WOMEN’S LANGUAGE FEATURES USED BY INDONESIAN FEMALE BLOGGERS.

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Anisa Aga Pebrianti,2013

Women’s Language Features Used by Indonesian Female Bloggers

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |repository.upi.edu| perpustakaan.upi.edu93

Women’s Language Features Used by Indonesian

Female Bloggers

A Research Paper

Submitted to the English Education Department of the Faculty of Languages and Arts Education of the Indonesia University of Education as Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for Sarjana Sastra Degree

By:

ANNISA AGA PEBRIANTI

(0807540)

English Education Department

Faculty of Language and Arts Education

Indonesia University of Education

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |repository.upi.edu| perpustakaan.upi.edu93 PAGE OF APPROVAL

Women’s Language Features Used by Indonesian Female Bloggers

A Research Paper

By

Annisa Aga Pebrianti

0807540

Approved by

Main Supervisor

Dra. Sri Setyarini, Dra., M.A.

NIP. 196312291990022001

Co-Supervisor

Ernie Diyakusumaning Ayu I, S.S., M.Ed.

NIP. 197809222010122001

Head of Department of English Education

Faculty of Languages and Arts Education

Indonesia University of Education

Prof. Dr. Didi Suherdi, M.Ed.

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WOMEN’S LANGUAGE FEATURES USED

BY INDONESIAN FEMALE BLOGGERS

Oleh

Annisa Aga Pebrianti

Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni

Februari 2013

Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |repository.upi.edu| perpustakaan.upi.edu93 ABSTRACT

The study entitled Women’s Language Features Used by Indonesian Female Bloggers aims to investigate women’s language features, the frequency of the features, and the possible reasons of using the features by female bloggers. The data were in the form of written text of

Blogspot.com, published from October 2011 to September 2012, which consists of several bloggers’ activities such as their routines, business, fashion, and special events. The main theory of Robin Lakoff (1975) was used to analyze the data. Lakoff (1975) proposed ten women’s language features but this study only adopted nine features in the form of written text namely lexical hedges or fillers, tag question, empty adjectives, precise color terms,

intensifiers, hypercorrect grammar, superpolite forms, avoidance of strong swear words, and

emphatic stress. The findings reveal that there were ninety-seven postings which can be categorized into eight features. However, intensifiers tend to be the most frequent feature used by the female bloggers (34.92%), followed by empty ajectives (5.71%), and the least is

avoidance of strong swear words (0.27%). Moreover, regarding the reasons by using the features is most respondents claimed that they use those features because they tend to reflect uncertainty and reflect women’s lack of confidence in conversation. In contrast, only few of respondents who stated that they use those features because women have higher level of vocabularies than men.

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |repository.upi.edu| perpustakaan.upi.edu93 ABSTRAK

Studi yang berjudul Women’s Language Features Used By Indonesian Female Bloggers ini bertujuan untuk meneliti fitur-fitur bahasa wanita, frekuensi penggunaan fitur, dan alasan-alasan yang mendorong blogger perempuan untuk menggunakan fitur-fitur dalam bahasa wanita. Data yang dikumpulkan berupa teks tertulis dari Blogspot.com yang dipublikasikan dari Oktober 2011 sampai September 2012, yang mencakup beberapa aktivitas para blogger, seperti kegiatan sehari-hari, bisnis, fesyen, dan acara-acara khusus. Teori utama mengenai fitur bahasa menurut Robin Lakoff (1975) digunakan untuk menganalisis data. Lakoff (1975) mengemukakan sepuluh fitur bahasa wanita tetapi studi ini hanya fokus pada sembilan fitur yang berkaitan erat dengan teks tertulis, yaitu lexical hedges or fillers, tag question, empty adjectives, precise color terms, intensifiers, hypercorrect grammar, superpolite forms,

