Semiotic Analysis of The Front Covers of Women's Fiction Novels.

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iv Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam penulisan tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis semiotik, yaitu studi tentang tanda bahasa. Semiotik membahas bagaimana sesuatu bisa disebut sebagai tanda bahasa. Sesuatu dikatakan sebagai tanda apabila memiliki representamen, interpretan dan objek. Tanda tersebut memiliki tiga elemen yaitu simbol, ikon dan indeks. Saya mengambil enam data dari sampul depan sejumlah novel perempuan, baik remaja maupun dewasa untuk dianalisis. Dari sampul depan tersebut, saya menganalisis apakah sampul tersebut cukup representatif dan komunikatif dalam mewakili isi cerita secara umum dari novel tersebut.

Segala sesuatu yang ada di sampul depan novel tersebut saya analisis menggunakan teori semiotik. Saya mengacu pada dua tokoh yang mengembangkan teori semiotik ini, yaitu; Ferdinand de Saussure dan Charles Sanders Peirce. Berdasarkan hasil analisis, saya menyimpulkan bahwa sampul depan yang baik ialah sampul depan yang memiliki indeks dan ikon yang jelas. Relasi antara judul, gambar dan warna haruslah jelas dan saling berkaitan, sehingga pembaca mendapatkan gambaran yang jelas mengenai ide cerita dari suatu novel.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Language is based on a naming process, by which things get associated with a word or name (Ekayati). As human beings, meaning-makers, we make meaning through our creation and interpretation of signs. In this context, a sign refers to anything which stands for something else (Chandler 2). As Umberto Eco says, Semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign.

Sign also means an intersection or relationship of form and meaning, where form is something concrete, including writing, sound and gestures; while meaning is something mental or cognitive (http://books.google.co.id). Actually, “we live in a world of signs and we have no way of understanding anything except through signs” (Chandler 14) and to understand further about the sign

itself, we study Semiotics.

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are very essential and crucial. By observing the front cover, people will have a foretaste of the general content of the book, whether it is interesting or not. The front cover of a book has some important information related to the novel. The front cover usually contains the title of the novel, the writer‟s name, the publisher‟s logo and, of course, some interesting pictures in various colours to

support the other elements. As a result, the front cover of a novel must be not only interesting but also communicative. The front cover itself has to represent the content of the novel.

Elizabeth Malone, who studies sign language, says that every element in the cover of a novel is signs. They are categorised as signs because they help us to understand the very nature of human language (Malone). The cover is a sign that gives hints to the readers of the general idea of the book. Consequently, the readers will have a preview of what the book is about.

The problem arises when a publisher makes an inappropriate front cover or when the front cover does not smartly present the preview of the story of the novel. As a result, the prospective readers or those who want to purchase the books do not get the clues which are shown in the front cover.

The title of my thesis is Semiotic analysis of the front cover of women‟s fiction novels, while the topic is about Semiotics. Women‟s fiction novel is “a wide-ranging literary genre that includes various types of novels that generally appeal more to women than men” (www.findmeanauthor.com). Women‟s fiction

novels include chick-lit, teen-lit, romantic fiction and metropop.

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linguistics. In fact, semiotics can be applied to the front cover of a novel to help the reader to get a better understanding on the novel. Secondly, Kompas newspaper asserts that women‟s novels such as teen-lit and chick-lit are very

popular among women now. Most of them are even best-seller novels. In addition, “the genre has captured the spirit of the times among young women and its

popularity reaches a wide audience” (www.findmeanauthor.com).

I choose to analyse the front cover of women‟s novels because nowadays,

a lot of women have developed the habit of reading the books of this genre. They find that the theme of the story is very relevant to their condition (Litbang Kompas), besides, the characters in the novel mirror the society (www.findmeanauthor.com). I analyse the front covers of novels because people who want to buy a novel or read it will see whether the novel is interesting or not by looking at the front cover of the novel. On top of that, all of the covers of the books, including novels, which are displayed in the bookstore will show the front cover and not the back cover. That is why, the front cover of a novel is more important than the back one.

My topic belongs to Semiotics. I apply the theory by Charles Sanders Peirce, an American philosopher and some linguists or semioticians that have account for Semiotics.

In Semiotics, anything that „stands for‟ something else is a sign. Signs take

the form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects (Chandler 2). It is stated clearly that anything can be a sign and the front cover of a women‟s novel can

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Finally, the significance of my topic is to show that the front cover of a novel plays an important role in representing or hinting at the content of the novel. I will also show that there are a number of Semiotic elements in the front cover which can help the reader to get a better understanding of the novel.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The statements of the problem that I will use to analyse the data are: 1. What are the Semiotic elements found in the front covers of the novels? 2. How does Semiotics applied in the front cover represent the content of the

novels?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

These are the purpose of my thesis writing in order to answer the statement of the problem above:

1. To know what elements of semiotics are found in the front covers of the novels.

2. To show how semiotics applied in the front covers represents the content of the novels.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

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and use them as the theoretical framework to analyse the data. Second, I browse for the pictures of the front covers of women‟s fiction novels on the Internet and I also scan the front covers of the novels I borrow from the library. Next, I choose which ones of these covers that I will analyse in my thesis.

Finally, I analyse my data using the theory that I have found. Last but not least, I write the conclusion in order to fulfil the purpose of the thesis writing.

ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I will write a conclusion related to the three first chapters that I have written. In this thesis, I discuss Semiotics, the study of signs. I use the Saussurean and Peircean theories to analyse the six data, which are taken from the front covers of women’s fiction novels. Every front cover that I have analysed have the elements of semiotics such as representamen, interpretant and object. In addition, the sign itself consists of symbol, icon, index or it can be the combination of those three elements.

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According to my analysis, I conclude that the most communicative and representative front cover are the first and the fifth data. They can represent the general idea of the novel well in the front cover. The front cover of the first data is the most communicative data because the relation between the title, the pictures and the colours are quite clear. It can give a hint about what the story of the novel or about the general idea of the novel. In the first and fifth data, the elements of representamen have a relation with each other and they give some important information needed by the readers.

The pictures and the title in the first data are related to each other. The title Shopaholic and Baby is represented by the use of the pictures of a baby trolley and women’s goods, which are also supported by the colour blue. Those elements

support each other so that the readers get clear information that the novel is about a woman who likes shopping a lot and about her baby. While in the fifth data, the title LOVENTURE is represented by the five hearts shapes, a woman, five men and the use of many colours. Consequently, we can have general information about the novel that the story is about a woman who experiences an adventure for the purpose of seeking her soulmate.

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background colour which is too plain. The prominent elements are only pink mouse picture and the white background, but it still can represent the story of the novel. The weak point of the sixth data is the title STILL…. It will make the readers ask about what the title means, and what the title refers to. The title is clearer when it is related to the pictures. The pictures help the readers to guess what the story of the novel is by searching the relationship between the title and the pictures. However, this data still represents the content of the novel.

I find one data which is less communicative than the other five data. The front cover does not represent the story of the novel. The data which I mean is the third data which is of the novel entitled 5cm.. It is the most phenomenal data. It only has black colour as the background and the title 5cm.. This front cover is the only one with no pictures at all. As the readers, we are only given limited information about this novel. It arises various interpretations. On the contrary, this novel can make the readers feel curious about the story of this novel.

The use of the title, the pictures and the colours is very important. Those elements are very essential and crucial. They play an important role in giving hints or clues to the readers. The three elements must have a significant relation between one another. Each element supports the other elements in order to give the readers clear information related to the novel.

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Therefore, I can also conclude that a good cover of novel is one that consists of icons, each of which depicts or represents the story, and which is able to communicate the meaning of each icon that results in a clear index.

Finally, I suggest that the analysis of the front covers of the novels through semiotics can be applied not only to women’s fiction genre but also to all the other

genres. For the future thesis writers’, I hope this research can be more elaborated. You can try to apply this kind of research to another genre, then you can compare the result of your thesis later. The main point is whatever kind of genre it is, the use of the important semiotics elements must be taken into account by the publisher. Thus, the front cover will give clear and sufficient information to the readers about the general idea of the story of the novel is about. The publisher must pay attention and work hard to make a communicative front cover that represents the content of the novel to attract the readers’ attention so that they will

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References:

Chandler, Daniel. The Basics Semiotics. Great Britain : Routledge, 2002.

Cobley, Paul, and Jansz Litza. Introducing Semiotics. UK : Icon Books, 2004.

Electronic Publication:

About.com.2009

<http://desktppub.about.com./cs/colorselection/p/black.htm>

Bennett, Steven. Women’s Fiction Genre.2008

<http://www.findmeanauthor.com/womens fiction genre.htm>

Ekayati, Rini. “The Nature of the Linguistics Sign.” 13 December 2005

http://ekayati.blogspot.com/2005/12/nature-of-linguistics-sign.html

Encyclopedia.com. 2008. The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. September 2008

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Hudson, Grover. “Essential Introductory Linguistics.” Blackwell Publishing 2000:

3

<http://books.google.com/books?hl=id&lr=&id=5RB07Jb4tRE C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=linguistics+signs+article+by+grover +hudson+penulis:g-hudson&ots=bqsUi2IhW7&sig=0RlVV6d XYpRWMoe0-_ih_HoOQ88#PPAl,M1>

Kompas, Litbang. “Chick Lit, Rahasia Perempuan Kota yang Mendunia.” Harian

Kompas 17 April 2004

<http://64.203.71.11/kompas-cetak/0404/17/pustaka/972521. htm>

Malone, Elizabeth. “Linguistics Sign”. 18 July 2005

<http://www.nsf.gov/news/specialreports/linguistics/sign.jsp>

Princetonol.com. 2008. Asian Color Symbolism

<http://www.princetonol.comgroups/iad/lessons/middle/color2. htm>

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 13 October 2006 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/peirce-semiotics/>

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Webster.com. 2008. Merriam Webster Dictionary. September 2008 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symbol>

Data Sources:

Data 1

Google.com. 2007. Sophie Kinsella Books. 27 April 2008.

<http://images.google.co.id/images?hl=id&q=sophie+kinsella+ cover+novel&btnG=Cari+Gambar&gbv=2>

Data 2

<http://www.bukabuku.com/img/wm.php?i=u.jpg&s=100>

Data 3

Dhirgantoro, Donny. 5cm.. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Widiasarana Indonesia, 2005.

Data 4

Arsjad, Mia. LOVENTURE. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama. 2007

Data 5

<http://www.bukukita.com/babacms/displaybuku/2344.jpg>

Data 6