REFERENCE IN HEALTH ARTICLES OF THE
READER’S
DIGEST MAGAZINE
A THESIS
Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
By:
ANASTASIA MARANATA
Registration Number : 2123220003
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
i
ABSTRACT
Maranata, Anastasia. 2123220003. Reference in Health Articles of the Readers Digest Magazine. A Thesis. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of Medan. 2016.
The title of this thesis is Reference in Health Articles of the Reader’s Digest Magazine. This study is aimed at analysing what types of reference used in health articles of the magazine, and how are reference used in health articles of the magazine. The writer applies the theory of Halliday and Hasan about types of reference, there are personal, demonstrative, and comparative reference. Personal reference included personal pronoun, possesive adjective, and possesive pronoun, while demonstrative reference is reference by means location, then comparative reference is reference by means similarity or difference. The use of reference is purposed to make the readers understand the text easily and persuade the readers to do something as the texts mean. The writer focuses on the analysis of types of reference in 8 health articles as the data, and finally, personal reference is found as the most dominant type that the author used in writing the articles.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The ultimate greatest praise and thanks to Jesus Christ for countless love
and cares, unstinting strength given and never-late helps given during the lifetime
of the writer and especially in the completion of this thesis as the partial
fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Sarjana Sastra at the English
Department, Faculty Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
This thesis was possible with the guidance and the help of several
individuals who always contributed and extended their valuable assistances in the preparation, completion of this thesis. The writer’s special appreciation goes to:
Prof. Dr. H. Syawal Gultom, M. Pd., as the Rector of State University of
Medan.
Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M. Hum., as the Dean of Faculty of Languages and
Arts, State University of Medan.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English and Literature
Department all at once as her First Thesis Advisor, Dra. Meisuri, M.A.,
the Secretary of English Department, Syamsul Bahri, S.S., M.Hum., the
Head of English Literature Program all at once as her Thesis Examiner,
Nora Ronita Dewi, S.Pd., S.S., M.Hum., the Head of English Education
Program, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
Prof. Amrin Saragih, M.A., Ph.D., as her Second Thesis Advisor and
The greatest and sincere thanks are fully addressed to her beloved parent
Mr. F. Manurung and Mrs. R. Purba for their love. financial support,
moral, spiritual, and pray that make this all possible for her through many
Manurung, and her sweet sister Meilany Shinta Manurung. The writer
is si blessed to have them.
Her hearted man forever and ever Supriando M. Sinambela, S.Pd., for
his existence, support, love, credibility, financial in the ups and downs of the writer’s life.
All her beloved friends in English Literature B 2012, Aguni, Anggi, Boy,
Chairi, Devy, Diah, Donseh, Donjo, Elsadai, Heriyanto, Ika, Ira, Ipul,
Juli, Maria Betty, Maria Rivera, Mutia, Nia, Nina, Reza, Ridho, Rio,
Sharlly, Syulika, Tebi, Tyo, Valdy, and Yuni for their support,
kindness, great love, care, and warm hearted encouragement friendship for
4 years and in finishing this thesis to the writer.
My dearest friend in her college time Devy Christiana Wau all at once
her classmate for her help of everything that she needs in everytime. My roommate Ika Situmorang and Kak Eva Tambunan, for her
support, help, and motivation in making this thesis become easier to the
writer.
Constructive critics and suggestions for the improvement of this thesis
would be highly appreciated. Thank you. God bless.
Medan, Juli 2016
The Writer,
Anastasia Maranata
iv
3. Ellipsis/ Substistution ... 12
4. Lexical Cohesion ... 13
D. Reference ... 13
E. Types of Reference ... 15
1. Personal Reference ... 15
2. Demonstrative Reference ... 18
3. Comparative Reference ... 19
F. Article ... 20
G. Magazine ... 22
v
I. Relevant Studies ... 25
J. Conceptual Framework... 27
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 29
A. Research Design ... 29
B. The Source of the Data ... 29
C. The Technique of Collecting Data... 30
D. The Technique of Analyzing Data... 30
CHAPTER IV. DISCUSSION ... 31
A. The Data... 31
B. The Data Analysis ... 33
C. Research Findings ... 40
D. Discussion ... 41
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ... 43
A. Conclusion ... 43
B. Suggestion ... 44
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 ... 16
Table 2.2 ... 18
Table 4.1 ... 32
Table 4.2 ... 34
vii
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1 ... 47
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the Study
In this global era, information plays a vital role in human interaction because of
supplying their needs and advancing to upgrade their qualities and quantities of life.
Information is received through the auditing system, audio visual or by reading the
written language. It cannot be separated from language because it is medium that
information uses in order to reach the target. Goldstein states that language is as a
system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our
feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences. Language is a system of arbitrary signs
which is accepted by a group and society of users. It is taken delivery of a specific
purpose in relation to the communal world of clients, Mahadi (2012: 231). Moreover,
language is a complete system of communication which convey meaning through
different forms, Shahnaz (2014: 228). According to Goldstein (2008: 132) language
is as a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express
our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences. So, language is the most important part
of human existence and social process that has many functions to perform. It can be
oral or written code that has function in expressing and interpreting thought, feeling,
emotion, needs, etc. Then, information is perceived in the term that is called
2
system related to cohesion by using the reference that will be extended further in this
thesis.
In reality, the students or learners of English so frequently make many
mistakes in applying the reference items in their communication both in writing and
speaking that they become prevalent in their way of communication as the high
frequency of mistakes makes it a habit for them. Many readers even educated and the
worst, those having studied English for some years find it difficult to recognize the
purpose of the whole text, to see how a text is organized, to understand the
relationship between sentences, and to get the message of a text, in brief to get the
meaning of a text an article. No explanations are clear for this happening of why.
Sometimes the readers read a text separately or skipped a text without having the
clear understanding of it. This implies that they do not understand what they are
trying to comprehend or apprehend otherwise they get the topic acquired through
other sources of the same language they know. To be true, apprehending a text or to
get the meaning of a misunderstanding and the feeling of disappointment especially
when the only resource for the thing they want is in English.
In the real life now, media is just like the only source for doing the activities
the used to do manually. The prevailing influence of the social sciences in the study
of mass communication had led to a nearly exclusive focus on the economic,
political, social, or psychological aspects of news processing. This orientation
3
mass media reporting. The message itself in such studies tended to receive attention
only as far as it could provide information about the factors of its various contexts,
Fatemi (2014: 358). People need media namely mass communication media. Mass
media is separated into two kinds namely printed media and electronic media. Some
examples of printed media are newspaper, magazine, textbook, and the other’s
example are television, internet, and radio. There soon for sure comes many more
tools or media in the future because of human’s intelligence in building
technological advances. The fundamental role of those things, however, for users and
readers, is meaning of information construed by the use of language in a text as the
unit of meaning or passage of whatever length, spoken or written, verbal or
nonverbal, that does form a unified whole. A text is a unit of language in use. It is
best regarded as a semantic unit. Thus, it is related to a clause or sentence not by size
but by realization, the coding of one symbolic system in another. It is used in
linguistics to refer to any passage.
The worst problem is practically lies in beginner readers, who have no
sufficient knowledge of systems or vocabulary of the language a text is printed or
heard, especially when they read an English text. This is very clear in the society of
Indonesia, particularly in the level of educated people who do not understand English
and they have to rely to one who can help them understand through translation or
interpreting service. They get confused and frustrated in just trying to get the
4
an article. This phenomenon can frequently make misunderstanding, for example,
when the readers cannot match pronouns to refer to in the text and they will think
there are too many things or subjects and objects talked in a piece of information.
Comprehending reference can surely help the readers overcome problems related to
reference and ease them finding the specified subject or object of a text or article in
mass media.
Media is the collective communication outlets or tools that are used to store or
deliver information. It is either associated with communication media or specialized
mass media, like television, radio, newspaper, internet, magazine, etc. Magazine,
sometimes called news magazine, is usually weekly magazine featuring articles on
current events. News magazines generally go more in-depth into stories than
newspapers, trying to give the reader an understanding of the context surrounding
important events, rather than just the facts. The language uses magazine shows
different uses even though there has been a suggested standard of the writing as
formulated in rhetoric that may relate to the type of reference in linguistics.
Magazine is one of communications media in which the information is
transferred in a form of written language. Magazines contain information in form of
articles. Article is one of the reading materials or text and usually deals with a
particular issue or topic to give information of interest. Reader’s Digest magazine is
one of monthly English magazines which is oriented in and presents issues about
5
provided is used to make an article in this magazine more interesting and able to
attract reader’s attention. Readers only will have the things they feel important and
suit their pleasure to know. For example a paragraph of health article in Reader’s
Digest Magazine on July 2002 edition below.
But here’s a shocker: Eating fruit and vegetables every day won’t guarantee
you’re getting enough essential nutrients. That’s because two of the more popular
vegetables for many people are iceberg lettuce and french fries, which are hardly
nutrition all-stars. A big clue: They lack colour. Produce that comes in vivid hues
contains an arsenal of disease-fighting chemical called phytonutrients.
From example above, there are found some types of reference. Here refers to
the next sentence. You refer to the readers. That refers to the previous sentence. More
refers to the large number of vegetable that is unknown. They refer to iceberg lettuce
and french fries. That refers to the colour.
Reference therefore has the ability to point to something within or outside a
text. Halliday and Hasan (1976: 40) states that coreferential forms are forms which
instead of being interpreted semantically in their own right, make reference to
something else for their interpretation, Jabeen (2013: 125). According to Saragih,
reference is one means of tracking or retrieving the participants (to and fro). This is to
say that as a participant is introduced it can be tracked back as one wants to. In other
6
the participants and circumstances. Gerot and Wignell say that reference refers to
systems which introduce and track the identity of participants through text. Yule
states that reference should be thought of as an act in which the sender by the use of
linguistic forms enables a receiver to identify something. Reference is functionally
defined as either participant thing or place previously produced, Halliday (1985: 288).
