TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ii
LIST OF TREE DIAGRAMS ... v
ABSTRACT ... vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1
Background of the Study ... 1
Statement of the Problem ... 4
Purpose of the Study ... 5
Method of Research ... 5
Organization of the Thesis ... 5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 7
CHAPTER III: DISCUSSION ON THE MISUNDERSTANDING FOUND IN JOKES ... 15
1. Semantic Misunderstanding ... 15
1.1. Misunderstanding Caused by Homonyms ... 16
Joke 1 ... 16
Joke 2 ... 17
Joke 3 ... 18
Joke 4 ... 19
Joke 5 ... 19
1.2. Misunderstanding Caused by Homophones ... 20
Joke 1 ... 20
Joke 2 ... 21
1.3. Misunderstanding Caused by Lexical Ambiguity ... 24
Joke 1 ... 24
1.4. Misunderstanding Caused by Denotative and Connotative Meanings ... 25
Joke 1 ... 25
Joke 2 ... 26
1.5. Misunderstanding Caused by Idiomatic Expressions ... 27
Joke 1 ... 27
Joke 2 ... 28
Joke 3 ... 29
2. Syntactic Misunderstanding ... 30
Joke 1 ... 30
Joke 2 ... 32
Joke 3 ... 33
Joke 4 ... 34
3. Phonological Misunderstanding ... 35
Joke 1 ... 35
Joke 2 ... 36
4. Pragmatic Misunderstanding ... 37
4.1. Misunderstanding Caused by the Violations of Maxims of Conversation ... 38
4.1.1. Misunderstanding caused by the Violation of Maxim Quantity ... 38
4.1.2. Misunderstanding Caused by the Violations of Maxims of Relation and Quantity ... 43
Joke 1 ... 43
4.1.3. Misunderstanding Caused by the Violations of Maxims of Manner and Quantity ... 44
Joke 1 ... 44
Joke 2 ... 46
Joke 3 ... 47
4.2. Misunderstanding Caused by Off and On Record Statements ... 48
Joke 1 ... 48
Joke 2 ... 48
4.3. Misunderstanding Caused by Deictic Expressions ... 49
Joke 1 ... 49
LIST OF TREE DIAGRAMS
Diagram 1 ... 10
Diagram 2 ... 10
Diagram 3 ... 31
Diagram 4 ... 31
Diagram 5 ... 33
ABSTRACT
Dalam skripsi ini penulis membahas tentang penggunaan kesalahpahaman (misunderstanding) di dalam membuat cerita lucu (jokes) yang digunakan sebagai salah satu elemen yang membuat cerita lucu menjadi lucu.
Kesalahpahaman yang ada dalam cerita lucu yang dibahas pada Bab III dapat dikelompokkan ke dalam empat bagian, yakni semantic misunderstanding,
syntactic misunderstanding, phonological misunderstanding, dan pragmatic misunderstanding.
Penyebab kesalahpahaman yang terdapat dalam cerita lucu meliputi empat bidang linguistik, yaitu semantik, sintaks, fonologi, dan pragmatik. Dari diskusi semantik dapat ditemukan bahwa para penulis cerita lucu banyak menggunakan elemen-elemen seperti homonim, homofon, lexical ambiguity, arti harafiah dan arti konotasi, serta ekspresi-ekspresi idiomatik (idiomatic expressions). Dari diskusi sintaks terlihat bahwa para penulis cerita lucu menggunakan structural
ambiguity sebagai penyebab kesalahpahaman dalam cerita lucu. Sedangkan dari
Dari diskusi pragmatik disimpulkan bahwa para penulis cerita lucu menggunakan
maxims of conversation, off and on record statements, serta ekspresi-ekspresi deictic (deictic expression).
APPENDIX
No. Jokes Type of the
Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding 1. One day, an English grammar teacher was looking ill. A student asked, “What’s the
matter?”
“Tense,” answered the teacher, describing how he felt. The student paused, then continued, “What was the matter? What has been the matter? What had been the matter…?”
Semantic
Misunderstanding
Homonyms
2. A woman was driving in her car on a narrow road. She was knitting at the same time, so she was driving very slowly.
A man came up from behind and he wanted to pass her. He opened the window and yelled, “Pull over! Pull over!”
The lady yelled back, “No, it’s a hat!”
Semantic
Misunderstanding
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding 3. Teacher : Rumiko, be careful; your purse is open. Someone may take your
money!
Rumiko : Oh, no. I left it open so I can get more money. Teacher : How can you get more money?
Rumiko : The weather report said we would have some change in our weather!
Semantic
5. Two ducks go on their honeymoon and stay in a hotel. As they are about to make love, the male duck says, “Oh, we haven’t got any condoms. I’ll ring down to room service.” He calls and asks for some condoms. The woman says, “OK sir, would you like to put them on your bill?”
“No,” he says, “I’ll suffocate!”
Semantic
Misunderstanding
Homonyms
6. When a waitress brought the customer the soup du jour, he was a bit dismayed. “Good heavens,” he said, “What’s this?”
“It’s bean soup,” she replied.
“I don’t care what it’s been,” he sputtered. “What is it now?”
Semantic
Misunderstanding
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding Homophones 7. Mr. Knott was a teacher. He taught in a big school in London. He lived a long way
from the school, so he was usually quite tired when he got home. At nine o’clock one evening, when he was in bed, the telephone bell rang in the hall of his small house, so he went downstairs, picked up the telephone and said, ‘This is Whitebridge 3165. Who’s speaking, please?’
‘Watt,’ a man answered.
‘What’s your name, please?’ said Mr. Knott. ‘Watt’s my name,’ was the answer.
‘Yes, I asked you that. What’s your name?’ Mr. Knott said again. ‘I told you Watt’s
my name,’ said the other man. ‘Are you Jack Smith?’
‘No, I’m Knott,’ answered Mr. Knott.
‘Will you give me your name, please?’ said Mr. Watt. ‘Will Knott,’ answered Mr. Knott.
Both Mr. Watt and Mr. Will Knott put their telephones down angrily and thought, ‘That was a rude, stupid man!’
Semantic
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding Homophones 8. Once there was a blond who really needed some money. She saw an ad in the
newspaper for a job at an Elmo factory. She went down and applied, but the manager told her that she wouldn’t want the job because it was so boring. The blond begged him and told him she would do anything because she needed the money really bad. After a long consideration the manager hired her. After a few hours the manager looked at the video-monitor showing the factory floor and saw that the conveyer belt was backed up. The manager went downstairs to find out what the problem was. When he arrived there the blonde was sewing to marbles into the crotch of every Elmo.
The manager said, “I said to give each Elmo two test tickles; not two testicles!”
Semantic
Misunderstanding
Lexical ambiguity 9. A woman went into a pet shop and said, “I’d like a parrot for my husband.”
“I’m sorry,” the proprietor replied, “but we don’t do swaps.” “I don’t care what it’s
been,” he sputtered. “What is it now?”
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding 11. One day, when Jack was still young, his mother would have something to do outside.
Before leaving, she said to Jack, “Jack, since you are at home alone, you have to
watch the door carefully. Don’t let anyone in. There have been many thieves
recently.” Jack, therefore, sat by the door. An hour later, his uncle came. “Where is your mother?” he asked. “She’s out”, Jack answered.
“My family will be here all together this evening. Go and tell your mother not to be away this evening.” As his uncle left, Jack started thinking,
“Mother told me to watch the door. Uncle asked me to find her and tell her that he would be here with the whole family.”
Having thought over and over, he finally made a decision. He pulled the door up, carried it, and went to meet his mother.
Semantic
Misunderstanding
Connotative and denotative meanings
12. Working as a clerk reporter, I listen to a lot of testimony that you won’t hear on “Law and Order,” including the following give-and-take between the judge and a mother during a paternity suit.
Judge : Was your child born out of wedlock? Mother : No sir, just outside of Louisville.
Semantic
Misunderstanding
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding 13. “Morning, Danny. Er … Danny, you’re wearing a glove on one hand and none on the
other. Did you know?”
“Yes, well I heard the weather forecast this morning, you see.” “The weather forecast?”
