AN ANALYSIS OF SEMANTIC CHANGE IN EUPHEMISTIC TERMS IN
THE SCRIPTS “
JENNIFER’S BODY
”
MOVIE
A Thesis
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for
The Degree of Letters Scholar
RESMITA SISKA
106026000969
ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT
ADAB AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH
JAKARTA
ABSTRACT
Resmita Siska, An Analysis of Semantic Change in Euphemistic Terms in the Script
‘Jennifer’s Body’ movie. Thesis. Jakarta : English Letters Department. Letters and
Humanities Faculty, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2010.
The aim of this research is to describe the meaning relation and semantic
change that happened in euphemistic terms that found in the script “Jennifer’s Body”
movie. This meaning relation falls under:
synonymy, antonym, hyponymy, and
meronymy. While semantic change divided into: semantic
broadening, semantic
narrowing, amelioration, pejorative, sinestesia, and association.
The writer applies descriptive- qualitative method to describe the types of
meaning relation and semantic change that happened in euphemistic terms. In the
collecting data the writer applies the documentation method in which the “Jennifer’s
Body”
film
scripts
are
download
from
the
website
http://www.imsdb.com/search.php. The writer analyzed 10 types of euphemism that
found in the scripts. Data analysis continued by using descriptive method.
APPROVEMENT
AN ANALYSIS OF SEMANTIC CHANGE IN EUPHEMISTICS TERM
IN THE SCRIPT
“JENNIFER’S BODY”
MOVIE
A Thesis
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement
for the Degree of Letters Scholar
Resmita Siska
106026000969
Approved by:
Dr. Frans Sayogie, M.Pd
NIP: 19700310 200003 1002
ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTEMENT
LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH
JAKARTA
LEGALIZATION
Name : Resmita Siska
NIM : 106026000969
Title : An Analysis of Semantic Change in Euphemistic Terms in the Script
“Jennifer’s Body” Movie.
The thesis has been defended before the Letters and Humanities Faculty’s
Examination Committee on November 15, 2010. The thesis already been accepted as a
partial fulfillment of requirement for Strata One Degree (S1).
Jakarta, November 15, 2010
The Examining Committee
Name
Signature
Date
1. Dr. H. M. Farkhan, M.Pd
(Chair Person)
________
_______
NIP.196509192000031002
2. Drs. Asep Saefudin, M. Pd
(Secretary)
________
_______
NIP.1640701993031006
3. Dr. Frans Sayogie, M.Pd
(Advisor)
________
_______
NIP. 19700310 200003 1002
4. Drs. Agus Irianto, M.Hum
(Examiner I)
________
_______
NIP.195708101994121001
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim…..
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful and the most Beneficent.
Praise is only for Allah SWT, Lord of the world. First, the writer is deeply
grateful to Him who gives her His blessing and opportunity to accomplish this thesis.
The writer would like to thank to her beloved parents Asril and Wasnidar
(alm.) who always give the support, love, attention, pray, and finance for the writer.
The writer is heartily thankful to her beloved sister Elmira Siska who give motivation
and also finance during her study and the process of finishing this thesis. The writer
also wish to thank her brother Ory Syahputra, Devit Rahman Putra , M. Halim
Syahputra and especially for Deni Effendy who never tired to give her motivation.
The writer owes her deepest gratitude to all lecturers who have been their
knowledge and experiences during her study in English Letter Department, State
Islamic University syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
The writer would like to express her deep and sincere gratitude to her advisor,
Dr. Frans Sayogie, M.Pd who had guided and supported the writer accomplish this
paper until finishing it.
head of English Letters Department, Drs. Asep Saefuin, M.Pd, the secretary of English
Letters Department.
Finnaly, The writer would like to thank to her best friends Elvina Sanjaya,
Dian rahmawati, Puspa Mega, Eka Hastianta, Nandang, Nanang Septiawan, Reza
Hafids and entire classmates class B and class A linguistics of English Letters
Department.
And many others relations are too numerous to name, but the writer thanks all
of them for sharing their ideas with her. For any mistakes that have not been weeded
out of this thesis, the writer of course remains fully responsible.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER ...
i
ABSTRACT ...
ii
APPROVEMENT ...
iii
LEGALIZATION ...
iv
DECLARATION ...
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...
vii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION ...
1
A. Background of the study ...
1
B. Focus the Study ...
4
C. The Research Question ...
5
D. Objective of the Study ...
5
E. Significance of the Study ...
6
F. Research Methodology...
6
1. Method of Research ...
6
2. The Instrument ...
6
3. Collecting Data ...
7
4. Technique of Data Analysis ...
7
5. Unit Analysis ...
8
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...
9
A.
Euphemism
1. Definition of Euphemism ...
9
2. Types of Euphemism ...
11
3. Taboo Word ...
15
B.
Semantics ...
17
1. Definition of Semantics ...
17
3. Types of Meaning ...
20
4. The Role of Context Situation in the Meaning
of Language ...
24
C. Semantic Field ...
25
D. Componential Analysis ...
26
E. Cultural Meaning ...
30
F. Meaning Relation ...
31
G. Semantic Change ...
34
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH FINDING ...
37
A. Data Description...
37
B. Data Analysis ...
41
1. Metaphor ...
41
2. Circumlocution ...
45
3. Clippings ...
48
4. Abbreviation ...
51
5. Quasi Omission ...
55
6. Full Omission ...
58
7. Metonymy ...
60
8. Hyperbole ...
63
9. Understatement ...
66
10. Abstraction ...
69
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION and SUGGESTION ...
72
BIBLIO GRAPHY
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.
Background of Study
As social human being, people couldn’t be separated from the influences of the
others, and almost all of their activities connected to another people. The accepted
from for aspects of behavior through which people influence and react to each other is
Social Interaction.
1Its one way which could be brought into reality is verbal
communication form. The one of purposes of verbally communication according to
Purwo as cited by Gunarwan is deliver information to another people. Besides that, the
important one of communication purpose also to keep social relationship and this is
universal communication necessity.
2To keep the social relationship, in human life there are rules and norms which
be obeyed by them. If someone wants to speak or say something, he must consider all
of factors which related to the rules and norms that be found in society. Commonly,
the speaker doesn’t speak directly without paying attention to the factors that influence
their speech such as how the situation is going on, who are the interlocutor, where the
place is, and what the subject or topic which is being talked. In this case, the speaker
must speak and deliver his idea in “good way” in order to make the social relationship
getting better.
1
Hudson, R. A. 1980. Sociolinguistic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.108
One of way to keep the good social relationship in verbally communication is
the speaker must avoid the term or the word which can insulting the listener,
embarrassing the interlocutor, attaching the listener’s self esteem or in another word
make the listener loss his face. The term is known as “dangerous word” or the “Taboo
word” or “dysphemism”. Taboo word is a word known to speakers but avoided in
some, most, or all, forms or contexts of speech, for reason of religion decorum
politeness, etc.
3It is clear that when we use the taboo word its mean we attack the
listener or make the listener undergoes loss his face.
According to Allan & Burridge the subject of taboo can vary widely like in sex
area, bodily effluvia, bodily function, death, religious matter, dangerous animal,
political issue even, diseases etc. For example, peoples feel difficult to mention the
specific organ for reproduction because the name of specific organ is taboo to be
mentioned and they choose to change the name of specific organ with another term.
We also can find in our life there are many words that used by people to deliver their
condolence without using the word “die”, because ‘die’ is considered as taboo word.
Because the “taboo word” is forbidden to mention and give the bed effect, so
people create the new word or rename and repackage that word to getting “better
sound” but still have a meaning that related to it. That’s a reason why they apply
“Euphemism”. According to Allan & Burriage, Euphemism is used as an alternative
to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one’s own
face or, through giving offense, that of the audience, or of some third party.
4
3
Rawson said that euphemism are powerful linguistics tools that “are embedded
so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride, themselves on being
plainspoken, ever get through a day without using them”. The need for euphemism is
both social and emotional, as it allows discussion of “touchy” or taboo subject ( such
as sex, reproductive processes, personal appearances or religion, etc) without enraging,
outraging, or upsetting other people, and acts as a pressure valve whilst maintaining
the appearance of civility. For example we can take these euphemism word from
“Jennifer’s Body” scripts, the word “womb” for “cunt”, “hot one” for “sexy woman”,
“PMS” for premenstrual syndrome,
“J.C” for “Jesus Christ”, “going somewhere or
gone” for “died”, “butt” for ass or arse and so on,
All these euphemism appeared naturally in the process of everyday usage.
People instinctively try to avoid the word not offend or to hurt one’s feelings. So
euphemism is synonym that aims to at producing a deliberately mild effect. When
people use them in proper situations, it means that they care about other people.
Similarly, euphemisms are used to express taboo, as we feel, on some
instinctual level, that the euphemism keeps us at safe distance from the taboo itself.
Another use of euphemism is to elevate the status of something (e.g. using “sanitation
engineer” sound more exalted then does “garbage collector”, “underprivileged” sound
much better than “poor and needy”, as does “senior citizens” rather than “old people”
); but in general, euphemism are used to express what is socially difficult to express in
direct terms.
euphemisms are figurative; many have been or are being the cause of “semantic
change”.
5These semantic changes lead the new meaning to be broader, narrower,
more favorable, or less favorable. Besides that, the other meaning may change because
of the exchange of perception or the similarity of characters.
6Although each lexeme undergoes semantics change, it is still tied by meaning
relation. Hence, together with the above explanation, the writer has in mind to bring
about the research An Analysis of Semantic Change in Euphemistic Terms in the
script “
Jennifer’s Body
” movie. In this thesis, the writer intends to describe in detail
what kind of euphemistic its self, how do meaning relation and semantic change
undergone by euphemism terms that used in that movie based on the theory cited in
theoretical framework.
B.
Focus of the Study
In doing the research, the writer would like to limit the discussion on semantic
issue such as meaning relation and semantic change of euphemism taken from
“Jennifer’s Body” script can be found http://www.imsdb.com/search.php written by
Diablo Cody. In analyzing the data, the writer applies semantic theory proposed by
Leech, Lyons, Jackson, Ogden and Richard, and soon.
The writer applies those theories in order to get all data of euphemism in that
story can be used to analyze completely. The writer also chooses the data from
“Jennifer’s Body” script after considering that these might be the best data for the
5
analysis. It is because the story of this movie goes a lot of area of friendship, love and
horror.
C.
The Research Question
To make more convenient and simply in this research, the writer formulates
her research through the following question:
1. What types of euphemism are found from “Jennifer’s Body” scripts?
2. How do the semantic change of euphemistic terms in
“Jennifer’s Body”
scripts?
D.
Objective of the Study
The objectives of this study are:
1.
Describing and classifying the euphemism terms into types of
euphemism taken from
“Jennifer’s body” scripts and giving
explanation what kind of meaning relation give to euphemism terms
on each type of euphemism by applying componential analysis.
2.
Giving explanation what kind of semantic changes involved in the
use of euphemism term by applying componential analysis.
E.
Significance of the Study
This study hopefully has some benefits for all students, especially at UIN
English Letter Department student. Moreover, in this study, the student can apply their
knowledge and comprehension in the appropriate daily conversation, especially in
formal occasion.
F.
Research Methodology
1.
Method of Research
In this research the writer uses a qualitative-descriptive method; the
writer describes the main data which are taken from “Jennifer’s body” scripts
through http://www.imsdb.com/search.php, then the writer analyzed the data
from semantic theory, and also correlating some of theories that are relevant
with the research.
2.
The Instrument
The instrument in this research is the writer herself by collecting and
noting the word related to the euphemism. The word will be analyzed carefully
by giving the explanation. Besides analyzing the data, the writer also puts it as
the evidence in this research.
3.
Collecting Data
The data of the study are the scripts “Jennifer’s Body”. The data are
also found from http://www.imsdb.com/search.php. That is movie website
where the writer browsed and got the transcripts of the movie “Jennifer’s
Body” written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusuma.
a.
Watching the movie “Jennifer’s Body”.
b.
Reading the movie scripts of “Jennifer’s Body”
c.
Searching euphemistic terms from the movie that guided by the movie
scripts.
d.
Giving a mark on euphemistic terms which are going to be observed.
e.
Using note technique to make a list of euphemism and then classify into
types of speech.
f.
Analyzing the euphemistic term and giving explanation what kind of
semantic changes involved in the use of euphemistic term by applying
componential analysis.
4.