avoidance of strong swear words, dan emphatic stress. Hasil dari studi ini mengungkapkan bahwa ada sembilan puluh tujuh penembusan yang dapat dikategorikan ke dalam delapan fitur. Dikemukakan pula bahwa intensifier menjadi fitur yang paling banyak digunakan oleh

blogger perempuan (34.92%), disusul oleh empty adjectives (5.71%) di posisi menengah, dan fitur yang paling sedikit digunakan adalah avoidance of strong swear words (0.27%). Selain itu, bertalian dengan alasan dalam penggunaan fitur-fitur bahasa wanita ini, sebagian besar responden menyatakan bahwa wanita menggunakan fitur tersebut karena ingin menggambarkan rasa ketidakyakinan dan kurangnya rasa percaya diri wanita saat berkomunikasi. Sebaliknya, hanya beberapa responden saja yang mengungkapkan bahwa penggunaan fitur tersebut dikarenakan wanita memiliki perbendaharaan kata yang lebih banyak dibandingkan dengan pria.

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vii Anisa Aga Pebrianti,2013

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |repository.upi.edu| perpustakaan.upi.edu93 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1 Background of the Study ... 1

1.2 Statement of Problems ... 6

1.3 The Aims of the Study ... 6

1.4 Scope of the Study ... 7

1.5 Significance of the Study ... 7

1.6 Research Methods ... 8

1.7 Clarification of Terms ... 9

1.8 Organization of the Paper... 10

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FOUNDATION ... 12

2.1. Language and Gender ... 12

2.2. Lakoff’s Theory of Women’s Language Features ... 14

2.3. Women’s Language Features ... 14

2.3.1. Lexical Hedges or Fillers ... 15

2.3.1.1. Language used in Hedging ... 15

2.3.2. Tag Questions ... 18

2.3.3.‘Empty’ Adjectives ... 20

2.3.4. Precise Color Terms ... 21

2.3.5. Intensifiers ... 22

2.3.6. ‘Hypercorrect’ Grammar ... 24

2.3.7. ‘Superpolite Forms ... 24

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viii Anisa Aga Pebrianti,2013

2.3.9. Emphatic Stress ... 27

2.4. Possible Reasons of Using Women’s Language Features ... 28

2.4.1. Reason of Using Hedges or Fillers ... 28

2.4.2. Reasons of Using Tag Question ... 30

2.4.3. Reasons of Using Empty Adjectives ... 31

2.4.4. Reasons of Using Precise Color Terms ... 32

2.4.5. Reasons of Using Intensifiers ... 32

2.4.6. Reasons of Using Hypercorrect Grammar ... 33

2.4.7. Reasons of Using of Superpolite Forms ... 33

2.4.8. Reasons of Using Avoidance of Strong Swear Words ... 34

2.4.9. Reasons of Using Emphatic Stress ... 36

2.5 The History of Weblog... 36

2.5.1. The History of Blogger ... 38

2.6 Previous Study Relating to Women’s Language Features: Robin Lakoff’s Framework ... 38

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS ... 43

3.1. Research Design ... 43

3.2. Data Collection... 44

3.2.1. Data Sources... 44

3.2.2. Data Collection Procedures ... 45

3.3. Data Analysis ... 46

3.3.1 Identification of W omen’s Language Features ... 46

3.3.2 Classification of Women’s Language Features... 47

3.3.3 Quantification of Women’s Language Features ... 50

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 52

4.1. Women’s Language Features in Indonesian Female Bloggers ... 52

4.1.3. ‘Empty’ Adjectives ... 60

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ix Anisa Aga Pebrianti,2013

4.1.6. ‘Superpolite’ Forms ... 69

4.1.7. Avoidance of Strong Swear Words ... 70

4.2. The Frequency of Women’s Language Features Used By Indonesian Female Bloggers... 74

4.3. The Reasons of Using Women’s Language Features in Indonesian Female Bloggers ... 76

4.3.3. ‘Empty’ Adjectives ... 78

4.3.5. Intensifiers ... 80

4.3.6. Hypercorrect Grammar ... 81

4.3.7. ‘Superpolite’ Forms ... 82

4.3.7. Avoidance of Strong Swear Words ... 82

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 85

5.1 Conclusions ... 85

5.2 Suggestions ... 87

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

In this introductory chapter, the background to the present study is provided

along with an outline of the principal theoritical prepositions. This chapter also

presents the statement of problems that this study seeks to answer, aims of the

study, scope of the study, significance of the study, research methods, the

clarification of key terms, and the organization of the paper.

