EUPHEMISM AND DYSPHEMISM IN THE MOVIE REMEMBER ME
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EUPHEMISM AND DYSPHEMISM IN THE MOVIE REMEMBER ME
BY
I GEDE SUARYA DHIKA
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, FACULTY OF LETTERS
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
2013
ABSTRAK
Jurnal ini berjudul “ Euphemism and Dysphemism in the movie Remember Me “. Tujuan dari penelitian ini untuk mengidientifikasikan tipe dari euphemism dan dysphemism, menjelaskan makna sebenarnya dari euphemism dan dysphemism tersebut serta menjelaskan fungsi dari euphemism dan dysphemism dalam sebuah film drama yang berjudul “Remember Me”. Teori yang di gunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah yang pertama teori tentang tipe euphemism dan dysphmism oleh Warren (1992), teori tentang arti euphemism dan dysphemism oleh McArtur (1992), dan teori tentang fungsi euphemism dan dysphemism oleh Allan dan Burridge (2006). Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif. Pembahasan data dalam penelitian ini di mulai dari menonton film “Remember Me “ serta membaca naskah film yang ada lalu memberi tanda pada setiap kata,atau kalimat yang termasuk dalam euphemism dan dysphemism. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah bahwa dalam film “Remember Me” tipe euphemism yang di pergunakan adalah Semantic Innovation (Compounding) euphemism,Semantic Innovation (Reversal) euphemism, Semantic Innovation (Implication) euphemism, SemanticInnovation (Overstatement) euphemism, Semantic Innovation(Understatement),Semantic Innovation (Acronyms) euphemism, dan Dysphemistic Euphemism. Dan tipe dysphemism yang di gunakan adalah Dysphemistic Ephitets on Real Physical Characteristic, Terms of Insult or Disrespect, Comparassion People with Animal, Taboo Terms used as Insult, Epithets and Explitives, Profane Swearing and Profane Oaths, Dysphemism Function as Insult and Euphemistic-Dysphemism.
Kata Kunci : Euphemism , Dysphemism , Euphemistic-Dysphemism , Dysphemistic-Euphemism.
Language is very important in human society to communicate with another people in everyday life, the understanding of language in communication became very important according to the main purpose of language which can be associated as a medium for delivering a massage and/ or information. Euphemism is expression used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face either one’s own face or, through giving offense, that of the audience, or of some the third party.
Dysphemism is an expression with connotations that are offensive either about the denotatum or the audience, or both and it is substituted for a neutral or euphemistic expression for just that reason (Allan and Burridge, 2006).
The reason why the topic was chosen because in this paper, we can discover the type of euphemism and dysphemism in the movie Remember Me revealing the meaning of euphemism and dysphemism expression in the movie by in their dialogues and we can also describe the functions of euphemism and dyphemism used in the movie Remember Me.
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2. Problem of the Study
From the background of study above, there are three problems that can be formulated as follows:
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a) What types of euphemism and dysphemism expression are found in the movie
“Remember Me”
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b) What meanings are intended by the euphemism and dysphemism expressions found in the “Remember Me “ movie?
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c) What the functions of euphemism and dysphemism expression found in the movie “Remember Me” ?
Related to the problem of study the aims of this study are to classify the types of euphemism and dysphemism expressions, reveal the intended meaning of euphemism and dysphemism and describe euphemism and dysphemism expressions functions found in the movie “Remember Me”.
In this study, the research method was classified into three parts; they are data source, method and technique of collecting data, and method and technique of analyzing data.
The data of this study were taken from the script of ” Remember Me” movie and also by supporting data of the movie from DVD form . The are two reasons why the script of movie was chosen and used as the data source; the first reason it is because film is a reflection about human life and in the movie we can see directly the use of euphemisms and dysphemisms in the conversation of the movie, the second reason is that there are many conversations between the characters in different context and situations
with different language expressions used in the movie, and we can get clear data from the script of the movie.
The data were taken from the script of the movie with supported by some written sources containing constructions that are related to the topic of this study. The data of this study were collected in several steps. First, the script of the movie was downloaded from the available official website. After that the movie script was read carefully, and then select and sentences, or any expressions that could be identified as the euphemisms and dysphemisms were selected and marked. The next step is watching the movie to know the euphemisms and dysphemisms in the movie. Late, from the note of the data, euphemisms and dysphemisms can be found easily.
There are four techniques to analyze the data in this study. Firstly, watching the Remember Me movie, and then underlining the euphemism and dysphemism expressions that occur in the script. Secondly, reading the script of the movie once more and then quoting the data classified as euphemism and dysphemism based on theory purposed by Warren (1992). Thirdly , reading the note and then looking up the meaning based on the theory of euphemism and dysphemism meaning purposed by McArthur (1992). Then, the context of situation was analyzed in order to be able to interpret the meaning and determine the functions of the euphemism and dysphemism based on the theory of euphemism and dysphemism functions purposed by Allan & Burridge (2006).