Technique of Data Analysis
In this study, the main data will be analyzed by some ways. The writer
use method to analyze the data in this study should be outlined in order to the
writer doesn’t find confusion and go out of this study.
Here, the writer applies also descriptive method that is a method used
in order to make a description, an illustration, or a picture systematically,
factually and accurately about the fact. Technique used to verify the semantics
properties is binary semantic features.
7Next the data will be analyzed by using
core meaning analysis. It is used to find the meaning of word, even through the
data is not in a sentence.
In order to succeed in this research, the writer benefited the qualitative
analysis data by implementing the following procedures:
7
a.
Collecting the books that are relevant to semantics change, the
euphemism and dysphemism (taboo word or dispreferred
expression).
b.
Reading and understanding some theories of semantic theory,
semantic change, euphemism and dysphemism.
c.
Describing taboo and euphemistic term.
d.
Substituting the euphemistic term with taboo term.
e.
Analyzing the data by using the set of components to compare and
identify the meaning relation and semantic change.
f.
Analyzing the data by using core meaning analysis that is a
technique to find out the meaning of the word even though the word
is not in sentence.
5. Unit of Analysis
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A.
Euphemism
1.
Definition of Euphemism
The word
euphemism comes from the Greek word
euphemos, meaning
"auspicious/good/fortunate speech/kind" which in turn is derived from the Greek
root-words eu "good/well" + pheme "speech/speaking". The eupheme was originally a word
or phrase used in place of a religious word or phrase that should not be spoken aloud;
etymologically, the
eupheme is the opposite of the
blaspheme (evil-speaking). From
the word’s root of euphemism we can conclude that euphemism is speak in good way.
Concise Oxford Dictionary as quoted by Enright explain that euphemism is a
substitution of mild, vague or indirect expression for rude or direct one
8, Keith Allan
& Kate Burridge mention that:
A euphemism is used as an alternative to dispreferred expression, in order to
avoid possible los face: either one’s face or trough giving offense, that of the
audience or of some third party.
9The statement above give a comprehension to us that people use the euphemism
term is as an alternative expression to avoid mention the taboo word that will make the
listener loss his face. It is done absolutely to keep the relationship between speaker
and listener.
8
D.J Enright, Fair of Speech: The use of Euphemism. New York: oxford University Press, 1985. p.13.
9
Whereas, Matthews stated that euphemism is word, etc used in place of one
avoided as e.g. offensive, indecent, or alarming.
10We can conclude that euphemism is
a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may
offend or suggest something unpleasant to the receiver or listener, or to make it less
troublesome for the speaker.
If the “pleasant/polite word” is well known as euphemism, so the contrast words
or the bad one is called dysphemism. People used it to downgrade and show
disapproval of things, as Allan (1991) stated “dysphemism” is an expression with
connotation that are offensive either about the denotatum or to audience, or both.
11. It
is clear that taboo word absolutely can hurt the listener or make loss his face, because
of that people try to reduce of the using of dysphemism and change to apply
euphemism.
The purposes of euphemism are to present words of good omen, to avoid
unlucky words with metaphysical harm may befall either speaker or hearer, and to
prevent hearer from losing face by offending his sensibilities. Besides that it may also
substitute a description of something or someone to avoid revealing secret, holy, or
sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a
conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse.
For examples, euphemism words to cited freedom fighter for “terrorist”, firm
for
“pig-headed”,
life insurance replacing “insurance when you are dead”,
toddler for
“idiot”. In short, euphemism is an alternative to unpleasant expression, and is used in
order to avoid possible loss of face.
10
2.
Types of Euphemism
According to Allan and Burridge in “Euphemism and Dysphemism” mentioned
that many euphemisms that are figurative can be formed through several ways, such
as:
a.
Metaphor used as means of comparing things that are essentially unlike,in
metaphor the comparison is implied-that is, the figurative term is substituted for
or identified with the literal term, for example: miraculous pitcher for “vagina”,
the cavalry’s come replaces “I have got period”, kick the bucker for “die”.
b.
Rhyming slang is a way of talking in which tou use words or phrases that rhyme
with the word you mean, instead of using that word, for example
whistle (and
flute) for “suit”, groan and grunt for “cunt”, jimmy-riddle fo “piss”
c.
Remodelling is the way of replacing part of the word like
sugar, shoot, and
shucks for “shit”, tarnation for “damnation” darn, dang, and draft for “Damn”,
tidbits for “titbits”, basket for “bastard”, cripes or crumb for “Christ”, usually
end up as one-for-one substitutions in which either the onset or rhyme of the
dispreferred term is matched with that of a semantically word.
e.
Clippings is the euphemisms starting off with a modifying word then the
modifier is dropped as the phrase ceases to be euphemistic. For instance: Jeeze
for “ Jesus”, bra for “brassiere” (both end-clipped)
f.
Acronyms are written and pronounced as the words in their own right like or
acronym are proper word created from the initial letter or two of the words in
phrase, and they are pronounced like others word, for instance
snafu
for
“situation formal, all fucked up” or
commfu “complete monumental military
fuck up”, etc.
g.
Abbreviations are written and pronounced as strings of letters like TS for “tough
shit” etc.
h.
Omission fall into:
1.
Quasi-omission substitutes some no-lexical expression for the
dispreferred term into dashes and asterisk like
mmmm, er-mm, and
soon.
2.
Full-omission seems less common than quasi-omissions found/
need to go by omitting “to the lavatory”.
i.
One-for-one substitution is almost synonym and consists of two:
1.
Metonymy (general-for-specific): one name of change for another
like the legal term person for “pennies” and region for “genitals”.
2.
Synecdoche (part-for-whole euphemism) means to take with
j.
Hyperbole is simply exaggeration, but exaggeration in the service of truth, for
example, flight to glory for “death”.
k.
Understatement is saying less than one means, like sleep for “die”, deed for “act
of murder”. It is used to emphasis and to negate the opposite of what we wish to
convey.
l.
Euphemism through borrowing
The use of foreign language (Latin, France, etc) is considered to counteract
taboo terms such as bodily effluvia, sex, and the associated acts and bodily
organs. The used of
perspire instead of “sweat”
expectorate
instead of “spit”
defecate and
feces instead of “shit”, genitals instead of “sex organs”,
vagina
instead of “cunt”
Then, Enrich (1985)
12classified types of euphemism into: substitution, rhyming
slang, abbreviation, acronyms, circumlocution, litotes (understatement), indirectness,
lightly imaginative language, and synonym.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism#See_also many
euphemisms fall into:
a.
Term of foreign and technical origin such as: copulation, perspire, urinate.
b.
Abbreviation such as: BS for “bullshit”, TS for “tough shit”.
c.
Abstractions such as: it, the situation, go left the company, do it.
d.
Indirectness such as: behind, unmentionable, privates, live together, go to the
bath room, sleep together.
e.
Mispronunciation such as: freakin, goldarnit.
12 D.J Enright, Fair of Speech: The use of Euphemism. New York: oxford University Press,
f.
Plays on abbreviation such as: barbecue sauce for “bullshit”, Maryland farmer
for “motherfucker, sugar honey ice tea for “shit”.
g.
Phonetic alphabet such as: foxtrot for “fuck”, bravo, sierra for “bullshit”.
From all the explanation above, the writer can describe types of euphemism as
follows:
Metaphor
Rhyming slang
Remodeling
Abbreviation
Acronyms
Omission
quasi – omission
Full omission
Substitution
metonymy
synecdoche
Hyperbole
Understatement
Borrowing
Abstraction
Indirectness
Mispronunciation
Plays on abbreviation
Phonetic alphabet
3.
Taboo Word
Taboo word is a word known to speakers but avoid in some, most, or all forms
or context of speech, for reason of religion, decorum, politeness, etc.
13The word taboo
derives from the Tongan, an Austronesian language
14was prohibited behavior. It was
prohibited because it was believed to do be dangerous to certain individuals, or to
society as a whole. The dangerous of the taboo word are can insult the listener, its
13
Petter Matthews, The consise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. New York: oxford University Press, 1997. p.371
14
means the taboo word will break the good relationship between speaker and hearer,
and if we mention the taboo word some people will consider that we are impious or
impolite.
Akmajian mentioned that what counts as taboo language is something defined by
culture, and not by anything inherent in the language.
15Taboo or not taboo a language
is depending on their culture. For instance, in Indonesian people especially in Javanese
people to mention the name of the people who passed away is consider as taboo, so the
people use word “almarhum or almarhumah before the name”, and it is not happen in
the other culture or country.
Keith Allan and Kate Burridge, Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of
Language said
in contemporary western society, taboo and euphemism are closely
related to the concepts of politeness and face (basically, a person's self-image).
Generally, social interaction is oriented toward behavior that is gracious and
respectful, or at least inoffensive. Participants have to consider whether what they are
saying will maintain, enhance, or damage their own face, as well as to be considerate
of, and care for, the face needs of others.
Common swear words such as “fuck! Include taboo words. Hence to avoid
words seen as offensive, obscene, or somehow disturbing to listeners or readers, the
taboo words will be euphemized. It is like what Allan stated in
Natural Semantics Language as follows:A taboo term, a strong dysphemism, is often replaced by more positively euphemistic words or phrase whose original meaning has been semantically
15
extended to create a new sense for it. For instance, instead of saying “my
father died” someone may said “my father passed away”16.
Thus taboo words including swear words such as “fuck!” and “hell” have
euphemistic term : “ freak!” and “heck”.
Taboo word comprise three kinds, they are:
1.
Taboo of fear
For example: name of the dead are taboo in some societies, taboos on the name
of God, Names of dangerous animals, etc.
2.
Taboo of delicacy
For examples military
–pacify means “be killing”,
neutralize
means “kill
selected targets”.
3.
Taboo of propriety
This typical taboo goes to sexual acts, bodily effluvia, body-parts function and
curse. For instance: shit, sperm, urine, etc.
17B.
Semantics
1.
Definition of semantics
Semantic is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentence.
18Lehrer
in his book “Semantic Field and Lexical Structure” cited that semantic, the study of
16
Keith Allan. Natural Semantics New York: Blackwell Publisher, 2001. p.134
17
meaning is a vast field touching on most of the structure and function of language as
well as problem in psychology, philosophy, and anthropology
19.
R. Bauerle cited in his book which titled “Semantic from Different
Points of
View” that the word “semantic” refers to a quite peculiar theory of meaning. This
theory assumes that language consists of special (structured) objects, which become
meaningful by their being related to certain other objects to speak “in the world”.
Among these other objects we have to imagine such abstract objects as function,
especially truth function.
We can conclude that semantics is commonly is considered to be the study of
meaning (and related nations) in language or the study of linguistics reference and
truth conditions in language.
2.
Definition of meaning
The word ‘meaning’ is quite ambiguous.
20It is commonly used to show
equivalence between expression within a language, such as
mother means ‘female
parents’, or between language, such as mere means mother in French.
Besides that, Arrnoff and Janie Ross in ‘The Handbook of Linguistics” cited that
when people talk, they generally talk about things, events, and situations in the world.
They are able to do this because they represent connections between the expression of
their language and extra-linguistic phenomena in a fully systematic way. The meaning
of a sentence is to a large extend, dependent on the ways in which the words and
19
Lehrer, Adrianne. Semantic Field and lexical Srtucture. Amsterdam: north Holland Publishing. 1974. p.1
20 Lehrer, Adrianne. Semantic Field and lexical Srtucture. Amsterdam: north Holland
phrases from which it is constructed can be related to situation in the world. Speakers
of a language can speak effectively with each other, because they have internalized the
same rules for pairing the lexical items, and they used the same procedures for
computing the meaning of a syntactically complex phrase from the meanings of its
parts.
Ruth M. Kempson cited there are 3 main ways in which linguists and
philosophers have attempted to construct explanation of meaning in natural language:
(a) by defining nature of word meaning (b) by defining the nature of sentence meaning
(c) by explaining the process of communication. In the first way, word meaning is
taken as the construct in terms of which sentence meaning and communication can be
explained: in the second, it is sentence meaning which is taken a basic, with words
characterized in terms of the systematic contribution they make to sentence meaning;
and the third, both sentence and word meaning are explained in terms of the way in
which sentences and words are used in the act of communication.
According to Saeed meaning must be something that exits in the mind rather
than the word so that it must be more abstract than picture of features.
21When people
say something to another person, they have to make the same what the object which
intended, the object not must be concrete, but the object is abstract. For example when
Indonesian people talk about mystic around in Merapi Mountain, all of the meaning of
the mystic will not be understood by the foreign listener because the concept about
Mystic is not same, otherwise the Eskimos people know more than 9 name of snow or
ice that each term have different meaning.
