IN COUPLEHOOD’S PAUL REISER
A GRADUATING PAPER
Submitted to the Board of Examiners in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan Islam (S.Pd.I.)
In the English and Educational Department
By
AMALULUMAMNIM. 113 06 045
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AND EDUCATION FACULTY STATE ISLAMIC STUDIES INSTITUTE (STAIN)
SALATIGA
MINISTRY OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIR
STATE ISLAMIC STUDIES INSTITUTE ( STAIN) SALATIGA JL Tentara Pelajar 02 Phone (0298) 323706 Salatiga 50721 Website: www.stainsalatiga.ac.id E-mail: administrasi@stainsalatiga.ac.id
Dra. Woro Retnaningsih, M.Pd. Salatiga, August 2010
The Lecturer of Educational Faculty
State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga
ATT ENTIVE COUNSELOR NOTES Case : Amalul Umam’s Graduating Paper
Dear:
The Head of State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga
Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.
After reading and correcting Amalul Umam’s graduating paper entitled
“DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF CONTEXT OF SITUATION USED IN COUPLEHOOD’S PAUL REISER”, I have decided and would like to propose that if it could be accepted by educational faculty. I hope it would be examined as soon as possible.
Wassalamu’ulaikum Wr. Wb.
Dra. Woro Retnaningsih, M.Pd. N IP .19681017199303 2 002
STATE ISLAMIC STUDIES INSTITUTE ( STAIN) SALATIGA .11. Tentara Pelajar 02 Phone (0298) 323706 Salatiga 50721 Website: www.stainsalatiga.ac.id E-mail: administrasi@stainsalatiga.ac.id
STATEMENT OF CERTIFICATION
Amalul Umam’s graduating paper, the student number is 11306045, entitled “ Descriptive Study of Context of Situation Used in Couplehood’s Paul
Reiser” has been brought to the board of examiners on August, 31st 2010 and hereby considered to completely fulfill the requirements of the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan Islam (S.Pd.l) in English and Education Department.
Salatiga: Ramadhan. 21s11431 August, 31st 2010
Board Examiners
Dr. H. Sa’adi, M.Ag NorwantoJSJAE-MrHUm NIP. 19630420 199203 1 003 NIP. 19751015 200212 1 006
Dra. Woro Retnaningsih, M.Pd. NIP. 19681017 199303 2 002
MINISTRY OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIR
STATE ISLAMIC STUDIES INSTITUTE ( STAIN) SALATIGA Jl. Tentara Pelajar 02 Phone (0298) 323706 Salatiga 50721 Website: www.stainsalatiga.ac.id E-mail: administrasi@stainsalatiga.ac.id
DECLARATION
In the name o f Allah, the Lord o f Mercy, the Giver o f Mercy
Hereby the writer fully declares that the graduating paper is made by the writer himself and it is not containing materials written or has been published by other people and other people’s ideas, except the information from the references.
The writer is capable to account for the graduating paper if in the future the graduating paper can be proved of containing other’s ideas or in fact the writer imitates the other’s graduating paper.
Likewise, the declaration is made by the writer and the writer hopes that the declaration can be understood.
Salatiga, September 25th 2010 The Writer,
AMALUL UMAM NIM: 11306045
'i He
s u mot youR
a c t io n sd c t c r mu n c s
w h a t
you
a r c'
DEDICATION
This graduating paper is dedicated to my 6eCovedfamiCy, especiaCCyfor
the most great, 6eauttfuC an d wonderfuC women aCCover the world;
In the name o f Allah, the Lord o f Mercy, the Giver o f Mercy.
Praise belongs to Allah, Lord o f the World. Thanks to Allah, because of
His blessing this graduating paper could be completed. However, this success
would not be achieved without the support, guidance, advice, help, and
encouragement from individuals and institutions.
Therefore, in this very glad occasion, he is very thankful to:
1. Dr. Imam Sutomo, M.Ag, the Rector of State Islamic Studies Institute
(STAIN) Salatiga
2. Dra. Woro Retnaningsih, M-Pd, the consultant of the graduating paper
who makes him enjoy in finishing this graduating paper.
3. All lecturers of English Department who had given the knowledge
patiently.
4. My beloved family.
5. All o f CEC lovers.
6. All 2006 generation of English Department.
7. All of the big family of State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga.
ABSTRACT
This study is aimed to describe the context o f situation containing in the Couplehood’s Paul Reiser. The research problems of the study were the contexts o f situation features; field, tenor and mode. It was a descriptive study, where the data was taken from Couplehood book. Kind of data that would be presented in the study were data that shown the condition of context of situation of the book, such as data that shown: what was happening, the nature of the social action that was taking place (field), who was taking part, the nature o f the participants, their statuses and roles (tenor), and the data that shown kind o f the part language was playing (mode). The result o f the study shown that field o f the book was about ups and downs of being in a committed relationship, while the tenor of the book was in written form, which had equal power, infrequent contact and high affective involvement. The mode of the book was written through modem channel; commercial book, which used language as reflection.
Keywords: context o f situation, field, tenor and mode.
TITTLE... i
ATTENTIVE COUNSELOR N OTES... ii
CERTIFICATION PAG E...iii
DECLARATION... iv
M OTTO... v
DEDICATION... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...vii
ABSTRACT...viii
TABLE OF CONTENT...ix
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study... I B. Statement of the Problem... 4
C. Objectives of the Study... 4
D. The Benefit of the Study... 4
E. Clarification of Key Term ... 5
F. The Previous Literature Review ... 7
G. Research M ethod... 8
H. The Outline of Graduating Paper... 10
CHARI ER II. THEORETICAL REVIEW OF CONTEXT OF SITUATION A. Description of Context... II B. Description of Situation... 11
C. Description o f Context o f S ituation... 11
D. Parts o f Context o f S ituation... 12
CHAPTER III. BIOGRAPHY AND SHORT STORY
A. Biography o f Paul R e ise r... 22
B. Paul Reiser’s W o rk s... 24
C. Short S to ry ... 26
CHAPTER VI. RESEARCH FINDING AND DATA ANALYSIS
A. F ie ld ... 33
B. T e n o r... 35 Y
C. M o d e... 37
CHAPTER V. CLOSURE
A. C onclusion... 44
B. Suggestion... 45
REFERENCES
CURRICULUM VITAE
LIST O FSK K
IN TR O D U C TIO N
A. B ackground of the Study
Human beings are apparently born with a need for affiliation, the
motivation to interact with other people in cooperative way, often relying on
shared laughter to smooth the way (Baron, et al, 2006:267). It is important for
everyone, because human beings are innately born as social creature that
cannot life alone. As a consequence, human beings need interpersonal relation
process to make them exist in this world.
