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CHAPTER II DISCUSSION
This chapter contains a review of related literature and the findings as well as the interpretation of the findings. The review of literature provides relevant
theories underlying this research paper. Followed by the finding results and the interpretation of the findings.
The problem addressed in this research focused on the features of women’s language found in the blog postings from three Indonesian female
lifestyle bloggers that have been mentioned in Chapter I. In order to answer the research problem, the researcher analyzed the blog postings to identify the
features of women’s language used by three famous Indonesian female bloggers. Then,
the researcher discussed the definition of women’s language continued with the features of w
omen’s language in order to answer the formulated research problem.
Generally, there is a stereotype in society that shows women are subordinate than men. Women are expected to be more polite than men. This
makes the way women speak are different from men. Thus, there are some features that used more by women than men. Lakoff 1975 states there are some
linguistic features used more often by women than men to express women’s
uncertainty and lack of confidence. Those features are labeled as women’s
language, namely lexical hedges or fillers, tag question or question tag, rising intonation on declaratives, “empty” adjectives, precise color terms, intensifiers,
12 “hypercorrect” grammar, “superpolite” forms, and emphatic stress. Later, some
words in the example are bolded to indicate the significant features which are discussed.
In this research, the researcher found eight features from three Indonesian female lifestyle bloggers’ blog posts namely intensifier, lexical hedges, precise
color term, empty adjective, emphatic stress, hypercorrect grammar, and tag questions. These features were presented in Table 2.1 along with the number and
percentage of each feature’s occurrence in blog posts of Indonesian female lifestyle bloggers.
Table 2.1 The Occurrence of Women’s Language Features in blog posts of three Indonesian Female Lifestyle bloggers
No. Women’s language features
The frequency of each feature
The percentage of each feature
1. Lexical hedge or filler
45 12.23
2. Tag question
1 0.27
3. Rising intonation on declarative
4. Empty adjective
26 7.07
5. Precise color term
7 1.91
6. Intensifier
256 69.56
7. Hypercorrect grammar
2 0.53
8. Superpolite form
5 1.36
9. Emphatic stress
26 7.07
The number of features 368
100
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Table 2.1 showed the w omen’s language features that used by three
Indonesian female lifestyle bloggers within January to May 2017. From the table it could be seen that from nine features, only eight features that were used by three
Indonesian female lifestyle bloggers. The most used feature was intensifier 69.56 , followed by lexical hedge or filler 12.23, emphatic stress and
empty adjective 7.07, precise color term 1.91, superpolite form 1.36, hypercorrect grammar 0.53, and question tag 0,27. The rest of the features
which was rising intonation on declaratives could not be found. Rising intonation on declarative did not appear because this was a written language. Further
discussions of the findings will be explained in the following sections.
1. Intensifier
Unlike the lexical hedge and filler, intensifier is used as boosting device to strengthen the intended meaning Holmes, 2008, p. 323. Lakoff 2004 claims that
women are afraid of being ignored. Thus, the use of intensifier is used more frequent by women than men, though certainly men can use it Lakoff, 2004, pp.
79-80. The examples of intensifiers are so, very, really. By using this feature, women also expect their message is taken seriously by the addressee Lakoff,
2004, p. 81. In this research, intensifier appeared the most compared to other features.
Holmes 2008 states that intensifier is used by women to strengthen the intended meaning Holmes, 2008, p. 323. Women use this feature in order to convince the
addressee that they are serious with their statement. Moreover, women also use this
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feature to show that their statement is amazing, more than usual. As women, three Indonesian female lifestyle bloggers also applied intensifier in their writing. It
appeared about 256 times in their blog posts from January to May 2017. The words so, very and too were mostly used in their posts. In this research,
the researcher found that intensifier were used mostly by the bloggers A, it were used for 256 times. Followed by the blogger B by 116 times and blogger C 22
times used. The researcher provided some examples of the statements from their blog content that used intensifier, including the reason based on the analysis and
theory.
[1] Told you it’s so good. [2] It really explains the idea that being fit into your own paradigm can
lead to more meaningful encounters: if I’m confident with my style, I can focus on seeing the good in others.
