33 often utters illocution within a statement which is merely a locution. In solving
such case the felicity of the utterance should be checked by using Austin‟s criteria
of felicity. To be a felicitous an utterance must meet some rules i.e.: A.1 There must exist an accepted conventional procedure having a certain
conventional effect, that procedure to include the uttering of certain words by certain persons in certain circumstances, and further,
A.2 the particular persons and circumstances in a given case must be appropriate for the invocation of the particular procedure invoked.
B.1 The procedure must be executed by all participants both correctly and B.2. completely.
T.1. Where, as often, the procedure is designed for use by persons having certain thoughts of feelings. Or for the inauguration of certain consequential
conduct on the part of any participant, then a person participating in and so invoking the procedure must in fact have those thoughts or feelings, and the
participants must intend so to conduct themselves, and further T.2 must actually so conduct themselves subsequently.
Austin, 1955, pp.14-15 Rules A.1, A.2, B.1, and B.2 must be fulfilled in order to make the act
achieved. If one or more of the criteria is not fulfilled the sentence becomes misfired
the act is not achieved. Then rules T.1 and T.2 determine whether the utterance has effect or not. In the other word, the speaker must intend to do the
act. If the speaker does not really intend to do the act, the rules T.1 and T.2 are not fulfilled and the act becomes void p. 16. For the context of this monologue, the
34 rules A.1 and A.2 are certain: Carlin is a comic who performs his monologue in a
comedy show A.1 and the audiences are supposed to laugh as a response of Carlin‟s joke A.2. One point worth noted in Austin‟s lecture about illocution is
that swearing the act of evincing emotion is claimed not to have an illocutionary force. However what is meant by swearing here is peculiarly the cathartic
swearing p. 105. The framework to address the research question number two is schemed as follows:
figure 2.2. Theoretical diagram for the research question number two
The problem of Carlin‟s monologue is the offensiveness, as it is stated in the second point of FCC‟s accusation which claims that this monologue is
“patently offensive”. The swear words uttered in the monologue might be considered offensive if they are used abusively and all rules of the felicity
condition are met. If at least one of the rules is not fulfilled, it means that Carlin does not truly use the taboo words or swear words in an offensive way.
Utterance containing
taboo words swear words.
descriptively idiomatically
abusively emphatically
cathartically Speech
Act Felicity
Condition
void misfired
fulfilled
not offensive offensive
35
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the method the writer used to conduct this research. This chapter is divided into five parts namely: the research method, research
instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure.
3.1. Research Method
This qualitative research provides descriptive information about the topic. Qualitative research focuses on understanding social phenomena from the
perspective of human participants in the study Onwuegbuzie et.al, 2012. Qualitative study will provide a detailed, in-depth, and complete information
about the research study. This research belongs to content analysis research. Content analysis
research is a technique that enables the writers to study human behavior in an indirect way, through an analysis of their communication Fraenkel Wallen,
2008. The writer believes that content analysis is the best method in addressing these two research questions since it will provide the writer an overview of the
phenomena related to taboo and swear words.
36
3.2. Research Setting
This research is conducted in places where the access to some literatures about linguistics is available. This setting is chosen to make it easier for the
writer to obtain immediate data and information needed. The places for conducting this research are various such as in library, campus, or anywhere at
which internet connection is available.
3.3 Research Subject
This subject of this research is solely the monologue of Carlin entitled Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television. This subject is preferred since it
contains a lot of utterances containing taboo words or swear words. This research focuses on this subject since the occurrence of taboo words and swear words in
this monologue is considered problematic by the FCC.
3.4. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
This thesis uses a written verbatim of Carlin ’s monologue taken from
http:law2.umkc.edufacultyprojectsftrialsconlawfilthywords.html. This
transcript was attached in that website for the use of a study of law. The writer also uses a recorded audio indeed not video of the monologue Seven Words You
Can’t Say on Television which is downloaded from www.youtube.com and further is converted into mp3. From that video, the real atmosphere in which the
37 monologue sounds approximately authentic. It is really helpful for the writer to
obtain the authentic circumstance where the monologue is performed. In gathering the data, there were some steps conducted. The first is
collecting the data. The writer marks every taboo word appearing in the monologue by using the transcription. After being marked, each word will be
listed and named based on its category: whether it is a taboo word or swear word and the typology of the word. After dealing with the words, the writer then checks
the phrases, clauses, sentences or the coherence between sentences to group them as an utterance. From the utterances containing taboo words or swear words the
writer can classify based on the fixed typology to know in what way the taboo words and swear words are uttered. The writer also considered the context using
the help of the recorded mp3 in which intonation and the laughter of the audience are conveyed clearly.
3.5. Data Analysis Technique
A data analysis is a process in which the data gathered from the research is analyzed using several techniques. In this research there were several steps
conducted in analyzing the data. First, the utterances which contain taboo words or swear words are
classified based on Pinker’s typology i.e. descriptive, idiomatic, abusive, emphatic, or cathartic. This typology helps the writer to directly answer the
research question number two.
38 Second, the taboo word and swear word either in form of word, phrase,
clause or clause retrieved from the verbatim were categorized in some criteria of swear word to know whether a word is considered taboo word or swear word.
Those criteria are: 1 swearing as the utterance using taboo word, 2 the literal and non-literal meaning of the word, 3 lexical, phrasal, and syntactic constrain
of the word, and 4 whether there is an emotive function of the word or not. Third, after classifying the data based on those criteria, the writer then
relates the data with some theories from different linguists and some other experts specializing in taboo and swear word to find the appropriate references of the
taboo words or swear word uttered, and thus answers the research question number one.
Fourth, the act within the utterances then will be determined using speech act theory to figure out whether some acts e.g. to abuse are really performed in
the utterance.
3.6. Research Procedure
There were some steps that the writer followed in conducting the research; deciding the research problem, reviewing the literature of the problem,
determining the approach and method of the study, selecting the data collection mode, analyzing the data, interpreting the findings, and composing the thesis.
The first step was deciding the research problem. In deciding the research problem, the writer came from his personal interest in Carlin monologue which
39 often contains social critics and new enlightenment toward the language itself.
The writer searched the related information mostly in the internet and then he found that Gorge Carlin was engaged in a legal affair concerning his monologue
Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television.
Having got the research problem, the writer then reviewed the relevant literature to gain more insights and knowledge about the topic. The writer read
several journals and books to be better in understanding the specialism. Having read those references, the writer chose some theories which could be appropriate
in analyzing the data. The writer used theories from some different linguists such as Magnus Ljung, Steven Pinker, Timothy Jay, David Crystal, Searle and some
other experts. After determining the theories, the writer then made the theories as the base to analyze the data.
After reviewing some relevant literature, the writer then designed the research. The approach the writer used was qualitative approach since the writer
wanted to get detailed and in-depth information about the topic. In supporting the approach, the method used was content analysis. Content analysis study was
assumed to be the most appropriate method in analyzing the data since the main data are in form of a recording and its written transcription.
After deciding the approach would be used, the writer then determined what mode of data collection which would be best used. The writer used text-
based research.
