DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AMERICAN AND BRITISH VERSIONS OF HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX BY J.K. ROWLING
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ISSN: 2302-920X
E-Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya Unud
Vol 15.3 Juni 2016: 15-20
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AMERICAN AND BRITISH VERSIONS OF
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX BY J.K. ROWLING
Hakka
email: smiles_indonesia@yahoo.co.id
Program Non Reguler Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra UniversitasUdayana
Abstrak
Dalam studi ini karya penulis terkenal J.K. Rowling dengan judul Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix dipilih untuk dibahas.Cerita ini mengisahkan petualangan seorang penyihir remaja bernama Harry Potter beserta kedua sahabatnya Ron Weasley dan Hermione Granger, yang merupakan pelajar di sekolah sihir Hogwarts. Plot utama dalam cerita ini bercerita tentang upaya Harry dan sahabatnya untuk mengalahkan penyihir hitam bernama Lord Voldemort, yang berambisi untuk menjadi mahluk abadi, menaklukkan dunia sihir dan non-sihir, dan membinasakan siapapun yang menghalangi jalannya termasuk Harry. Pembahasan dalam tulisan ini akan menggunakan metode kualitatif. Sumber data primer dalamt ulisan ini adalah novel itu sendiri dalam versi Amerika dan Inggris. Hasil dari tulisan ini menyatakan bahwa pembaca Inggris-Amerika dan Inggris-British terkadang menggunakan ekspresi, ejaan dan kosakata yang berbeda untuk konsep yang sama.Beberapa contohnya dapat ditemukan dalam tulisan ini.
Keywork: kosakata,ejaan, novel
Language exists to make people can communicate to each other. In its development, language can change. The changes of language can create language variations. The German linguist Rudi Keller holds the view that language change and the alteration of language use is caused by an “invisible hand”. Typically the world is divided exclusively into two kinds of phenomena: natural and artificial. However, this leads to a misinterpretation of certain processes like for example linguistics and language. Keller offers a solution to this dilemma by identifying a third phenomenon that contains natural and artificial elements. Language for example is artificial since it is created by man, but it evolves naturally in a way that cannot be influenced or predicted
by individuals. So language change is caused by the multitude of individual actions, as an unintentional and unplanned structure and the effect of the invisible hand. A phenomenon of the third kind is the causal consequence of a multitude of individual and intentional actions, which have at least partially similar intentions. It is a process and a result at the same time.
One of many aspects that make language variations is geographical aspect. Different area can create the variation of language. And it happens in English, such as American English and British English. Over the past 400 years, the forms of the language used in United Kingdom and that used in Americas especially in United States have diverged in many ways, leading to the dialects now commonly referred to as American English and British English. Differences between these two include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, idioms, formatting of dates, numbers and so on. The difference also happened in novel. Because of that, the writer will try to pick two different editions (American English or AmE and British English or BrE) of a novel and trying to find a difference between them.
Based on the background mentioned above, the formulations of the problem of this study are:
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- What are the differences between American English and British English in a novel entitled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, especially in vocabulary and spelling?
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- If there is any difference, how are they different?
The aims of this study are:
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• To find the vocabulary and spelling differences between American English and British English edition of a novel entitled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
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• To find the answer how are they different.
Scope of Discussion
In this case, the writer will limit the discussion to the vocabulary and spelling differences between American and British English that can be found on American and British version of the novel entitled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It is a 5th edition of Harry Potter novel series.
Data source is where the data will be taken from and many articles can be used as data source. There are two kinds of sources such as Primary and Secondary Sources. In this study, the data were taken from primary source, which are literary sources like journal and article.
As of the analysis material, it would be American English and British English edition of a novel entitled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This novel was chosen because of its decent literature work, considering that it had been translated into 65 different languages and won many achievements such as a Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year award, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, the prestigious British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year. The author itself, J.K Rowling, had involves herself into the translation process at some degrees instead of fully letting another person translate it.
Method and Technique of Collecting Data
The data will be collected from many places, including libraries, newspaper, internet and various other places. The analysis material will be obtained from bookstore.
Method and Technique of Analyzing Data
There are two kind of data analyzing, Quantitative and Qualitative. And for this analysis I will use the Qualitative method.
For the Qualitative method, the writer will try to analyzing and identify based on the scope of discussion. The writer will categorize the qualitative data, spelling and vocabulary which one belong to British English and which one belong to American English. Then the writer will classify the data and comparing between novels.
Complete sentence in American version page two: Mrs. Figg had recently taken to asking him around for tea whenever she met him in the street.In British version, “round” is used instead of “around.”Americans use around in contexts in which most British speakers prefer round. Round came into the language as a noun meaning “a circular object.” At various times, the “circular object” was a racecourse, a ring, and a coin. Around was formed from the noun round by adding the prefix a-, a variation of the prefix on-, creating an adverb that meant “in a circle.”
In British English, there is, however, a general preference for round to be used for definite, specific movement (she turned round; a bus came round the corner), while around tends to be used in contexts which are less definite (she wandered around for ages; costing around £3,000) or for abstract uses (a rumor circulating around the cocktail bars). In US English the situation is different. The normal form in most contexts is around; round is generally regarded as informal or non-standard and is only standard in certain fixed expressions, as in all year round and they went round and round in circles.
Another difference is the usage of “studying” in page 703 of American version. In British version of the novel, “revise”is used instead. In British English “revise” is more commonly used when studying before an exam. To revise something is to go
through your notes and "learn" the subject. The verbs “study” is also used in British English to express the idea of refreshing your memory. Americans tend not to use the verb revise when preparing for tests or exams. Instead they will just say study.
Spelling difference
Complete sentence in page 5 of American version: “Lovely evening!” shouted Uncle Vernon, waving at Mrs. Number Seven, who was glaring from behind her net curtains.In British version, Mrs Number Seven is used instead. This is a difference about titles usage between American and British English. Mr., Mrs., and Ms. all take periods in American English. In British English, the periods are omitted.
Looking at the previous analysis, it can be concluded that:
From the novel “Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix” by J.K.Rowling (2003) in two versions, the first version was published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and the second was from Scholastic Press in the United States, it became clear that readers of British and American English sometimes simply use different terms or expressions for the same concept. Some of these are "standard differences" between British and American English. For example the different in term of vocabulary, the cooker of the original British version is stove in the American one. However, the different in term of spelling for example, the flavoured transformed itself into a flavored during its journey across the ocean. The reason behind this change is not so obvious. The use of dissimilar terms can also be due to different cultural usages and connotations of those terms. The British bar has been translated as restaurant in America. That is, the same term either exists but is used in slightly different spheres of meaning, or it exists synonymously with another, also commonly used expression.
The biggest difference in two versions of the novel is in vocabulary. The differences in vocabulary but basically has the same meaning is only because the difference of culture and habit. Why it changes because the original British version have
been altered for republication in the US market in order to be more appropriate to the conventions of standard American English. The reasons that US editor produced American edition of Harry Potter’s are to simplify words so that American people understand what the Author’s means. Because there are many vocabularies from England that sound strange in Americans.
Algeo, John. 2006. British or American English?. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37993-8
Algeo, John. 2001. The Cambridge history of the English language: English in North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Eastwood, John. 2005. Oxford Learner’s Grammar. London: Oxford University press Hornby, A. S. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University press
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