LANGUAGE OF POLITICS DURING GENERAL ELECTION 2004.

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LANGUAGE OF POLITICS DURING

GENERAL ELECTION 2004

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THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN

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LANGUAGE OF POLITICS DURING

GENERAL ELECTION 2004

A THESIS

Arranged and proposed

by

DIANI SY

AHPUTRI

Reg. No. : 025010074

Has been defended before the Committee of Thesis ExamJJ)atlon on February 3, 1005 and declared to have fulfilled the requirement

Approved by :

Consultant Commission

Dr. Lince Sibombing, M.Pd. Prof. D.P. Tampubolcm,Pb.D.

Head of English Applied Linguistics Director of

Prof. Dr. J•waai Naibaho.

M

J

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Praise to Allah. Lord of the world, the Beneficent Merd ful, who gives me health and

safety to fi nish this thesis from the beginning up to the end.

And

to tbe

prophet

Muhammad

SAW,

as well as

his

companions

for the blessing and chances given to

completion

of this thesis. One

of

the requirements to be fulfilled before finishing the

studies at Graduate Program in State University of M edan is to write a thesis. My thesis

is entitled "Language of Politics During General Election 2004".

In writing this thesis, 1 have encountered

some

difficulties dealing

with

collecting the

data and the analysis. It needed much time to accomplish it so 1 had to go and collect

ideas and their ideas help me to carry on writing this thesis. Hence 1 wish to extend my

sincere gratitude to some people who have given some guidance and comments during

the preparation of this thesis, they are :

l. Dr. Lince Sihombing, M.Pd and Prof D.P.Tampubolon, Ph.D

as

my first and

second consultants, who provided me valuable suggestions, encouragement,

guidance and comment during the writing for this thesis.

2. Prof Dr. Jawasi Naibaho, the Head of English Applied Linguistics Program and'"

Dra. Meisuri, M.A, the Secretary of the Program.

3. Prof. Am.rin Saragih, M.A, Ph.D and Prof. Tina Mariani Kariman, Ph.D for their

comments and criticsm to the earliest draft of the thesis proposal.

4. All of my lecturers in E nglish Applied Linguistics Graduate Program for their

valuable knowledge during the academic years at State University of Medan.

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5. Administration Staff of the Program and the librarian for their

warm

welcome in

facilitating my study.

6. A. Hamid Si.regar, SE, my husband and flj . Saribanun Tanjung, my mother, all of

my brothers, sister and

.my

beloved children who show me their love and

support.

7. At last, I should also thank all my friends and students for their company and

support. May

God

bl ess them all.

Medan, January 2005

The wr1ter

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ABSTRACT

SY AHPUTRI, DIAN I. Language of Politics Doring General Election 2004. A Thesis.

English Applied Linguistics Program, Graduate Program_ UNIMED. State University of Medan. 2004

This study deals with the language of politics used during the general election

campaigns of 2004 with

a focus on categories of language of politics used Presidents and

Vice of President Candidates . The study has answered five problems namely ; the kinds of languages of politics are used by Indonesian political parties and President Candidates

. The dominant kinds of language of politics, the dominant process used

in

the language

of politics, the effect of the political statements on the electors. Five parties (GOLKAR,

PDI-P, PAN, P.DEMOKRAT and PPP) are as the samples. The total samples ofbanners were 50 . Advertisements and Speeches from five President candidates (Wiranto, Megawati, Amien Rais, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and Hamza Haz). The sample also

was taken from 40 common people who lived around Medan City . Tape Recorder which

was used to collect the data was carried out from April to June 2004. The result of this

study bas shown that: (i) there are four categories of language ofpo11tics used during the

general election 2004 namely ~ Political Doctrine, Miranda, Political Formation, and

Political Slogan. Political Doctrine is dominantly used during the general election 2004

with an occurrence of 55.6 %. (ii) There are six types of processes of transitivity used in

language of politics namely ; Material Process, Mental Process, Relational Process, Verbal Process, and Existential Process .However, the dominant process is Relational

process (47.66 %). The coding of Politica1 Doctrine in dominant relational process

significantly

result in

approval of the

electors.

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ACKNOWLEDGE!vfENTS ... . . . . . u TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1v LIST OF TABLES. . . . . .. ... .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . . .. . .. . . .. .. vt LIST OF ABBREVlATIONS... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Vll CHAPTER llNTRODUCTION... . . . 1

1. 1 The Background of the Study. . . 1

1.2 The Research Problems... . .. . . . .. . .. . . .. .. . . .. .. . . .. .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .

5

1.3 The Objectives of the Study... . ... . .. ... . ... ... 5

l. 4 The Soope of the Study.. . . .. . .. . . .. .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . 6

1.5 The Significance of the Study.. . .... .... . ... ... .. ... ... ... ... 6

CHAPfER IT THEORETICAL ORIENTATION... . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . 7

2.1 The Description of

Language... . . ..

7

2.2 The Theory of Language Variations... ... .. .. ... ... ... 7

2.3 Language Varieties... .. . . ... 8

2.3.1 Language of Politics as a Language Variety ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 10

2.3.2 The Categories of the Language ofPolitics.... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... . .. . .. .. . ... . 13

2.3.2.1 The Political Myth... . .. .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. .. . .. . . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. 13

2.3.2.2 The Political Doctrine... ... ... .. .... ... ... 15

2.3.2.3 The Miranda... .... ... .. ... 15

2.3.2.4 The Political Formulation... . ... ... ... ... . 16

2.3.2.5 The Political Slogan... ... ... . .. .. . ... ... . 16

2.4 The Semantic Analysis Based on Functional Grammar... ... 17

2.4.1 TheDescriptionofTransitivity... .. . .. ... 19

2.4.1.1 The Elements ofTransitivity.. . ... 20

2.4.1.1.1 Process... .. .. .. ... ... .. . 20

2.4.1. 1.1.1 The Types of Process.... .. . .. .. .. . . .. . . .. .. .. . 21

1. Material Process... .. . .. ... . ... .. .... 21

2. Mental Process... ... 22

# A 3. Relational process... ... ... 22

V

4. Behavioral Process .. . .. . ... . .. . . . .. . . .. . .. .. 22

5

Verbal Process.. ... .... .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. .. .. 23

6. Existential Process... ... ...

23

2.4.2

Participants... .. ...

24

2.4.3 Circumstances.. 25

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2.5 Semantic Aspects of the Categories and Their Effects on the People... 28

2.5.1 Styles in Language of Politics... 30

CHAPTER III METIIOD OF RESEARCH... ... . . . 31

3.1 Research Design ... _,... ... ...

31

3.2 Sources of Data... 31

3.3 Techniques for Collecting Data... ... ... ... .. ... ...

32

3.4 Procedures

of Analyzing

the Data... ... .. ... ... ... ... ...

33

CHAPTERTV DATA AND DATAANALYSIS... ... .. ... ... . 36

4.1 Data Collection... ... ... ... ... . ...

36

4.2 Data Analysis... ... . . . .. . .. . . .. .. . 37

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS... .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. 89

5.1 Conclusions... .. . . .. . . .. . . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. .. 89

5.2

Suggestions... .. . .. . . .. .. . . .. . . .. .. . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . ...

90

REFERENCES... . . .. 91

Appendix 1... . . 93

Appendix 2... . . l 02 Appendix 3... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 109" Appendix 4... . . 111

Appendix

5... . .

120

Appendix 6... ... . .. ... ... ... . .. . .. ... ... ... ... ... . .. ... .. . ... . .. ... .. . ... ... ... .. . .. . ... ... 121

Appendix

7... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

121

Appendix 8... . . 123

Appendix 9... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 124

Appendix 1 0. . . 125

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Table l

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

Table 7

Table 8

Table 9

Table 10

Table 11

Table 12 Table 13 Table 14 Table 15

Table 16

Table 17

Table 18

Table 19 Table 20

Table 21

Table 22

Table 23

Table 24

Table 25

Table 26 Table 27

Table 28

Table 29

Table 30 Table 31

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Proces.~ Types, Their Meaning and Key Participants . . . 24

Circumstances! . . . 26

Frequency of the Political Doctrine... 37

.Frequency of Miranda... . . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. .. . . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 41

Frequency of Political Formation . .. .. . . .. . .. .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . 43

Frequency of Political Slogan . .. .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. .. . .. . . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 45

The Percentage of Frequency of the Categories of Language of Politics Based on Banners, Advertisements. and Speeches . . . 48

The Percentage of Processes of Transitivity Used in Banners.. . .. ... ... 49

The Percentage-of Processes of Transitivity Used in Advertisements... 50

The Percentage of Processes of Transitivity Used in Speeches.. ... 52

The Dominant Types of Process of Transitivity in Banners. Advertise ments ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. . ... ... ... 53

Tenns Used by President and Vice President Candidates ... ... ... ... ... .. 56

Political Statements and Terms such as : The enforcement of law . . . 57

Political Terms such as "Money Politic, corrupt politician . . . 58

In

Politics, Language is

a Device

that

can

Affect the Opinion . . . 59

Political Statement such as "Be in Unity" that Gives a Wide Sense . . . 60

Remember! on July 2,3,4, there will be "Bribe of Materials"... 61

Political Statement "Eradicate Corruption " . . . 62

President and Vice President in Description of their Vision . .. ... .. . ... .. 63

President and Vice President in description of their Vision and Mission Used a Simple Language .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . . .. . .. . . .. 65

Figurative Language such as Metonymy and Satire are always Used By President and Vice President Candidates in their Activities .. . ... ... . 66

Political Statement" One for All and All for One" . . . 67

President

and

Vice President mostly Used Political Tenns

such as

Exploiter, Track Record, Crucial, Political Alliance"... ... 68

After Electing of President and Vice President, you will be quite and' Happy ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 69

Political Statements such as "Governmeot will create stable Nat10nal Politic, Reduce the Unemployment, Improve the People's welfare ... ... 170

President and Vice President Candidate are Sufficiently Transparent 71 Political Statement such as •• Corruption. Collusion and Nepotism Will be eliminated seems to the Political Slogan orrly" . . . . . . . 72

Political statement "Struggle forty percent budget for Education and Health ... ... ... .... .. ... .... ... .... ... .... _ . . . 73

To day most people disagree with the Political Statement stated by... 74

Political S ta~ment used by President and Vice Presidcptt can quite ... . 75

One of the proofs that the electors are affected by th:e Political State· ment stated by one of the President and Vice President Candidate... . . 76

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Abbreviations :

PM

PD

M

PF

PS

GOLKAR

PDI·P

PAN P.D ppp

LIST

OF ABBREVIATIONS

'Political Myth~

'Political Doctrine'

' Miranda'

'Political Fonnation'

'Political Slogan'

'Golongan

K.arya'

'Partai Demokrasi lndonesia-Perjuangan

'Partai Amanat

Nasional'

'Partai Demokraf

'Partai Persatuan Pembangunan'

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Table 32

Table 33

Table 34

Page

The Use ofLanguage ofPolitics During General Election 2004 ... ... ... 81

The Perception of Electors . . . 83

Data Score ofThe Use of Language ofPolitics (X) and Data Scores of

[image:10.598.41.547.148.686.2]

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CHAPTE.R 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Background of the Study

Language is the best means of self-expression. It is through

language

that humans

express their thoughts, desires, emotions, and feelings; it is through it they store

knowledge,

transmit

message, tnmsfer knowledge and experience fiom one person to

another, from one generation to another. Most of the activities in the world are carried

on through or by it. It is through it that humans intttact or relate tD each other.

Language is a social phenomenon. It is a set of conventional communicative signals

used by humans fur communication in a community. Language in this sense is a

possession of a social group, an indispensable set of rules which permits its members t o

relate to each other : It is a of sociaJ institution . Language ex..ists in society; it is a

means of nowish.ing and developing culture and establishing human relatious. It is as a

member of society that a human being acquire5 a language. We are not born with an

instinct to learn a particular language , such as English, India, French or Arabic. We

learn a language as members of the society because we want to understand that society,

or to be understood by that speech community. If a language is not used in any society, it

dies out.

Language thus is a social event. It can fully be described only if we know

alL

about the people who are involved in

it.

their p e.rsonilities, their beliefs, attitudes, knowledge

of the world, re1atiooshjp to each other, tbeir social status, what activity they are

engaged in, what they are talking at

an.

what has gone before linguistically and

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2

linguistically, what happens after, what they are and a host of other facts about them and

the situation.

There are some important function s of Janguage, namely ; firstly, language is used

for the pmposes of communication and social cooperation. In this ftmction language

enables us to influence people's behaviour in detail, thereby makes communication and

social cooperation

possible.

Secondly, language can also function as an instrument of

thought A philosopher, for example, uses language to clarifY and develop his ideas oo a

subject, so here language is used, as an instrument of thought. Thirdly, language can also

be used for a expressive purpose. While

Halliday ( 1994 : 1 0) there are three function of language in human life : ideationaL

interpersonal and textual function. Interpersonal divides into the experiential and logical

function. These are known as metafunction. Thus, the experiential function that is the

use of language as the representation of experience. The users of language is

representing the experience by using a clause.

Thus, language is something which is inseparable from hwuan beings. It has an

important pan of human life. When we refer to the some philosophers' view they bad

different views of language, as Greek philosopher held that language is an instrument

to look

tor

and expressed the truth, as well as expressing the persuasion while Athena

bas way of life that language as instrument to achieve the certain aim which has

concentred and practiced. Language is supposed to be a beautifUl in the political rule

which has high level. This is the view adopted in

this

study.

Many linguists, sociologists , and anthropologists ~ with language

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3

researchers want to find out the simi1arities and differences between two languages in

tenns of forms. functions and positions. The findings not only benefit for them but also

for teachers, students who want to Jearn in detail of two languages. When there is a

research in human language to be contrasted, tbae is also a research done how language

used for certain people or parties. But it is not many. Language used for specific purpose

by group of parties (popular as political language). Some researches have been

conducted concerning with language of politics. For instances; Latif (1996) focused on

Haha.fa dan Kelam.raan (Language and Power) and Tampubolon (1998) made one of the observations concerning the phenomenon of death of language because this

phenomeaon was influential to Indonesia .

.In

fact, researches dealing with language CJf politics in Indonesia are very fe

conducted by linguists and sociologists, even though this research is interesting

and-advantageous. Since not many researches give attention to this kind of language of:

politics, the writer is interested to study it. But of course with diffurent event

In fact, language of politics is a language variety which has its own features . It

has vocabulary, grammar and discourse, which are significant features of various

political activities ( Beard : 2000) . In other words, language of poljtics will have its own

characteristic based on who governs a certain government in a certain era. For instance ;

d uring Suharto's administrations era, the political slogans such as ; 'Bersih, Stobil, Terlib ' (clean, stable, order) , 'azas tungga/' {one of basic ) , 'disiplin nasional' ( nasionol di.tcip/ine) ' mowas diri' (self correction through introspection) , are always

beard but in Megawati's administratioos era are never beard all of thes~ words or

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4

depraved politicianf> ) .. polilik uang ( money politic ), antek Suharto ( Suharto henchman) , bersama kita hisa ( together we achieve the goal), berani, jujur, adi/, ( brave, honest, jusr ) kenyang, rentram, aman, ( satisfied, quiet, peaceful ) etc are

always beard but they are never heard in the New Order era . The words or phrases can

be interpreted into some meanings. Sometimes the phrases or words are not popular to

the society so that they can not be understood by society. Then, in language of politics

during the general election 2004 use many acronyms. Such as; Caleg, Panwaslu, KPU,

Capres, Cawapres, Pilpres, Parpol, KPUD, etc. It has been claimed by ljamday (1994)

that variation of language means high probability of occurrence of a linguistic fearure

under a certain context in comparison with the general use of language. Thus, in rhe

language of politics there is a high probability of occurrence of a linguistic feature.

Halliday elaborates that linguistic experience can be best understood with reference to

the transitivity system. Tilis system is constituted of the three elements of process,

participants and circumstance. Of the three elements it is the process which is the

nucleus of experience since it determines the participants. In this study the language of

politics is described with reference to the process type.

The topic of this study is ' Language of Politics During General Election 2004 •. lii

this study the writer discussed what kinds of language of Politics are stated by

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5

1.2 Tbe Resean:h Problems

Based on the explanation above, it can be identified ;

1. What kinds of language of politics are used by the Indonesian Politicians during the

genera] election campaign of2004 ?

2. What is the dominant kind oftanguage of politics is used in the political campaign of

the 2004 Indonesian Presinentia1 election ?

3. What types of experiential meanings are coded in the language of politics .

4. Why is the dominant type process used in the language of politics?

5. What are the effects of those statements of politics on the electors ? Specifically,

how are the meanings perceived by the electors ?

1.3 The Objectives of tbe Study

The objectives of research are the following :

I. To discover what kinds of language of politics is used by the Indonesian Political

Parties and President Candidates during the general eJection campaign of the

2004.

2. To discover the dominant kinds of language of politics used in the poHti.caJ

campaign ot: the 2004.

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6

4. To investigate the reasons for the occurrence of the dominant process used in the

language of politics.

5. To discover the effects of those statements of politics on the electors.

1.4 Tbe Scope of the Study

This study

was

focused on findings out the kinds of language of politics used by the

Indonesian Political Parties during the legislative campaign or president and vice

-president campaign and the duration of time. The so~s of data were Jimited to

banners , ad wrtisements and speeches .

l.STbe Significance of the Study

The findings ofthe study are expected to be useful for :

1. Information for the people (members of the society) who want to understand the

language of politics during general election 2004.

2. The understanding of the language of politics as a language variety which has a

certain meaning and purpose.

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5.1 Conclusions

CHAPTERV

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Based on the findings in the previous chapter, coodusions are drawn as follows :

1. There are four categories of language of politics used during the general election

2004 which found in the banners, advertisements and speeches. The data were taken

from April to Jun 2004. These are Political Doctrine, Minmda, Political Slogan and

Politicat Fonnation.

2.Political Doctrine is dominantly used during the general election 2004 found in the

banners, advertisements and speeches, with an occurrence of 55.6 % . Because in

Political Doctrine the politicians describe some basic expectations and demands

concerning power relations and

pral-tices

in the society. how to organize Indonesian

country for the future.

3. There are five types of processes of Transitivity used in language of politics found 1n

the banners, advertisements and speeches, such as ; material proces~ mental process,

re'ational process, vernal process, and existential process.

4. Thus, after analyzing based on the transitivity system, the researcher concludes tbat

the relational process is the dominant process ( 47.66 %) used

in

the banners,

advertisements and speeches. The dominant

use

of Relational process in language of

politics during the Presidential and Parlementary election campaigns is attributed to

three reasons namely : (1) Identification of the policy (2) description of policy and (3)

Ownership of the proposal.

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90 4. The finding of the study indicates that there is a significant effect of using language

of politics on the electors. Specifically, the Political Doctrine results in approval from

the electors.

5.2 Suggestions

Based on the conclusion above, the suggestions are started as follows :

1. It is advisable for the poJiticians

to use

the whole categories oflan_guage of

pol1tics especially political myth in writing political

editorial

texts.

2 . It is advisable for the reader to learn English For Specific Purposes and by learning

it.

the readers know some language variation and find specific tenns.

3. It is advisable for the politicians to use transitivity system in writing the editorial

; : : . political texts.

4.It is advisable for the readers to learn and analyse the use of transitivity in another

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z

~

m