Language Play and Its Literary Effects in J.K.Rowling's 'Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire'.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Novel Harry Potter karya Joanne Kathleen Rowling yang menceritakan kisah petualangan seorang penyihir bernama Harry Potter di dunia sihir. Sejak novel pertama Harry Potter yang berjudul Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

terbit di tahun 1997, novel ini sudah menjadi salah satu novel tersukses dan dibaca oleh orang-orang di dunia. Semua kalangan dari anak-anak sampai orang dewasa menikmati alur cerita menarik yang dapat membawa mereka masuk ke dalam dunia sihir Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling sebagai penulis menerapkan konsep yang menarik di balik penamaan karakter, nama mantra, dan juga nama tempat.

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Maranatha Christian University mengambil kesimpulan bahwa ide di balik semua nama-nama karakter, mantra dan juga tempat yang ada di dalam novel, saling berkaitan dengan teori-teori linguistik dan teori tentang karakterisasi serta teori tentang imaginasi pembaca.

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APPENDIX

Language Play and Its Literary Effects in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabanand Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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Peter is the apostle who denied Christ on the morning of the

victorious “having won a victory; that ends in victory”

III. Krum = the name of a famous Bulgarian

conqueror and ruler in ninth century. In his energetic and capable era, brought law and order to Bulgaria and developed rudiments of state organization.

Description of Name

5 Fleur Isabelle Delacour

I. Fleur Delacour comes from French phrase, fleur de la cour, which means “flower of the court” II. Fleur’s middle name,

Isabelle, comes from French word, belle,

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formal way to address a woman, similar to Mrs. in English.

III. Olympe (French) = Olympus, the mountain where Greek gods and goddesses live in Greek mythology.

IV. Maxime (French) = “principle”, a pun for “principal”. Maxime can be also derived from Latin, maxima, which means “the biggest”. 7 Animagus I.animal + magus=

animagus

II. Animal (English) = “any living thing that is not a plant or a human.” shout, for example when you are frightened or in pain.”

III. Shack (English) = “a small building, usually made of wood or metal, that has not been built well.”

Readers’Imagination

10 Dementor I. demented + tormentor = dementor

II. Demented (English) = “behaving in a crazy way because you are

extremely upset or

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III. Tormentor (English) = “a person who cause somebody to suffer” 11 Hippogriff I. hippo + griffin =

hippogriff

II. hippo (Greek) = “horse”

III. griffin (English from Greek and Latin) = “a creature with a lion’s body and an eagle’s wings and head”

13 Unforgivable Curse I. Unforgivable + Curse =Unforgivable Curse II. Un-forgive-able = Unforgivable

Un- = “not; the opposite of”

forgive = “to stop feeling angry”

-able = “that can or must be” unforgivable = it is so bad or unacceptable that you cannot forgive III. Curse = “a word or phrase that has a magic power to make

something bad happen.”

Readers’ Imagination

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18 Priori Incantatem I. Priori + Incantatem = Priori Incantatem II. Priori (Latin) = “prior”

III. Incantatem (Latin) = “incantation”

19 Reducio I. Reducio (Latin) = “to reduce”, “to make

something less or smaller in size, quantity, price, etc.”

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study

Language plays a very vital part in human’s life and civilization. In modern days, language cannot be separated from human’s daily life. Language is a tool to communicate and also to express emotions and thoughts to other people. It is essential for human beings to master the language that is used in their neighborhood and society. Also, it will be better if they master other languages besides the one they have already mastered, so that they can socialize and interact with one another better.

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Maranatha Christian University in literary works as well. In novels, it has long been used by authors to ensure their words have certain impacts on the readers.

Joanne Kathleen Rowling, better known as J. K. Rowling, is a famous author of one of the best-selling book series in the world, Harry Potter. The series consists of seven fantasy books about the world of wizardry. J. K. Rowling uses many forms of language play in her books. The author uses a lot of interesting forms of language play to create the names of the characters, the places, the spells, and many more. In my opinion, the reason for using language play is to make the novel more interesting, more fun, and more enjoyable to read.

“We play with language when we manipulate it as a source of enjoyment, either for ourselves or for the benefit of others.” (Crystal 1). Language does not always have the function as a means of communication. People sometimes attempt to modify the use of the language on purpose and creatively for fun. To achieve this goal, certain rules such as of morphology and other linguistic areas are often bent and broken.

In my thesis I will analyse the language play found in J. K. Rowling’s third and fourth books of the Harry Potter series, i.e. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I choose language play as the topic of my thesis because this particular linguistic issue is very challenging and the

language play itself contains a lot of linguistic features in these novels, which make

the books more interesting to analyse.

“Language play is pre-eminently an amateur, domestic matter – playable by

all, regardless sex, age, social background, or level of intelligence.” (Crystal 53). The

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Maranatha Christian University who are not only children, but also anybody who enjoys reading fantasy and adores the fascination of wizardry world.

My analysis deals with two specific areas of linguistics, which are

Morphology and Semantics. Morphology is “the study of the internal structure of

words, and of the rules by which words are formed” (Fromkin and Rodman 69). Semantics is “the study of meaning” (Crane and Whitman 129). I find that understanding the language play used in the names of the characters is very essential to the readers, because if the readers know the origin and the word formation behind the name of each character, they will obtain a great help and understanding in comprehending the story. Not only the characters but also other elements, for example, the spells, the places, and the magical equipments in this novel contain very unique language play.

I hope after reading this thesis, the readers and the future researchers will have some informative knowledge about the use of language play and its literary effects in children’s literature. They can use this thesis as a comparison so as to make better research on language play.

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1.2. Statement of the Problem

In this thesis I would like to analyse the following problems:

1. What linguistic aspects are involved in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the

Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?

2. What are the literary effects produced by the use of language play in J. K.

Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the

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Maranatha Christian University 1.3. Purpose of the Study

In this thesis, I would like to analyse:

1. the linguistic aspects involved in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

2. the literary effects produced by the language play used in J. K. Rowling’sHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

1.4. Method of Research

First of all, I read the primary texts, which are J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and then I collect and note down the data that contain language play. They can be in the form of words or phrases. Then, I analyse each of the data focusing on the process of creating words or phrases which contain language play and the literary effects that are produced in the novel. Finally, I write this research report.

1.5. Organization of the Thesis

This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One, Introduction, contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two, Theoretical Framework, provides the linguistic theories used to discuss the processof forming language play. Chapter Three, the analysis, contains the discussion on the processes of forming language play used in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabanand

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to put forward my conclusion which is based on the findings of my research, which mainly discusses the linguistic aspects and the literary effects of the use of language play in the third and the fourth novels of Harry Potter series.

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Maranatha Christian University This is consistent with where Rowling had her inspiration to create all of those unique names of the characters, spells and places in Harry Potter’s world.

The borrowing process, which is the second most dominant process in these two novels, also shows Rowling’s diverse knowledge of foreign languages. It also shows that Rowling is very open to other languages besides English. In one of my data, for example, Fleur Delacour, which is a name of a character, is derived from French. If Rowling just focused on the English language, the novel might not be as attractive and diverse as we all have seen today.

Another dominant language play process is compounding. The use of the compounding process reveals the fact that the author is capable of creating unique names for the characters, spells and places not only from foreign languages but also from her first language, which is English. I think this is a proof of how creative and brilliant J. K. Rowling truly is.

The next language play process in my analysis is blending. In my analysis there are three data that contain the blending process. Blending is a process when two or more separate words are joined together to become a single word. One example of blending in my data is taken from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, namely

animagus. This word originally comes from the words animal and magus, which are joined together into one word, animagus. I think blending process is an effective way as it gives a clear description of the meaning of the created words, such as the description of the characters and places.

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Maranatha Christian University homophonic with the word petty in the English language. Pettymeanssmall, which is suitable for the character of Peter Pettigrew in the novel. Pettigrew is “small”in character. He decides to tell the secret information about his best friend rather than keeping it no matter what the consequences are. It shows that the author is creative and effective in describing her character; in addition, I think that Rowling shows her wit in creating Peter Pettigrew’s name using homophony as the basis.

Besides the linguistic processes, I also analyse the literary effects that occur as the result of the use of language play. The literary effects support both the characterization of the characters and the readers’ imagination. On supporting the characterization, I personally believe that Rowling is very detailed and thorough. This is shown in her ability to create the names of the characters. For example, Viktor Krum, which is taken from the fourth novel,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In the novel, Viktor Krum is a Bulgarian wizard who is also a champion in his school, Durmstrang Institute. Rowling does not pick the name Viktor Krum without any reason. Viktor comes from the word victory and Krum is the name of a Bulgarian ruler in the ninth century. She chooses Viktor Krum because the name itself supports the characterization, as Viktor Krum is depicted as a victorious wizard.

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Maranatha Christian University readers are to create an imagination inside their heads to complement the story. I think Harry Potter series is a great example for the readers who want their imagination involved and stimulated. I believe that is the reason why Harry Potter

series becomes one of the best-selling books in the world.

After doing this research, I realise that an analysis of language play needs other supporting theories in order to make the analysis deeper and more detailed. For the purpose of making my analysis more thorough, I have related my analysis to the theory about supporting characterization and supporting the readers’ imagination. Language play and its literary effects are both very challenging and entertaining. I really enjoy myself doing this research, because on the one hand, I am very familiar with Harry Potter novels as I have read the novels since I was in my teen years and they were my first English novels. It really helps me to complete this thesis. On the other hand, as a reader, now I appreciate and respect J. K. Rowling even more. It isentertaining and challenging when we are able to reveal the concept behind the stories. After doing some research, we will become automatically cautious and more inquisitive about the idea behind the story itself, something that we probably have not been aware of before. I conclude that Rowling is excellent at holding the readers’ attention and stimulating the imagination of the readers.

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Maranatha Christian University linguistic aspects in the rest of the series are still plenty to be analysed and they are as interesting as the previous novels of the series.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Texts

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. London: Bloomsbury, 1999. PDF. 24 September 2013.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. PDF. 24 September 2013.

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“Bouncebackability.” Urban Dictionary Online Dictionary. Urban Dictionary Online, 11 September 2004. Web. 4 December 2012.

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University of Exeter, 2008. Web. 4 December 2012.

Crane, L. Ben, Edward Yeager, and Randal L. Whitman. Introduction toLinguistics. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1981. Print.

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Maranatha Christian University Crystal, David. Language Play. London: The Penguin Group, 1998. Print.

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Maranatha Christian University O’Grady, William, Michael Dobrovolsky, and Francis Katamba. Contemporary

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