REGISTER OF AUCTIONEER'S TALK IN STORAGE WARS, AMERICAN REALITY SHOW PROGRAM
A THESIS
By
PIPIT ERTIKA DARISTIN 121311223017
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA
REGISTER OF AUCTIONEER'S TALK IN STORAGE WARS, AMERICAN REALITY SHOW PROGRAM
A THESIS
Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarjana Degree of English Department FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
Universitas Airlangga Surabaya
By:
Pipit Ertika Daristin St. N: 121311223017
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA
DECLARATION
This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. And to the best of this candidate‟s knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by other person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis.
Surabaya, 18th June 2015
Dedication Page
I dedicate this thesis to Allah SWT Al-Latiif,
Rosululloh SAW,
my wonderful mother and father and all
beloved family
“Say Alhamdulillah
Thesis Advisor Approval Page
Approved to be examined Surabaya, 18th June 2015
Thesis Advisor
Erlita Rusnaningtias, M. A. NIP 197709242005012001
Head of English Department
Dra. Lilla Musyahda, M.Pd. NIP 196612102007012001
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA
Thesis Examiners Approval Page
This thesis has been approved and accepted by the Board of Examiners English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Airlangga University on 07 July 2015.
The Board of Examiners are:
Noerhayati Ika Putri, S.S., M.A. NIP. 1978107162005012002
Erlita Rusnaningtias, M. A. NIP. 197709242005012001
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillahirobbil‟alamiin, this thesis is finally done. First and foremost, I would like to pay my greatest praise to Allah SubhanahuwaTa‟ala, the One and Only God. Robbi, you are never far away, always guide my way. You enlighten my spirit up when I am down especially in the hardest time of my life, always hear my prayer, and provide greatest people to be around me. Praise is also paid to Rosululloh SAW, the Messanger, and the Ustwatunhasanah.
Finishing this thesis is an exhausting yet interesting experience for me. I would like to pay my gratitude to my thesis advisor, Erlita Rusnaningtias, M. A., for all the patience and guidance my study during finishing this challenging research. The gratitude is also paid to my academic advisor, Lilla Musyahda, M. Pd. for the guidance during my study in English Department and to all English Department lecturers for all great knowledge.
I have a great time during my study at the English Department, especially because of the support from my friends. I thank so much to Amelia Purwandini who becomes my best partner ever for five years studying in Airlangga University, Ibrahim Bahalwan, Sandra, Andika Budi, Nila Wahyu and Danang Prasetya, who always supports me in every condition, and to all English Department students especially students of 2013, Alih Jenis of Sasing. Thank you for being great partners during my study. Hopefully, someday we can meet again in a condition of success person. The gratitude is also paid to everyone, who cannot be listed one by one here for the inspiration to be better and better.
Hope the God Almightly shares the Love for you all. Amiin.
Epigraph
“Don’t Despair and NEVER lose hope.
„Cos All
ah is ALWAYS by your side.
Insya Alla
h you’ll find your way”
TABLE OF CONTENT
Insert Cover Page ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Insert Title Page ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Declaration Page ... iii
I.2 Statements of the Problem ... 7
I.3 Objectives of the Study ... 7
I.4 Significance of the Study ... 7
1.5 Scope and Limitation ... 8
2.1.5.1 Vocabulary ... 16
2.1.5.2 Syntactic Pattern... 18
2.1.5.2.1 Syntactic Reduction ... 18
2.1.5.2.1. A Null Subject ... 19
2.1.5.2. 1. B Null auxiliaries ... 20
2.1.5.2. 1. C Null T in finite and infinite clauses ... 21
2.1.5.2. 1. D Null C infinitive and finite clauses ... 22
2.1.5.2. 1. E Null quantifiers and determiners ... 23
2.1.5.2. 1. F Defective clause ... 24
2.1.5.2.2 Syntactic Inversion ... 25
2.1.5.3 Intonation ... 25
2.1.5.3.1 The three Ts : a Quick Overview of English Intonation (Wells, 2006) ... 26
2.1.5.3.2 Type of Intonation (Wells, 2006) ... 27
a. Falling Intonation ... 27
3.4 Techniques of Data Collection ... 36
3.5 Techniques of Data Analysis ... 37
CHAPTER IV ... 39
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 39
4.1. Findings ... 39
4.1.1 The Linguistic Features of the Register of Auctioneer ... 39
4.1.1.1 The Vocabulary ... 40
4.1.1.1. A The Range of the Vocabulary ... 40
4.1.1.2 The Syntax ... 50
4.1.1.2. A The Syntactic Patterns ... 50
4.1.1.2. A.1 Syntactic Reduction ... 51
a. Reduction of Subject and Verb ... 51
b. Reduction of Verb ... 55
c. Reduction of Auxiliaries and auxiliaries be- ... 57
4.1.1.2. A.2 Syntactic Inversion... 61
4.1.1.2. B The Use of The Syntax Patterns By Auctioneer ... 63
A. Syntactical Reduction of Subject and Verb ... 64
B. Syntactic Reduction of Verb ... 66
C. Syntactic Reduction of Auxiliaries and Auxiliaries be- ... 68
D. Syntactic Inversion ... 69
4.1.1.1.3 Intonation ... 72
4.1.1.3. A. Intonation Patterns ... 72
4.1.1.3. A.1 Rising Intonation ... 72
4.1.1.3. A.2 Falling Intonation ... 75
4.1.1.3. B The Use of Intonation Patterns by the Auctioneer ... 78
4.2 Discussion ... 80
CHAPTER V ... 84
CONCLUSION ... 84
REFERENCES ... 86
APPENDIX A ... 88
List of Figure
Figure1. Three Diagrams for Null Subject ... 20
Figure 2. Tree Diagram of Null Auxiliary ... 20
Figure 3. Tree Diagram of Cliticisation ... 21
Figure 4. Null T in finite Clause ... 22
Figure 5. Null T in Infinite Clause ... 22
Figure 6. Tree Diagram for Null C infinite Clause ... 23
Figure 7. Tree Diagram of Null C finite Clause... 23
Figure 8. Tree Diagram Null of Determiner ... 24
Figure 9. Tree Diagram of Null Quantifiers... 24
Figure 10. Three Ts ... 27
Figure 11. Falling Intonation ... 28
Figure 12. Falling Intonation ... 28
Figure 13. Rising Intonation ... 29
Figure 14. Interpretation of Sound Wave ... 29
Figure 15. Reduction of Subject and Verb ... 53
Figure 16. Reduction of Subject and Verb ... 54
Figure 17. Reduction of Verb... 56
Figure 18. Reduction of Verb... 56
Figure 19. Tree Diagram of Null Auxiliary ... 58
Figure 20. Null Auxiliary ... 59
Figure 21. Null of Auxiliary be- ... 60
Figure 22. Syntactic Inversion ... 62
Figure 23. Rising intonation (pointing storage sold) ... 73
Figure 24. Rising intonation (inviting audiences to the auction) ... 74
Figure 25 : Raising intonation (pointing price changing) ... 75
Figure 26. Falling intonation (explanation the detail of price offered) ... 76
List of Table
Table 1, Register of the auctioneer's talk in Storage Wars ... 41
Table 2, Vocabulary of Auction ... 46
Table 3, Reduction of Subject and Verb ... 52
Table 4, Reduction of Verb ... 55
Table 5, Reduction of Auxiliaries ... 58
Table 6, Syntactic Inversion ... 61
Abstract
