Analysis of The Language Play Found in The Names of Characters in 'Asterix and Obelix'.

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LIST OF SYMBOLS

± Mime

∑ Compounding

Ǿ Minimal pair

Elision

≈ Allusion

= Synonym

≤ Clipping

Graphology

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ABSTRACT

Dalam Tugas Akhir ini, saya membahas komik Asterix and Obelix yang cukup terkenal karya Rene Goscinny dan Albert Uderzo. Komik tersebut pada intinya bercerita tentang petualangan dua sahabat, Asterix dan Obelix. Dalam komik tersebut terdapat banyak sekali nama yang berhubungan dengan deskripsi terhadap karakter. Oleh karena alasan tersebut maka saya memilih untuk membahas permainan kata yang terdapat dalam komik tersebut.

Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya menggunakan sejumlah teori, yaitu: mime, minimal pair, homophone, synonym, graphology, compounding, blending,

allusion, elision, clipping. Dalam pembahasan data, teori yang paling sering

digunakan adalah mime. Contoh penerapan mime terdapat dalam nama Asterix

/æstərɪks_{/ yang diambil dari kata asterisk /}æstərɪsk_{/ atau dalam nama Obelix}

/ɒbəlɪks_{/ yang diambil dari kata obelisk /}ɒbəlɪsk_{/, dan lain sebagainya.}

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APPENDICES

Asterisk is the symbol *, placed next to particular word or phrase to make people notice.

Mime Asterix is the main character of the story.

2. Obelix Obelix ± Obelisk

/ bəlɪks/ / bəlɪsk/

Obelix ≈ obese

Obelisk is a tall pointed stone column with four sides, put up in memory of a person or an event.

Mime Obelix is a character whose job is to make menhirs.

3. Cacofonix Cacofonix ± Cacophony

/kæk fənɪks/ /kæk fənɪ/

Cacophony is a mixture of loud unpleasant sounds

Mime Cacofonix is a character with a terrible voice.

4. Getafix Getafix ∑ get + a + fix Get is have something done A is an article

Fix is injection of a drug

Compounding Getafix is the druid of Gaulish village.

5. Edifis Edifis ♫ Edifis

/edɪfɪs/ /edɪfɪs/

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Edifis is a large impressive building

Heart is the place in a person where the feelings and emotion are thought to be.

Compounding Graphology Minimal pair

Krukhut is someone who is asked to sabotage Edifis’ job.

7. Diagnostix Diagnostix ± Diagnostic

/daɪəgn stɪks/ /daɪəgn stɪk/

Diagnostic is connected with identifying something, especially an illness.

Mime Diagnostix is a druid whose job is to cure an illness.

8. Therapeutix Therapeutix ± Therapeutic

/Ɵerəpju:tɪks/ /Ɵerəpju:tɪk/

Therapeutic is the branch of medicine concerned with the treatment of diseases; helping you to relax.

Mime Theraputix is a druid whose job is to cure a mental illness.

9. Felonius Caucus

Felonious ± Felonies

/felənɪəs/ /felənɪz /

Felonies is the act of committing a serious crime such as murder or rape; a crime of this type.

Caucus is group of people with similar interest, often within a larger organization or political party.

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10. Psychoanalytix Psychoanalytix ± Psychoanalytic

/saɪkəʊænəlɪtɪks/ /saɪkəʊænəlɪtɪk /

Psychoanalytic is a method of treating

somebody who is mentally ill by asking them to talk about past experiences and feelings in order to try to find explanations for their present problems.

Mime Psychoanalytix is a druid whose job is to cure a mental illness.

11. Solivious Levitate ≤ levi Levi livi

Solivius © so + livi + us

Levitate means to rise and float in the air with no physical support, especially by means of magic or by using mental powers.

Clipping Graphology

Blending

Solivious is a friend of Asterix and Obelix who offers them to play in a theatre.

12. Postaldistrix Postaldistrix ∑ postal + distrix distrix Ǿ district

/dɪstrɪks/ /dɪstrɪkt/

Postal is connected with the official system for sending and delivering letters.

District is an area of a country or town.

Compounding

Unhygienic = not clean and therefore likely to cause disease or infection.

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15. Fulliautomatix Fulliautomatix ∑ fully + automatic Fully means completely

Automatix ± automatic /ɔ:tǝmætɪks/ /ɔ:tǝmætɪk/

Automatic means having control that work without needing a person to operate them.

Compounding Vitalstatistic ≈ fatalistic

Fatalistic is showing a belief in fate and feeling that you cannot control events or stop them from happening.

Mime

Allusion

Vitalstatistic is a character who is afraid of the sky falling on his head.

17. Petitsuix Petitesuix ∑ petite + suix Suite /swi:t/ ± suix /swɪks/ Petite = small

Suite is set of rooms, especially in a hotel

Compounding

Mime

Synonym

Petitesuix is a character with tiny body who owned a hotel.

