GRAMMATICAL DEVIATION AND ITS PHONOLOGICAL
EFFECTS
IN BEBE REXHA’S SONG
LYRICS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
VATMA ANGGRAINI PUTRI Student Number: 154214128
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS
UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA
ii
GRAMMATICAL DEVIATION AND ITS PHONOLOGICAL
EFFECTS IN BEBE REXHA’S SONG
LYRICS
TITLE PAGE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
VATMA ANGGRAINI PUTRI Student Number: 154214128
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS
UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA
vii
SO VERILY, WITH THE HARDSHIP THERE IS RELIEF
WITH THE HARDSHIP THERE IS RELIEF
—
QS. 94:5-6
viii
This thesis is dedicated to
my parents,
Yutrianti and Suratman
and also my sister,
Berlian Rahmada Romadhona
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would like to send my deepest gratitude to my Allah SWT,
who always gives me His blessing and love as well as gives me everything I need
in my life especially during the process of writing this thesis. I thank Him, for He
has sent me a lot of good people that make my life full of happiness. I could never
ask for more.
I would like to give my sincere thanks to my beloved thesis advisor
Arina Isti’anah, S.Pd., M.Hum., who guided me to write my thesis. I thank her
for the help given to me so I could pass through all the hard days full of
confusions in writing my thesis. I thank my co-advisor Fransisca Kristanti
S.Pd., M.Hum. who gave me her best to help me finishing my thesis. I also thank
my academic advisors F.X. Risang Baskara, S.S., M.Hum. and Dr. Bernadine Ria
Lestari, M.Sc., for the help and support given to me in these 8 semesters.
I would like to thank my parents and my little sister who always give me
their endless love and support. I thank my college best friends Putri, Widi, Mitha,
Ayu and Mbak Uuz, The Micins in Blue Group. Without them, I would probably
die in the first semester. I also thank my other best friends in Zimbabwe, Mantap
Anjeng, Geng Rempong and BBS groups for the huge support in finishing my thesis. Finally, I want to thank all of my friends in English Letters Department
batch 2015 and my other friends I cannot mention here for their support and help.
x
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH .. vi
MOTTO PAGE ... vii
CHAPTER II:REVIEW OF LITERATURE... 6
A. Review of Related Studies ...6
B. Review of Related Theories ... 10
1. Stylistics... 10
2. Deviation ... 11
3. Grammatical Deviation ... 13
xi
2. Data Analysis ... 26
CHAPTER IV:ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 27
A. Types of Grammatical Deviation Found in Bebe Rexha’s Song Lyrics ... 27
1. Omission ... 29
2. Deviation of Verb ... 37
3. Double Negation ... 39
4. Deviation of Noun ... 41
5. Deviation of Article ... 41
7. Overgeneralization ... 43
B. Phonological Effects of Rhyme and Meter as the Result of Grammatical Deviation in Bebe Rexha’s Song Lyrics ... 43
1. Rhyme... 44
2. Meter ... 48
CHAPTER V:CONCLUSION ... 51
REFERENCES ... 54
APPENDICES ... 56
Appendix 1 ... 56
Appendix 2 ... 60
Appendix 3 ... 63
Appendix 4 ... 65
Appendix 5 ... 67
Appendix 6 ... 68
xii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. The Summary of Grammatical Deviations
Occur in Bebe Rexha’s songs...28
Table 2. Omission of Subject in Bebe Rexha’s Songs ……... 30
Table 3. Omission of Article in Bebe Rexha’s Songs ……... 33
Table 4. Omission of Linking Verb in Bebe Rexha’s Songs...……... 34
Table 5. Deviation of Verb in Bebe Rexha’s Songs..………...38
Table 6. Double Negation in Bebe Rexha’s Songs..………... 40
Table 7. Rhyme Effect of Deviation of Verb in Bebe Rexha’s “I’m a Mess”....………... 45
Table 8. Rhyme Effect of Deviation of Verb in Bebe Rexha’s “The Way I Are”....………... 46
xiii ABSTRACT
Putri, Vatma Anggraini. (2018). Grammatical Deviation and Its Phonological Effects Found in Bebe Rexha’s Song Lyrics. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Language is a tool that helps people to express feeling, idea, and information. In using a language, people have their own way to deliver the information to other people. In other words, everyone has his or her own style in using a language, whether in written or in spoken language. Besides, people use language for entertainment purposes as well, for example in literary works. One of the literary works is poem. In writing song lyrics, a song writer also has his or her own style. It is common for the song writers to deviate the rules of a language such as grammar. This also occurs in the songs of Bebe Rexha, an American singer and song writer. Bebe Rexha makes grammatical deviation in her songs in order to make certain phonological effects. As the result, the songs become more beautiful and appealing.
This study focuses on the grammatical deviation in five songs of Bebe Rexha. Those songs are “Me, Myself and I”, “I Got You”, “Meant to be”, “The Way I Are” and “I’m a Mess”. The aim of this study is to find (1) the types of grammatical deviation in Bebe Rexha’s songs and (2) the phonological effects as the result of the grammatical deviation occuring in the songs.
The approach used to analyze the data of the study is stylistics. Stylistics is one of the linguistic branches that studies about the style in a language and the description of the purpose and the effects as the result. This makes stylistics become the appropriate approach in analyzing the data. In addition, the data is taken by using the purposive sampling strategy.
Based on the analysis conducted by the researcher, there is only one type of grammatical deviation which is syntactical deviation. There are seven grammatical deviation processes in five songs of Bebe Rexha. Those are omission, deviation of verb, double negation, deviation of noun, deviation of article, deviation of preposition and overgeneralization. There are two phonological effects from the grammatical deviations, those are rhyme and meter. In rhyme, the grammatical deviation was applied in order to make the last syllable in a line rhymes with the previous or the next line. In meter, the grammatical deviation was applied to make the right metrical pattern in the song. To conclude, there is only syntactical deviation in Bebe Rexha’s songs after analyzing the songs using stylistics approach. The deviation create the phonological effects which are rhyme and meter.
xiv ABSTRAK
Putri, Vatma Anggraini. (2018). Grammatical Deviation and Its Phonological Effects In Bebe Rexha’s Song Lyrics. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Bahasa adalah alat yang membantu manusia dalam mengekspresikan perasaan, pemikiran, dan informasi. Dalam menggunakan bahasa, manusia memiliki cara mereka sendiri untuk menyampaikan informasi kepada orang lain untuk berkomunikasi. Dengan kata lain, setiap orang memiliki gaya mereka sendiri dalam menggunakan bahasa, baik tertulis maupun lisan. Selain itu, manusia juga menggunakan bahasa di dalam dunia hiburan seperti dalam karya-karya sastra. Salah satu karya-karya sastra adalah puisi. Dalam menulis lagu, seorang pencipta lagu juga memiliki gaya tersendiri. Dalam membuat lagu, seorang pencipta lagu terkadang melakukan penyimpangan di tata bahasa dan ini adalah sesuatu yang biasa terjadi. Hal ini juga terjadi dalam lagu-lagu Bebe Rexha, seorang penyanyi dan pencipta lagu dari Amerika. Bebe Rexha membuat penyimpangan dalam tata bahasa di dalam lagunya untuk menghasilkan efek-efek fonologi tertentu. Hasilnya adalah lagu-lagunya menjadi lebih indah dan menarik.
Penelitian ini terfokus pada penyimpangan tata bahasa dalam lima lagu Bebe Rexha yang berjudul “Me, Myself and I”, “I Got You”, “Meant to be”, “The Way I Are” and “I’m a Mess”. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menemukan (1) tipe-tipe penyimpangan tata bahasa di lagu-lagu Bebe Rexha dan (2) efek-efek fonologi sebagai hasil dari penyimpangan tata bahasa tersebut.
Pendekatan stilistika adalah pendekatan yang digunakan untuk menganalisis data di penelitian ini. Stilistika adalah salah satu cabang ilmu linguistik yang mengkaji gaya dalam sebuah bahasa dan menjabarkan mengenai tujuan dan efek yang ditimbulkan. Hal ini membuat stilistika menjadi pendekatan yang tepat dalam menganalisis data. Selain itu, data tersebut diambil menggunakan teknik sampel bertujuan.
Berdasarkan analisis, hanya ada satu tipe penyimpangan tata bahasa di lima lagu-lagu Bebe Rexha yaitu penyimpangan sintaksis. Terdapat 7 proses penyimpangan tata bahasa yang ditemukan yaitu omission, deviation of verb, double negation, deviation of noun, deviation of article, deviation of preposition and overgeneralization. Selain itu ada dua efek fonologi dari penyimpangan tata bahasa tersebut: rima dan meter. Penyimpangan tata bahasa diterapkan di dalam lagu untuk membuat suku kata terakhir di sebuah baris berima sama dengan baris sebelum atau setelahnya dan untuk membuat pola meter yang sama. Kesimpulan yang dapat diambil yaitu hanya ada penyimpangan sintaks di dalam lagu-lagu Bebe Rexha setelah dianalisis menggunakan pendekatan stilistika. Penyimpangan-penyimpangan tersebut membuat efek-efek dalam fonologi yaitu rima dan meter.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Language is a tool that people use to communicate with others. Language
helps people to transfer the idea in their mind into words. They can produce the
words through the organ of speech in order to deliver the idea to the people they
are talking to. By knowing a language, someone can speak and he or she is able to
be understood by others who know that language (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams,
2011, p. 4). This means that a language makes people connected from one another
and becomes a tool to maintain their relationship.
Language is also a science that is studied by the scientists. The study of
language is called linguistics. Linguistics is defined as the scientific study of
language and its structures rather than the learning of individual languages (Barry,
2009, p. 196). In linguistics there are some components that are observed by the
linguists such as phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Those
components are treated in different ways by the linguists even though they are
actually connected.
In linguistics, the style also becomes the important thing to study. “Style
is the way in which a language is used in a given context by a given person for a
given purpose” (Leech & Short, 1994, p. 10). Style is used in the spoken and
written language. In written language, style is applied in non-literary works and
literary text” (Leech & Short, 1994, p. 11). The branch of linguistics that
discusses the style in a language is called stylistics.
Stylistics is defined as the study of style (Leech & Short, 2007, p. 11).
“Stylistics is a critical approach which uses the methods and findings of the
science of linguistics in the analysis of literary text” (Barry, 2009, p. 196). The
literary text can be a novel, a prose, a short story, or a poetry. There are rhyme and
meter which commonly applied in a poetry. This is supported by Obermeier et al (2013) that “metrical patterning and rhyme are frequently employed in poetry” (p.
1). A song lyrics is also possible to be analyzed using the theory of stylistics
because the lyric and poetry have the same characteristic such as rhyme
(Vosahlik, 2016, p. 13). Besides the rhyme, the meter is also one of the
characteristics that a lyric and a poetry have. Both rhyme and meter are commonly
applied in a poetry and also in a lyric. This indicates that a lyric and a poetry can
be treated the same way in the analysis of stylistics.
In some song lyrics, the song writer makes the lyrics without following
the rules of the language. In other words, the writer of the song violates the
grammar of a language that is used in writing the song. The grammatical error that
the song writers make is called grammatical deviation. Grammatical deviation is
“when a sentence or sentences break the rules of grammar” (Budiharto, 2018, p.
86).
The song writer does not make the grammatical errors without purposes.
The song writer usually violates the language rules in order to make the song
sung by Jason DeRulo featuring Nicky Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign. There are lines
in the lyric which are He copping that Valentino ain’t telling me no and the next
line is I’m that bitch and he know. In the second line it should be I’m that bitch
and he knows since the third singular is always followed by verb with suffix {–s}.
However, the songwriter chose to use the word know in order to make the same rhyme with the previous line which ends with the word no. This makes the lines rhyme each other and make the song more appealing.
In this study, Bebe Rexha’s song lyrics are analyzed since there are some
predicted deviations in the lyrics. Stylistics becomes the approach that is used in
order to answer the problem formulation in this study. Besides, the phonological
effects from the grammatical deviation are discussed as well. The phonological
effects are related to the rhyme and meter.
Bebe Rexha is an American singer who is also a songwriter. Her music
genre is mostly pop and RnB. Rexha does not write songs for herself. She writes
some songs which are sung by other musicians such as Selena Gomez, Eminem,
Iggy Azalea and other singers. However, in this study the researcher chooses five
songs of Bebe Rexha, “I Got You”, “Meant to be”, “Me, Myself and I”, “The Way
I Are”, and “I’m a Mess”. This is because the songs are listed in Hot 100 songs in
the Billboard’s chart history according to www.billboard.com. This means her
songs are listened by many people. Besides, as it is stated in
www.aceshowbiz.com, an online magazine, she got 17 nominations and 5 awards
B. Problem Formulation
This study discusses some problems in order to analyze the grammatical
deviation in Bebe Rexha’s song lyrics. The problems are:
1. What types of grammatical deviation are found in Bebe Rexha’s song lyrics?
2. How does the grammatical deviation create phonological effects of rhyme and
meter in the song lyrics?
C. Objectives of the Study
There are two objectives of the study that are going to be analyzed based
on the problem formulation above. The first objective is to find out the types of
grammatical deviations that are found in Bebe Rexha’s song lyrics. The second
objective is to describe the phonological effects of rhyme and meter that occur in
several lines in Bebe Rexha’s song lyrics influenced by the grammatical
deviation. The phonological effects of rhyme and meter are explained more in this
study. The lines that are not deviated grammatically are not discussed in this
study.
D. Definition of Term
There are some terms that will be repeated several times. Those terms
will be used by the researcher in the analysis to provide answers to the problem.
Grammar is something important to know if someone wants to be able
to speak in a language. Grammar is defined as “the knowledge that the speakers
have about the units and rules of their language” (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams,
2011, p. 13). The example is the rules that make the sounds are combined and
becomes words, the words are combined and becomes phrases then sentences.
Grammatical means that “a sentence conforms to the rules of mental
grammar” (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2011, p. 13). Meanwhile, grammatical
deviation means that a sentence is not following the rules and violates the
grammar of a language that is used.
Phonology is the study of how speech sounds form pattern (Fromkin,
Rodman, & Hyams, 2011, p. 227). In phonology, it discusses the sounds in a
language which differ from one to another language. Phonological effects mean
the results of the phonological phenomena in sentences or in texts. In this study,
the phonological effects are found due to the grammatical deviation in the Bebe
6 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part reviews related
studies. In this part the researcher discusses similar studies that other researchers
have done. The second is review of related theories. In this part, the theories that
are going to be used to discuss the study are presented. The third is theoretical
framework. In the last part, the researcher explains how the theories and the
reviews are used to solve the problems in this study.
A. Review of Related Studies
The first similar study is “Grammatical Errors and Their Effects in Rich
Brian’s Songs” written by Petra (2018). The object of the study focuses on the
song lyrics by Rich Brian. He chooses three songs that are written by Rich Brian,
those are “Dat $tick”, “Glow Like That”, and “Who That Be”.
The aims of the study are to find the grammatical deviations in Rich
Brian’s songs and to find the effects of the grammatical deviations in the songs. In
his study, Petra (2018) analyzes the sentences, phrases, and words in Rich Brian’s
“Dat $tick”, “Glow Like That”, and “Who That Be” using the stylistics approach
on the grammatical and phonological level. In his study, Petra (2018) finds out
several grammatical errors which include the omission, double negative, error of
the grammatical errors in the songs are rhyme and meter in order to make some
desired effects towards the listener of the songs.
The difference between Petra’s (2018) study and this current study is that
the object of the study. Even though both studies use songs lyrics, the singers are
not the same. However, the approach is similar. This study will also use stylistics
as the approach to analyze the problems.
The second similar topic is Asmara’s (2018) study entitled Phonological
Features in Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice” and “Nothing Gold Stay” Poems. In his study, he discusses the phonological features that are found in Robert Frost’s
poems. Those two poems are Frost’s works that are obtained in the New Hampshire.
The purpose of the study in Asmara’s (2018) study is to discover the
phonological features in the poems that are used by Robert Frost in writing those
poems. Another purpose is to discover the style that is used by Robert frost in
making “Fire and Ice” and “Nothing Gold Stay” poems. In his study, the
researcher analyzes every line in the “Fire and Ice” and “Nothing Gold Stay”
poems using the stylistics approach. The phonological level of stylistics is the
main approach in his study.
In his study, the researcher finds the types of rhyme, the end rhyme
pattern, meter, and repetition of sound which the poet used in both “Fire and Ice”
and “Nothing Gold Stay” poems. Another finding is the style that Robert Frost
used in writing the poems. He states that Robert Frost has a style called
There are similarities and differences in this study and Asmara’s (2018)
study. The difference lies on the object of the study. In Asmara’s (2018) study, he
chooses “Fire and Ice” and “Nothing Gold Stay” poems written by Robert Frost as
the object while in this study the researcher chooses songs by Bebe Rexha.
However, the approach that is used by Asmara (2018) and the researcher of this
study is the same. Both researchers choose stylistic approach.
The third study is “Grammatical Deviation in President Jokowi’s Speech
to the APEC CEO Summit” written by Budiharto (2018). In his study, the
researcher analyzes the speech of President Jokowi. The aim of the study is to find
out the types of grammatical deviation in the speech. Another aim of this study is
to find out the extent of the grammatical deviation in President Jokowi’s speech
related to the the speaker’s social status.
In order to solve the problems, Budiharto (2018) uses the analytical
descriptive method. President Jokowi’s speech in the APEC CEO Summit was
observed and analyzed in order to find its grammatical deviation on the basis of
the framework which uses the theory by Leech. Furthermore, he also identified
the social status of the speaker by using Trudgill’s theory
In Budiharto’s (2018) study, the researcher finds that there are two types
of grammatical deviation in the speech. The first one is morphological deviation.
This means that there are addition and reduction of morphemes incorrectly from a
word (Budiharto, 2018, p.93). The second one is syntactic deviation which means
it is about the pattern of the grammar arranged incorrectly. Another finding in the
Jokowi. In his study, Budiharto (2018) states that the grammatical deviation is not
only done by an uneducated person, but it can happen to educated people as well
(Budiharto, 2018, p.95). According to Budiharto (2018), this againsts the theory
of Trudgill about the Standard English that is used by honorable and educated
people while they who do not speak in Standard English are considered as ‘poor’
and not educated. However, the theory of Trudgill is irrelevant in this case since
Trudgill’s theory is about the native speaker of a language which is English. Thus,
it makes Budiharto’s (2018) finding in this part becomes his weakness in his
study.
The study that is done by Budiharto (2018) has several differences
compared to this study. Budiharto’s (2018) study chooses the speech of President
Jokowi in OPEC CEO Summit as his object of the study, while in this study the
researcher uses Bebe Rexha’s song as mentioned before. Even though the
approach that is used in both studies is stylistic approach, Budiharto (2018) uses
analytical descriptive method including the theories from Leech about
grammatical deviation and Trudgill about the Standard English. Meanwhile, in
this current study the researcher uses stylistic approach that will lead to the
phonological matters in order to solve the problems. However, Budiharto’s (2018)
study and this study discuss the same topic which is grammatical deviation.
The fourth study is “A Stylistic Analysis of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” written by Shaukat Khan et al (2016). The object of the study is the poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge entitled “The Rime of the Ancient
the elements of the poem, bring out the interpretive potential of the semantically
deviant units in the poem, point out the typographical deviations in the encoding
of the poem’s unique message (Khan et al, 2016, 43). In his study, Khan et al
(2016) uses the approach of stylistics to analyze the poem.
The first result of Khan et al’s study is the typographical deviation that is
found has marked the climax of the poem. Besides, the interpretive value in
deviant parts of the poem can be concluded that it is quite high. The study of
Khan et al (2016) and this study are similar due to the approach that is used. Khan
et al (2016) and the researcher of this study uses the stylistics approach. The difference lies on the object of the study. Khan et al (2016) uses poem while this
study uses songs. The aim of the study is also different since this study leads to
the phonological effects that exist in the song while the study by Khan et al (2016) leads to semantic matters.
B. Review of Related Theories
In this part the researcher discusses the theories that are used in order to
analyze the object of this study. The theories that are discussed in the following
discussion are only the theories that are close to the problems of this study. The
theories are stylistics, deviation, phonology, and also song.
1. Stylistics
“Stylistics is defined as the analysis of distinctive expression in language
and the description of its purpose and effect” (Verdonk, 2002, p. 4). It means the
writer or a speaker with other writers or speakers. This is because everyone has
his or her own preference in using or choosing words.
Stylistics can be used to analyze a written and spoken language. Stylistics
can be used to analyze a non-literary and literary text. In literary work, “it is used
to show how the technical linguistic features of the literary work contribute to the
meaning and effects” (Barry, 2009, p. 196). One of the examples of the technical
linguistic feature is grammatical structure. A writer has his or her preference in
choosing dictions for sentences used in his or her literary work. This makes every
writer has his or her own style.
In stylistics, there are several levels of stylistic analysis which are
semantic level, syntactic level, graphological level, and phonological level (Leech
& Short, 2007, pp. 101-105). Among four levels of stylistic analysis, the
researcher only uses two levels: syntactic level and phonological level. The
syntactic level discusses about grammar or the grammatical structure in a text. In
this study it is used to analyze the lyric of Bebe Rexha’s songs. Besides, the
phonological level is also used in this study. This is because phonology deals with
meter and rhyme that are also needed to discuss the object of this study.
2. Deviation
A linguistic deviation is “a disruption of the normal processes of
communication: it leaves a gap, as it were, in one’s comprehension of the text”
(Leech, 1969, p. 61). This means the language that is used by a writer or a speaker
is being violated. The writer or the speaker does not follow the rules of the
Shamisa states that “there is almost no literary work that does not involve
a sort of deviation from ordinary language” (Shamisa as cited in Pirnajmuddin and
Medhat, 2011, p. 1329). In other words, deviation is something common in
literary works including in a poem. The deviation in the literary work such as
poem differentiates the daily language that people use and the language that a poet
uses in a poem. In poem, it needs a strong word to deliver the ideas of the writer
and the daily language is assumed to be ineffective. Therefore, according to
Shamisa, the deviation in a poem is seen as something that cannot be neglected
since the importance and the influence of a literary work depends on it (Shamisa
in Pirnajmuddin and Medhat, 2011, p.1329).
According to Budiharto (2018), Leech asserts deviations with the concept
of foregrounding (2018, p. 88). Leech (1969) states that linguistic deviation is the
foregrounded figure in a literary work and the language of the literary work
considered as the background (1969, p.57). In other words, deviation in linguistics
is related to the word foregrounding. Foregrounding is the psychological effect
that rises within the literary readers (Verdonk, 2002, p.6). It means the
foregrounding refers to the aesthetic effects that appear in literary works affected
by the deviation.
Leech (1969) also mentions eight types of deviation. Those deviations
are grammatical, lexical, phonological, graphological, semantic, dialectical,
register, and historical period deviation (Leech, 1969, pp. 42-52). In this study, the
grammatical deviation is discussed further in order to analyze the object in this
3. Grammatical Deviation
“When a sentence is ungrammatical or breaking the rules of grammar,
the sentence is deviated” (Budiharto, 2018, p. 86). In other words, grammatical
deviation is the term for a sentence that is grammatically incorrect or breaking the
grammar rules of a language. The example is the deviations that occur in African
American Vernacular English (AAVE). In AAVE, one of the distinctive
grammatical features is the omission of verb be in a sentence. For example is in
the sentence the soup hot. The sentence is not conforming the grammatical rules.
The sentence is supposed to be the soup is hot.
In grammatical deviation, there are two different features or types. Those
features are syntax and morphology (Leech, 1969, p. 44). In syntax, it deals with
the word pattern in sentences. In morphology, it deals with the grammar of the
word. These types of grammatical deviation are the important things that the
researcher tries to find. This is because the first problem in this study is to find the
types of grammatical deviation in the Bebe Rexha’s songs.
a. Syntax
“Syntax is part of grammar that represents a speaker’s knowledge of
sentences and their structures” (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2011, p. 118). This
means that when someone speaks in a particular language, he or she already
knows the structure of the language in his or her head. The speaker knows how to
combine some words into sentences. This is called the rules of syntax which
The rules of syntax depend on the language. A different language will
have different rules as well. In English, it is SVO language or
Subject-Verb-Object language. For example is the word Sally baked a cake. In that sentence,
Sally is the subject, baked is the verb and cake is the object.
In grammatical deviation, syntax deals with the errors of grammar in a
sentence that makes it incorrect in its structure. Besides, it also deals with
syntactic rearrangement or hyperbaton (Leech, 1969, p. 45). “Hyperbaton is the
freedom poets have enjoyed by custom so that he or she can make the arranging
syntactic elements in irregular order” (Leech, 1969, p. 18). This creates a
possibility for a poet to violate the grammatical rules such as putting a verb after
the direct object. Leech (1969) also gives the example in the words he me saw that
is supposed to be he saw me (1969, p. 45).
There are some errors in English grammar that people make. For a poet it
is common for them to make errors in order to create their literary works more
aesthetic. Those errors in English grammar will be discussed in following
discussion.
i. Double Negation
According to Blanchette (2015), double negation is “a sentence with
multiple negative elements corresponding to a single semantic negation or it is
also called negative concord” (p. 2). In other words, double negation occurs when
two negative expressions are in the same sentence. For example is in the sentence
I didn’t eat no food this morning. In that sentence there are two negatives
According to Crystal (2008) double negation in a single sentence is not
acceptable in Standard English (p.324). The reason is that the listener or the
reader may confuse with the meaning. For example is in the sentence I don’t eat
nothing and the speaker actually means that he or she has not eat anything. However, the sentence means he or she eats something. This is because of the two
negative expressions in the sentence.
ii. Omission
Ellipsis or omission is “a term in grammatical analysis which means an
omission of a part of structure in a sentence” (Crystal, 2008, p. 166). It means that
a sentence with ellipsis is not a complete sentence. The example is in the sentence
Been there before as the answer of Have you ever visited that city?. The full answer or sentence is actually I have been there before. However, the subject I and the auxiliary verb have is omitted.
There are several types of omission since there are several parts in a
sentence. There are omission of subject, omission of article, omission of modal
auxiliary, omission of linking verb, omission of preposition and omission of
object. For example, in a sentence the subject is omitted then it is called the
omission of subject.
iii. Overgeneralization
“Overgeneralization refers to the process whereby children extend their
use of grammatical feature to context beyond those found in the adult language”
(Crystal, 2008, p. 345). Meaning to say that overgeneralization is commonly done
words in correct form as it is supposed to be. However, it is not only children who
acquire a language. Some adults in this world also try to acquire a foreign
language and they also tend to make a mistake which is overgeneralization. This
is stated by Matiini (2016) that overgeneralization is the learners’ own way to
make rules of the second language because of the influence of the first language
(Matiini, 2016, hal. 145). The example is when someone who learns English say
‘mouses’ instead of ‘mice’. This is because commonly the plural noun in English
is added a suffix which is {–s} or {–es}.
iv. Deviation of Verb
“Verb is a term used in the grammatical classification of words to refer to
a class traditionally defined as ‘doing’ or ‘action word” (Crystal, 2008, p. 510).
From the definition, it means that verb is used in a sentence to describe what the
subject does. Besides, the deviation of verb means that the verb is used
incorrectly. For example is in the sentence He doin’ it. The sentence is supposed
to be He does it since the subject of the sentence is the third singular person.
v. Deviation of Preposition
“Preposition is a term in grammatical classification of words that refers
to a set of items which typically precedes noun phrases to form a single
constituent of structure” (Crystal, 2008, p. 383). In other words, preposition is
used to connect between two nouns. The example of preposition is in, for, of, on, and so on. The example of deviation of preposition can be seen in the sentence we
vi. Deviation of Pronoun
“Pronoun is the lexical category functions as noun phrase in isolation”
(Trask, 1996, pp. 221-222). This means that pronoun can stand without any
article. Moreover, pronoun can be a subject and also object in a sentence. The
example of pronoun is they, we, I, you, she, he, me, my, mine, and so on. Those pronouns sometimes appear in incorrect way which is called deviation of pronoun.
The example is in the words this is me phone. In that sentence, the pronoun me is
supposed to be my since the sentence needs a possessive pronoun to show the owner of the object.
vii. Deviation of Article
“Article is a determiner which lacks independent meaning but serves to
indicate the degree of specificity of noun phrase” (Trask, 1996, p. 21). In other
words, an article is meaningless if it stands alone. In English, there are two kinds
of article, which are definite article and indefinite article. The example of definite
article is the and the example of indefinite article is a or an. The example of deviation of article is in the words they hid in a isolation place. In that sentence, the correct article is an since the following word is begun with vowel.
viii. Deviation of Noun
“Noun is defined as one of the lexical categories that denote individual
physical entities” (Trask, 1996, p. 188). Commonly, noun is associated with the
notion of ‘name’ and ‘thing’ (Crystal, 2008, p. 333). It means, the noun can be the
The deviation of noun sometimes occurs in a sentence. The example of
deviation of noun is in the sentence he eats some candy. The noun candy in the sentence is incorrect. It is supposed to be candies because the number of the candy is more than one and it can be seen from the determiner some.
b. Morphology
“Morphology is the branch of grammar which studies the structure or
forms of words” (Crystal, 2008, p. 314). This means morphology discusses
word-formation or the process to make new words. For example is the inword-formation of
how a word can be formed by adding affixes which is called affixation. When the
word happy is added by the prefix {-un} then it becomes unhappy. The word that
is changed also changes the meaning from happy which means a good feeling into
unhappy which means unpleasant feeling.
4. Phonology
“Phonology is a branch of linguistics that studies the sound system of
languages” (Crystal, 2008, p. 365). In phonology, the speech sounds are being
studied. By studying phonology, someone can differentiate which sounds that
have meaning and which sounds that are meaningless in a language. For example
is the word blcak is meaningless in English. However, the word black has a meaning in English which is the name of color. Besides that, phonology also deals
with rhyme and also meter that is explained in following discussion.
In phonology, it also studies the poetic devices which are used to analyze
assonance, and alliteration. However, this study will only discussed the effects in
rhyme and meter.
a. Rhyme
Rhyme, as stated by Madden (2002), is the sounds that come at the final
lines when the final vowel and consonant sounds in a word at the end of one line
match the vowel and consonant sounds at the end of another (2002, p. 70). This
means that rhyme focuses on the nucleus and the coda in the last word of a line
which similar to the last word in the previous or in the next line. “This will make
the mind of the listener starts to recognize the patterns and to anticipate what will
follow” (Bradley, 2009, p. 50).
There are three kinds of rhyme. First is monosyllabic rhyme. The
example of it is the words rat and cat. Second is disyllabic just like in the words
jelly and belly. Third is multisyllabic in the words achromatic and acrobatic. Besides, “rhyme comes in numerous varieties and each has a distinct function in
sound and sense” (Bradley, 2009, p. 57). First is perfect rhyme or full rhyme
which words have the same vowel and also the consonants that are identical. The
examples for the perfect rhyme are the words tall and call. Second is slant rhyme
or imperfect rhyme which involves shared final-consonant sounds but different
vowel sounds (Bradley, 2009, p. 57). The example is the word all and bowl.
b. Meter
Meter refers to “the measurable repetition of accented and unaccented
syllables in poetry” (Arp & Johnson, 2009, hal. 1664). Madden (2002) defines
71). This stressed and unstressed pattern are something important to observe in
the poetry. Besides, this element is also used to observe other literary work. In this
case, song is also included.
According to Madden (2002) the group of syllables making up one
metrical unit is called foot (p. 71). There are four types of metrical feet: iambic,
trochaic, anapestic and dactylic. Those metrical feet are usually applied by poets
in writing poems. Furthermore, the number of feet in each line is described as
monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter and
octameter.
i. Iambic
In this iambic foot, it begins with unstressed syllable. The unstressed
syllable is marked with ( ˇ ). Then it is continued by the stressed syllable. The
stressed syllable is marked with ( / ). The example is:
ˇ / ˇ / ˇ / ˇ / ˇ /
1) Shall I | compare | thee to | a sum | mer’s day
ˇ / ˇ / ˇ / ˇ / ˇ /
2) Thou art | more love | ly and | more tem | perate
From the example above it can be seen that those lines are begun with
ii. Trochaic
In this foot there are two syllables as well. Those are stressed syllable
and unstressed syllable. In this foot, the stressed syllable is followed by the
unstressed syllable. The example is:
/ ˇ / ˇ / ˇ / ˇ
1) Deep in | heart-wrung | tears I’ll | ledge thee
/ ˇ / ˇ / ˇ / ˇ
2) Warring | sighs and | groans I’ll | wage thee
The two lines are begun with stressed syllable deep and war-. They are followed by unstressed syllable in and -ring. This metrical pattern is repeated 4 times. This means there are 4 feet in every line above.
iii. Anapestic
Anapestic is different from iambic and also trochaic. In anapestic, it
contains two unstressed and one stressed syllable. Anapestic begins with two
unstressed syllable then follows the one stressed syllable. The example is:
ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ /
1) The Assyr | ian came down | like the wolf | on the fold
ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ /
2) When the blue | waves rolls nigh | tly on deep | Galilee
It can be seen from the example above that in the first foot in every line
has two unstressed syllable and it is followed by one stressed syllable. This
iv. Dactylic
Dactylic has the same number of syllables with the anapestic. The
difference is that in dactylic foot, it begins with one stressed syllable and followed
by two unstressed syllables. The example is:
/ ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ
1) Are you still | standing there | east of the | Garden of Eden or
/ ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ / ˇ ˇ
2) Were you re | lieved by the | flood that re | vised our ge | ography
The example above shows that in dactylic each line is begun with a
stressed syllable: are and were. They are followed by 2 unstressed syllables in one
foot: you still and you re-. There are 4 feet in every line since the metrical pattern is repeated 4 times.
5. Song
According to Ammer (2004), song is defined as “any piece of vocal
music” (p. 389) and “lyric is the text of the song” (p. 223). The lyric in a song is
similar to a poetry since both share the same characteristics which one of them is
rhyme. This is supported by Vosahlik (2016) that “common feature for both lyric
and poetry is rhyme” (p. 13).
The writer of lyric and poetry also have their own style in creating the
lyric and poetry related to the rhyme. In other words, lyric and poetry can be
treated the same way in stylistics. In addition, they can be analyzed through the
Usually, a song lyric is categorized in lyric poetry. Lyric poetry is
“characterized by the expression of the speaker’s innermost feelings, thoughts,
and imagination” (Madden, 2002, p. 76). This makes the contents of songs mostly
are telling a story and expressing the singer’s mind.
C. Theoretical Framework
The approach that is used in this study is stylistic approach and the level
that the researcher chooses in this study is on the syntactical level or grammatical
level. In this syntactical level, the theory helps the researcher to analyze the
structure in the songs. Moreover, the researcher also chooses the stylistic
approach in phonological level. This helps the researcher to find the possible
effects of the song to the listener through the rhyme and the meter of the songs.
The theory of deviation is also important in this study. The theory of
deviation that focuses on the grammatical deviation helps the researcher find the
answer of the first problem in this study which is about the types of the
grammatical deviation. Then, the researcher analyzes the songs and makes a
conclusion about the types of grammatical deviation found in the songs.
Another theory in this study is phonology. The theory of phonology
consists of two main theories which are rhyme and meter. These theories are used
in this study to analyze the pattern of the songs including the stressed and
unstressed syllable in the songs that will relate to the grammar and structure. This
will help the researcher to find the answer of the second problem which is about
24 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
In this chapter there are three main parts to discuss. The first is the object
of the study. In this part the researcher discusses the data of this study. The second
is approach of the study. In this part, the researcher discusses the approach that is
used to analyze the data that the researcher has collected. The third is the method
of the study. In this part, it shows the way the researcher collected the data and
then analyzed the data.
A. Object of the Study
The object in this study is the song lyrics of Bebe Rexha’s songs. As a
singer and also a songwriter, Bebe Rexha is quite productive in writing and
arranging songs. There are several song lyrics that she wrote and sang herself.
However, in this study the researcher chose five Bebe Rexha’s songs which are
placed in Hot100 in the billboard’s chart history according to www.billboard.com.
Those songs are “I’m a Mess”, “Meant to be”, “The Way I Are”, “Me Myself and
I” and “I Got You”. The lyrics of the songs are taken from www.azlyrics.com.
The five songs of Bebe Rexha were chosen based on the grammatical
deviation which found as well. One of the example of the grammatical deviation
was clearly found in one of the song titles which is “The Way I Are”. In the title,
the pronoun I was followed by an auxiliary are, however it should be followed by
B. Approach of the Study
This study applied stylistic approach in analyzing the object which were
the songs of Bebe Rexha. Stylistic approach was conducted in two levels:
grammatical level and phonological level. “Stylistics is defined as the analysis of
distinctive expression in language and the description of its purpose and effect”
(Verdonk, 2002, p. 4). This means that stylistics also discusses the purpose and
the effect of a certain text and in this case the text is from the lyric of Bebe
Rexha’s songs. Since this study analyzed the language style in Bebe Rexha’s
songs and its effects, stylistic approach was suitable for this research.
C. Method of the Study
1. Data Collection
This research applied a sample study as the data collection method. This
means that the researcher only chose some of Bebe Rexha’s songs. In this study,
the researcher chose five songs of Bebe Rexha and those songs were “I’m a
Mess”, “Meant to be”, “The Way I Are”, “Me Myself and I” and “I Got You”.
Furthermore, in this study the researcher applied the purposive sampling strategy.
This required the researcher to choose what to be sampled and it had to be able to
purposefully inform an understanding of the research problem and central
phenomenon in the study (Creswell, 2007, p. 125). In other words, the sample was
not randomly chosen.
In analyzing the data in this study, the researcher conducted several steps.
a Mess”, “Meant to be”, “The Way I Are”, “Me Myself and I” and “I Got You”
from the Billboard’s chart history. Second, the researcher found the lyrics in
www.azlyrics.com. Third, the researcher observed the grammatical deviations in
the lyrics. Forth, the researcher analyzed the process that made the grammar in the
lyrics were deviated in order to answer the problem formulations in this study.
2. Data Analysis
In order to answer the two problems, the researcher observed the lyrics of
Bebe Rexha’s songs. First of all, the researcher looked for the grammatical
deviations in the song lyrics. Then, the grammatical deviations were analyzed and
classified into some categories based on the process that occur such as double
negation, ellipsis, deviation of verb and so on. Next, the grammatical deviations in
the lyrics were categorized into two types of grammatical deviation which were
syntax and morphology. This was in order to answer the first problem in this
study which was about the types of grammatical deviation in Bebe Rexha’s songs.
After answering the first problem in this study, the researcher conducted
the next analysis which was phonological analysis towards the lyrics of Bebe
Rexha’s songs. The researcher analyzed the rhyme and meter in the lyrics as the
possible effects of the grammatical deviations that occurred in the lyrics of Bebe
Rexha’s songs. However, the researcher only observed the sentences or lines in
the lyrics that were grammatically deviated. The sentences which were not
grammatically deviated were not discussed in this study. This was conducted in
order to answer the second problem which was the phonological effects caused by
27 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In this chapter, there will be two main parts that will be discussed by the
researcher. The first part discusses about the types of grammatical deviation in
Bebe Rexha’s songs in order to find the answer for the first problem formulation.
The second part discusses about the phonological effects of the grammatical
deviation which are found in the Bebe Rexha’s songs. This part is for answering
the second problem formulation in this study.
A. Types of Grammatical Deviation Found in Bebe Rexha’s Song Lyrics
In this part the researcher analyzes the types of grammatical deviation in
Bebe Rexha’s songs. There are two types of grammatical deviation which are
syntax or syntactical deviation and morphology or morphological deviation
(Leech, 1969, p. 44). However, in the five Bebe Rexha’s songs there is only
syntactical deviation and the researcher does not find the morphological deviation
in the songs.
In syntactical deviation, the deviations in Bebe Rexha’s songs that are
already analyzed by the researcher are categorized into seven grammatical
deviation processes. Those processes are omission, deviation of verb, double
negation, deviation of noun, deviation of article, deviation of preposition and
overgeneralization. In this part, researcher discusses all the grammatical
The researcher provides the information about the grammatical
deviations processes found in Bebe Rexha’s songs in the table below.
Table 1. The Summary of Grammatical Deviations Occur in Bebe Rexha’s Songs
The table above shows the total deviations found in five songs of Bebe
Rexha which is 50 deviations. The table shows there are seven grammatical
deviation processes as well. The grammatical deviation process of omission
dominates the whole grammatical deviation since it has the highest percentage
which is 78 %. The frequency for the omission is 39. The deviations of verb found
in the songs are 5 and the percentage for it is 10 %. This makes the deviation of
verb lies in the second position after the omission. The third place is in the
deviation that is categorized as double negation. There are two double negations
in the songs and the percentage is 4 %. The rest of the grammatical deviation
processes such as deviation of noun, deviation of article, overgeneralization and
deviation of preposition have the same frequency which is only 1 deviation. The
percentage is also the same: 2 %. Those grammatical deviation processes is
discussed in the following discussion.
No Grammatical Deviation
Process
Frequency Percentage (%)
1. Omission 39 78 %
2. Deviation of Verb 5 10 %
3. Double Negation 2 4 %
4. Deviation of Noun 1 2 %
5. Deviation of Article 1 2 % 6. Deviation of Preposition 1 2 %
7. Overgeneralization 1 2 %
1. Omission
The omission is one of the grammatical deviation processes that is mostly
found in the five Bebe Rexha’s songs. There are 39 grammatical deviations of
omission found from a total 50 grammatical deviations in those five Bebe Rexha’s
songs. It means that grammatical deviation of omission dominate more than a half
of grammatical deviations found in the songs. The omission in the songs mostly
occurs in the subject of the sentences. This means that most of the sentences in the
song lyrics have no subject in them. The example is in the line Pop a couple xans
with somebody in Bebe Rexha’s song “Meant to be”. In the sentence, the subject is omitted. The correct form of the sentence is I pop a couple xans with somebody.
In five songs of Bebe Rexha, the researcher finds six types of omission.
Those are omission of subject, omission of article, omission of modal auxiliary,
omission of linking verb, omission of object and omission of preposition. The
further explanation of those six types of omission is provided bellow.
a. Omission of Subject
The first type of omission is the omission of subject. All five songs by
Bebe Rexha have the grammatical deviation in omission of subject in them. The
omission of subject in the songs in total is 30 from 39 grammatical deviation of
omission. Those 30 omissions of subject occur in the four songs out of five songs
that are being studied. Those are “Me, Myself and I”, “I Got You”, “The Way I
Are” and “I’m a Mess”. The full display of omission of subject is provided in the
appendix 1. The table below only provides the sample from the five songs of Bebe
Table 2. Omission of Subject in Bebe Rexha’s Songs
Song Grammatical Deviation Grammatical
“Me, Myself and I” Get what I want when I
See where this thing goes We will see where this things goes
The table shows the grammatical deviations in omission of subject in five
songs of Bebe Rexha. In the song “Me, Myself and I” there are 12 omissions of
subject. In “The Way I Are” there are 9 omissions of subject. In the song “I Got
You” there are 6 omissions of subject. Meanwhile, in “I’m a Mess” there is only
one omission of subject.
The subjects omitted are different in each sentence. This depends on the
context of the song. This also depends on the person or people that the singer is
talking to. For example is in the song “Me, Myself and I”. All the subjects in the
G-Eazy want to show their expression. They want to show their mind and opinion to
others. It can be seen in the line:
Get what I want when I want Know I’m great
Those sentences show the speaker’s or the singer’s mind about himself or herself.
The correct sentences are:
I get what I want when I want I know I’m great
This is different from the sentence with omission of subject in the song “I
Got You”. One of the sentences in “I Got You” is:
Tell a lie for you
The subject that is needed is I since the song is talking about the singer’s hope towards someone else. In that sentence the speaker or the singer commits to do
something in the future. Therefore, the auxiliary will or would is needed after the subject I. The sentence that precedes the sentence above is I’d do the time for you
or in the full form is I would do the time for you. Thus, the correct sentence for the
deviated sentence above is:
I would tell a lie for you
The auxiliary would is used in order to keep the consistency of the sentences since
in the previous sentence it uses the word would.
Another example is in the song “The Way I Are” in the line:
In this song, the singer tells others about her and her friends. This means the
subject is first person plural we. This can be seen from the line that after the conjunction ‘cause or because, the subject is we. Therefore, the correct subject for
the line above is we.
We roll it up because we are so ill
The line above is the correct sentence for the deviated sentence in the lyric.
In the song “I’m mess” there is only one sentence that is grammatically
deviated. The deviated sentence in the lyric is:
Have a drink on me cheers to the failing
The correct sentence for the sentence above is:
They have a drink on me cheers to the failing
The subject they is chosen because in this part of the song, the singer is describing people around her which act meanly to her. This means the singer talks
about the third person plural. The third person plural that is needed is they since its role is an active subject that does something. Their and them are not correct for
it does not show the possession of something and it is not an object that is
affected.
b. Omission of Article
Omission of article only occurs in one out of five Bebe Rexha’s songs.
The song is “Me, Myself and I”. The further information is provided in the table
Table 3. Omission of Article in Bebe Rexha Songs
The table above shows the grammatical deviation which is omission of
article. The four omissions of article are found in Bebe Rexha’s “Me, Myself and
I”. The four sentences are considered deviate the rules in English. This is stated by
Fromkin et al (2011) in one of the sentence examples in their book that in a sentence which lack of article is ungrammatical (2011, p. 63). Meaning to say that
an article cannot be omitted in a sentence. In Bebe Rexha’s “Me, Myself and I”
there are four sententences that the articles are omitted.
I just need privacy I just need space I’m folding cake It’s no debate
Those sentences are lack of article which make them grammatically incorrect. The
sentences should be added by an indefinite article since the noun is indefinite.
Besides, the nouns in the four sentences are also firstly mentioned in those
sentences so it needs an indefinite article a or an. The correct forms of the sentences are:
I just need a privacy I just need a space I’m folding a cake It’s not a debate
Song Grammatical Deviation Grammatical
“Me, Myself
and I” And as far as I can see I just need privacy
And as far as I can see I just need a privacy
I just need space I just need a space
Since all the nouns in the four lines above begin with non-vowel letter then the
indefinite article that is used is a.
c. Omission of Linking Verb
The researcher finds two omissions of linking verb after analyzing the
five songs by Bebe Rexha. The omissions of verb found in Bebe Rexha’s “The
Way I Are” and “Me, Myself and I”. The table below provides the examples about
the omissions of linking verb in two Bebe Rexha’s songs.
Table 4. Omission of Linking Verb in Bebe Rexha’s songs
Song Grammatical
Deviation
Grammatical
“The Way I Are” Roll it up ‘cause we
so ill
You roll it up because we are so ill
“Me, Myself and I” A Stella Maxwell
right beside of me
A Stella Maxwell is right beside me
From the table it can be observed the sentences that are grammatically
deviated. For example is in the sentence:
Roll it up ‘cause we so ill
In that sentence there is no verb after the subject we and before the adverb and adjective so and ill. The sentence will be correct when a linking verb is added after the subject since the sentence is followed by adverb so and adjective
ill. This is supported by Fromkin et al (2011) that verb be is needed before the adjective and it acts as an auxiliary (2011, pp. 153-154). Meaning to say that there
must be a verb after a subject and before the adjective or in this case is adjective
that precede by adverb. Therefore, the correct sentence will be:
The linking verb that is added is are because the subject that precedes it is we which is plural.
d. Omission of Modal Auxiliary
There is only one omission of modal auxiliary in Bebe Rexha song called
“The Way I Are”. The omission of modal auxiliary is found in the line:
I be right behind her spinal
The sentence shows what the speaker is going to do in the future. The sentence
above is grammatically incorrect since there is no modal auxiliary after the subject
I. According to Fromkin et al (2011), “auxiliaries provide the verb with a time frame and one of them is events that occur in the future” (2011, p. 129). This
means that the appropriate modal auxiliary for showing the coming events is will. Therefore, the sentence needs modal auxiliary will after the subject I. The correct form of that sentence will be:
I will be right before her spinal
According to the discussion above, it shows the importance of modal
auxiliary in a sentence. If it is left behind then the sentence is incomplete. This
makes the sentence is grammatically deviated.
e. Omission of Preposition
The researcher analyzes five songs by Bebe Rexha and finds one
omission of preposition in one of the songs. The song is “Me, Myself and I”. The
omission of preposition is in the line:
In the sentence, the speaker or singer wants to say that he or she pray to
the Lord. However, the sentence is incorrect because the preposition to is omitted.
The correct sentence will be:
I pray to the Lord, my soul to take
This is supported by the rule about the verb phrase containing preposition phrase
by Fromkin et al (2011) that one of the rules for the verb phrase is a verb and followed by a prepositional phrase (2011, p. 132). It is described as:
VP V PP
For example is in the sentence The man sits on the bench. It explains in the following discussion:
The man sits on the bench
V PP
The verb sit is followed by the prepositional phrase on the bench. Prepositional phrase of course needs a preposition in it so it is called prepositional phrase. In the
example above, the preposition that is used is in.
In the lyric of “Me, Myself and I”, the line Pray the lord, my soul to take
it should be added by preposition so that it can be a prepositional phrase. The
appropriate preposition for the sentence is to since it is in a phrasal verb.
Pray the lord, my soul to take
V N
The rule is VP V PP so the sentence should be:
I pray to the Lord, my soul to take
V PP
If the preposition to is omitted then it is not a prepositional phrase. This will break the rule of verb phrase VP V PP which makes the sentence is
deviated or grammatically incorrect.
f. Omission of Object
Omission of object is found in one of Bebe Rexha’s songs that are being
analyzed in this study. It is in Bebe Rexha’s “Me, Myself and I”. The lyric in the
song is:
Celebrate nightly and everyone rages.
The sentence is incomplete since there is no object after the verb celebrate. The verb celebrate in this sentence is functioned as a transitive verb. Transitive verb is
a verb that can take a direct object (Crystal, 2008, p. 494). Meaning to say that
transitive verb requires an object or more than one objects. The appropriate object
for the sentence is it since a pronoun can be a direct object. The correct sentence
would be:
I celebrate it nightly and everyone rages
The word it refers to the success and the popularity that are gained by the speaker
or the singer as in the lyric.
2. Deviation of Verb
There are five deviations of verb found in Bebe Rexha’s songs. From five
songs that are being analyzed, the researcher only finds the deviation of verb in
the song “I’m a Mess” and “The Way I Are”. The detailed information about
