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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, I present the background of the study, reasons for choosing the topic, research questions, objectives of the study, significance of the study, and
outline of the research report.
1.1 Background of the Study
This study is going to investigate how interpersonal meanings of the conversations between a tour guide and foreign tourists in Prambanan Temple are
realized. This is going to describe the function of language that is exchanging meanings.
In theory of language, grammar is used to make words hang together. Gerot and Wignell 1994:2 state, “Grammar is a theory of language, of how
language is put together and how it works.” Grammar is divided into three kinds;
traditional grammar, formal grammar, and functional grammar. In this study, I focus on functional grammar which concerns to make meaning and to describe
language in actual use as stated by Gerot and Wignell 1994: 6, “Functional
grammars view language as a resource for making meaning.” Functional grammar consists of three functions or meanings. These are ideational meanings, textual
meanings, and interpersonal meaning. In addition, Gerot and Wignell 1994:12
state, “The wordings of texts simultaneously encode three types of meaning: ideational, interpersonal, and textual.”
Gerot and Wignell 1994:13 state, “Interpersonal meanings are meanings which express a speaker‟s attitude and judgments.” Analyzing
interpersonal meanings is interesting because it is trying to find how feelings and values are negotiated. It is also important because it learns about our role
relationship with other people and our attitudes to each other. The meaning making function in language allow people to interact each other. If meaning does
not exist or delivered well, people cannot understand what other people intend to say to them. Therefore, studying about interpersonal meanings is important in
order to make readers and listeners interpret the same as speakers and writers intend to tell. Furthermore, different word choice and structure may create
different interpretation about things or feelings for different people. This study also presents about the analysis of attitudes, besides modality
and mood. Everyone intends to express their emotion, judge others‟ characters, and value the worth of thing when speaking. It is important to be learnt because
the way someone tells or says something will affect the meanings and intentions of speech that heshe produces. Martin and Rose 2003:25 state, “... three kinds
of attitude we have identified: affect people‟s feelings, judgment people‟ character, and appreciation the value of things.
Most of the previous studies of interpersonal meanings studied about one way communication such as speech. Therefore, I intend to analyze two ways
communication that is conversation. Sacks in Coulthard 1985:58 states, “A
conversation is a string of at least two turns.” I use conversations as the object of the study because it is challenging as the data that is taken directly from real life
practice. It can be more challenging than analyzing speech, novel, or even song because this study directly observes from the subjects of the data, a tour guide and
foreign tourists in Prambanan Temple. The subjects, foreign tourists, are from different countries with different English skill and pronunciation.
Prambanan is a Hindu temple which is located in Sleman, Yogyakarta. It was built by King Rakai Pikatan from Sanjaya Dinasty in the 9
th
century. It had been damaged by earthquakes then lost. It was found again in 18
th
century by C.A. Loans, a Dutch. Now, it becomes a tourism site which attracting domestic and
foreign tourists to come. Having a charming history and attractive folktales, Prambanan always makes tourists feel curious to see and know more about it.
Therefore, foreign tourists hire English tour guides. Tourists who come from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Europe, and America usually speak English and
hire guides from Himpunan Pramuwisata Indonesia HPI Taman Wisata Candi Prambanan to lead their tour.
Himpunan Pramuwisata Indonesia HPI is an organization which provides tour guides for foreign tourists. The members of HPI are Indonesian
people so their first language is Javanese or Bahasa Indonesia. There are thirty tour guides in this organization but only fifteen of them who are still active. Tour
guides in Prambanan are expected to deliver information clearly. In this study, I analyze about interpersonal meanings realized in conversations between a tour
guide and foreign tourists in Prambanan Temple. It is needed because the way
tour guides deliver information affects the understanding of tourists in receiving it. It also shows how a tour guide negotiates information to foreign tourists by
analyzing Mood, Modality, and Attitudes. Based on the explanation above, I am interested in conducting a study entitled “The Interpersonal Meanings of
Conversations between a Tour Guide and Foreign Tourists in Prambanan Temple
”.
1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic
