A STUDY ON DIGLOSSIA USED BY HELEN KELLER AS THE MAIN CHARACTER IN GEORGE SULLIVAN’S NOVEL “HELEN KELLER”

(1)

A STUDY ON DIGLOSSIA USED BY HELEN KELLER AS

THE MAIN CHARACTER IN GEORGE SULLIVAN’S NOVEL

“HELEN KELLER”

THESIS

By:

NUR AZIZAH

201010100311074

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

(2)

A STUDY ON DIGLOSSIA USED BY HELEN KELLER AS

THE MAIN CHARACTER IN GEORGE SULLIVAN’S NOVEL

“HELEN KELLER”

THESIS

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve

Sarjana Degree in English Education

By:

NUR AZIZAH

201010100311074

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

(3)

i

This thesis is written by Nur Azizah and approved on August 18, 2015

By

Advisor II

Advisor I

(4)

ii

This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang

and accepted as one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education

on August 18, 2015

Approved by:

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education University of Muhammadiyah Malang

Dean,

Dr. Poncojari Wahyono, M.Kes

Examiners:

Signatures:

1. Drs. Jarum, M.Ed

1.

2. Rahmawati Khadijah Maro, S.Pd., M.PEd

2.

3. Dr. Sudiran, M.Hum

3.

(5)

iii

ORIGINALITY DECLARATION

The undersigned:

Name

: Nur Azizah

Student Number : 201010100311074

Program of Study : English Departement

Faculty

: Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

I declare that the work presented in this thesis was carried out by

myself did not incorporate without acknowledgement any material

previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the

best of my knowledge this thesis does not contain any material

previously publish or written by another person except were due

reference is made in text.

Malang, August 18, 2015

(6)

iv

MOTTO AND DEDICATIONS

“The key to succes is for you to make a habbit throughout your life

of doing the things you fear”

(Brian Tracy)

“Sometimes the questions are complicated,

and the answer are simple”

(Dr. Seuss)

DEDICATIONS:

I dedicate this thesis to:

My dearest mother

My beloved father

My big family

(7)

v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘aalamiin, wassholatu wassalamu ‘ala rasulillah. Praise to Allah SWT, the main source of strength who always gives strength and patience to finish this thesis. Shalawah and salam may always be upon the holy prophet, Muhammad SAW.

The researcher would like to express his deepest gratitude to his thesis advisors, Dr. Sudiran, M.Hum and Puji Sumarsono, M.Ed., M.Pd for their suggestions, guides, advices, and their times during the advising periods, even life lessons. May Allah always bestow them an endless blessings. Aamin.

The researcher’s great thanks are well-gifted to her beloved parents, Marsudi, and Winanti for endless love, pray, encouragement, guidance, sacrifice, and support for success in every part of her life includes in this thesis. Additional thanks go to all lectures at English Department of Muhammadiyah University of Malang who have given so much worth knowledge and great suggestions in finishing her study.

The researcher also wants to thanks all her cutie pie friends especially, Mbak Wid’s group, Eny Paii, Kentang, Candy, Cella, Beb Nanda, Vanimin, Wikhe, Kim, Happy, Tika Chan, erika, finna for their supports, sharing, laughing and bullies.

Malang, August 18th, 2015

(8)

vii

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Findings ... 31

4.1.1 The Kinds of Diglossias Used by Helen Keller as The Main Character in George Sullivan’s Novel Helen Keller .... 31

4.1.1.1 High Varity of Diglossia ... 31

4.1.1.2 Low Variety of Diglossia ... 40

4.1.2 The Function of Diglossia Used by Helen Keller as The Main Character in George Sullivan’s Novel Helen Keller .... 41

4.2 Discussion ... 42

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Conclusion ... 44

5.2 Suggestions ... 45

5.3 Lesson ... 46

5.3.1 High Enthusiasm ... 46

5.3.2 Hard Struggle ... 46 REFERENCES

(11)

x

APPENDIX

SYNOPSIS

Helen Keller was born as a normal baby. At 19 months old, Helen Keller’s eyesight and hearing were stolen away from her by a disease, meningitis or scarlet fever. Then, her parents were confused to handle the problem how to teach her speak. Before her parents found the solution for her, Helen Keller was often angry. She was depressed with the condition because she did not understand how to make other people understand what she wanted, while other people needed not to use signs liked her when they wanted everything. Laura Bridgman inspired Helen Keller’s mother to seek out advanced care and education for Helen Keller. Even before then, Helen Keller learned her first signs for communicating with Martha Washington, the six-year-old daughter of the family cook. Helen’s mother visited telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who was at that point working with deaf children. He recommended the Perkins Institute for the Blind, which is where Helen Keller finally met the woman who would famously change her life, Annie Sullivan.

(12)

xi

favorite doll. Helen Keller was inspired to learn how to speak by the method of touching other people’s lips to understand speech and learn how to speak, and she mastered Braille to read.

