Euphemism in Sherlock Serial TV Season 3
Euphemism in Sherlock Serial TV Season 3
A Thesis
Submitted to Faculty of Letters and Humanities in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Strata One (S1)
BY LIYON AKBAR
1110026000066
ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH
JAKARTA
2014
ABSTRACT
Liyon Akbar, Euphemism in Sherlock Serial TV Season 3. Thesis: English Letters Department, Letters and Humanities Faculty, State Islamic University SyarifHidayatullah, Jakarta, 2014. This research is aimed at findingthe euphemismsused by John and Sherlock in Sherlock serial TV season 3 and explaining their meanings. The analysis of euphemism is conducted by using Rawson’s theory (1981) while the meaning is explained with Leech’s theory (1985) and Hyme’s Theory of context (as cited in Brown 1983). In conducting this research the writer usesqualitative method and descriptive analysis technique for data analysis. The data are collected by watchingall episodes of Sherlock season 3and taking notes of dialogues that might contain euphemismand then compiling them in one word file.
After analyzing Sherlock serial TV season 3, the writer found three types of euphemism used by John, they are:indirection (3), abstraction (2), and circumlocution (2); and those euphemisms are classified into three typesof meaning; affective (5), conceptual (2), and social (1).The writer found four types of euphemism used by Sherlock, they are:indirection (4), abstraction (2), circumlocution (1), and borrowing (1); and those euphemisms are classified into three typesof meaning; affective (3), conceptual (3), social (2).
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, the writer would like to thank Allah SWT, the lord of the world for giving him the best guidance, br ightest lights and deepest mercy. The pour of blessing lead him to finish this thesis. Shalawat and salam always devoted to our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who has guided us from the darkness to enlightenment in theworld.
The writer would like to express his gratitude for his advisors, Drs. H. Abdul
Hamid, M. Ed. and DhuhaHadiyansyah, M. Hum., who always giveinspirations, encourage ments, critiques, andsincere guidance for him in finishing thet hesis. The writer also would like to takethis opportunity for expressing his deep and since re gratitude and thankfulness to:
1. Prof. Dr. Oman Fathu rahman, M. Hum. , the Dean of Faculty of Letters
andHumanities.
2. Drs. Saefuddin, M.Pd., the Head of English Letters Department.
3. ElveOktafiyani, M.Hum., the Secretary of English Letters Department.
4. All the lectures of English Letters Department for their valuable knowledge.
5. H is parents for their limitless support and endless love.
6. His friends for being there.
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THE LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: List of Types of Meanings… ………………………………………. . 24
Table 2: Table of Euphemism…………………………………………...... 62
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THE LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Encoding and Decoding…………………………………………… 18
Figure 2: Example of Collo cative Meaning………………………………….. 22
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………. i
APPROVAL SHEET ……………………………………………………... ii
LEGALIZATION… ……………………………………………………… iii
DECLARATION...... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ……………………………………………….... v
THE LIST OF TABLES ...... iv
THE LIST OF FIGURES ...... i v i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... viii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION...... 1
A. Background of the Study………...... 1
B. Focus of the Study…...... ……… …. . .. 6
C. ResearchQ uestion...... ….……… ..…... 6
D. Significance of the Study…...... …….. 6
E. Research Methodology…...... … ...... 7
1. The Objectives of Research...... ……………..... 7
2. The Method of Research...... 7
3. The T echnique of Data Analysis…...... 8
4. The Instrument o f the Research…...... ……….. . 9
F. Unit of Analysis. …………………...... 9
G. Place and Time….…………...... …… 9
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK…...... … 01
A. Previous Research…...... ……………. 0 1
viii
B. Euphemism… …...... ….……… ...... …...12
1. Definition of Euphemism...... 12
2. Types of Euphemism…...... …. 14
a. Borrowing... …...... ….. 14
b. Shortening……...... ….. 15
c. Abstraction…...... ……. 15
d. Indirection…...... ……. 16
e. Understatement…...... 16
f. Circumlocutio..n ...... … 17
C. Theory of Meaning………...... ….. 17
1. Semantics….. …...... …….... 17
2. Types of Meaning...... …… 18
a. Conceptual Meaning……...... …. 18
b. Connotative Meaning…...... … …. 19
c. SocialM eaning…...... 02
d. Affective Meaning…...... …...... 21
e. Reflected Meaning…...... …..…... 21
f. Collocative Meaning……...... … . 22
g. Thematic Meaning.…...... 2
D. Context………...... …...... ……..…. . 24
CHAPTER IIIR ESEARCH FINDINGS……… ...... 6 2
A. Data Description…...... … .…...... 26
B. Data Analysis….. .…...... …..……….. 27
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION…...... …... 9 4
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A. Conclusions… …...... …..………...... …. 49
B. Suggestions…..……...... ……...... …. 49
BIBLIOGRAPHY….. …...... …..……..……..………..…...... ….... 51
APPENDIX….. …...... …..……..……..……..……..…...... … ... 53
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
H umans are social creatures because we cannot live without other
humans. That is why it is important for us to maintain our social
relationship with other humans. One basic way to socialize and maintain
our relation is through language, a very important tool in humans’ life.
Language plays a great role in our life, for we cannot live without it. We use
language in order to communicate with each other, to give or to get
information, to interact with other humans, and also to express thoughts.
W hen speaking to other people, we often choose carefully the words
that we want to say because sometimes there are certain words, in certain
situations that we cannot speak about or taboo. Taboo is “t he prohibition or
avoidance in any society of behavior believed to eb harmful to its members
in that it would cause them anxiety, embarrassment, or shame.” 1 These
words “are not to talk about, not because they cannot be, but because
‘people don’t talk about those things.”2
Then, how do we talk about the things that we are no t supposed to talk
about? This is when euphemism takes part . If we imagine taboo words as
poison then it is safe to assume that euphemism is their antidote. When
taboo words are spoken, it ca n be, as quoted from Wardhaugh before,
harmful. However, if we t alk about them in a euphemistic way, their
1 Ronald Wardhaugh, A n Introduction to Sociolinguistics 5th ed. ( Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), p. 239 2 Ibid., p. 238
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poisons become ineffective. Euphemism, generally speaking, is the way to talk about things considered taboo in an acceptable way, so we can safely talk about them without being frowned upon by society.
In this modern era where we can easily share our thoughts in social media, euphemism becomes more and more important to study. Everything that we tweet on Twitter, and everything that we post in our Facebook page can be accessed by all eyes around the world. Just because we have the rights of free speech, it does not mean we can talk anything we like without having any consequences, instead we need to be extra careful in using our rights of free speech. If we, somehow, write something that some people considered offensive or insulting, they can sue us, and it is not possible that we spent our time in prison “just” because of the things that we write on our personal page on the internet.
T he main purpose of euphemism is to soften the taboo expression, but the reason behind its usa ge and its meaning is different depending on context. T his is what makes the analysis of euphemism becomes interesting.
For example, when talking to lecturer, students use euphemism not only to avoid using taboo expression but also to prevent triggering anger of the lecturer . eW need to watch our language when talking to people with authority because they have power that they can use against us. Let’s say that the lecturer might give him C or even fail him because of what he said make the lecturer feel uncomfortable or angry. Therefore, the reason behind that student’s euphemism is to save himself of getting C or failing in class.
Another example is when talking to little kids, we usually avoid mentioning 3
everything related to sex because in Indonesian culture, talking about sex to
little kid is taboo. The kids in Indonesia are expected to know about sex by
themselves, for the parents think that it is inappropriate to talk about sex to
little kids. So, the reason behind the euphemis m is because the culture of the
speaker which forbid to talk about sex to little kids.