1.1 Background of the Study

Woman as described by Hornby (1989) in Oxford Advanced Learner‟s

Dictionary, is an adult female human being or female sex. While man is an adult

male human being or male person under the authority of somebody else and with

the qualities or strength courage, etc. (Hornby, 1989).

From the definition above, it can be said that woman and man are two

different human kinds who have different characteristics. It is believed that

women are like gossiping and it seems that any kind of topic would be an

interesting topic to be told and shared, for example women spend a chunk of their

day discussing who is dating who, their weight, sex, shopping, TV shows, diets,

dress size, and so on (Shaadilive, 2013). As stated by Coates (2004, p.9) that “If

three women gather together, it will become clamorous”. This implies that many

people stereotypically think women are more talkative than men. In addition,

according to Brizendine (2006, cited in Macrae, 2006), women devote more brain

cells to talking than men because women have an eight-lane superhighway (which

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memory), while men have a small country road (which means that they have

smaller areas responsible for communication, emotion, and memory).

However, in a certain situation, women are also claimed to have less

confidence to talk than men because women are powerless. Lakoff (1975, cited in

Holmes, 2011) asserts that women are generally lacking status in society.

Therefore, it is argued that women are more subordinate than men. Moreover,

they are more aware of the fact that their social status can be seen from the way

they speak. Women were indicated hedging and boosting their utterance to attract

the addressee‟s attention. In fact, suggests that “Hedging devices explicitly signal lack of confidence, while boosting devices reflect the speaker‟s anticipation

that the addressee may remain unconvinced and therefore supply extra

reassurance”.

Besides hedging and boosting, women as a guardian of society‟s values are

also expected to be polite and should speak with standard forms (Holmes, 2001).

By using more standard speech forms, women can protect her „face‟. In this case,

„face‟ is the sense of reputation or good name (Thomas, 1995), central to Brown

and Levinson‟s theory of politeness (1978 and revised in 1987, cited in Thomas, 1995). Holmes (2001, p. 159) also believes that “women‟s greater use of standard forms may relate not only to their own face-protection needs, but also to those of

the people they are talking to.”

In contrast, men and boys are generally more tolerated, more freedom, rude,

and mischievous than women and girls in conversation. As described by Lakoff

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showing temper: „high spirits‟ are expected and tolerated in little boys.” (p. 51).

Hence, society tends to excuse a show of temper by men but not excuse it for

women. They are allowed to fuss and complain, but only men can bellow in rage.

To conclude, it could be argued that some characteristics that differ women from

men are the way they talk and their language use. In a book entitled Language and

Women’s Place, conducted by Robin Lakoff (1975), she claims that certain

features are typical women‟s language based on her observation and intuition. Lakoff (1975) also adds that women‟s styles as a reflex of their powerlessness and men‟s power over them. It reveals by the fact than women are forced to learn

weak, trivial, and deferential style as a part of socialization. Regarding the general

stereotypes of women, this study intends to investigate women‟s language

features particularly in social media, such as blog.

Nowadays, as reported in the article Technologies Influence Over Societies

(“Hub Pages”, 2010) social media such as facebook, twitter, blog, youtube, and

etc. cannot be separated from our daily life. The changes of information

technology and communication formats have influenced the way people talk and

share about their life and the way of advertising products (Mahoney, 2010). In

other words, now people have digital-diary as personal journal (Beal, 2007) and

digital media advertising to share their personal stories and their products by

writing posts in blog everytime and everywhere. As suggested by Tyler (2002)

that this phenomenon happens due to the rapid growing of internet in the

globalization era. Moreover, he adds that internet can change the social life, for

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of the internet. In other words, the distance is no longer problem in

communication because of the internet.

