Maxim in Conversation of Oprah Winfrey Talk Show “Will Smith and Family”

ISSN: 2302-920X

Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud

Vol 19.1 Mei 2017:36-44

Maxim in Conversation of Oprah Winfrey Talk Show “Will Smith and Family”

Ni Putu Eka Wahyuni¹*, A.A Sagung Shanti Sari Dewi², I Gede Budiasa^{3 [123]}English Department Faculty of Arts – Udayana University ¹[[email protected]] ²[[email protected]] ³[[email protected]] *Corresponding Author

Abstrak

Artikel ini berjudul “Penggunaan maksim pada percakapan dalam acara Oprah Winfrey Talk Show “Will Smith and Family”. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi struktur percakapan dalam Bahasa Inggiris dan untuk menganalisa penggunaan maksim pada acara Oprah Winfrey talk show. Penelitian ini menerapkan metode dokumentasi dalam mengumpulkan data yang dimana data yang telah terkumpul kemudian dianalisis dengan metode kwantatif, kualitatif. dan deskriptif. Penelitian ini menerapkan teori yang dipaparkan oleh Levinson (1983) dan juga menerapkan teori lain yang relevan yaitu teori oleh Jones (1981). Selain itu, penelitian ini juga menerapkan teori yang dipaparkan oleh Grice (1975) untuk menganalisis penggunaan maksim.

Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah sebagai berikut: jenis struktur pertanyaan – jawaban adalah type yang terbanyak terjadi pada percakapan tersebut. Sementara itu, terdapat keberhasilan dan ketidak patuhan maksim prinsip kerja sama pada acara talk show tersebut. Pembicara patuh pada maksim prinsip kerja sama karena mereka ingin bekerja sama untuk membuat percakapannya baik. Ketidak patuhan maksim prinsip kerja sama banyak terjadi disebabkan karena pembicara menginginkan tidak menjawab secara eksplisit atas pertanyaan yang diberikan yang berhubungan dengan kehidupannya dan untuk membuat hiburan dalam acara talk show.

Kata kunci: tutur, talk show, struktur percakapan, maksim

• 1.    Background of the Study

Discourse can be observed in the usage of spoken, written and sign language. In analyzing discourse, a pragmatic approach is usually taken to the study of language in use, especially concerning the context in which a piece of discourse occurs (Brown &

Yule, 1983:1). Discourse also has a close relationship to conversation. Conversation is considered as an activity which is directed to social goals as well as the linguistics goals. Conversation movement is constructed from strategies for the introduction of topics, openings and closing, the pairing of utterances in conversation and turn taking conversation. (Richards and Schmidt, 1983:117)

Therefore, it is very interesting to analyze the phenomena of conversation occur on the Oprah Winfrey Talk Show. Oprah Winfrey talk show remains the highest-rated talk show in American Television. This talk show always raises a current topic but still maintain it to be real. The talk between Oprah as a host and the guest Will Smith, becomes the object of this research. The Oprah Winfrey show on episode Monday, May 17^th, 2010 entitled “Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and the whole family”.

• 2.    Problems of the Study

Based on the background of study presented above, research problems are formulated as the following;

• a.    What types of adjacency pairs found in the Oprah Winfrey Talk Show “Will Smith and Family”?

• b.    How are the Grice maxims applied in the Oprah Winfrey Talk Show “Will Smith and Family”?

• 3.    Aims of the Study

In accordance to the problems above, the aims of this study are:

• a.    To find out the organization of English Conversation in the Oprah Winfrey Talk Show “Will Smith and Family” in terms of adjacency pairs.

• b.    To analyze the Grice maxims applied in the Oprah Winfrey Talk Show “Will Smith and Family”.

• 4.    Research Method

The data source in this study was taken from the Oprah Winfrey talk show on the episode of “Will Smith and Family”. This study was documentation method, which was collected from an electronic media. Downloading the video from YouTube at

(http://youtu.be/t8-Xm8q57B8//), watching carefully the video, the utterances based on the video was taken, transcribed and rewritten in several moves and classifying the data. The data of this study were analyzed using the quantitative, qualitative and descriptive method. Analyzing the data was done by classifying the organization of English Conversation based on the theory Levinson (1983) in terms of adjacency pairs, which supported by theory of Language Function proposed by Jones (1981), analyzing the data based on the theory of Conversational Maxims proposed by Grice (1975:2) and presenting the result of the analysis in the form of narrative text and table.

• 5.    Findings and Discussions

The findings can be seen from the organization of English conversation and the application Grice maxims.

• 5.1    Adjacency Pairs

a. Greeting-Greeting

Speakers			Pairs
Turn		Utterance	First Part	Second Part
(1/1/O)	O	“Ah. Oh! hi, Baby.”	Greeting
(1/2/WS)	WS	What's up, baby!		Greeting

In the data here, either the interviewer or the interviewee do the greeting to open a conversation. The sentence “Ah, Oh! Hi Baby.” on the table 1 is an expression used by Oprah to greet the guest in the talk show. Greeting is a common expression to say that we meet people or we want to be nice with them.

b. Question – Answer

Speakers			Pairs
Turn		Utterance	First Part	Second Part
(1/10/O)	O	“But I hear that you all really do set goals, that there is a marriage business plan?”	Question
(1/11/WS)	WS	“Yes.”		Answer

From the conversation above on the table 2, Oprah tries to confirm about the marriage business plan to the interviewee, and the interviewee gives a direct answer. Oprah uses the form of question in order to get some information from the interviewee such as Oprah wants to know about the marriage business plan of Smith’s family in the sentence “But I hear that you all really do set goals, that there is a marriage business plan?” and Will Smith answers directly “Yes”.

c. Assessment

Speakers			Pairs
Turn		Utterance	First Part	Second Part
(1/18/WS)	WS	“You know, it's like if you don't have a goal, you know if you don't have a purpose for your relationship and pretty much anything.”	Assessment
(2/19/O)	O	Yeah.		Agreement

From the conversation above on the table 3.16, it can be seen that Will Smith gives an assessment “You know, it's like if you don't have a goal, you know if you don't have a

purpose for your ….” to Oprah as an interviewer and Oprah gives an agreement with say “Yeah”. Oprah gives a response by agreeing an assessment from Will Smith.

• 5.2    Grice Maxim of Oprah Winfrey Talk Show
  
  5.2.1    The Success of Conversational Maxim

  a. Maxim of Quantity
  	Turn	Subject	Utterance
  	(1/10/O)	O	But I hear that you all really do set goals, that there is a marriage business plan?
  	(1/11/WS)	WS	Yes.

This conversation fulfills the Maxim of Quantity, since it is giving information to the Oprah as required. From the conversation above, Will Smith makes not a long utterance and the utterance could give information as required as question.

• b.    Maxim of Quality

  Turn	Subject	Utterance
  (2/23/O)	O	Wow. You know, to keep it together. So, what is the bigger vision for your marriage, what is the bigger to figure that?
  (2/24/JP)	JP	Well, we had to figure that out because we're two big beings that came together, and I had my vision, and he had his, and so we had to join it, and so we decided.

The Maxim of Quality is about telling the truth as the speakers believes that. Jada Pinkett answers truthfully in her life, because Jada and her husband have to figure out that because they are two persons that come together, and she has her vision, and he has his, and so they have to join it, and so they decide it.

• c.    Maxim of Relation

  Turn	Subject	Utterance
  (1/10/O)	O	But I hear that you all really do set goals, that there is a marriage business plan?
  (1/11/WS)	WS	Yes.

There is related conversation between Oprah and Will Smith. When Oprah asks that there is a marriage business plan, he answers “Yes”. It means that there is relation between the question and the answer because his answer still in the context.

• d.    Maxim of Manner

  Turn	Subject	Utterance
  (1/10/O)	O	But I hear that you all really do set goals, that there is a marriage business plan?
  (1/11/WS)	WS	Yes.

Will Smith gives answer shortly but it can answer Oprah’s question. Therefore, it is a clear message, easy to be understood and does not create ambiguity.

• 5.2.2    Flouting of Conversational Maxim

• a.    Flouting Maxim of Quantity

  Turn	Subject	Utterance
  (3/41/O)	O	Was there a talk about that?
  (3/42/S)	S	Oh, we had plenty. [Laughing] We did, it took a minute, but we got it, and you realize we had our chance. Now it's about those kids.

It obvious that Sheree flouts the Maxim of Quantity because Oprah gives Wh-interrogative question to Sheree but she says “Oh, we had plenty. [Laughing] We did, it took a minute..” and gives the explanation, but her explanation is too informative than required.

• b.    Flouting Maxim of Quality

  Turn	Subject	Utterance
  (8/118/O)	O	Why did you want to share that book with your son?
  (8/119/WS)	WS	It's interesting that no matter how successful you get, it's really difficult to shake your mindset, and I still have a 40%, I can't shake it, and it gets really detrimental when you can't just it's like when I go to sleep at night right now, I'm as financially nervous as I was 20 years ago.

He does not answer the question of Oprah Winfrey, he doubtful to answer her question. Therefore, he does not get the point of the question and it is not the explanation about why Will Smith shares that book with his son.

• c.    Flouting Maxim of Relation

  Turn	Subject	Utterance
  (15/321/O)	O	Ok. Do you have to die? That is the question.
  (15/322/WS)	WS	You are here and people look to you because in the face of destruction, you pounded on your chest and put your arms up and bring –

It is irrelevant between Oprah and Will Smith. Will Smith does not answer her right question. Will Smith gives the explanation, but the point question of Oprah he does not answer it.

d. Flouting Maxim of Manner

Turn	Subject	Utterance
(3/43/O)	O	Right, right. Could you speak to the ex-wives of America and tell them that?
(3/44/JP)	JP	You know, I wish.

Jada’s answer does not briefly and orderly to the question. The contains of message is obscure. It is not clear because Oprah asks about Jada’s ability to speak to the ex-wives of America and tells them about how important to keep the relation for their children. It means that she flouts the Maxim of Manner.

• 6.    Conclusion

Based on the discussion, the analysis of Adjacency Pairs in the data, the type Question – Answer that mostly occurs. The applications of Grice Maxim in the talk show are successful and flouting the Conversational Maxim, i.e. 5 successes in Maxim of Quantity, 5 successes in Maxim of Quality, 5 successes in Maxim of Relation, and 5 successes in Maxim of Manner. They are successful in the maxims of cooperative principle because they want to cooperate with the hearers and want to make the conversation flow successfully. In addition, there are flouting of the Conversational Maxim including 3 flouts of the Maxim of Quantity, 3 flouts of the Maxim of Quality, 3 flouts of the Maxim of Relation, and 4 flouts of the Maxim of Manner. The flouting frequently happens because the speaker wants to avoid being explicit in answering the question related to personal life and in creating a joke for the sake of entertainment in the show.

• 7.    Bibliography

Brown, G., & Yule, G. 1984. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Grice, Paul. 1975. Logic and Conversation. New York : Academic Press.

Jones, Leo .1981. Function of English. London: Cambridge University Press.

Levinson, Stephen C. 1983. Pragmatics. New York : Cambridge University Press.

Richards and Schmidt, 1983. Language Communication. London : Longman.

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