Analysis of Language Play in Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator'.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini saya membahas aspek permainan kata dalam sebuah

novel karya Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Bermain dengan kata-kata sudah menjadi hal yang biasa dan umum kita

lakukan dalam percakapan sehari-hari, khususnya dalam percakapan yang bersifat

informal. Dalam permainan kata-kata, orang tidak hanya bermain dengan bunyi

dari kata tertentu saja, tetapi juga bermain dengan arti atau makna dari

kata-kata tersebut. Selain itu juga kita dapat bermain dengan bentuk atau cara

penulisan sebuah kata yang unik. Permainan kata seperti ini dapat menciptakan

atau menghasilkan beberapa efek terhadap pembacanya, umumnya anak kecil,

seperti humor, bunyi yang menyenangkan, serta penjelasan yang lebih mendetail

mengenai ceritanya.

Contoh penggunaan permainan kata-kata seperti yang sudah disebutkan di

atas dapat kita temui dalam sebuah novel anak-anak karangan Roald Dahl, Charlie

and the Great Glass Elevator. Dalam novel ini, Dahl menggunakan beraneka

ragam permainan kata, seperti penggunaan gaya bahasa perbandingan, homofon,

dan kata yang berlawanan. Penggunaan beberapa aspek dalam permainan

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kata ini membuat novel karya Roald Dahl ini berbeda dari novel anak-anak pada

umumnya.

Dalam skripsi ini, saya menganalisis kata-kata yang mengandung

permainan kata dengan menggunakan pendekatan linguistik. Kemudian, saya juga

menganalisis efek dari penggunaan permainan kata-kata tersebut terhadap

pembaca, dalam hal ini anak-anak berumur sekitar tujuh atau delapan tahun

sampai dengan umur empat belas tahun sebagai objek penelitian saya.

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APPENDIX

Synopsis of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

This novel is the continuation of the previous novel, entitled Charlie and

the Chocolate Factory. In Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, it is told that

Charlie is riding high above his home town in the Great Glass Elevator and now

he is returning in triumph with his entire family to take over the Chocolate

Factory. The passengers of the Elevator are Charlie Bucket, Mr. Willy Wonka,

Mr. and Ms. Bucket, Grandpa Joe, Grandma Josephine, Grandpa George, and

Grandma Georgina.

On the way back to the Chocolate Factory using the Great Glass Elevator,

the elevator must go up before it comes down. Unfortunately, Mr. Wonka presses

the button a little too late and the Elevator goes into orbit. They are rushing

around the earth at seventeen thousand miles an hour. The Elevator is not the only

thing orbiting the earth. There is also Space Hotel “U.S.A.”. Mr. Wonka wants to

be the first one who links up with the Space Hotel and they do it. The president of

the United States of America knows this and tries to find out who they are, but

Mr. Wonka pretends to be an alien and speaks in a strange language.

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49

When Mr. Wonka is believed as a man from Mars and Venus, he is invited

by Mr. President to come to the White House. Suddenly, there are Vermicious

Knids coming out of the lobby of the hotel and try to attack them. Finally, Mr.

Wonka, Charlie, and his family run back to the Great Glass Elevator and come

back to the earth to the Chocolate Factory.

In the Chocolate Factory, Mr. Wonka gives Wonka-Vite to Grandma

Georgina, Grandpa George, and Grandma Josephine. It is a pill which can make

the taker turn twenty years younger. However, they eat too many pills and they

turn into babies, except Grandma Georgina, who disappears because she becomes

minus two years old. Finally, they go back to normal, including Grandma

Georgina, after taking Vita-Wonk.

At the end of the story, there is an invitation from the President of the

United States to come to the White House. All of them, Mr. Wonka, Charlie and

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C. List of Language Play Found in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and the Effects on Children

No. Linguistic Units Kinds of Language Play Effects

1. We have so much time and so little to do! Semantics: Contradictory Words Enjoyment: Humorous

2. “He’s cracked as a crab!” 1. Semantics: Figurative Language (Simile) 2. Phonology: Alliteration

1. Clearer Description 2. Enjoyment: Pleasant

Sound

3. Holy rats! Semantics: Contradictory Words Enjoyment: Humorous

4. You’re dotty as a doughnut! 1. Semantics: Figurative Language (Simile) 2. Phonology: Alliteration

Sound

5. … You’ll never get anywhere if you go about

what-iffing like that. Would Columbus have discovered

America if he’d said ‘What if I sink on the way over? What if I meet pirates? What if I never come back?’ He wouldn’t even have started! We want no

what-iffers around here, right Charlie? …

Morphology: Suffixation Build Children Imagination

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6. “Brilliant!” cried the Chief Spy. “Go on, sir! You’re

getting warm!”

Pragmatics: Misuse of Words Enjoyment: Humorous

7. “Who’s there?” said the Soviet Premier. “Warren.”

“Warren who?”

“Warren Peace by Leo Tolstoy,” said the President.

Semantics: Allusion Enjoyment: Humorous

8. “Now see here, Yugetoff. You get those astronauts of yours off that Space Hotel of ours this instant! Otherwise, I’m afraid we’re going to have to show you just where you get off, Yugetoff!” said the President.

Semantics: Homophony 1. Help children to identify new phrase

2. Help children to memorize the phrase

9. “Great Garbage!” cried the President. Semantics: Contradictory Words Enjoyment: Humorous

10. The Postmaster General replaced the telephone on the desk. “Try it just once more, Mr. President, please,” he said. “I’ve tightened the screws underneath.”

The president again picked up the receiver. “Gleetings, honorable Mr. Plesident,” said a soft faraway voice. “Here is Assistant-Plemier Chu-On-Dat speaking. How can I do for you?”

“Knock-knock,” said the President.

Pragmatics: Misuse of Words Enjoyment: Humorous

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11. … “And if you don’t call them off right away I’m going to tell my Chief of the Army to blow them all sky high! So chew on that, Chu-On-Dat!”

Graphology: Spelling 1. Help children to identify new phrase

2. Help children to memorize the phrase 3. Humorous

12. The words come out so fast and sharp and loud they were like bullets from a machine gun.

“Zoonk-zoonk-zoonk- zoonk-zoonk!” he barked

Phonology: Onomatopoeia Build Children Imagination

13. “KIRASUKUMALIBUKU,

WEEBEEWIZEUNYUBEEKUKU!

ALIPENDAKAKAMENDA,

PANTZFORLDUNIFNOSUSPENDA!

FUNIKAKAKANDERIKA,

WEEBEESTRONGAYUBEEWEEKA!

POPOKOTABARUMOKA VERIRISKIYUPROVOKA!

KATIKATIMOONSUNSTARS FANFANISHAVENUSMARS!”

1. Semantics: Total Nonsense 2. Graphology: Spelling 3. Phonologyl: Rhyming Pairs

Enjoyment: 1. Pleasant Sound 2. Humorous

14. “Screaming scorpions!” cried the President Semantics: Logic Enjoyment: Humorous

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15. “I like blowing things up,” said the General. “It makes such a lovely noise. Woomph-woomph!”

Phonology: Onomatopoeia Clearer Description

16. “In the quelchy quaggy sogmire, In the mashy mideous harsland, At the witchy hour of gloomness, All the grobes come oozing home.

You can hear them softly slimeing, Glissing hissing o’er the slubber, All those oily boily bodies, Oozing onward in the gloam.

So start to run! Oh, skid and daddle, Through the slubber slush and sossel! Skip jump hop and try to skaddle! All the grobes are on the roam!”

1. Morphology: a. Compounding b. Suffixation c. Blending

2. Semantics: Total Nonsense

3. Phonology:

17. …the President turned white as the White House. Semantics: Figurative Language (Simile) Enjoyment: Humorous

18. “Oh, my sainted pants! Oh, my painted ants! Oh,

my crawling cats! …”

Semantics: Contradictory Words Enjoyment: Humorous

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19. … The Great Glass Elevator is shockproof, waterproof, bombproof, bulletproof, and Knidproof. So just relax and enjoy it.”

Morphology: Compounding

Knid + proof Æ knidproof

Clearer Description

20. “We’re safe as sausages in here!” shouted Mr.

Wonka.

1. Semantics: Figurative Language (Simile) 2. Phonology: Alliteration /s/

Sound

21. “These dirty great greenish-brown brutes with red

eyes!” shouted Shank.

Phonology: Alliteration /gr/ and /br/

Enjoyment: Pleasant Sound

22. “Poppyrot and pigwash!” 1. Morphology: Compounding

Poppy + rot Æ poppyrot

2. Phonology: Alliteration /p/

1. Clearer Description 2. Enjoyment: Pleasant Sound

23. THE TRUNK (AND THE SUITCASE) OF AN ELEPHANT Semantics: Homonymy

1.The very long nose of an elephant.

2. A very large box made of wood or metal, in which clothes, books, etc are stored or packed for travel.

(Longman Advanced American Dictionary, 2000: 1599)

Enjoyment: Humorous

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24. THE HORN OF A COW (IT MUST BE A LOUD HORN) Semantics: Homonymy

1. A hard pointed part that grows, usually in pairs, on the heads of some animals, such as sheep and cows. Horn are often curved. 2. A simple musical instrument that consists

of a curved metal tube that you blow into. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005: 751)

Enjoyment: Humorous

25. THE HIP (AND THE PO AND THE POT) OF A HIPPOPOTAMUS

Morphology: Clipping Enjoyment: Humorous

26. THE WHITES OF TWELVE EGGS FROM A TREESQUEAK Morphology: Compounding

Tree + squeak Æ treesqueak

Build Children Imagination

27. “He’s batty as a bullfrog!” cried Grandma Georgina 1. Semantics: Figurative Language (Simile) 2. Phonology: Alliteration /b/

Sound

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

There are two kinds of stories, fiction and non-fiction. A fiction story

refers to a story that is not factual. It comes from someone's imagination and is

usually called a fantasy. On the other hand, a non-fiction story refers to a story

that gives the reader information that is true and contains facts. The examples of

non-fiction stories are histories and biographies. We can find one example of

fiction stories in children’s book. Although they are fiction stories, authors of

children’s books must not forget to put some moral lessons in the stories as

children’s stories must be educative.

(http://www.pantone021.com/sub/mcmug/research/kid/intro.html)

In doing something, for example reading, it is naturally easy for children

to feel bored and finally they will stop or reject to read any books. Besides,

children also have high imagination. Because of those reasons, authors of

children’s books are expected to create or write children’s stories as interestingly

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as they can. So, children can both have fun and get moral lessons by reading the

books. They also can enjoy their reading if they can improve their imagination.

One of the ways to make the story more interesting and imaginative is by

using language play in it. As Elkind (1987) says about language play:

... play provides a best defense against stress because it allows for the flexibility a child needs while working out of his or her questions about the perceived world. Play allows children to assimilate and accommodate at a rate that is personally satisfying. ... if a child has found learning to read to be stressful in any way, play is a way to help restore cognitive flexibility as well as a positive attitude. These characteristics contribute to the complex nature of play and reveal the qualities that makes language play capable of serving “use of mind”, as well as language and literacy development.

(http://www.enc.edu/org/teachered/literacy/languageplayactivities. htm)

As Elkind says, by using language play, it unconsciously can help children’s

brains to improve in their language (vocabulary) or even their ability to read and

write.

There are a lot of authors of children’s books who use language play in

their stories. One of the most famous authors of that type is Roald Dahl. Dahl was

a prolific writer of short stories, novels, plays, and poetry. During his life

(1916-1990), he wrote a lot of great works of different genres. But in the end, he is best

remembered as a writer of children’s fiction.

(http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/fall98/royer.html)

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is only one example of Dahl’s

successful novels. Dahl uses a lot of language play to make the story more

interesting and imaginative. Those reasons make Dahl’s stories different from

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other children’s stories. Therefore, I become interested in analysing the language

play used in Dahl’s novel.

‘Language Play is an action of manipulating the language by bending and

breaking its rules.’ (Crystal, 1998: 1). By bending and breaking the rules,

language play has hidden purposes such as enjoyment and relaxation (Cook, 1997:

227). That is why language play is used for the purpose of enjoyment,

self-amusement, and fun (Cook, 1997: 200).

In analysing the language play of the novels, there are some areas of

Linguistics which I will use. They are Semantics, Morphology, Phonology,

Pragmatics, and Graphology. Semantics is ‘the study of meaning in human

language’ (O’Grady, Dobrovolsky, and Aronoff, 1993:211) and it looks at the

lexical meaning of words. Morphology focuses on the structure of words

(Crane,Yeager, and Whitman, 1981: 96). Phonology is ‘the study of how the

speech sounds are organized and how they function in language’ (Crane, Yeager,

and Whitman, 1981: 72). Pragmatics is ‘the study of meaning as communicated

by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader)’ (Yule, 1996: 3).