Even Leech in Semantics supported this statement by dividing meaning into:
a.
Meaning as reference
It is said that the meaning of linguistics sign is what that sign refer to, what it
stand for in the real word.
b.
Meaning as mental concept
It is considered that the meaning of linguistics sign is the mental concept it
stand for, that the meaning of a word is the idea it conveys or arouses in the
mind of the speaker or hearer.
c.
Meaning as usage
It is the meaning of a word as the ability to use that word in ways other people
will understand, and to understand it when uttered by other people.
223.
Types of Meaning
According to Geoffrey Leech in his ‘Semantics a Study of meaning’ (1974)
breaks down meaning into seven types or ingredients giving primacy to conceptual
meaning.
The Seven types of meaning according to Leech are as follows.
1. Conceptual or Denotative Meaning:
Conceptual meaning is also called logical or cognitive meaning. It is an
inextricable and essential part of what language is such that one can scarcely define
language without referring to it. Such a meaning is stylistically neutral and objective
as opposed to other kinds of associative meanings.
Conceptual meanings are the
22
essential or core meaning while other six types are the peripheral. It is peripheral in as
sense that it is non-essential. They are stylistically marked and subjective kind of
meanings. Leech gives primacy to conceptual meaning because it has sophisticated
organization based on the principle of contrastiveness and hierarchical structure.
Contrastive features underline the classification of sound in phonology, for example,
in that any label we apply to a sound defines it positively, by what features it possesses
and also by implication negatively, by what features it does not possess.
2. Connotative Meaning
Connotative meaning is the communicative value an expression has by virtue
of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content. It is something that
goes beyond mere referent of a word and hints at its attributes in the real world. It is
something more than the dictionary meaning. For example the conceptual content of
‘woman’ is +human + female+ adult but the psychosocial connotations could be
‘gregarious’ or easy to break the ice with the new people, ‘having maternal instinct’
attributes of womanhood like ‘babbling’,’ experienced in cookery’, instinct for
develop the child.
3. Social Meaning (Stylistic Meaning)
It is concerned with the social circumstances of the use of a linguistic expression.
For example, some dialectic words inform us about the regional and social background
of the speaker. When we listen the Javanese speak we can quest directly that the
speaker is a Javanese. We know that through the stylist which used the Javanese
generally. The sound is more lower than other language and there are so much word
choice that have to be used in proper situation and proper hearer.
4. Affective or Emotive Meaning
Affective meaning is refers to emotive association or effects of words evoked in
the reader, listener. It is what is carried about the personal feelings or attitude to the
listener.
For Leech affective meaning refers to what is convey about the feeling and
attitude of the speaker through use of language (attitude to listener as well as attitude
to what he is saying). For example (A) ‘you are a vicious tyrant and a villainous
reprobate, and I hate you for it! It is show the feeling of the speaker that hate the
speaker very much. Sentence (B) I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you
would be so kind as to lower your voices a little. The speaker shows his attitude by
scaling remarks according to politeness.
5. Reflected Meaning
wonderful. Although they are similar but unconsciously there is a response to their
non-religious meanings too. Therefore the ‘comforter’ sounds warm and comforting
while the ‘Ghost’ sounds ‘awesome/ wonderful’ or even ‘dreadful’.
6. Collocative Meaning
Collocative meaning consist of the associations a word acquires on account of
the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment. Words collocate or
co-occur with certain words only for example pretty and handsome share common ground
in the meaning ‘good looking’, but may be distinguished by the range of nouns with
which they are likely to co-occur. However, they little differrent from each other
because of collocation or co-occurrence. The word ‘pretty’ collocates with girls,
woman, village, gardens, flowers, etc, and handsome collocates with boy, man, car,
vessel, overcoat, etc.
7. Thematic Meaning
4.
The Role of Context Situation in the Meaning of Language
The term of context situation is revealed by the two anthropologists, they are
Malinowski and Firth. Both experts agreed that the meaning of language is influenced
by the context situation of language using.
23Malinowski, see that language is a form
of community action that depends on the situation of language use in society. Because
of that language is inseparable from the larger context of language, that is culture.
That's why he suggested that the study of language meaning refers to the functional
analysis of language in cultural context that the language user.
To explain the dependence of meaning in the context situation, Malinowski did
not give details of how studying it. Therefore, the following categories proposed by
Firth as quoted by Malmkjaer (1991) were quite helpful in order to explain the
meaning of language study in relation to the context situation as follows:
(1)
The Participants in the situation.
(2)
The Action of the participants
(3)
Other Relevant Features of the situation
(4)
The Effects of the verbal action
Base on formulas above, it shows that it is more likely to examine the theory of
meaning with related between element outside of languages and language elements,
they are (a) speakers, (b) place, (c) the object which is talking (d) and influence from
what is uttered by the speakers. This specific analysis is refer towards the study of
meaning is called pragmatics.
23
C.
Semantic Field
If we examine something of the nature of the relations words may enter into with
other words of the same language that is sense relation: here we are concerned with so
called semantic field.
24Lehrer cited that theories of semantic fields that the vocabulary of a language is
structured, just as the grammar and phonology of language are structured – the words
of language can be classified into sets which are related to conceptual field and divide
up the semantic space or the semantic domain in certain ways. Nida explained that a
semantic domain consist essentially of a group of meanings (by no means restricted to
those reflected in single words) which share certain semantic components. For
example when talking about a house, we can refer to the building and all of component
itself such as window, door, floor, wall, root and ect. All of the component/ features of
a house, we call as semantic field or semantic domain of house.
Lehrer as quoted by Akmajian et noted that words belonging to the same
semantic field undergo similar semantic change.
25Semantic field analysis uses feature
to show the relationship of lexical items within a field or domain
26. For example, if we
studied the word iron, we would also look at
toaster, vacuum
cleaner, and the other
items in the household tools domain. The features or components help us index the
meaning of words, separate the various meanings of individual words, and analyze
relationship between similar words.
24
Simpson, J.M.Y. A First Course in Linguistics. Edinburg: Edinburg University Press. 1962.p188
25
Akmajian, et al, Linguistics : An Introduction to Language nad Communacation. London: the MIT Press, 1988. pp.238-252
26
Matthews stated that semantics field is a distinct part of the lexicon defied by
some general term or concept. E.g in English the semantics field of color included
words such as black, and red that distinguished colors, or are *hyponyms of the more
general term color.
27Semantics field plays a role in semantic change. The words hot and cold are
antonym describing physical temperature. With pair of antonyms, if one number
undergoes a metaphorical extension, the other tends to change in a parallel position. In
colloquial styles, we can speak of a hot car (stolen car), hence we would refer the
phrase cold car to one that is not stolen, on the ground that semantic field in a parallel
position, and not just single members of the field
28D.
Componential Analysis
The assumption of systematic relationships of meaning between words is
however independent of the problem of explaining the basis of these relationships: and
considerable amount of detailed work on the structure of the vocabulary has been done
in recent years. Many linguists have turned to what has been called
componential
analysis to give an explicit representation of the semantics relations between words.
29Kempson added that in this theory words are analyzed not as unitary concepts
but as complexes made up of components of meaning which are themselves semantic
primitives. In this vein, spinster might be analyzed as a semantic complex made up of
the features (equivalently called components or marker) [FEMALE], [NEVER
27
Petter Matthews, The consise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. New York: oxford University Press, 1997. p.334
28
Akmajian, et.al op cit. 1989.p.367
29
MARRIED], [ADULT], [HUMAN]. This form of analysis was used in particular by
anthropologist seeking to give an account of kinship terminology in various cultures.
Lehrer mentioned that semantic components (or features) are theoretical
constructs lexical item will be defined in terms of components. In a sense, a dictionary
definition is an informal componential analysis, in which each part of the definition is
a component.
O’Grady cited another approach to meaning to represent a word’s intention it
down into smaller semantic components known as componential analysis or semantics
decomposition. Many linguists have turned to componential analysis to give an
explicit representation of the semantic relations between words.
30Then Lyon
31looked
upon componential analysis is the broadening of the semantic field theory.
Componential analysis is a technique for describing interrelation of meaning
by breaking concept down into minimal components, or features, which are
distinctive in terms of a semantic opposition or dimension of contrast.
32Meanwhile Allan et al in Euphemism and Dysphemism: language used as
Shield and Weapon (1991:16) did support the usage the componential analysis to
analyze euphemistic term by revealing that “the process involved here is a kind of
componential analysis, the sense of the taboo terms are unpacked and each of the
meaning components are listed… using this method, a new euphemism can easily be
created”.
30
Wlliam O’Grady, Contemporary Linguistics. London: Longman Pearson Education.1996. p.78
31
There are there kind of component of meaning:
1.
Generic / Common component is one or more of components which are judged
to be most significant factor. This component describes to which these lexem
belong to as to differentiate it from other semantic domain. For instance: the
lexemes man, woman, boy, and girl have the common component [HUMAN].
2.
Diagnostic component is components that are important and sufficient to
distinguish the sense of one lexeme from the sense of another lexeme. This
diagnostic component is a core part that dictionary makers incorporate into
their definition of words. For example” [ADULT] and [MALE] are the
diagnostic components for man, woman, boy and girl.
3.
Supplementary or incidental component is non-diagnostics components to
identify the sense of the word. For instance: [MARRIED] is the incidental or
supplementary components for spinster, bachelor and wife.
Meanwhile, Jackson in Word in Their Meaning cited that are only 2 broad types
of component. Those serve to identify a semantic domain, and to distinguish lexemes
from each other within semantic domain. They are also shared by all the lexemes in
the domain. Therefore, in this research, the writer is going to discuss only 2 types of
components, common and diagnostic component.
33Such as componential analysis can be applied many areas of the vocabularies.
For example, the distinction between
murder and
kill can be stated explicitly and
economically, if
murder
is analyzed as having a meaning which are components
representing intention, causation, and death. Whereas
kill
as having the components
33
that representing only causation and death. Using the method of componential
analysis, we can then formally define synonymy, hyponymy, incompatibility etc. On
the basis, a set of features follows that spinster is a hyponymy of woman because it
contains all the features of
woman as part of its specification, and that
spinster is
incompatible with bachelor by virtue of the contrast of sex specification and with wife
by virtue of the material specification.
Another interpretation of lexical item of semantic components using a binary
feature is conventionally written in capital letters and placed in square brackets, which
is able to take only three values, either it is present [+], or it is absent [-], or it may be
present or absent [+/-] and also could be marked [0]. Accordingly
spinster might be
characterized as having for its meaning.
-
[MALE] + [HUMAN] + [ADULT] - [MARRIED]
bachelor, an item incompatible with spinster, as having
+ [MALE] + [HUMAN] + [ADULT] - [MARRIED]
Wife, another incompatible item, as having
-
[MALE] + [HUMAN] + [ADULT] +[MARRIED]
-E.
Cultural Meaning
Culture of societies consist of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to
operate in manner acceptable to its member, and to do so in any role that they accept
for any one of themselves
34. Cultures involve the way of the society daily living,
music, literature, customs, language, values, and arts.
Linguist mentioned that culture of a people finds reflection in the language they
employ, because the value certain things and do them in certain way, its means they
come to use their language in way that reflect what the value and what the do.
A cultural meaning is the typical (frequently requiring and widely shared aspect of
the) interpretation of some type of object or event evoked in people as a result of their
similar life experiences (Spiro 1987a:163). To call it a cultural meaning is to imply
that a different interpretation would be evoked in people with different characteristic
life experiences. For example, “the cultural of X” contains or cause the meaning of
the X people. It is because
cultures are sets of beliefs or values that give meaning to ways of life and produce and are reproduced through material and symbolic forms.F. Meaning Relation
Meaning relation is thus the most significant factor in semantic field and the
componential analysis is a device to identify the meaning relation. When a word
contains various relation of the meaning to one another, they may be related
semantically. Words are connected by virtue of meaning from subgroups within the
lexicon of the language. Words have a multiple sense, namely the primary and
secondary meaning. The meaning relation is possibly derived by a variety of processes
34
of semantic change. Semantic relations comprise synonymy, antonym or incompatible,
hyponymy and meronymy defined by semantic field.
Lyon and Geckeler are of the opinion that there is a close relationship among
semantic field, component analysis, and meaning relation.
35We should know that
componential analysis is the broadening of semantic field theory. The subset from all
lexemes may create and blend the meaning relation of one element to the other.
Leech looked upon meaning relation under
36:
1.
Synonymy is a relation in which words have same meaning. Yule added that
we should keep in mind that the idea of ‘sameness’ of meaning in used in
discussing synonymy is not necessarily ‘total sameness’. There are many
occasions when one word is appropriate in a sentence but its synonymy would
be odd. For example, whereas the word answer fits in the sentence
Sandy had
only one answer correct on the test, the word replay would sound odd. Hatch
and Brown (1995:19) revealed that synonym refers to the similar entity so that
the words might be interchangeable if all features are the same. Then Akmajian
(1988:284) added that “synonym is relation that structures the lexicon of a
language into sets of words of sharing a meaning. For instance automobile is
synonymous with car.
Nevertheless synonyms do not always share their entire feature. It is
called looser synonym when X is synonym for Y but not vise versa. A typical
example is murder is synonym for kill but kill not a synonym for murder.
37
35
John Lyons. Semantics.Melbourne:Cambridge University Press.1997.p.45
36
Geoffrey Leech, Semantics. New Zealand: Penguin Press Ltd. 1997. p.99-102
37
2.
Antonym is relation where words have opposite meaning. Akmajian added that
“words can share an aspect of meaning but be ‘opposite’ in some other aspect
of meaning called antonym”.
38Whereas Parera added there 2 kinds of
antonym:
a.
Contradiction or true antonym: the opposite meanings of 2 items or
lexemes are absolute. It consists of only 2 terms; the one is the opposite of
the other.
For example: Alive X dead that were visualized by Leech (1978:106) in
diagram below:
‘alive'
(+live)
‘dead’
(-live)
b.
Gradable antonym ‘kontrer’: the meaning relation of items / words may
consist of a number of dimensions at once.
For instance: hot and cold share the notion of temperature dimension. Here
they are defined as follows:
II
Cold cool lukewarm
warm hot
Whereas, Leech proposed incompatible instead of antonym. It is because
antonym contrasts only on a single dimension. In fact, the word may contrast
on a number of dimensions at once. It is supported by Leech’s theory that two
38
componential formulae may be incompatible if the one has at least one feature
contrasting with a feature in the other.
393.
Hyponym is a relation which is termed meaning inclusion of one meaning in
another. Cruse reported that “the lexical relation corresponding to the inclusion
of one class in another is hyponym”.
40For instance: in the sense of
crow,
hawk, and duck are included in bird. These typical terms mentioned that super
ordinates as the upper term and hyponym as the lower term. Again a diagram
will help:
bird
crow hawk duck etc
4.
Meronymy is relation which has hierarchical concept. Saeed pointed out
meronymy is a concept used to explain a part – whole relationship between
lexical items. To differentiate it from another hierarchical concept, meronymy
can be identified by using “part of relationship. For instance: B is part of A,
and A has B.
41this concept might be as follows:
car
wheel seat
engine door window etc
39
Geoffrey Leech, Semantics. New Zealand: Penguin Press Ltd. 1997.p.100
40
F. Semantic Change
Semantic change happens along with the time and the development of its
society. According to Allan euphemism and dysphemism motivate language change.
They do it by promoting new expression or new meanings for old expression and
causing existing vocabulary to be abounded.
42Fromkin and Rodman stated that “there are three ways in which a lexical item
may change semantically, its meaning may become broader, meaning may its meaning
may become narrower, its meaning become shift”.
43O’Grady et al stated that the changes involve one of the phenomena:
1.
Semantic broadening is the process in which the meaning of a word turns into
more general or more inclusive than the earlier form, such as: the word
aunt
used to mean “father’s sister” become father or mother’s sister”.
2.
Semantic narrowing is process in which the meaning of a word turns into less
general or less inclusive than the earlier meaning. Such as: the term fowl used
to mean “any bird” becomes “a domestical bird”
3.
Amelioration is the change of meaning in which the new meaning becomes
more positive or favorable, such as:
pretty used to mean “tricky, sly, cunning”
has a better meaning “attractive”.
4.
Pejorative is the change of meaning in which the new meaning becomes more
negative or unfavorable, such as: Wench means “girl”, but it is regarded worse
with meaning” wanton woman, prostitute”.
42
Keith Allan, Natural Language Semantic. New York: Blackwell Publisher. 2001. pp.164-165
43
5.
Semantic shift is a process in which a word loses some aspect of its former
meaning, taking on a partially new, but related meaning. Such as: immoral
used to mean “not customary” becomes “unethical”.
44While Djajasudarma divides the semantic change into generalization,
amelioration, pejorative, sinestesia, and association.
45The meanings of generalization,
specialization, amelioration, and pejorative in Djajasudarma’s theory are similar to
those of O’Grady theory. Djajasudarma adds two more, i.e. sinestesia (the change of
meaning because of the similarity of character).
44
William O’Grady. Contemporary Linguistic. London: Longman Person Education. 1996.p.334
45
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH FINDING
A.
Data Description
In this chapter, the writer analyzes the data is taken from movie scripts which
titled Jennifer’s Body. The writer chose the movie because they related to teenager’s
life and there is a friendship relation so that the actors / actresses try to use the
euphemistic term in order to keep someone’s sensibility or avoid losing somebody’s
face. The euphemistic terms then categorized into types of euphemism which
classified into the euphemistic application. After that, the writer goes to the next steps
by analyzing the meaning relation and the semantic change the euphemistic terms
undergo.
Base on the types of euphemism, the writer found that there are no euphemistic
terms in classification of rhyming slang, remodeling, acronyms, synecdoche,
borrowing, indirectness, mispronunciation, plays on abbreviation, and phonetic
alphabet as described at the following table:
Table 1
The Table of the Types of Euphemism that Found in Scripts of Jennifer’s Body movie
No
Utterances
Types of
Euphemism
Situation of utterance: Needy wiggles her jeans a
Data
1
The participant: Needy.
Speaker » Chip : I can see, like, your
womb
.
( Needy sighs and hoists up her pants )
Metaphor
Data
2
Situation of utterance: Needy enters to Jennifer’s
bad room in way plunge through the window of
Jennifer’s bad room. Before the utterance is uttered
by Needy, there is quarrel between Needy and
Jennifer. Needy is very angry because Jennifer have
killed her boy friend. Needy came to Jennifer’s
bedroom to revenge for her death boyfriend. Needy
pull a box cutter out of her waistband and flick it
open like a switchblade to Jennifer.
