31 THESIS
Submitted As a Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Department
of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts
By
Amalia Windardeni C.0303009
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
SURAKARTA
AN ANALYSIS OF SWEARING WORDS IN THE FILM ENTITLED “DANGEROUS MINDS” (A Socio-Pragmatics Approach)
By:
Amalia Windardeni C0303009
Approved to be examined before the Board of Examiners Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts
Sebelas Maret University
Thesis Consultant
Drs. Sri Marmanto, M.Hum NIP 195009011986011001
The Head of English Department
AN ANALYSIS OF SWEARING WORDS IN THE FILM ENTITLED “DANGEROUS MINDS” (A Socio-Pragmatics Approach)
By
Amalia Windardeni C0303009
Accepted and approved by the Board of Examiners Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts
Sebelas Maret University
Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts Sebelas Maret University
MOTTOS
Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering - and it's all over much too soon.
Woody Allen
Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans.
John Lennon
Life is nothing without friendship.
DEDICATION
I wholeheartedly dedicate this thesis to:
My Beloved, Ibu & Bapak
My Sister, Mbak Adin
PRONOUNCEMENT
Name : Amalia Windardeni NIM : C0303009
I hereby state wholeheartedly that I write the thesis entitled “An Analysis of Swearing Words in the Film Entitled “Dangerous Minds” (A Socio -Pragmatic Approach)”. It is not a plagiarism nor made by others. The things
related to other people’s works are written in quotation and included in
bibliography.
If it is then proved that I cheat, I am ready to take the responsibilities, including the withdrawal of my academic degree.
Surakarta, May 2010
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Alhamdulillahirobbil’alamin
All praise and thanks are for the one and only, Alloh SWT. Thanks for the true blessing, guidance and miracles throughout my life, including finishing this thesis.
This thesis could not be achieved without help and support from everyone during finishing this thesis. Therefore, I would like to express my greatest and deepest gratitude to the following people:
1. Drs. Sudarno, M.A. as the Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts of Sebelas Maret University, for approving this thesis.
2. Dr. Djatmika, M.A. as the Head of English Department, for providing the opportunity to conduct this research.
3. Drs. Sri Marmanto, M.Hum as my thesis consultant. Thank you so much for the guidance, attention, advice during the process of finishing this thesis.
4. Prof. Drs. MR. Nababan, MA. M.Ed. PhD as my academic supervisor, for the assistance during the academic period.
5. Lecturers of English Department for teaching and sharing knowledge. It has been a great experience of being the student of English Department. 6. My lovely Ibu & Bapak. Thank you for always supporting me in finishing
Let’s build the family. My twin brother, Adek Azhar&Azwar, be strong
boys. I love you…
7. My sisters in Solo: Mbak Lupi, thanks for downloading the film, I almost give up in searching. Hesti, good luck for you. Elly, may Alloh shows the best way for you. Iin, Happy Wedding, Siwi (my twin) take care.
8. My best friends: Desi, thanks for your support and motivation in finishing this thesis, you always there right beside me. Dwi, the mature one, I miss you. Such a nice nicknames, Bui, Busi, and Buku. I’m gonna miss you all. 9. My old friend, Anip Chan, what a wonderful friendship. Thanks for always
listening me for. Don’t forget our togetherness for these 13 years.
10.All of my friends in English Department 2003. Sorry, I can not mention your entire name here, but thanks for everything.
11.Last but not least, my dearest fellow, Hya (“;) Ha. You make me happy and sad. I just want to share everything with you. It’s you and only you…
I realize that this thesis is still far for being perfect. I expect for constructive suggestion and criticism from everyone. Nevertheless, I hope this thesis will be useful for those who are interested in such study.
Surakarta, May 2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE ... .i
THE APPROVAL OF THESIS CONSULTANT ... ii
THE APPROVAL OF BOARD OF EXAMINERS ... iii
MOTTOS ... iv
DEDICATION ... v
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ... vi
PRONOUNCEMENT ... viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ix
ABSTRACT ... xii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Research Background ... 1
B. Problem Statements ... .6
C. Problem Limitation ... .6
D. Research Objectives ... 7
E. Research Benefits ... 7
F. Research Methodology... 8
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ... 9
A. Sociolinguistics ... 10
B. Pragmatics ... 12
C. Sociopragmatics ... 13
D. Ethnography of Communication ... 14
E. Social Dimension ... 21
F. Domain of Language Use... 24
G. Swearing Words ... 25
H. Film Theory ... 28
I. Film Synopsis ... 29
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 31
A. Type of Research... 31
B. The Sources of Data ... 32
C. Sample and Sampling Technique ... 32
D. Equipment of The Research ... 33
E. Technique of Collecting Data ... 33
F. Data Coding ... 34
G. Technique of Analyzing Data ... 35
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS ... 36
A. Introduction ... 36
B. Data Classification ... 37
C. Discussions ... 73
A. Conclusions ... 83
B. Suggestions ... 85
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 86
APPENDICES ... 88
Tables Table 1 Domain of Language Use ... 24
ABSTRACT characters in the film “Dangerous Minds”, and at knowing the way and reason of the characters in employing it.
This research is a descriptive qualitative research that refers to the method which formulates the conclusion by collecting, classifying, and interpreting the data of the research.
The source of the data is the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” with its
script of film found in the internet. All of the utterances containing swearing word
employed by the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” are used as the
data of the research. This research applies total sampling technique. There are 53 data of swearing words found in 33 dialogues.