“Yes, the weather forecast. The forecast said on the one hand it might be fine but
on the other hand there might be some rain.”
Semantic 15. A lady goes into a clothing store and asks, “May I try on that lovely blouse in the
window?”
The clerk: “What are you, an exhibitionist?”
Syntactic
Misunderstanding
Structural ambiguity 16. A lady was going to the airport she saw a sign saying “airport turn left” so she
turned round and went home.
Syntactic
Misunderstanding
Structural ambiguity 17. Teacher : How can you prevent disease caused by biting insects?
Balgobin : Don’t bite any.
Syntactic
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding Structural ambiguity 18. “Somebody complemented me on my driving today” Selma told her friend yesterday.
“I found a note on my windscreen that read ‘Parking fine’.”
Syntactic
Misunderstanding
Minimal pairs 19. Jack hadn’t been to a class union in decades. When he walked in, he thought he
recognized a woman over in the corner, so he approached her and extended his hand in greeting. “You look like Helen Brown,” he said.
“Well,” the woman snapped back, “You don’t look so great in blue either.”
Phonological Misunderstanding
Minimal pairs 20. While visiting the Olympics, a man noticed an athlete carrying a long pole. “Are you
a pole vaulter?” the tourist asked.
“No, I’m German,” the athlete replied. “But how do you know my name is Walter?”
Phonological Misunderstanding
21. There was a man who has two dogs, named ‘commonsense’ and ‘trouble’. He always brought his dogs to the park every evening. One day, he only brought ‘trouble’ to the park, and left ‘commonsense’ at home. While the man was so happy playing a game with his friends, ‘trouble’ disappeared. The man was so sad and panicky. He looked for his dog everywhere but could not find it. A lady realized it and asked the man, “What are you looking for?”. The man replied “I’m looking for ‘trouble’…”. “Pardon..” , said the lady. The man replied in a higher tone “I am looking for ‘TROUBLE’ ”. The lady was annoyed and asked “Where’s your COMMONSENSE?”. The man whose mind was only about his dogs, answered “At home…”
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding 22. Teacher : If I give you two rabbits and two rabbits and another two rabbits, how
many rabbits have you got?
Patty : Seven!
Teacher : No, listen carefully again. If I give you two rabbits and two rabbits and another two rabbits, how many rabbits have you got?
Patty : Seven!
Teacher : Let’s try another way. If I give you two apples and two apples and another two apples, how many apples have you got?
Patty : Six.
Teacher : Good. Now if I give you two rabbits and two rabbits and another two rabbits, how many rabbits have you got?
Patty : Seven!
Teacher : How on earth do you work out that three lots of two rabbits is seven? Patty : I’ve already got one rabbit at home now!
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
The violation of maxim of quantity
23. One morning, a mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, five-year-old Kevin and three-year-old Ryan. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Seeing an opportunity to teach them a moral lesson, the mother said, “If Jesus were
sitting here, He would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.’”
Quick as a flash, Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, “Ryan, you can be Jesus.”
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding 24. A man inserted an ‘ad’ in the classifieds: “Wife wanted.”
The next day he received a hundreds letters. They all said the same thing: “you can have mine.”
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
The violation of maxim of quantity
25. A 12-year-old boy, busily working on a homework project asked his mother, “Where did I come from?”
“The stork brought you, son,” she told him.
“Where did Daddy come from,” was his next question.
“The stork brought him too,” he was told.
“What about Granddad?” the boy said.
“Oh, he was found under a gooseberry bush.”
The lad nodded and continued working on the assignment. Later, his rather intrigued mother sneaked a look at his work. He had written: “I have ascertained that there has been no sexual activity in this family for three generations.
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding 26. One night, Jack came home very late. Whereas his wife was waiting for him
restlessly. When he came his wife got angry.
She said, ”I have been cooking for you all afternoon but you come home very late. Now the food is stale. We cannot eat anything.”
She hit her husband’s chest several times because she was very annoyed, then she pushed him backwards. Unfortunately he fell and rolled down the stairs. It made a loud noise. The couple was quarrelling after that. His closest neighbor heard the noise and came to their house. He knocked at the house strongly. “What’s wrong with you. It’s late at night already and you keep making noises,” said the neighbor.
“My coat falls along the stairs,” answered Jack.
“It’s only a coat and you shouted as if you hurt yourself,” said the neighbor. Jack answered quickly, “Of course I shouted loudly because I was inside the coat.
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
The violation of maxims of relation and quantity
27. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip, set up their tent, and fall asleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes his faithful friend. “Watson, look up at the
sky and tell me what you see.” Watson replies, “I see millions of stars.”
“What does that tell you?” Watson ponders for a minute. “Astronomically speaking,
it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it’s evident that Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?” Holmes is silent for a moment, then speaks. “Watson, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent.”
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding 28. Johnny : Daddy, are caterpillars good to eat?
Father : Have I not told you never to mention such things during meals! Mother : Why did you say that, Junior? Why did you ask the question? Johnny : It's because I saw one on daddy's lettuce, but now it's gone.
Pragmatic
Startled Farmer : “You can’t fool me. You’re up there in that basket.”
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
The violation of maxims of manner and quantity
30. A guy was smoking a cigarette. Another guy comes up to him and asks, “Do you
have an extra cigarette?”
The first guy looks at the box and reads that it contains 20 cigarettes. He counts all the cigarettes in his box and says, “Nope, don’t got any extra cigarettes.”
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
Off and on record statement
31. Girl to her boyfriend : One kiss and I’ll be yours forever. The guy replies : Thanks for the warning.
Pragmatic
Misunderstanding
Off and on record statement
Spatial deixis 32. A student, who is studying English as a foreign language, was confused when he saw
the words “open here” on a box of laundry soap, so he asks the clerk, “Can’t I wait until I get home to open it?”
Pragmatic
No. Jokes Type of the Misunderstanding
The Cause of the Misunderstanding Person deixis 33. One day a guy goes to his doctor and says, “Doc, I have these real bad headaches.
What should I do?”
The doctor replies: “Well, to get rid of my headaches I just have sex with my wife.” They both laugh. A week later the patient returns. The doctor asks, “How are you feeling?” The patient smiles and replies: “You were right! I feel so much better. And by the way, Doc, you have a lovely home.”
Pragmatic
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Communication is very important for people since they cannot live alone and they need help from others. People communicate in order to share knowledge and experiences with others. According to John Lyons, communication is ‘the activity or process of expressing ideas, feelings, moods and attitudes or of giving people information’ (Lyons, 1977: 32). People communicate with each other in many ways, such as by talking, writing, moving their hands, and even by making faces. Without communication, people probably cannot survive because most of their activities depend on their cooperation with others.
Language is an important element in communication. Language and communication are two things that cannot be separated. By using language, verbal or non-verbal, communication can be done easily.
People can be said to have good communication when they share the same message with the person whom they communicate with. In his book, Semantics 1, Lyons claims that in the process of communication, what the speaker communicates and the information received by the listener from the speaker are assumed to be identical. However, there is a situation when the participant of a conversation does not share the same message or information with the other participant. Therefore, misunderstanding or ‘a situation in which a comment, an instruction, etc. is not understood correctly’ (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: 2000, 852) sometimes occurs between the participants of a conversation.
Under a fairly standard idealization of the process of communication, what the sender communicates (the information put into the signal, as it were, by the sender’s selection among possible alternatives) and the information derived from the signal by the receiver (which may be thought of as the receiver’s selection from the same set of alternatives) are assumed to be identical. But there are, in practice, frequent instance of misunderstanding; and we must allow for this theoretically. (Lyons, 1977: 33)
at or found humorous by the listeners or readers’ <http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jokes>. Besides functioning as a common system of communication, language can also be used as an element in creating humor in jokes. Therefore, joke writers sometimes play with language in order to make their jokes funny. As it is mentioned before, another thing that makes jokes funny is the element of misunderstanding in jokes. Joke writers use language and the elements of language to make misunderstanding in jokes funny.
I am interested in discussing misunderstanding in jokes because it is one of the elements that make jokes funny and it can amuse the readers as well as making them laugh. In addition, I am also curious to know how joke writers use the elements of language in creating funny misunderstanding in jokes.