[3] I think that was very sweet of her but also I assumed that some of you might think that way too, and somehow I feel bad for it because
working in fashion is closely related to promoting high consumerism
and that is against what I stand up for.
For statement [1], the blogger A tried to convince her readers that the food she was eating which was dan dan mian, was really good. She conveyed her
satisfaction after eating the food. Thus, she put so before good to strengthen the fact that food was delicious and she was serious about it and she wanted to show
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to her readers that she loved the food. The researcher believed the intensifier so occurred because in the last time she ate the same food and she already stated that
the food was delicious. Thus, this time she wanted to strengthen her opinion by using intensifier.
In statement [2], blogger B strengthened her statement about being confident in her self-esteem. She tried to deliver to her readers that being fit into
her own view was important rather than trying to fit in somebody else’s
paradigm.. The researcher analyzed it was occurred because before this statement the blogger B said that sometimes she lost her confidence in wearing orange
colors but as soon as she felt comfortable with it, it could help her even more looked good. It was also showed that she wanted to convey her idea about being
confident is the most important thing. Then, in statement [3] there were three intensifiers used by the blogger C;
very, too and closely. Blogger C used very to show her feeling toward the comment from one of her loyal readers. The researcher interpreted the blogger C
used very as an intensifier was to express her gratitude towards her loyal reader and it was important for her to have a compliment from her reader. It is important
for a blogger to have loyal readers in order to grow her blog. The used of intensifier too here showed her uncertainty from
her readers’s point of view about her style that had changed from the beginning time of
blogging. The researcher analyzed that blogger C used this word was also to gain the same view from other readers about her style since she also realized that she
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had changed her style. It might be because she got a lot of similar questions or comments from many of her readers before.
Lastly, the used of closely in blogger C ’s statement was also to show that
the reason behind she changed her style was because she worked in fashion industry that rapidly changes. She wanted to strengthen her reason by adding
closely before related. On the other hand, it was also showed that she was uncertain about her reason too, whether the reason was only because of her job or
that her tastes of style had changed as time goes by. It was shown by her next statement ‘…and if you’re wondering if I still wear vintage outfits by now, I’m
telling you this: My love for vintage will never die .’ From the researcher
interpretation, it was clearly showing her uncertainty about her changing style. Thus, she used those words to strengthen her statement and gained more
confidence in delivering it to her readers.
2. Lexical Hedge or Filler
Lexical hedges are part of hedging that can be used to weaken the strength of an assertion Lakoff, 2004, p. 48. Hedges and fillers are also used as the sign
of lacking confidence or to avoid offending people Lakoff, 2004, p. 48. Women use this feature in their speech to show politeness. There are some examples of
lexical hedges or fillers namely: well, you know, think, seems, may, can, believe, looks. Lexical hedges also express of uncertainty in the conversation, which aimed
to fill the gap between the conversations or to take and hold on the turn of the conversation, to begin the conversation, and to keep the conversation on the track.
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Since the stereotype in society states that women have lower position than men, women tend to speak something indirectly and tend to be more polite when
talking. For example, kind of maybe used to weaken the strength of assertion that might cause offence, as in “Paul is kind of cruel”. Women use this hedge to show
politeness to talk about a thing that might offend others Lakoff, 2004, p. 48. On the other hand, there is a difference between hedges and fillers stated
by Holmes. Fillers are used to pause when someone is not yet finished speaking. It lets the speaker think before speaking such as uh, um, and ah. Since well and you
see belong to meaningless particles, both are considered as the same category as “pause fillers” Holmes, 1992, p. 315. In addition, Holmes 1995, p. 75 includes
pauses and hesitations like eehhmm and eeehhh in the category of hedges since they can be used to express a speaker reluctance to impose.
In this study, the researcher found 45 12.23 lexical hedges and fillers used by three Indonesian female lifestyle bloggers. The researcher would
differentiate the further discussion of lexical hedges and fillers.
[1] Kind of want to stay here forever. [2] You know, I often most of the times opt for comfortable outfits before
anything else
[3] I’ve been so excited during the unboxing because, well, IT’S GOLD.