Derived from the analysis, the research concludes that: 1) there are six types of swearing words employed by the characters in the film entitled
“Dangerous Minds” namely Religion, Anatomy, Excretory, Stupidity, Animal, and General. 2) The analysis of the data shows that the most swearing word employed
by the characters exists in equal status of participants’ scale. It is found that the most swearing word expressed in high tone. 3) There are several reasons of the characters in the film employ swearing words. The reasons are: to express anger, to express annoyance, to mock, to create attention, to deny, to show pleasure, to refer to something bad, to express pleasure, to insult, to express dislike, and to show intimacy.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
Communication has an important role in society. Without communication, people cannot understand each other and they cannot fulfill their need. In order to have a good communication with people, they require a device to express their ideas or feelings. Therefore, language plays an important role in the society. Wardhaugh states that language allows people to say things to each other and express communication needs (1986:2).
Language is a device to communicate with others. People use language for many purposes such as providing information, giving commands, expressing feelings, social talking, world play, and poetry (Aitchison, 1996:17). Through language people can maintain their daily activities. People can give and exchange information to other people. Hence, language cannot be separated from human‟s life. People express their feeling also using
language. Expressing feelings here can be anger, happiness, disappointment, surprise, frustration, and so on. In expressing these feelings, people have many ways, and one of them is uttering swearing words.
refers of something that is taboo and/or stigmatized in the culture; (b) should not be interpreted literally; (c) can be used to express strong emotions and attitudes. (1990:53). Before the nineteenth century, swearing words were not popular because those words were strictly forbidden, mainly by religion. The religion emphasizes that the Lord‟s name should not be taken in vain so
references to God in oaths were taboo. The reference to sexuality and bodily function is also taboo. Recently, the use of swearing words was changed and more accepted by society, the words that considered as taboos are no longer taboo anymore (Bryson, 1991).
Nowadays, the uses of swearing words become more popular as can be seen in daily life as well as in media such as television, radio and film. In the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”, a drama genre film, there were some swearing words expressed by the characters. The setting of this film is in a high school where the students frequently express swearing words to other students and even to their teachers. In the film, swearing words are not only expressed by students but also by the teachers, it is found that swearing word is expressed by a teacher to students and even to a headmaster.
students learn and achieve not only knowledge, but also ethics from their teacher. In this institution there are norms that the students must obey and respect their teacher. Talking politely to their teacher is one way to show respect to them.
In the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” there are various kinds of
swearing words expressed by the characters. The dialogue below is the example of the use of swearing words;
1. The conversation takes place in the classroom and runs in informal situation. The participants are Bates and Durrell. There is no superiority between them and their relationship is close. The teacher teaches about Karate. The topic of conversation is about the spelling.
Bates : What's "karate"? (Asks the teacher)
Durrell : Karate, you stupid asshole (06/Animal/Dlg03/Equal). You're idiot (07/Stupidity03/Dlg/Equal).
Bates : (remains silent)
The teacher writes down the subject in the blackboard and Bates asks in wrong pronunciation. He spells karate {k r t}. Here Durrell tries to make a correction to Bates. Directly he says karate {k „r :ti} in the right one.
Durrell expresses it in high tone and mocking face. It is clear that Durrell employs swearing word asshole to insult Bates. To the rest of the English speaking world, the word ass is still interpreted as donkey. Donkey is the common term interpreting stupidity. Durrell is one of the brightest students, that is why he wants to degrade Bates. Moreover, he also uses the word idiot. The sentence “You’re idiot” strengthen Durrell‟s expression to insult Bates. Therefore, the reason of the character expresses swearing words in this conversation is to insult someone.
2. The conversation is conducted by Louanne and PJ. There is superiority between them since PJ as the student or the subordinate and Louanne as the teacher or the superordinate. Their relationship is starting to get closer. The conversation takes places in the classroom.
PJ : Honorable sensei. Hmm. It‟s obvious that "homeboy" is a noun.
Louanne: Noun is correct!
PJ : Well, give me my damn (15/Religion/Dlg09/Sub-Super) candy bar.
Louanne: (Smiles and throws the candy bar)
PJ : Whoo! Thank you. (Catching the candy bar)
In the dialogue above a swearing word damn is uttered by PJ. Damn is categorized as Religion. The word, damn refers to the rewarded candy bar. PJ answers the question correctly; as a result he expects a candy bar like the other. He expresses this swearing word in low tone and funny face. Damn
uttered by PJ here is not aimed to show hatred to Louanne but be satisfied with what he has achieved. It is difficult to teach the academy class, however Louanne has been successfully taking her student‟s heart; she makes the teaching-learning activity more attractive by rewarding candy bar for the students.
It is clear that the reason of expressing swearing word in this dialogue is to expect something from the student to the teacher. In addition, PJ still respects to Louanne by addressing her Honorable Sensei and saying thank you after receiving candy bar.
As a member of educational institution, the students should obey and respect to their teacher. However, in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” there are some swearing words expressions delivered from subordinate (students) to superordinate (teachers). Furthermore, the uses of swearing words expressed by the characters seem to be influenced by social dimension such as relationship between the speakers, status, power, and situation.
not only found from superordinate to subordinate (teacher to students) but also from subordinate to superordinate (teacher to headmaster). Thus, it is interesting to analyze about swearing words in this film. Faced by such phenomena above, the researcher is interested to conduct a research entitled
“An Analysis of Swearing Words in the Film Entitled DANGEROUS MINDS”
B. Problem Statements
Based on the research background, the problem statements are arranged as follows:
1. What types of swearing words are employed by the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”?
2. How do the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” employ swearing words?
3. Why are swearing words employed by the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”?
C. Problem Limitation
feelings, for that reason swearing word will be included in expressive speech acts since it indicates the speaker‟s psychological state towards a certain state of affairs, person, or objects. Other speech acts are out from this research. The researcher takes the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” as the source of data. Therefore, the data are the dialogues containing of swearing words expressions.
D. Research Objectives
The research is conducted to find out the answers of the problem statements. The research objectives are as follow:
1. To find out the types of swearing words employed by the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”
2. To know how the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” employed swearing words.
3. To find out the reasons of swearing words employed by the characters the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”.
E. Research Benefits
The research will give an understanding to the students about swearing words.
2. Other Researchers
The research will encourage other researchers to conduct more comprehensive study about swearing words.
F. Research Methodology
The research employs a descriptive qualitative method. Bodgan and Taylor in Moleong define that a qualitative methodology refers to the research procedure which brings about descriptive data both in written or spoken forms available to be examined (2001:3). The research uses descriptive method because the researcher collects the data, makes an analysis and draws the conclusion (Moleong, 2001:6).
The researcher analyzes the data using sociopragmatics approach. Therefore the data of this research are all of dialogues containing swearing words in the film Dangerous Minds.
G. Thesis Organization
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION which covers: Research Background, Problem Statements, Problem Limitation, Research Objectives, Research Benefits, Research Methodology, and Thesis Organization.
CHAPTER II : LITERATURE REVIEW which covers: Sociolinguistics, Ethnography of Communication, Pragmatics, Socio-Pragmatics, Social Dimension, Domain of Language Use, Swearing Words, Film Theory, and Film Synopsis.
CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY which covers: Type of Research, The Source of Data, Sample and Sampling Technique, Equipment of The Research, Technique of Collecting Data, Data Coding and Technique of Analyzing Data.
CHAPTER IV : ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Sociolinguistics
1. Definitions of Sociolinguistics
about the way language works, as well as about the social relationships in a community (Holmes, 1992:1).
Moreover, Hudson explains sociolinguistics as the study of language in relation to society, implying that sociolinguistics is the light, which employs the nature of language in general or on the characteristics of some particular language. (1996:4)
Another definition of Sociolinguistics is given by Chaika. According to Chaika, Sociolinguistics is the study of the ways people use language in social interaction of all kinds. It means that Sociolinguistics deals with how people use language to maintain interactions with other in any kind of situation (1994:3).
In addition, Spolsky defines that sociolinguistics is the field that studies the relation between language and society, between the users of language and the social structures in which the users of language live. It is a field of study that assumes that human society is made up of many related patterns and behaviors, some of which linguistics (1998:3).
The definitions above have the similar concept with sociolinguistics, such as the relationship between language and society. It can be concluded that sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics that is interested in the relationship between language and society and concerned with the social function of language in relation to speech community in social interaction.
Fishman (1972) categorizes Sociolinguistics into two studies, which are known as micro-sociolinguistics and macro-sociolinguistics. Micro-sociolinguistics concerns with the study of the language in specific speech communities. Meanwhile, macro-sociolinguistics concerns with the study of language history and development in this scope of society in general. It can be said that macro-sociolinguistics studies the use of languages involving large group of speakers. It focuses on the society rather than individuals.
According to Trudgill, micro-sociolinguistics is a term sometimes used to cover the study face to face interaction, discourse analysis, conversation analysis and other areas of sociolinguistics involving the study relatively the small group of speaker (1992:52). On the other hand, macro-sociolinguistics is a term sometimes used to cover secular linguistics, the sociology of language, and other areas involving the study relatively large group of speakers (ibid:51)
The focus of the discussion is swearing word employed by the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”. Therefore, the researcher
takes micro-sociolinguistics as the frame of the study. Thus, all of the theories used are under the scope of micro-sociolinguistics.
B. Pragmatics
Pragmatics is considered as a study of linguistics meaning which is related to context. There are some definitions which reveal the close relation between language and context in the understanding of language meaning.
According to Yule (1996:4), pragmatics is the study of meaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader). In studying Pragmatics, one can talk about people‟s intended
meanings, their assumptions, their purposes or goals, and kinds of action that they are performing when they speak (Yule, 1996).
According to Leech (1983) the term Pragmatics deals with both context dependent aspect of language structure and principle of language usage and understanding that have nothing or little to do with language structure. He later defines that as a science, pragmatics is the study of the relation between language and context that are basic account to a language understanding. Here the term of language understanding is used in the way favored by workers in the artificial intelligence to draw attention to the fact that understanding an utterance involves more great deals than knowing the meaning of the uttered words and the grammatical relation between them. Understanding an utterance involves the making of references that will connect what is said to what is mutually assumed or what has been said before.
context influences what is said. It is also requires a consideration of how speakers organize what they want to say in accordance with who are talking to, where, when, and under what circumstances.
C. Sociopragmatics
Leech (1983) proposes to subdivide pragmatics into a pragmalinguistics and sociopragmatics component. Pragmalinguistics refers to the resources for conveying communicative acts and relational or interpersonal meanings. Such resources include pragmatic strategies like directness and indirectness, routines, and a large range of linguistic forms which can intensify or soften communicative acts.
Sociopragmatics was described by Leech (1983:10) as “the sociological
interface of pragmatics”, referring to the social perceptions underlying
D. Ethnography of Communication
1. The Definition of Ethnography of Communication
The concept of ethnography of communication is advocated by Dell Hymes in 1974. Fasold states that the approach to the sociolinguistics of language in which the use of language in general is related to social and cultural values is called the ethnography of speaking or more generally, the ethnography of communication (1996:39). It can be pointed out that ethnography of communication is the study of the organization of speaking as an activity in human society
Hymes (in Fasold, 1996:39) states that the ethnography of speaking concerns the situation and uses, the patterns and functions of speaking as an activity in its own right. Ethnography of communication concerns the diverse of ways of speaking in different speech community that has to be understood by a speaker in order to communicate appropriately and to make sense of communicative situation within a particular speech community.
Fasold (1996:40) states that the essential concepts of ethnography of communication are the speech community and the units of interaction, which consist of speech situation, speech events, and speech acts. The following is the explanation.