The two examples above are the reason behind the writer’s interest in
analyzing euphemism because euphemism is not simply a substitute word
for taboo expression, but also related to the context, like: the situation, the
background of the speaker, the people that the speaker talk to, and so on.
Euphemism happens everywhere, in every part of our life. When our
neighbor dies, we don’t say the word die, but we say the word passed away.
In school, teachers don’t call their students stupid, but they call them lazy.
When soldiers killed in battle, we don’t say the word die, but we say fall. In
hospital, when an operation failed and the patient died, the surgeons didn’t
say he died, but they said we lost him. These are some examples of people
trying to “tame” the taboo words because if they say what they really intend
to say, it can possibly hurt other people’s feeling. Thus, it breaks apart theri
social relationship with other humans.
E uphemism also happens in film and televis ion. For example, in the
film American Pie 5 the words in bed, sleep with , have fun, and make fun
are used as euphemisms for ‘have sex’.3 While in the film American High
School , the words video of myself , fewest brain cells, and little girl’s room
are used as euphemisms for ‘porn video’, ‘stupid’, and ‘toilet’,
3 Yohana Sari , Euphemism Analysis on “American Pie 5” Script: An Approach of Meaning Relations and Semantic Change. ( Jakarta: State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah, 2007), pp. 36-73 4
respectively.4 On the other hand, the examples from television that will be
shown in t his research are from Sherlock Serial TV season 3, for it is the
corpus t hat will be discussed in this research.
Sherlock is a famous British Serial TV presenting a modern adaptation
of Sherlock Holmes detective novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The
story of Sherlock revolves around Sherlock Holmes, a consulting detective,
assist ing the Metropolitan Police Service to solve various crimes with the
help of his best friend and roommate, Dr John Watson, who has returned
from war in Afghanistan.
There are many adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, such as; comic strip,
movies, and Serial TV ; but the writer decided to analyze this particular
Sherlock season 3 because this one is the latest adaptation and very famous
worldwide, so the writer expectde this series can represent the nature of
British TV.
British TV has one of the toughest rules in term of censorship since the
infamous murder of a 2- year- old boy, James Bulger by two 10- year- old
boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables in 1993. There were several
experts linking the murder with viole nt videos aired on TV and it made
British government tighten the rule of TV censorship related to sexual
impropriety, blasphemy, and foul language.
Sherlock Serial TV season 3 are interesting to discuss because there are
many euphemistic terms in it. For example, in episode 02, Sherlock said
“S he (his mo ther) understands very little.” when talking to Mrs. Hudson.
4 Mida Sulfiana , Euphemism of American High School Movie: The Study of Meaning Relations and Semantic Change. ( Jakarta : State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah, 2012), pp. 29-03 5
His utterance implies that he thinks that his own mother is stupid. He euphemizes his sentence because no matter how stupid his mother is
(according to his own judgment), she is still his mother. Therefore, he softens his sentence into an acceptable sentence to be heard by Mrs. Hudson.
Another example, also fro m episode 02, John describes ‘ butt itch’ as afferent neurons in the peripheral nervous system. John said this, when talking to Sherlock, as a euphemism as well as to make pride himself as a doctor.
Those are two examples of euphemisms in Sherlock Serial TV season 3 which will be the corpus of this thesis ne t itled Euphemism in Sherlock
Serial TV Season 3. This research is limited to euphemisms used by John
Watson and Sherlock Holmes because these two have the most screen time in the whole Sherlock season 3. It means that their chances to speak or mention euphemisms are higher compared to the other characters. The writer did not find any euphemism used by John or Sherlock in episode 03, so analysis will be focused on episode 01 and 02.
In analyzing the euphemism, the writer used theory proposed by Hugh
Rawson from the book A Dictionary of Euphemisms & Other Doubletalk
( 1981) while meaning of those euphemisms will be analyzed using the theory proposed by Geoffrey Leech from the book Semantics: the Study of
Meaning (1985) and Hyme’s Theory of context (as cited in Brown 1983).
The writer found several previous researches of euphemism, and most of them used Keith Allan and Ka te Burridge’s theory, so the writer wanted to seek a different approach in analyzing the euphemisms using Rawson’s 6
theory. After analyzing the euphemisms, the writer analyzed the meanings of those euphemisms using Leech’s theory of meaning and Hyme’s theory of context .
B. Focus of the Study
This research focuses on finding the euphemisms used by the main characters, John and Sherlock, in Sherlock Serial TV season 3 using
Rawson’s theory (1981) and explaining their meanings using Leech’s
Theory of meaning (1985) and Hyme’s theory of context (as cited in Brown
1983).
C. Research Question
Based on the background of the study above, the research questions are:
1. What are the types of euphemism used by the main characters, John
and Sherlock, in Sherlock Serial TV season 3?
2. How are the meanings of those euphemisms described according to
the cont ext of those characters in the story?
D. Significance of the Study
Theoretically, this research will give contribution to the development of linguistics field especially in the study of euphemism and the study of meaning. It will also help next researchers to find ideas to develop some researches about euphemism and their meanings. 7
Practically, this research will give contribution to society in giving a
better understanding about euphemism. Knowledge of eu phemism is
important, so that we can make a proper co mmunication without using
taboo or offensive words which can hurt o ther people’s feeling.
E. Research Methodology
1. The Objectives of Research
These are the principle aims of this research:
a. Finding the euphemisms used by the main characters, John and
Sherlock, in Sherlock Serial TV season 3.
b. Explaining t he meanings of those euphemisms according the
context of those characters in the story.
2. The Method of Research
The data found in Sherlock Serial TV es a son 3 will be analyzed
through descriptive qualitative method. Descriptive qualitative
method is a research procedure that produces descriptive data in a
form of written or spoken expression of people or their behavior.5
From the explanation above, all the compiled data will be analyzed
qualitatively without using any numerical system.
5I Wayan Koyan, Metodologi Penelitian Kua litatif. Accessed on 21 May 2014 at 09.23 from http://pasca.undiksha.ac.id/e- learning/staff/dsnmateri/6/1- 14.pdf 8
3. The technique of Data Analysis
The technique applied in this research is descriptive qualitative technique based on Rawson’s euphemism theory and Leech’s theory of meaning. The technique will be applied by using the following steps:
a. Collecting the data.
The data collection will be achieved through:
(1) Watching all three episodes of Sherlock season 3.
(2) Taking notes of phrases or sentences that possibly contain
euphemism while watching the film.
(3) Compiling the notes that have been taken into one word file.
b. Data Analysis.
The collected data will be analyzed using the following steps:
(1) Writing some notes about euphemism theory offered by
Rawson and theory of meaning proposed by Leech.
(2) Classifying the data into types of euphemism.
(3) Anal yzing the meaning of those euphemisms, and including
classifying their types of meaning based on the context of
the main characters in the story. In analyzing the meaning,
the writer used Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary
3rd edition and Concise Oxford English Dictionary 11th
Edition.
c. Writing a report of the study.
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4. The Instrument of the Research
The instrument of the research is the writer himself by conducting
several steps, which are: watching episode 01 and 02 of Sherlock Serial
TV season 3; taking notes of phrases or sentences that possibly contain
euphemism; classifying the data into types of euphemism and analyzing
their meanings based on the context of the characters in the story; and
writing a report of the study.
F. Unit of Analy sis
The data of analysis si Sherlock Serial TV season 3 released on 1
January 2014, created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat , and produced by
Hartswood Films.