The way human beings fulfill their need for affiliation can be done
through a relationship, such as engage in a long-term relationship or marrying.
By marrying human beings will have new family and new life, because
marrying is a life transition. It involves taking on a new role (as husband or
wife) and adjusting to life as couple. People rejoice at weddings and view
newlyweds as supremely as happy beings. Yet individual who have just been
struggling to achieve autonomy now find that they must compromise with
their partners and adapt to each other’s personalities and preferences
(Sigelman and Shaffer, 1995:402). As a result, many problems can arise
overtime that lead to unexpected things.
Actually, married couple in Indonesia just like in all over the world
couple, wants their relationship will never end and always happily ever after,
although not all couple in Indonesia succeed in their long term relationship.
2
Some o f them did something that we usually called as “divorce”. It can be
caused by so many factors, such as hurt in love, financial or economic
problem, incompatibility, and so on.
In Indonesia, divorced couples are usually viewed as failed couple,
because they cannot stand for their relationship. In addition, they usually are
being the topic of discussion between household in their environment As a
result, every Indonesian couple will try to keep their relationship to be happily
ever after as long as they can. They don’t want that they are viewed as a failed
couple or worst.
In contrast single parents or divorce couple in Western countries is
viewed as normal condition. The greatest increase has been in the number of
households consisting of a single mother in 1990 and 2000 in America, for
example (Baron, etal, 2006:326). It proves that divorce is not peculiar or
worst thing that is doing in US. It is just viewed as common thing, because it
is needed. In addition, western is famous with their selfishness, so they just
think about their self, not others people. In contrast, there are also some
couples that happily ever after in Western countries, like Paul Reiser and his
wife in United State of America. In this case, Paul wrote a psychological book
entitle Couplehood to tell about their daily life as a couple.
Couplehood is a psychological book that tells us about the ups and
downs of being in a committed relationship. This book is very interesting. It is
framed using humored languages that make it unique and more
Moreover, it is started in page 145 and contains so many spoken languages
that make it more colorful and sometime contains different meaning, based on
the context and situation that is discussed in the book.
There are three aspects in any situation that have linguistic
consequences: field, mode, and tenor (Eggins, 1994:52). According to him,
field refers to what is happening, to the nature o f the social action that is
taking place, mode concerns what it is that the participants (of a transaction)
are expecting language to do for them in that situation, and tenor has to do
with who are taking part in the transaction as well as the nature of the
participants, their status and roles (Hasan and Halliday, 1985:12). These three
register variables delineate the relationships between language function and
language form. In other words, a register is constituted by the linguistic
features which are typically associated with a configuration o f situational
features—with particular values o f the field, mode and tenor. For example, the
tenor of a text, which concerns the relationship between the speaker and the
hearer, can be analyzed in terms o f basic distinctions such as polite-colloquial-
intimate, on a scale o f categories which range from formal to informal. In the
same vein, the mode of an interaction which manifests the nature o f the
language code being used can be distinguished in terms of, among other
things, spoken and written.
Based on the review above, the writer want to take up a graduating
paper entitled “Descriptive Study o f Context o f Situation Used in
4
B. Statem ent o f the Problem
In this graduating paper, the writer will focus on the following
problems:
1. What is the field of the book entitled Couplehood?
2. How is the tenor of the book entitled Couplehood?
3. How is the mode of the book entitled Couplehood?
4. How is the relevance of the book with Islamic teaching?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are as following:
1. To find out the field of the book.
2. To find out the tenor o f the book.
3. To find out the mode of the book.
4. To find out the relevance of the book with Islamic teaching.
D. The Benefit of the Study
1. Theoretical Benefit.
The benefit o f the study is expected to be beneficial to the world of
literature and complement to the study Paul Reiser’s book entitled
Couplehood.
2. Practical Benefit.
The writer hopes the result of the study will give additional
to the development o f literary study particularly among students who are
interested in the literary study. Moreover, the reader can concerned with
the variables of field, tenor, and mode, and is a useful abstraction which
relates variations of language use to variations o f social context.
Therefore, this study of linguistic texts, which enables us to uncover how
language is maneuvered to make meaning, has received popular
application in (critical) discourse analysis and (foreign) language teaching
pedagogy.
E. Clarification of Key Term
To avoid mistakes o f the little consideration, the writer clarifies the
term as the following:
1. Descriptive Study.
Descriptive study is a study to collect or gather data in the form of
words, pictures, without calculation and numerating (Maleong, 2002:6).
In other words, Descriptive study is study by which the primaiy goal is to
assess a sample at one specific point in time without trying to make
inferences or causal statements (http://www.nedarc.org).
2. Context of Situation.
Halliday and Hasan (1989:55) refers context o f situation to certain
aspects o f our social situations that always act upon the language as it is
being used. So that it is the set of meanings, the configurations of semantic
6
along with the words and structures that are used in the realization o f these
meanings. It is concerned with the variables o f field, tenor, and mode, and
is a useful abstraction which relates variations of language use to
variations o f social context.
3. Couplehood.
Couplehood is one of the books that have been written by Paul
Reiser. It is categorized as psychological book which tell about the ups
and downs of being in a committed relationship. It was published in 1995.
5. Paul Reiser.
Paul Reiser is an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and
screenwriter. Paul Reiser was bom in New York City on March 30, 1957.
He is the son of Helen, a homemaker, and Sam Reiser, a wholesale health
food distributor. Paul Reiser attended the East Side Hebrew Institute on
the Lower East Side of Manhattan and graduated from Stuyvesant High
School in New York City. He earned his bachelor's degree at Binghamton
University, where he majored in music (piano, composition).
