This research explores the use of indirect speech acts in the movie Mean Girls,
focusing on the utterances of the main character. It aims to identify the forms and
functions of these indirect speech acts and the way the functions meet the
perlocutionary effect presented by the main character in the Mean Girls movie.
The research employed a qualitative descriptive method, where the researcher
collected the 13 utterances as data following Searle's theory (1979) and
subsequently drew conclusions from the analysis. Based on the analysis, there are
declarative (77%), interrogative (23%), and imperative is not found. There are
five illocutionary acts found: directive (62%) function as requesting,
commanding, inviting, and suggesting. Representative (8%) function as
informing. Declarative (8%) function as asserting. Commissive (15%) function as
refusal. Expressive (8%) function as criticizing. The dominant kind of indirect
speech act that found in Mean Girls movie is directive. Furthermore, from the 13
data analyzed, it was found that most of the perlocutionary acts successfully
achieved the desired effect, with a total of 8 data (62%) showing a clear alignment
between the speaker's intention and the listener's response. However, 5 data (38%)
of perlocutionary acts were identified as unsuccessful. Overall, this analysis
underlines the importance of context, and listener perception in the success of
perlocutionary acts.