FIGURATIVE MEANINGS IN SECONDHAND
SERENADE’S
SONG LYRICS
A THESIS
Submitted as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of SarjanaSastra
By:
MARINA LESTARI
Registration Number 2112220013
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTEMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
DECLARATION
I have familiarized myself with the University’s Policy on Academic integrity. Except where appropriately acknowledged, this thesis is my own work,
has been expressed in my own words, and has not been previously been submitted
for assessment.
I understand that this paper may be screened electronically or otherwise
for plagiarism.
Medan, June 2015
ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all, the writer would like to express the greatest gratitude to Allah
for the blessings, guidance, guarding, and everything that has been given along
her lifeuntilthe writer finally accomplishes his thesis.
This thesis is aimed to fulfill one of the requirements to obtain the S1 degree
of Sarjana Sastra at English Department in Faculty of Languages and Arts, State
University of Medan.
In completing this thesis, the writer realized that he faced some problems
and he had received the academic guidance, suggestions, and comments and got a
lot of assistance and moral support from many people. Therefore, the writer
would like to express hisgratitude and special thanks to:
Prof. Dr. SyawalGultom, M.Pd., the Rector of State University of
Medan.
Dr. IsdaPramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and
Arts, State University of Medan.
Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd.,The Head of English and Literature
DepartmentDra. Meisuri, M.A., the Secretary of English and
Literature Department, andSyamsul Bahri.S.S.,M.Humas the Head
of English LiteratureStudy Program, Faculty of Languages and Arts,
State University of Medan.
Drs. Muhammad Natsir, M.Hum.,and MoradaTetty, S.S.,
iii
Adviser and as the Examiner, and also Prof. AmrinSaragih,
M.A.,Ph.D. , Drs. EliaMasaGintings. M.Hum. , and Drs. Johan
Sinulingga. M.Pd. as her Thesis Examiners who have given their
precious time, guidance, suggestions, and comments.
All Lecturers of English departmentwho have taught, guided, and
advised him throughout the academic years that could not be
mentioned one by one.
Mam Eis Sri Wahyuni, M. Pd , the administration staff of English
Department, for their attention, assistance,and information.
Beloved parents, (Alm) Daminandmy mom Miswatifor the patience,
affection, prayer, financial support and thought the writer many wroth
things in facing the life. Thank also given to her brothers and Sisters
in law, Nieces, and Nephews.
All his classmates in Sastra B 2011 who cannot be mentioned one by
one that conquered the lectures and shared knowledge, ideas, and
bitter-sweet of campus life together.
The writer realizes that this thesis is still far from being perfect, hewarmly
welcomes any constructivesuggestions, comments, and advices that will improve
the quality of this thesis. She hopes that this thesis would be useful for those who
are read and interested in the field of this study.
Medan, June 2015 The writer,
i
ABSTRACT
Lestari Marina, 2112220013. Figurative Meanings in Secondhand Serenade’s
Song Lyrics. A Thesis, English, Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts,
State University of Medan 2015.
The study deals with the Figurative meanings that consist of hyperbole, simile, metaphor, personification, and symbol. The objectives of this research were to find out types of figurative meanings used in Secondhand Serenade’s song lyrics and to describe the dominant one type of figurative meanings. This research was conducted by using qualitative method. The sources of the data were albums and lyrics of Secondhand Serenade and the data were 67 sentences of Secondhand
serenade’s song lyrics. After analyzing, it was found that there were 67 sentences
of Secondhand Serenade’s song lyrics. The findings of this research were found that hyperbole 30 (44.77%), symbol 14 (20.89%), simile 11 (16.41%), metaphor 7 (10.44%), and personification 5 (7.46%). Hyperbole 30(44.77%) becomes the dominant type of figurative meanings in secondhand serenade’s song lyrics.