Graphological Variation is ‘a relatively minor and superficial part of style;

concerning such matters as spelling, capitalization, hyphenation, italicization, and

paragraphing’ (Leech and Short, 1994: 131).

The purpose of doing the discussion by using this kind of approach, as it is

implied above, is to find out what kinds of effects produced on children by using

language play. Furthermore, this kind of approach will add to the enjoyment of

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reading Dahl’s novel. On top of that, I hope to make people appreciate Roald Dahl

more as the best writer of children’s books.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

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

1. What are the forms of language play found in Charlie and the Great Glass

Elevator?

2. What kinds of language play are they?

3. What are the effects caused by these forms of language play on the readers,

especially children?

1.3 Purpose of Study

In this thesis, I intend to show:

1. The forms of language play found in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

2. The kinds of language play.

3. The effects caused by these forms of language play on the readers, especially

children.

1.4 Methods of Research

I take some steps in gathering the data. First, I read Roald Dahl’s Charlie

and the Great Glass Elevator as the primary text. Second, I collect, select, and

classify the data based on the language play processes. Third, I analyze the

language play and focus on the effects on children as readers caused by the

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language play by using some textbooks as my references. Finally, I write a

research report.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis consists of four chapters. First is Chapter I, the Introduction,

which contains the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose

of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter II

provides the linguistic theories used in analysing the language play. Chapter III

contains the analysis of language play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and

its effect on children as readers. The last chapter, Chapter IV, is the Conclusion,

which presents the conclusion of what has been analyzed. The thesis ends with the

Bibliography and the Appendices.

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions based on my

findings after analysing the linguistic aspect and its effects caused by the language

play. In my analysis, I use 27 data from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Some data consist of more than one linguistic aspect. So, I can find the total of 35

data of language play in the novel.

There are five linguistic aspects involved and eighteen kinds of language

play which I can find in Roald Dahl’s novel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

First, in Semantics, there are fifteen (15) data of language play used; they are

homophony, homonymy, total nonsense, figurative language (simile), logic,

contradictory words, and allusion. Second, in Phonology, there are twelve (12)

data of language play used; they are onomatopoeia, rhyming pairs, alliteration,

assonance, and minimal pairs. Third, in Morphology, there are eight (8) data of

language play used; they are compounding, clipping, affixes (suffixation), and

blending. Fourth, is Pragmatics, in which there are three (3) data of misuse of

words. The last is Graphology, in which there are two data of language play,

namely spelling.

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From the above description, in Dahl’s novel, Charlie and the Great Glass

Elevator, the mostly used linguistic aspect is Semantics, which I personally think

is the most difficult from the five linguistic aspects found in Roald Dahl’s novel.

This is so because I think it needs more competence and skill to comprehend the

meaning of words or phrases. One word or phrase can have more than one

meaning, for example in data 23 and 24 from Charlie and the Great Glass

Elevator, the words ‘trunk’ and ‘horn’ have more than one meaning. If the readers

do not have the knowledge of the meanings of the words, they will not realize that

those words are language play and finally it will not affect anything.

The fact that Roald Dahl mostly uses semantic aspects, which are not easy,

is meant by Roald Dahl to help children have more skill in understanding the

words or phrases better. This is also in accordance with the fact that the readers

who become my subject research are children of seven or eight until fourteen

years old. I choose this range of ages because in these ages children already have

the skill to understand the meaning of words or phrases better than children in the

age under seven years old.

The language play in this novel can create some effects on the readers.

There are seven kinds of effects which I can find in Roald Dahl’s novels. First is

enjoyment, which consists of humorous effect and pleasant sound. I can find

twenty-three data which give enjoyment effects. Second is giving clearer

description (so children can understand the context of the story well) and we can

find there are seven data which give clearer description effect. Third is to build

children’s imagination and there are three data which give this kind of effect.

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Fourth is to help children to identify new words and there are two data which give

this effect. Fifth is to help children to memorize vocabulary and there are two data

which give this effect.

As can be seen above, the use of language play in the novel is mostly

created in order to create enjoyment, both in creating humorous effect and

pleasant sound. I personally think that this is a brilliant thing considering that

Roald Dahl’s target audience is children. Children have to enjoy what they are

reading so that they will not feel bored and stop reading. Besides, by using

language play, generally, it will help children to know new words, phrases, or

sentences; and also help them to remember those words, phrases, or sentences

easily. I also hope by analysing the language play in Roald Dahl’s novel, I can

make children as the readers notice and love Dahl’s novels. In addition, I hope to

make people appreciate and respect Roald Dahl more as one of the best writers of

children’s books.

Furthermore, I am personally impressed by Roald Dahl’s ability because

he is outstanding in using alliteration in figurative language (similes). The similes

in Roald Dahl’s novels are not ordinary similes, but those are intentionally created

by Dahl together with alliteration in order to give enjoyment as it gives a pleasant

sound and humorous effect at the same time. This shows that Dahl is a genius

because he is capable to choose and use words and combine those in a perfect

combination.

Besides, I am also impressed by Roald Dahl’s ability of using the

compounding and allusion as language play. By using compounding, Dahl shows

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that he is able to create new words which can build children’s imagination and

give clearer description about the situation. So, children can understand the

situation of the story well. I think it is not easy for someone to create a new word

by compounding two words, which in the end will describe one meaning.

The use of allusion as language play also impresses me because to create

and understand allusion needs much knowledge about many things. This

obviously needs the readers’ knowledge as well. If we have no knowledge about

it, we will not notice nor understand the allusion. Dahl uses allusion in his novel

to create a humorous effect on children and also to help children remember one of

the writers of a classical play.

After the analysis, I can conclude that language is used not only for

communicating with others, but also for enjoyment and entertainment, that is by

playing the language.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References:

---. Longman Advanced American Dictionary. New York: Longman Group, Inc.,

2000.

---. Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. England: Addison

Wesley Longman Limited, 1998.

---. Longman Essential Activator. England: Addison Wesley Longman Limited,

1999.

Bauer, Laurie. English Word-Formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1987.

Bloomfield, Leonard. Language. USA: Leonard Bloomfield, 1961.

Cook, G. Language Play, Language Learning. ELT Journal, 51, 224-231, 1997.

Crane, L. Ben, et.al. An Introduction to Linguistics. Canada: Little, Brown and

Company, Inc., 1981.

Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Crystal, David. Language Play. London: Penguin Group, 1998.

Elkind, David. Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,

1987.

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Giegerich, Heinz J. English Phonology. An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1995.

Henni. Analysis of Word Play in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventure in

Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Bandung: English

Department, Faculty of Letters, Maranatha Christian University, 1999.

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

Oxford University Press, 1987.

---, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. 4th ed. Oxford:

---, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. 7th ed. Oxford:

Huck, Charlotte S., et.al. Children’s Literature in the Elementary School. Florida:

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1989.

Hurford, James R., and Brenden Heasley. Semantics: a coursebook. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Leech, Geoffrey and Short, Michael. Style in Fiction. London and New York:

Longman Group, Inc., 1994.

Murphy, M. J.. Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and

the English Novel. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1972.

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

O’Grady, William; et al. Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. New York:

St. Martin’s Press, 1993.

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Perrine, Laurence. Literature Structure, Sound, and Sense. New York: Harcourt

Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1978.

Webster’s New International Dictionary. USA: G. & C. Merriam Company. 1949.

Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged. New York: Prentice

Hall Press. 1979.

Widdowson, H. G. Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Yule, George. The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1996.

Websites:

http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/BuilderV03/lptools/lpshared/lpdisplay.asp?Session_Sta

mp=&LPID=9608

http://www.enc.edu/org/teachered/literacy/languageplayactivities.htm

http://www.pantone021.com/sub/mcmug/research/kid/intro.html

http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Semantics of_logic

http://www.smartneurons.com/teacher_parent_resources.asp

http://education.umn.edu/ceed/publications/earlyreport/fall90.htm

http://www.headstartinfo.org/publications/emerging_literacy/mod3.htm

Primary texts:

Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. London: Penguin Group, 1998.

Analysis of Language Play in Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator'.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

APPENDIX

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY