Culturalistics: Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistic Studies
Vol 9, No 2 (2025): Culturalistics: Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistics Studies (December

Face-Threatening Acts Performed by Joe Gardner in Soul Movie

Budianto, Clarissa Lievany (Unknown)
Maharani, Sang Ayu Isnu (Unknown)
Saientisna, Made Detriasmita (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
31 Dec 2025

Abstract

Speech acts are actions carried out through language that do more than just share information; they can also affect the listener or change social situations. Sometimes, these spoken interactions may cause the listener to feel uncomfortable or lose respect. The idea of protecting a person’s dignity and social standing in communication is known as ‘face.’ When speech acts threaten this sense of face, they are called face-threatening acts. This study aims at identifying and analyzing the face-threatening acts performed by the character Joe Gardner in Pixar’s animated movie Soul (2020), by applying Brown and Levinson’s (1987) framework. Data were collected using the documentation method and note-taking technique, focusing on Joe Gardner’s utterances throughout the movie. The analysis employs a descriptive qualitative method, involving classification, identification, and verification based on the four types of face-threatening acts. The findings show that Joe Gardner performs all four types of face-threatening acts in 103 utterances: threatening the hearer’s negative face (61.2%), threatening the hearer’s positive face (23.3%), threatening the speaker’s negative face (6.8%), and threatening the speaker’s positive face (8.7%). The most frequently used type is the threat to the hearer’s negative face.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

culturalistics

Publisher

Subject

Humanities

Description

Culturalistics: Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistic Studies is a peer-reviewed triannual scientific journal published by Department of Linguistics, Diponegoro University, Indonesia. It publishes articles in the field of cultural, literary, and linguistic ...