G. Place and Time
This research is conducted in several libraries in Jakarta, such as State
Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah and Atma Jaya Catholic University
in May - July 2014 during the 8th semester o f study.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A Previous Research
T here were several researchers who studied about euphemism before
this research is conducted. Here are two of them:
1. Euphemism of American High School Movie: The Study of
Meaning Relation and Semantic Changes
This research was conducted by Mida Sulfiana, a student of State
Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatullah, in 2012. Her research focused
on Meaning Relation and Semantic change of taboo words and their
euphemism terms. She used Allan and Burridge’s euphem ism theory
and several theories of meaning proposed by Saed, Leech, and O’Grady.
She also used Nida’s componential analysis theory to analyze Meaning
Relation and Semantic Change. In her research, she found eight types of
euphemism, they are: metaphore, cir cumlocution, quasi- omission,
remodeling, abbreviation, metonymy, hyperbole, and clipping. She also
found six data that have Meaning Relation and ten data that have
Semantic Change.
2. Euphemism Used i n Language of Politic i n Padang Express
Newspaper
This rese arch was conducted by Dina Mayang sari, a student of State
University of Padang, in 2013. The purpose of her research is to find out
what kinds of euphemism in Padang Express Newspaper and their types
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of meaning. She used William, Shipley, Rawson, Neaman and Silver,
and Allan and Burridge’s euphemism theories and Leech’s theory of
meaning. From her analysis, she found two types of euphemisms, which
are: semantic change and borrowing. She also found two types of
meaning, they are: conceptual meaning, and aff ective meaning.
From the two researches above, it can be concluded that euphemism is an interesting study. eW can analyze their meanings, and ew can find out the relation between taboo words and their euphemism terms. eW can also find out the types of meaning of all those euphemism terms. Euphemism is also important to study because the knowledge of euphemism can help us survive in our social life.
However, there are some differences between this research and the two other researches above.
This research focuses on finding the euphemisms used by the main characters, John and Sherlock, in Sherlock Serial TV season 3 and explaining their meanings according to context of those characters. It is different compared to Mida’s research where she focused on finding
Meaning Relation and Semantic Change of the taboo expressions and their euphemisms.
This research, however, has similarities with Dina’s research. Both researches use Leech’s theory to analyze the meaning of the euphemism terms. Still, there are some differences between this research and Dina’s.
First, Dina used a poli tics newspaper in her research while the corpus of 12
this research is a Serial TV. Second, the languages are different. Dina’s
research analyzed Indonesian while in this research English. Euphemisms
in Indonesian and English are different, for euphemisms are bound to
cultures and languages of the speaker. It means the approaches of this
resear ch and Dina’s are different.
In short, there are three differences between this research and the other
two previous researches. First, the focus of the study is different compared
to Mida’s research. Second, the unit of analysis is different with Dina’s
res earch. Third, the approaches and focuses of study are different with both
previous researches. It means this research fulfill one of the condition of
good research which is novelty.
B Euphemism
1. Definition of Euphemism
According to Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the term euphemism
comes from the Greek ue phêmi smos. Eu means ‘well’ and hpê mê means
‘speaking’. The word euphemism means a mild word substitute for one
that is coarse or blunt to refer to unpleasant subject. 1 Then, Rawson
defines euphemism as a mild, agreeable, or roundabout word used in place
of a harsh, painful, or offensive one.2 On the other hand, Fromkin said that
1 Concise Oxford English Dictionary 1 th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2004) 2 Hugh Rawson, A Dictionary of Euphemisms & Other Doubletalk (New York: Crown Publishers, 1981), p. 1 13
euphemism is a term that is used to substitute a taboo word to avoid
frightening or unpleasant subject.3
From the definitions above, we can conclude that euphemism is
something to be used as softener of other thing considered taboo, offensive,
or unpleasant. By using euphemism we can talk about the thing that is not
supposed to talk about in a way that is acceptable.
Euphemism is also important because it helps us to avoid hurting
other’s feeling or embarrassing ourselves. As Keith Allan and Kate
Burridge said:
“A euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one’s own face, or though giving offense, that of the audience or of some third party.”4
As quoted above, we can conclude that euphemism exists as an
alternative for dispreferred expression to prevent the possibility of loss of
face, either that is other people’s face or our own. With euphemism one
can prevent oneself from hurting other people’s feeling, or avoid the harm
of punishment.
In Tonga, where the word taboo is originated, the violation of taboo has
a very big consequence. If someone violates tabo o, it would certainly
cause harm to him/her and his/her fellows. Here, euphemism is actually a
matter of life and death.5
3 Victoria Fromkin, et.al, An Introduction to Language 9th de . (Boston: Wadsworth, 2011), p. 473 4 Keith Allan and Kate Burridge, Raising Gooseflesh ‘Dirty’ Words and Language Change, (1992), p. 1 5 Keith Allan and Kate Burridge, op.cit., (1992), pp. 1-2 14
Euphemism has become a part of our everyday life, but in the past,
euphemism is used to cover things related to religion. For example , the
Greeks changed the Furies into the Eumenides (the Kindly Ones). And for
the Jewish, not calling the name of God is part of their culture, so they
transformed it into Adonai. This euphemism is called negative euphemism,
a euphemism which is defensive in nature, offsetting the power of tabooed
terms and is used to prevent bad omen.6
In the modern society, positive euphemism is more likely to happen.
Positive euphemism is a euphemism which is used to inflate and magnify,
making the euphemized items grander and more important than they really
are. For example: custodian for ‘janitor’, counsel for ‘lawyer’, help for
‘servant’, hooker and working girl for ‘whore’, and so on.7
In short, euphemism is a milder alternative word/phrase used to cover
up or soften the term considered taboo, unpleasant, or simply dispreferred,
so the speaker/writer can avoid the loss of face, hurting other’s feeling,
embarrassing oneself because of religious factor or social r easoning.
2. Types of euphemism
Rawson classified euphemisms into six types:
a. Borrowing
When expressing risky ideas, English speakers/writers can soften
them by borrowing foreign language. The two foreign languages
which are most commonly used as euphemisms are French and Latin.
6 Hugh Rawson, op.cit., (1981), pp. 1-2 7 Ibid. 15
French is usually used to cover up things related to: love ( affair,
amour, and liaison); war ( matériel, personnel, sortie, and triage) ;
women’s und erwear ( brassiere, chemise, and lingerie) ; and dining
( chevon, filet mignon, and venison). On the other hand, Latin is
commonly used to soften expressions related to body sexual, such as:
copulation, fellatio, masturbation, pudendum, and urination.8
b. Shortening (Abbreviation and Acronym)
Bad words can be acceptable when shortened . There are two
ways to shorten bad words, they are: abbreviation and acronym.
Abbreviation happens in cases like: .S.B for ‘bullshit’; S.O.B. for
‘Son of a Bitch’; S&M for ‘Sad omasochism’, while acronym
euphemism happens in cases like: fubar (‘F ucked Up Beyond All
Recognition’) ; janfu (‘J oint Army- Navy Fucked Up’); tarfu ‘ (Things
Are Really Fucked Up’) ; and tuifu (‘T he Ultimate In Fucked Up’). 9
c. Abstraction
Another way to soften taboo or dispreferred expression is
abstraction . The strength particular taboos might be disappeared by
removing ideas in the most general possible terms. For example:
economic thing (‘slump’, ‘recession’, or ‘depression’); energy rel ease
8 Ibid., p. 8 9 Ibid., pp. 8-9 16
for ‘radiation release’ (as from a nuclear reactor); and episode and event
for ‘disasters’ of different sorts and sizes.10
d. Indirection
Sometimes when ew have to speak about sensitive objects, it is
better to speak them using indirection . eW can start by mentioning one
aspect of the subject, a circumstance involving it, a related subject, or
even by saying what it is not. For example: assembly center for ‘prison’
and break off contact with the enemy for ‘retreat’. Many of the common
anatomica l euphemisms also depend on indirection. For example:
behind, bottom, and rear are indirection for ‘butt’. There is also other
way to euphemize human anatomy, where the "unmentionable" parts of
the human body are euphemized by referring to nearby "mentionable"
parts, e.g., chest for ‘breasts, tail for ‘penis’, and thigh, a biblical
euphemism for ‘balls’.11
e. Understatement
Understatement is another way to conceal taboo expression by
making the apparent meaning of a word seems better than the actual
meaning. This type of euphemism happens in cases like: above
critical for ‘out of control’; active defense for ‘attack’; area bombing
10 Ibid., p. 9 11 Ibid. 17
for ‘terro r bombing’, collateral damage for ‘civilian damage’, senior
citizen for ‘old person’, and so on.12
f. Circumlocution
Circumlocution si a kind fo euphemism which is usually longer
than the words they replace. They have more letters, more syllables,
and frequently, two or more words will be used rather than single one.