Blog, as one of the social media, provides the source for this study in

searching for some clues of the use of women‟s language features. Weblog or

known as blog serves an alternative for communication as a publicycly accessible

personal journal for an individual or company. The term weblog was first used by

Jom Barger on his website in 1997 (Beal, 2007). Blog often represents the

personality of the author individually of the company and as a vehicle for self

expression and self empowerment (Beal, 2007). It can also be in the form of

diary-posts, bulletin post, chronological squence post, or to advertise products as

free marketing media. Beal (2007) also stated that “to this end the most accurate and fitting evolution of today's blog comes from online diaries where the diarist

would keep an online journal of themselves” (p.1). There are basically three types of blogs namely, filters, personal journals, and notebooks.

For those reasons, this study is interested in analyzing blog‟s postings using women‟s language features, proposed by Robin Lakoff framework (1975) as a tool of analysis. There have been some studies which applying this framework

such as Kurihara (2009) and Permatasari (2010).

Firts, the study entitled A Study on Women’s Language in English and

Japanese Societies, was conducted by Kurihara (2009). It focused on the change

of female language, especially the study of female features in English and

Japanese societies referring to the references. Kurihara (2009) was interested in

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of women‟s language in Japanese society phonology, gossip: a language of female

secret, and the last is conclusion. He further examined wheather Robin Lakoff‟s

framework (1975) of women‟s language features were applicable in Japanese

society in the recent time. Even, in 21st century the results showed women tend to

speak softly, correctly, uncertainly, and with HRT intonation, ‘onna-rashiku’

which identify feminism and indicated that Lakoff‟s framework was applicable.

Another study related to women‟s language features conducted by Permatasari

(2010) who observed Women’s Speech Features Used by the Characters Sex and

the City Movie. This study focused on how the four characters of Sex and The

City movie namely Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha use women‟s speech features in several setting, such as restaurant, library, apartment Mexican

resort, and streets.

In analysing the data, she used descriptive qualitative method. Moreover,

Permatasari (2010) proved that the characters of Sex and City movie used

women‟s speech features which reflect uncertainty and lack of confidence because

women tend to have trouble in starting conversation and avoiding saying definite

things in their statatement. Permatasari (2010) also stated that there were eight

types of women‟s speech features used by the characters: lexical hedges or fillers,

tag question, rising intonation on declaratives, ‘empty’ adjectives, intensifiers,

superpolite forms, avoidance of strong swear words, and emphatic stress.

Although Kurihara (2009) and Permatasari (2010) have discovered women‟s

language features within the same framework by Robbin Lakoff (1975), they had

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phenomenon of women‟s language features only in English society which figured out by the actress in the movie. However, Kurihara (2009) tried to examine how

the phenomenon of women‟s language features in Western Countries occurs in

Japanese society.

Different from those two previous studies which observed women‟s language

features proposed by Lakoff‟s framework (1975) in oral text, this present study applies the features in written text. Moreover, these are ten women‟s language

features stated by Lakoff (1975); lexical hedges or fillers, tag question, rising

intonation on declaratives, ‘empty adjectives, precise colour terms, intensifiers

such as just and so, ‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, avoidance of

strong swear words, and emphatic stress (cited in Holmes, 2001, p. 286).

1.2 Statement of Problems

This study formulates the statement of problems as follows:

1. What features of women‟s language are observed in Indonesian female bloggers?

2. What is the most frequent feature of women‟s language used by Indonesian female bloggers?

3. What are the possible reasons that may affect the use of women‟s language features done by Indonesian female bloggers?

1.3 The Aims of the Study

Relevant to the statement of problems above, this study aims:

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2. To find out the most frequent feature of women‟s language that are used by Indonesian female bloggers.

3. To investigate the possible reasons of using of woman‟s language features done by Indonesian female bloggers.

1.4 Scope of the Study

In line with the aims of the study above, this study focused on the women‟s language features done by Indonesian female bloggers, particularly those who

have a passion in fashion and business. This study employed Blogspot.com from

October 2011 to September 2012 as the data to be observed. The postings are

about bloggers activities (routines, businness, fashion, and special events). The

phenomenon of women‟s language features were achieved through Robin Tolmach Lakoff‟s framework (1975) in representing women‟s language features. Although Lakoff‟s framework of women‟s language includes ten features, this study only focuses on nine features that relate to written text, there are lexical

hedges or fillers, tag question, ‘empty adjectives, precise colour terms,

intensifiers, ‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, avoidance of strong

swear words, and emphatic stress.

1.5 Significance of the Study

This research is expected to give contributions as follows:

 This research study is worth doing because this kind of study will give

contributions to the practitioners for developing their knowledge about

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 Through this study, it is hoped that this study will boost the linguistics

learners to pay more attention in analysing a text by linguistics features.

Then, this study will attract the linguitics students because they can explore

some advantages and knowledges about woman‟s language features in blog‟s

postings.

 The results of this study are also expected to give contributions for linguistics

lecturers to be a source and data in teaching, especially in Sociolinguistics

subject of women‟s language features in blog‟s postings.

 Through this study, it is hoped that this study will give contributions and

foundation for future studies in sociolinguistics, escpecially for the people

who are interested in women‟s language features that will investigate deeply and specifically. Moreover, this study can be a source and a comparison for

future studies in investigating women‟s language features by Robin Lakoff

(1973).

1.6 Research Methods

To follow the aims of the study, a descriptive qualitative method was used in

gaining and analyzing data. However, this study also needed quantification in the

form of percentage of women‟s language features used by Indonesian female bloggers in order to support qualitative findings. As proposed by Benz &

Newman (1998) and Denzin & Lincoln (1984), qualitative is an study about

interpretative knowledge by someone about something through an interpretation

and needs numerical methods, such as to calculate the percentage of women‟s

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description and analysis.” (p. 17). It mainly discussed in describing, interpreting, and analyzing the use woman‟s language features. This research study was also completed by selecting data and textual evidence to support the interpretation in

answering the research questions. Thus, interview instrument was conducted in

collecting the data.

The source of data of this study was taken from Blogspot.com which contains

three Indonesian female bloggers range from 20 to 30 years old and has a passion

in fashion and business. The study selected their postings about their activities

(routines, businness, fashion, and special events) range from October 2011 to

September 2012 purposely. After collecting the data, this study conducted the

analysis to gain the aims of study. Then, identifying the data by underlining every

word, phrase, clause, and sentence in every posts, and classifying the data

according to the relevant features of women‟s language. While classifying it,

interviewing is also done. After that, discussing and quantifying the data to make

further interpretation. Finally, conclusions can be drawn to provide the answers

belong to the problems‟ statements.

1.7 Clarification of Terms

Several terms need to be clarified in order to avoid misconception and to

comprehend the same notion in investigating the statement of the problems as

follows:

1. Women‟s language features: several aspects of language used by women to

differentiate between women and men‟s language characteristics. It includes

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‘empty adjectives, precise colour terms, intensifiers such as just and so, ‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, avoidance of strong swear

words, and emphatic stress. (Lakoff, 1975 cited in Holmes, 2001, p. 286).

2. Blog: One of social media in globalization era as digital-diary or free digital

advertising. Weblog or known as blog serves an alternative for

communication as a publicycly accessible personal journal for an individual

or company, (Beal, 2007).

1.8 Organization of the Paper

This study is presented in five chapters as follows:

CHAPTER I

This chapter contains background of the study, statement of problems, aims of the

study, scope of the study, significance of the study, research methods, clarification

of the terms, and organization of the paper.

CHAPTER II

This chapter focuses on theoretical framework that provides relevant theories and

concepts for conducting the study. The related previous studies are also discussed

in this chapter.

CHAPTER III

It discusses the research methods, including the steps and procedures of the study,

the data sources of the study, and data anlysis.

CHAPTER IV

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CHAPTER V

The last chapter of the study reveals all the interpretation toward the results of the

study. It includes conclusions and provides some suggestions for future studies in

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43 Anisa Aga Pebrianti,2013

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |repository.upi.edu| perpustakaan.upi.edu93 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODS

This chapter provides the methods of this study by which the present study

was conducted to examine the women’s language features, the frequency of the features and the possible reasons of the use of women’s language features. It

includes the research design which covers the theoretical framework of the present

study. In addition, this chapter also presents data collection which includes data

sources and data collection procedures, and data analysis.

3.1. Research Design

Descriptive qualitative method was used as the research design. Qualitative

method attempts to obtain deeper understanding of a target statement of problems

and to make findings more valid. As suggested by Key (1997) in his module

entitled Research Design in Occupational Education, one of the characteristics of

qualitative method is to find out the valid results, which means the focus is on

design and procedures to gain “real”, “rich”, and “deep” data. In addition, Key

(1997) also explains that qualitative study also centered in describing,

interpreting, analyzing and criticizing the phenomenon found out in the data, then

continued with drawing general conclusion. Alwasilah (2002) states “qualitative

research provides an understanding by scrutinizing certain phenomenon in detail

which context vitally influences meanings of the phenomenon” (p. 54). Thus,

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about personal experiences, introspection, and life story of people (Denzin and

Lincoln, 1994).

However, although this study is qualitative in nature, quantifications were also

needed in order to support the qualitative findings in revealing the percentage of

women’s language features used by Indonesian female bloggers. As proposed by

(Benz, & Newman, 1998; Denzin & Lincoln, 1984) that qualitative research also

focuses on the products, the figures collected when a test, scale or questionnaire,

and numbers are used (with the help of statistics) to explain phenomena.

3.2. Data Collection

The whole data of this study were taken from both text analysis and

interview. This section discusses the participants involved in this study. It also

covers the data sources and data collection procedures.

3.2.1. Data Sources

The data on this study were collected from three Indonesian female

bloggers, ranging from 20 to 30 years old, who have passion in fashion and

business. This study employed Blogspot.com from October 2011 to September

2012 as the data to be observed. Then, the postings that have been selected

were bloggers’ activities such as daily life, business, fashion, and special

events. To make it more specific, this study only focused on one blog hosting

service named Blogspot.com sheltered by Pyra Labs Company, which was

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The postings were chosen as the data because they present all aspects that

were needed and had more possibilities to find women’s language features in

this data. Meanwhile, Blogspot.com was chosen because it has large number

of users and easy to be accessed by many people around the world.

Moreover, the data were also collected by interviewing the respondents

(three Indonesian female bloggers) as the samples.

3.2.2. Data Collection Procedures

In analyzing the women’s speech features used by Indonesian female

bloggers, there were some steps to be taken such as asking permission in

copying the data by sending an email or tweet to each bloggers to avoid copy

right violation and collecting the data by copying several posts purposely in

each selected blog. The data were copied which includes some elements, such

as date of posting, title, story, and pictures (if available). Next step was

identifying the data by underlining every word, phrase, clause, and sentence in

every post that has been selected randomly.

The fourth step was classifying the data into the relevance features of

women’s language, they were lexical hedges or fillers, tag questions, empty

adjectives, precise color terms, intensifiers, hypercorrect grammar, super

polite forms, avoidance of strong swear words, and emphatic stress.

Furthermore, making a guiding interview which contains nine questions of the

reasons that may affect the use of those nine women’s language feature above

was another step. The sixth was interviewing each blogger directly by using

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email. In addition to that, this study analyzed the data to make further

interpretation about woman’s features language that used by Indonesian

female bloggers. This study also quantified the data by using percentage

formula for making an interpretation of the most appearance of women’s language features by Indonesian female bloggers. Finally, drawing a

conclusion from the analysis that provides the answer of the problems’ statement was the final step.

