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someone considered as not being a member of the group because he is an American. Students in the Woodrow Wilson High School do not like American
race because they think that the American had done such injustice towards the Afro-American in their past lives. Slang P18 is used while talking about 3
rd
person during the conversation; therefore, from the conversational context it has the
informational function. ‘White boy’ contains information that is addressed towards a male American student in the classroom.
4.2 Summary of the Research Findings
According to the previous analysis, the writer would like to present the summary of research findings. There are three tables contain of summaries from
the analysis and discussion. First table contains formation processes that influence the meaning formation of slang words and phrases. The second table contains of
analysis related to factors that influence changes in slang and also explanation of slang’s communicative functions in the conversational context. To explain the
reasons why people use slang in communication, the writer lists the reasons of using slang in the third table.
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Table 4.1 Slang formation processes
No slang
co m
p o
u n
d in
g
b o
rr o
win g
co in
ag e
b le
n d
in g
clip p
in g
b ac
k f
o rm
atio n
co n
v er
sio n
d er
iv atio
n in
fle ctio
n re
d u
p lic
atio n
ab b
re v
ia tio
n
1
wo rd
s cool
2 dawgs
3 dealio
4 gals
5 homey
6 ma
7 nigga
8 peanuts
9 pops
10 smoke
11 yo
12
p h
ra se
s Black Panthers
13 dumbass
14 ghetto-ass
15 homeboy
16 homegirl
17 hook-up
18 jump
somebody in 19
juvenile hall 20
Little Cambodia
21 little midget-
ass punks 22
PO 23
punk-ass 24
rum and coke 25
slanty- eyed bitch
26 South of the
Border or Little Tijuana
27 sparkling cider
28 The Ghetto
29 white boy
30 Wonder Bread
Land Total
18 2
4 1
2 1
1 1
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Based on the table 4.1 the writer can draw some conclusions. Most of the slangs those have been found in the Freedom Writers movie are created by the
compounding process. Other word formation processes that can be found are clipping, conversion, derivation and abbreviation. There are at least 18 words and
phrases which contain slang are influenced by the compounding process. Another word formation process is borrowing, since some of the words are borrowed from
other countries or cultures. In the movie, the Afro-American culture is more dominant rather than American or Asian. The slangs in this movie such as ‘South
of the Border or Little Tijuana’, ‘nigga’, ‘The Ghetto’, ‘Black Panthers’ are related to the Afro-American’s past life and used to show their identities during
the war around year 1994. Furthermore, the slangs such as ‘little midget-ass punks’, ‘slanty-eyed bitch’ are used as derogatory terms denoting someone’s
physical appearance especially the Asian race. In the movie, the slangs are mostly influenced by the African, American and Asian culture since the majority of the
students are from those three races. The processes such as blending, back formation and reduplication processes are cannot be found in the Freedom Writers
movie. Reduplication is also cannot be found because reduplication usually appears in the Asian culture such as in Indonesia children becomes anak – anak
or mothers becomes ibu – ibu. Since the setting of the movie is in Long Beach, America, the reduplication process does not appear in the movie.
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Table 4.2 Factors of changes and communicative functions of slang
factors that influence changes in slang
functions
co d
e slang
m ea
n in
g fu
n ctio
n fo
rm sp
ellin g
ab b
re v
ia tio
n
in fo
rm atio
n al
ex p
re ss
iv e
d ir
ec tiv
e ae
sth etic
p h
atic
W1
wo rd
s cool
W2 dawgs
W3 dealio
W4 dals
W5 homey
W6 ma
W7 nigga
W8 peanuts
W9 pops
W10 smoke
W11 yo
P1
p h
ra se
s Black Panthers
P2 dumbass
P3 ghetto-ass
P4 homeboy
P5 homegirl
P6 hook-up
P7 jump somebody in
P8 juvenile hall
P9 Little Cambodia
P10 little midget-ass
punks P11
PO P12
punk-ass P13
rum and coke P14
slanty=eyed bitch P15
South of the Border or Little Tijuana
P16 sparkling cider
P17 The Ghetto
P18 white boy
P19 Wonder Bread Land
Total 8
6 9
3 4
12 5
5 3
5
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Based on the table 4.2, there are some factors of change that influence slang formation. One of these changes is ‘the change in meaning’; there are at
least 8 slang show the change in meaning. Those slang words are created figuratively such as using ‘Wonder Bread Land’ to refer American since they
usually eat bread and white wheat bread might be related with American’s skin color. There are 6 changes in function. 9 of slangs have undergone the change in
form, 3 slang words and phrases have undergone the change in spelling, and the last 4 are influenced the change by abbreviation.
In analyzing slang’s communicative functions in the conversational context there are 12 slang words and phrases which have the informational
function. Mostly, based on the conversational context slang are used to convey message to the receiver. A slang word which shows the informational function is
‘pops’ which used while someone is telling his past experience, so that it has the informational function. In addition there are 5 slang words and phrases which
have the expressive function. Mostly the slangs are in the term of swearing words and they are used to express their emotion or show their identities.
Sometimes slangs are also used to label other students from the different races in the classroom. Then, 5 of them have the directive function which is used
to command or control other people’s behavior. As shown in the table 4.2, there are slang words and phrases have the aesthetic function. Those 3 slangs have
unique since it is used to name a group Black Panthers which symbolizes the strength of Afro-American race. It is also used to symbolize a thing such as slang
‘sparkling cider’ which is used as the symbol of change. The last 5 words and
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phrases show that they have the phatic function. This phatic function appears in a slang ‘yo’ which is used as an exclamation while someone greets a fellow.
Therefore, slang ‘yo’ is used to maintain a social relationship.
Table 4.3 Reasons of using slang
No Reasons
Total
1 To express individuality
5 2
To express their selves more vividly than can be easily done in Standard English
2 3
There isn’t a word that means the same thing in Standard English 1
4 To express emotion
4 5
To fit in with the people around them 3
6 To express shared attitudes and values.
1 7
To imply or refer back to shared experience 2
8 To communicate secretly
3 9
To identify themselves as a member of a group 2
10 To identify someone as not being a member of the group
3 11
To test whether someone else is also a member of a group 1
12 It is a habit of mannerism
3 13
To appear cool 1
14 To irritate
2 15
To make the conversation easier in some way usually quicker 3
16 To communicate with deliberate ambiguity
2 17
To shock or offend 3
18 To rebel
1
There are 18 reasons that explain why people are using slang in communication. Slangs in the movie are used both inside and outside classroom
by the students and teacher. Based on the movie, the teacher also often uses slangs when talking with her students. Slangs are used by students to teacher, students to
students or teacher to students. However, slangs are usually used in more casual speech or in a less formal context. Based on the study, the writer found that the
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slangs in the Long Beach are mostly cultural-related. It happens because of its cultural history; it tells people about the hardships of the Afro-American students
in the Woodrow Wilson High School. There are problems among the White and the Afro-American students because of the cultural conflicts in the past. Based on
the observation, the writer found that slang is used mostly to express individuality and express emotion. There are many other reasons of using slang as shown in
table 4.3 Slang such as ‘Little Cambodia’, ‘The Ghetto’, ‘South of Border’ or ‘Little Tijuana’ are examples of slang that refer to the name of certain groups
among the Afro-American society. They want to reveal their individualities. The slang users also tend to express emotion such as anger or respect by using slang.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
