The Language Play Of Newspaper Headlines in 'The Jakarta Post'.

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ABSTRACT

Permainan kata adalah suatu permainan yang menggunakan bahasa sebagai

medianya. Pada saat ini, kita dapat menemukan permainan kata dalam kehidupan kita

sehari-hari. Permainan kata dapat dijumpai dalam bahasa lisan ataupun tulisan.

Permainan kata dalam bentuk lisan dapat berupa ucapan-ucapan baik yang disadari atau

tidak. Permainan kata dalam bentuk tulisan dapat berupa hasil karya tulis seperti puisi,

cerita, novel, judul-judul iklan dan judul berita koran.

Dalam skripsi saya yang berjudul The Language Play of Newspaper Headlines in

The Jakarta Post, saya membahas mengenai permainan kata yang terdapat pada judul

berita koran The Jakarta Post. Pada judul berita The Jakarta Post terdapat banyak sekali

permainan kata dalam berbagai jenis variasi.

Ada berbagai macam tujuan penggunaan permainan kata pada judul berita koran

The Jakarta Post, memberikan hiburan kepada para pembaca, permainan kata pada judul

berita koran dapat menarik minat para pembaca agar mereka membaca keseluruhan isi

berita, dan memberikan kata kunci secara tidak langsung kepada para pembaca mengenai

isi dari berita tersebut. Untuk tujuan terakhir, para pembaca mempunyai pengetahuan

mengenai kata-kata yang digunakan dalam permainan kata.

Maranatha Christian University

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1

List of data

1. Pakistan’s free lampoons “Mush and Bush’.

2. Singapore goes high-tech to promote ‘NEWater’.

3. An Africar in every garage? Good idea but consumers lukewarm.

4. Where’s the ‘party-warty’? Briton masters Indian English.

5. After Hollywood and Bollywood, comes ‘Riverwood’.

6. Jiabao-Manmohon summit: Will China am-Bush India?

7. Are you in ‘Mudical’ mood?

8. So, what’s up with naked ducks, doc?

9. Oops, he Diddy it again.

10. To feed or not to feed homeless people.

11. Me, myself and the dog.

12. Bouncing to it with wallyball.

13. Kartini Day ‘taekwonrobic’ performance.

14. ‘Rockumentaries’: should we take them more seriously?

15. Like chalk and cheese: when opposites are alike.

16. It’s time for hydrosolidarity.

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17. School of hard rocks “Rock 101”.

18. Teana hopes to shed hulky image of Nissan.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

There are a lot of things that happen in this world; those concerning

crimes, wars, political situations, economic matters, sports and entertainment

events. In order to know those various pieces of information, one of the ways

people do is by reading a newspaper.

When we read a newspaper to find out some news, the first thing we do is

look at the headlines. From the headlines we can figure out what the news will be

about, or else, we become curious about the news.

In making a headline for a piece of news, a news writer makes the most

use of language. Language itself is a means of communication for human beings

in giving information to others. The information can be defined as concepts, facts,

opinions, or other information.

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Some people play with language and respond to language play. And they

get pleasure and enjoyment from it. People play with language when they

manipulate the language; they break the rule of the language. The language play

gives enjoyment for those who do it and others (Crystal, 1998: 105).

People, consciously or unconsciously, come across language play every

day. People who always read newspapers every day, for instance, will find

language play in the headlines and the news. There are a lot of newspaper

headlines which consist of language play to attract the readers to read the news.

The news writers will make their newspaper headlines as interestingly as

possible. They sometimes use language play in writing newspaper headlines for

the purpose of catching the readers’ attention. According to Crystal (1998:101),

the language play in newspaper headlines is often used in the readers’ favorite

sections, such as sports and entertainment.

In making the headlines which consist of language play, the writers

manipulate literally, which means that they “… take some linguistic feature – such

as a word, a phrase, a sentence, a part of word, a group of sounds, a series of

letters – and make it do things it does not normally do” (Crystal,1998: 1).

The language play in the newspaper headlines is effective if the readers

know the rules of the language and know which part of the language rules that are

being broken. The readers who have learned a foreign language, which in this case

is English, and have achieved a higher level of education are more likely to

understand the language play in the newspaper headlines.

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The language play in the newspaper headline is to catch the readers’ attention – and apparently one of the best ways of doing this (in addition to using the conventional methods of increasing the size of the type, summarizing the content of the piece in a succinct, telegraphic style) is to introduce an element of language play. (Crystal, 1998:101)

We must have a certain level of language competence in order to

understand the language play in the newspaper headlines because the language in

the headlines are sometimes the language which we rarely hear or which we have

even never heard before.

The writers need the readers’ language ability and knowledge in

understanding the newspaper headlines (Crystal, 1998:104). And in

understanding the language play we need to have some background knowledge

to spot the language play and to know the purpose of the language play used in

the headlines. When we expect news by reading the newspaper, the headlines

which consist of language play are bonus for us which give us enjoyment of

news imagination by reading the headlines (Crystal, 1998:105).

In doing language play the news writers generalize the readers’

education and background knowledge in understanding the newspaper

headlines which consist of language play. The news writers disregard the sex,

age, social background, or level of intelligence. The writers demand the readers

to understand the newspaper headlines (Crystal, 1998:9).

I am interested in analyzing The Jakarta Post newspaper headlines because

The Jakarta Post is in English and there is a lot of language play of various types

in the headlines.

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Therefore, the topic of my thesis is language play of the newspaper

headlines in The Jakarta Post. I choose this topic because I would like to find out

the language play used in newspaper headlines and the role of the readers’

background knowledge in understanding the language play and the article content.

I choose language play because I notice that almost everyone plays with language,

whether consciously or unconsciously. When we have a conversation or write

something sometimes, we play with language. The reason why we do language

play might be on purpose or just for fun, and we get pleasure from playing with

language.

The significance of my thesis is to find out the use of language play in

newspaper headlines and to show some good newspaper headlines which attract

the readers to read the news. I intend to analyze the language play of newspaper

headlines based on linguistic theories. I use the theory of Pragmatics,

Morphology, Semantics and Graphology as the approaches, and I also use the

theory of language play in my thesis.

Statement of the Problem

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

1. What kind of language play is used?

2. How does the readers’ background knowledge help them relate the language

play and the article content?

3. What is the significance of language play in relation to the article content?

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Purpose of the Study This thesis is done to show:

1. The kind of language play in the newspaper headlines.

2. The readers’ background knowledge which help them relate the language play

and the article content.

3. The significance of language play in relation to the article content.

Method of Research

I use seven steps in gathering the data. First, I find and collect some

newspaper headlines in The Jakarta Post. Second, I choose some newspaper

headlines which consist of language play. Third, I find out the part of each

newspaper headline in which the language play occurs. Fourth, I analyze the kind

of language play in the headlines. Fifth, I find out the background knowledge

which helps interpret the language play in the headlines. Sixth, I find out the

significance of language play in relation to the article content. Last, I draw

conclusion based on the analysis.

Organization of the Thesis

Chapter I is the Introduction, which consists of the Background of the

Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research,

Organization of the Thesis. Chapter II contains the theories which are used to

analyze the thesis. Chapter III is the analysis of the data. Chapter IV is the

conclusion of the thesis. The next part is the Bibliography, which consists of the

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references used and the last is the Appendices, which consist of the list of data,

table of data and the newspaper articles.

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

Having analyzed the data of my thesis, in this chapter I would like to draw some

conclusions. There are a lot of newspaper headlines in The Jakarta Post which consist of

a variety of language play. The language play in the newspaper headlines is used in

some popular sections, such as politics, sports, entertainment, and opinion.

For this thesis, I choose to analyze The Jakarta Post, a newspaper in Indonesia

which uses English as its medium. The readers must have the ability in the English

language to understand the language play used in the newspaper headlines because

sometimes the language play in the newspaper headlines creates some new words or

terms that have never been heard before. The readers also must have a certain level of

language competence to understand the newspaper headlines.

The newspaper headlines in The Jakarta Post that I use contain various kinds of

language play. The kinds of language play used in The Jakarta Post newspaper headlines

that I have found are rhyming pairs, minimal pairs, blending, allusion, graphology, and

affixation.

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In addition to a certain level of English competence, in order to understand those

kinds of language play in The Jakarta Post newspaper headlines, the readers need to

have some background knowledge or pre-existing knowledge to capture the significance

of the language play. From their background knowledge or pre-existing knowledge, they

can expect and have some ideas what the news will be about.

The language play in the newspaper headlines also has the significance which

helps the readers to relate the language play to the article content. The language play in

the newspaper headline can give a clue to the readers about the content of the article.

The kinds of articles containing language play which has significance in relation

to the article content are the articles which contain serious issues, such as politics,

economic problems, today’s events, sports events and global issues.

However, after having analyzed the language play in The Jakarta Post newspaper

headlines, I find that some of the language play in the newspaper headlines have no

significance or just have little significance in relation to the article content. The purpose

of the language play in the newspaper headlines which have no significance or just have

little significance in relation to the article content is merely for entertainment purpose or

just for fun. I believe it is used to attract the readers to read the whole news.

This type of language play is found in headlines of which the content is about

entertainment issues such as folk gossip and the stories of some people.

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The language play which have no significance in relation to the article content

can result in misunderstanding and misinterpretation in the readers’ part. They may also

get wrong expectations in terms of what the news will be about because the language

play in the headline is not related to the article content, as can be seen in data 8 and 11.

After all the analysis process, I would like to say that the language play in The

Jakarta Post newspaper headlines are very various. The writers of The Jakarta Post

articles and headlines are very creative in creating some new words and terms or play

with some idioms and expressions.

The language play in the newspaper headlines also gives the readers some new

knowledge about new words or phrases and terms. Besides, the language play in the

newspaper headlines makes me realize that language play is not only combining or

blending two words but also manipulating all things.

The use of language play in The Jakarta Post newspaper headlines can be for

entertainment purpose or fun, which can give some enjoyment to the readers when

reading the newspaper headlines. The readers also can be curious about what the

meaning of language play is and can be attracted to read the whole news.

The use of the language play in The Jakarta Post newspaper headlines which can

give some ideas and clues to the readers also makes me realize that the readers really

need to know the part of language play in the newspaper headlines and they really need

their background knowledge in understanding the meaning of it.

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On the other hand, in the writing process of this thesis, I went to The Jakarta Post

head office to conduct some interviews with the reporters who wrote the articles I have

analyzed. During the interview, I found an interesting factor. It turns out that most of the

writers I interviewed have no knowledge at all about language play. They have never

heard of language play, let alone realizing what they are doing.

When I asked them what their purpose was in inventing strange and new terms,

they said that it was only to make the headlines more interesting, so that, people will

want to read the articles. And they do not realize that the readers need to have some

background knowledge in understanding the meaning of language play they have made,

because they do not expect the readers to have some background knowledge in

understanding it. This is in line with what I have mentioned in the previous chapter.

Finally, I conclude that a headline is not only for entertainment in the world of

press, but it is also one of the important parts in delivering news. Another point is that

language play can give additional effects on the readers, especially those who can spot it

as they will be amused and entertained. This, of course, will encourage them to read the

particular article and maybe even all the articles in the newspaper. What is more, if they

are happy with it, they will keep buying The Jakarta Post. In the long run, this will affect

the selling.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bauer, Laurie. Introduction to the Theory of Word− Structure . Edinburg: Edinburg

University Press. 1988

Brown, Gillian and George Yule. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press. 1983

Crystal, David. An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Language and Languages. London:

Penguin. 1992

---. Language Play. London: Penguin. 1998

Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. New York: Oxford University

Press. 1995

Katamba, Francis. An Introduction of Phonology. New York: Longman. 1989

Leech, Geoffrey N. and Michael H. Short. Style in Fiction: A Linguistics Introduction to

English Fictional Phrase. Essex: Longman. 1981

Matthews, P.H. An Introduction to the Theory of Word− Structure . Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.1974

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

Yule, George. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press. 1996

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Abbugao, Martin. “Singapore goes high-tech to promote ‘NEWater’. Jakarta Post 19

Sept. 2005

Anonymous. “Kartini day ‘taekwonrobic’ performance”. Jakarta Post 13 May. 2007

Anonymous. “Teana hopes to shed hulky image of Nissan”. Jakarta Post 02 Sept. 2004

Anonymous. “So what’s up with naked ducks, Doc?”. Jakarta Post 07 June. 2006

Cameron-Moore,Simon.”Pakistan’s free press lampoons ‘Mush & Bush’”. Jakarta Post

30 March. 2003

Diani, Hera. ”Bouncing to it with wallyball”. Jakarta Post 16 June. 2002

E.Kruger, Rafl. “An Africar in every garage? Good idea but consumers lukewarm”.

Jakarta Post 18 June. 2005

Hee Hui, Tan.” Me,myself and the dog”. Jakarta Post 22 Jan. 2006

Hernawati, Eva. “School of hard rocks ‘Rock 101’”. Jakarta Post 23 June. 2006

Lewan, Todd. “ To feed or not to feed homeless people”. Jakarta Post 04 Dec. 2006

Macrae, Penny. “Where’s the ‘party-warty’? Briton masters Indian English”. Jakarta

Post 08 Apr. 2005

Marahimin, Mandy. “ ‘Rockumentaries’: should we take them more seriously?”. Jakarta

Post 26 Nov. 2004

Sassy. “Oops, he Diddy it again”. Jakarta Post 19 Feb. 2006

Srivastava, Siddarth. “Jiabao-Manmohan summit, will China am-Bush India?”. Jakarta

Post 15 Apr. 2005

Sukardi, Gandhi. “Are you in ‘mudical’ mood?”. Jakarta Post 04 Dec.2003

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Suryakusuma, Julia. “Like chalk and cheese: when opposites are alike”. Jakarta Post 09

Aug. 2006

Widianarko, Budi. “It’s time for hydrosolidarity”. Jakarta Post 22 March. 2007