The lexical hedge that blogger C used as seen in [1] showed that she was not sure about her statement. The researcher concluded that she was uncertain about her
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words of staying at the fashion show event because it was just an event, not even a real living space. Besides, it showed her admiration to the event that much as she
thought about living in that dreamy place which filled of her favorites fashion items. The hedge, kind of, was to weaken the meaning of the whole statement she
made. In line with the Lakoff’s theory, blogger A showed her lack of confidence
in the example [2]. The researcher concluded that blogger A used you know as hedge because she was uncertain about her choices of outfit which in the
researcher opinion were almost look like the same. Her lack of confidence can be seen that she used two adverbs of frequency after she used the hedge, often and in
the bracket most of the time. Those two adverbs of frequency strengthened the use of hedge you know that showed she was uncertain about what she was talking
about. Statement [3] showed that blogger B used hedge well in her statement. The
researcher concluded that she was uncertain about her feeling while she opened the item she mentioned, which was a new laptop from a particular brand.
Moreover, the researcher also concluded that she was not certain enough whether or not this brand new laptop was good or met her needs as it was a sponsored
item. On the other hand, she added IT’S GOLD in capitals to strengthen her feeling towards her hesitance before. Thus, it was very clear that she used this
hedge to fill the gap between her excitement and hesitance.
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Lastly, the used of lexical hedges in their blog post clearly showed that although they were not doubtful in delivering their feeling or ideas, they still had
uncertainty in delivering some of their opinion. Lakoff 1975 states that filler is a meaningless particle in which its
occurrence does not alter the intended meaning. In this study the researcher found two words that were classified into fillers namely ew and yup.
[1] Ew, another Indian drama? [2] Yup, this will be the last one for brownplatformnewyeargiveaway
and of course it’ the most special one, at least for me
From the statement [1] the used of filler ew by blogger B showed that she hesitated to express her next statement about her parents’ current addiction of
watching Indian drama. Besides, she used the filler ew in her statement was also giving her time to think about her next statement. The researcher also found that
she used filler ew because she was considering of being polite so that she did not offend her parents about her thought.
As found in blogger A’s statement in example [2], she used filler yup to fill the gap on what she was going to say next.
The researcher concluded that she was uncertain about what to say to open her blog post on that day because it was the first word she used in her blog post.
Generally, the used of lexical hedges and fillers in this research was quite similar. Moreover, the researcher also found that the aim of lexical hedge and
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filler were to show the bloggers’ uncertainty in expressing their feelings and also
as the consideration of being polite in delivered their speech.
3. Empty Adjective
Empty adjectives are group of adjective in terms of vocabulary and it is indicating speaker’s approbation or admiration for something, such as gorgeous,
fabulous, lovely, adorable, charming, holy, brilliant, super, and etc. Lakoff, 1973.
Women’s language is categorized as ‘powerless language’. It focuses on condition how women tend to use more particular features in their speech and
women’s position in the society Lakoff, 1973, p. 6. In addition, Lakoff states that the use of this feature also signal
the feeling of ‘uninvolved’ or ‘out of power’ instead of feminine Lakoff, 2007, pp.46-47. In other words, women use empty
adjective to attract more attention from the addressee that their message to the addressee are important and worth the attention.
Thus, the use of empty adjective focuses on how a person delivers affective meaning than referential meaning. In this study, the researcher found 26
7.07 empty adjectives used by three Indonesian female lifestyle bloggers. For instance gigantic, humble, pretty, holy, simply, super, incredibly, practically,
huge, and adorable. The researcher categorized those words as empty adjectives because there were extraordinary words that showed the
bloggers’ feeling of impression or admiration.
21 [1] Told you it’s so good, I always have it whenever I visit Cathay Pacific
lounges, yup even at their other lounges, you can still find this holy
noodle.
[2] I’m pretty sure I’d hit the sack within the next two hours [3] A delightful start for someone who works with gadget and electronic
devices is by making sure that we use only our best favorites to create content.
[4] …and their signature heart-shaped collars that is so incredibly eye-
pleasing, especially if you have peculiar addiction of wavy silhouette corners like me.