Thus, Middle Eastern dancing sounds better than ‘belly dancing’;
medication gives faster relief than ‘medicine’; the writers of financial
reports replace ‘drop’ with adjustment downward, and those who are
required to give testimony under oath like at this point in time better
than ‘now’.13
(an example of) an indirect way of saying something, especially
something unpleasant
C Theory of Meaning
1. Semantics
Semantics is generally defined as the study of meaning of words and
sentences.14 Or, if we want to get a more detailed explanation, we can use
the definition proposed by Fromkin, which is, “…the study of the
linguistic meaning of morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences.” 15
Semantics is also concerned with the meanings of words, and the meaning
12 Ibid., p. 10 13 Ibid. 14 John L. Saeed, Semantics 2nd e d. (Malden: Blackwell Publisher Ltd, 2004), p. 3 15 Victoria Fromkin, et.al, op.cit. , (2011), p. 180 18
relationships among words; and phrasal or sentential semantics, which is
concerned with the meaning of syntactic units larger than the word.16
From the definitions above, we can conclude that semantics is a branch
of linguistics study that concerns on the meanings of a language whether it
is a word, a phrase, or a sentence.
2. Types of Meaning
Leech divided meaning into seven types:
a. Conceptual Meaning17
Conceptual meaning is the logical sense of an utterance or a
sentence which can be recognized by its phonological, syntactic, and
semantic component. It means that for analyzing a sentence we need
to establish a phonological representation, a syntactic representation,
and a semantic representation, and the stages by which one level of
presentation can be derived from another.
Figure 1: Encoding and Decoding18 Listener
Phonology (A)
Syntax (B)
encodes decodes Semantics (C)
Speaker
16 Ibid. 17 Geoffrey Leech, Semantics: The Study of Meaning 2nd Ed. (Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd, 1985), p. 9 18 Ibid., p.11 19
The aim of conceptual semantics is to give, for any interpretation
of a sentence, a configuration of abstract symbols which is its
semantic representation, and which shows exactly what we need to
know if we are to distinguish that meaning from all other possible
sentence meanings in the language, and to match that meaning with
the right syntactic and phonological expression. The ability to match
levels operates in one direction (Look Diagram) (AàBà C) if we are
decoding, i.e. listening to a sentence and interpreting it; and the
opposite direction (CàBà A) if we are encoding, i.e. composing
and speaking a sentence. Conceptual meaning is an essential part of
what language is, such that one cannot easily define language without
referring to it.
b. Connotative Meaning
Connotative meaning is the communicative value an expression has
by virtue of what is refers to, over, and above its conceptual content.
For example, the word woman is defined conceptually as (+HUMAN, –
MALE, +ADULT), then the three properties ‘human’, ‘female’, and
‘adult’ must provide a criterion of the correct use of that word. These
properties, when translated into real world terms, become attributes of
the refere nt. However, there are plenty of additional, non- criterial
properties that we have learnt to expect a referent of woman to have.
For example: physical characteristics (‘biped’, ‘having a womb’);
psychological and social properties (‘gregarious’, ‘subject to maternal 20
instinct’); and even features which are typical rather than invariable
concomitants of womanhood (‘capable o f speech’, ‘experienced in
cookery’, ‘skirt-or - dress- wearing’). Connotative meaning can embrace
the ‘putative properties’ of the referent, due to the point of view
adopted by an individual, or a group of people or a whole society.19
c. Social Meaning20
Social meaning is that which a piece of language conveys about
the social circumstances of its use. We recognize some words or
pronunciation as being dialectical, i.e. as telling us something of the
geographical or social origin of the speaker; other features of
language tell us something of the social relationship between the
speaker and hearer (polite, colloquial, slang, etc.). These variations of
language can be divided according to:
1. Dialect (The language of a geographical region or a
social class)
2. iT me (The language of eighteenth century, etc.)
3. Province ( Language of law, science, advertising, etc.)
4. Status ( Polite, colloquial, slang, etc.)
5. Modality (Language of memoranda, lectures, jokes, etc.)
6. Singularity (The style of Dickens, Hemingway, etc.)
19 Ibid., p.12 20 Ibid., p. 14 21
d. Affective Meaning
Affective meaning reflects the personal feelings of the speaker,
including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is
talking about. We can directly show our emotion by saying (1) “S hut
up!” when we want someone to be quite, or we can use a less direct
way like: (2) “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so
kind as to lower your voice a little.” Factors such as tone of voice are
also important here. The impression of politeness in (2) can be
reversed by a tone of biting sarcasm; sentence (1) can be turned into
a playful remark between intimates if delivered with the intonation of
a mild request.21
e. Reflected Meaning
Reflected meaning is the meaning which arises in cases of
multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of
our response to another sense.
The case where reflected meaning intrudes through the great
strength of emotive suggestion is most likely illustrat ed by words
which have a taboo meaning. For example, the words like intercourse,
ejaculation, and erection are connected to physiology of sex;
therefore, it is hard to use those words in innocent senses without
their sexual association.22
21 Ibid., pp. 15-61 22 Ibid., pp. 16-71 22
f. Collocative Meanign 23
Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquires
on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its
environment. Pretty and handsome share common ground in the
meaning ‘good- looking’, but may be distinguished by the range of
nouns with which they are likely to co-o ccur.
Figure 2: Example of Collocative Meaning24 girl boy boy man woman car pretty flower handsome vessel garden overcoat colour airliner village typewriter etc. etc.
The ranges, however , may overlap: handsome woman and pretty
woman are both acceptable although they suggest a different kind of
attractiveness because of the collocative associations of the two
adjectives. Further examples are quasi- synonymous verbs such as
wander and stroll (cows may wander but not stroll ) or tremble an d
quiver (one trembles with fear, but quivers with excitement.)
g. Thematic Meaning25
Thematic meaning is what is communicated by the way in which
the speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering,
23 Ibid., p. 17 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid., pp. 19-02 23
focus, and emphasis. It is often felt, for example, an active sentence such as (1) has a different meaning from its passive form (2) although in conceptual content they seem to be the same:
(1) Mrs. Smith donated the first prize. (2) The first prize was donated by Mrs. Smith.
These sentences have different communicative values where they suggest different context: sentence (1) seems to answer a question
‘What did Mrs. Smith donate?’ while sentence (2) seems to answer a question ‘Who donated the first prize?’. In contrast to sentence (2), sentence (1) suggest s that we know who Mrs. Smith is. The same truth condition, however, apply to each: it is impossible to find a situation where (1) is an accurate statement while (2) is not, or vice versa.
Thematic meaning is mostly a matter of grammatical construction preferences, as in:
(3) A man is waiting in the hall. (4) There is a man waiting in the hall.