Paul Reiser starred for two years on television as one of two
possible fathers o f a teenage girl in the sitcom My Two Dads, and later
rose to fame in North America as Paul Buchman on M ad About You, a
long-running comedy series he helped create in which Helen Hunt co-
starred as his wife. Reiser has also written two books: Couplehood, about
the ups and downs o f being in a committed relationship, and Babyhood,
fact it started on page 145. Paul Reiser explained this as his way o f giving
the reader a false sense of accomplishment. Both books appeared on The
New York Times bestseller list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Reiser).
F. The Previous Literature Review
This is descriptive qualitative research, so the writer will focus to
concern in analyzing the Couplehood book through library analysis. There are
some literary works that conduct almost the same topic that will be researched
by the writer. One of them is A Study o f Registers used in the English Job
Vacancy Advertisement in Kompas, Issued in October 2004. It is researched
by Eva Kusumawardani. In this researched, she found that there are two types
of analysis of register data, they are lexical and textual meaning
(Kusumawardani, 2004:25). In addition, a research paper that is conducted by
Latifah Suryani entitled A Descriptive Study o f Register used in Commercial
Banking. In this research, she explains that there are three major classification
of register term. They are technical, banking and general term (Suiyani,
2003:40).
Another one is a research that is conducted by Endriana Sri Wahyuni
entitled A Descriptive Study on the use o f Colloquial Style in English Songs.
According to her, language style which is used in English songs is colloquial
style, which discusses about non-standard English that is recognized as normal
G. Research Method
Research method is a way or strategy to collect and analyze the data to
answer the problem, or strategy to solve the problem that is researched.
In analyzing the book entitled Couplehood, the writer will use
qualitative research as following:
1. Research Object.
The research object in this study is three register variables of
Halliday or context of situation analysis on Paul Reiser’s book entitled
Couplehood. It covers field, tenor and mode of the book.
2. Data Sources.
It is a source of data related to the object of the research. This
data source is very important, which is taken from Couplehood’s book
written by Paul Reiser. Kind of data that will be presented in this
graduating paper are data that show the condition of context of
situation of the book, such as data that show: what is happening, the
nature of the social action that is taking place (field), who is taking
part, the nature of the participants, their statuses and roles (tenor) and
the data that show kind of the part language is playing (mode).
3. Technique of Data Collection.
In this research, the technique of data collection is documentation.
a. Determining what information is needed and establishing means for acquiring it.
b. Recording the discovered information and storing such in appropriate containers (called documents) or collecting already-existing documents containing the needed information. c. Organizing the documents to make them accessible.
d. (Actually) providing the documents to users who need the information.
In addition, documentation may refer to the process of providing evidence or to document something or to the communicable material used to provide such documentation (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/documentation). Data that will be presented are the data of the book entitled Couplehood in which contains or represent field, tenor and mode.
4. Method of Data Analysis.
Method of data analysis in this study is descriptive qualitative analysis. Descriptive qualitative analysis is an analysis that intends to make description of situations or events (Suryabrata, 2009:76). It means that the analysis only try to accumulate the basic data descriptively, without assess and make prediction of the data. The steps of this technique are:
10
c. Analyzing context of situation and language use in the book. d. Finding context of situation and parts of it, then classified it
based on their categories (field, tenor and mode).
e. Conclusion about the descriptive study of context of situation used in Couplehood’s Paul Reiser.
H. The Outline of Graduating Paper
To make this study systematic, the writer divides this study into five chapters:
Chapter I is introduction which consists of background of the study, the statement of the problem, the objective of the study, the benefit of the ’ study, clarification of key term, the previous literature review, the research method, and the outline of graduating paper.
Chapter II is data presentation; present the theoretical review context of situation and part of it (field, tenor and mode).
Chapter III is the biography of Paul Reiser and short story of the book. Chapter IV is present the data and data analysis, which consist of context of situation in Couplehood book and language use of Couplehood book.
THEORETICAL REVIEW OF CONTEXT OF SITUATION
A. Description of Context
Context is understood as the surroundings in the widest sense, which
enable the participants in the communication process to interact and that make
the linguistic expressions of their interaction intelligible (Mey, 1994:38).
Besides, Schiffrin (1994:367) define context as a set of social circumstances
in which unterances can be produced and interpreted as realizations o f their
underlying constitutive rules.
B. Description of Situation
Situation is position or location in respect to physical surroundings
(Pei, 1974:904). Moreover, situation can be defined as the environment in
which the text comes to life (Halliday, 1978:109) In other words, situation in
this term can be defined as environment where the texts are operated.
C. Description of Context of Situation
The basic concept o f context o f situation originally suggested by
Malinowski and subsequently elaborated by Firth in his 1950 paper
“Personality and Language in Society”. Essentially what this implies is that
language comes to life only when functioning in some environment (Halliday,
12
1978:28). Then, according to W ebster’s dictionary (1994:211) context of
situation is linguistic term in Firthian grammar for the non-linguistic
environment o f utterances, for example number of listeners and the position of
speaker. Moreover, there are other definitions of context of situations from
linguists, such as Halliday and Dinneen. Halliday (Hasan and Halliday,
1985:55) refers context of situation to certain aspects of our social situations
that always act upon the language as it is being used; while Dinneen
(1967:305) define it as a schematic construct that is applied especially to
repetitive events in the social process, consisting of various levels o f analysis
or how the meanings of language should be stated. In other words, context of
situation is the set of meanings, the configuration of semantic patterns, which
are typically drawn upon under the specific conditions, along with the words
and structures that are used in the realization o f these meanings.
D. Parts of Context of Situation
Halliday argue that there are three aspects in any situation that have
linguistic consequences: field, tenor and mode. These three aspects are called
the register variables, and a description o f the values for each of these aspects
at a given time of language use is a register description of a text.
1. Field.
Field refers to what is happening, to the nature of the social action
that is taking place (Hasan and Halliday, 1985:12). Because the kind of
doing. In differing contexts, we fends to select different words and
different grammatical pattems-simply because we are expressing different
kinds of meaning. All we need add to this, in order to clarify the notion of
register, is that the ‘meanings’ that are involved are a part of what we are
doing; or rather they are part of the expression of what we are doing. In
other words, one aspect of the field o f discourse is simply the subject
matter; we talk about different things, and therefore use different words for
doing so (Halliday, 1978:221).
