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1.2 Statement of the Problem ... 5
1.3 Purpose of the Study ... 5
1.4 Methods of Research ... 5
1.5 Organization of the Thesis ... 5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
CHAPTER THREE: DOUBLESPEAK IN RHOMA IRAMA’S STATEMENTS ON MATA NAJWA TALK SHOW “MENDADAK CAPRES” ... 13
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ... 28
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 33
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ABSTRACT
Dalam menulis tugas akhir ini, saya membahas penggunaan doublespeak (yang merupakan salah satu dari kajian pragmatik) dalam acara bincang-bincang antara Rhoma Irama dan Najwa Shihab. Acara ini membahas isu mengenai Rhoma Irama yang berencana untuk maju menjadi salah satu kandidat calon Presiden Republik Indonesia yang ke-7.
Teori doubespeak yang saya gunakan dalam tugas akhir ini merupakan gagasan dari William Lutz. Menurut Lutz, doublespeak dapat dikategorikan menjadi empat macam, terdiri atas: euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook atau bureacratese dan inflated language.
Tujuan saya menganalisis penggunaan doublespeak dalam pernyataan-pernyataan yang digunakan Rhoma Irama di dalam acara bincang-bincang Mata Najwa adalah untuk mengetahui dampak yang akan ditimbulkan. Doublespeak adalah suatu metode penyampaian informasi yang bertujuan mengubah dan menyembunyikan fakta sebenarnya untuk memberikan kesan yang baik tetapi menyesatkan dan membingungkan pembaca atau pendengar.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Human beings are social creatures who cannot live alone. They need to communicate each other to survive. In communicating, people share ideas, emotions or exchange information. The system of human communication is language.
Language can be used in speaking and writing. There are several kinds of media to use language. In written form, there are magazines, novels, books, newspaper, etc. In spoken form we can find news or talk shows.
2 Universitas Kristen Maranatha There are several types of talk shows on television such as Interview Talk
Shows, Political Talk Shows, Issue-Based Talk Shows, Comedic Talk Shows, and Talk Show Hosts (Types of Talk Shows, n.d.). Nevertheless, the most interesting talk show that has a certain quality is a political talk show. It is a talk show which discusses special political issues that has public interest and impact on the government and the people.
It is not easy to talk in a political talk show. As Ilie says in her book, “The show host, usually a media personality, is monitoring most of the discussion by stimulating, guiding, and facilitating the participants’ roles and contributions to
the program (for information exchange, confrontation, and entertainment).” (Ilie, 2001, p. 490).
The questions the talk show host asks may cause discomfort to the guest. However, the person who is invited to a talk show usually has to keep their good image during the discussion and answer the host’s questions as tactfully as possible without offending anyone. Furthermore, sometimes they try to use impressive words only for their own benefit.
There are many ways to make a statement sound impressive. We can add jokes, figures of speech, proverbs or even use language play. Interestingly, the purpose of all of them is to create a distortion of the matter. This is effective to many listeners. One of the effective methods is to use doublespeak.
3 Universitas Kristen Maranatha sound impressive.
It is very interesting to learn doublespeak. As listeners, we have to think before believing other people’s words. However, as speakers, we also have to choose our words carefully when we are speaking with other people.
In this thesis I am going to analyze how doublespeak works in a political talk show, especially in Rhoma Irama’s statements when he is invited to Mata Najwa Talk Show. The reason why I choose his statements is because I want to analyze how he composes the words in his statements to create a certain impression in the audience. He wants to show that he is serious and capable to be the 7th Indonesian president. I believe, in trying to convince the Indonesian people about this, Rhoma Irama uses doublespeak.
The approach in Linguistics that can be used to analyze Rhoma Irama’s statements in Mata Najwa Talk Show is Pragmatics. I use the theory of Pragmatics because it helps me to reveal what the speaker, in this case Rhoma Irama, truly intends to say in his utterances. Yule states “Pragmatics is the study of how more gets communicated than is said.” (Yule, 1996, p. 3). There may sometimes be unspoken things behind a speaker’s utterances. As listeners, we must be able to interpret what the speaker really wants to say in his utterances.
It is important for us to know what the speaker is trying to say indirectly in the statements. Because of that, we must be aware of the speaker’s intention, specifically when they use doublespeak in their statements for not being manipulated by their words.
4 Universitas Kristen Maranatha easily manipulated by political statements and will be more aware of the possible
use of doublespeak when they hear or watch a television talk show related to politics.
5 Universitas Kristen Maranatha 1.2 Statement of the Problem
1. Which of Rhoma Irama’s statements contain doublespeak? 2. What type of doublespeak is used in the statements? 3. What is the effect of doublespeak on the listeners?
1.3 Purpose of the Study
1. To find out which parts of Rhoma Irama’s statements contain doublespeak.
2. To find out the types of doublespeak used in the statements. 3. To explain the effect of doublespeak on the listeners.
1.4 Methods of Research
There are some steps that I take in writing this thesis. First, I search for the theory of doublespeak in the library which can support my analysis. Second, I browse the Internet to select some talk shows to be used as my data. Third, I watch the talk shows and analyze the statements containing doublespeak. Finally, I answer all the statement of the problem and write this thesis.
1.5 Organization of the Thesis
6 Universitas Kristen Maranatha the statements of the problem. The last one is Chapter Four, which contains the
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to conclude the result of my data analysis based on the use of doublespeak in Rhoma Irama’s statements on Mata Najwa Talk Show “Mendadak Capres” in Chapter Three. Lutz states that doublespeak is language that intentionally changes or hides the actual fact to give the listeners or readers a wrong idea or impression. (1990, p. 1) After analyzing Rhoma Irama’s statements in his interview on Mata Najwa; “Mendadak Capres” episode, I find that there is, indeed, doublespeak that he uses in his statements.
29 Universitas Kristen Maranatha are only three out of four types of doublespeak that appear in the data. They are euphemism, gobbledygook or bureaucratese, and inflated language. The other
type, jargon, is not found in the data.
The most dominant doublespeak which appears in my data is gobbledygook or bureaucratese. I found 5 data of gobbledygook of the whole data. Gobbledygook or bureaucratese as doublespeak occurs when a speaker wants to impress the hearers by overwhelming them by using long sentences in order to make something seem impressive where actually it is of little importance or even meaningless. Gobbledygook or bureaucratese contains long-winded, meaningless or irrelevant information. This can be seen in data 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 which is mostly found in statements that Rhoma Irama uses to cover up his incompetence and make it seem as if he were qualified and capable to run for the presidential candidacy. In the beginning, Rhoma Irama’s statements sound impressive. However, if we analyze it further, he only wants to build his good image and hide his incompetence in front of the audience. In fact, he does not have any knowledge that a candidate for the next president must have. By using doublespeak, he can give the Indonesian people a wrong idea or impression which is a good impression of him to gain a lot of support.
30 Universitas Kristen Maranatha While in data 4, Rhoma Irama uses inflated language to emphasize his disagreement towards Chinese-Indonesian’s involvement in politics. Inflated language in Rhoma Irama’s statement is used to impress the listeners or readers. This kind of doublespeak is easy to find. Yet, we have to be aware of the real meaning behind the statements. There is always a specific intention behind the statements that contain inflated language as Rhoma Irama does in his statements. It sounds very important and complex at first, while behind the words the fact is not like what it seems.
Another doublespeak that I found in my data analysis is euphemism. Euphemism appears only in data 3. The speaker uses euphemism in order to make unpleasant things seem more tolerable than they really are and it can also be a tactful way to mention an offensive or uncomfortable reality indirectly. Euphemism sounds good at first but behind the speaker’s statements, it hides bad words or discomfort reality. It is used to impress not to express, the same as the other types of doublespeak. Rhoma Irama uses euphemism in his statements to give a good impression in front of the listeners and cover up his bad side so as not to make him look racist. Actually, he wants to express his hatred towards Chinese-Indonesians who become bureucrats. Yet, he does not want to look racist in front of the audience for he aims to be the next president candidate. Therefore, he needs a lot of support and he has to build a good image to make the Indonesian people approve of his candidacy.