In other cases, it is stress and intonation that highlight information in one part of a sentence. If the word electric is given stress in (5):
(5) Bill uses an electric razor. (6) The kind of razor that Bill use is an electric one.
The effect is to focus attention on that word as containing new information, against a background of what is already known. These sentences have, in a sense, same meaning, but they also have 24
somewhat dif ferent communicative value; they will not each be
equally appropriate within the same context.
From the explanation above, the seven types of meaning can be
summarized as follows:
Table 1: List of Types of Meaning26
Logical, cognitive, or denotative 1. Conceptual Meaning or Sense content. 2. Connotative What is communicated by virtue Meaning of what language refers to. What is communicated of the 3. Social so cial circumstances of language Meaning use. What is communicated of the 4. Affective feelings and attitudes of the Meaning Associative speaker/writer. Meaning What is communicated through 5. Reflected association with another sense of Meaning the same expression. What is communicated through 6. Collocative association with words which tend Meaning to occur in the environment of another word. What is communicated by the way 7. Thematic Meaning in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.
D. Context
Fromkin said that co ntext ual knowledge is the knowledge of who is
speaking, who is listening, what objects are being discussed, and general
facts about the world we live in. This knowledge is called situational
26 Ibid., p. 23 25
context.27 While Schiffrin (as cited in Nurlatifah 2009, p. 22) stated that
context is primarily viewed as “knowledge”, although the key part of that
knowledge is “knowledge of situation”. The term of knowledge guides the
uses of language and the interpretation of utterances.28
From two definitions above, it can be inferred that context is a shared
knowledge that the speaker and the interlocutor have regarding the topic
that they are talking about and the situation they are in to help them
understand each other and make a good communication.
Hymes (as cited in Brown 1983, p. 83 ) identified the relevant context as
addressor (t he speaker) , adresse ( the hearer) , topic (what is being talked
about), setting ( where and when the event situated) , channel (how is the
contact is done – speech, writing, signing, smoke signals) , code ( dialect or
style) , message form (what form is intended – chat, debate, sermon, etc.) ,
event (the nature of the communicative event).29
27 Victoria Fromkin, et.al, op.cit. , (2011), p. 212 28 Nurlatifah, A Pragmatic Approach to The Incongruity of Humor in the Dialog of Kung Fu Panda Movie. ( Jakarta : State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah, 02 09), p. 22 29 Gillian Brown and George Yule, Discourse Analysis ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p. 38 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH FINDINGS
In this chapter, it will be discussed about data description and data
analysis.
A. Data Description
In data description, the data collected from Sherlock Serial TV are
tabulated as follows:
Table 2: Table of Euphemism
Types of Types of No. Words Meaning Euphemism Meaning Episode 01 I have met I’m in a 1. indirection affective someone. relationship haven’t been 2. indirection affective hard easy playing hide 3. circumlocution affective faking death and seek terrorist 4. abstraction conceptual terrorist threat thing 5. note abstraction conceptual death note borrowing 6. affair reflected cheating (French) 7. give his life indirection affective die Episode 02 do this sort come to 8. abstraction conceptual of thing wedding afferent neurons in the - social 9. circumlocution butt itch peripheral - affective nervous system 10. lost indirection affective died understands 11. indirection affective stupid very little erectile 12. indirection reflected impotency dysfunction
26
27
high- 13. functioning circumlocution affective psychopath sociopath body odor 14. abstraction conceptual stink problem 15. behinds indirection conceptual butt
B. Data Analysis
1. I have met someone (Episode 01)
J: “W ell, I've got some news.”
H: “O h, God, is it serious?”
J: “W hat? No, no, I'm not ill. I've, well, I'm... moving on.”
H: “Y ou're emigrating?”
J: “Nope. Er, no, I've er… I have met someone.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : John (J) and Mrs. Hudson (H)
(2) Setting : nI John and Sherlock’s former room
(3) Context of situation : John visits Mrs. Hudson for the first
time in the last two years since Sherlock’s death. Sherlock
was a dear friend for both John and Mrs. Hudson, so his
death was a shock for them. However, John has a girlfriend
now, and it means he is moving on. John is afraid that his
continuation of living will make Mrs. Hudson thinks that he
has forgotten his best friend, Sherlock, which in fact, he
hasn’t. Therefore, he chooses his words carefully and uses a
more indirect way of telling it. 28
b. Euphemism and Meaning
The type of this euphemism is indirection because the sentence I
have met someone is a euphemism for a more direct sentence like ‘I
am in a relationship.’, or ‘I have a girlfriend.’, or any sentence that
means that the speaker currently has a special relationship with
certain someone. Indirection is sometimes used to deal with topics
t hat are too touchy to talk about.
The type of meaning of the sentence is affective meaning.
Affective meaning “r eflects the personal feelings of the speaker,
including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is
talking about.”1 The wa y John constructs his sentence shows that he,
as mentioned above, is afraid that if he tells Mrs. Hudson about his
new girlfriend in a direct way, she will think that he has forgotten his
best friend, Sherlock, who died two years ago, and just continue on
living.
2. H aven’t been easy (Episode 01)
J: “L isten, um... I know it hasn't been long, and I know we haven't
known each other for a long time...”
M: “G o on.”
J: “Y es, I will. As you know, these last couples of years haven’t been
easy for em … and meeting you... yeah, meeting yo u has been the best
thing that could have possibly happened.”
1 Ibid., pp. 15-61 29
a. Context
(1) Characters : John (J) and Mary (M)
(2) Setting : I n a French restaurant
(3) Context of situation: John is about to propose to Mary and
before he goes to the main topic, John talks about what
happened to him in the last two years before meeting Mary.
Then, he talks about Sherlock’s death. Although it has been
two years since Sherlock’s death, it still hurts him to talk
about his death. Moreover, death is not rea lly a good topic to
pick when proposing to a woman. Therefore, he euphemizes
his words into haven’t been easy, so that Mary does not
worry about him when he is mentioning what he’s going
through in the last two years.
b. Euphemism and Meaning
The type of this euphemism is indirection , for indirection is
“m entioning one aspect of the subject, a circumstance involving it, a
related subject, or even by saying what it is not.”2 It means that ew
can euphemize a word by saying the negative form of the opposite
word. The phrase haven’t been easy is a euphemism for the word
‘hard’, or ‘d ifficult’, or any antonym of the word ‘easy’.
T he meaning of this euphemism is classified as affective meaning
bec ause it reflects John’s feeling about the topic (Sherlock’s death
2 Hugh Rawson, op.cit., (1981), p. 9 30
and all the hardship that he has been through in the last two years) ,
and it also reflects his attitude towards Mary (not wanting Mary to
worry about him).
3. P laying hide and seek (Episode 01)
J: “Did they know too? Hmm? That you spent the last two years playing hide and seek?”
S: “M aybe.”
J: “A h, so that's why they weren't at the funeral!”
a. Context
(1) Characters : oJ hn (J) and Sherlock (S)
(2) Setting : nI Sherlock’s room (after Sherlock
revealing his fake death, he rents Mrs. Hudson upper room
again while John lives with Mary)
(3) Context of situation : When visiting Sherlock, John see
Sherlock’s parents get out of his room, and suddenly
remembers about Sherlock’s fake death (there were
approximately 25 people knew about this, and not being told
about this in the last two years really angers John). Then,
John asks Sherlock, angrily, whether his parents know that
he didn’t really die in the last two years.
31
b. Euphemism and Meaning
Playing hide and seek is a euphemism for the phrase ‘faking death’. The type of this euphemism is circumlocution because playing hide and seek has more syllables (5), more words (4), and more letters (18) than the phrase ‘faking death’ which only has 3 syllables, 2 words, and 11 letters.
Earlier in this episode, there is a scene where Sherlock suddenly appears in the middle of John proposing to Mary, and he acts like he is giving a pleasant surprise to an old friend. John is surprise, unpleasantly, and asks for explanation for why Sherlock faked his death all these two years without telling him. Sherlock does not answer, instead he insults John’s moustache. It angers John and he attacks him. In the next two scenes, Sherlock reveals that there are approximately 25 people that know his fake death, and it angers John again, and he punches him in the face.
H ide and seek is a children’s game in which t hey hide in secret places and then one child has to go to look for them. Although John’s words are euphemisms, he does not intend to soften it at all. Instead, he wants to mock Sherlock that what he did in the last two years, faking his own death, is simila r to a child playing hide and seek.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the type of meaning of this euphemism is affective meaning because it reflects John’s anger towards Sherlock.
32
4. Terrorist thing (Episode 01)
J: “I s it someone trying to get to you through me? Is it something to
do with this terrorist thing you talked about?
S: “I don't know, I can't see t he pattern. It's too nebulous.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : John (J) and Sherlock (S)
(2) Setting : In Sherlock’s room
(3) Context of Situation: John, after being kidnapped and
almost burned alive, asks Sherlock whether or not what
happened to him is related to the terrorist thing that he
talked about earlier.
b. Euphemism and Meaning
The type of this euphemism is abstraction . Abstraction is a way
to euphemize words by “removing ideas in the most general possible
terms.”3 ‘Thing’ in the phrase terrorist thing can mean many things.
It can mean ‘terrorist attack’, or ‘terrorist bombing’, or anything that
describes what terrorists usually do. Thing in general can also refer to
an idea, an object, an action, an event, etc. Therefore, the type of
meaning of the phrase is conceptual meaning because thing has
several conceptual meaning depending on the context of what is
talked about.
3 Ibid. 33
5. No te (Episode 01)
S: “It's a trick… just a magic trick.”
J: “No. All right, stop it now.”
S: “Now, stay exactly where you are. Don't move!”
J: “All right.”
S: “Keep your eyes fixed on me. Please, would you do this for me?”
J: “Do what?”
S: “This phone call, it's er… It's my note. It's what people do, don't
they? Leave a note.”
J: “Leave a note when?”
S: “Goodbye, John.”
J: “No. Don't...”
S: (Throw phone and then jump off the roof)
J: “Sherlock!”
a. Context
(1) Characters : John (J) and Sherlock (S)
(2) Setting : tS Bartholomew’s Hospital
(3) Context of Situation: Sherlock is on the roof of a building
talking to John via cell phone. He wanted John be the last
person he talked to before he killed himself. He decided to
kill himself because of the media in Brittain attacked him by
saying that he was just a fake detective, and the only one
who could prove his innocence was the one who designed 34
all this conspiracy, James Moriarty. Moriarty shot himself to
death to make his conspiracy complete an d stain Sherlock’s
reputation forever.
b. Euphemism and Meaning
Note is a euphemism for ‘death note’. The type of this euphemism
is abstraction . When the word ‘death’ is removed, the main idea for
the phrase becomes unclear, turning something which is supposed to
be the last note before someone is going to die into a usual note.
The type of meaning of this euphemism is conceptual meaning
because note has several conceptual meaning. It can be a reminder
note, or student’s note, or birthday note. The note spoken by Sherlock
refers to his death note.
6. Af fair (Episode 01)
C: “Well, absolutely no one should have been able to empty that bank account other than myself and Helen.”
S: “Why didn't you assume it was your wife?”
C: “Because I've always had total faith in her.”
S: “No, it's because you emptied it. Weight- loss, hair dye, Botox.
Affair.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : S herlock (S) and a client (C) 35
(2) Setting : in Sherlock’s room
(3) Context of Situation : Sherlock has a meeting with
clients, a married couple, and talk about the disappearance
of their money in a shared bank account. Using his
deductive analysis skill, Sherlock solves the case on the spot.
b. Euphemism and Meaning
The word affair is a euphemism for ‘cheating’. The type of this
euphemism is borrowing. The word affair comes from the French à
faire which means ‘to do’.
The type of meaning of this euphemism is reflected meaning.
Reflected meaning is “the meaning which arises in cases of multiple
conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our
response to another sense.”4 The word affair does not always mean
cheating on your lover, but it can also mean several things like:
‘needing money’ in the phrase financial affair; ‘diplomacy with
neighbor country’ in the phrase foreign affair; etc. However, if the
word affair stands alone without its collocative, we, most of the time,
will connect it to cheating, or love affair.
7. Gi ve his life ( Episode 01)
S: “Why would an agent give his life to tell us something incredibly
insignificant? That's what's strange.”
4 Geoffrey Leech, op.cit., (1985), p. 9 p p. 16-17 36
J: “Give his life?”
S: “According to Mycroft, there's an underground network planning an attack on London, that's all we know.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : John (J) and Sherlock S)(
(2) Setting : in Sherlock’s room
(3) Context of Situation: Sherlock is telling John that
according to Mycroft, there is an agent who died to get
information about an underground network planning an
attack on London.
b. Euphemism and M eaning
The phrase give his life is a euphemism for ‘died’. The type of this
euphemism is indirection because there are more direct ways to
speak about an agent who died on duty, like ‘an agent died’, or ‘an
agent got killed in action’, or even ‘an agent passed away’. However,
talking about someone’s death directly does not feel right, especially
when this someone is an agent who died in his attempt to catch
terrorists. That is why t he type of meaning of this euphemism is
affective meaning. The agent who died was a hero for revealing the
terrorist’s plan, and by saying give his life is Sherlock’s way to honor
his work. Moreover, he is talking to John, a retired soldier who cares
about this kind of thing. 37
8. Do this sort of t hing (Episode 02)
J : “I'm very very glad to see you, sir. I know you don't really do this sort fo thing.”
MS: “W ell, I do for old friends, Watson… John.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : John (J) and Major Sholto (MS)
(2) Setting : ta John’s wedding
(3) Context of Situation : John is talking to Major Sholto, a
good friend of his when they both served in the army in
Afghanistan. Major Sholto, as described by Mary, is almost
reclusive and the most unsociable man that John has ever
met. Later in this episode, it is e xplained that he becomes
like what he is now because in the past he led a team of new
recruits into battle, but it all went wrong. Everyone died,
except him. Since then he has been hated by the press and
by the family of the fallen, and got many death threa ts. That
is what made him what he is now. Knowing all this, John
still decided to invite him to his wedding because he is a
good old friend, and John wanted to share his happiness
with friends.
38
b. Euphemism and Meaning
The phrase t his sort of thing is abstract. It does not clearly tell us
what kind thing that John talks about. Looking at Major Sholto’s
s ituation, what John means with do this sort of thing can possibly be
‘go out and meet people’, or a more specific one like ‘come to a
wedding’, or anything that is usually avoided by a reclusive man.
Therefore, the type of this euphemism is abstraction because thing
shows a wider, more general idea than what it actually is. It can mean
or refer to anything in this world. While the type of meaning is
conceptual meaning because thing has several conceptual meaning
depending on context and the hearer’s understanding.
9. Af ferent neurons in the peripheral nervous system (Episode 02)
S: “Do you think they give them classes?”
J: “Classes?”
S: “How to resist the temptation to scratch their behinds.”
J: “A fferent neurons in the peripheral nervous system.”
S: (Looks confused)
J: “Bum itch.”
