CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter consists of the review of some related theories: pragmatics, implicature and humor as well as information about Asterix comic as the object of
study. At the end of this chapter, the writer gives a brief review of some related studies and the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework explains the
tentative answer for the research questions theoretically before the data are analyzed and interpreted in chapter four of the thesis.
A. LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY
Language is one of the most powerful emblems of social behaviour. It is used to send vital social massages about the speaker, origin, and association. The
language, dialect, and the words that are chosen can show the speaker’s background, characters and intention.
In its social context, the study of language tells about how people organize their social relationship within a particular community. According to Wardhaugh
1998: 10 there are some possible relationships between language and society. One is that social structure may either influence or determine linguistic structure
andor behaviour. The second one is the opposite of the first, that is, linguistic structure andor behaviour may either influence or determine social structure. The
third possible relation is that language and society may influence each other. The next is to assume that there is no relationship at all between linguistic structure
and social structure and that each is independent of the other. 9
10
The study of the language and society is called as sociolinguistics. Gumperz in Wardhaugh, 1998: 11 has observed that sociolinguistics is an
attempt to find correlations between social structure and linguistics structure and to observe any changes that occur. Social structure itself may be measured by
reference to such factors as social class and educational background. Verbal behaviour and performance may be related to these factors. Coulmas 2003: 267
states that in Marxist social theory, class is defined in term of possession of means of production whose unequal distribution is seen as the chief reason of social
conflict social struggle. According to Parson in Coulmas, 2003: 267, in the concept of a stratified social system, each individual is located on continuum of
hierarchically ordered class grouping. Parson in Coulmas, 2003: 267 also states that social structure is a composite variable that is calculated by reference to a
number of indicators such as income, profession, and educational level.
B. PRAGMATICS 1. Definition
Pragmatics is a relatively new branch of linguistics. The language phenomena which are discussed in pragmatics mostly deal with the use of
language in society. Pragmatics is used to analyze how people in society use the language in context. People do not always or even usually say what they mean.
One can know people’s intended meaning, their assumption, their purpose and even their action based on the way they speak. A speaker frequently mean much
more than their words actually say Thomas, 1995: 1. In her book, Thomas PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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defines pragmatics as meaning in use or meaning in context. It can be said that one should consider the situation in which the conversation takes place.
There are some definitions about pragmatics. Finch 2000: 150 says that pragmatics is concerned with the meaning of utterances. He asserts that it focuses
on what is not explicitly stated and on how people interpret utterances in situational context. Bowen 2001: 8 adds that pragmatics is the area of language
function that embraces the use of language in social context knowing what to say, how to say it, when to say it and how to be with other people.
Another expert gives different definition about pragmatics. According to Yule 1996: 3, pragmatics concerns with the study of meaning as communicated
by a speaker or writer and interpreted by a listener or a reader. He also says that pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning. It is involves the interpretation
of what people mean in a particular context and how the context influences what is said. Pragmatics is also the study of how to get more of what is communication
than what is said and the study of the expression of relative distance. Some other experts relate pragmatics with the condition of the society.
Mey 1993: 42 states that pragmatics is the study of how the conditions of human language uses as these are determined by the context of society. Similarly,
Levinson 1983: 5 defines pragmatics as the study of language use, that is, the study of the relation between language and context that is basic to an account of
language understanding. In this case, language understanding means that understanding the utterance involves a great deal more than knowing the meaning
of the words uttered and the grammatical relations between them. Understanding PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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