Swear Words Theoretical Description

19 is an important meeting, losing our wallet in the crowded area, and accidentally tripping over a pebble while we are in a morning run are the examples of something happen immediately which can go wrong. Everyday people can get frustrated and angry when unpleasant and unexpected things happen. Hence, when people get an immediate and unexpected thing happens in their life, they will normally give a reaction. This reaction is aimed to release or express strong feelings in one way or another, for example, we may kick a rock and let simple and less forceful argh. Andersson 1985 points out that dealing with unexpected event, shock, and immediate emotion, some people will give following reaction beneath the anger and frustration feeling by swearing as cited in Karjalainen, 2002. This statement is supported by Jay 2009, he describes that swearing is like “a horn in someone’s car”. It means that someone can utter swearing spontaneously or firstly consider it. Therefore, swearing can indicate many emotions such as anger, frustration, joy, and surprise. Lindahl 2008 points out that in expressing feelings, swear words are used frequently because they are more cathartic than emoting without cursing. Using offensive words in expressing the feelings can give a better and relief feeling. Thus, there can be differences between shouting fuck and ouch when we hit our thumb with the hammer. Swearing as stated by Montagu 2001 is a learned form of human behavior in cultures and under condition in which it is encouraged. The cultural condition forms a behavior provides two purposes. The first, it permits expressing excess energy or frustration in a relatively harmless, verbal form. People can express PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 20 their feeling by doing something which is not dangerous for them and another person, besides the form should be in verbal. The second, it restores emotional stability. By performing swear words, people can redeem their anger and frustration. b. Social Motive Anderson 1985 points out that swear words are more shocking when they are uttered in public as cited in Karjalainen, 2002. In social motive, swear words can be used while people are in a company. Karjalainen 2002 states “We may swear to assert our identity in a group, to shock, to amuse, to insult, to indicate friendship, to mark social distance or social solidarity, etc.” When swear words are used based on these reasons, the feeling of anger and frustration do not necessarily occur. One example is the use of swear words by a nice and sweet old lady as stated by Karjalainen 2002. In the train, there are two teenagers using swear words. While the old lady stands up and readies to get off from the train, she adds swear words in her speech. Her behavior causes a bunch of laugh in the train. The way the old lady uses swear words is a way for commenting the teenagers who do swearing in a vulgar way. The effect of swearing depends on the fact of who the speaker is. In this case, the speaker is not a young, or perhaps less educated, but an old sweet lady. Swear words are more effective and shocking if they are uttered in unexpected situation and place. In strengthening the group identity, especially those who live as a gang member, swear words usually take a big part. Crystal 1995 elaborates that 21 people are more likely influenced by the new group that they join, it is including the use of swear words. In the relation between friends, swear words are a remark of friendliness. Using swear words in the social function and not causing any negative impact means that there is a certain understanding between the speaker and the addressee especially in friendship area. c. Linguistic Motive People have various ways of expressing themselves. They can use different words and different grammatical structures. The simple example is in the way we praise other’s work, some might say “That was amazing”, and then close friends might say “That was fucking amazing” and our teachers might say “That was a great job”. Andersson 1985 describes “we are free to use any of the tens of thousands of words in our vocabulary, as long as they convey the message we wish to communicate” as cited in Karjalainen, p. 30. Therefore, in a linguistic standpoint we can say “What a very nice rocking chair” as well as “What a fucking nice rocking chair”, both of these examples are acceptable. In seeing the language, people have different points, idiolects, and different stylistic norms that are followed. Some people think that swear words are not appropriate and should be banned, other might think that they are acceptable in the certain situation, and some other might think that they are suitable for every situation. However, linguistic motive may take part in the kind of swear words. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 22 In this point, swear words appear to emphasize or strengthen what people say. Linguistic swearing are not directed to others and sometimes show other’s way of speaking. The example of linguistic motive is in “I’m fucking hilarious”.

6. Review of Related Studies

In this section, the researcher provides two example studies which have been done by the previous researchers. There are some previous researchers who investigated the phenomena of swear words. The topic may be different but the theme is still in the scope of swear words. One research about swear words done by Lindahl 2008. Her research was entitled “The x-word and its usage: Taboo words and swear words in general and x-words in newspapers ”. Lindahl focused on the significant of taboo words and their usage in English as well as research on how they were used, or not used, in media. The aim was to find the x-words in media, such as f-word and c-words or what can be interpreted such as fuck and cunt. In examining the use of x-words she studied the British newspaper namely the Guardian and the Observer. In describing the types of swear words, Lindahl used the categorization from Andersson and Trudgill namely, the expletive swear words, the abusive swear words, the humorous swear words, and the auxiliary swear words. Some theories about taboo words and swear words were described by some experts such as Pinker and Jay. In explaining the use of taboo words in media, Lindahl used some theories from Pinker to show some words which should be avoided in a newspaper and on television. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 23 The findings showed that the most common x-words used in the newspapers were f-words, c-words, and the n-words. There were several ways of using x-words. In the common way of using x-words was to show the reader that the words were already taboo or regarded as taboo in the certain context. The result also showed that x-words were still the part of language in which they still could be found in newspapers although they were replaced by the x-words. The second research on swear words was done by Setiawan 2016. In Setiawan’s research, the research discussed the types and factors of swearing words used by the main characters in the 21 st Jump Street movie. In finding the result, Setiawan employed theory about the types of swear words from Jay, namely cursing, profanity, blasphemy, taboo or obscenity, scatology, insult, and slurs. The theory about reasons of swearing that he used was Andersso n’s theory. Andersson classifies the motives of swearing into three motives namely, the psychological motive, the social motive, and the linguistic motive. Setiawan applied a discourse analysis technique in analyzing the swear words in the 21 st Jump Street movie. There were two main characters that became the data. Setiawan found that there were six types of swearing employed by the main character namely cursing, profanity, blasphemy, taboo or obscenity, scatology, insult, and slurs. From the result, obscenity and taboo were the most frequent used by the main characters. There were three types of reasons for swearing, namely the psychological motive, social motive, and linguistic motive. From the findings, psychological motive was the most frequent motive used by the main characters.