The Use of the Speech Acts of Asking and Ordering in Prison Break: An Analysis of Directives Speech Act

Abstract

When it comes to everyday social interactions, the directives speech act is frequently used by people all around us. This.research has been conducted based on analyzing the use of the speech acts of asking and ordering in Paul Scheuring's television series titled Prison Break, which was first published in America in 2005. It is an action-thriller drama serial. This research's primary goal is to investigate how the series's characters used the speech acts of asking and ordering in their conversations. This series depicts the story of two brothers, Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield, where Scofield made a master plan to escape from the prison and save his brother, who is accused of murdering the vice president's brother.and has been sentenced to death. The aim of the research is to examine how the characters in the Prison Break television series used the speech acts of asking and ordering, as well as the context in which they were used, through the lens of renowned theorists' speech act.theories. The descriptive qualitative method has been used for the research based on analyzing the contexts and theory of the Speech Act. The method also assists the researcher in interpreting the data and strengthening the results' interpretation. Speech act refers to the actions which are performed via speech. Directives speech acts are acts that aim to make someone do something. Asking and ordering are two of the most prominent examples of the directives speech act..This research's primary data has been taken from the characters' conversations containing examples of the speech acts of asking and ordering. The findings of this study show that the characters in the Prison Break television series made extensive use of the speech acts of asking and ordering in their daily interactions. So, the research findings can help one understand and identify the types of directives speech acts in a certain way.