After being able to speak and read, she studied in college. Accompanied by Annie Sullivan, she was eager to learn in college. She was one of ninety-six young women who received their degrees from Radcliff that year. She succeeded to graduate from the college with honors, or in Latin words cum laude. Since that time, she became popular because of the story of her life. She was an enthusiastic woman who had writing as the hobby. Then, someday, her lecturer informed to the magazine producer who was fascinated in her writing. It made her a popular writer.

(13)

xii

REFERENCES

Arp, Thomas, R. & Johnson, Greg. 2006. Perine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Boston. Thomson Wardsworth.

Ary, D., Jacobs, and Razavieh, A. 2002. Introduction to Research in Education Sixth Edition. US: Thomson Wadsworth Inc.

Ary, Donald; Jacobs, Lucy C & Razavieh. 2010. Intoduction to Research in Education. Eigth Edition. New York: Holt, Rineharth, and Wadsworth, Inc.

Brown, H. Douglas. 2000. A Practical Guide to Language Learning. New York. McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Fraenkel, Jack, R. & Wallen, Norman, N. 2009. How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education: Seventh Edition. New York. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Fromkin, Victoria, et al. 2014. An Introduction to Language. Tenth Edition. New York. Michael Rosenberg.

Given, Lisa, M. 2008. The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Method. Volume 1 & 2. California. Sage Publication Inc.

Heriyanti, Sri and Riza Elfana. (2014). “An analysis on Register Used by Cibbm at The University of Muhammadiyah Malang. “Celtic Journal, Volume 1, No. 1, June 2014. ISSN: 2356-4010 : 84-96

Hunt, Ellen. 1999. Register. Retrieved from www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/1914/language/register.htm, downloaded on September, 26 2013.

Koesnosoebroto S.B. 1988. The Anatomy of Prose Fiction. Jakarta. Depdikbud. Dirjen Pendidikan Tinggi.

Kusuma , Ika L. 2010. A Study Entitled “An Analysis of Diglossia Used by Main Characters in “The King’s Speech” Film. Unpublished Thesis. Malang. University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

(14)

xiii

Mesthrie, Rajend. et al. 2009. Introducing Sociolinguistics. Second Edition. Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press

Meyer, Michael. 1990. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Boston: Bedford books of St Martin's Press.

Meyerhoff, Miriam. 2006. Introducing Sociolinguistics. New York. Routledge. Peck, John and Coyle. Martin. 1986. Literary Terms and Criticism. London:

Macmillan Education LTD.

Sinulingga. Emmy, K. 2009. Code Mixing and Code Switching in ‘Smart Business Talk’ of Smart Radio 101.8 FM in the Theme ‘How to Become a Superstar Sales Person’. Unpublished Thesis. Medan. University of Sumatera Utara.

Stewart, Thomas,W. & Vaillette,Nathan. 2001. Language Files: Materials for an Introduction to Language & Linguistics. Eight Edition. Columbus. The Ohio State University press.

Sullivan, G. 2000. Children Nonfiction. Young Adult Nonfiction. National Council Teachers of English. Scholastic Inc. Retrieved from www.ncte.org. Trask, R. L. 1997. Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics. New York.

Routledge.

Wardaugh, Ronald. 2006. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics: Fifth Edition. Malden. Blackwell Publishing.

Wiyatmi. 2006. Pengantar Kajian Sastra. Buku Pengantar Teori Bagi Para Mahasiswa Maupun Umum Sebagai Dasar Untuk Mengkaji Sastra.

Yogyakarta. Pustaka.

Yule, George. 2010. The Study of Language. Fourth Edition. New York. Cambridge University Press.

(15)

1 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter contains of some sections such as: background of the study,

statement of problem, purpose of study, significance of study, scope and

limitation, and definition of key term. Each section is presented as follows.

1.1. Background of study

Language is a means of communication. People can imagine how difficult

life without language. ‘Language is a system of arbitrary conventionalized vocal,

written, or gestural symbols that enable members of a given community to

communicate intelligibly with one another’ (Brown, 2000: 5). People use

language to communicate with others no matter it uses words, spoken, writen, or

combine of them. By language, people not only get information, but also use it to

express feeling. Sometimes, when people describe a person as a good

communicator, they are likely thingking of the way he/she speaks and feels their

expression. From the definition above there is relationship between language and

society.

Each of society has an identity (or, perhaps more accurately, a set of

identities). That identity has been constructed from interaction with others and it

is the sense of self each of us has achieved, the result of people’s socialization,

i.e., our experiences with the outside world as people have dealt with that world in

(16)

2

ethnicity, gender, religion, occupation, physical location, social class, kinship,

leisure activities, etc (Wardaugh, 2006: 6).

Then, those factors may influence the existence of codes in society.

Wardaugh (2006) states that the term ‘code’ refers to any kind of system that two

or more people employ for communication. So, in using a language in a wide

variety of community, human tend to choose certain codes when they speak.

Diglossia is one of code choice in communication.

Ferguson (in Sinulingga, 2009) states that the term ‘diglossia’ was firstly

introduced into English from French by Ferguson. Ferguson used the technical

terms of diglossia to figure out the condition of a society where containing two

varieties from one language which consist in side and each of them has the

specific play in role.

Meyerhoff (2006) defines diglossia as a language situation used in a

speech community which consists of two varieties, One for High (H) functions

(e.g., church, newspapers) and one for Low (L) functions.

As Meyerhoff defined above, there are two variations from one language

in diglossia. The variations are H (High) and L (low). The ‘ High ‘ variety (High =

H) and the ‘ Low ’ variety (Low = L). The H variety is prestigious, powerful

variety; the L variety lacks prestige and power. Formal domains such as public

speaking, speech, religious, text and practice, education, meeting,and other

prestigious kind of usage are dominated by the H variety; the L variety is used for

informal conversation, jokes, street, and market, the telephone, and other domains

(17)

3

The usage of High and Low variety is also found in written language such

as novel. Novel is included as literature which serves entertainment and lesson.

Therefore, novel is interesting to be the concern of this study. As Connolly (in

Koesnosoebroto, 1988) states, the reason for reading literature is because of

hunger of information, or amusement, or solace, because of an appetite for truth

that seem to grow by what it feeds on. Thus, it can be concluded that literature can

expand people’s imagination and it does not only give the reader enjoyment but

also give understanding of life.

Helen Keller novel becomes the object of this study. This novel was

written by George Sullivan in 2000. The novel was written based on the book

“The Story of My Life” in 1903. The book “The Story of My Life” was Helen

Keller’s writing which told the real story of her self. Klarer (2004: 68) states, the

literature in the period of World War I to World War II is categorized into

modernism period, which uses narrative techniques such as stream-of

consciousness, or structural forms. The language used in the book “The Story of

My Life” was simple language because it told her life story. Only few excerpts

which were found using figurative language, in this case, metaphor. The novel

was also containing the biography told using excerpts from Helen Keller’s

writings. Helen Keller was a blind and deaf girl who finally became a writer,

speaker, and traveller. Considering blind and deaf, it made the writer interested

and curious in analyzing the digglosias used by Helen in this novel.

Related to this study, Kusuma (2010) conducted a study entitled “An

(18)

4

focused on the kinds of diglossia used by main characters in The King’s Speech

film, and to describe the meaning of diglossia used by main characters in The

King’s Speech film. The results of this study showed that diglossia used by main

characters in The King’s Speech film contained H (high) and L (low) variety. H

(high) variety in this film was not only used in formal situation, it was also used in

conversation. While L (low) variety was used in common conversation only. The

meaning of the diglossia in H (high) variety showed to make the language

prestigious and more respected, showed to respect the listener, and showed to

make the beauty of language as the heritage literature. Meanwhile, the meaning of

the diglossia in L (low) variety which were used by the main characters in

common conversation showed to make close and informal situation between the

speaker and the listener.

The previous study above analyzed the kinds and the meaning of diglossia;

also in what scene those phenomena of diglossia are used by the main characters

in formal and informal language which are called an diglossia are High (H) and

Low (L) variety used by main characters in “The King’s Speech” film. Therefore,

it is different from this study because this study will analyse diglossia and its

function in the written text, that is novel.

Based on the explanation above, it is interesting to conduct the study

entitles A Study on Diglossia Used by Helen Keller as the Main Character in

George Sullivan’s Novel “Helen Keller”.

(19)

5

1.2. Statement of the Problem

1. What diglossias are used by Helen Keller as the main character in George

Sullivan’s novel Helen Keller?

2. What are the functions of diglossia used by Helen Keller as the main

character in George Sullivan’s novel Helen Keller?

1.3. Purpose of the Study

1. To investigate the kinds of diglossias used by Helen Keller as the main

character in George Sullivan’s novel Helen Keller.

2. To identify the functions of diglossias used by Helen Keller as the main

character in George Sullivan’s novel Helen Keller.

1.4. Significance of Study

Theoritically, this study will be useful for the future diglossia researchers.

This study can be used as a reference and gives description about diglossia.

Practically, this study gives examples of diglossia, which can be seen in

the utterances uttered by the main character of Helen Keller novel to the readers in

order to make them easy to understand the situation of language with their

community and gives the contribution to the teachers and students about diglossia

(20)

6

1.5. Scope and Limitation

The scope of the study is diglossias and their functions. The limitation of

the study is only the diglossia used by Helen Keller as the main character in Helen

Keller novel.

1.6. Definition of Key Terms

The following definitions of the key terms are intended to avoid ambiguty

or misinterpretation. These terms are :

1. Diglossia is a language situation used in a speech community, which is

classified into two varieties, namely: one for High (H) functions (e.g., used

in church, newspapers) and one for Low (L) functions (e.g., used at home,

market) (Meyerhoff, 2006).

2. Main character is the most important character in a story, but he cannot

stand on his own and needs other characters to make the story more

convincing and lifelike (Koesnosoebroto, 1988).

3. Helen Keller is the novel based on the true story of Helen Keller, a blind

and deaf girl, written by George Sullivan.

4. Novel is works which is long with detail presenting all the complicated

facts that make the reader comes to recognize the complex reality of a

A STUDY ON DIGLOSSIA USED BY HELEN KELLER AS THE MAIN CHARACTER IN GEORGE SULLIVAN’S NOVEL “HELEN KELLER”