Halliday (1994: 312) states that reference is the specific nature of the information that
is signaled for retrieval. In the case of reference the information to be retrieved is the
referential meaning, the identity of the particular thing or class of things that is being
referred to; and the cohesion lies in the continuity of reference, whereby the same
thing enters into the discourse a second time.
Baker (1992: 181) defines reference based on the relationship between words
and reality. The linguist states that “the term reference is traditionally used in
semantics for the relationship which holds between a word and what it points to in a
real world”. However, such definition is too general for Halliday and Hasan as they
distinguish situational reference from text reference. Reference plays as a basic
support for someone’s ability in reading text. It helps the readers to understand the
text. The use of pronoun is the most common way of maintaining reference without
clumsiness of continual meaning. Beginning a paragraph with a pronoun often makes
it difficult for the readers to determine the noun or name to which it is referring. The
uses of reference in journalism can minimize the word repetition when the researcher
7
the publishing of a piece of information succeeds. The language uses in mass media
such as magazine and newspaper show different uses even though there has been a
suggested standard of the writing as formulated in rhetoric that may relate to the type
of reference in linguistics.
Reader’s Digest magazine is one of the popular magazines in the world. It
contains many articles on the difference topic. It concern to all people in various age,
from the children, teenagers, and adult. The articles are interesting. The topics are
funny, scientific, kinship, people’s experience, good knowledge in science or health,
and so many. It caused there are many difficult words to understand and the text is in
English. While, it can make the readers have more knowledge about the happening in
this world. So, to make it easier, reference can help the readers get the purpose of the
text as like as the writer means. Because of reference can refer the things become a
pronoun that can make the readers more understanding.
Based on the explanation above, this study will analyze the types of reference
in health article of Reader’s Digest magazine to describe how participants in news are
arranged by cohesive ties, so the readers get the same perception with the massage of
8
B. The Problem of the Study
Based on the background of the study, problems of this study are formulated as the
following.
1. What types of reference are used in health article of the Reader’s
Digest magazine?
2. How are references used in health article of the Reader’s Digest
magazine?
C. The Objective of the Study
In relation to the problems, the objectives of this study are.
1. to describe the types of reference used in health article of the Reader’s
Digest magazine and
2. to investigate the manner in which references are used in health article
of the Reader’s Digest magazine.
D. The Scope of the study
Reader's Digest magazine is an American general-interest family magazine. Reader's
Digest magazine is the world’s largest monthly magazine. The scope of the study is
9
March and April 2016 edition. The analysis will be studied based on the theory of
Systemic Functional Grammar who formulated the study of linguistics in a more
systemic and exact approach.
E. The Significance of the Study
The Findings of this study are expected to offer theoretical and practical issue
finding. Theoretically, the findings add up new horizon to linguistics theory.
While, Practically the benefits are.
1) the students of English Department can improve their knowledge about types
of reference in English in order to write and speak communicatively by means
of reference items,
2) the readers of all levels of knowledge in order to get more information about
reference especially in health articles of the Reader’s Digest magazine and to
get involved in wider form of communication,
3) the researchers who are interested in doing further study on reference in order
to be a resource of comparison, and
4) wider contribution on the study of linguistics about reference in an article or a
43
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
After analyzing the data of the Reader’s Digest magazine, conclusions are drawn
as the following.
(1) There were three types of reference proposed by Halliday and Hasan. All
of the types were found in health articleof the Reader’s Digest magazine
on March and April 2016 edition. The total of personal reference is
40.49%, demonstrative reference is 32.34%, and comparative reference is
27.17%. Therefore, the most frequent type of reference was personal
reference from the total number of occurences of the eight articles.
(2) The process of using reference which were found in eight health articles,
First was personal reference. There were we, you, they, it, its, we, our,
them, us, your, their, ourselves, I, my, and yourself. All of them referred to
people (the readers) or things (like devices, exercises). Second was
demonstrative reference. There were the, these, this, that, those, then, and
there. All of them referred to the specific things that are talked in the
previous or next clause or sentence. Third was comparative reference.
There were more, most, some, best, rather, other, slowest, somewhere,
greater, older, less, same, many, such as, worse, deeper, likely, like,
longer, as little as, bigger, few, inner, higher, lower, much, as long as,
louder, nearest, as well as, better, different, as, as much as, the same, any,
44
All of them referred to similarity or difference of the things. They showed
identity (some), similarity (same, such), difference (other, different),
numerative (more, fewer), epithet (bigger, higher).
B. Suggestion
In relation to the conclusions, suggestions are staged as the following.
(1) The students of English Department should develop and increase their
knowledge about application of reference in some medias such as
magazine, because mastering reference can guide them to get the message
easily by enabling them to follow the flow of the text passage.
(2) The journalists should understand reference when they wrote a text or an
article and even when they spoke to their speakmate, because by knowing
reference can help them to deliver their ideas easily and make their article
or text more easily understanding and interesting. When one does the
reduplication, it may bring misunderstanding and wasting time to process
45
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