Social Deixis in The Godfather Movie

Muhammad Fauzan, Ruminda Ruminda, Toneng Listiani

Abstract


This research examined the types and functions of social deixis in The Godfather movie using Levinson’s (1983) theory, focusing on how language reflects power, hierarchy, and social relationships within the mafia world. This research used a qualitative descriptive method. The result of the research identifies 62 occurrences of relational social deixis, consisting of 21 referent honorifics, 33 addressee honorifics, and 8 bystander honorifics, as well as 21 occurrences of absolute social deixis, including 9 authorized speaker instances and 12 authorized recipient instances. The findings reveal that social deixis in The Godfather serves as a linguistic tool to establish authority, reinforce hierarchical structures, and convey respect and familiarity among characters. Through its use of formal address terms, honorifics, and social markers, the movie effectively illustrates how language shapes interpersonal dynamics and power relations, contributing to a deeper understanding of social deixis in cinematic dialogue and its implications in pragmatics.

Keywords


Levinson’s Theory, Pragmatics, Social Deixis, The Godfather.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Chiampi, J. T. (1978). Resurrecting The Godfather. Melus, 5(4), 18-31.

Comrie, B. (2007). Language Universals and Linguistic Typology: Syntax and Morphology. 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press.

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (5th ed.). London: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Cruse, A. (2006). Deixis (pp. 166-179). In Glossary of Semantics (2nd ed.)

Levinson, S. C. (1983). "Pragmatics". Cambridge University Press.

Press. Pioneer: Journal of Language and Literature, 11(1), 12-20.

Perkins, R. D. (1992). Deixis, Grammar, and Culture. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Puzo, M. and Coppola, F. F. (1971), The Godfather, screenplay, New York: Paramount Pictures, 129 pages

Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Abdulameer, T. A. S. A., & Suhair, T. A. (2019). A pragmatic analysis of deixis in a religious text. International Journal of English Linguistics, 9(2), 292. From https://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijel/article/view/0/38686

Budiarta, I. W., & Gaho, R. (2021). Deixis analysis on Zootopia movie script: a pragmatic study. IJOTL-TL: Indonesian Journal of Language Teaching and Linguistics, 6(3), 261-274. From https://ijotl-tl.soloclcs.org/index.php/ijoltl/article/view/682

Maksum, U. (2022). Social deixis in articles on the official Manchester United website (Doctoral dissertation, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung). From https://digilib.uinsgd.ac.id/60737/

Mustaqiem, H. M., & Simatupang, E. C. (2023). An Analysis Of Deixis In The King’s Man (2021) Movie: Pragmatics Study. Jurnal Darma Agung, 31(2). From https://jurnal.darmaagung.ac.id/index.php/jurnaluda/article/view/3028

Nabila, N. A. (2023). Social deixis used by Eric Nam and Johnny of NCT in K-Pop Daebak Show Podcast (Doctoral dissertation, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung). From https://digilib.uinsgd.ac.id/75063/

Nurfauzia, V. (2021). An analysis of Social Deixis in The Kings movie script (Doctoral dissertation, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung). From https://digilib.uinsgd.ac.id/45264/

Nursantika, D. S. (2024). Social deixis in Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on talk show CBS Morning (2021) (Doctoral dissertation, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung). From https://digilib.uinsgd.ac.id/89802/

Prasetyo, D., & Laila, M. (2018). Social Deixis in The Movie King Arthur: Legend of The Sword 2017 (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta). From https://eprints.ums.ac.id/60448/

Puspitarani, Kinkin (2018) Social deixis in Inside Out movie script. Diploma thesis, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung. From https://digilib.uinsgd.ac.id/18347/




DOI: https://doi.org/10.31004/jele.v10i2.738

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Muhammad Fauzan, Ruminda, Toneng Listiani

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.