Participant : Jennifer
(Needy pulls a box cutter out of her waistband and
flicks it open like a switchblade)
Speaker »
Needy: know what this is for?
Cutting
boxes
Circumlocution
Data
3
Situation of Utterance: Needy stands in front of a
full-length mirror, wearing a big `80s-style magenta
prom dress. It sags on her flat chest and looks
ridiculous. Her mother (Tony) was curling her hear
and making up her face. It all was done by her
mother because she wanted to see Needy as a
beautiful and fashionable girl to go to the party.
Needy who is as simple girl or not as modish girl
felt shocked when her mother made her hair like
Hooker Helmet. Although her mother said that she
looked beautiful but Needy said she looked like
pork stupid.
Participant : Toni ( Needy’s mother)
(
Tony takes a section of Needy's hair and wraps it
around the curling iron. Smoke rises.)
Needy: What are you doing to my hair?
Tony : Hooker helmet.
Speaker » Needy: Aw,
jeez
Mom!
Data
4
Situation of Utterance:
Mr. Wroblewski stands
solemnly in front of the class, his mechanical hand
tensing and releasing nervously. Mr. Wrolewski
wants to give an announcement to his students.
Needy and the rest of the class fidget. There was
Jenifer sat beside Needy and Jennifer looked
haggard, thin, and cranky.
Participant: Jennifer
(Needy smooth her own hair self-consciously.)
Speaker » Needy: Are you
PMS
-ing or something?
Abbreviations
Data
5
Situation of Utterance: Needy is seated at the
kitchen table. She accidentally dropps the remains
of her sandwich on the floor, where the ferret
quickly pillaged it. Needy's Mom, Antonia "Toni"
Lesnicki, has quietly enters the kitchen in her
pajamas. She is pale and sweaty, as if she's been
spooked. Then Tony told to her daughter that she
(Toni) got nightmare last night. In Toni’s night
mare, there were some bad people tried to kill and
nail Tony to a tree and they also wanted to kill
Needy. But in the conversation between Tony and
Needy, Tony didn’t said the word “kill” directly
because she worried that Needy would be hurt or
felt something like frightened.
Participant : Needy
Speaker »
Tony: They were trying to get to you
too, but I wouldn’t let
‘em
..
Quasi- Omission
Data
6
Situation of utterance: It's a busy night and the bar
is teeming with locals. A bartender sells a case of
beer to a customer and passes it over the bar. Needy
and Jennifer enter the bar. Every guy in the joint
stares at Jennifer, who snaps her "minor" wristband
distastefully. Roman Duda saunters up to Jennifer,
swigging a bottle of beer. He snatches the pack of
cigarettes away from her. There was some
conversation between Roman and Jennifer, and
finally Jennifer paws Roman's crotch discreetly,
then Roman said the utterance to Jennifer as a
respond.
Participant : Jennifer
(Jennifer paws Roman's crotch discreetly)
Speaker » Roman :
Not here
, babe
Data
7
Situation of Utterance: Needy wiggled her jeans a
bit lower, exposing her childishly round tummy.
She walked out of the bathroom into her bedroom, a
frilly pink hell complete with canopy bed. Chip
Dove was sitting on the bed, looking lost in all that
pink. He raised an eyebrow at Needy's abdomen.
Chip was Needy’s boy friend.
Participant: Needy
Speaker » Chip: Those jeans are hella low. I can
almost see your front
butt
Metonymy
Data
8
Situation of utterance: It's a busy night and the bar
is teeming with locals. A bartender sells a case of
beer to a customer and passes it over the bar. Needy
and Jennifer enter the bar. Every guy in the joint
stares at Jennifer, who snaps her "minor" wristband
distastefully. Roman Duda saunters up to Jennifer,
swigging a bottle of beer. He snatches the pack of
cigarettes away from her. There was some
conversation between Roman and Jennifer, and
finally Jennifer paws Roman's crotch discreetly,
then Roman said the utterance to Jennifer as a
respond.
Participant : Jennifer
(Jennifer paws Roman's crotch discreetly)
Speaker » Roman : Not here,
babe
Hyperbole
Data
9
Situation of utterance: It was gray, overcast day
and the wind whistles through the trees. Jonas was
standing in the football’s field, it is a good distance
from the school. Jonas was very sad because his
best friends Craig was pass away. Then, Jennifer
come to Jonas and tried to entertain him.
The participant: Jennifer
(Jonas's lip trembles as he unsuccessfully fights
back tears. Jennifer cuddles closer to him.)
Speaker » Jonas: I just can’t believe he’s
gone
.
Data
10
Situation of utterance:
A hysterical scream
pierced the twilight. The sun has begun to set. An
ambulance and four police cars have pulled up near
the woods, which were cordoned off with yellow
police tape. Near the woods, Jonas’s Parent was
crying because they didn’t suppose that their son
was died. Jonas’s mother screamed and begun
beating the ground with her fists. A stretcher was
being loaded into the ambulance. Officer Warzak
exits one of the police cruisers. She rushed to
comfort Jonas's bereaved mother.
The Participant: Jonas’ parent.
Speaker
»
Officer Warzak: We will get the man
that
did this
to your son.
Abstraction
B.
Data Analysis
1.
Metaphor.
Data example:
(a)
Chip: I can see like your womb
This sentence was uttered by Chip to Neddy. Chip is Needy’s boy friend. The
utterance above happened in Needy’s bed room when Chip saw Needy wiggled her
jeans a bit lower. Chip also saw Needy exposing her round tummy with her jeans, then
she said that above utterance as a respond form.
1.
Cunt as sexual object and it disgraceful if it is mentioned directly.
2.
Cunt locates at the lower abdomen that is so private.
3.
Cunt connotes a sexually attractive of woman.
4.
Cunt principally means unpleasant and shameful.
Base on the several reasons above, the speaker tends not to mention the taboo
word ‘cunt’ but change it to euphemistic term ‘womb’. It is done to keep the listener’s
sensibility, preventing people or partner from losing face.
The exchange of taboo term ‘cunt’ to ‘euphemistic term ‘womb’, it is applies a
kind of euphemistic metaphor. It is because metaphor is a figure of