The essential concepts of ethnography of speaking include speech community which has a relationship with speech situation and speech event. The following are the explanations;
a.Speech community
Hymes in Fasold (1996:41) insists that all members of speech community share not only the same rules of speaking but also at least one linguistics variety as well. They share a set of norms and rules for the use of language. It can be pointed out that a speech community is group of people who are tied with at least one variety of language and norms of communication.
Meanwhile, Gumperz in Chaika (1995:309) defines speech community is a group of speakers who share a set of norms about the use of a language or languages. Thus, it can be concluded that a speech community refers to a group of people who share the same rules and patterns for interacting and interpreting.
In order to study communicative behavior within a speech community, it is necessary on working with units of interaction. Hymes (in Fasold, 1996:42) suggests that a nested hierarchy of units called speech situation, speech event, and speech act.
b. Speech Situation
any constellation of statuses and settings, which restrict the interaction, where it should or may occur. The examples that he provided are ceremonies, fights, hunts, or lovemaking. People require a right time and place to run these activities. Fishman (1972) states that there are three ingredients (space, time, and role) that constitutes a construction of the social situation.
c.Speech Event
Speech events are both communicative and governed by rules for the use of speech. A speech event occurs in a non verbal context. Hymes describes that the term of speech event is restricted to activities or aspect of activities that are directly governed by rules or norms for the use of speech. A speech event takes place within speech situation and is composed of one or more speech acts. Several speech events can occur successively or even simultaneously in the same situation. For example, a joke might be a speech act that is part of conversation (a speech event), which takes place at a party (a speech situation). (Hymes in Fasold, 1996:42).
d.Speech Act
the utterance and the total situation in which the utterance is issued (19962:52). He stresses the function of speech acts as a way of “doing things with word”. He also provides the distinctions among utterances into the
following:
1. A Locutionary Act : Indicates the speaker‟s purpose in saying something. It contains the verbalized message.
2. An Illocutionary Act : refers to the force behind the words. It specifies in what way a speaker is using the locution.
3. A Perlocutionary Act: produces sequential effects on the feelings, thoughts, or action of hearers. It is the effect of illocutionary act. To make the definition above clear, the following is the explanation: A : It is very hot here
B : All right
3. Component of speech
Hymes (1974) has proposed an ethnographic framework which takes account into the various factors that are involved in speaking. An ethnography of a communicative vent is a description of all the factors that are relevant in understanding how a particular communicative event achieves its objectives (in Wardhaugh, 1998:242) Hymes uses the word SPEAKING as an acronym for the various factors he deems to be relevant. We will now consider these factors one by one.
a. Situation (S)
Setting refers to the time and place, i.e., the concrete physical circumstances in which speech takes place. Scene refers to the abstract psychological setting, or the cultural definition of the occasion. Within a particular setting, of course, participants are free to change scenes, as they change the level of formality or as they change the kind of activity in which they are involved (Wardhaugh, 1995:243).
b. Participants (P)
Participants include various combinations of speaker-listener, addressor-addressee, or sender-receiver. They generally fill certain socially specified roles. For example, a prayer obviously makes a deity a participant. In a classroom a teacher‟s question and a student‟s
c. Ends (E)
Hymes in Fasold states that ends can be divided into outcomes (the purposes of the event from a cultural point of view) and goals (the purpose of the individual participants). In all sorts of bargaining events, for example, the overall outcome is to be the orderly exchange of something of value from one person to the other. The goal of the seller is to maximize the price, while the goal of the buyer is to minimize it (1996:44).
d. Acts Sequence (A)
Act sequence consists of message form and context. Message form deals with how something is spoken by participants, whereas message content deals with what the participants talk about or it is simply called a topic of conversation.
e. Keys (K)
Keys refer to the manner or spirit in which a speech act is carried out, for example, whether it is mock or serious, perfunctory or painstaking. Certain keys are closely associated with other aspects of communication, like setting or participant.
Instrumentalities include both channel and form of speech. By channel, Hymes (in Fasold, 1996:45) simply means the way message travels from one person to another. Probably, the most commonly used channels are oral or written transmission of a message. By forms of speech, Hymes means languages and their subdivisions, dialects, codes, varieties and registers.
g. Norms (N)
Norms are the rules of the interaction and interpretation of the communication. Norm of interaction refers to an underlying set of non-linguistics rules which governs when, how, and how often speech occurs which is commonly have by all communities and varies from one culture to another. Norm of interpretation implicates the belief system of a community. It involves trying to understand what is being conveyed beyond what is in the actual word used.
h. Genres (G)
Genres refer to categories like poems, myths, proverbs, lectures and commercial message. It is often the case that different genres have defining formal characteristics. In Hymes‟ view, casual speech act is
in Catholic Church can consist of prayers and adorations, preys and sermons.
E. Social Dimension
Social dimension functions as the indication of situation and reflection of purpose, topic, manner, and mood of language use. According to Holmes (1992:376), there are four different reflected dimensions during the communication, namely social distance, social status scale, formality scale, and functional scale.
1. Social Distance Scale
It concerns with participants relationship, how well they know each other, who is talking to whom is an important factor i.e., husband to wife, parents to children, teachers to students or workers to managers. It is used to show group different existence or solidarity between the group members. The solidarity-social distance scale can be shown as follows:
Intimate Distant
High solidarity Low solidarity
socially distant, it will be inappropriate using vernacular forms in their conversation.
2. Social Status Scale
This dimension also concerns with participants relationship which influences the language choices. It accounts for a variety of linguistics difference as a way that signals people‟s status in community. The social
status scale can be shown as follow:
Superior High Status
Subordinate Low Status
The way people talk each other reflects their relationship on this dimension. People on higher social group more likely use the standard form of language. The word used in communication can indicate whether a participant is superior, subordinate, or equal.
3. Formality Scale
Formal High Formality
Informal Low Formality
This scale is useful in assessing the influence of the social setting or type of interaction on language choice.
4. Functional Scale (Referential And Affective)
The function of an interaction can also be an important influence on its linguistics form. The function dimension here covers referential meaning and effective social meaning. The two identified in these scale are particularly persuasive and basic. The linguistics features of a certain interaction with referential meaning are strongly influenced by the information they need to convey; and it can express how someone is feeling. The referential and affective function can be shown as follow:
Referential
High Low
Information Information
Content Content
Affective
Low High
Affective Affective
F. Domain of Language Use
An American sociolinguistics, Joshua Fishman, popularizes the term “domain”. He has introduced domain analysis, which describes the use of
language in various institutional contexts in a multilingual society.
Fishman in Fasold states that there are certain institutional context called domain, in which one language variety is more likely to be appropriate than another. Domains are taken to be the constellation of factors such as location, topic, and participants (1992:183).
In line with Fishman, Holmes states that domain is clearly a very general concept which draws on three important social factors in code choice-participants, setting, and topic (Fasold, 1992:26). The following table, proposed by Joshua Fishman in Holmes (1992) shows five domains, which can be recognized in many communities.
Table 1
Domain of Language Use
Domain Addressee Setting Topic Variety/
Education communication. They are participant, setting, and topic. Fishman classifies domain into five: family, friendship, religion, employment and education. However, the progress of Sociolinguistics study brings to broader and more specific division of kinds of domain such as home, school, office, hotel, market, neighborhood, church, and transaction.
G. Swearing Words
1. The definition of swearing words
Swearing words is a bad language, which is regarded as dirty, vulgar, rude, and offensive word. Andersson and Trudgill state that swearing word is a bad language which is used to be taboo to be said. “One of the most obvious forms of „bad‟ language is, of course, bad language –in other words,
swearing”. Another definition they provide;
literally; (c) an be used to express strong emotions and attitudes”.
Andersson and Trudgill (1990:53)
Furthermore, Eckert and Mc Connel states that
“Swearing is widely considered an expression of very strong emotion: anger at specific others or simply deep frustration, often manifest as anger directed at the closest available target. It is viewed as potent language and can indeed sometimes achieves impressive effect” (2003:181).
Swearing can have meaning “to use words that are rude or offensive
as a way of emphasizing what you mean or as a way of insulting someone or something (www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp)
From the definitions above it can be said that swearing means bad language which can be uttered to express strong emotions.
2. Function of Swearing
Crystal (1997:61) says that “it is an outlet for frustration or pent up
emotion and as a means of releasing nervous energy after a sudden shock; as a marker of a group identity and solidarity, and as a way of expressing aggression without resort to violence”. Meanwhile, Asher defines the function of swearing words as an emotional expression: “Swearing reflects a speaker‟s
wrath or frustration towards a person or an object (1994:1512).
3. Types of Swearing
Hughes (1996:146) provides 7 types of swearing words. 1. Religion
This term is related to God such as Goddamn, damn, hell, Jesus Christ and so on.
2. Anatomy
This term is related to bottom area organs of human‟s body, such as tit, ass, asshole, etc.
3. Excretion
The term „excretory‟ comes from „excrete‟. The words which are
related to this term are shit, piss and so on. 4. Stupidity
Stupidity is a quality or state of being stupid, or an act or idea that exhibits property of being stupid. The words which are related to this term are idiot, moron, stupid, etc.
5. Animal
The term refers to kinds of animal which are used to mock or compare people with animal, such as pig you, bitch.
The term refers to sexual organs and activity. The words relate to this term are fuck, dick, dickhead, motherfucker etc.
7. Genitalia
The term refers to the part of sex organs of human‟s body. The words
relate to this term are prick, pillock, cunt, twat and so on.
H. Film Theory
Film is the most popular and affective medium of entertainment. It reflects the desire, needs, fears, and aspiration of a society (Allen and Gomery, 1993:154). As a social representation, film derives its image, sounds, themes, and stories ultimately from their social environment (Allen and Gomery, 1993:158).
The study of film cannot be separated from society as stated by Allen and Gomery as follow:
“Furthermore, however indirectly and obliquely, movies are social representations. That is, they derive images and sounds, themes and stories ultimately from their social environment. In fictional film, characters are given attitudes, gesture, sentiment, motivations and appearance that are, in part at least, based on general notions on how policeman, factory workers, debutante, mother or husband is supposed to act” (1993:153)
“In fictional film, characters are given attitudes, gesture, sentiment, motivations and appearance that are, in part at least, based on general notions on how policeman, factory workers, debutante, mother or husband is supposed to act” (1993:153)
From the definition above, it can be concluded that film is a reflection of social life, whatever the kind of film, even a fictional film. A fictional film represents the norm, values, and phenomena of society. It is still life – like depiction of places, people, and object. It is visible and everyday reality. That is why; we will understand that film reflects the aspects of ideology that occur in the society.
I. Film Synopsis
The film entitled Dangerous Minds is a story about a school teacher‟s discovery that it takes more than ABCs to get through a class of “uneducatable” kids. This American drama film is based on the
autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework by former U.S. Marine Louanne Johnson who took up a teaching position in California. The film is not just about teacher„s experience in teaching the class. It is about the
importance to take care of the students and encourage them that they can make a difference.
Johnson called upon her humor, ingenuity, and Marine training, to turn this formerly neglected group of kids into proud and successful students, as evidenced by their test scores, graduation rates, and attitudes.
When the film opens, a retired U.S. Marine, Louanne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer), arrives at Parkmont High School in searching of a job as a teacher with students from poor, angry minorities from East Palo Alto, California. In this school, she finds a class of tough, street-wise kids, involved in gangs and drugs. The students are so dreadful that they make their old English teacher hospitalized. Louanne Johnson earns a nickname „white bread‟ from her students because of her initially meek demeanor, mall
stature and white skin. When she begins teaching, the students do their usual tricks on her but she takes them as a piece of cake.
To have them put trust and respect on her; she quickly changes her appearance by wearing a leather jacket, teaching karate, and swearing in the classroom. Creating her own curriculum for her „socially challenged‟ but
path. She becomes so proud of them. Through both her and the class‟
dedication, she teaches them not only to respect education for its own worth, but also to respect and believe in themselves.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Type of Research
This research focuses on the study of analysis of swearing word is a qualitative research. Qualitative research is a type of research which does not include any calculation/enumeration (Moleong, 2004: 3). Bodgan and Taylor in Moeloeng state that qualitative methodology refers to the research procedure which brings about descriptive data in form of written or spoken of words and behavior available to be examined (2004: 4).
B. The Source of Data
In conducting this research, the source of data is the film entitled
“Dangerous Minds”. According to Arikunto (1998:114), a source of data is an object from which all the data of research are obtained.
The data themselves may appear in the form of discourse, sentences, clauses, phrases or words (Subroto, 1992:34). This research explores about swearing words which appear in the dialogues between the characters in the film. It can be said that the data of this research are all utterances containing swearing words in the film entitled”Dangerous Minds”.
C. Sample and Sampling Technique
Sample is a part of the data being observed (Hadi, 1983:70). While sampling technique is a technique which is used by the researcher to select samples out of the data (Hadi, 1983:75)
There are 53 varieties of swearing word expressions found in 33 dialogues in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”. The researcher applies
D. Equipment of the Research
Equipment in a research is the equipment or facility that is used by the researcher to collect the data so the research can be easier and the result can be more accurate, complete, and systematic (Arikunto, 1998:151). In a qualitative research, equipment of the research is the researcher herself with or without the help of other people (Moleong, 2004:164). However, in conducting the research, the researcher needs some supporting equipments such as a set of computer, the transcript of the film and a folder contain the files of the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”.
E. Technique of Collecting Data
The data of the research were collected by doing the following steps: 1. Replaying the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” several times in order
to understand the whole story.
2. Finding the transcript of the film from the internet (http://www.imdb.com/moviescripts/d/dangerous-minds.html)
3. Transcribing all of the dialogs containing swearing words expression into the form of list as the data.
F. Data Coding
In this research, the data were given some codes to make the analysis easier. The data coding was based on the order of the datum number, type of swearing word, the number of the dialogue, and the scale of the participants‟
relationship. The following is the example of data coding: (15/Religion/Dlg09/Sub-Super) 15 : refers to the number of datum
Religion : refers to types of swearing words
The following are the types of swearing words:
Religion
Anatomy
Excretion
Stupidity
Animal
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The participants‟ scale can be Subordinate to Superordinate (Sub-Super), Superordinate to Subordinate (Super-Sub), or Equal status (Equal).
G. Technique of Analyzing Data
The researcher uses Socio-Pragmatics approach to analyze the collected data. The techniques of analyzing data come into the following steps.
1. Analyzing the data using Hughes‟s theory to answer the types of swearing word employed by the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”
2. Describing how swearing words are expressed and interpreting the reason of swearing words are employed by the characters in the film based on Dell Hymes‟ SPEAKING formula as the guiding theory.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A. Introduction to Analysis
As mentioned in the first chapter, the purposes of this research are to describe the types of swearing words expression employed by the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” by using the types of swearing words
by Geoffrey Hughes, to know how and why swearing word is expressed by the characters in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” by using Dell Hymes‟ SPEAKING formula as the guiding theory.
B. Data Classification
The analysis of this research is divided into the following three subchapters:
a. Types of Swearing Words Expressions Found in the Film Entitled “Dangerous Minds”
From the data obtained, the researcher found that there are six types of swearing words expressed in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds” namely,
religion, anatomy, excretory, stupidity, animal, and general. There are 53 data containing varieties of swearing words found in 33 dialogues in the film entitled “Dangerous Minds”. The following are the distributions of the data:
8. Religion (Damn, Hell, Jesus Christ)
There are 8 data found in the film. The following are the data with code number:
(05/Religion/Dlg02/Equal)
(13/Religion/Dlg08/Sub-Super)
(15/Religion/Dlg09/Sub-Super)
(42/Religion/Dlg25/Sub-Super)
(48/Religion/Dlg29/Sub-Super)
(52/Religion/Dlg32/Sub-Super)
(53/Religion/Dlg33/Equal)
9. Anatomy ( Asshole)
There are 1 datum in this research. The following are the data with code number:
(01/Anatomy/Dlg01/Sub-Super)
10.Excretory (Shit, Bullshit)
There are 14 data in this research. The following are the data with code number:
(03/Excretory/ Dlg01/Sub-Super)
(09/Excretory/Dlg05/Equal)
(10/Excretory/Dlg06/Sub-Super)
(11/Excretory/Dlg07/Sub-Super)
(12/Excretory/Dlg08/Sub-Super)
(14/Excretory/Dlg09/Sub-Super)
(16/Excretory/Dlg11/Sub-Super)
(17/Excretory/Dlg12/Sub-Super)
(20/Excretory/Dlg14/ Equal)
(41/Excretory/Dlg24/Sub-Super)
(26/Excretory/Dlg16/Sub-Super)
(31/Excretory/Dlg18/Equal)
11. Stupidity (Idiot)
There is only 1 datum found in this research. The following is the datum with code number:
(07/Stupidity/Dlg03/Equal)
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b. The Ways and Reasons of Employing Swearing Words by The Characters in The Film Entitled “Dangerous Minds”
In analyzing the ways of the participants employing swearing words, the researcher divided them into three categories namely swearing words from subordinate to superordinate, swearing words from superordinate to subordinate and swearing words from equal status. This categorization is intended to find the reasons of the participants to employ swearing words.