From statement [1], the blogger A wanted to show her feeling towards the noodle she ate. She wanted to emphasize it by adding the empty adjective holy, even
though she already added the intensifier so in the beginning of her statement. The researcher believed that blogger A wanted to add more feelings toward her
statement so that she could influence her readers having the same agreement on the taste of that noodle.
Moreover, as found in the b logger B’s statements, statements [2] and [3],
she emphasized her feeling towards her statement by using the empty adjectives. In statement [2], the use of word pretty by the blogger B was to strengthen her
statement that she would sleep immediately as she described before this statement that she was in a cozy position; in a relaxing position in the evening. Moreover, it
can be seen in [3], blogger B used word delightful to add more feelings in her
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statement about using gadgets and electronic devices. In the researcher’s
interpretation, she used this word to emphasize and also to persuade the readers to have the same opinion about a particular gadget she was promoting. It was
because in this posting, she promoted a well known brand of laptop. In the other words, as this was a sponsored post, she had to persuade more people to use this
kind of brand. Thus, she used the empty adjective to help her strengthened the message she would like to deliver.
Another example was found in the blogger C statement as seen in [4], she used the word incredibly before eye-pleasing to show her excitement on how good
the fashion item she saw in a fashion show event. The empty adjective incredibly helped her to deliver how good the fashion item was. It could be seen that eye-
pleasing actually had a strong meaning already; it meant that it was really good to be seen by the eye. Thus, as she found it was more than usual, she added an empty
adjective in her statement to make it even more convincing. From those findings above, the researcher concluded that empty adjectives
were used by those bloggers aimed to strengthen their feeling towards their statements or opinion. They used it to make it seem like more than a usual thing
and to get more attention from the readers.
4. Emphatic Stress
As said by Lakoff that perhaps women realize that they are often not being listened to, because obviously they couldn’t say anything that really mattered,
therefore, more or over consciously, use voice patterns that have a dual effect
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Lakoff, 2004, p. 81. Women use this feature as a boosting device to ensure that the message is received and responded. It signs women’s anticipation that the
addressee may remain unconvinced and therefore women supply extra reassurance in their message Holmes, 2008, p. 299. In written language, emphatic stress
could be identified by the use of capital letter and exclamation mark at the end of sentence. Similarly, emphatic stress has the same function with intensifier which
is to strengthen the intended meaning Holmes, 2008, p. 323. There were 26 words 7.07 that were classified into emphatic stress.
The emphatic stress was used to emphasize the bloggers statement. Emphatic stress was used because they might be afraid if they were not being listened or got
the attention from their readers.
[1] Am currently obsessed with Shabby De Hat boater collection just
because their pieces are so fine.
[2] So many lovely pictures taken by Hans, I know [3] She experienced multiple horrifying accidents and lived in pain her
whole life, but love is her biggest source of inspiration to create.
From statement [1], the blogger A expressed her excitement on the hats from a particular brand. The researcher concluded that blogger A was not doubtful at all
to show her feeling and satisfaction towards the hats. She was confident to reveal what was on her mind about it without considering the reaction from other people.
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In the statement [2], blogger A wanted to deliver her gratitude towards her blogger friend who took great pictures of her during the trip in Japan. The
researcher concluded that she wanted to emphasize the meaning of her sincere words to her friend using word lovely and two exclamation marks at the end of the
sentence which indicated the use of emphatic stress. In addition, blogger C used emphatic stress to express her feeling about
the accidents that Frida Kahlo’s experienced. Frida Kahlo is the muse of the photography exhibition. In the researcher interpretation, she wanted to show how
deep her feeling about the muse’s life story was. Thus, the use of horrifying as an
empty adjective here was to strengthen her statement and to get more attention from her readers about her feeling and opinion.
Overall, the use of emphatic stress by the bloggers in their blog posting functioned as boosting devices. Women boost the force of their utterance because
they want to be heard or paid attention to Lakoff, 2004, p. 81. Thus, the three Indonesian female bloggers used emphatic stress as booster to express their
confidence in expressing their feeling. Although, the use of emphatic stress in their blog postings might be considered to get more attention from their readers,
but it also showed that they truly meant what they said.
