Phonological Structure Types of Worplay in The Lego Movie
words or word groups are identical both in sound and spelling but different in meanings. This condition is often exploited in order to arouse homonymous effect
as seen in the datum below.
ST Robot: Who are you here to see?
Batman: Im here to see your butt. Robot: Is that a last name Butt, first name Your...? Oh, my gosh
Batman: Pow Wham Kezap First try TT
Robot: Kau kemari untuk melihat siapa? Batman: Aku di sini untuk melihat “butt” mu. bokong
Robot: Apakah itu nama belakang, “Butt” Nama pertama? “kau..” Oh,
Tuhan Batman: Pow Wham Kezap Sekali Coba
Datum number 35 Batman and Benny want to enter the Lord Business’ office building by
piloting the ship to the service entrance so they can get past to the dangerous wall. They go to the building by using a spaceship and suddenly the robot stopped them
when they are about to enter the building. The robot then asks them whom they want to see. To raise a homorous effect, Batman says he wants to see his ‘butt’. In
this term, ‘butt’ is only used to raise a humorous effect, not that Batman really wants to see the robot’s butt. Then the robot asks Batman whether ‘Butt’ is a first
name because it seems that there is no ‘Butt’ available in the building. However, before the robot ends the conversation, suddenly Batman throws a weapon to cut
the robot’s head and the robot dies. After Batman cuts the robot’s head, Batman and Benny bursted into laughter.
There are some reasons why Batman and Benny bursted into laughter after
making a conversation with the robot. The first is the word ‘butt’ seems can raise a humorous effect to people because ‘butt’ can be a joke when it turns into a
conversation like this. Secondly, the robot does not understand that Batman was making fun of his question of whom they wanted to see. The robot thought that
‘butt’ is a first name of someone in the building and they wanted to see people with the name of ‘Butt’. As a result, it is obvious to decide which ‘butt’ means
because the word became ambigous. At the same time, the use of a word with the same sound and spelling but different meanings, or called as homonymy, like this
is quite effective to create humorous effect or amusement. It can be seen in the Bahasa Indonesia subtitling text that the translator
does not translate the word ‘butt’ in literal meaning. However, there is an additional translation in the first word of ‘butt’ that said in ‘butt’ is bokong. The
translator uses an editorial technique because heshe used brackets when giving the Bahasa Indonesia translation of ‘butt’. The translator gives the actual meaning
of the word in order to make the audiences understand that the word ‘butt’ has a meaning in Bahasa Indonesia. Furthermore, although the aspect of ambiguity is
lost in the target text, the resulit of the translation can still mantain the meaning of the source text expressions because of the technique. Therefore, the translation
can be considered fully equivalent.
2 Homophony
It can be said that a sentence is considered as homophony when words or group of words are different in writing and spelling but identical in pronunciation.
The research findings have one data that considered as homophony. The data below explained how homophony takes place in a sequence of conversation.
ST Swamp Creature: This is supposed to make us feel better?
Emmet Brickowoski: What? No. There was about to be a but... Gandalf: Youre a butt
Dumbledore: Yes.
TT Makhluk Rawa: Apakah itu seharusnya membuat kita merasa lebih baik?
Emmet Brickowoski: Tapi tidak, akan ada “tapi”.. Gandalf: Kau adalah bokong
Dumbledore: Ya.
Data number 26 This conversation takes place in ‘The Dog’. ‘The Dog’ is a building where
all of the Master Builders gathered to make strategies in order to destroy the Lord Business and his company. Emmet gives speech in front of all Master Builders
and he makes a confession to the Master Builders that he was not the Piece of Resistance. He is not even the creative one, unskilled and he has nothing to offer.
However, he still promised that he will give the best to help them destroying the Lord Business and his scheming.
Suddenly, in the middle of his confession, a guy look like a swamp creature interrupted him and said “this is supposed to make us feel better?” which
means that his speech did not make them feel any safe or protected because he was not even the Piece of Resistance that everyone needed. Emmet then answered
him with ‘there was about to be a but’ which can be meant that he wanted to calm the Master Builders because of his dishonesty of being the Piece of Resistance.
However, Gandalf responds his answer angrily by saying that he is a ‘butt’. ‘Butt’
in this term can be meant as a swearing word in order to express a strong anger. Gandalf used the word ‘butt’ because it has an identical pronounciation with the
word ‘but’. If it is seen from different perspective, there are some intriguing cases in
this conversation. When Gandalf said ‘butt’ after Emmet saying ‘but’ can raise a humorous effect. Swearing words can be considered as a joke for some people.
Although sometimes it offended other people, swearing words can be found funny even less it contains wordplay in the sentences. The word ‘but’ said by Emmet is
not a word expressed as a conjunction. Instead, the word ‘but’ used by Emmet turns to be a noun. As a conjunction, ‘but’ turned to be a noun and it is an
intriguing way to make a creative vocabulary. In Bahasa Indonesia subtitling, the translator gave a literal meaning or WP
NON WP technique to the target text. The result of translation in target text is partially equivalent because homophony expression in the source text is not
delivered perfectly. This certainly makes the aspect of wordplay cannot be conveyed in the target text. Even so, the translation successfully maintains the
meaning of the source text expression.
3 Paronymy
Paronymy refers to words or phrases that are nearly but not quite identical in spelling and pronunciation. The data below shows how paronymy works on
The Lego Movie.
ST PRESIDENT BUSINESS: Hi, Im President Business, president of the
Octan Corporation and the World. Lets all take extra care to follow the instructions... or youll be put to sleep.
And dont forget Taco Tuesdays coming next week Thats the day every rule following citizen gets a free taco and my love Have a great day,
everybody TT
PRESIDEN BISNIS: Hai, aku adalah Presiden Bisnis, presiden dari perusahaan Octam dan dunia. Mari kita lebih memperhatikan petunjuk
instruksinya... atau kau akan dilenyapkan. Dan jangan lupa hari Selasa Taco akan segera diakan minggu depan Itu
adalah hari dimana semua penduduk di kota ini mendapatkan Taco gratis di rumahku. Semoga harimu menyenangkan.
Datum number 3 President Business is one of the starring evils in this movie. He has the
company and he handles the Lego world. He also has many sub-companies and he can control all things that happened in the Lego world. He makes a Taco Tuesday
day when there will be so many free tacos on Tuesday for the whole citizens that obey his instructions. The citizens respected president Business because they see
him as a humble and kind man as he gives free taco for the citizen and so forth. Actually, Taco Tuesday is the day when President Business wanted to destroy the
world with a weapon called Kragle so he can rule the Lego world forever. Generally, the phrase ‘Taco Tuesday’ comes from an informal expression
by people among cities in US. This expression is popular among people in the US and especially popular in the beach cities of Southern California because every
Tuesday, many restaurants will give special price or discounts, even free Taco to the buyers. Taco is a well-known local Mexican food among people all over the
world. In translating the wordplay, the translator does not maintain the wordplay
aspect found in the source text. Instead, the translator gave a literal meaning to “Selasa Taco” in the subtitle target text. Although the wordplay phrase is not
available again in the target text, the audience can still get the message of Taco Tuesday. The audience which is Indonesian people does not have to find the
meaning or the context of Taco Tuesday because the translator has give a general information about the Taco Tuesday in the target text. Thus, if seen from the
degree of equivalence, the result of the translation is partially equivalent because the message of the source text is delivered in the target text even the wordplay
cannot be maintained in the source text. Other cases of paronymy wordplay occur in the datum below. In this case,
the translator is imitating the word from TT to ST. However, if the paronymy word translated into Bahasa Indonesia, the result in the ST will not be suitable
with the TT.
ST Gandalf: Can the young man step forward?
Vitruvius: As you wish, Doubledoor. Gandalf: Im Gandalf
Dumbledore: Its pronounced Dumbledore. Vitruvius: Doubledoor?
Dumbledore: No Dumbledore Vitruvius: I thought you said Double door.
TT Gandalf: Biarkan pemuda itu melangkah maju.
Vitruvius: Sesuai perintahmu, ‘double door’. Gandalf: Aku adalah Gandalf
Dumbledore: Itu diucapkan Dumbledore. Vitruvius: Double door?
Dumbledore: Bukan Dumbledore Vitruvius: Aku pikir kau bilang Double door.
Datum number 22
This situation happens when Emmet, Wyldstyle and Vitruvius comes to The Dog and gather with other Master Builders. Emmet is believed as the Piece of
Resistence and he had to give a speech to the whole people in the room. When he is about to give a speech, Gandalf pleased him to go to the stage by saying, ‘can
the man step forward?’. Then, Vitruvius answers him by saying ‘As you wish, Doubledoor’ in order to accept his request.
Dumbledore and Gandalf are actually the characters in Harry Potter books and movies. However, in The Lego Movie, they appear only as additional casts.
Vitruvius confused to call between Gandalf and Dumbledoor because they look alike. In the scene, Gandalf stands next to Dumbledore and they have a similar
appearance. This may makes Vitruvius confused about deciding which are Gandalf and Dumbledore.
When Vitruvius says ‘as you wish, Double door’, he makes two mistakes. Firstly, he says the wrong name, because he was talking to Gandalf. Secondly, he
pronouces the name wrong. The actual name is Dumbledore but he pronouces it as ‘Double door’. However, Dumbledore himself gives a correction of his name to
Vitruvius even Vitruvius still called him ‘Double door’. This made Dumbledoor angry and he raised his voice.
The phrase ‘Dumbledore’ and ‘Double door’ can be classified as paronymy because the nearly but not identical spelling and pronunciation between
‘Dumbledore’ and ‘Double door’. When the phrase translated into Bahasa Indonesia, the translator does not give the actual meaning of ‘Double door’ in
order to arise the wordplay expression in the source text, hshe does not even use
the editorial technique in the subtitle. In different perspective, the translator does not translate the paronymous phrase because heshe wanted to raise a humorous
effect to the source text. Although the paronymy phrase is not translated into Bahasa Indonesia, the message from the source text still can be maintain in the
target text. Another special paronymical expression is found in the research findings.
It is a paronymy wordplay with WP WP technique. Thus, in this term, the wordplay is still maintained in the target text and the message of the sentence still
can be delivered.
ST Batman: I will text you.
Lando: Where did you get that sweet space cape, brother? Han Solo: Its party time
Wyldstyle: Babe?
TT Batman: Aku akan SMS kamu.
Lando: Dari mana kamu mendapatkan cewek ruang angkasa itu,
saudaraku? Han Solo: ini adalah waktu pesta
Wyldstyle: sayang? Datum number 33
This conversation takes place in a spaceship when they were about to save themselves from the ship. They need hyperdrive, a kind of plane drove by Lando
but they cannot take it from Lando and Han Solo. Hence, Batman has an idea to steal the hyperdrive from them by pretending to follow them to the hyperdrive and
leave Wyldstyle and Emmet in the ship. When Batman jumps into the hyperdrive, Lando asks him where he gets that sweet space cape. His question seems only to
tease Batman because Batman decides to follow them into the hyperdrive. A
minute later, Batman comes to Wyldstyle and Emmet using the hyperdrive. The phrase ‘sweet space cape’ is derived from ‘sweet escape’ which
represent Batman’s decision to leave Wyldstyle and Emmet to save himself, even though he only pretends to leave them from the ship. The sound ‘sweet space
cape’ and ‘sweet escape’ have nearly similar in spelling and pronunciation. Hence, the question asked by Lando does not mean a question in literal meaning,
but it is more to tease Batman after leaving Emmet and Wyldstyle from the ship. Meanwhile, when it is translated into Bahasa Indonesia, the message from
the source text to the target text is different. The phrase is translated into ‘cewek ruang angkasa’, which is not equivalent from the source text. The context of the
sentence is also changed. It turns into ‘dimana kamu mendapatkan cewek ruang angakasa itu’ which has no equivalence in terms of the message from the source
text. The expression ‘sweet space cape’ could be translated into ‘jubah pelarian’. Hence, the sentence would be translated into, ‘dimana kamu mendapatkan jubah
pelarian itu, saudaraku?’. This alternative of translation can be taken as a consideration, because the message of the sentence is delivered and the wordplay
is recreate in the target text. It also can maintain the ambiguity of the meaning of ‘sweet space cape’.