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E. The Significance of The Study ... 5
CHAPTER IIREVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 7
A. Theoretical Framework ... 7
1. Literature ... 7
d. Traditional Music ... 20
5. Lyrics ... 21
6. Secondhand Serenade’s Profile ... 23
B. Conceptual Framework ... 25
CHAPTER IIIRESEARCH METHOD ... 26
A. Research Method ... 26
B. Source of Data ... 26
C. Technique of Collecting Data ... 26
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CHAPTER IV THE DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS ... 28
A. The Data ... 28
B. Data Analysis ... 28
C. Types of Figurative Meanings ... 29
D. The Dominant Type of Figurative Meanings ... 36
E. Discussion ... 36
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ... 39
A. Conclusion ... 39
B. Suggestions ... 39
REFERENCES ... 40
LIST OF TABLE
Table 4.1 The occurrences of figurative meanings in secondhand serenade’s
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Secondhand Serenade’s song lyrics ... 41
Appendix II the lyrics that Consist of Figurative Meanings in Secondhand
0
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.The Background of the Study
Literature is the arts of written work. Literature is commonly classified as
having two majoring forms fiction and non-fiction, and two majoring techniques
poetry and prose. Literature written in poetry emphasizes the aesthetic and
rhythmic qualities of language such as sound and symbolism, while prose applies
ordinary grammatical structure and the natural flow of speech. Literature is
something that reflects society, makes us think about ourselves and our society,
allows us to enjoy language and beauty, it can be didactic, and it reflects on “the
human condition”Warren (1993:8).
simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, irony, symbol, Antithesis,
synecdoche, metonymy (www.wikipedia.com).
Every song has meaning in its lyrics or sentences. A composer always tries
to deliver the ideas of his or her songs to the listener. Most of the people in this
world like songs and enjoy the songs by listening to it by using the tape recorder,
MP3, MP4, compact disc, and cassette. In listening to the songs, language is very
1
important because it means of communication. He or she will chooses the
right words that he or she thinks can be the best to convey their thought, feeling,
and experience. He or she hopes the listener will understand the meaning of the
songs. A song has two meaning: literal meaning and figurative meaning. Literal
meaning means corresponding exactly to the original. Figurative meaning means
connotative meaning. It is concerned with the meaning of the unfamiliarword in
which most word have several meaning. Figurative meaning uses figure of speech
too.
Creating song lyrics is not an easy job to do. We needs imagination and
figurative sense to create the lyrics of the song to make somebody listen to it, feels
interested in it. One song that is recognized to have used very much using
figurative is the group Secondhand Serenade, almost in all of their songs lyrics
figurative language could be found. Since Secondhand Serenade’s songs are very
interesting to listen, it is considered important to know what actually the meaning
implied within the songs. It will be useless when we listen to the songs without
understanding what actually the song wants to convey to us as the listeners. That
is the reason for the study to analyze it more deeply. The writer wants to analyze
the figurative meaning in Secondhand Serenade’s song lyrics. Figurative
languages make the songs become interesting and many listeners enjoy the songs
because they use so many kind of figurative languages to express their feelings
and ideas.
Analyzing figurative language in song lyrics is important for some
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singing without understanding the lyrics. We can also gain some lesson learning
and fruitful information when we understand the non literal meaning contained in
song lyrics. Second, analyzing figurative language provides us more practices be
better understand non-literal expression, Simamora(2014: 5). A song is a short
piece of music with words that are sung. The words in song are called lyrics. Song
is one example of literature. The language of literature usually interests people for
its beauty, and song is one of literary works that mostly uses figurative language
as a lyric. A song is interesting to listen and it may bring into close and fresh
relation to life.
Semantics is branch of linguistics that talks about meaning in language.
Considering that language is a tool to convey the meaning, it means that when we
study a language and also study about the meaning. In semantics, meaning are
divided into two parts, literal and non literal (figurative expression) Saeed
(2004:15). Literal meaning refers to words that do not deviate from their defined
meaning or words in literal expression denote what they mean according to
common or dictionary usage. Non-literal meaning (figurative expression) means
that there are different means from the real meaning of words.
As stated in (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/musik) Music is an art form of
which medium is sound. Its common elements are pitch (which governs melody
and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and
articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. Music is
composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure,
3
marketplace. Amateur musicians compose and perform music for their own
pleasure, and they do not derive their income from music. Song is composition for
voice performed by singing or alongside musical instruments. The lyrics (word) of
song are typically of a poetic, and rhyming nature. These days there were so many
good songs with beautiful lyrics sung by new comer singer. One of them is
Secondhand Serenade. Secondhand Serenade is rock band, led by vocalist, pianist
and guitarist John Vesely. Vesely has released four studio albums to date under
the name Secondhand Serenade: Awake in 2007, A Twist in My Story in 2008,
Hear Me Now in 2010, and "Undefeated" in 2014. The debut album use multitrack
recording to create the sound of a band using technology, while the second album
took a different path, using a proper band and synthesizers to establish a more
accomplished sound.
B.The Problems of the Study
Based on the background, the problems of the study are formulated as the
following :
1. What types of figurative meaning are used in theSecondhand Serenade’s
song lyrics?
2. What type of figurative meaning is dominantlyused in Secondhand
Serenade’s song lyrics?
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C.The Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are.
1. To describetypes of figurative meaning used in Secondhand Serenade’s
song lyrics.
2. To describe the most dominant type of figurative Meaning used in
Secondhand Serenade’s song lyrics.
3. To reason for the use of figurative meaning in Secondhand Serenade’s song
lyrics.
D.The Scope of the Study
This research studies figurative meaning applied in Secondhand
Serenade’s song lyrics. The writer chooses the song, Secondhand Serenade’s song
lyrics. It is taken from the best album of Secondhand Serenade’s.There are three
albums of it since 2007, 2008, 2010, consists oftwelve songs. The writer focuses
on the analysis of figurative meaning in Secondhand Serenade’s song lyrics.
E.The Significance of the Study
Finding of the study are expected to be relevant theoretically and
practically.
1. Theoretically
The study is expected to provide benefits theoretically, at least can be
useful as basic in theories of applied linguistics and be references in further
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2. Practically
The findings of the study are useful for.
1. The students who are majoring English in studying listening and meaning
in sentences.
2. The researchers to develop the knowledge of figurative meaning in song
lyrics.
3. The students who are interested in figurative meaning especially in song
lyrics.
4. The readers to gain information about the musician and songwriter
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
A.Conclusion
Based on the previous data analysis, the conclusions of this research are.
1. There are five types of figurative meanings that were used in Secondhand
Serenade’s song lyrics; they are Simile, Hyperbole, symbol, metaphor, and
personification. Whereas there are other five types of figurative meanings
that are not used in secondhand serenade’s song lyrics that have been
selected, they are irony, antithesis, synecdoche, metonymy, and allegory.
2. The dominant type of figurative meanings used in secondhand serenade’s
song lyrics was Hyperbole. Hyperbole becomes the dominant type of
figurative meaning in secondhand serenade’s song lyrics and it leads us to a
statement.
B.Suggestion
1. For those who want to observe this study deeply, they must study about
poetry and literary criticism first, since this subject leads us to find the
figurative meanings and the use of them.
2. To find the other field of language or other aspect which can continue the
way in conducting a new and better of this research.
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REFERENCES
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Eagaleton Terry, 1996. Literary Theory An Introduction Second Edition. United States: The University of Minnesota Press.
Giora Rachel. 1999. On Understanding familiar and less familiar figurative language. Journal of pragmatics.31. 1601-1618
Goatly Andrew. 1997. The Language Of Metaphors. USA and Canada: Redwood Books.
Hofmann.Th.R, 1993.Realms of Meaning An Introduction to Semantics. England:British Library.
Jacobs lucy. 2002. Introduction for Research in Education. United State of America: Wadsworth Group.
Kennedy. X. J. 1991. An Introduction to fiction, poetry, Drama, and writing.USA and Canada: Little Brown.
Mayer Robert. 2007. Integration of text and audio features for genre classification in music information retrieval. Italy: on information Retrieval (EICR’07).
SetiasariWinda. 2013.Diktat Poetry 2.Medan: English Departmentfaculty language and art State University of Medan.
Werren Austin. 1993. Theory of Literature. United States of America: Harcourt, Brace And Company, Inc.
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