S: “Oh.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : John ( J) and Sherlock (S) 39
(2) Setting : on a bench in front of Her Majesty's
Household Guard
(3) Context of Situation: John and Sherlock are sitting on a
bench, waiting for Private Bainbridge (a client), who is on
duty, at Her Majesty's Household Guard. When seeing a
complete motionless Private Bainbridge, Sherlock suddenly
talks about how he can resist the temptation to scratch his
behind.
b. Euphemism and Meaning
Afferent neurons in the peripheral nervous system is a euphemism
for ‘butt itch’. The type of this euphemism is circumlocution
be cause it is a roundabout way of telling something which is actually
simple, and it also, obviously, has more letters, more syllables, and
more words than ‘butt itch’. The types of meanings of this
euphemism are social meaning and affective meaning. Social
meaning is “that which a piece of language conveys about the social
circumstances of its use.” 5 The speaker’s diction will tell us
something of his social circumstances, like, where he comes from,
what he do es for living, etc. The phrase afferent neurons in the
peripheral nervous system is almost never used in daily
conversations. It is a language of medicine, and only doctors are
familiar with it. Therefore, it shows John’s circumstances as a doctor.
5 Geoffrey Leech, op.cit., (1985), p. 14 40
The reason why it is also categorized as affective meaning type
because the way John tells Sherlock is kind of making pride of
himself for being a doctor. It is seldom to see a confused look in
Sherlock’s face. Sherlock is smarter than John in almost every aspect
but medicine, and he always considers people that can’t follow his
way of thinking are stupid, including John. Therefore, John, once in a
while, shows Sherlock that there is something that John can do better
than he does.
10. Lost (Episode 02)
J: “I will be visiting, you know.”
H: “Oh, I've heard that o ne before!”
J: “No, it's different now, though, isn't it? It's different to when
w e thought we'd lost him.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : John (J) and Mrs. Hudson (H)
(2) Setting : in Mrs. Hudson’s kitchen
(3) Context of Situation: John is having a breakfast cooked by
Mrs. Hudson, and she says that it will be the last time for her
to cook him breakfast because she thinks after his marriage,
he will never come to visit anymore like when he did when
he moved out from Mrs. Hudson’s upper room after
Sher lock’s “death”. 41
b. Euphemism and Meaning
L ost is a euphemism for ‘died’ or other words that have similar
meaning. The type of this euphemism is indirection . According to
Rawson, lose/loss is “d iscreet allusions to death”.6 It is an indirect
way of speaking of death. The type of meaning of this euphemism is
affective meaning. As explained before, Sherlock’s death was a
shock for both John and Mrs. Hudson. Even after they find out that
Sherlock didn’t really die and only faked his own death, it is still not
a pleasant thing to talk about. That is why John euphemizes his
sentence because he is talking about a sad memory about the death of
his and Mrs. Hudson’s dear friend.
11. Un derstands very little (Episode 02)
H: “M y best friend, Margaret, she was my chief bridesmaid, we were
going to be best friends forever, we always said that, but I hardly saw
her after that.
S: “A ren't there usually biscuits? I've run out. Have the shops?”
H: “S he cried the whole day, saying, "Ooh, it's the end of an era."”
S: “I 'm sure the shop on the corner is open.”
H: “S he was probably right, really. I remember she left early. I mean,
who leaves a wedding early? So sad.”
S: “H mm. Anyway, you've got t hings to do.”
H: “N o, not really. I've got plenty fo time to get ready...
6 Hugh Rawson, op.cit., (1981), p. 170 42
S: “B iscuits!”
H: “Oh! I really am going to have a word with your mother.”
S : “You can if you like, she understands very little.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : Mrs. Hudson (H) and Sherlock (S)
(2) Setting : in Sherlock’s room
(3) Context of situation: Sherlock is getting irritated when Mrs.
Hudson reminiscences her past and starts to talk to herself.
Sherlock tries to kick her out of his room by asking for
biscuit, but she ignores him and continues talking to herself.
Sherlock has had enough and shout.
b. Euphemism and Meaning
Un derstands very little is a euphemism for ‘stupid’. The type of this euphemism is indirection . There are several direct ways to speak about someone’s stupidity, like: ‘stupid’, ‘fool’, ‘dumb’, etc.
The type of meaning of this euphemism is affective meaning. The reason of why Sherlock euphemizes his sentence is because no matter how stupid his mother is (according to his own judgment), she is still his mother. Therefore, he softens his sentence into an acceptable sentence to be heard by Mrs. Hudson.
43
12. Er ectile dysfunction (Episode 02)
S: …“ if that's the sort of thing you're looking for, the man over there in blue is your best bet. Recently divorced doctor with a ginger cat, a barn conversion, and a history of erectile dysfunction. Reviewing that information, possibly not your best bet.”
Jn: “Y eah, maybe not.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : S herlock (S) and Janine (Jn)
(2) Setting : at John’s wedding
(3) Context of Situation: Sherlock is giving a deductive
analysis to Janine about some man in John’s Wedding.
b. Euphemism and Meaning
Erectile dysfunction is a euphemism for ‘impotency’. The type of
this euphemism is indirection while its type of meaning is reflected
meaning. The reason for why it is classified as reflected meaning
because when someone mentions erectile dysfunction, we, almost all
the time, will connect it with ‘impotency’. This is actually not a right
assumption because there is other disease related to erectile
dysfunction called Peyronie’s disease. Peyronie’s disease is a disease
that causes a bend in penis, and, in some cases, can make erection
painful. However, people who are not familiar with this disease will
always connect erectile dysfunction with ‘impotency’. The reason for 44
why it is categorized as indirection type of euphemism is because
there is a more direct way to talk about it, like: ‘impotency’ ro
‘Peyronie’s disease’. However, talking about a disease directly can
possibly hurt people who have it, that is why indirection is used to
avoid hurting other people’s feeling.
13. H igh- functioning sociopath (Episode 02)
D: “S o, what exactly are my duties as an usher?”
S: “L et's talk about Mary first.”
D: “S orry, what?”
S: “W ell, I think you know what. You went out with her for two years.”
D: “E r, ages ago. We're... We're just good friends now.”
S: “I s that a fact? Whenever she tweets, you respond within five minutes, regardless of time or current location, suggesting you have her on text alert. In your Facebook photographs of the happy couple, Mary takes centre frame, whereas John is always partly or entirely excluded.
D: “Well, you can't assume from that I've still got some kind of interest in Mary…”
S: “You volunteered to be a shoulder to cry on, on no less than three separate occasions. Do you have anything t o say in your defense? I think from now on, we'll downgrade you t o casual acquaintance. No
m ore than three planned social encounter s a year and always in John's presence. I have your contact details. I will be monitoring.” 45
D: “They're right about you. You're a bloody psychopath.”
S: “H igh- functioning sociopath , with your number. (Smirk)
a. Context
(1) Characters : S herlock (S) and David (D)
(2) Setting : in Sherlock’s room
(3) Context of situation: Sherlock is talking to Mary’s ex
boyfriend, David. From what he deduced, Sherlock knows
that David still has feeling for Mary, and wants to make it
clear that David will never try anything to get close to Mary
anymore because she is going to marry John.
b. Euphemism and Meaning
Hi gh- functioning sociopath si euphemism for ‘psychopath’. The
type of this euphemism is circumlocution . The phrase ‘high-
functioning sociopath has more letters (15), more syllables (8), and
more words (2) compared to ‘psychopath’ which only has 10 letters,
3 syllables, and 1 word. As Ra wson said, “the longer the euphemism
the better”7. Therefore, it makes high- functioning sociopath is more
polite than ‘psychopath’ despite the differences between them are not
big.
The type of meaning of this euphemism is affective meaning
because when David says that Sherlock is a psychopath, Sherlock
7 Hugh Rawson, op.cit., (1981), p. 10 46
doesn’t deny it. Instead, he polishes it and turns it into something not
so different, high-f unctioning sociopath. It means that he is well
aware of his pyscophathy, and is proud of it. Then, it can be assumed
that the phrase high-f unctioning sociopath shows his pride as a
psychopathic consultant detective who helps many people in London
solving their case.
14. Bo dy odor problem (Episode 02)
Jn: “Hmm, he's nice.”
S: “Traces of two leading brands of deodor ant, both advertised for their strength, suggestive of a chronic body odor problem , manifesting
u nder stress.”
a. Context
(1) Characters : S herlock (S) and Janine (Jn)
(2) Setting : at John’s wedding
(3) Context of situation: Sherlock gives a deductive analysis to
Janine about some man in John’s Wedding.
b. Euphemism and Meaning
B ody odor problem is an abstraction for ‘stink’. tI is more polite
than ‘stink’ because it does not really tell su what kind of problem
that he has. Similar to the word thing, the word problem is too 47
general or abstract that it can refer to or relate to anything in this
world.
The type of meaning of this euphemism is conceptual meaning.
The reason for this is the world problem has plenty of conceptual
meaning depending o n the context of the discussion.
15. Behinds (Episode 02)
S: “Do you think they give them classes?”
J: “Classes?”
S: “How to resist the temptation to scratch their behinds.”
J: “A fferent neurons in the peripheral nervous system.”
S: (Looks confused)
J: “Bum itch.”
S: “Oh.”
1. Context
(1) Characters : John ( J) and Sherlock (S)
(2) Setting : on a bench in front of Her Majesty's
Household Guard
(3) Context of Situation: John and Sherlock are sitting on a
bench, waiting for Private Bainbridge (a client), who is on
duty, at Her Majesty's Household Guard. When seeing a
complete motionless Private Bainbridge, Sherlock suddenly 48
talks about how he can resist the temptation to sc ratch his
behind.
2. Euphemism and Meaning
Behind is an indirection for the word ‘butt’. Behind is a
euphemism because it does not directly mention the “unmentionable”
part of a human body, ‘butt’. The type of this euphemism is
indirection , or to be more precise, an indirection of anatomical
euphemism. By saying the genera l location of butt, like, rear, bottom,
or behind, we can safely talk about butt without arousing other
people’s attention, embarrassment, or even disgust.
The type of meaning of this euphemism is conceptual meaning because it has several meaning and referent, like: a location, a place, even a reason for something that happens, like in ‘Her husband’s death is the reason behind her depression’. CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
According to the purposes of this research, the writer would like to underline the conclusion of the research.
Firstyl , based on the analysis, there are three types of euphemism used by
John in this serial, they are: indirection (3) , abstraction (2) , and circumlocution (2) ; and those euphemisms are classified into three types of meaning; affective (5) , conceptual (2) , and social (1) .
Secondly, the writer found four types of euphemism used by Sherlock in this serial, they are: indirection (4), abstraction (2), circumlocution (1) , and borrowing (1) ; and those euphemisms are classified into three types of meaning; affective (3) , conceptual (3) , social (2) .
Thirdly, the reasons why John uses euphemisms is not only to avoid losing face or cover up things considered taboo but also to protect his own feeling. In the story, it is described how he struggles to move on from
Sherlock’s death. Wh en speaking about Sherlock’s death, like when talking to Mrs. Hudson, he never mentions it directly, but always uses indirection.
It is because for him the topic of the death of his best friend is too hard to handle. That is why most of his euphemisms are classified as affective meaning.
Finally, the reason why Sherlock uses euphemism is to impress his interlocutor. Sherlock likes to give an abstract and unclear explanation, especially when giving deductive analysis. By making his explanation
49
50
abstract or indirect, he will make his interlocutors confused, and then they will ask (or even beg) him to give a more clear explanation. After that,
Sherlock will give a mor e clear explanation which a normal human being can understand, and that is when they give a shocked but impressed look ta his explanation.
B. Suggestions
In this research, the writer suggests the next researchers to conduct
contrastive linguistics study by comparing the differences of euphemisms
used in English and euphemisms used in Indonesia or in other languages.
Other than that, the next researchers can also conduct the an alysis of
euphemism using other approache s, such as: psycholinguistics approach
and sociolinguistics approach,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allan, K & Burridge, K 1992, Raising Gooseflesh ‘Dirty’ Words and Language Change, viewed 20 May 2014, http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au:8080/vital/access/services/Download/latrobe: 33130/SOURCE1
Brown, G & Yule, G 1983, Discourse Analysis, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary 11 th de 2004, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Fromkin, V, Rodman, R, Hyams, N 2011, An Introduction to Language, 9th edn, Wadsworth, Boston, MA.
Koyan, I, Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif, viewed 21 May 2014, http://pasca.undiksha.ac.id/e- learning/staff/dsnmateri/6/1- 14.pdf
Leech, G 1985, Semantics: The Study of Meaning, 2nd de n, Penguin Books Ltd, Middlesex. Nurlatifah 2009, ‘A Pragmatic Approach to The Incongruity of Humor in the Dialog of Kung Fu Panda Movie’ undergraduate thesis, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah. Rawson, H 1981, A Dictionary of Euphemisms & Other Doubletalk, Crown Publishers, New York.
Saeed, J 2004, Semantics, 2nd de n, Blackwell Publisher Ltd, Malden.
Sari, D 2013, ‘E uphemism Used in Language of Politic in Padang Express Newspaper’ undergraduate thesis, State University of Padang.
Sari, Y 2007, ‘E uphemism Analysis on “American Pie 5” Script: An Approach of Meaning Relations and Semantic Change’ undergraduate thesis, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah.
Sherlock season 3 episode 01: The Empty Hearse 2014, Serial TV, Hartswood Films, BBC One, UK. Produced by Sue Vertue; directed by Jeremy Lovering.
Sherlock season 3 episode 02: The Sign of Three 2014, Serial TV, Hartswood Films, BBC One, UK. Produced by Sue Vertue & Susie Liggat; directed by Colm McCarthy.
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Sherlock season 3 episode 03: His Last Vow 2014, Serial TV, Hartswood Fi lms, BBC One, UK. Produced by Sue Vertue; directed by Nick Hurran.
Sulfiana, M 2012, ‘E uphemism of American High School Movie: The Study of Meaning Relations and Semantic Change’ undergraduate thesis, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah.
Wardhaugh, R 2006, A n Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 5th edn, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
APPENDIX
A. Episode 01
1. I have met someone ( 00:15:15,380 - > 00:15:16,820)
2. haven’t been easy ( 00:20:00,940 - > 00:20:04,180)
3. playing hide and seek (00:57:37,780 - > 00:57:42,980)
4. terrorist thing (00:58:29,740 - > 00:58:32,540)
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54
5. note ( 00:00:40,740 - > 00:00:41,900)
6. affair ( 00:38:36,420 - > 00:38:39,620)
7. give his life ( 00:58:35,340 - > 00:58:39,820)
B. Episode 02
8. do this sort of thing ( 00:13:41,600 - > 00:13:44,680)
55
9. afferent neurons in the peripheral nervous system
( 00:34:36,720 - > 00:34:40,840)
10. l ost (00:55:08,760 - > 00:55:10,880)
11. u nderstands very little ( 00:06:38,840 - > 00:06:41,520)
12. e rectile dysfunction ( 00:08:59,320 - > 00:09:02,600)
56
13. h igh- functioning sociopath ( 00:10:39,000 - > 00:10:42,200)
14. b ody odor problem ( 00:12:27,760 - > 00:12:30,960)
15. b ehinds ( 00:34:33,440 - > 00:34:36,720)