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show his approbation toward his father’s speech. He also uses it to emphasize his utterance so his father knows that Kurt has interest in the discussion.
In brief, Kurt uses empty adjectives that are usually used by women to show his approbation and admiration toward something. He also uses them to emphasize
the utterance of his speech.
9. Avoidance of Strong Swear Words
Eckert 2003 suggests that “swearing is a kind of interjection that can express extreme statements.” He also states that by swearing, people show their
expression of very strong emotion. When it comes to men and women to use swear words, women are more careful and tend to avoid using them. These words such as
my dear , goodness, and my fudge are often found in women’s language as stated by
Lakoff 1975. On the contrary, these words such as damn and shit often appear in men’s language.
From all episodes in Glee Television Series Season 1, it is found that Kurt avoids to use strong swear words. In the episode 15, he avoids to use strong swear
words once and in the episode 20 twice. The evidences can be seen in the excerpts below.
[31] KURT sees SUE down the hallway
KURT: Oh, dear
.
[32] RACHEL: Which led me to Jocelle Fabrics. I asked them about red
Chantilly lace. They were sold out. MERCEDES:
Oh, sweet Jesus.
KURT: Oh, my.
[33] AZIMIO: I believe I will. to Karofsky Sir, would you like to go first? FINN:
You’re not hitting anyone.
KURT: Oh, my God.
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AZIMIO: Is he wearing a red rubber dress or am I trippin’?
Excerpt [31] is found in the episode 15 titled The Power of Madonna. When he was talking with his friend, he suddenly saw his teacher, Ms. Sue, walking down the
hallway. He noticed something different in Ms. Sue’s appearance and he was shocked. Instead of using strong swear words such as shit to show his feeling, he
prefers to use the word oh, dear. The next two excerpts, [32] and [33], from episode 20 titled Funk also show
Kurt that avoids to use strong swear words. Both also happen when he is shocked. In the excerpt [32], Kurt uses the word oh, my when he was shocked because the
red Chantilly lace was sold out in the store. He could not believe that his club rival used it to do their next project. The word oh, my God is used by Kurt when he sees
Finn’s appearance. As Kurt knew, Finn did not want to wear any theatrical costume related to Lady Gaga. However, in the end of this episode, Finn was willing to wear
it and it made Kurt shocked. From those three excerpts, the researcher assumes that Kurt does not want
to swear and say something wrong or bad that might be heard and hurt the addressee’s feelings. The researcher also believes that Kurt wants to be seen as a
good boy in society.
10. Precise Color Terms
Women seeming to talk like a lady is shown in their choice of lexical items. Lakoff 1975 states that women make more precise discrimination in naming color
such as beige, ecru, aquamarine, and lavender. From all the episodes in Glee Television Series Season 1
, Kurt does not apply any precise color terms feature in PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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his speech. There are some color terms Kurt actually used in his utterances like white, and black as can be seen in excerpt [34] and [35].
[34] KURT: Mercedes is [black]; I’m gay. We make culture. [35] KURT: Their school statue is a giant bronze of great [white] shark
eating a seal pup. However, those colors are classified into general language. It can be found easily
both in men and women’s language. So, the researcher did not classify those colors into precise color terms as women’s language features.
The researcher believes that the feature is not found in Kurt’s utterances. In the Glee Television Series Season 1, even though Kurt talks about fashion in his
speech, the researcher finds that he never relates it to color terms. Also, the topics he usually discussed with his addressee mostly had a relation with music and songs,
which has no relation with color. On the whole, Kurt uses nine out of ten women’s language features in his
speech in Glee Television Series Season 1. In this research, gender is seen as a construction rather than a fixed category. Therefore, even though Kurt Hummel
physically is seen as a man, the way he behaves in the series index or are associated with femininity. It is reflected by the way he uses lexical hedges or fillers, tag
questions, raising intonation on declaratives, ‘empty’ adjectives, intensifiers, ‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, avoidance of strong swear words, and
emphatic stress. However, the way Kurt uses women’s language features is not only influenced by gender but also by other factors such as, age, audience, social
relations, topic discussion and power Milroy Milroy, 2012. For example, in some utterances, Kurt uses ‘superpolite’ forms and ‘hypercorrect’ grammar by
