38 joy, surprise, and sorrow. The following dialogues are some examples of
psychological motives. 16
Schmidt: Now we have the wrong identities, you dumb-ass. Im in
drama. I suck at drama. Its girly and embarrassing Jenko: Oh, my God. Relax, dude. Who cares? I can fake my way
through band practice and app chemistry for a few weeks Schmidt: AP Chemistry. AP Chemistry. And, no, you cant, because
you dont even know what its actually fucking called Jenko: Its going to be fine. You go to my classes, and Im going to go
to yours. 00:25:50
It could be seen from dialogue 16 that Schmidt and Jenko argued about their wrong fake-identities. Schmidt was angry to Jenko because he was terrible at
drama. He said that Jenko was a dumb-ass. Swear word dumb-ass was categorized as psychological motives because Schmidt said that Jenko was a dumb-ass when
he was angry to Jenko. 17
Jenko: I know everything. Delroy: Really? Whats a covalent bond?
Jenko: Fuck you, man. I dont need to tell you. 00:41:41
Dialogue 17 was another example of psychological motives. In that dialogue, Jenko said to Delroy that he knew everything about chemistry, then
Delroy asked him about what covalent bond was. Jenko was angry to Delroy because he could not answer the question. Jenko said
“fuck you” to Delroy. The swear word fuck you considered as psychological motives because Jenko said that
swear word when he was angry because he could not answer the question from Delroy.
18
Schmidt : Oh, shit Hes got a gun Im going to throw this thing at
him Jenko : Okay, you dont have to narrate everything Just throw it
Schmidt : Okay Okay, okay 01:13:36
39 Dialogue 18 was part of conversation between Schmidt and Jenko when
they were chased by One Percenter gang. Schmidt saw say the gang had guns with them. He was afraid if the gang member shot them. Schmidt said
“Oh, shit” when he saw that the man who chased them had a gun. Swear word shit here belonged
to psychological motives because Schmidt swore shit when he was afraid because one percenter gang might be shot them.
2. Social Motives
As the relationship between language and society and also how language functions in society were studied under the scope of sociolinguistics, it was very
closely related to the social motives of swearing. From the point of language, swearing could be regarded as a way of speaking when it was employed to
communicate with other people. Thus, as the way common language had functions in society, swearing, as a part of language, could also be functioned in
different social contexts to reach the goal of communication. In relation to social life, swearing expressions might be used to show social intimacy, friendliness, or
in- group identity. On the other hand, swearing could also be used to show social distance and hatred towards other people or situations when it causes insult. Some
examples of this category are explained below. 19
Eric: Dude, that was awesome how you sabotaged that track meet, man. Organized sports are so fascist. It makes me sick.
Schmidt: Thats just what I do. Eric: Okay. Shit, man. See you around, all right? 00:39:21
Dialogue 19 was part of conversation between Schmidt and Eric. Eric praised Schmidt because he did something crazy in the running competition. Eric
40 said
“shit, man” to Schmidt to indicate the closeness between them. Swear word shit considered as social motive because Eric said shit to Schmidt to indicate the
intimacy or closeness between them. 20
Schmidt: If I was just born 10 years later, I would have been the coolest person ever.
Jenko: I know. Its bullshit. You know what? I totally know the cause. Glee. Fuck you, Glee. 00:42:50
Dialogue 20 was another example of social motives. In that dialogue, Schmidt imagined if he was born 10 years later, he would be the coolest person in
the senior high school. Jenko mocked Schmidt that Schmidt was a glee. He said “fuck you, glee” because he wanted to mock Schmidt. Swear word fuck here
belonged to social motive because Jenko used the swear word fuck to mock Schmidt.
21
Schmidt : There are good guys out there who arent assholes like me. Molly : Thanks for saving my life, asshole. 01:41:28
Dialogue 21 was another example of social motives. In that dialogue, Schmidt said to Molly that he was not a good guy because he had lied to Molly.
Schmidt said that he was an asshole, then Molly thanked to Schmidt because he had saved her life, and called Schmidt asshole. The swear word asshole
considered as social motive because both Schmidt and Molly said asshole to indicate their intimacy.
3. Linguistic Motives
Linguistic motives of swearing appear when swearing expressions are uttered to give emphasizes on what people tried to communicate Andersson,
1985. In this research, these motives of swearing were the main reasons for the