b.1. Swearing Word From Subordinate To Superordinate
In this category, the researcher finds 15 dialogues consisting of swearing words expressed from subordinate participant to superordinate participant, namely from student to teacher and from teacher to principal.
b.1.1. By Student to Teacher
There are 14 dialogues consisting of swearing word expressions by the student to the teacher. There are several reasons of the characters in uttering swearing words. The followings are the explanations:
The conversation takes place in the classroom. The participants are Louanne as the teacher and some students, namely Nikki, Big G, Roderick, Raul and Emilio. The conversation occurs between the teacher as superordinate and the students as subordinate. Since this is the first meeting for them, their relationships are not close at all. The conversation runs in informal situation even though the situation is in teaching-learning activity, but the condition is crowded and out of control.
Dialogue 1
Louanne: What happened to Miss Shepherd? (To the students)
Nikki : Ooh, no, she ain't askin' about Miss triflin‟-ass (01/Anatomy/Dlg1/Sub-Super) Shepherd. You playin' yourself. Playin' yourself. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo! Listen up! Yo, listen up! White Bread wanna know what happened to Miss Shepherd. Big G : We killed the bitch (2/Animal/Dlg1/Sub-Super).
Raul : Ohh! No, no, no. Everybody, everybody. Emilio ate her. Emilio : Bullshit (3/Excretory/Dlg1/Sub-Super). That bitch (4/Animal/
Dlg1/Sub-Super) was too ugly to eat. Fed her to my dogs. But I'll eat you.
Data Interpretation
students come from various races namely Spanish, Latino, Black, and Asian. They never show the willingness to study and learn in the school.
The topic of the conversation is about Miss Shepherd, their previous teacher. Louanne asks the students what actually happened to her. She delivers the question in a mild tone. Surprisingly, the students do not answer her question in a good way. Some of them yell at her and few of them swear to her. It seems that the students reject her presence as a teacher. She cannot bear anymore and goes out from the class.
In the dialogue above, it is clear that the characters in the film employ swearing words. The sentence “Ooh, no, she ain't askin' about Miss triflin'-ass
Shepherd” contains a swearing word coming from Nikki as the subordinate to Miss Shepherd, the superordinate. Another swearing word is expressed by Big G, he says “We killed the bitch”. He also performs the utterance in high tone and angry face.
Furthermore, Emilio also expresses swearing words in sentence
“Bullshit. That bitch was too ugly to eat. Fed her to my dogs. But I'll eat you”. He expresses the word in high tone and angry face. Almost all the students hate Miss Shepherd because she always giving them not only assignment to do in the classroom but also homework to do in their home.
in teaching-learning activity. Even though it is the first meeting with Louanne, the students are not afraid to swear in front of her. They are “academy class” students, those who do not want to get any lesson or learn something. They always make their teachers face some troubles that can make them refuse teaching them anymore.
1.2 Data Description
The conversation takes place in Emilio‟s house. It runs in informal
situation. The participants are Louanne as superordinate and Emilio as subordinate. Their relationships are getting closer. Louanne comes to Emilio‟s house to discuss about his life problem. She tries to help him in
getting the solution.
Dialogue 20 Louanne : You feel angry a lot of the time?
Emilio : So now you're gonna try and psychologize me? You're gonna try and figure me out? I'll help you. I come from a broken home, and we're poor. Okay? I see the same fuckin' (35/General/Dlg20/Sub-Super) movies you do, man.
Louanne : I would like to help you, Emilio.
Data Interpretation
Emilio expresses the swearing word fuckin in high tone and angry face. Emilio does not believe that Louanne could help him out of his trouble, Emilio feels that his trouble is so complicated; he comes from a poor and broken home family. Emilio feels that he is so helpless at that time and he does not need advice from Louanne. His condition triggers him to express swearing words. He expresses the words fuckin and fuck to Louanne. Emilio feels angry with Louanne because Louanne thinks that she can solve Emilio‟s entire problem. The reason of the characters express swearing words is to show anger.
There are other data which show the same reason of expressing swearing word at showing anger. They are datum number (26/Excretory/Dlg16/Sub-Super) and datum number (27/General/Dlg17/Sub-Super).
2. The Reasons of Using Swearing Words to Show Denial. Data Description
The conversation takes place in the classroom in learning activity. The participants are Louanne as the superordinate and the students namely Durrell, Emilio, Angela, Callie and Tanyekia as the subordinate. The situation is formal considering it in teaching learning activity.
Louanne : Okay, here's the deal. When we finish this assignment, I am gonna take all of you to a place that has the highest parachute jumps, the biggest roller coaster, the best rides, the most delicious hot dogs, the hardest games and the best prizes in the world.
Tanyekia : You're kiddin'. For real? Durrell : And we don't gotta pay for it? Louanne : Huh?
Durrell : And we don't gotta pay for it? Louanne : Not a penny.
Angela : So then, who pays? Louanne : The Board of Education.
Callie : Lord, did you hear that? I don't believe it. Louanne : Sound good?
Emilio : Hey! That's bullshit (17/Excretory/Dlg12/Sub-Super), man! (to the class)
Louanne : I'm sorry?
Emilio : Since when has the Board of Education done anything for us, huh?
Nikki : Yeah, man, we fuckin' (18/General/Dlg12/Sub-Super) barely get lunch.
The students discuss about the reward offered by their teacher. Louanne promises that she is going to take all of the students to the best and attractive recreational area when they had finished the assignment. Louanne says that they do not need to pay even a penny because the board of education will make it. Apparently the students do not believe what the teacher says. Soon after that they are involving in a serious discussion.
In the conversation above, Emilio employs swearing word bullshit. As a noun bullshit means nonsense, and as a verb, it means to trick someone. The students were exciting to know that the board of education will pay it and soon they talk to each other. Seeing that crowd situation, Emilio shout to his friends in high tone and angry face. He stares at them all with deep gaze, his mimics‟ shows that he is angry. He utters the word bullshit in high tone. He does not think that what Louanne says is true. In this context, bullshit
functions as a denial to Louanne‟s statement. Emilio disagrees to Louanne‟s
statements and takes that as a nonsense that the board of education will pay all of their activity.
Another swearing word is expressed by Tanyekia that is fuckin. She utters the words in low tone and normal face. In this dialogue, the word
The dialogue takes place in the classroom in learning activity. The participants are Louanne as the superordinate and the students namely Kareem and Durrell as the subordinate. The dialogue runs in informal situation.
Dialogue 7
Louanne : Well, that was "A" work. You'd make good Marines. In fact, from this moment, each one of you is like an inductee with a clean record. So, if you wanna pass, all you have to do is try. Because at this point, everyone has an "A." But it's up to you to keep it.
Kareem : Bullshit (11/Excretory/Dlg07/Sub-Super)
Durrell : Yo, why don't you shut up, man. What if it ain't bullshit? Ain't never had no fuckin' "A" before.
Data Interpretation
Louanne praises what has been practiced by some of the students in practicing karate style. She said that it was “A” work. Then Louanne tries to
motivate her students to study more diligently from now on. She says that every student is like an inductee with clean record now, so they have to try to pass examinations and to get “A” mark. The whole class pays attention to Louanne clearly. From their gesture it seems that almost all of students agree with Louanne‟s advice except Kareem.
means nonsense, and as a verb, it means to trick someone. Kareem does not believe what has been said by his teacher and considers it as nonsense. He utters the word bullshit in high tone and angry face. He thinks that Louanne‟s speech is not true. In this context, bullshit functions as a denial to Louanne‟s statement.
Another example is showed in datum number (17/Excretory/Dlg12/Sub-Super).
3. The Reasons of Using Swearing Words to Show Dislike. 3.1 Data description
The conversation takes place in the restaurant. The participants are Louanne and Raul. Louanne is Raul‟s teacher so there must be superiority
between them. Their relationship is starting to close. The conversation runs in informal situation and in relax manner. They were having a dinner in the restaurant that has been promised by Louanne. Raul is one of the winners besides Callie and Durrell. They won Dylan-Dylan contest of which the prize is having dinner with the teacher in the best restaurant in town but only Raul could attend the invitation.
Dialogue 24
Louanne : You'll have to tell me why.
Raul : I got some shit (41/Excretory/Dlg24/Sub-Super) to do. I gotta make some money to pay back this guy.
Louanne : This doesn't sound important enough to cut school. Data Interpretation
In the dialogue above, Raul expresses swearing word shit. Shit here is categorized as Excretory. The word shit refers to the job that Raul wants to do.
He performs the word in flat tone and normal face. The word shit
refers to the job. Raul expresses swearing word shit here to show his dislike in doing the job. Actually Raul does not want to leave the school but he has to make some money to pay back the jacket he rents from some guys. He will get a big trouble if he does not pay back his jacket.
It is clear that Raul does not like to do something or to make money to pay back his jacket because he has to play truant for that. That is why Raul calls this work as shit or something displeasure to do. Another example is illustrated in the datum number (16/Excretory/Dlg11/Sub-Super).
4. The Reasons of Using Swearing Words to Show Surprise 4.1 Data Description
conversation is in informal and the situation in relax manner and good atmosphere. Topic of the conversation is about introduction.
Dialogue 6
Gusmaro : Now, I heard that a Marine can kill a man with his, uh, bare hands. Is that true?
Louanne : Absolutely.
(Gusmaro tries to strike Louanne with Karate style) Louanne : (Defences&Smiles)
Gusmaro : Oh, shit (10/Excretory/Dlg06/Sub-Super). (Looks surprise)
Data Interpretation
This is Louanne‟s first day in teaching the class. She introduces
herself to the students and tells to them about her background. She says that she used to be U.S Marine. One of her student, Gusmaro wants to know about her experiences in U.S Marine. He asks whether a Marine could kill a person without any weapon or not.
Hearing the answer from Louanne, Gusmaro does not believe what Louanne talk to him that she can kill a person with bare hand. He tries to strike Louanne with karate style in sudden attack, but then Louanne immediately uses one of her Karate style to defense. Louanne‟s action is
This word is categorized as excretory term even though it has no relation with excretion at all. Gusmaro delivers the utterance in low tone and amazing face. Gusmaro here uses the swearing word shit to express his surprise to Louanne‟s action in practicing karate style. The word is not
intended to make the addressee angry. In conclusion, the reason of the character in employing swearing word shit here is to express surprise.
5. The Reasons of Using Swearing Words to Show Intimacy 5.1 Data Description
The conversation is conducted by Louanne and PJ. There is superiority between them since PJ as the student or the subordinate and Louanne as the teacher or the superordinate. Their relationship is starting to get closer. The conversation takes places in the classroom.
PJ : Honorable sensei. Hmm. It‟s obvious that "homeboy" is a noun.
Louanne: Noun is correct!
PJ : Well, give me my damn (15/Religion/Dlg09/Sub-Super) candy bar.
Louanne: (Smiles and throws the candy bar)
PJ : Whoo! Thank you. (Catching the candy bar) Data Interpretation