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5. Analysis of the Euphemism and Dysphemism in the movie Remember Me.
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5.1 Euphemism and Dysphemism Types :
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Conversation 1
Ally enters. She wears a big sweatshirt.
Aidan : There . The brunette.
Tyler : I know her , I mean I don’t know her but I have seen her . She’s in my global politic class.
Aidan : There you go! Something to open with. Now get over there.
Analysis :
Euphemism and dysphemism types : The statement “The Brunette “in that conversation belong to Dysphemistic Epithets that pick on a Real Physical Characteristics because in Aidan statement the “brunette” was describing the physical characteristic of Ally with “Brown Hair” in dysphemism form.
Conversation 2
On phone ..
Tyler : (to Ally ) Hi its Tyler.
Ally : Hi
Tyler : You are going to stand me up. I can feel it in my bones. I’ll devastated.
Ally : No .. I ..I was just ..
Analysis :
Euphemism and dysphemism types : Based on conversation above Tyler saying “You are going to stand me up. I can feel it in my bones. I’ll devastated.” The words “stand me up “ and “devastated” belongs to Semantic Innovation ( Implication) euphemism type.
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5.2 Euphemism and Dysphemism meaning and functions :
Conversation 1
Ally enters. She wears a big sweatshirt.
Aidan : There . The brunette.
Tyler : I know her , I mean I don’t know her but I have seen her . She’s in my global politic class.
Aidan : There you go! Something to open with. Now get over there.
Analysis :
Euphemism and dysphemism meaning and functions : The statement “Brunette” was used to describe the physical characteristic of Ally. The statement “doll face “ and Brunnette” belong to Insulting or teasing the addresse dysphemism function , because that statement may cause offense to the hearer like the other physical dysphemism like : four eyes (because wearing a glasses) , or nigger (because the black skin).
Conversation 2
On phone ..
Tyler : (to Ally ) Hi its Tyler.
Ally : Hi
Tyler : You are going to stand me up. I can feel it in my bones. I’ll devastated.
Ally : No .. I ..I was just ..
Analysis :
Euphemism and dysphemism meaning and functions : In the conversation above it can be seen the statement “stand me up “ means that Tyler thought that Ally wont going to the date , “stand me up” is euphemism; the words “ignore” , and the “devastated” mean that Tyler already got the bad feeling about the date , the word “devastated” in order to euphemism the word “destroyed” . “stand me up” and “devastated” belongs to Taboo Prevention as euphemism function.
From the findings and the analysis, some conclusions can be drawn from this movie; in general euphemism and dysphemism here has been practiced by most of the characters in Remember Me movie as porposed by Warren’s (1992) , and MacArtur’s (1992) as well as Allan and Burridge (2006).
First , the type of euphemism used in this movie based on the analysis are two types ; Semantic innovation (64,7%) and Words Formation Devices euphemism (35,3 %), and for the dysphemism this movie just used six from the seven types of dysphemism, they are ; Taboo Terms used as Insult, Epithes, and Explitives (38,1 %) , Profane swearing and Profane Oaths (19 %) , Comparisson People with Animal (4,8 %) , Dysphemistic Epithets that pick on real physical characteristic (9,5%), Dysphemism function as Insult (14,3%), and Terms of Insult or Disrespect (14,3%).
Secondly, from the data of analyisis of 21 conversations of euphemism and dysphemism found in this movie the conclusion that can be drawn are ; the most of euphemism function that has been used in this movie are Euphemism as Taboo Prevention and Double Speaker, and the most dysphemism function used in this movie are Dysphemism as Insulting of Teasing the addressee, and Dysphemism as Cursing the addressee.
Finaly the result of current study on the movie Remember Me, should that euphemism was not just used to make someone; feeling pleasant but also to express our feeling without making the hearer lose of face, but in some situations as a human sometimes we need the expressions that can express our negative expression about something or someone in order to make offense or selfdefense against rude words and taboo terms.
Duda, Bozena.2011.” Euphemism and Dysphemisms : In Search of Boundary Line”.
Unyversity of Rzeszow.
Allan, Keith & Kate Burridge (1991). Euphemism and Dysphemism: Language Used as Shield and Weapon. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bakthiar, Mosen. 2012. “ Comunicative Functions of Euphemisms In Persian”. Isfahan University.
Joblo.com, Remember Me (2010) movie script. Available from :
www.joblo.com/scripts/Remember%20Me.pdf
IMDb.com, Remember Me movie (2010) synopsis Available from : http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1403981/synopsis.
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