Auctioneers in auction activities tend to speak very fast in order to suit the description of certain moments which occur. They have their “own” vocabulary, grammatical and intonation patterns. The language of auctioneers‟ talk shares the idea that the linguistic features of a register, such as vocabulary, syntax, and intonation are dependent to context or social factors. This study concerns with the phenomenon of distinctive language style used by an auctioneer and it aims to describe the vocabulary, syntactic and intonation patterns used by the auctioneer of Storage Wars, an auction reality show broadcasted on History Channel. In analyzing the data, Holmes‟ theory who argued that social factors such as participants, social setting, topic, and function have involved in the language variation is applied. Radford‟s theory on syntax and Wells‟ theory on intonation are also used in analyzing the data. The transcription and soft file sounds of the utterances become the data which are analyzed in a deep description which leads to the use of qualitative method. From the data analysis, it is found that the vocabulary uttered by the auctioneer has a restricted range and is quite clearly distinguishable from the language used in other contexts. Meanwhile, mostly the auctioneer produces syntactic reduction involving null subject and verb, null verb and null auxiliary in his utterances. Syntactic inversion is also found in the data analysis. In addition, the intonation patterns that occur are mostly in the forms of falling intonation. In brief, the auctioneer suits the rapid changing moments which have to be informed to the listeners by using particular vocabulary, and particular syntactic and intonation patterns. Here, the context has an important role to define what exactly happens in ongoing moment of the auction activities.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
I. Background of the Study
People use different styles of language when they communicate. Holmes (2008) divides styles into contextual and occupational styles. Contextual style is a language variation which is influenced by some factors, such as the age of the addressee and the social background of the addressee. Meanwhile, occupational style is a language variation which is used by a particular occupational group. This occupational style is usually referred to as register (Holmes, 2008). Furthermore, some linguists describe this kind of language variation as „register‟ variation while others use the term register more narrowly to describe the specific vocabulary associated with different occupational groups like jargon. According to this idea, the style of language used by certain group of people will be different from one group to another.
language of auctioneers, police, sport commentator, military, pilot, politician, journalist, trade, financiers and criminals seems to be different to one another. It can be concluded that register is a variety of language used today, depending on what is done and the nature of their role.
Register is also characterized by a very restricted range of syntactic variation and lexical item. The specific features of formulas are not arbitrary, but motivated by the demands of the context, such as participants, setting, topic, and function (Holmes, 2008, p. 09). The specialized register of occupational groups develops more and more characteristics, whether lexical, syntactic and even phonological, which will distinguish their communications from those of other groups and this causes difficulties for outsiders to penetrate it (Holmes, 2008, p. 264). Therefore, according to this idea, register is simply a rather special case of a particular kind of language being produced by the social situation.
The concept of linguistic register is made clear by Wardhaugh (2002, p. 48) who stated that “register is a set of vocabulary items associated with discrete occupational or social group”. Register is usually characterized entirely by vocabulary differences: either by the use of particular words, or by the use of words in particular sense. It also includes a preference for particular syntactic pattern or rhetorical devices. It is implied from the theory that the main features of register are vocabulary and syntactic ordering in sentences.
through collection efforts of prospective buyers or enthusiasts as human being is never separated from economic measures in order to fulfill their daily needs (Nugroho, 2013).
Auction has developed rapidly from year to year. It can be seen from the process of auction which does not only occur in traditional way, but also happens in a television program. One of auction activities showed in one of the television programs in New York is named Storage Wars. Storage Wars is an American reality television series on the A&E Network that premiered on December 2010. This program has successfully become one of the favorite International programs. It was announced at the 2012 IMDb on Thursday, July 25 at the Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay (IMDb, 2012).
Storage Wars is an auction television program which broadcasts almost every Saturday at 7 pm and 1 pm on History Channel. Storage Wars reality show program provides the activity of auction which is conducted by one auctioneer. This program is held in cities in America such as Canada, New York and Texas in American continent. Storage Wars is a special kind of treasure hunt, where, if you're lucky, bidding can make you rich” (Home of History Channel, 2014)
not diminish the meaning of the information delivered. As it is known, all the talks are unplanned and sometimes sound lack of coherence. However, the listeners still understand what the auctioneer means. There are also particular intonation patterns in delivering message of the information done by the auctioneer to show what exactly happened. The use of intonation in auctioneer‟s description in this case focuses more on building up the emotion of the bidders who win the auction in certain moments instead of distinguishing certain words from the others. Attracted by the phenomenon of auctioneer in delivering information, the writer is interested to analyze the use of register by the auctioneer of Storage Wars television reality program.
Intense and continuous communication between the auctioneer and the bidders becomes very important since they are supposed to take immediate actions. The auctioneer is expected to make the communication as effective, brief and efficient as possible. In this case, the auctioneer uses specific unique terms which have been done regularly in bidding staffs in auction. In the rapid speech of the auctioneer, the auctioneer always speaks incomplete price. Two digit numbers of price mentioned frequently by the auctioneer to explain about the price which is still in the auction process. In this case, the auctioneer uses particular language variations in order to make communication effective and efficient among the members of the auction group.
such as one found in the sentence “[Those cars were] sold!” It can be seen that there are omissions of pronoun and verb be. Another example which also occurs in auction is “[Does] anybody want to buy it?” It can be seen that the auxiliary verb “does” is omitted from the statement but it does not change the meaning itself. It also depends on the intonation which is uttered by the auctioneer at that time to show a clearer context of the information. In this case, it can be seen that syntactic reductions do not only occur in football commentaries but also in auction.
Intonation produced by the auctioneer also becomes a supporting factor in delivering a clearer context of the information to the audience. Intonation is known as melody of speech or variation in pitch (Wells, 2006). According to Wells (2006, p. 1), intonation refers to the way of voice of falling and rising in different ways among the speakers to deliver the “pragmatic and linguistic meaning” of their utterances. Therefore, the distinctive intonation used by the auctioneer is another feature of identified linguistic register.
used for her research is Holmes‟ play-by-play description theory (1992), Radford‟s theory on syntax (2005) and Wells‟ theory on intonation (2006). The last is Nirmalasari (2009). In her study, she analysed more on the register used by Pizza Hut Employee in Mulyosari, particularly emphasized in its lexicogrammar, word choice, and syntactic ordering by combining three dimensions of register (field, mode, and tenor).
The registers that the previous researchers studied all concerned with the language variations in sport and military. Most researchers focused on spoken commentaries such as football commentaries. However, none of them takes a reality show, especially auction, as the object of the study. In addition, none of the previous researchers conducted a study of a television show. Therefore, the writer conducted a study of register used by the auctioneer in a reality television show.
I.2 Statements of the Problem
Based on the background of the study, there are two statements of the problem which are addressed in this study.
1. What are the features of the register used by the auctioneer in Storage Wars Auction?
2. How are the features of the register used by the auctioneer in Storage Wars Auction?
I.3 Objectives of the Study
Based on the statements of the problem, this study is aimed at describing the features of the register used by the auctioneer while communicating with the bidders in Storage Wars Auction and at describing how the features are used by the auctioneer.
I.4 Significance of the Study
1.5 Scope and Limitation
The scope of the study is the features of the register used by the auctioneer of Storage Wars, a reality television program. This study analyzes the register used by the auctioneer in serving the bidders when dealing with the price of staff directly. The linguistic features which are analyzed are limited to the vocabulary, syntactic, and intonation variations. Because the area of this study is sociolinguistics, the writer focuses more on the features and the use of the features based on social context.
1.6. Definition of Key Terms
Register: a language variation which concerns with the style used by particular social and occupational groups in particular situation (Holmes, 2008)
Auctioneer: a person who runs an auction (http://www.meriam-webster.com/dictionary/auctioneer)
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Related Theories
Research in Sociolinguistics might cover a very wide area since many subjects can be analyzed and discussed in this field. This study focuses on features of the register such as vocabulary, syntactic and intonation variation found in Storage War‟s auctioneer‟s talk. Furthermore, it analyzes the use of the linguistic features based on the social context. This chapter describes some theories used and relevant to the analysis of the data. In addition, this chapter also provides some studies related to this study.
2.1.1 Register
Holmes (2008) also stated that the development of registers initially from the desire of quick, precise and efficient communication between people who share the same skills, experience, and knowledge. It means that the language used is different in every social group. Register is commonly used in typical context and is uttered by some groups who use it in their activities. Therefore, people outside of the group may have difficult to understand their language. Halliday and Hasan (1985) argue that “register is what you are speaking at the time; depending on what you are doing and the nature of the activity in which the language is functioning” (cited in Mesthrie, Swan, Deumert, & Leap, 2001, p. 74). Based on this idea, register reflects another aspect of the social order, that of social processes, the different types of social activity that people commonly unite it. Indeed, the linguistic features of registers are analyzed along with their situational context. Holmes (2008) elaborates that there are social factors involved in the language variation including participants, social setting, topic, and function.
As stated by Holmes (2008), auctioneers‟ talk also contains particular linguistic features which mark the register of this group. The auctioneer‟s talk reflects the use of register as a language variety.
2.1.2 Auction
buyers who want to participate in the auction process also increasingly widespread.
According to Easley & Kleinberg (2010), an auction defines as a kind of economic activity that has been brought into many people‟s everyday lives by the Internet, through sites such as eBay. Meanwhile, Ausubel (2010) says that auction is an activity of selling valuable items. According to NAA (National Auctioneers Associations) (2015), auction began in 500 B.C. In that time, auction was an illegal thing because women were auctioned as wife and also daughters to be sold as auction. After that, auction moved in America in the 1600s and continued during colonization with the sale of crops, imports, clapboard, livestock, tools, tobacco, slaves and even entire farms. Since then, auction began to be very popular, but auction got its depression in 1929. Then, auction was reborned after Second World War. In the 1950 until todays, auction has been upgraded. The auctioneers have started to use technology such as computers, fax machines, cell phones and other technology to make their businesses run faster and more smoothly.
2.1.3 Reality Show
Auction as reality show has been very popular today. It can be seen from one of the television programs which broadcast about auction activities, such as Storage Wars. Storage Wars is an American reality television series that premiered on December 2010 (IMDb, 2012). This program is broadcasted almost every Saturday at 7 pm and 1 pm in History Channel. Storage Wars reality show program provides the activity of auction which is conducted by an auctioneer. This program is held in cities in America such as Canada, New York and Texas in American continent.
2.1.4 Social Factors
According to Holmes (2008), registers develop initially from the desire of quick, efficient and precise communication between people who share the same experience, knowledge, and skill. It means that language is used differently in every social group. Register really depends on the context and is uttered by some groups whose use registers in their activities. So, people outside of the group may be faced difficult things to understand the language. Biber and Conrad (2009) stated that the register combines an analysis of linguistic with analysis of the situation of use of the variety. Indeed, the registers are analyzed along with their situation context. Holmes (2008) declares that the social factors have involved in variety of language are participants, social setting, topic of discussion, and function of interaction.
• Participant
Participant is the users of the language. There are two terms of participants, addressee and addressor include various combinations of speaker-listener or sender-receiver. They generally fill certain social specified roles. Addressee refers to a person to whom the speaker speaks, while addressor is a person who produces an utterance. In auction activities, the addressee is the bidders and the addressor is the auctioneer‟s talk.
• Setting
definition of the occasion. What is meant here is that a setting can be changed, for example, from formal to informal, by the participants. Auctioneer‟s talk are broadcasted on television always share the same setting.
• Function
This factor explains the meaning of the auctioneer to the listeners (the bidders). It describes the purposes (general or specific) and the reason of the communication.
• Topic
Topic contains the main idea of the registers. It refers to the conventionally recognized and expected outcomes of an exchange as well as to the personal goals that participants seek to accomplish on particular occasions. Topic is also an important factor because it is influenced the word choice and vocabulary of an utterances.
2.1.5 The Linguistic Features of Register
Holmes (2008) stated that linguistic features refer to variation which offers the speaker a choice of ways of expression including the different of vocabulary choice, grammatical variation, word structure (morphology) and pronunciation differences (sound). Knowing from these ideas, it can be seen that linguistic features cover vocabulary, morphology, syntax and intonation features.
setting, topic, and function. The specialized register of occupational groups develops more and more characteristics, whether lexical, syntactic and even phonological, which will distinguish their communications from those of other groups and this causes difficulties for outsiders to penetrate it (Holmes, 2008, p. 264). Therefore, according to this idea, register is simply a rather special case of a particular kind of language being produced by the social situation.
The concept of linguistic register is made clear by Wardhaugh (2002, p. 48) who stated that “register is a set of vocabulary items associated with discrete occupational or social group”. Register is usually characterized entirely by vocabulary differences: either by the use of particular words, or by the use of words in particular sense. It also includes a preference for particular syntactic pattern. It is implied from the theory that the main features of register are vocabulary and syntactic ordering in sentences.
Beside vocabulary, oddity in the use of language occurs too in the grammar. Holmes (2008) explained that in the case of sport announcer talk there is a distinctive grammar which focuses on the action. He also elaborates that those distinctive grammar involves features such as syntactic reduction and syntactic inversion of normal word order in sentences. The features which characterize linguistic features of register do not only occur in football commentaries but also in auctioneer‟s talk.
what is going on at that time. This also relates to null constituents or empty categories in syntactic structure as mentioned by Radford (2009). According to Radford (2009), Null constituents are those which have grammatical and semantic features, but lack of audible phonetic features. However, it can be seen from previous example of the Storage War New York Auction that there is also syntactic reduction. In the sentence “[Those cars were] sold!!” it can be found that there are omission of pronoun and verb be. Another example, “[Does] anybody want to buy it?” It can be found that the auxiliary verb “does” is omitted from the sentence but it does not change the meaning itself. In this case, it can be seen that syntactic reduction does not only occur in football commentator, but also in auction.
Other features of distinctive linguistic feature of register are syntactic inversion. Holmes (2008) elaborates that this inversion of normal word order allows speaker to focus on the action and provides him with to identity the subject of the action, which is also an important piece of information for the listeners.
2.1.5.1 Vocabulary
vocabulary which is put in many kinds of dictionary has effect of progressively broadening the scope of what it needs to access. Thus, the readers have to be ready to input that knowledge and understand the language-use-tasks applied in society. Considered that, vocabulary has already involved more than just realizing a lot of lexical items.
2.1.5.2 Syntactic Pattern
According to Radford (2009), syntactic structure relates to how words are combined together to form phrases and sentences. It is also explained that syntactic structure can be represented in a form of tree diagram. There many some abbreviations in three diagrams are used to inform the category of the words:
AUXP = Auxiliary Phrase
C = Complementiser CP = Complementiser Phrases D = Determiner DP = Determiner Phrases
V = Verb VP = Verb Phrase
PRN = Pronoun Q = Quantifier QP = Quantifier Phrase TP= Tense Phrase N = Noun NP= Noun Phrase AP = Adjective Phrase ADV = Adverb.
(Radford, 2009)
2.1.5.2.1 Syntactic Reduction
Regarding syntactic reduction in sentence, it is explained by Radford (2009) states that there are the term null constituent or empty categories in syntactic structure. According to Radford (2009, p. 106), null constituent refers to constituent “which have grammatical and semantic features but lack audible phonetic, as they are given null spellout or omitted”.
To describe syntactic reduction as stated by Holmes (2008), Radford (2009) uses the term of null constituent. Null constituent is a constituent which has semantic (the study of meaning), has grammatical (the study of English grammars) and lack of phonetic features (the study of the sound).
null T in infinitive clauses, null C infinitive clauses, null C in finite clauses, null quantifiers and determiners and defective clause.
2.1.5.2.1. A Null Subject
According to Radford‟s theory, there are three types of null subject which are possible to occur in English, namely imperative null subjects, truncated null subjects and non-finite null subjects (Radford, 2009, p. 17). In English imperative null subjects usually includes the silent counterpart of you in imperative sentence. For example, Don‟t you lose your nerve! From this imperative sentence, the pronoun you can be omitted in the speech. So, the sentence becomes „Don‟t lose your nerve!.
Truncated null subjects in English are undergone by sentences whose one or more beginning words are truncated (or omitted). Radford (2009) explains that the omitted the truncated subjects can be done if the context of the conversation in informal style and also in diary styles of written English. For example, in the sentence „I can‟t go watching movie tonight‟. The word I can be omitted into „Can‟t go watching movie tonight‟. Regarding truncated subjects, a sentence can be shortened by giving a subject pronoun a null spellout if the pronoun is the first word in a sentence and if it is weak.
null subject (in this case is a null pronoun). This nonfinite null subject can be represented in tree diagram as follow:
TP
PRN (we) T‟
T (would) VP
V (like) TP PRN (PRO) T‟
T(to) V (stay) Figure1. Three Diagrams for Null Subject 2.1.5.2. 1. B Null auxiliaries
Radford (2009) states that null constituents include auxiliaries which are omitted. For example it can be seen in the sentence, „He could have helped her, or [she have helped him]‟. First consideration is that both clauses are finite since both contain nominative subject (he/she). „He‟ clause contains could as the finite modal auxiliary whereas „she‟ clause seems to contain no finite auxiliary constituent. This sentence can be considered to have a null spellout or omitted of the auxiliary “could” in the second clause [she have helped him]. In a tree diagram, the sentence can be drawn as follow:
TP
PRN T‟
She T AUXP
Could AUX VP
have V PRN
Helped him
Radford (2009, p. 87) also explains about cliticisation which refers to a process by which one word attaches itself in a leech-like fashion to another. According to Radford, cliticisation refers to an item which is reduced from of another word and has the property that it must attach itself to an appropriate kind of host, which is another phrase or word.
The example of cliticisation can be seen in the sentence as in „you‟ve done your duty‟ in which the auxiliary ‟have‟ is reduced and attached to the subject ‟you‟. The sentence can be observed through the structure below:
Figure 3. Tree Diagram of Cliticisation
2.1.5.2. 1. C Null T in finite and infinite clauses
TP
PRN T‟
He T VP
Af3SgPr V N
enjoys syntax
Figure 4. Null T in finite Clause
Radford (2009) also states that TPs occurs in all finite and infinite clauses. The sentence with to- less infinitival clause such as in the sentence “I have never known [Tom to criticize anyone]” can be considered to be TPs headed by a null T constituent. So, the sentence will be” “I have never known [Tom criticize anyone]‟. In a tree diagram, the sentence can be drawn as follow:
TP
N T‟
Tom T VP
to V PRN
criticize anyone
Figure 5. Null T in Infinite Clause
2.1.5.2. 1. D Null C infinitive and finite clauses
the sentence‟ he wanted [her to apologize]. It can be originated from the sentence‟ „he wanted for her to apologize‟. The word for can be omitted because this sentence has a null spellout of the complementiser.
CP
C TP
for PRN T‟
her
T V
to apologize
Figure 6. Tree Diagram for Null C infinite Clause
Besides, An example of complementiser clause can be seen in this sentence‟ we did not know [he has resigned]‟. The clause in bracket can be considered to have a null complementiser as it can be „that he had resigned‟. In a tree diagram, the sentence which shown the clause with null spellout of the complementiser can be drawn as follow:
CP
C TP
That PRN T‟
he
T V
had resigned
Figure 7. Tree Diagram of Null C finite Clause
2.1.5.2. 1. E Null quantifiers and determiners
chairman are attending the meeting‟. The DP of „Andrew‟ has a null determiner as opposed to „the chairman‟ which has overt determiner ‟the‟. Furthermore, the example of a null quantifier such as‟ eggs and many products cause cholesterol‟. It can be drawn to represent the phrase with null determiner and quantifier.
TP
D N
O Andrew
Figure 8. Tree Diagram Null of Determiner
TP
Q N
O eggs
Figure 9. Tree Diagram of Null Quantifiers
2.1.5.2. 1. F Defective clause
2.1.5.2.2 Syntactic Inversion
Radford (2009) explains that inversion refers to a movement of word(s) into pre-subject position in the phrase. The main focus here is located in the movement of component (s) a sentence contains. Then, sentences which undergo inversion have expressions which are reverse. Radford also shares the sentence which indicates the syntactic inversion. In sentence “Who had he said would do what” reflects the position of subject „he‟ is moved in behind of its auxiliary „had‟‟
2.1.5.3 Intonation
definiteness, a rise may indicate incompleteness, and a fall- rise may indicate implications (Wells, 2006, p. 5).
According to Wells (2006), the use of tone is symbolized by the mark (/) for rising and the mark (\) for falling. The underline is also used to symbolize the tonicity. So, the distinctive intonation contours used by the auctioneer of their work are other features of identified linguistic register.
2.1.5.3.1 The three Ts : a Quick Overview of English Intonation (Wells, 2006) Linguistic intonation systems divided into three types. These linguistic intonation systems are known respectively as tonality, tonicity and tone. Wells refers to them as the three Ts.
The first three Ts is tonality. Tonality or chunking refers to when the speaker may utter the sentence as two, three, pieces of information than as a single piece. There will be an intonation pattern associated with each chunk. These chunks are known as intonation phrases or IPs. For example, the speaker may have fragmentation of sentences as follow | and || are the symbols which show IPs boundaries.
Because I love languages| I‟m studying intonation.|| When I‟ve finished this book, |I‟ll know a lot more about it.
four items; they are tail, onset, head and prehead (not all IPs have them). The following example may give clearer understanding.
Figure 10. Three Ts
In example above, the onset is the syllable –mark- because this syllable is accented. The syllables –markably constitue the head. The prehead is It was re-
The third three Ts is tone. In many cases, the utterance of sentence using different tone may indicate different interpretations.
2.1.5.3.2 Type of Intonation (Wells, 2006)
This study focuses on the use of falling intonation and non-falling intonation as “the most basic distinction among English nuclear tones” (Wells, 2006, p. 15). Type of intonation is divided into two type‟s intonation. They are falling intonation and rising intonation.
a. Falling Intonation
irrelevant in determining the nuclear tone” (Wells, 2006, p. 18). The following example may give clearer understanding.
Figure 11. Falling Intonation
Although a step up is found in pitch as tone reach the beginning of the nucleus fall, the pitch movement on the nucleus of above IP is fall. Then, often, there are syllables after the nucleus which called tail. After a falling nucleus, the tail is always low. The syllables after the nucleus are low pitched.
Figure 12. Falling Intonation
According to Wells (2006), the use of falling intonation leads to several indication. It may also indicates several meanings which refer to definitive fall, such as completeness, confidence, command and definiteness. For example in the sentence “Stop that \noise!” The definitive fall has a subtype called exclamatory fall (falling intonation in exclamation).
b. Rising Intonation
prenuclear pitch (in this case is the step down in pitch) of an IP (Intonation Phrase) should also be disregarded in identifying the tone as arise. It can be seen by concerning the example below:
Figure 13. Rising Intonation
To interpret of sound wave, in this study, Praat software is used to observe the sound wave of the intonation. The interpretation of the sound wave is drawn in a chart with up and down lines which symbolize the pitch movements of the intonation. The drawing of lines in the chart (up and down lines) is considered to be the focused on in this study. According to Wells (2006), the height reflects the energy while the length of the line in sound wave reflects the duration (which can be interpreted as the pitch). For illustration, the drawing below shows interpretation of utterances which considered as falling and rising intonation from Wells (2006) by using Praat Software. The utterance produced is type below by using Text Box in Microsoft Word.
2.2 Review of Related Studies
Some studies about register have been conducted. However, every study has specialty and differences with other studies. The use of intonation is also studied in a research of undergraduate thesis by Rosmia (2011) explained about register in sport commentator of syntactic and intonation pattern in play-by-play description used by football commentator in Barclays Premier League. The theory which was used for her research was Holmes‟ play-by-play description theory (1992), Radford‟s theory on syntax (2005) and Well‟s theory on intonation (2006). The result of her research found only reduction of verbs and auxiliary „be‟, reduction of affix and involve truncated null subjects which included in the categories of syntactic reduction. She also found syntactic inversion, syntactic reduction with inversion and complete form. Connecting the intonation pattern, it can be seen that there is rising and falling intonation too in her result of her research.
whereas the writer focuses in different object is in auction which never discussed before.
Nirmalasari (2009), in her analysis, she focused more on the register used by Pizza Hut Employee in Mulyosari particularly emphases in its lexicogrammar, word choice and syntactic ordering which is the combined with three dimensions of register (field, mode and tenor). The result of her research is the word‟s choice in her data is quite different and some are only intelligible only among Pizza Hut‟s Employees. Moreover, it was found that the influence of English is not only at the word‟s choice but also in syntactic ordering of utterances even the pattern of English syntactical ordering is quite different from Indonesia‟s one. The dimensions of register in her result of her research showed that, the context is spoken language; most point in producing utterances is to confirm, ask and inform. Unfortunately, the use of particular pattern of intonation is not considered as the focus on the analysis.
in her data. Unfortunately, the study is still limited because she only analyzed in words formation. Hence, register is cannot separated from words and sentences. However, the study of register used by the auctioneer in Storage Wars will describe linguistic features of register more. There will be not only analysis linguistic features of register but also social factors which influence those linguistic features of register used by the auctioneer.
CHAPTER III
METHOD OF THE STUDY
3.1 Research Approach
This study uses qualitative approach in order to identify linguistic features of register uttered by the auctioneer in Storage Wars. Statistical data is not considered to be included, so the writer relied on some theories from library research for her interpretation of this study. According to Dörnyei (2007), qualitative approach adopts assumption about emergent nature, which means that the research just focuses on the concepts or processes and avoids the test of hypothesis. This idea is appropriate to this research as the research does not concern with the test of hypothesis as in quantitative research.
3.2 Source of Data
The source of data of this study was taken from the transcript of utterances of the auctioneer in Storage Wars. The subject of the data is the auctioneer himself while the speech of the auctioneer is to be the object of the data. This show focuses on the activities of auction which compete for much stuff in storage and which are followed by many bidders and is led by one auctioneer. This talkshow is broadcasted in History Channel and is held in different cities such as Texas, New York and Canada. This program is broadcasted almost every Saturday at 7 pm and 1 pm. Storage Wars is an American reality television series on the A&E Network that premiered on December 2010. This program has
successfully become one of the favorite International programs. It was
announced at the 2013 IMDbon Thursday, July 25 at the Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay (IMDb, 2012).
3.3 Data Transcription
Since transcribing spoken language depends greatly on transcriber‟s interpretation, so transcriber has an important role in it. The transcriber of the data in this study is the writer herself and due to the writer‟s competence, the result of the transcription may have limitation. However, the reliability of the transcription is strongly attempted to be met by doing certain efforts. In this study, some efforts are done to maximize the reliability of the transcription by the writer by listening to the recording several times. Besides, in order to attain in more reliable transcription, the writer used Inqscribe software which functions to make the utterances of the auctioneer slowlier.
However there are still many inaudible utterances in the recording such as the crowd of joking among the bidders and overlapping description between the auctioneer and the bidders which influence the clearness of auctioneer‟s talk to be heard. By focusing on the utterances of the auctioneer is very fast and unusual speaking in our daily activities. Regarding this problem, the writer asked a proof listener to prooflisten certain focused parts of the transcription in which the writer was not sure about. The main purpose of this effort is to obtain the features of the utterances of the auctioneer in auction activities as much as possible.
this study, then, is marked by xxx in the transcription. In order to show a stretch out word, the writer put one or more colon after the lengthened sound, for instance I li:::ke it, and underlined the colons to indicate a rise in pitch, for instance I li:::ke it. The writer also used capital letters, for SOLD to Barry 285 dollars in order to show loudness. Besides, a dot in brackets (.) is used to signify a pause which is too short to measure, while pause which length is measurable in seconds can be indicated by numerical duration in brackets (1.0).
Considering this limitation, the data which are considered inaudible are excluded from the analysis. For the unclear utterances which can be guessed, the writer put the guessing utterances inside single brackets which indicate that the writer has some doubt about it (Wray & Bloomer, 2006).
3.4 Techniques of Data Collection
minutes. Thus, the writer had 90 minutes for her main data analysis. Each episode of Storage Wars had three activities of auction led by different auctioneers, so nine activities of auction obtained by the writer to become her main data of analysis. Second, the writer saved the files (the three randomly chosen episodes of Storage War auction talk show program) into the USB disk. Third, the writer converted the data of video into WAV format. Hence, the format of video had been changed from MP4 into WAV format. The videos were converted into WAV format by using Free Video to MP3 Converter. It enabled the writer listen the data in any places with ease. Last, the writer transcribed the collected data orthographically. In transcribing the utterances, the writer watched the videos for several times in order to ensure that the transcription is correct.
The interpretation of intonation in this study is based on Praat software which requires sounds in WAV format as the input. In analyzing intonation pattern, the writer used Praat software in order to obtain the data of rising and falling intonation on declaratives. This software can be downloaded in www.praat.org. Praat is scientific tool for those studying linguistics that can produce graph of waves to indicate intonation (Mead, 2012).
3.5 Techniques of Data Analysis
the register to the meaning in dictionary, the analysis of the syntactical pattern was based on Radford‟s theory, and the analysis of the intonation patterns was based on Well‟s theory. Futhermore, the use of the register were described by using the social factors of register of Holmes‟s theory. In brief, the steps of the data analysis are as follow:
1. Identifying the linguistic features which characterize the register of auctioneer and whose meanings are not common and are dependent to context.
2. Identifying the vocabulary whose meaning are not common and and are dependent to the context.
3. Identyifying the syntactical patterns which feature the register based on Radford‟s theory.
4. Identifying the auctioneer utterances which assign the intonation patterns (falling and rising intonation) by using Praat software and based on Well‟s theory.
5. Analyzing and describing the use of the linguistic features which mark the register of the auctioneer based on the social context or social factors of Holmes.
CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This study is aimed at describing the linguistic features of the register used by the auctioneer in Storage Wars, a television program in New York. The linguistic features of the register which are analyzed include vocabulary, syntax, and phonology (intonation features). Furthermore, it also discusses on social factors which influence those linguistic features. This chapter discusses some points which are divided into two main parts namely findings and discussion. The findings include the descriptions of register produced by the auctioneer in Storage Wars auction concerning the vocabulary, syntactic patterns, and intonation patterns, and collaborating with the social factors. Meanwhile, the discussion is about the interpretation of the findings. The findings of the analysis are listed and interpreted in the last part of this chapter.
4.1. Findings
4.1.1 The Linguistic Features of the Register of Auctioneer
According to Holmes (2008, p. 264), linguistic features of register can be characterized by a very restricted range of syntactic variation and lexical item. The specific features of formulas are not arbitrary, but motivated by the demands of the context such as participants, setting, topic, and function. The specialized register of occupational groups develops more and more characteristics, whether lexical, syntactic and even phonological which will distinguish their communications from those of other groups and cause difficulties for outsiders to penetrate it (Holmes, 2008, p. 264).
Holmes (2008) stated that the use of language in occupational group is quite clearly distinguishable from language used in other contexts when the speakers describe an ongoing moment. It also made clear by Wardhaugh (2002) stated that vocabulary is the most obvious or distinctive in such group of register.
4.1.1.1 The Vocabulary
As stated by Holmes (2008) and Wardhaugh (2002), vocabulary is the most obvious and distinctive feature of register. The register usually has a restricted range of lexical variations which are only found and used in a particular occupational group. The description of the vocabulary or lexical variations which are used by the auctioneer of Storage Wars in delivering the activities is as follows.
4.1.1.1. A The Range of the Vocabulary
combined with certain numbers and certain words. The table below presents the terms found in the data which are categorized as the register produced by the auctioneer at Storage Wars auction television program.
Holmes (2008) stated that the use of language in occupational group is quite clearly distinguishable from language used in other contexts when the speakers describe an ongoing moment. The most different feature is generally in vocabulary. The process of vocabulary pattern is discussed below:
Table 1, Register of the auctioneer's talk in Storage Wars
No Vocabularies Register Meaning Based on Original Context in Storage Wars Video
2. Bidder The term refers to the participants
the auctioneer. For example: I got 700 there, the jumping man.
similar with the meaning in Merriam Webster Dictionary. As stated in the vocab “wink” is clearly seen different from its original meaning in Merriam Webster Dictionary. In Merriam Webster Dictionary, the term “wink” means the reaction of close one eye for a short time as a way of greeting someone, while in the auctioneer‟s talk register which appropriate with the context; “wink” refers to certain command agreeing given by the bidders about the price which is offered by the auctioneer.
The term “jump” in Merriam Webster Dictionary shows move or act suddenly or quickly, while in the auctioneer‟s talk register, the term “ jump” means the bidders give signal in auction activities refers to agreement of the price which offered by the auctioneer. Then, the vocab “folk” based on the Merriam Webster Dictionary has meaning of as form of address, used when speaking informally in a particular group of people. Contrast in the context of this study, the vocab “folk” describes the name of the bidders. The auctioneer used “folk” in greeting all the participants of auction activities.
As stated in the term “here” is clearly seen different from its original meaning in Merriam Webster Dictionary. In Merriam Webster Dictionary, the term “here” refers to in, at or to this place, while in the auctioneer‟s talk register which appropriate with the context; “here” refers to certain command agreeing given by the bidders about the price which is offered by the auctioneer.
describing the price which is ongoing on particular moment of the auction activities, not referring to the number. It seems the same if we compare it‟s meaning in dictionary but seeing from the context in bargaining auction process, the term “290, 290” could be describing a hundred, thousand or million. Therefore, it can be concluded that this term as the register used by the auctioneer in auction activities.
As stated in the term “going twice” is clearly seen different from its original meaning in Merriam Webster. In Merriam Webster Dictionary, the term “going twice” refers to move or act suddenly or going somewhere in twice times, while in the auctioneer‟s talk register which appropriate with the context; “going twice” refers to the price which is bided by the bidder in twice times on particular moment of the auction activities. Therefore, it can be concluded that this term as the register used by the auctioneer in auction activities.
those term “bid or bidding and bidder” are also the part of jargon or the vocabulary of register in auction activities.
Others utterances of the auctioneer‟s talk such as in term “sold” though has the same meaning both of Merriam Webster Dictionary and in the original context of register which means used for concerning the situation in which pointing storage sold. Nevertheless, the term “sold” is identically explained in dictionary that this term used in auction activities. With the result that, the term “sold” can be assumed as the register used by the auctioneer and as the jargon in auction activities.
From all the examples above, it can be assumed that the use of language by the auctioneer in ongoing auction has a uniquely and distinguishable vocabulary from others language due to it might be the simplest process to be used and understand among the members of auction activities. Besides, because of the rapidity of the auctioneer‟s talk is faster than others, so the spending time in producing the word is limited too.
4.1.1.1. B. The Use of the Vocabulary by the Auctioneer
In this subchapter, It is described the further analysis on the vocabulary of the register in auctioneer‟s talk. The further analysis relates to the use of the vocabulary in context based on theory of Holmes (2008).
task or topic (2008, p. 258). From these ideas, it can be concluded that register can be defined from those factors which influence the register uses. In this sub chapter, the writer analyzes register through those factors to define register of the auctioneers‟ talk and relates its meaning to its context of use.
Table2, Vocabulary of Auction
Number Utterances
150. Hey, folk. There‟s fridge and some boxes here. 158. Sold, 220 dollars. Paul winks
59. Now, who‟s bid 75?
348. I got 700 there, the jumping man.
used when speaking informally in a particular group of people. This term is uttered because the auctioneer wants to limit cost of time in producing words and it might be the simplest process to be used.
In sentence (158), the auctioneer said, “Sold, 220 dollars. Paul winks”
reflects the setting of the social context is in the end of auction process when Paul had already bided the stuffs with 220 dollars. The topic of the social context of sentence “Sold 220 dollars. Paul winks” is when Paul, one of the bidders, gives agreement sign with the price that the auctioneer offered by giving body gesture like winking at the auctioneer. Then, the function of the social context of sentence “Sold 220 dollars. Paul winks” is to describe affirmative which means one of the bidders, Paul deals with the price which offered by the auctioneer and to announce to others participants in auction that Paul is the person who win the storage sold. Thus, the meaning of vocabulary “winks” based on the context is agreement with the price of stuffs bidding. Contrast in the definition from Merriam Webster Dictionary. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, the word “winks” means the reaction of close one eye for a short time as a way of greeting someone. However, it will not cause miscommunication or misunderstanding in interpreting a form of language registers done by the auctioneer because the participants or the entire auction group has a common understanding of what was said by the auctioneer in auction activities.
In communicating, everyone has messages of conversation or communication to be conveyed to the listeners. In sentence (59) “Now, who’s bid
conversation is about the auction activities which on going. This sentence “Now, who’s bid 75?” describes explicit context of the message in conversation to be conveyed to the listeners. The word “bid” shows that the activities are ongoing in the auction activities. The function of the social context of “Now, who’s bid 75?” is to effectively ask and to strengthen who the person has courage in bidding 75 dollars. The term “ bid” used by the auctioneer because it might be the simplest process of words to communicate with the bidders in the situation which does not have much time to describe what happened in that moment. That is why the auctioneer used term “bid” not other words such as “negotiate” or “auctioned”. Thus the meaning of “bid” based on context is the term used by the auctioneer in asking whom the person negotiates the stuffs at that time in auction activities, while according to Merriam Webster Dictionary, “bid” means to offer a particular amount of money for something that is for sale and compete against other people to buy it. However, this is done by the auctioneer in order to create effectiveness in communication especially in the activities of auction itself.