31 Universitas Kristen Maranatha create a good impression and has a great effect to make things sound complicated or hard to be understood. Jargon can be said as doublespeak if the intention is to impress people. In his statements, Rhoma Irama uses some Islamic terms, but the intention is not to impress nor to mislead people. Therefore, they cannot be categorized as doublespeak.
The use of doublespeak may give a big impact to Rhoma Irama’s statements. Successful or not, the use of doublespeak in a statement is still doublespeak as the intention is to mislead people. I believe Rhoma Irama is aware of this and is intentionally using the words which contain doublespeak in his statements for his own benefit. Accordingly, we must have the ability to know the real meaning behind that, especially in this talk show is Rhoma Irama’s statements, for not being manipulated by the use of doublespeak.
In Mata Najwa Talk Show, especially “Mendadak Capres” episode when Rhoma Irama becomes the guest, I found a lot of utterances containing doublespeak which are intended to manipulate the audience. For the researchers who are interested in analyzing doublespeak, I would like to suggest that they analyze another controversial episodes of Mata Najwa Talk Show because we
32 Universitas Kristen Maranatha As the thesis writer, I realize that my research is far from perfection. I will be grateful if there are some suggestions to make my thesis better. I hope my analysis will give the readers more understanding about the Pragmatics, especially doublespeak. Hopefully, this study can be a helpful reference for those who want to analyze a similar topic.
DOUBLESPEAK
IN RHOMA IRAMA’S STATEMENTS
ON MATA NAJWA TALK SHOW
“MENDADAK CAPRES”
a thesis
submitted to the English Department of the Faculty of Letters
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the “Sarjana” degree
ASTRID RIANI DAMAYANTI 1241034
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS
MARANATHA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY B A N D U N G
Approved by:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my highest gratitude to Allah SWT for blessing, love, opportunity, health, and mercy to complete this thesis. Thank you for giving me wisdom and strength so that I am able to finish my thesis.
In arranging this thesis, a lot of people have provided motivation, advice, and support for me. In this valuable chance, I intended to express my gratitude and appreciation to all of them. This thesis would not have been possible without the help, support and patience of my only advisor Bernadette Santosa, S.S., M.A for his supervision, advice, and guidance from the very early stage of this research as well as giving me extraordinary experiences throughout the past few years.
I am profoundly grateful to my beloved parents. Thank you for the endless love, pray, and support, thank you for reminding me to keep going and never giving up. Your supports magicaly give me reason to be focus to finish my study as soon as posible, for that I am really grateful to have you two in my life.
I would like to say thanks to the following friends for their continued support and friendship: Restiayu, Pattas Pattar, Cindy Alviyunita, Cindy Zahra, Rambu, and Antonieta. And my special thanks go to Sammy Syauta. You are always a good listener for every problem I faced, especially when I had to revise this thesis and re-start over and over again. Your oppinions never stop surprise me and also allow me to see my problem from a different angle.
Finally, I would like to thank everybody who was important to the successful realization of this thesis.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
Toto, A. (2012, November, 28). Mata Najwa Rhoma Irama Mendadak Capres Capres.flv [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 0hL503g2G71
References
Examples of euphemism. (n.d). Retrieved from
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-euphemism.html Hornby, A. S. (2010). Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary. (8th ed). Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Ilie, C. (2001). In Keith Brown (ed.) Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd Edition, Vol. 12, 489-494. Oxford: Elsevier
Lutz, W. (1989). Doublespeak: From “revenue enhancement” to “terminal living”: How government, business, advertisers, and others use
language to deceive you. New York: Harper & Row.
Ricks, C. (1990). The state of the language: A centennial book. California: University of California Press
34 Universitas Kristen Maranatha http://www.ehow.com/about_7227990_types-talk-shows.html
Wordiness and gobbledygook. (n.d). Retrieved from
http://www.nipissingu.ca/departments/student-development-and-
services/academic-skills/resources/Pages/Wordiness-and-Gobbledygook.aspx