In addition, the field o f discourse: that which is ‘going on’, and has
recognizable meaning in the social system; typically a complex of acts in
some ordered configuration, and in which the text is playing some part,
and including ‘subject matter’ as one special aspect-a field of significant
social action. If a text is self-sufficient rather than an accomplishment that
runs alongside some other social activity, the field o f discourse is the
subject matter of the text but it also includes the activities that make the
subject matter relevant-activities such as exploration, learning and
imagining; if a text is ‘embedded’ in some other social activity, this
activity is also included in the field. The notion o f field is related to, but no
restricted to, the common notion of domain in computational linguistics
(Matthiessen, 1990:33). In other words, field is concerned with the subject
matter of the text that covers specification both of the general topic area
and the detailed content o f what is going on and thus being spoken or
14
In accordance with Eggins (1994:67), field is defined as the
situational variable that has to do with the focus o f the activity in which
we are engaged. Sometimes field can be glossed as the ‘topic’ of the
situation. Moreover, Eggins also recognize that situations may be either
technical or everyday in their construction of an activity focus. In other
words, field varies along a dimension of technicality, as is schematized
below;
technical __ FIELD commonsense
specialized * * (everyday)
A situation that would be described as technical could be
characterized by a significant degree of assumed knowledge among the
participants about the activity focus. On the other hand, an eveiyday or
commonsense situation could be known by field the using o f ‘common
knowledge’ between the participants. Language that is used in an everyday
situation is more familiar, whereas in technical situation field is more
specific. To make it easier to understand, the writer would like to
summarize the technical and everyday situation and language in the
TECHNICAL VS. EVE RYD A Y LANGUAGE
Technical and everyday language (the linguistic implication of Field)
Technical Language Everyday Language
Technical terms Everyday terms
Words only “insiders” understand Words interactants all understand
Acronyms Full names
Abbreviated syntax Standard syntax
Technical action processes Identifying processes
Attributive descriptive process Defining terms
TECHNICAL VS. EVERYDAY SITUATIONS
Technical Situation Everyday Situation
Assumed knowledge “Common knowledge”
An activity/institution/area No (or little) assumed knowledge
Deep taxonomies Shallow taxonomies
Detailed sub-classification Limited sub-classification
2. Tenor.
Tenor refers to who is taking part, to the nature of the participants,
their statuses and roles (Hasan and Halliday, 1985:12). The language we
use varies according to the level of formality, of technicality, and so on.
Essentially, it is the role relationship in the situation in question: who the
16
Stand to each other. According to Spencer and Gregory the examples of
role relationship that would be reflected in the language used are teacher-
pupil, parent-child, child-child in peer group, doctor-patient, customer-
salesman, etc. It is the role relationships, including the indirect
relationships between a writer and his audience that determine such things
as the level of technicality and degree of formality (Halliday, 1978:222).
Moreover, the tenor of the relationship between speaker and
listener and their potential for interacting: “the cluster of socially
meaningful participant relationships, both permanent attributes of the
participants and role participants that are specific to the situation,
including the speech roles, those that come into being through the
exchange of verbal meanings” is a tenor of role relationships. Tenor thus
includes role that are brought into existence because of language -speech
roles- as well as other social role relations (Matthiessen, 1990:34). So, it
can be said that tenor focuses on the role and social status of the
participants taking part in the speech event and more particularly, on the
relationship between their roles (tenor deals with the interpersonal
relationship and the way in which these are reflected in the language).
In line with the statement above, Eggins (1994:63-64) refers tenor
as the social role relationships played by interactants, such as
student/lecturer, customer/salesperson, and ffiend/friend. In addition, Cate
Poynton has suggested that tenor can be broken down into three different
that the general notion o f “role relationships” can be seen as a complex of
these three simultaneous dimensions:
a. Power.
It can be divided into two types; equal and unequal. The equal
power is role relationships between friend and friend; in contrast, the
unequal power is relationship between a boss and an employee.
POWER
Equal < ... ► Unequal The power continuum
b. Affective involvement.
It conveys the situation of the affective involvement between the
participants; high or low. This dimension refers to the extent to which
participants are emotionally involved or committed in a situation. For
example, friends or lovers are obviously affectively involved, whereas
work associates are typically not
AFFECTIVE INVOLVEMENT
High « ...i ...» Low The affective involvement continuum
c. Contact.
It refers to the positions situations in terms of whether the roles
interactans are playing are those bring into frequent or in frequent
18
with occasional contact with distant acquaintances. It can be presented
as the following:
CONTACT
Frequent < > Infrequent
The contact continuum
Eggins (1994:64) claims that aspects o f our role occupation in a
given situation according to tenor dimensions will have an impact on how
we use language; those are formal and informal. Informal situation would
typically involve interactants who are o f equal power, who see each other
frequently, and who are affectively involved (e.g. close friends). In
contrast, a formal situation would be one where the power between the
interactants is not equal, the contact is infrequent, and the affective
involvement is low (for example, a first-year student meeting the Vice-
Chancellor).
Informal Formal
Equal power Unequal, hierarchic power
Frequent contact Infrequent, or one-off, contact
High affective involvement Low affective involvement
3. Mode.
Mode refers to what part the language is playing, what it is that the
symbolic organisation o f the text, iha status that it has, and its function in
the context, including the channel (is it spoken or written or some
combination of the two) and also the retorical mode, what is being
achieved by the text in terms o f such categories as persuassive, expocitory,
didactic, and the like (Hasan and Halliday, 1985:12). That is, mode
handles the medium through which the text is expressed.
Furthermore, Eggins (1994:53) defines mode as “the role language is
playing in an interaction”. It is also supported by Martin’s explanation that
the role of language can be seen as involving two simultaneous continua
which describe two different types o f distance in the relation between
language and situation. These are called spatial/interpersonal distance and
experiential distance,
a. Spatial/interpersonal distance.
This continuum ranges situations according to the possibilities of
immediate feedback between the interactants. At one pole o f the
continuum, then, is the situation sitting down to a casual chat with
friends, where there is both visual and aural contact, and thus feedback
is immediate. At the other end of the continuum would be the situation
of writig a book, where there is no visual or aural contact between
writer and reader(s), and thus no possibility of immediate feedback. In
order to make it easier to understand, Eggins figures it as the
20
Spatial or interpersonal distance continuum
c c T elep ho ne E -m ail Fax Radio N ovel
+ VC - Visual - Visual - Visual
- Visual - Visual
+ Aural + Aural - Aural - Aural O n e-W ay -Aural
+ IF + IF + RF + RF DF
-F
Abbreviation Note:
CC= Casual Conversation F= Feedback
VC= Visual Contact IF= Immediate Feedback
RF= Rapid Feedback DF= Delayyed Feedback
b. Experiental distance.
This continuum ranges situations accoding to the distance between
languge and the social process occuring. At one pole of this
continuum, we can put situations such as playing a game (of cards,
monopoly, etc), where language language is being used to accompany
the activity interactants are involved in. In these situations, the role of
language is as action or is just one of the means being used to achieve
on-going action. In the other hand, writing of a piecce of fiction,
where language is all that there is. There is no other social process
going on: language is in fact creating, and therefore constituting, the
social process. In these situations, language is being used to reflect on
reflection. To make it easier to understand, Eggins (1994:54) presented
e.g bridge e.g. calling a match e.g. report in the
newspaper e.g. (non-)fiction
Another aspect that needs to be considered in the study o f mode is
spoken and written language situation. The situation in spoken language is
typically interactive situations, whereas a written language situation is not.
Eggins (1994:55) summarized the differences between spoken and written
situation as the following:
In the same plate as. tine same time On his/her own
+ Language as action Not language as action
Using language to accomplish some task Using language to reflect
+ spontaneous Not spontaneous
Without rehearsing what is going to be said Planning, drafting and rewriting
+ Casual Not casual
CHAPTER III
BIOGRAPHY AND SHORT STORY
A. Biography of Paul Reiser
Paul Reiser is an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and
screenwriter. Paul Reiser was bom in New York City on March 30, 1957. He
is the son of Helen, a homemaker, and Sam Reiser, a wholesale health food
distributor. Paul Reiser attended the East Side Hebrew Institute on the Lower
East Side of Manhattan and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New
York City. He earned his bachelor's degree at Binghamton University, where
he majored in music (piano, composition). He was active in campus theater
productions and founded "The Little Theater That Could", an on-campus
community theater organization located in Hinman College, Paul Reiser's
dorm community. It was later renamed Hinman Production Company. Paul
Reiser eventually found his calling when he performed in New York City
comedy clubs during university summer breaks.
After honing his skills as a stand-up comic in New York City, Paul
Reiser's break-out film role came in 1982 when he appeared in Diner, a
coming-of-age film by Barry Levinson. Reiser's character, Modell, a closet
stand-up comedian, effectively brought Paul Reiser's comic abilities to the
attention of Hollywood. The film also helped boost the careers o f his co-stars
Kevin Bacon, Steve Guttenberg, and Mickey Rourke. He followed this
success playing a detective in 1984's Beverly Hills Cop, a role he reprised in
the 1987 sequel, Beverly Hills Cop 11. Reiser also had roles in James
Cameron's 1986 movie Aliens, in The M arrying Man (1991), and in the
comedy Bye Bye , Love (1995).
Paul Reiser married with Paula Ravets on August 28, 1988. They have
two sons, Ezra Samuel Reiser and Leon. Their first son, Ezra was bom in
1995 while Leon was born on 2000.
Paul Reiser starred for two years on television as one of two possible
fathers of a teenage girl in the sitcom M y Two Dads, and later rose to fame in
North America as Paul Buchman on M ad About You, a long-running comedy
series he helped create in which Helen Hunt co-starred as his wife. For his
work in Mad About You, Reiser received nominations for an Emmy, a Golden
Globe, an American Comedy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild award. In the
successful show's final 1999 season, he and Hunt were paid US $1 million
($1.3 million in current dollar terms) per episode. In 2001, Paul Reiser took on
a dramatic role as a man desperate to find his birth mother after learning he
has a serious illness in the British television movie M y Beautiful Son.
Paul Reiser has also written two books: Couplehood, about the ups and
downs of being in a committed relationship, and Babyhood, about his
experiences as a first-time father. Couplehood was unique in the fact it started
on page 145. Paul Reiser explained this as his way of giving the reader a false
sense of accomplishment. Both books appeared on The New York Times
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D avid Letterman in the middie o f writing his second book. Since he didn't
have a title yet (it would later be called Babyhood), he showed a prop book
with the same cover as his first book Couplehood. The title was simply called
Book. In 2002, Paul Reiser made a guest appearance as himself on Larry
David's critically-acclaimed HBO sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Reiser
placed number 77 on Comedy Central’s list o f the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of
All Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Reiser).
B. Paul Reiser’s Works
As a stand-up comedian, actor, author and screen-writer, Paul Reiser has
created so many works that deal with the entertainment. They are listed below
(http://www.imdb.com/narne/nmOOO 1663/bio):
1. A sa comedian and actor Paul Reiser has played in the following lists.
a. The Thing About My Folks (2005) as Ben Kleinman.
b. Women vs. Men (2002) (TV) as Bruce.
c. Purpose (2002) as Ben Fisher.
d. My Beautiful Son (2001) as Dr. Jerry Lipman.
e. One Night at M cCool’s (2001) as Carl Harding.
f. The Story o f Us (1999) as Dave, B en's Literary Agent.
g. M ad About You {161 episodes, 1992-1999) as Paul Buchman.
h. Pros & Cons (1999) as Prison man.
i. Bye Bye Love (1995) as Donny.
l. Family Prayers (1993) as Dan Linder.
m. The Marrying Man (1991) as Phil Golden.
n. My Two Dads (60 episodes, 1987-1990) as Michael Taylor.
o. Crazy People (1990) as Stephen Bachman.
p. Cross My Heart (1987) as Bruce Gaynor.
q. Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) as Det. Jeffrey Friedman.
r. You Ruined My Life (1987) as Dexter Bunche.
s. Aliens (1986) as Carter Burke.
t. Odd Jobs (1986) as Max.
u. From Here to Maternity (1985) as Marco.
v. Beverly Hills Cop (1984) as Jeffrey.
w. Sunset Limousine (1983) as Jay Neilson.
x. Diner (1983) as Modell.
y. Remington Steele (1 episode, 1983) as Ivan Turbell.
2. A s an author Paul Reiser has created.
a. Couplehood.
b. Babyhood.
3. A s a screen-writer Paul Reiser has written the following scripts,
a. Atlanta (2007).
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c. U ntitled Paul R eiser Project (2006).
d. The Thing About My Folks (2005).
e. Popeye 's Voyage: The Quest fo r Pappy (2004).
f. Loco por ti (2004).
g. Untitled New York Pilot (2003).
h. M ad About You (161 episodes, 1992-1999).
i. 3 1/2 Blocks from Home (1992).
j . Paul Reiser Out on a Whim (1987).
C. Short Story
Couplehood is started with the author warnings to warn the reader that
the book is started on page 145. It is not a mistake, but it was intentional. By
this way, a reader can read the book for two minutes, and if anybody asks him
how far along, he can said that he was on page 152. As a result, the reader will
feel like he is accomplishing something, and the writer get credit for writing a
bigger book.
In general, Couplehood is a book about couples, their lives, the
nuances of living under the same roof and accommodating one another, and
interacts with the outside world. Even though it is not in the mushy romance
way, it is a great reading, especially for couples. It is divided into some parts
that tell about different story or situation. They are The Final Frontier;
Waking Up Is Hard to Do; Let ’s Do Something; I Just Need Two Minutes; The
Me, 1 Just Live Here; Chicken or Fish; How Are You?; Tonight We ’ll See a
Movie, Tomorrow W e’ll Kiss; The “Turn Around and Look";
Bing-Bang-Boom; Pain, Humiliation and the Great Outdoors; Wish You Were Here;
Dear Japan, Stop!!!; Is This K id Beautiful, or What?; I ’ll See You in My
Dreams.
The Final Frontier. From the minute we are bom, boys and girls stare
at each other, trying to figure out if they like what they see. Like parade lines,
passing each other for mutual inspection. You march, you look. If you are
interested, you stop and talk, and if it does not work out, you just get back in
the parade. You keep marching, and you keep looking. That is the process that
is passed by common people, including the writer to find out a partner for
long-term relationship. When someone has found a partner in his/her life,
he/she should commit to keep that relationship whatever the situation or
condition of his/her partner.
Waking Up Is H ard to Do. We all have things to do. A big thing, little
things does not matter. They are things, and they are yours to do. So, that is
why waking up in the morning is hard to do.
So I’m lying there, awake no more than two minutes, already running down my list o f Things To Do. My Bride is up now, too.
She says, “What are you thinking about?” “You don’t want to know”
She persists. “Tell me” “What?” ...
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L e t’s Do Something. GeneraHy, weekend is a good time for a couple.
It can be used to share and spend the time together. But, there are some
couples that prefer spend the weekend by doing nothing. They just want to
relax. As a result, bad things can happen.
Even if you are both lounging around, enjoying doing nothing, in a anything. When did this happen? When did we become this dull?” And my answer is, “I’ll tell you when-somewhere in the middle o f that article you’re reading. Because o f a while there, we were doing fine; half-way through the magazine section, we were still happy. But, because your article goes bad, it means we’re failing as a couple? We are individually and jointly dull?”
She says, simply, “We really have to do something.” (1995:174).
1 Just Need Two Minutes. Getting out o f the house for a couple is
generally harder than doing what you plan to do once you actually get out of
the house. There are thousands false starts, such as getting dressed. Getting
dressed is a fascinating little world once you are married, especially for men.
It is caused by the inability o f men to choose clothing by himself after
married.
The Selfish Monster. The great thing about being selfish and self-
centered is you can do it anywhere, with anybody. It is not restricted to those
you love, for instance, when you are driving. Driving with your loved one can
strain the relationship, because, though you are doing it together, only one
person’s in charge. The passenger is your prisoner. The person in charge or
Furthermore, sometimes i f you are stuck in traffic with the some people, mile
after mile, they genuinely become your neighbors. These are the people you
turn to solace. You complain to each other. First, you make eye contact, then,
little sympathetic sighs and dismissive disgust.
Negotiating in Good Faith. When two people live together, there is no
more Business o f Your Own. Your Own Business is closed. You have merged
and gone public. You have to run everything by the partners. And if there are
too many conflicts of interest, the business may go under, fleeing the partners
to once again open up smaller concerns by themselves. Like all business,
couples engage in endless meeting to discuss of management concern and
division of labor.
Alone Together. Theoretically, marriage is all about two becoming as
one. But in the real world, you are not one. You are two. And there is only so
much two people can blend. And if you are with another person all the time,
every repugnant component of your life must, by definition, happen in front of
the other person. There is nowhere to hide. So you learn to accept each other.
Your best behavior is now and forever reserved for outside the house, and
once you are inside, you are free to be the repellent as you really are. There is
a tacit understanding. “I know all about you, you know all about me, and it
will all be our secret.”
Don ’t Look at Me, I Just Live Here. When you decide to share a home
with another person, a lot of thought goes into finding the specific home you
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the kitchen, the bathroom, or the bedroom. There are only three things to do in
life, and that is where we do them. In addition, there is part of that delicate
balance between men and women that allows us to be together. In fact, the
whole reason men and women get together in the first place is because we
each can do certain things, and if you get together, everything gets done.
Whatever comes up, somebody’s good at that.
ilow Are You? If you arc with someone that you love, food becomes
politics. It is caused by the differences o f eating rules for each of you. But,
you don’t know what they are until you have broken them. So, you have to
make up rules as you go along.
We are out for dinner, the food comes, and I jump in. I grab the pepper thing and put some pepper on the food. I start eating. And I notice I’m getting the look. I have done something wrong. I look up. “What?” She skips the specific and goes straight to the general. Very sweetly: “Let
“Okay, I understand that, but just to clarify about the pepper-you don’t want any.”
“No, thanks.”
“You are not interested in pepper.” “Not this time.” (1995:230).
Tonight We ’ll See a Movie, Tomorrow We ’ll Kiss. A lot o f things are
that much simpler when you are a couple. Like ordering food, couples develop
their own strategies. For example, a couple can order different food, such as
chicken and salmon. If one of them is stinks, the couple can share another
easier too. Couples are good at this because you can split up the
responsibilities. For example, one of the couple park the car, then the other
one get out and buy the tickets. There is also other benefit to having a
permanent partner (married). If there is invitation from someone, then you
don’t really want to go, you always have someone you else to blame.
The “Turn Around and Look”. Certain realities of marriage don’t kick
in right away. It is a mourning process you must go through together. Because
no matter how much in love two people are, you never lose sight of the fact
that there are other people out there, too. And several of them are attractive.
You cannot help but notice this. And this nothing to do with Not Committing
couple. It’s easy to commit. The hard part is ruling out other commitments.
Because we are foolishly searching for something even more perfect. Like
when you are in a store, and you are ready to buy something, but you still ask
the guy (shop keeper) if there is anything “in the back.”
Pain, Humiliation and the Great Outdoors. One of the reasons people
get married is suntan lotion; you are going to need help. There are parts of
your back that you simply cannot get to by yourself, and quite frankly, no one
is going to do it for you who is not married to you.
Wish You Were Here. When you first leam that one of you (couple)
has to go away, you are actually both looking forward to it, but neither o f you
wants to admit it. So you both pretend you are going to be miserable. But
sometimes you get homesick because where you went is not all it was cracked
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Dear Japan; Stop!!!. Stores are branching out into areas where they
have no business doing business. They each bring a couple o f changes, and
they try them on for each other, hoping to gain the approval of this very rigid
group. They slip into something-“what do you think? No? Okay, I will try on
something else.” And then someone else takes the floor. Many o f them are
quite distraught and end up standing on the porch alone.
Is This K id Beautiful, or What? For people who have babies, it is not
enough that they have babies; they want other couple to have a baby. They
just want the company. In case they do not enjoy it, they won’t the only ones
who made a huge blunder with their lives. This way, they can drag other
couple down with them. So, a commitment of a couple to have a baby should
be considered deeply, because with the coming of new family or baby, it will
change the situation and condition in many ways.
I ’ll See You in My Dreams. Every night, by the time couples climb
into bed, the day has generally taken such a bite out of couples that the
chances o f feeling loving and affectionate can be pretty remote. To combat
this, there is a rule: ‘No discussing Thing We Have to Do or Unpleasant
Business once couples get into bed. Unless it is really important or couple
meant to say it before and did not get a chance. If it works successfully, there
is less pressure to make any given night magical. Couples always know that
they have another shot tomorrow and the next night. That is the whole beauty
RESEARCH FINDING AND DATA ANALYSIS
In this ch a p ter, the writer is going to present the context o f situation
features found in the book. They are field, tenor and mode. Context of situation is
the set of meanings, the configurations of semantic patterns, which are typically
drawn upon under the specific conditions, along with the words and structures that
are used in the realization of these meanings.
A. Field
Field is concerned with the subject matter of the book. It covers
specification both of the general topic area and the detailed content of the
book. Couplehood is a book that concerns about the ups and downs of being in
a committed relationship. It informs the reader about the daily life that
happens in a committed relationship, from the simpler to complex. In the
following text is a simple part that shows it.
First order of business for every couple is negotiating Shower Rights. “You want to go first?”
“No, you go. I am sleeping.”
“Okay, but don’t get upset if I use all the hot water.” “Don’t”
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have to sit on the aisle, how you really never listen, how whiny you get when you travel, how you’re not gracious to her friends when they call, how certain game shows make you really really happy, how cranky you get because you’re too stupid to remember to eat, how you manage to get confrontational only when it’s with the absolute wrong person to be yelling at, how you don’t like the way you look in any picture you’ve taken since 1974, how you’re unable to get off the phone when you’re running late because you don’t have ability to say, “This isn’t a good time; can I call you back?” How you have to lick certain fruits before
actually eating them, how you have no ability to save receipts-all these things, and they still want to sign on. They still like you (1995:151).
The texts above show that the book is about a committed relationship
where each partner can accept the condition or personality o f their partner.
Although all of those behaviors are known after some periods, the partner still
love, care and want their couple.
Moreover, the way Paul Reiser presents the book used special way,
which is mixed between written and spoken language to make it more
interesting. The language used in the texts of the book generally is everyday
language. It means that the language is more familiar for the reader and
consists of everyday words. If there are acronyms or technical words, there are
always definitions after it, to make it understandable by the reader. For
example, there is a text that explains about the definition o f Individual Free
style Sleep.
Many people opt to minimize their Limb Placement decisions by sleeping on their own side o f the Team Bed, an approach known as “Individual Free-Style Sleep.” But even here there are choices to be made (1995:207).
In this book, Paul Reiser also uses standard syntax and everyday terms.
B. Tenor
Tenor is the social role relationships played by interactants. Tenor
of Couplehood book is between the writer/Paul Reiser and the reader. The
writer represents himself, as someone who had married and had lived with
committed relationship for years, while the reader represent all people who
read the book. The reader here can be married people, bachelor/unmarried,
and so on.
In order to know deeper how the relationship between the writer
and the readers, tenor of the book can be classified into three different
aspects. They are power, contact and affective involvement. The
explanation of them is in the following:
1. Power.
The power o f Couplehood book is equal power. It means that the
writer and the reader have the same power to influence each other. It
can be known from the texts in the book, such as in the following
texts:
I don’t know when it happened, but it did. I don’t have it anymore. I used to get dressed by myself all the time. I would put on a shirt and pants and go out. In public. And it was not a problem. Nobody was laughing; there was no chuckling behind my back. The fashion police were not knocking down my door. I was fine (1995:181).
