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b Abusive Swearing
Abusive swearing is kind of swearing which is usually directly conveyed to the addressee in order to wound them verbally. It is usually includes name-
calling or the use of swear words that can cause insult. However, the speakers may also use this swearing in order to talk about the things that frustrate or annoy
them, things that they disapprove of and wish to disparage, humiliate and degrade. To abuse someone verbally is to abuse them by attack them with swear words that
may include an element of bragging. The examples are: -
Fuck you -
He is an asshole, man -
Going to get you, fucker -
Those angry bastards
c Humorous Swearing
Humorous swearing does not have to be emotional. It can be found in humorous scenes in which it is directed to others but it is not necessarily insulting.
It takes mostly the form of abusive swearing but has the opposite functions where the playfulness is the key and not the offensiveness. It tends to be idiomatic,
playful, humorous, and not serious. The examples are: -
You’re such a badass -
Get your ass in gear -
That hot chick is actually my ex -
You lucky bastard PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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d Auxiliary swearing
Swearing can be used as an auxiliary. This type of swearing is used to spice up about what is being said. The words that are used here have the function
of intensifier or emphasizer toward someone or something. The emotion expressed here are various, not only limited to negative emotions. Auxiliary
swearing is also known as ‘lazy swearing’ Andersson Trudgill, 1990, p. 37. It means that this kind of swearing represents any vocabulary which the speaker has
less preference to use. People are also use this kind of swearing when they have no other words at disposal. The examples are:
- I don’t give a shit.
- This is a real good shit.
- He has broken the fucking TV.
- That was freaking awesome
2.1.5 Motives of Swearing
In every swearing utterance uttered by someone, there is certain motive behind it. Andersson 1985, as cited in Karjalainen 2002, p. 24, has generalized
the category of the motives of swearing into three major aspects:
a Psychological
motives
Many occurrences in human life are not always happened as expected. People sometimes are left behind by the bus in the station. Someone might have
been rejected to come to certain party. A friend can suddenly cancel the plan to eat dinner together. Every day in our lives, people get angry or frustrated when
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unpleasant, unexpected events occur or things in general do not go according to plans. In this situation, people are confronted with emotions such as aggression or
anger and they will usually release or express their emotion by swearing. However, following upon frustration or anger, arising from an unexpected event
or shock, most people resort to swearing for an immediate vent of emotion. The swearing are not deliberate, but are uttered as a reflex. In this case, the swearing
expression is not limited in a notion of negativity, but it can be used in a certain emotion like happy or joy, and surprised. Thus, swearing is believed to be a
means of expressing emotion and releasing stress. By using the swearing that way, it can restore emotional stability Montagu, 1967, p. 78.
b Social Motives
When people are swearing based on social motive, it means that their swearing is deliberate in order to achieve social bond with the addressee.
Swearwords can be used not only to shock or evoke someone, but they can also be used in situations that completely or almost completely lack negativity. This
motive explains that swear words can be used to strengthen friendship and group identity. Crystal 1995, p. 173 explains that swearing are contagious. A new
social group member will have the tendency to utter certain swearing based on the likeliness of swearing within the group. The common example can be seen in
Afro-American society where each of the members would rather say the word “Nigga” to others as a way of solidarity and friendship. However, if the person is
not a member of that group or belong to other race, it will be considered as serious insult.
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c Linguistic Motives
In speaking, people may have their own linguistic style which usually appears differently if it is compared with another utterance spoken by the others.
People have variety ways of speaking and expressing themselves by using different words and grammatical structures as long as the intents or the goals of
the communication with others are well achieved. That case could be applied when people are swearing. People have their own style of swearing that might be
different with another. People might feel that swearwords are totally unacceptable and should be banned from language, they might feel that swearwords are
acceptable in certain situations, or some might even argue that swearwords are acceptable in all situations. One may say “What a very nice picture” and he or
she may also say “What a fucking nice picture”. In this case, swear words are just as good and usable words as any others. They seem to appear as pure motives on
linguistic subjects or to give emphasize on what people try to communicate. Indeed, linguistic motives can also show someone’s way of speaking in daily life.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
This section consists of summarization about the main theories which will be the basis for answering the research problems. As has been stated in the
previous chapter, there are two research problems arise related in the phenomenon of swearing uttered by the main character, Jack, in “Borderlands: The Pre-
Sequel”. The first one is about the types of swearing, and the second one is the motives of swearing.
