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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1. Research Background
Every person uses language in a communication. Language is used to have
conversation in the real life. People need communication to deliver message
whether verbal or non verbal. Communication is done by doing interaction to each
other. People use senses that they have in communication. Therefore, they can
express their idea, feeling, thinking, opinion, etc. In short, the communication will
be success if the speaker and the hearer understand what they mean. However,
people do not always say what they mean.
In a conversation, people need to cooperate with each other, but not all the
speakers are cooperative. The assumption of cooperation is so pervasive that it
can be stated as a cooperative principle of conversation. The cooperative
principles is elaborated in four sub principles, called maxims (Yule, 1996, p.37).
Grice proposed four maxims; they are the maxim of quality, quantity, relation and
manner. The four maxims must be obeyed in communication, but in the real life
not all the maxims can be obeyed.
There are many reasons why people failed to observe the maxims. Such as,
they are incapable in speaking , etc. There are five ways of failing the maxims,
i.e., Flouting a maxim, Violating a maxim, Infringing a maxim, Opting out a
maxim, and Suspending a maxim.
One of the categories in non-observance maxim generates implicature is
flouting a maxim. Thomas (1996,commit p. 65) state to users that “a flout occurs when a speaker
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blatantly fails to observe a maxim at the level of what is said, with the deliberate
intention of generating an implicature”. A speaker blatantly fails to observe a
maxim, because the speaker wishes to prompt the hearer to look for a meaning
which is different from the expressed meaning. This additional meaning is called
implicature. Implicature itself is something meant, implied, or suggested distinct
from what is said. It is clear that people do not always say what they mean. They
can mean something which is different from the words they are saying.
Based on phenomenon above, I interested to analyze the flouting maxim
resulting implicature. The application of the flouting maxims can be seen in our
daily conversation. The maxims can be found in form of entertainment such as
film, drama, comedy, television series, etc. I choose Smallville Televisions Series
as the source of data of the research. The Televisions Series is chosen as the
source of data because its dialogues containing maxim flouting show the real
example of English as used by people.
Smallville Televisions Series is written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar,
directed by David Nutter, based on the “DC Comics characters Superman” created
by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and broadcasted by The WB and The CW. In
general Televisions Series tells about the local wonder boy Clark. In October
1989, a huge meteor shower destroyed most of the town of Smallville, Kansas.
Clark boy was found by Martha and Jonathan Kent on the day of the Meteor
Shower. They found him inside a spaceship when the meteor shower came and
adopted him. In 2001 their son became a man, Clark struggles to understand his
identity, but till in high school, his parents still hide a secret from him. Clark has a commit to user
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power that makes him confused and different with the other people, because he
feels abnormal. However, Clark just seems a normal boy. He tries to develop his
power and discover more abilities. In this television series, the characters often
flout the maxims through their conversation. I focus on the flouting maxims that
are used by the characters in televisions series.
2. Problem Statements
1) What maxims are commonly flouted by the characters in the
smallville television series season 1 episode 1?
2) What implicatures are resulted by the flouts of the maxim?
3. Research Objectives
1) To find out the maxims commonly flouted by the characters in the
smallville television series season 1 episode 1.
2) To find out the implicatures resulted by the flouts of the maxim.
4. Research Significance
This research is important to be done to make an analysis of maxim flouting
in daily conversation. There are many utterances that speakers say, and it may
contain the maxim flouting. From the result of this analysis, I hope that the people
who read this research can understand the utterance that flouts the maxim or
fulfills the maxim, so that they can be aware with what speakers say. Then, this
research is expected to make the people become aware of the maxims flouted in a
daily conversation, and help them to understand the intended meaning in the
conversation of daily life.
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5. The Scope of Research
The analyzing of maxim flouting in this research based on Pragmatics
approach. In this research, I focus on analyzing flout of maxims and implicature
used by the characters. The flout of maxim is one of the non-observance
categories of conversational maxims. The speaker who fails to obverse the
maxims flouts the maxim at the level of what is said, which deliberate intentionly
of implicature. Therefore, this research limits to analyze the flout of maxim
quality, flout of maxim quantity, flout of maxim relevance, flout of maxim
manner and the implicature used by the the characters in the television series. The
data are taken from smallville Television Series season 1 episode 1.
6. Research Methodology
This research uses a descriptive qualitative as a method. Descriptive
qualitative method is a method using technique of collecting data, arranging or
classifying, analyzing, interpreting them and then drawing the conclusion
(Surakhmad, 1994: 147). The research methodology will be explained clearly in
chapter III.
7. Thesis Organization
This research is organized in five chapters, they are:
CHAPTER I : Introduction consists of Research Background, Problem
Statement, Research Objective, Research Significance, The
Scope of Research, Research Methodology and Thesis
Organization.
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CHAPTER II : Literature Review consists of Pragmatics, Context, Implicature,
The Cooperative Principle, Observing the Maxims, The
Non-observance of Maxims, Conversational Implicature,
The Flouts of Maxim, Synopsis of the Television Series, and
Review Related Study.
CHAPTER III : Research Methodology consists of The Type of Research, The
of Source Data, Technique of Collecting Data, Technique of
Coding Data, and Technique of Analyzing Data.
CHAPTER IV : Data Analysis consists of Data analysis and Discussion.
CHAPTER V : Conclusion and Suggestion.
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