Dominance of Emotional Utterances in Mufasa The Lion King Revealed by Universitas Negeri Medan Stu

Apriyani Multitach Publisher Sabtu, Agustus 22, 2026
FORMOSA NEWS

Language use in modern cinema functions not only to advance the plot, but also to evoke deep emotions and develop complex characters. A recent scientific study conducted by a research team from Universitas Negeri Medan—Aynen Kresensia Br Sembiring, Miranda La'ia, Rani Eviolina Purba, and Syamsul Bahri—reveals these pragmatic dynamics in Barry Jenkins' animated film Mufasa: The Lion King. Published in 2026 in the International Journal of Advanced Technology and Social Sciences (IJATSS), this research marks the first study to specifically analyze the dialogues of Mufasa: The Lion King using George Yule's speech act theory. The study offers new insights for the creative industry and linguistic scholars regarding how linguistic structures build inter-character relationships in audiovisual media.

Contextually, adaptations of literary works and fictional stories into cinematic formats continue to rapidly expand alongside digital technology. Film acts as an effective communication medium that conveys messages through a combination of visual, audio, and interactive dialogue elements. Within character conversations, spoken utterances carry social actions known as speech acts. Understanding the structure of speech acts enables viewers and film scholars to comprehend the psychological motivations, internal conflicts, and political decisions made by characters in the story.

The research team from Universitas Negeri Medan utilized a descriptive qualitative research method. The researchers gathered primary data in the form of key dialogue excerpts and scenes from Mufasa: The Lion King. This data was then analyzed and categorized based on George Yule's (1996) pragmatic framework, which classifies speech acts into five types: declarations, representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives.

Statistical analysis of dialogue proportions in the film revealed the following distribution of speech act types:

  • Expressives (33.3%): Emerged as the most dominant category, accounting for 5 entries in the sample data. These utterances express psychological states, emotional feelings, anxieties, love, and admiration between characters, such as Taka expressing his romantic feelings toward Sarabi.
  • Directives (26.6%): Ranked second with 4 data points. These speech acts appear as commands, requests, or urgings for the listener to perform an action, such as Mufasa's urgent instruction to move while fleeing from the white lions.
  • Representatives (20.0%): Accounted for 3 data points. Characters use these utterances to state beliefs or facts they hold true about the world, such as Mufasa's mother describing the dreamland of Milele.
  • Commissives (13.3%): Recorded 2 data points. This category encompasses promises, vows, or personal commitments to future courses of action, such as Obasi's pledge to protect his family line.
  • Declarations (6.7%): Represented the least frequent type, appearing only once in the sample. Declarative utterances hold the power to immediately alter reality, as seen when Rafiki proclaims Mufasa as the new king of Milele, transforming the character's social status and world status.

The implications of this study are highly relevant to the film industry, screenwriters, educators, and the general public. Barry Jenkins' screenplay demonstrates that a dominance of expressive speech acts is essential to building strong emotional engagement between the audience and animated characters. For screenwriting practitioners and mass communication professionals, these findings highlight that even fantasy narratives set against major conflicts rely on personal, emotion-driven dialogue to connect psychologically with audiences.

A balance between emotional expression and directive dialogue creates a dynamic narrative structure. As explained by Aynen Kresensia Br Sembiring and her team from Universitas Negeri Medan, expressive utterances serve as the primary tool for characters to respond to situations without directly altering reality. Conversely, declaration speech acts—despite having the lowest frequency—play the most crucial structural role, reserved exclusively for figures of authority to alter the narrative trajectory and social standing of key characters.

Author Profile

Aynen Kresensia Br Sembiring, S.Pd., is a researcher in Linguistics and Pragmatics at Universitas Negeri Medan. Her academic focus includes discourse analysis, pragmatic speech acts, and language analysis in popular media and film. This research was conducted alongside fellow academics from Universitas Negeri Medan: Miranda La'ia, S.Pd., Rani Eviolina Purba, S.Pd., and Syamsul Bahri, M.Hum.

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