Background of the Study

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Language can not be used similarly in the all situations. We have many ways to say a thing. It depends on where you are, who you are talking to, and how you feel. According to the formality of language, language can be classified into two categories they are formal and informal language varieties Jendra, 2010:28. The informal language is one of the language varieties.The informal language or casual conversation takes occasional liberties with grammar. The informal language is different from the formal language. The informal language is the language which we tend to use when people talk in supermarket, hospital, or bus station. While the formal language is referred to the variety used in writing official letters, research reports, academic seminars, writing condolence letters, etc. Jendra 2010:42.In conversation, people tend to use the informal language rather than the formal one because they have the interpersonal goal that is “to kill the time”. On another hand, the formal language is usually used by the speakers in such kind of ways, for instance like in the legal affair. Sometimes, people are still unable to differ the occasion of using the formal or the informal language. They also think that grammar in language is all about tenses, punctuations, etc. The informal language which is used in the informal occasion can also be identified grammatically by looking into its role relation.Role relation is the grammar of casual conversation Eggins and Slade 1997:67. The formal language defines that language is a set of rules for sentence construction. This Universitas Sumatera Utara concept is prescriptive. The informal language has the different concept. It is interesting to analyze the informal language because the informal language is Universitas Sumatera Utara functional, descriptive, and happening. Conrad and Leech 2002:7 in their book say that prescriptive grammar dictate how people “should” use the language. However, speakers do tend to be aware of some aspects of disputed usage and sometimes have strong opinions about what forms are “correct”. The informal language can also be analyzed by using the mood systems as the grammar of systematic system. We can not deny that nowadays people tend to use the informal language in communication due to its simplicity and efficiency. Language is developed and we can see this case in the society. The informal language which is spoken by the speakers in the casual situation also has the grammatical features in role relation. The grammatical categories of, e.g., tense, aspect, mood, voice and case can only be understood in depth if they are investigated in relation to texts. The role relation deals with the mood analysis. It is not only the formal but also the informal one. In English, the difference between the formal and informal variety can be seen in the use of forms and vocabularies. The informal language found in one of the articles in “Our Time” book is analyzed by looking into the grammatical features focused into the role relations. In this study, the major focuses deal with the role relation that is mood. The formal and informal language which is uttered by the speakers in the interactive conversation can be constructed through the contributions of each speaker. Through their grammatical choices interactants take up roles in the language used in their conversation. People give more attention to the pattern and the structure of the formal language. The English learners are also more focused on it. Thus, in this study, the writer gives an obvious description of the roles, structures, and the patterns of the informal language because the informal language is very close to us. Universitas Sumatera Utara Usually, people are more interested in studying and describing how the language used rather than how actually the speakers use the language to convey the meanings to the listeners. The informal language which is effective to kill the time with many variations also has its own systems of construction. That grammatical system can be analyzed by using the interpersonal meaning based on the theory of Halliday. The analysis of those perspectives are expected to describe the aspects of how talk works. For example, there are some variations we can find in the mood system in English. Are they normal? Are they understandable? Can they be said as English? Let’s consider the following examples. a. You ain’t my friend b. informal You are not my friend Both informal and formal languages do not affect the Mood systems. What about the following examples? formal c. Want some coffee d. ?informal Do you want some coffee In this case, the mood structure is different. Want is a predicate whereas Do is a finite. The sentence “Want some coffee?” has no finite as it is an informal language which has liberties with grammar. ? formal Let us look at some more clauses below: a. He sees b. me She c. don’t They d. has me But she can’t so, she e. I don’t dunno she was Universitas Sumatera Utara The components of each informal clauses above are considered as Mood feature. The informal language can be seen by looking into the use of forms and vocabularies.Role relation is the grammar of casual conversation. The major pattern which enacts role relation is mood. Mood refers to pattern of clause type, such as interrogative, imperative, and declarative Eggins and Slade 1997:74.The study is referred to the theory of Halliday 1985, 1994, 2004 in the scopes of role relation in approach to interpersonal meanings. In this study, the analysis is focused on the informal English in “Kids with Guns “article by looking into the mood types. The informal language is interesting to be analyzed because of its liberties with grammar. Therefore, it is interesting to find the Mood system of the informal one because mostly people are concerned only to the formal one.

1.2. Problems of the Study