Common Features of English Taboo Words
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COMMON FEATURES OF ENGLISH TABOO WORDS A Thesis Presented to the Graduate Program in English Language Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) in English Language Studies by Shirley Maya Argasetya Student Number: 046332010 THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009 i A THESIS COMMON FEATURES OF ENGLISH TABOO WORDS by Shirley Maya Argasetya Students Number: 046332010 Approved by Prof. Dr. Soepomo Poedjosoedarmo Advisor Yogyakarta, September 28, 2009 ii A THESIS COMMON FEATURES OF ENGLISH TABOO WORDS by Shirley Maya Argasetya Students Number: 046332010 was Defended before the Thesis Committee and Declared Acceptable Thesis Committee Chairperson : Drs. F.X. Mukarto, M.S., Ph.D. ...……………………. Secretary : Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A. ...……………………. Member : Dr. J. Bismoko …...…………………. Member : Prof. Dr. Soepomo Poedjosoedarmo …...…………………. Yogyakarta, September 28, 2009 The Graduate Program Director Sanata Dharma University Prof. Dr. A. Supratiknya iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This is to certify that all the ideas, phrases, and sentences, unless otherwise stated, are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else’s ideas, phrases, or sentences without a proper references. Yogyakarta, August 22, 2009 Shirley Maya Argasetya iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma : Nama : Shirley Maya Argasetya Nomor Mahasiswa : 046332010 Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul : Common Features of English Taboo Words beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me- ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 28 September, 2009 Yang menyatakan ( Shirley Maya Argasetya ) v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Jesus, for the spirit, the love, the strength and the live He gives, for His unconditional support for enabling me to complete this thesis. I would like to give my great honor and respect to Prof. Dr. Soepomo Poedjosoedarmo. This thesis would not have been completed without his guidance, assistance, support and suggestion. My deep gratitude goes to Dr. B.B.Dwijatmoko, M.A., who always motivated and supported me to finish this thesis. My great appreciation goes to all of the English lecturers at the Graduate Program of Sanata Dharma University. The same appreciation goes to those who work in the secretariat, especially to Mbak Lely in the secretariat, those who work in the computer laboratory and in the library. Lastly, I am grateful to my friends in the English Language Studies for the friendship they have given to me. My great thanks goes to my big family and the great angel of Mikael Dylan Shantpillar, for giving me the new world I have not visited before. I love you. Yogyakarta, August 20, 2009 Shirley Maya Argasetya vi TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………… i APPROVAL PAGE …………………………………………………. ii THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE…………………………… iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ………………………………... iv STATEMENT FOR PUBLICATION ……………………………… v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………… vi TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………… vii LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………… ix LIST OF TABOO WORDS ANALYSIS ………………………… x ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………. xi ABSTRAK …………………………………………………………… xiii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ……………………….................. 1 1.1 Background …………………………………………………...... 1 1.2 Problem Limitation …………………………………………...... 13 1.3 Problem Formulation …………………………………………… 13 1.4 Research Objectives …………………………………………….. 14 1.5 Research Benefits …………………………………………….…. 14 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE ……………………… 16 2.1 Theoretical Review ……………………………………………… 16 2.1.1 The Importance of Style, Register in Utterances and Semantic Features…………………………………………………. 20 2.1.2 Interrelation Between Language and Society…………… 23 2.1.3 Attitudes Behind the Tabooness of Word…….………… 25 2.1.4 The Characteristics and Meaning of Taboo Words……… 27 2.1.4.1 Function……………………………………….. 33 2.1.4.2 The Effect of Taboo Words…………………… 36 2.2 Review of Related Research……………………………………. 40 2.3 Theoretical Framework…………………………………………. 41 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY …………………. 42 3.1 Research Data …………………………………………………… 42 3.2 Data Collection …………..……………………………………… 43 3.3 Data Analysis ……………………………………………………. 49 CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ………………….. 51 4.1 Some Examples of Taboo Words………………………………... 51 4.2 Motivation to Use Taboo Words……….…….………………….. 62 4.2.1 Solidarity…………………… …….….. ………………… 63 4.2.2 Anger……………….…………….……………………… 68 4.2.3 Superiority……………………………………………….. 71 vii 4.2.3.1 Power…………………………………………… 72 4.2.3.2 Stereotype………………………………………. 73 4.2.3.3 Racial Term………………………………………. 74 4.2.3.4 Sexist……………………………………………… 75 4.2.3.5 Homophobic……………………………………… 75 4.2.3.6 Humiliation……………………………………….. 77 4.2.4 Self-Identity…………………………………………………. 80 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS……………….. 84 5.1 Conclusion ……………………………………………………….. 84 5.2 Suggestions …………………………………………………….. 86 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………. 89 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Meaning Of Taboo Words Used In Table 2……………….. 92 Appendix 2: Classification of Taboo Words…………………………….. 100 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Categorization Table: a sample………………………… 50 Table 4.2 Examples of Taboo Words in Sentence………………… 52 ix LIST OF TABOO WORDS ANALYSIS (1) bag ……………. 4 (22) bubba ……………. 65 (2) piss ……………. 7 (23) bullock ……………. 65 (3) lay ……………. 7 (24) nigger ……………. 66 (4) chink ……………. 9 (25) shit ……………. 66 (5) bubba ……………. 10 (26) queer ……………. 68 (6) pig ……………. 11 (27) fuck ……………. 69 (7) gook ……………. 11 (28) sod ……………. 70 (8) fatso ……………. 12 (29) nigger ……………. 74 (9) hooter ……………. 19 (30) dog ……………. 77 (10) shit ……………. 19 (31) bitch ……………. 77 (11) bastard ……………. 37 (32) faggot ……………. 78 (12) chopper ……………. 44 (33) mongol ……………. 79 (13) cock ……………. 45 (34) moron ……………. 79 (14) abo ……………. 45 (35) retard ……………. 79 (15) moron ……………. 46 (36) vegetable……………. 79 (16) bubbby ……………. 46 (37) dick ……………. 82 (17) chit ……………. 46 (38) knocker ……………. 82 (18) ass ……………. 47 (39) tit ……………. 82 (19) bollock ……………. 48 (40) chopper ……………. 82 (20) pillock ……………. 62 (41) pecker ……………. 82 (21) bastard ……………. 64 x ABSTRACT Shirley Maya Argasetya. 2009. Common Features of English Taboo Words. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies. Graduate Program. Sanata Dharma University. This thesis is focused on the sociolinguistic study limited to the 221 forms of taboo words. The kind of study is a qualitative research with detail of the samples taken from three dictionaries as the corpus-based lexicography. This research also used internet as the additional support. This study is aimed at answering two questions. The first question is how taboo words can be classified according to the degree of offensiveness and their semantic features and the second question is what motivate the use of taboo words. To answer these questions, the writer started with some of the most common taboo words in English, such as fuck, shit, ass, and expands those words by searching in the internet and looking for the words in the dictionaries. The writer also tried to find the synonym of each of the taboo words in the dictionaries. Then, the writer analyzed the context of the words, based on their meanings in the dictionaries and their usage in the sentences, as cited in the appendices section. The writer searched and collected the taboo words found in the internet and dictionaries. All the data found then were checked in the dictionaries to get valid descriptions of them. By doing this process there are 221 words classified as taboo words in this thesis, taken from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and Concise Oxford Dictionary. Those 221 taboo words functions as the source data in this thesis. To answer the first question the writer analyzed the words one by one, including their meaning and their usage. The taboo words in this research reveal that there are five degrees of offensiveness attaching to those taboo words. Whether one word is taboo or not is determined by this degree of offensiveness, which are vulgar, disparaging, offensive, derogatory and obscene. The forms of taboo words are classified into 13 classifications. They are racial slurs, terms of address, swearword, sexual connotation, excrement, mental or physic defect, homophobic, occupation, parts of the body, physic, object, class of people, negative quality. The most common classification of taboo words are those related to sexual connotation, racial terms and parts of the body. xi The second question is about the motivation encouraging the use of taboo words. To answer this question the writer analyzed the context of taboo words in the sentences. Based on the research finding, there are five characteristics of English Taboo Words, which encourage the use of taboo words in communication. They are solidarity or intimacy, anger, superiority, humiliation