The reason why I choose to discuss misunderstanding in jokes rather than in novels or films is because it does not take time to read jokes for a joke is relatively short. Furthermore, jokes are funny so that reading jokes can relieve the tension after studying.
linguistic approaches are closely related to the misunderstanding in the jokes which are discussed in the thesis.
Semantics covers five approaches: homonyms, homophones, lexical ambiguity, denotative and connotative meanings, and idiomatic expressions. Syntax will cover a theory related to structural ambiguity. Minimal pairs is the approach which is used in phonology. Pragmatics covers three approaches namely maxims of conversation, deixis and distance, and the theory of off and on record statements.
The purpose of doing the discussion by using the kinds of approaches is to reveal the misunderstanding in the jokes and its causes. Furthermore, these kinds of approaches can help the readers understand the jokes much better. Besides, they will add the readers’ enjoyment in reading the jokes.
The data used in the discussion is collected from printed sources which provide jokes such as magazines, books of jokes and the Internet.
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the Study
In this thesis I would like to show:
1. The misunderstanding found in the jokes provided. 2. The causes of such misunderstanding.
Method of Research
First, I read a series of jokes from different sources, such as books of jokes, magazines, and the Internet. Then I collect, select and classify the data based on semantic misunderstanding, syntactic misunderstanding, phonological misunderstanding, and pragmatic misunderstanding. After that, I search and gather some information which are related to the causes of the misunderstanding found in the jokes from some reference books and the Internet. Based on some books which deal with linguistic theories, I discuss the jokes by focusing on the causes that trigger the misunderstanding found in the jokes. Finally, I draw a conclusion based on the discussion.
Organization of the Thesis
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions based on the discussion on the misunderstanding found in the jokes.
I am of the opinion that some jokes use misunderstanding as the element of creating funny things in jokes. Thus, joke writers deliberately use language and its elements to create misunderstanding in order to make their jokes funny and enjoyable to read. Language and the elements of language in jokes play an important role in making jokes funny.
misunderstanding contains only one element and that is syntactic ambiguity. Minimal pairs is the element used in the phonological misunderstanding, and in the pragmatic misunderstanding, there are three elements of pragmatics used in creating the misunderstanding: maxims of conversation, off and on record statements, and deictic expressions.
In the semantic misunderstanding, I find five jokes use homonyms to create the misunderstanding in the jokes, three jokes use homophones, one joke uses lexical ambiguity, three jokes use idiomatic expressions, and two jokes use denotative and connotative meanings to create the misunderstanding. In the syntactic misunderstanding, there are four jokes using structural ambiguity as the cause of the misunderstanding. In the phonological misunderstanding, there are two jokes use minimal pairs as the causes of the misunderstanding. Three elements that cause the pragmatic misunderstanding are the violations of maxims of conversation, the different assumptions of the off and on record statements, and the deictic expressions. I find five jokes contain the violation of maxim of quantity, one joke contains the violations of maxims of relation and quantity, three jokes contain the violations of maxims of manner and quantity, two jokes contain the element of off and on record statements, and two jokes contain the element of deictic expressions.
only make the jokes funny but they also enable the readers to figure out the funny things in the jokes they read. Besides, I think homophones, minimal pairs, and phonetic similarities are good elements in creating the funny misunderstanding in jokes.
From the jokes I have analyzed, I can see that semantics is the device that is mostly used by the writers of jokes. The element of semantics that is mostly used in the jokes is homonyms. In my opinion, the joke writers prefer using semantics, especially homonyms, to other elements of language because semantics deals with the meanings of words and homonyms are the easiest element in creating funny misunderstanding. That is why jokes with homonyms as the cause of misunderstanding are easy to find.
After analyzing the jokes in Chapter III I conclude that the misunderstanding used as the funny things in the jokes is almost the same as what we have in our real life. When we communicate with others, misunderstanding sometimes occurs, whether we realize it or not. Obviously, in order to maintain good communication, we cannot rely only on language because even with the existence of language – verbal and non verbal – we cannot guarantee that we can communicate well with each other without having any misunderstanding. Misunderstanding still can happen between the participants of a conversation.
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