Analysis of Non-Observance of The Gricean Maxims That Leads to Humour in Some Racist Jokes taken from Http://Www.Sickipedia.Org.

(1)

ii

ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini saya membahas cerita humor yang terdapat di situs http://www.sickipedia.org. Di situs tersebut terdapat berbagai tema humor seperti rasisme, agama dan politik. Dalam tugas akhir ini saya mengambil tema humor rasis khususnya yang berkaitan dengan orang kulit hitam.

Saya menganalisis humor rasis orang kulit hitam dengan menggunakan pendekatan pragmatik khususnya menggunakan teori penggunaan bidal.Selain itu, saya juga menggunakan teori incongruity-resolution yang diperkenalkan oleh Jones, Shultz dan Suls.

Setelah menganalisis data, saya mendapatkan kesimpulan bahwa dalam humor yang bersifat rasis di situs web http://www.sickipedia.org, penulis paling banyak menggunakan flouting the maxim of manner. Hal tersebut terjadi karena para penulis humor menggunakan banyak kata-kata maupun kalimat yang bersifat ambigu dan membuat pembaca harus menafsirkan ulang arti dari kata-kata atau kalimat yang digunakan penulis dalam ceritanya. Dalam humor tersebut, para penulis juga berhasil membuat ekspektasi pembaca menjadi salah sehingga membuat cerita tersebut menjadi lucu. Saya berharap tugas akhir ini dapat memberikan kontribusi bagi mereka yang menganalisis topik yang sama dengan saya.

(2)

i

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

In everyday life, people do not always convey what they mean by saying it directly. They can mean what they say literally butsometimes theymean much more than their words actually say.

When we hear a joke, sometimes we do not understand the joke or its meaning. The utterance of the speaker can actually be the opposite of what the speakermeans.The utterance of the speaker can also be interpreted differently by the hearer. The different interpretation and meaning can make the hearerconfused. The same thing applies tothe jokeswhich are publishedin the media such as magazine, website and newspaper. The writer writes a joke to make the reader laugh, feel entertained. As the reader, we often wonder how a joke can amuse and make us laugh.

Making a good joke is not an easy task because the writer does not simply tell a story but also tries to make the reader understand the meaning of the joke and laugh at it. The writer has to use some words or sequence of wordsthat lead the reader to get the meaning, gain the humorous effect of the story and

(4)

laugh at it. That is why a writer uses certain words in his or her jokes.

There are many websites on the Internet that provide jokes. One of them is http://www.sickipedia.org.Interestingly, this website also provides somethemes of jokes such as racism, politics and gender,which areunique and arenot oftenfound on other websites.The title of my thesis is Analysis of Non-Observance of the Gricean Maxims that Leads to Humour in Some Racist Jokes

Taken from http://www.sickipedia.org. I choose to analyze racistjokesbecause some stereotypes in the jokes representthe daily life of the race. Reading racist jokes is a way to gain knowledge about the race’s daily life.

For the reason above, I have decided to make an analysis of some racist jokes taken froma website. I use pragmatics to analyse the jokes.According to Yule (1996), Pragmatics is a linguistic study which is “concerned with the study of meaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader). It has, consequently, more to do with the analysis of what people mean by their utterances than what the words or phrases in those utterances might mean by themselves. Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning” (p.3).By using pragmatics, I hope I can know how the jokes can make the reader laugh. In addition, I also hope I can know some stereotypes of the Blackin the joke.

In this thesis, I am going to analyze the text based on Grice’s non

-observance of the maxims and Victor Raskin’s Script Base Theory of Humour. I

willanalyze the meaning of the jokes and how the jokes can make the reader laugh. I am also going to analyzethe non-observance of the maximsin each of the jokes which makes the readers laugh and feel amused.

(5)

3

jokes people can understand the thoughts and ideas of the writer. People usually laugh at a joke because it isfunny. However, they may only laugh at it without noticing the message or the ideas that the writer is trying tosay through his or her jokes.

After reading this analysis, the readers are expectedto consider jokesnot only as something common but also as a means to communicate and deliver ideas to the readers. The readers are expected to realize thatpeople do not always convey what they mean directly. I also hope that writers of jokes can create jokes that contain idea, background knowledge or message that can be used in their daily life and help the readers to enrich their knowledge of pragmatics as a branch of linguistics.

683 words

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In this thesis, I would like to discuss the following problems:

1. What are the types of non-observance of the maxims in the jokes?

2. How does the non-observance of the maxims in the jokes producean implicature?

3. How does the non observance of the maxims lead to humour?

(6)

In this thesis I intend:

1. to show the non-observance of the maximsin the jokes.

2. toanalyze how the non-observance of the maxims in the jokes produce an implicature.

3. toanalyze how the non-observance of the maxims in the jokes lead to humour.

1.4 Method of Research

First, I began the research by searching and selecting some jokes from the Internet. Second, I searched some e-books and books for the theory of maximand for thetheory of incongruity-resolution model. Third, Ianalyzed the jokes by using the theory of maxim and the theory of incongruity-resolution model.Lastly, I wrote my thesis.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapters One is Introduction, which contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is Theoretical Framework, in which I present the definition and the elaboration of the theory of pragmatics and the theory of humour that I use to analyze the data. Chapter Three is the analysis of the jokes. Chapter Four, which is the last chapter of my thesis, is the conclusion of the analysis. Bibliography and Appendix are presented at the end of the thesis.

(7)

24

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to present the conclusion of my analysis in chapter three. After analyzing the jokes, I find types of non-observance of the Gricean maxims in the jokes which arerelated to the stereotypes of the black people and produce humorous effect.

From my analysis, I conclude that all of the jokes as my data involve stereotypes of the black people in the western society. In the jokes, the readers can find stereotypes of the black people. However, the writers of the jokes show the stereotypes in a witty way through the characters’ utterance; as a result,

humour is produced.

I find all of the jokesinvolve flouting the maxim of manner. The maxim of manner is the most frequent maximflouted in the jokes. Flouting the maxim of manner starts when the characters in the jokes say something unclearly and not brief to the hearer. The characters in the jokes use flouting the maxim of manner to say something about the black people and also to imply stereotypes of the black people in a witty way. Thus, the punch lines of the jokes produce humorous effect.

(8)

I find two data, which are data 1 and data 4, which use flouting the maxim of relation. Flouting the maxim of relation happens whenthe characters in thejokes saysomething irrelevant and out of the topicof the conversation.The characters in the jokes use it when they are asked about something but do not give a proper and relevant answer to the question. The characters in the jokes use flouting the maxim of relation to state his thought about the black people.Flouting a maxim of relation also produces humorous effect that make the jokes funny. Thus, I conclude bothflouting the maxim of manner and flouting the maxim of relation are used to imply the stereotypes of the black people and also to increase the wittiness of the jokes.

In my analysis, the writers of the jokes do not use flouting the maxim of quality and flouting the maxim of quantity. Flouting the maxim of quality happens when the characters in the jokes say something which is the opposite of what he means. However, the characters in the jokes do not say something which is the opposite of what they mean.

Flouting the maxim of quantity is also not found in the jokes. Flouting the maxim of quantity happens when the characters in the jokes say something in an incomplete utterance. However, the characters in the jokes say something or give an answer completely.

(9)

26

Infringing a maxim happens either when the characters in the jokes performs imperfect linguistics performance or when the characters are in unstable condition. Infringing a maxim is not found in the jokes because the characters in the jokes show adequate linguistic performance. Moreover, the characters in the jokes are in a stable mental and emotion condition. They are not drunk, nervous or too excited when they utter their thought of the black people.

Opting out of maxim happens when the characters in the jokes unwilling to cooperate in a conversation. Opting out of a maxim is not found in the jokes because the characters in the jokes cooperate in the conversations.

Suspending a maxim happenswhen the characters in the jokes are unable to say something because of some cultural beliefs. Suspending a maxim is not found in the jokes because there is no cultural beliefs in the jokes which forbid the characters in the jokes from say something which is considered taboo by the society.

From my analysis, I also conclude that the writers of the jokes use theIncongruity-Resolution theoryin their jokes. At first, the writers of the jokes create jokes which involve hints in the jokes. The readers follow the hint that lead the readers to create predictions aboutthe jokes. Then, suddenly, the writers

deflect the reader’s predictions and turn it into humor that makes the readers

laugh. Then, the writers of the jokes use both of Non-observance of the Gricean maxims and Incongruity-Resolution theory to make the jokes are funny and amusing.

Overall, I concludethat the black people in the jokes are shown to have negative images in society such as criminals, jobless, lazy, despicable and they deserve to be discriminated. I also conclude that the theory that the writers of the

(10)

jokes use, which are the Non-observance of the Gricean maxims and Incongruity-Resolution theory, can be used in other jokes to reveal stereotypesof some races that society creates.

For further researchers who want to analyze jokes and take the same topic as mine, I recommend other genres such as religious jokes and sexist jokes because the researchers may analyze implicatures and maxims which the writers

of the jokes show through the characters’ utterance. In addition, the researchers

also may gain some knowledge about the stereotypes of some religion and the stereotypes between man and woman which are shown in the jokes. Furthermore, both religious jokes and sexist jokes are suitable to be analyzed with both non-observance of the Gricean maxims and Incongruity-Resolution theory

I hope my thesis can be a good source for anyonewho reads it and who decides to analyze the same topic and conduct the same study as mine.

(11)

28

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Texts

ace, 8, Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.sickipedia.org/racism/black/i-was-playing-in-inter-office-5-side-1381987

Fubar. Retrieved March 14, 2015, from http://www.sickipedia.org/search?q=why+ the+rabbit

Fubar. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.sickipedia.org/racism/black/ rum-and-coke-please-the-black-fella-at-the-bar-1418480

Fubar. Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www.sickipedia.org/racism/black/I- walked-past-an-office-why-arent-you-at-work-1418880

Mattfuckingpickles. Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.sickipedia.org/search?q=any+pink+niggers

Mrwolf. Retrieved February 5, 2015, from

http://www.sickipedia.org/search?q=fuck+you%2C+nigger%2C+get+a+job palindromemordnmilap. Retrieved from February 1, 2015, from

http://www.sickipedia.org/search?q=so+I+get+10+years+prison

Printed and Online References

Andersen, N. (2013). Flouting the Maxim in Comedy: An Analysis of Flouting in the Comedy Series Community, 5.

(12)

McGhee, P. E., &Jeffrey, H. G. (1983). Incongruity-Resolution Theory. Handbook of HumourResearch Basic Issues, 1, 42.

Thomas, J. (1983). Non-Observance of the Maxims. Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics, 55-76.