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The word ’puppy’ undergoes pejorative in which the new meaning is regarded more negative than the previous one. The word ’puppy’ is only used to mean a
young dog. It is a kind of pet loved so much by the owner. It is because ’puppy’ is a funny and loyal animal. Meanwhile, buttock is back part of
human being referring to genitals having function to copulate and excrete as well. In this sentence, the new meaning ’puppy’ is buttock as back part and
genitals of human. It is then clear that the new meaning puppy gets worse than earlier one.
3. Remodeling
Data example: 3
a Girl: oh gosh, I forgot - you uh, you look okay ... I mean you cant even
tell. p.68.
This utterance is taken from American Pie movie 5. It is uttered by girl whose name is not mentioned in this movie. The conversation involves three people namely: girl, Finch and Stifler. That girl holds out for Finch when she refuses
Stifler’s offer to go out with him. Being refused, Stifler gets mad and express his anger in the word “shitbreak?“ then the girl responds his anger like the above utterance.
The euphemistic term mentioned above is the word ‘gosh’. ‘Gosh’ is a euphemism for ‘God’. God becomes taboo since it relates to metaphysical
subject or object so that it evokes not to mention the names of God explicitly. ‘God’ is categorized as high taboo in consideration of:
a God is the creator over this world b
God is the only one worshiped by all human being around the world c God is the most powerful ruler
The other reason of applying this euphemism is to counteract blasphemous and profanity. People get so fearful that they replace the names
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of God in euphemistic terms. They are afraid of the terrible wrath when they say the names of God in oath.
Hence, the word ‘gosh’ stands for ‘God’ that has been avoided in euphemistic expletive. ‘Gosh’ is a euphemism in addressing and naming of
God. In typical case, the word ‘gosh’ turns into euphemism gained through remodeling. It is a kind of euphemism ending up substitution in which either
the onset or rhyme of the unpleasant expression is suitable for that of a semantically unrelated word. Thus, the lexical meaning of ‘gosh’ is an
expression of surprise, shock and anger in the form of expletive or exclamation. Meanwhile, ‘God’ is the creator or ruler of the universe
worshipped as having power so that it becomes a nightmare to say the names of God in oath.
Supporting the above idea, the writer would like to break down the word
‘gosh’ in oh gosh, I forgot - you uh, you look okay ... I mean you can’t even
tell ... into smaller features: Gosh: [EXCLAMATION] [SURPRISE] [SHOCK]
Those features show that ‘gosh’ has netral and common feature, it is thus regarded euphemism. The writer then replace gosh with the hidden meaning
to get any difference:
b Girl: oh God, I forgot - you uh, you look okay ... I mean you cant even tell
... Sentence b is acceptable, but it does not include euphemism, it is because the word ‘God’comprises components like:
God: [SOUL] [CREATOR] [POWERFUL] [RULER] [WORSHIPPED]
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This expression together with the components refers God to the only creator over the universe.
Based on those components, the writer then describes the Meaning relation between gosh and God by comparing the semantic component.
Gosh God
+ Exclamation
- +
Surprise -
+ Shock
- -
Soul +
- Creator
+ -
Powerful +
- Ruler
+ -
Being worshipped +
From the above component, the writer tinds out that ‘gosh’ and ‘God’ share no semantic components. Those opposite components do not let ‘gosh’ and
’God’ have a meaning relation. Here, ‘gosh’ only refers to an exclamation of irritation without specific meaning. Meanwhile, ‘God’ is the powerful creator over
the world that is worshipped by all human creators. ‘Gosh’ can stand for God because it sounds almost similar to the dispreferred word. It is motivated by
euphemistic remodeling the word ‘gosh’ applies. This type puts the euphemistic terms matched either the onset or rhyme of impropriety one, no matter
semantically related or unrelated the words are. The writer can summarize that there is no meaning relation of both words.
The new meaning ‘gosh’ applies semantic broadening in which the new meaning becomes more general than the earlier one. From the semantic
component, ‘gosh’ is a kind of exclamation which expresses surprise and
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shock as well. It has 3 [+] features falling under [EXCLAMATION] [SURPRISE] [ANGER]. Meanwhile, ‘God’ has 5 [+] features comprising
[CREATOR] [RULER] [POWERFUL] [SOUL] [BEING WORSHIPPED]. The meaning of ‘gosh’ turns into broader because the previous meaning has
no exact meaning but the new meaning refers to the creator over the world. In consideration of all the power, He is the ruler worshipped by all human
creatures.
4. Circumlocution