3.3. Data Analysis

The data of this study were analyzed in several stages, i.e. identifying

women’s language features occurrences, classifying the features of women’s

language based on the relevant theory, quantifying every feature of women’s

language, interpreting and discussing the results of data analysis, and drawing

conclusions and proposing suggestions for future studies in the same areas.

3.3.1 Identification of W omen’s Language Features

After collecting and reading the postings from three bloggers used as the

main source, this study identified the occurrences of women’s language features in all postings from October 2011 to September 2012. To identify the

occurrences of women’s language features, this study highlighted the postings for every word, clause, phrase, or sentence that contain the features. Here, the

examples of the posting which contain women’s language features among others are:

(3.3.1 a) So please welcome, Hijabist book - Confessions of Hijab Fashion Blogger. Congrats

lovely Siti Juwariyah, dear mom-to-be Suci Utami and adorable Restu Anggraini. I

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(3.3.1 b) As you know, I usually give hijab tutorial through video that I uploaded to

Youtube.. However, I was so happy that the participants were so excited and also the committee were humble, cheerful and fun to be with.. I had so much fun that time.. Really wish that I can meet all of them again. (Blogger 2, datum 20)

Postings (3.3.1 a) and (3.3.1 b) contain several women’s language features Then, this study categorized those words into several features. In (3.3.1 a), for

example, the blogger 2 used please, lovely, totally, and hardly which were

classified into women’s language features. Meanwhile, blogger 2 in (3.3.1 b) used women’s language features such as you know, so, and really.

3.3.2 Classification of Women’s Language Features

The next step in analyzing the data was classifying the features of

women’s language based on the relevant theory. This study applied Robin Lakoff’s framework (1975) as the main theory. There are ten elements of

speech features that mostly used by women, as stated by Robin Lakoff

(1975). However, to focus on written text, there are only nine features to be

discussed in this study namely, lexical hedges or fillers, tag question, ‘empty

adjectives, precise colour terms, intensifiers such as just and so,

‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, avoidance of strong swear

words, and emphatic stress (cited in Holmes, 2001, p. 286).

In this section, this study classified those words into the suitable features.

(3.3.2 a) So please welcome, Hijabist book - Confessions of Hijab Fashion Blogger. Congrats

lovely Siti Juwariyah, dear mom-to-be Suci Utami and adorable Restu Anggraini. I

love totally your novel, cant hardly wait for batch II. (Blogger 1, datum 5)

(3.3.2 b) As you know, I usually give hijab tutorial through video that I uploaded to

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In terms of women’s language features, the word please was classified

into superpolite forms because pleasewas used in asking and giving a request

to the readers indirectly and politely. The words lovely and adorable were classified into empty adjectives which show speaker’s admiration for something and those words reflected emotional reaction rather than specific

information of something. Next, so and really were categorized as intensifiers

because they were used to emphasize or strengthen the meaning after those

words such as adjective or adverb. Then, you know had a function as hedges

or fillers because it was used to fill the gap or to begin the conversation well.

The results of identification and classification were revealed in the form of

table. The table 3.1 and 3.2 presents every words, clauses, and sentences of the

features that were used by blogger 1 and 2. The complete presentations of the

data are available in appendices.

Table 3.1 The Classification of Women’s Language Features by Blogger 1

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Table 3.2 The Classification of Women’s Language Features by Blogger 2

No. Occurrences Datum L committee were humble, cheerful and fun meet all of them again.

20 v

Notes: LH : Lexical hedge TQ : Tag question EA : Empty adjectives PC : Precise colors

I : Intensifiers HG : Hypercorrect grammar SF : Superpolite forms SW : Swear words

ES : Empathic stress

Moreover, this study also revealed the possible reasons of the use of

women’s language features. In the table 3.3 presents the example of the

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Table 3.3 The Reasons of Using Women's Language Features by Indonesian Bloggers

3.3.3 Quantification of Women’s Language Features

The next step after idenifying and classifying is quantification the features.

