SWEARING EXPRESSIONS IN THE CASINO MOVIE SCRIPT
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SWEARING EXPRESSIONS IN THE CASINO MOVIE SCRIPT
By
I NYOMAN AGUS WIRA PRABAWA
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
Abstrak
Penggunaan kata-kata umpatan oleh seseorang atau kelompok sudah sering kita dengar dalam suatu percakapan. Penggunaan kata-kata umpatan pada umumnya tidak diperkenankan dalam sebuah percakapan karena kata-kata umpatan tersebut oleh sebagian besar orang dianggap sebagai kata-kata tabu yang jika digunakan bisa menimbulkan kesan buruk terhadap si pembicara maupun lawan bicara. Dalam situasi informal, kata-kata umpatan biasanya digunakan oleh seseorang untuk mengekpresikan perasaan, meluapkan emosi, bahkan kata-kata umpatan sering digunakan untuk menyakiti perasaan seseorang. Tetapi, tidak semua kata-kata umpatan digunakan untuk hal-hal yang tidak layak karena bagi kelompok-kelompok tertentu kata-kata umpatan tersebut digunakan sebagai alat atau cara untuk menjaga dan meningkatkan solidaritas di antara para pengguna dan sekaligus sebagai penunjuk identitas sebuah grup atau kelompok tertentu. Sumber data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah percakapan-percakapan yang dituangkan ke dalam sebuah skrip film yang berjudul “Casino”. Adapun tujuan dalam penelitian ini ialah untuk mengetahui fenomena kata-kata umpatan berdasarkan teori para ahli yakni, teori yang diusulkan oleh Hughes dan teori yang diusulkan oleh Liedlich. Setelah melakukan analisis, kata-kata umpatan yang ditemukan memiliki kategorinya masing-masing dan kata-kata umpatan yang digunakan oleh si pembicara memiliki tujuan dan fungsi yang berbeda dalam konteks tertentu. Selain itu, dalam sejarahnya kata-kata umpatan biasanya digunakan oleh kaum sosial rendah seperti pekerja dan buruh, tetapi kata-kata umpatan yang ditemukan di dalam skrip film Casino, lebih banyak digunakan oleh kaum sosial yang lebih tinggi.
Kata Kunci: kata-kata umpatan, kata-kata tabu, perkataan tidak senonoh.
Swear words are unique phenomenon. On one hand, to most people swearing words are taboo words whose usages are prohibited to be spoken or used in a conversation because it can create shock, offensiveness, and social norm violation in the society, on the other hand, to some people those words are used as a way to express emotion and feeling, as a means of enhancing group’s solidarity, even those words are used as their habit in everyday life. According to Jay (1992) swearing is the use of taboo language with the purpose of expressing the speaker's emotional state and communicating that information to the listener. In expressing it, the speaker usually uses verbal obscenity. Nowadays, swear words are more accepted
by the society. As applied in our daily conversation, swear words are also being used in the movie script. Many movie scripts use swear words in the dialogue, for example, in the Casino movie script. The Casino movie script was chosen because it contains a lot of non-standard and informal English words. This paper is entitled “Swearing in the Casino Movie Script”. This study is mainly focused on the existence of swear words in the English Language.
Based on the background of the study above, the research problem can be formulated as follows:
What kinds of swearing words are found in the Casino movie script? And what are the purposes of swearing words used by the characters in the Casino movie script?
The aims of this study are identifying the kinds of swearing words and analyzing the principal purposes in using swearing words in the Casino movie script.
The methodology in this research is categorized into three. They are data source, method and techniques of collecting data, and method and techniques of analyzing data.
The data source of this study was Casino movie script. It is a 1995 crimedrama. The data were taken and downloaded through the internet. The Casino movie script was chosen as the data source because it contained a lot of non-standard and informal English words such as the usage of swear words. Those words are mainly used by the speakers to express their emotion and feeling.
As a script used as the data source, documentation method was applied. It is usually used to conduct research in the forms of notes, books, scripts, and transcriptions. Meanwhile, the technique of collecting data consists of reading the conversation of all the characters in the script and collecting the data of swearing words through note-taking technique.
All of the collected data were analyzed using a descriptive qualitative research method. In this study, the theory of swear words proposed by Hughes is used to identify the kinds of swearing words and the theory of verbal obscenity proposed by Liedlich is used to analyze the principal purposes in using swearing words are used as the main theories.
Hughes (1991) classified swear words into some groups. They are genital term, excretory term, animal term, anatomical term, imbecilic term, and general term. After analyzing the script, there are six categories of swearing words which can be found in the Casino movie script. It can be presented as follows:
The words which belong to this term are cunt, rooster, and prick. All of those words are related to sex organ of human being.
Listen, you fuckin' cunt (3.2.1 data 3)
In formal situation, “cunt” is replaced with “vagina”. Vagina is more acceptable word for cunt. It is a term for the women’s sex organ. However, in the informal situation cunt is usually used by the speaker to express the speaker’s emotion. In this case, Ace is annoyed with his wife who is not responsible for her child. Cunt is used by Ace to express his anger to Ginger.
The words which belong to this term are shit and piss. Those words are related to lavatory and human defecation.
You fucking' piece of shit (3.2.2 data 1)
In formal situation, “shit” is replaced with “feces”. Feces are more acceptable words for shit. In the informal situation, shit is usually used by the speaker to express the speaker’s emotion. It is used not to refer to feces, but it has negative connotation. In this case, shit is used by Ace to express his anger. The words “piece of shit” refers to worthless person. It is used by Ace because he is upset with Lester who always disturbs his wife.
The words which belong to this term are bitch, dog, and pig. Those words are related to the names of animal.
I need eyes in the back of my head with you, you bitch (3.2.3 data 1)
In formal situation, “bitch” can denote “a female dog”. In the informal situation, bitch is usually used by the speaker to express the speaker’s emotion and as an insult to other people. In this case, Ace is angry with Ginger because she never loves him during his marriage. The only thing she cares is money. When Ace is talking to Ginger, bitch is used by Ace to express his anger to his wife. It is often borrowed from the characteristic of animal to describe someone. It is used as an insult to his wife who is scheming, married just for money, and has an affair with other man.
The words which belong to this term are ass and asshole. Those words are related to human anatomy.
Get your ass and get your things and get out of here (3.2.4 data 1)
In formal situation, “ass” is replaced with “anus”. Ass is a part of private body that should not be spoken in public area because this word is impolite to hear. In the informal situation, ass is usually used by the speaker to express the speaker’s emotion. In this case, it is used by Ace to express his anger to his worker. Ass represents the person, and the function of the word itself is to tell someone to leave.
The words which belong to this term are moron and idiot. Those words are linked to the kinds of disability, such as mental and physical disabilities.
You fuckin' moron (3.2.5 data 2)
In formal situation, “moron” is often replaced with more acceptable words such as mentally challenged or intellectually challenged. However, when it is used in the informal situation it is usually used by the speaker to express the speaker’s emotion. In this case, COP#1 is annoyed with his friend who makes big mistake. Moron is offensive word because it is used to attack someone. It is used by COP#1 to abuse his friend who is a COP too.
The words which belong to this term are fuck and fucking. They are classified into general term because the function of those words is to add strong emphasis to someone’s utterance.
You fuckin' hick (3.2.6 data 5)
In formal situation, “fuck” is replaced with “making love or having sex with” when it refers to sexual activity. However, when it is used in the informal situation, it is usually used by the speaker to express the speaker’s emotion. In this case, it is used by Nicky to express his anger to Cowboy. It gives strong emphasize to Nicky’s anger.
Liedlich (1973) stated the principal purposes of verbal obscenity are to provide catharsis, to create attention, to discredit, to provoke violent confrontation, to show personal identification, and as term of endearment. In addition, Hughes (1991) stated that most people use swear words used to insult others.
Liedlich stated that people who use swear words to provide catharsis they use it because they are hurt, annoyed, or upset. They also use it to hurt others. In this case, “cunt” is used by Ace to express his emotion to Ginger. It is used to express his anger because he is annoyed with his wife who is not responsible for their child. He also wants Ginger to be hurt by saying this word.
Liedlich (1973) stated that to gain attention by using passionate language whose connotations cause an emotional response in the listener. People who use swear words want to attract attention and they want to be the central attention among others. In this case, Ginger comes to Nicky to ask a help. When she is talking to Nicky,” fuckin” is used by Ginger. It attracts Nicky’s attention. By this word she wants telling Nicky that she really needs a help. She wants Nicky to see her condition. After hearing that Nicky promised to help her to find her a sponsor.
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5.2.3 Swear word is used to discredit.
FBI! That prick's been dodging me for three weeks (3.3.1 data 3)
According to Liedlich when people use verbal obscenity to discredit it means they use it to express their dislike about something. In this case, “prick” is used in the informal situation. In the formal situation, prick is replaced with penis when it refers to sex organ. When it is used in the informal situation, it is usually used to express the speaker’s emotion. It is used by Nicky to express his dislike on Charlie Clark who cannot help to lend him money.
In formal situation, “asshole” is replaced with “anus” when it refers to human anatomy. However, when it is used in the informal or impolite situation, this word is usually used by the speakers to express the speaker’s emotion. In this case, Ace told Sherbert to tell Cowboy to take his feet off the table. When Sherbert tried to tell Cowboy to take his feet off the table, Cowboy did not care and ignored him. Sherbert is upset with Cowboy. He returned to Ace and said “fuckin' asshole won’t budge”. Intentionally or unintentionally it gives stimulus to Ace which eventually becomes an action. After hearing that, Ace told Security to exit Cowboy and use his head to open the door. Finally, Cowboy is forced out of the Casino.
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5.2.5 Swear word is used to insult.
I need eyes in the back of my head with you, you bitch (3.3.3 data 1)
According to Hughes some people use swear word is to insult others. In the informal situation, “bitch” is usually used by the speaker to express the speaker’s emotion and it is used as an insult to other people. In this case, bitch is used by Ace as an insult to his wife. It is used by Ace to describe his wife who is scheming, married just for money, and has an affair with someone else.
In this script, there are six categories of swear words which are found. They are genital term, excretory term, animal term, anatomical term, imbecilic term, and general term. These words are mainly used to express the speaker’s emotion for
example when they are frustrated, hurt, and angry. Besides, the principal purposes in using swearing words that can be found in the script such as swear words are used to provide catharsis, swear words are used to create attention, swear words are used to discredit, swear words are used to provoke violent confrontation, and swear words are used to insult. Although the usages of those words could create bad effects, the characters still use it in their conversation. By using swear words they can express their emotion and feeling.
Hughes, Geoffrey, 1991. Swearing: A Social of Foul Language, oaths, and Profane in English Blackwell. New York: Blackwell.
Jay, Tiomothy. 1992. Cursing in America: A Psychological Study of Dirty Language in the Courts, in the Movies, in the Schoolyards and on the Street. Philadelphia: John Benjamin’s Publishing Co.
Liedlich, Raymond D. (1973) Coming to Terms With Language: An Anthology. London: John Willey and Sons, Inc.
Pileggi, Casino (1995) Movie Script. Available from: URL:
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