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From the texts above, it can be seen clearly that the interactants
are not between boss and employee. The interactans may be between
friend and friend, or someone who have known each other well. It can
be seen from the sentence “ You see...” that shows informal situation
used by interactants. In addition, kind of topics discussed above are
also impossible discussed between boss and employee. In other words,
the power continuum used in Couplehood book generally is equal
power (there is no different power among them).
2. Contact.
The contact continuum o f Couplehood book is infrequent,
because the writer and the reader contact each other rarely or even
never. It is caused by the intention of the production o f the book. The
book is produced for sale. Automatically, the writer is impossible to
know all of his book readers. Moreover, the readers may come from
different city and country that the writer never knows.
3. Affective involvement.
The affective involvement o f Couplehood book is high. It means
that the writer and the readers are emotionally involved or committed
in a situation (in the text). This can be seen clearly from the texts of the
book, such as the following texts:
group. “Great, now we gotta, look like this guy . . . ” And the next morning we’d all be back running, lifting, and sweating against our will (1995:163-164).
Now, certain body measurements never change. Height and shoe size, for example. These are areas that, when we were kids, kept growing along with everything else and then just stopped. No warning. No fanfare; they just hit a number and stayed there (1995:165).
The writer used pronoun “we” as the subject in the texts above to
show that the situation in the book is not only happened to the writer,
but also to the readers. It means that the readers are the part of the
story of the book and they have same condition just like the writer. As
a result, the readers will involve their emotion whenever they are
reading the book; because the story of the book is represent their daily
life.
C. Mode
Mode is the role language that is playing in a situation. Mode of
Couplehood book is written language to be read. It means that the book is
produced to be a reading material. Mode o f Couplehood book can be
described through two different types o f distance in the relation between
language and situation. They are spatial/interpersonal distance and
experiential distance.
1. Interpersonal distance.
This continuum ranges situations according to the possibilities
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Interpersonal distance o f the book is visual and feedback. The book
has visual interpersonal distance means that the book can be seen by
the readers because it is in written form; while feedback means that the
readers can give feedback after they read the book although the writer
and the readers does not meet each other.
2. Experiential distance.
This continuum ranges situations according to the distance
between language and the social process occuring. This continuum can
be differ into two different poles; language as action and language as
reflection. Language as action means that language is used to
accompany the activity where the interactants are involved in, while
language as reflection means that language is used to reflect or
constitute social process that happened.
The texts of Couplehood book is generally use language as
reflection. In other words, the writer use language to reflects or
constitute his experiences in order to have the readers attention. In
addition, there are also some messages or values that is sent by the
writer. They are in the following:
a. Endeavor or Ikhtiyar.
From the text above, it can be summarized that every
people has uniqueness that make them interesting. This
uniqueness is not only physically but also mentally. So that’s
why all people in this world have different behavior and
personality, which make them unfit/doesn’t match in some
aspects; such as committed in long term relationship. We all
know that all people never know with whom they will marry
with. As a result, people have to search for their
couple/soul/partner in this life. It is in line with Islamic taught
that taught Muslim to try in order to find the best person they
will marry with.
Do not marry idolatresses until they believe: a believing slave woman is certainly better than idolatresses, even
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though she may please you. And do not give your women in marriage to idolaters until they believe: A believing slave is certainly better than idolater, even though he may please you. Such people call (you) to the Fire, while God calls (you) to the Garden and forgiveness by His leave. He makes His messages clear to people, so they may bear them in mind (Haleem, 2008:25).
So, it is clear that Muslim should look for the appropriate
partner if she/he will marry. Prophet Muhammad (peace be woman because, of her faith, if you do not, you will regret (Hassan, 2002:432).
b. Togetherness and cooperative.
When two people live together, there is no more Business of Your Own. Your Own Business is closed. You have regular people. They become teams. Little tag-team story telling teams. She starts, you finish, you start, she finishes. You correct each other, interrupt each other, and no one knows exactly who they should be listening to (1995:242).
From the text above, it can be concluded that unity or
supports the existence o f the relationship. If there is different
vision in the relationship, it may rise up so many problems that
can strain the relationship. In addition, certain household
responsibilities also have to be managing well. The values
above is appropriate with Quranic taught in Surah An-Nisa’
verses 34,
) , ^ , 4 ^ ' f , . / ' f - , , ,
Husbands should take good care o f their wives, with (the bounties) God has given to some more than others with what they spend out o f their own money. Righteous wives are devout and guard what God would have them guard in their husbands’ absence (Haleem, 2008:54).
c. Unity.
Theoretically, marriage is all about two becoming as one. But in the real world, you are not one. You are two. And there is only so much two people can blend (1995:207).
Again, this is part of that delicate balance between Men and Women that allows us to be together. In fact, I think the whole reason men and women get together in the first place is because we each can do certain things, and if you get together, everything gets done. Whatever comes up, somebody’s good at that (1995:221).
When two people commit to marry, they have to accept
their partner and complete each other. If there is one o f them
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and vice versa. So, unity in a Jong term relationship is very
crucial and important, by which the relationship will have more
power to face the problems,
d. Temptation resistance.
Because no matter how much in love two people are, you never lose sight o f the fact that there are other people out there, too. And several o f them are attractive. You can’t
intimate relationship is jealousy, the negative reaction to a
prtner’s real or imagined attraction toward somenone else. It
happened because there is no perfect spouse in the world.
There is always temptation that come in spouse, such as the
arrival more attractive other people. When the temptations or
problems can be resolved constructively, the marriage is likely
to endure. When the problems are made worse by destructive
interactions, the marriage is likely to fail.
e. Affection.
From the text above, it can be seen clearly that in a
family, there is so many love between family members. For
example, father generally gives more priority to the others than
himself. In addition, father also maintains family daily needs
and takes care of them. Mother also does something great as
father; serve the whole family with all of her love. Those are
also taught in Al-Quran Surah Al-Baqarah verses 228 and
Wives have (rights) similar to their (obligations), according to what is recognized to be fair, and husbands have a degree over them: (both should remember that) God is Almighty and Wise (Ylaleem, 2008:26).
Hi, the Messenger of God: What are our responsibilities toward our wife? He answered: you give her food if you eat, give her dress if you wear dress, you do not hit, mock and stay away from her, except you are in home (Hassan, 2002:45).
Hadist:
