also have to take care of speech wherever and whenever we are.

To complete the discussion of the present study, the researcher looks forward to the contribution of this research to the academic society. Language develops every day so it needs to be analyzed and investigated further. Hopefully, through this present study, readers will be able to understand languages that are used by women not only in the movie but also in all aspects of life and function of language so that they can find out more deeply in the field of linguistics.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

In this chapter, the researcher presents the conclusion and the suggestion after analyzing and interpreting data. The researcher shows a conclusion about this research. The researcher also suggests the next researchers who want to conduct research about women’s language features.

5.1 Conclusion

The researcher shows the conclusion based on the finding in the previous chapter. The research is about women’s language features and the function in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The researcher uses Lakoff’s theory to get women’s language of Lara’s utterances.

Based on the findings, the researcher finds 9 features of women’s language used by Lara Jean in the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. They are; lexical hedges or fillers, tag question, rising intonation, empty adjectives, intensifiers, hypercorrect grammar, superpolite forms, avoidance of strong swear words and emphatic stress. The researcher does not find precise color terms because Lara does not talk about the theme that relate with color.

The most dominant women’s language features used by Lara Jean is lexical hedges or fillers. The total number of women’s language features used by Lara Jean are 172 statements in the movie. Those features are divided into: 48 lexical hedges (27,91%), 38 rising intonation (22,09%), 36 intensifiers (20,93%), 22 hypercorrect grammar (12,8%), 9 empty adjectives (5,23%), 7 avoidance of strong swear words (4,07%), 5 superpolite terms (2,91%), 4 tag question (2,32). The least used feature by Lara is emphatic stress 3 (1.74%).The last is precise color terms that have no cases (0%) in the data. The researcher does not find precise color terms because in this movie Lara does not talk about the theme that related with color.

The function of women’s language features divided into two functions. Those are weakening function and strengthening function. The function of lexical hedges or fillers is weakening function. The function of tag question is weakening. The function of rising intonation is weakening. The function of empty adjectives is strengthening. The function of intensifiers is strengthening. The function of hypercorrect grammar is weakening. The function of superpolite forms is weakening. The function of avoidance of strong swear words is weakening. The function of emphatic stress is strengthening.

The most dominant function of women’s language features is weakening. The total number of the function used by Lara Jean are 172 statements in the movie. Those function are divided into: 124 weakening function (72,09%) and 48 strengthening function (27,91%). Based on the data, the researcher concludes that Lara Jean uses many weakening function because Lara wants to reduce the force of the statement and also Lara uses the strengthening function a little because Lara keeps the tone of her voice soft.

5.2 Suggestion

            The researcher gives suggestions for everyone who is interested in women’s language features; first, the researcher advises to the next researchers to compare men’s and women’s utterances within the formal or informal speech. Secondly, the researcher advises choosing another object such as; song, talkshow, speech, etc. for the next researchers who want to research women’s language features.