18. Winesanspirix Winesanspirix ∑ wines + and + spirits And an

Spirix /spɪrɪks/ Ǿ spirits /spɪrɪts /

Wines is drink made from the fermented juice of grapes

And is as well as

Spirits means alcoholic drinks, such as whisky or gin, that are made by distillation

Compounding

Elision

Minimal pair

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Reading books can be one of the choices for some people to spend their

spare time. There are some kinds of book; they are novel, biography, poetry,

drama, comics, etc. They have their own styles; however, the one that I find most

interesting is comics.

Comics can be described as “a form of visual art consisting of images

which are commonly combined with text often in the form of speech balloons or

image captions” <http: www.answers.com>. I like the way how the story of a

comic is presented in frames and how the utterances are presented in the speech

balloons. Moreover, I like the pictures and the language which is simpler to

understand. I like to read comics especially funny comics. I like comics which

have funny story, funny pictures and witty language.

Usually we say that comics are funny because of the story, but actually,

we can say that a comic is funny not only from the story itself, but also from the

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Wittiness is the ability to say or write clever, amusing things (Oxford Advanced

Learner’s Dictionary 2005: 1755). There are a lot of ways to make witty language;

one of them is by using language play. Language play is ‘an action of

manipulating the language by bending and breaking its rules’ (Crystal, 1998: 1).

We can find a lot of language play in comic books. Sometimes it is used in the

characters’ speeches, sometimes in the titles of the stories. The names of some

places or buildings can also contain language play and the way the author gives

names to the characters may also use the process of language play.

A comic series which uses a lot of language play is Asterix and Obelix.

Asterix and Obelix is French comic series, written by Rene Goscinny and Albert

Uderzo. This comic has become a world-wide bestseller since it was printed in the

year of 1961 and has about thirty-three series. The main characters of this book

are also famous. Asterix is famous for his small body and his bravery, and Obelix

is famous for his big and tall body that makes him look like a giant. This comic

series tells about the adventure of two best friends named Asterix and Obelix with

Dogmatix, Obelix’s dog. They live in a Gaulish village. In this comic series the

author uses language play, especially in the names of the characters. If we look

further at some names in this comic series, we may find that the author very often

reveals the characteristics of the characters through the names of the characters.

Studying language play can be fun because when we read something, in

this case comic books, we can find what actually the words or names come from,

and from that point we can find out the meaning of those names or what the

author wants to tell us by using those names of characters. Sometimes when we

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not really pay attention to the words used in the comic, especially the names. We

just know that this is the name of the character without knowing why the author

gives such a name to the character. That is why I would like to analyze the

language play found in the names of characters in Asterix and Obelix comic

series. The books that I use for this thesis are Asterix and Cleopatra, Asterix and

the Big Fight, Asterix and the Cauldron, Asterix and the Chieftain’s Shield,

Asterix and the Great Crossing, Asterix and the Caesar’s Gift, Asterix and the

Normans.

There are four areas of language play used in the Asterix and Obelix comic

series. They are Phonology, Morphology, Semantics, and Stylistics. We use

Phonology when we deal with the sound of words (Hyman, 1975: 1). Morphology

is used when we deal with the study of word formation (Hufford, 1983: 1) and we

use the theory of Semantics if we deal with the meaning of the words (Crane,

Yeager, Whitman 1981: 129).

In writing this thesis, I want to make people more aware of the author’s

creativity in using language when they read a comic book so that they not only

read the book or the story and know all the characters of the book but also

understand why they are given such names, to make them realize that there must

be a good reason behind the naming of the characters.

1.2 Statement of the Problem In this thesis I would like to analyze:

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2. What process of the language play is involved in the creation of each

name?

3. What is the relationship between the naming of the characters and the

description of the characters?

1.3 Purpose of the Study This thesis is done to:

1. To show which names in Asterix and Obelix comic series that contain

language play.

2. To describe the process of language play of each name.

3. To explain the relationship between the naming of the characters and the

description of the characters.

1.4 Methods of Research

The first step in writing this thesis is reading the Asterix and Obelix comic

series. Then I note down all the characters’ names. After getting a list of the

names, I start to classify them based on whether or not they contain language play.

After that I analyze the process of the language play and also relate the names to

the description of the characters. Finally I write the research report.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter is the Introduction,

containing the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the

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contains the theories. The third chapter contains the data analysis. The fourth

chapter contains the conclusion of the thesis. The thesis ends with the

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CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION

From the data analysis in the previous chapter, I conclude that the authors

indeed use language play in creating the names of the characters. The authors use

quite a lot of processes of language play in creating the characters’ name. The process

that is mostly used in the name creation is mime, because in this book, the authors

seldom create the name consisting of more than one word. They often create names

by chosing a word and changing or adding the last part of the word with the sound

/ɪks/ or /ǝs/. Besides mime, there are some other processes involved in the creation of the names. They are compounding, homophone, minimal pair, allusion, elision,

clipping, graphology, and blending.

The characters Asterix and Obelix come from Gaulish village in north

Armorica, in Western Europe. The story is based on the fact that Gaul which is

occupied by Romans. This comic tells us about one small village which persistently

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As written in www.tuxdeluxe.com, according to the history, there was a Gaul

leader a long time ago, who led the people of Gaulish to a great revolt against the

Romans in 53-52 BC. His name is Vercingetorix. As we know, most of the

characters’ names in Asterix and Obelix end with the sound of /ɪks/. In my opinion, that is the reason why the authors give such names to the characters of this comic.

They want to make the readers remember the figure of Vercingetorix, the leader of

Gaul who fought against Rome, even not all the Gaulish names end with the sound of

/ɪks/.

In the naming of the characters of the Roman Empire, the authors also add

suffix –us to the names. I believe they do that to make the characters believable.

Names of people of the ancient Roman Empire end in ‘us’ such as Julius, Decimus,

Lucius, Postumus, Publius, Quadratus. In that way, when the readers come across the

names, they automatically associate them with the Romans.

The naming of the characters make the readers interested and entertained in

reading the story, besides giving the readers enjoyment when reading the book, it also

helps reader in understanding the characteristics of the characters. So, even when the

readers have not finished reading the book yet, at least they can explore their

imagination to get the first impression of the characters of this comic series and guess

their appearance or what their personality is, including which are the bad characters

and which are the good ones. What is also important is that when the readers come

across the names, they will find it entertaining. Thus, this adds to the enjoyment of

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Things that can help us interpret the meaning of the names or the purpose of

the author in giving such names to the characters can be seen from the choice of

words. The authors carefully choose the word which can represent or can describe

specific characteristics that they want the readers to notice from the characters. They

use or choose words that have similar pronunciation or sense with existing English

words so that they can help describe the characters in the story.

In creating some of the characters’ names, the authors change the original

words into a new one. Nevertheless, the reader can still guess the original form of the

word if they look and analyze the words carefully. For example, the name Solivious,

which comes from the words so, levitate, and us. By doing so, besides being able to

imagine the characters’ personality and guess whether the characters are bad or good

ones, the readers can also guess what the characters daily activities are, what they do

for a living or what habit they have.

Personally, I am of the opinion that the mime process which was chosen by

the authors in creating the name of the characters by giving or changing the last part

of the words into the sound of /ɪks/ and /ǝs/ is quite effective. It is also a lot easier to analyze the names which are created by mime. This is so, because the readers do not

have to divide the names into smaller part. Only by reading the names can the reader

already guess where the words come from.

For me, the way the authors use a lot of mimes in their creation of the

characters names of Asterix and Obelix is boring and uninteresting. I think it will be

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changing at the last part of the word. Honestly, it is easier for me in analyzing the

name when the process is mime. Nonetheless, I think it will be better if there is more

variation of the creation of names. When analyzing the names which are mimes, I just

had to look into the dictionary and that was it. But when the names include more than

one process, and when I find the process of the creation one by one until I finally find

the meaning of the name, the feeling of finding the purpose of the authors giving such

name to the character is more exciting.

However, I find the authors’ choice in creating names for the characters in this

comic book is exceptionally brilliant. Their choice in using names ending with the

sound /ɪks/ instead of using ordinary names makes the names of the characters of this comic book unique. The unique names become one big point that will attract and

interest the readers who love to play with language. What is more, it also becomes the

special characteristic of the Asterix and Obelix comic book which cannot be found in

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Ben, Crane, Whitman, and Yeager. Introduction to Linguistics. Canada: Little,

Brown and Company Ltd, 1981.

Crystal, David. Language Play. UK: Penguin, 1998.

---, An Introduction to Language. Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1998.

Gosciny, Rene and Albert Uderzo. Asterix and The Normans. Trans. Anthea Bell

and Derek Hockridge. London, Orion Books Ltd, 2004.

---, Asterix and The Great Crossing. Trans. Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge.

London, Orion Books Ltd, 2004.

---, Absolutely Asterix. London: Hodder Dargaud Ltd, 1998.

Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford:

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Nash, Walter. The Language of Humour. New York: LongmanGroup, Inc., 1994.

Wales, Katie. A Dictionary of Stylistics. Essex: Longman Group Limited, 1994.

Online Personal Sites

Asterix – Asterix Information Exchange. April 21st 2007

<http://www.comedix.htm>.

Armorica: Northwest part of France. April 21st 2007.

<http://www.chiefacoins/Database/Movies/Armorica.htm>.

Legio XX – The Twentieth Legion .April 22nd 2007.

<http://www.legio XX--Roman Names.htm>.

Online Dictionary. April 22nd 2007

<http://www.answers.com>.

The Free Encyclopedia. April 22nd 2007

Analysis of The Language Play Found in The Names of Characters in 'Asterix and Obelix'.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF SYMBOLS

ABSTRACT

APPENDICES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY