THE AMERICAN SLANG USED IN “PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEANTHE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL” MOVIE SCRIPT
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THE AMERICAN SLANG USED IN “PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN-
THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL”
MOVIE SCRIPT
Nyoman Ayu Swasthi Pradnya Asri
Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Unud
Abstrak:
Bahasa slang merupakan bahasa tidak resmi yang memiliki dua kategori, yaitu bahasa slang primer dan sekunder. Salah satu bahasa slang yang populer digunakan adalah slang Amerika dan banyak dijumpai dalam percakapan pada naskah film. Sumber data yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini adalah sebuah film berjudul “Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl”.
Data tersebut diperoleh melalui metode perekaman dan pengunduhan dari sebuah situs internet, beserta langkah penganalisaan data seperti identifikasi, klasifikasi, dan kesimpulan. Terdapat dua kategori bahasa slang Amerika, yaitu slang primer dan sekunder yang ditemukan dalam analisa data. Slang Primer meliputi: ‘em, aye, hell, missy, mate, dammit, dan yep, sedangkan slang sekunder meliputi: hearties, poppet, parlay, fulcrum, avast, slack-jawed, jinx, slit, blast, bloody, blighter. Perkembangan bahasa slang dipengaruhi oleh dinamisnya perubahan makna di setiap periode. Asal muasal dan sejarah bahasa tersebut juga sangat menarik untuk diketahui agar memudahkan pembaca dalam menelusuri dinamika dan fenomena bahasa yang terjadi dalam masyarakat.
Kata kunci: Bahasa Slang, slang Amerika, dan sejarah bahasa
Language is a set of symbols used mainly for communication. The symbols may be spoken or written. There are some classification of the language users based on age and gender. For instance, men and women do not speak in exactly the same way in any community. Pitch, vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar can differentiate age groups. Moreover, from among children and adults have their own
style of slang. These differences include the use of swear words and slang. Slang is being developed dynamically from the secret word which is only spoken by certain people to become the daily communication. The most popular one is American slang. It is unique and seems impolite to be used in the daily conversation, especially when it is used in the formal conversation. In some periods, American slang expressions can be found in the art works and entertainment subjects, such as novel, drama, poetry, song lyrics, movie, and many others. Therefore, many American slang expressions are found in some movies, especially comedy movie.
Based on the background above, there are two questions raised in the problems of this study:
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1. What types of American slang expressions are used by the characters in Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl movie script?
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2. What are the etymology of American slang expressions used by the characters in Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl movie script?
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3. Aims of the Study
The aims of the study are as follows:
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1. To categorize the types of slang expressions used by the characters in Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl movie script.
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2. To analyze the origin of slang expressions used by the characters in Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl movie script.
In order to obtain a systematic organization of the research, the research methods include the data source, method and technique of collecting data (how to collect the data), and method and technique of analyzing data (how to analyze the data collected). The data sources and method and technique of collecting data are the procedures used to find out certain objects.
The data of slang which is analyzed in this study were taken from the movie script entitled Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl. It was chosen because there were many slang expressions found in the movie script.
The data were collected through the method of documentation. Documentation is the technique of collecting data taken from the script. In collecting the data for this research, several techniques were followed, such as watching the movie, downloading the movie script, looking through the scenes and note taking through the scenes.
All the data in this study were qualitatively and descriptively analyzed. It is based on the theories of slang types and the etymology of slang expressions. There are some techniques used in this research, such as identification, classification, description, and conclusion.
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5. Analysis
There are several examples of primary and secondary slang found in Pirates of Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl movie script. The discussion below are the slang words and expressions uttered by the characters in Pirates of Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl movie script when communicating and they can be categorized as primary and secondary slang. As stated by Chapman (1998), the primary slang was general expression used by people in their daily communication and those slang expressions are generally used in everyday talk, and secondary slang is chosen not so much to fix one group as to express one’s attitudes and resourcefulness by pretending momentarily, and hence to express someone’s contempt, superiority, cleverness by borrowing someone else verbal dress. It is also a matter of stylistic choice rather than true identification. Moreover, the analysis of etymology of the slang expressions were analyzed by reading the main dictionary by Harper (2012) in Online Etymology Dictionary and supported by several dictionaries, such as by Spears (1993) in NTC’s Thematic Dictionary of American Slang, Lighter (1994) in Dictionary of American Slang Volume I & II, Collins (2009) in Collin’s English Dictionary and additional information from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (2013).
The slang word ‘em can be found in scene one through the conversation
below:
YOUNG ELIZABETH: (standing at the bow of a ship and singing) “…… We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot. Drink up me hearties yo ho! We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot. Drink up me hearties yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho a pirate’s life for me. We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack. Drink up –“ (Gibbs puts his hand on her shoulder which surprises her).
GIBBS : “Quiet, miss! Cursed pirates sail these waters. You
don’t want to bring ‘em down on us now?”
There are two characters involved in the conversation above, they are young Elizabeth and Gibbs. Based on the situation in the movie, the word ‘em used by Gibbs as the reference to the pirates, he believes the myth that who is singing about pirates’ song will bring the pirates to their ship and cause danger, because Elizabeth was singing about pirate on the ship which carried the Governor and his crew including Gibbs.
The word hearties can be found in the scene one through the act below:
YOUNG ELIZABETH: (standing at the bow of a ship and singing) “…… We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot. Drink up me hearties yo ho! We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot. Drink up me hearties yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho a pirate’s life for me. We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack. Drink up –“ (Gibbs puts his hand on her shoulder which surprises her).
GIBBS : “Quiet, miss! Cursed pirates sail these waters.
You don’t want to bring ‘em down on us now?”
Elizabeth and Gibbs are involved in the data above. It happened on the Governor’s ship named Dauntless. The situation in the movie showed that Elizabeth sings a special song of pirates on the ship deck, there is the word hearties which referred to a pirate and imagined herself as a pirate who sails the sea. The word hearties is an addressing term among pirates at that time.
The slang word parlay found in the movie script actually has a meaning as a part of the mythical set pirate laws. Parlay entitles its invoker with free passage to negotiate with a ship’s captain until negotiations are complete. The word parlay can be found in the scene six through the conversation below:
ELIZABETH : “Parlay!”
RAGETTI : “What?”
ELIZABETH : “Parlay. I invoke the right of parlay. According to the
Code of the Brethren, set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you have to take me to your Captain.”
PINTEL : “I know the code.”
ELIZABETH : “If an adversary demands parlay you can do them no harm until the parlay is complete.”
RAGETTI : “To blazes with the code.”
PINTEL : “She wants to be taken to the captain. And she’ll go without a fuss. We must honor the code.”
There are three characters involved in the conversation above. They are Elizabeth, Ragetti, and Pintel. The situation in the movie showed that Elizabeth used parlay in her words as her right to negotiate with the ship’s captain in order to avoid her danger of being killed by Ragetti, Pintel, and other pirates on her detention in the pirates’ ship. In the movie, the word parlay is used as a secret term among pirates at that time.
The slang word ‘em as stated in the Dictionary of American Slang by Lighter (1994) is used as substituent of them. As stated in Harper’s (2012), it is short style or slang way of saying them, comes from Middle English, around 15th century, dative and accusative of the third person plural pronoun. It is used as a reference to a person where the gender (male or female) is unspecified or has not been determined because English does not have a singular form of nonsexual pronoun. Here are some examples
of the word ‘em in slang expressions:
|
No |
Slang Expressions |
Meaning |
Expressions Generally Found in Country |
Expressions Usage |
|
1. |
I’ma kill ‘em |
Expression of being angry |
America |
1960s – present (In everyday communication, tv shows, songs, and movie script) |
|
2. |
I took ‘em outta game! |
Expression of being disregard to someone |
England |
1960s – present (In everyday communication, tv shows, songs, and movie script) |
b. Parlay
The word parlay is derived from French parole which means speech, first used in 1820s. Since 1942 its meaning developed to exploit to advantage. Later in modern English, it means a series of two or more bets set up in advance that the original stake plus its winnings are risked on the successive wagers. (Harper, 2012)
The broad sense appeared as the fresh risking of an original stake together with its winnings. It has a synonym to accumulator in which the meaning of a single bet links together two or more individual wagers. It has a benefit of much higher profits, (Spears, 1993). In some movies which told a story of pirates especially in Pirates of Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) the term of parlay was used as a part of the mythical set pirate laws. Parlay entitles its invoker with free passage to negotiate with a ship’s captain until negotiations are complete. In the slang sense, the word parlay has a meaning of chilling out and relaxing,
Here are the examples of the word parlay used in expressions:
|
No. |
Slang Expressions |
Meaning |
Expressions Generally Found in Country |
Expressions Usage |
|
1. |
We’s jus’ gonna parlay |
Expression for someone who wants to go relaxing with friends. |
America |
Early 1950s – present (In everyday communication, tv shows, songs, and movie scripts) |
|
2. |
Hey man, just run that stupid parlay over this game! |
Expression for indicating someone as the loser of the bet in a game. |
America |
Early 1970s – present (In everyday communication, tv shows, songs, |
|
and movie scripts) |
Based on the previous discussion and analysis, the types of slang used by the characters in the movie script are mostly secondary slang. It pretends to be more stylish and appealing by borrowing someone else’s verbal dress in order to exclude the true identification, especially used by the characters of pirates in the movie, as a member of criminal group. There are nine scenes which contained the data of primary and secondary slang. Moreover, every slang word has its own history, its meaning changes dynamically for several people in any parts of the world. For the American, there are no limitations in using slang expressions for their communication even the origin of the expressions are not American. If the words long last enough, they may become very well known and indeed unavoidably become standard English.
Chapman, Robert L. 1988. A New Dictionary of American Slang. London: Harper & Row Publisher Inc.
Collins, William et al. 2009. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Harper Collins Publisher.
Harper, Douglas. 2012. Online Etymology Dictionary. Cited 2013 February.
Available from: URL:http/www.Online Etymology Dictionary.htm
Lighter, J.E. 1994. Dictionary of American Slang Volume I & II. New York: Random House.
Rossio, Terry et.al. 2003. Pirates of the Caribbean Script. Cited 2012 December. Available from: URL:http:/www.Pirates of the Caribbean Script at
IMSDb.htm.
Spears, Richard A. 1993. NTC’s Thematic Dictionary of American Slang. United States of America: NTC / Contemporary Publishing Group Inc.
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Cited 2013 March: URL:http/www.Wikipedia,the Free Encyclopedia.html.
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