It was needed to discover the frequency and the percentage of each feature.

To count up the percentage of each feature, this study applied the formula:

P = _nf x 100%

Notes: f: Frequency of the occurrency (of the information or a level of features)

n: Total number of occurency (of the information or a level of features)

P: Percentage (of the information or a level of features)

Then, the frequency distributions of the percentage were shown by the

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Figure 3.1 The Example of The Frequency Distributon

After analyzing the data, this study interpreted and discussed the results of

data analysis. At the final stage, this study drew conclusions and proposed

some suggestions for future studies in the same areas. 0

0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5

LH TQ EA PC I HG SF SW ES

Blogger 1

Blogger 2

Blogger 3

Blogger 4

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |repository.upi.edu| perpustakaan.upi.edu93 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter discusses the conclusions that were drawn from the findings and

discussions in the previous chapter. This chapter also gives some suggestions with

regard to the future studies in the same areas.

5.1 Conclusions

The analysis of three female bloggers’ posting reported how and why

Indonesian female bloggers used women’s language features in their blog.

Ninety-seven postings from October 2011 to September 2012 were collected

and can be concluded that there are eight women’s language features used by

Indonesian female bloggers. Those features are Lexical Hedges or Fillers, Tag

Questions, ‘Empty’ adjectives, Precise Color Terms, ‘Superpolite’ Forms,

Intensifiers, Emphatic Stress, and Avoidance of Strong Swear Words. Meanwhile,

one feature of women’s language which did not occur in Indonesian female

bloggers is ‘Hypercorrect’ grammar. It seems that this feature did not occur

because the female bloggers mostly used informal language in their blog. This

conducts to shorten the gap between the blogger and the readers. As stated by

Beal (2007) that the way bloggers write some postings in their blog the same as

the way they write in the diary book.

Furthermore, intensifiers tend to be the most frequent feature of women’s

language used by Indonesian female blogger with the percentage of 34.92%. It

appears two hundreds and fifty-seven times and those numbers of intensifiers are

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that mostly used by female bloggers. It reflects that female bloggers tend to use

complex or compound sentences in their postings as shown by the occurrency of

conjunction so. Moreover, it indicates that female bloggers want to emphasize or

strengthen their utterance deeply to attract addressee’s attention using intensifier.

As said by Lakoff (1975, cited in Homes 2001) that women “use intensifying

devices to persuade their addressee to take them seriously” (p. 287) because they

are lacking status in society.

In addition, there are some possible reasons of the use of women’s language

features by Indonesian female features. First, to express uncertainty and lack

confidence in the conversation. Second, to fill the gap or as the filler in the

conversation. Third, to start a conversation as grettings. Forth, to emphasize what

have been talking and invite the readers or addressees in believing of what

speakers said. Fifth, to convey emotional reaction rather than convey specific

information about the speaker’s opinion. Sixth, to prove that women have higher

vocabularies than men. Eighth, to attract the addressees’ attention. Ninth, to

protect the speaker’s face or politeness. These possible reasons are influenced by

the female bloggers themselves and their status in society.

To sum up, Indonesian female bloggers mostly used women’s language

features in their postings because they tend to reflect uncertainty and they are

lacking confidence in conversation by doing some efforts to keep the conversation

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |repository.upi.edu| perpustakaan.upi.edu93 5.2 Suggestions

After conducting this study, there are some suggestions for future studies

about women’s language features. First, future study should choose another data

in the form of written text, such as magazine, novels, or comics that can explore

all features of women’s language. In this case, future studies can find out ten

features completely.

Second, future studies are suggested explore the data more deeply and

accurately by selecting more respondents. In choosing the more respondents, the

more data and findings will also find out. So, it can enrich more knowledge about

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