The setting of the social context of “I got 700 there, the jumping man”
as affirmation when the auctioneer said the bidder who bid 700 dollars is the jumping man and as effectiveness when the auctioneer produced the simplest process in his utterances such as „the jumping man‟ to explain the bidder who follows the bargaining.
Thus, the meaning of vocabulary “jump” based on context is the reaction of one of participants of auction (the bidder) that he agrees or says yes with the price which is offered by the auctioneer. The participants only expressing by word and using gesture or body language in delivering information but the auctioneer still understands what the bidder‟s means. Contrast to the definitions on Merriam Webster Dictionary which, explains that the word “jumping” refers to move or act suddenly or quickly. However, it will not cause miscommunication or misunderstanding in interpreting a form of language registers done by the auctioneer because the participants or the entire auction group has a common understanding of what was said by the auctioneer in auction activities. Besides, this is done by the auctioneer in order to create effectiveness in communication especially in the activities of auction itself.
different from the language of the general public. This is done in order to create effectiveness in communication especially in the activities of auction itself and to achieve a smooth and effective communication.
4.1.1.2 The Syntax
In each linguistic feature of register including vocabulary, syntax and intonation features is divided into two parts. They are the features of register and the used of the features of register by the auctioneer. Meanwhile, this subchapter will divide into two parts. The first one will be the syntactic patterns and the second one is the use of the syntax patterns by the auctioneer.
4.1.1.2. A The Syntactic Patterns
4.1.1.2. A.1 Syntactic Reduction
The utterances produced by the auctioneer are observed as undergoing many kinds of syntactic reduction. According to Holmes (2008), register involves features such as syntactic reduction of normal word order in sentences. It shows that syntactic reduction describing the actions of speakers who often omit the subject or verb. Radford (2009) stated that there is possibility that there are term null constituent or empty categories in syntactic structure. According to Radford (2009, p. 106), null constituent refers to constituent “which have grammatical and semantic features but lack audible phonetic, as they are given null spellout or omitted”.
Radford (2009) explains further that null constituent can be classified into eight categories such as null subject, null auxiliaries, null T in finite and infinitive clauses, null C infinitive and in finite clauses, null quantifiers and determiners and defective clause. The process of syntactic reduction is discussed below:
a. Reduction of Subject and Verb
Table 3, Reduction of Subject and Verb
It can be seen that from the example given above, the subject and the verb in the sentence are omitted. It is indicated as undergoing reduction of subject noun and verb. As stated in the sentence (150) “600 in the corner” the subject of the sentence actually can be filled with subject pronoun „Bubba‟ (based on the context in the original videos that at that time Bubba raised his hand) and the verb could be filled with the verb “bids” (based on the context in the original videos that at the time Bubba follows bargaining in ongoing auction), resulting in the sentence should be “Bubba bids 600 in the corner”, but instead the subject noun “Bubba” is given a null spellout and the verb is also omitted as well, so the sentence only becomes “600 in the corner”. Nevertheless, the omitted of the subject and verb in that utterance above would not affect the meaning of that sentence itself.
The sentence with omitted subject and verb can be represented in the three diagrams as the following. Some abbreviations are used in three diagrams such as TP which stands for Tenses Phrase, PP for Preposition Phrase, V for Verb, N for Noun, VP for Verb Phrase, NP for Noun Phrase.
Number Utterances
250. 600 in the corner
54. bunch of furniture and stuff in storage
250. 800 in the behind
122. few boxes, couple of bins
TP
N VP
Bubba
V NP
Bids N PP
600 in the corner Figure 15. Reduction of Subject and Verb
The omission of subject and verb in the sentence above could be made possible as it locates in the beginning of the sentence. Radford (2009) indicates that subject and verb can be truncated or shortened by giving them a null spellout in the first of word of the sentence. The structure suggests that the sentence has pattern of N-PP.
However, other three sentences which also belong to this reduction variant offer different patterns such as “bunch of furniture and stuff in storage” (54) is observed have pattern of N-PP. Then in sentence (122) “few boxes, couple of bins” is also observed just have pattern NP (noun phrase). In the sentence “few boxes, couple of bins” reflects that lacks of subject and verb. The sentence could actually be completed with the subject „there‟(based on the context in the original videos that at that time the auctioneer opening the storage of the stuffs which is auctioned) and the verb “are” resulting “there are few boxes, couple of bins”. Nevertheless, the omitted of the subject and verb in that utterance above would not affect the meaning of that sentence itself.
TP
N VP
there
V NP
are few boxes, couple of bins Figure 16. Reduction of Subject and Verb
The omission of the subject noun and verb done by the auctioneer in order to get the effectively of delivering the information about what is being done in auction activities, that is why the sentence becomes shorter. It means that the auctioneer does not have a long time to produce the description about the bidders‟ action in the ongoing moments. Because of limit of time, the auctioneer used the register in such group in this case in auction activities.
Those examples belong to Radford‟s theory of reduction of subject and verb which is can be shortened by giving a subject a null and verb spellout (omitted) in the first word of sentence (Radford, 2009). The normal sentence should be:
(a) (Bubba bids) 600 in the corner.
(b) (There are) bunch of furniture and stuff in storage. (c) (Marry bids) 800 in the behind.
b. Reduction of Verb
In some utterances, the auctioneer utters the information about price of the stuff in auction to the bidders by omitting the verb. It seems impossible to deliver the important information to the listener in this case to the bidders in auction without including the verb. Remind that the rapidity of the auctioneers‟ talk is too fast, so the message of the speaker (the auctioneer) has to be understood well by the listeners. However, it is done by the auctioneer in reducing the verb (including the verb be) of the description. The reduction of the verb be- can be applied through some sentences in the following table:
Table 4, Reduction of Verb
The structure of this sentence above is drawn the reduction variant such as in sentence (01) “auction in the middle of industry”. This sentence is lack of the verb “is” to make it as a complete sentence “ Auction is in the middle of industry”. The sentence results in a pattern of N – PP. Nevertheless, the omitted of the verb in that utterance above would not affect the meaning of that sentence itself. The sentence can be represented in the three diagrams as the following. Some abbreviations are used in three diagrams such as PP which stands for Preposition
Number Utterances
58. Now 50 dollars
63. 175 anyone?
01. Auction in the middle of industry
