Techniques of Data Collection

Table 2. Types of Gossip among Female Characters in Gossip Girl Season 1 No. Types of Gossip Frequency Percentage

1. House Talk HT

8 17.77

2. Scandal SC

3 6.67

3. Bitching BI

9 20

4. Chatting CH

25 55.56 Total 45 100 Table 2 clearly shows that, although the frequency of the occurrences is never the same from one to another, the female characters in Gossip Girl Season 1 employ all types of gossip. The most appearing phenomenon is chatting. It occurs 25 times out of the total 45 data. In other words, from the total 100, its percentage is 55.56. It is more than half of the data. Following chatting, as the second most often appearing phenomenon, there is bitching. Its number of occurrences is quite different from the previous ranks. It only appears nine times with the percentage of 20 of the total 100. After that, house talk ranks the third. It occurs eight times out of 45 data, or the same as 17.77 of the total 100. Finally, the last type of gossip, which is scandal, occurs three times. It gets 6.67 from the total 45 data. The number of findings shows how those types of gossip are used by female characters in Gossip Girl Season 1. The highest rank of types of gossip shows that chatting is most often uttered by women. In contrast, the lowest rank type shows that women in this TV Series rarely use such type of gossip in their utterances. This suggests that the female characters in this TV Series mostly use chatting in delivering gossip as they have mutual relationship among them. They rarely use scandal because they do not like to judge other women’s behaviour.

2. Speech Features of Gossip among Female Characters in Gossip Girl

Season 1 There are five speech features of gossip. They are Meaningless Particles MP, Neutral Words NW, Tag Questions TQ, Requisite Information RI, and Request RE. However, the female characters in the Gossip Girl Season 1 do not employ all speech features of gossip. Futhermore, the findings of the speech features of gossip among female characters in Gossip Girl Season 1 are presented in Table 3. Table 3. Speech Features of Gossip among Female Characters in Gossip Girl Season 1 No. Speech Features of Gossip Frequency Percentage

1. Meaningless Particles MP

45 35.43

2. Neutral Words NW

69 54.33

3. Tag Questions TQ

9 7.09

4. Requisite Information RI

5. Requests RE

4 3.15 Total 127 100 From all the analyzed utterances, 127 speech features were found. The female characters in Gossip Girl Season 1 do not employ all speech features of gossip. The highest occurrence rate goes to the neutral words with the frequency of 69 or percentage of 54.33. It is more than a half from the analyzed data. Then, meaningless particles with 45 occurrences come second. This means that its