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Verbal Irony in a TV Series The Office (US) Season 2
No full textVerbal irony as a figurative language has been conceived in everyday life as its use is common when people communicate with each other. It enables the speaker to express negative intention towards the hearer as well as producing humor elements. This study aims to analyze verbal irony in the sitcom The Office (US) from Pragmatics perspective, which focuses on the identification of its forms and their manifestations in arousing humor. The data of this study were collected from season 2 of The Office (US) that consists of 22 episodes. They were observed, transcribed, analyzed, and classified into the category proposed by Gibbs (2000). The utterances that contain humor were marked and analyzed by applying the theory proposed by Garmendia (2007). The result shows that from 97 occurrences that were identified, all five types of verbal irony (sarcasm, jocularity, rhetorical question, hyperbole, and understatement) were found, with sarcasm as the most frequently used type. The analysis also revealed that the disparity that emerges from verbal irony leads to humor creation
A Corpus-Based Study of Writer Identities in Biology Research Articles: Clusivity and Authorial Self
Get PDFAn academic writing, especially a research article, is commonly, but vaguely considered that it has to be impersonal. In other words, there is a common discouragement to express writer identities in academic writings. Yet, it is recently discovered that personal attribution has such a significant role to display the interaction both between the authors and the readers and the authors and other researchers in the field. In this paper, I investigate the linguistic forms used to indicate writer identity in a number of selected research articles, and how they are used in terms of their clusivity as well as authorial self these linguistic forms construct. The data were taken from two reputable international journals: 10 research articles taken from Genome Biology, and the other 10 were taken from Molecular Systems Biology. These data were analyzed with the help of Wordsmith 5.0 (Scott 2008), an offline application which allows us to discover the occurrences of authorial references used in research articles and make concordances. A qualitative analysis was also conducted to examine the clusivity and the authorial self each linguistic form expresses. Classification on authorial selves was based on a taxonomy proposed by Tang & John (1999). The findings of this research are then aimed at indicating a tendency of writers in attributing themselves in academic writing, especially in biology research articles, where authors show more authority in their writing with the use of frequent authorial references expressing themselves as the recounters of the research process
N-words in Black Stand-Up Comedy: A Linguistic Reclamation
Get PDFIn the United States of America, the stand-up comedy community consists of comics from a diverse range of ethnicities/races, one of them being African American (black people). Among this particular group, the use of the N-word has been prominent throughout the years. Although commonly used as a slur, the N-word becomes an interesting discussion, as its function within stand-up comedy is not solely derogatory when uttered by black comics. In this research, the functions of the N-word used by black comics in stand-up comedy are investigated. Moreover, its relation to linguistic reclamation is also examined. The data were obtained from a YouTube channel named Laugh Factory in the form of videos by black comics aired in 2020. The analysis of the functions was conducted by categorizing the functions of the N-word. In order to relate the functions of the N-word with linguistic reclamation, a qualitative analysis was conducted by using Illocutionary Force Indicator Account to see whether the N-word succeeds or fails to function as a slur. Despite some of the occurrences of the N-word having derogatory functions, the ends of uttering them are not actually regarded as a slur. Moreover, it is discovered that the N-word used by black comics in stand-up comedy fails to function as a slur, proving that there is a process of linguistic reclamation with the N-word being non-derogatory
Women Detectives in Detective Fiction: A Formula Analysis on Dublin Murder Squad Series
Get PDFThis paper studies the formulation of two women detectives in Tana French’s work, Cassie Maddox and Antoinette Conway, in the Dublin Murder Squad Series by exploring the hard-boiled fiction conventions which underlie the formulation of Tana French’s two female detectives. The objective of this study is to determine how French innovates the hard-boiled fiction conventions in the formation of her women detective characters, Cassie Maddox and Antoinette Conway. By employing formula analysis as theorized by John G. Cawelti (1976), the results of this study show that French innovates the hard-boiled formula in four aspects. First, French innovates the hard-boiled formula by expanding the concept of marginality from economic class to gender and race. The second innovation is the substitution of the hard-boiled convention which emphasizes on masculine toughness with resistance to patriarchal control. Third, French re-established the relationship between the detective and the character femme fatale. Their similarity of female experiences and perspective with the femme fatale makes these women detectives not only reveal the femme fatale as a murderer, but also the motives and scenarios behind their acts. Finally, French also innovates the antithetical nature of the hard-boiled detective’s presentation by offering a ‘feminine’ path to justice. These observations show that French’s innovations on hard-boiled conventions on her women detectives are the extensions of the women investigators in the antecedent feminist revisions of the hard-boiled stories which are heavily influenced by the second-wave feminist values. However, Tana French also inserts her own commentary on the new variants of female character shaped by the new post-feminist discourse which separates her women detectives from those in the antecedent feminist hard-boiled revision series
A Gender-based Study of Apology Strategies Employed by Indonesian Students
Get PDFThis study investigates the apology strategies used by Indonesian university students and examines whether there is any gender difference in the apologies made by these students. The data were collected using Discourse Completion Task (DCT) containing eight situations. The DCT was distributed to 42 English Department students comprising 21 female students and 21 male students. Altogether, 336 apology utterances were collected. The results showed that the students most frequently used a combination of apology strategies (68.4%), especially a combination of Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID) and Explanation or Account of Cause (EoC). Furthermore, there seems to be no difference in the types of strategies used by female and students. Both groups tended to use a combination strategies and IFID. However, in terms of intensity, female students tended to apologize more intensely than the males and this was evident from their more frequent use of apology intensifications
Self-References in English Press Releases of Indonesian Coal Mining Companies
Get PDFCorporate press release is a pivotal public relation tool, especially for those operating on a mass scale and have high risks, such as for coal mining companies. They are aimed to effectively function in both maintaining a good public image and minimize public backlash regarding companies’ operation. Considering the importance of press releases, how companies employ careful linguistic choices in press releases is worth exploring. One of the aspects to analyze is the use of self-references, in both forms and the use. In this research, the forms of self-references in corporate press releases are investigated. The metadiscourse functions of self-references employed in their press releases also become matters of discussion. The data were obtained from English press releases of two Indonesian coal mining companies, PT Adaro Energy Tbk (Adaro) and PT Bumi Resources (Bumi) from the year 2019 to 2020. These data were quantitatively analyzed with a concordance software named WordSmith Tool (Scott, 2004) that enables a concordance feature to discover the frequencies of self-references used by Adaro and Bumi in their press releases. To discover the use of self-references used by Adaro and Bumi in their press releases, a qualitative analysis was conducted. Specifying on the metadiscourse functions, a taxonomy of writer-reader interactions by Adel (2006) was employed. The result shows that forms of self-references in press releases of Adaro and Bumi are different, despite both operating under the same industry. Moreover, it is discovered that different forms of self-references in press releases are used differently in metadiscourse functions
Asian Americans’ Views of their Identities as Asians in Eleanor & Park: A Socio-Psychological Approach
Get PDFThis research analyzes how Asian American characters, Mindy Sheridan, Park Sheridan, and Josh Sheridan, in the novel Eleanor & Park view their identities as Asians. This research aims to understand how Asian American characters view their identities as Asians and what factors influence their views. The analysis of this research was conducted using the social psychology approach supported by Tajfel and Turner’s (2004) social identity theory and Atkinson, Morten, and Sue’s (1998) minority identity development model. This research shows that Asian American characters’ views of their identity as Asian are influenced by the values believed by the dominant group in their social environment
Questioning Popular Culture: Future Technology In Ready Player One
Get PDFThis study investigates the impact of future technology products, as one of the parts of popular culture, on society in the science fiction novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2011) and on our current society. The primary data of this study were taken from the novel. The results reveal that the effects of popular culture, specifically the products of technology, on modern society are enormous compared to the society in the novel. The similarities and differences between the technological aspects portrayed in the story compared to the current modern world are revealed to know what really happens and going to happen in the future
Phatic Expressions in the Riverdale TV Series Season 1
Get PDFThis research aimed to analyze and classify the function of the six main characters’ phatic expressions related to Jason Blossom’s death in the Riverdale TV Series Season 1 using Jumanto's theory (2017), namely breaking the silence, starting a conversation, making small talk, gossiping, keeping the talk, expressing solidarity, creating harmony, offering comfort, expressing empathy, expressing friendship, expressing respect, and expressing politeness. The result shows that 195 data of phatic function are found in all types. Keeping the talk is the most used by the six main characters with 61 data because the characters want to maintain the conversation to get information about Jason Blossom's death. This research also classified the response type and analyzed whether their responses to those phatic expressions can make the conversations stop or continue. When the conversations can be continued and maintained, the characters could get more information about Jason Blossom’s death and even murderer
Code-Switching in Londokampung Youtube Videos
Get PDFThis research examines code-switching by a multilingual Australian YouTuber, Dave Jephcott, on his Londokampung Youtube channel. The data were obtained from five videos uploaded in July-August 2019 on this YouTube channel. The theory proposed by Blom & Gumperz (1972) was adopted for classifying code-switching and that by Malik (1994) for analyzing the reasons for code-switching. The results show that out of 35 utterances containing code-switching, 20 (57.14%) utterances belong to metaphorical code-switching and 15 (42.86%) utterances to situational code-switching. As for the reasons, 25.7% of code-switching instances serve to emphasize a point, 17.1% to show a lack of register, and another 17.1% to address a different audience. The other reasons include habitual expression (11.4%), the mood of the speaker (8.6%), semantic significance (5.7%), to show identification with a group (5.7%), lack of facility (2.9%), pragmatic reasons (2.9%), and to attract attention (2.9%)