26 rather than visually, so there is a bunch of linguistic fields to study based on one
sitcom, Friends.
B. Theoretical Framework
The theory of Pragmatics is put to analyze conversations in scripts and subtitles of a sitcom. Three theories of pragmatics such as, Grice’s Cooperative
Principle Maxims, Non-observance maxims, and implicature are used to answer the first problem. Firstly, the verbal humor is chosen which one is breaking the
Griece’s Maxims of conversation Grice, 1989. Secondly, the broking maxims in verbal humor are classified into five types of Breaking Maxims Thomas, 1995;
Dornerus, 2005. Thirdly, in order to see the meaning on humor, the theory of implicature is applied.
Theory of verbal humor Attardo, 1994 is used to strengthen the researcher’s classifications on conversations in the sitcom. Besides that, theory of
verbal humor is also used to see the translation of verbal humor into Indonesian. The factors that influence the translation of verbal humor became the references
for researcher to compare the translation from SL to TL. Theory of Audio-Visual Translation is the most appropriate theory in
analyzing subtitles Orero, 2004. Theory of testing translation Larson, 1984 is used to value the products of Indonesian subtitles in sitcom
Friends. The characteristics of an ideal translation could be known using this theory. This
theory becomes the most important part in answering the second problem.
27 The knowledge about sitcoms is also important for the researcher to
choose what kind of sitcoms that is good to be the subject of the study. Besides, knowledge about the sitcom helped the researcher to find how verbal humor in
sitcom can be analyzed. The use of laugh tracks on a sitcom is shown through this theory, which is to indicate the humor on the sitcom Berger, 1992. From this
theory, the researcher could get enough information and finally decide Friends as
the most suitable sitcom to be studied.
28
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the researcher discusses the methodology that was used to answer the research problems. The problems were how breaking maxims are
applied in verbal humor and the acceptability of the Indonesian subtitles of breaking maxims in verbal humor on sitcom
Friends. The discussions in this chapter includes the research methodology, research subjects, instruments and
data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedures.
A. Research Method
This research was a qualitative research. According to Hansen 2005, qualitative methods rely on experiences and phenomena that need to be
interpreted and explained. A brief description about the qualitative research is also given by Borg and Galls 2007, “Qualitative research is a research which
presents facts in a narration with words.” The results of the research problems needed to be explained and interpreted. That were why the descriptive-qualitative
research was applied in this study. According to Merriam 2002, a descriptive- qualitative research is used when data collected through interviews, observations,
or documents analysis are analyzed to identify the pattern of the data. Moreover, the findings are presented and are discussed using relevant theories. Based on the
theory of Grice’s Cooperative Principles and the theory of translations, the
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