5. Precise Colour Term
Lakoff 2004 also states that women have richer lexical than men. The more specific one is about the color terms. Women consider those colors term are
commonly used, but they are seen to be trivial and unreal for men. This point
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shows how color discrimination gives women opportunity to participate in making the real decisions of life since women are not expected on making decisions on
important matters. The examples of this feature can be found easily on women’s makeup or
clothing line catalogue. On the lipstick selection, for instance, there are dusky pink, coral, peach, nudes, blush pink, burgundy. On the other hand, men see it in
common term like pink, red, blue, brown. Men tend to relegate the things that do not belong to their concern. They do not think too much about the naming of
specific color terms as in women because they also do not involve their egos Lakoff, 1973, p. 6. Moreover, if men know these kinds of color terms they might
be considered as homosexuals. Furthermore, a man might also deal with those color terms in his daily conversation because of his profession, such as deign
interior and hair stylist Lakoff, 2004, pp. 43-44. In this study, the researcher found seven findings from the use of precise
color term namely blonde, pastel lilac, mustard, green emerald, neon colors, fuchsia, and crystal clear. The researcher only found this feature used by the
blogger B and C. The researcher did not find this feature used by the blogger A. The used of this feature clearly showed that women have more lexical terms for
color than men. Blonde and pastel lilac were used by the blogger B to convey her hair colors, because she colored her hair into several different colors and those
two were mentioned in her blog posts. Blonde is a light yellow toned color while pastel lilac is light purple toned color.
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Then, mustard is also a yellow toned color which has almost the same tone with the mustard sauce but darker. Mustard was used by blogger B to show a
coat’s color. Another precise color term used by blogger B was green emerald, this is a dark green toned color which has the same tone with emerald stone. She
used green emerald to show the color of a pendant precisely. The researcher believed that the used of these precise color terms by the blogger B were to
impress and to show the readers that she had wide color knowledge. Moreover, it was also showed that she wanted to get more attention from her readers about this.
In addition, this feture was also used by the blogger C. She used neon colors to show her choices of clothes in one of her blog postings where she
combined some different color as her outfit. Neon colors are bright, vivid, reflective and eye-catching colors. She was also used the term fuchsia, it is a vivid
pink purplish color. In the researcher interpretation, she used this feature with the same reasons why it was used by the blogger B which was to show that she had
larger knowledge of color terms. In conclusion, the researcher concluded that the used of precise color
terms by the bloggers as seen above were to get more attention from the readers as they considered they were experts of color terms. Moreover, they wanted to show
6. Superpolite Form
Lakoff 1973 emphasizes three things in superpolite form namely avoidance of swearing words, extensive use of euphemism, and using more
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particles in a sentence request. Those three terms used by Lakoff in order to show how women consider the politeness in their speaking.
Lakoff 1973 suggests that in Middle America, the majority might condone the use of strong swear words by men, but not for women. It is because
women are expected to be like a lady since they are young. They are allowed to fuss and complain, but not to flinch or below like men.
Women are believed to be experts of euphemism and to know the right things to say to other people Lakoff, 2004, p. 80. People are expected women to
talk nicely and to know the right time to say something. Moreover, Lakoff 2004, p. 50 states that the more particles in a sentence that reinforce the notion that it is a
request, rather than an order, the politer the result. By using this feature, women are considered speaking in a polite way.
In this research, the researcher found that only avoiding strong swear words occurred. Avoiding strong swear words was used by women in order to show how
they consider politeness in their speech. In this research, the researcher found five statements that were considered as avoiding strong swear words as follows.
[1] I swear I will never be like you [2] It’s so good I swear.
[3] It’s so damn good I swear. [4] The costumes make up, her choices of shoes, OMG, and she even
managed to dance energetically; it was all worth it I swear.
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From the statement [1], blogger B wanted to express her anger towards her parents because her parents were trying to command her life and she did not agree
about it. In this statement, blogger B wanted to show that she still had consideration that she was her parents’ daughter and was not supposed to talk
rough even though she was very angry. This form also showed that she showed or performed her politeness towards her parents, as in eastern culture it is considered
bad if you express your anger to your parents using a strong swear word and it will bring you bad luck in the future.
In the second finding as seen on statement [2], blogger A used this form to express her politeness and to strengthen the message to her readers. She expressed
her feeling after she ate dan dan mian, it was a Shanghainese styled noodle in spicy hot peanut sauce. She wanted to express that the meal she ate was delicious
so she shared her feeling to her readers about it. Compared to the statement [3], she used the word damn at first which in the researcher perspective was less
polite. However, she added I swear at the end of her statement, in the researcher interpretation she tried to get back on track when she must speak politely. Thus,
she added this words to express that the dessert she had was delicious and worth to try.
On the same line with the previous two examples, the use of superpolite form in statement
[4] was also to express the blogger A’s feeling after watching Lady Gaga live on the stage in a music festival called Coachella. She even used it
twice; OMG and I swear. The researcher believed that she wanted to express her excitement and joy after watching a worldwide famous singer live in the concert.
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She wanted to be heard and wanted her readers to pay more attention to her feeling since women are afraid of not to be heard.
Moreover, in this research, the researcher found that sometimes the use of avoiding strong swear words also strengthened the meaning intended. It could be
seen from those three examples. The researcher believed that the blogger A could use strong swear words if she wanted to. However, she considered her position as
a woman and also as a public figure that she must show her attitude especially in her writing. The use of word damn was the proof that she could use it every time,
but she avoided it as she had this consideration.
7. Hypercorrect Grammar
According to Lakoff 2004, women are not supposed to talk rough. Thus, women tend to use standard form to show their good behavior in society.
Therefore, women are supposed to always use hypercorrect grammar. In addition, Holmes states that women use standard form to show good behavior as a speech-
role in front of society Holmes, 1992, p. 172. Moreover, women use hypercorrect grammar to show that they have better grammatical English.
Besides, women use hypercorrect grammar to gain their need to be valued in society. As women are seen as subordinate group, they must speak carefully and
politely. Holmes adds that women are not supposed to offend men Holmes, 2008, p.166. In addition, Holmes 1995, p. 75 includes pauses and hesitations like
eehhmm and eeehhh in the category of hedges since they can be used to express a speaker reluctance to impose.
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Thus, women have to speak politely. In this study, the researcher found two statements which were considered as hypercorrect grammar and those were used
by the blogger A as follows.
[1] First of all, I would like to say Happy New Year 2017 [2] Once again, I would like to thank Trade Victoria and also Shopping
Links for supporting this collaboration, for making it all happen and for taking so much care of us
From the statement [1], blogger A used correct form in using modal to wish her readers a happy new year. The researcher concluded that she was showing a polite
and sincere wish to her readers about the new coming year. Moreover, from the next statement [2], was also provided by the blogger A, the researcher also
concluded that she was showing her politeness and gratitude to the event coordinator whom invited her to the fashion show in Australia.
Finally, the researcher agreed that women should be more polite in deliver a speech both written and oral. It would be better if women use correct grammar
to avoid misunderstanding in communication especially when it comes to written language as in blog postings.
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8. Question Tag
According to Lakoff 1973, p. 54 a tag is midway between an outright statement and a yes-no question: it is assertive than the former but more confident
than the latter. Women use question tag to assert their confidence. The examples of question tag namely:
aren’t you?, are you?, isn’t it?, right?, don’t we?. Question tag appears in the final statement to strengthen the confidence of the
speaker. Moreover, Lakoff suggests that question tag is the second hedging device called ‘syntactic device’.
On the other hand, Holmes states there are four functions of question tag namely to express uncertainty, to show positive politeness, to soften the negative
comment, and to show the confrontational things Holmes, 1992, pp. 318-319. Question tags are the second hedging device called ‘syntactic device’ listed by
Lakoff 19732004 which may express uncertainty. In this research, the researcher found only one question tag used by the
blogger A out of three bloggers. The evidence was: ‘We stayed for two nights to experience the difference; sleeping inside the airstream and showering in the open
air, why not
?’. The used of question tag clearly showed that blogger A was not certain about the plan of sleeping in the middle of dessert. It was because she
stated that it was her first time did something new like that. It also showed that she was uncertain about that plan as the researcher
believed that she always stayed in luxurious hotels as a part of her jetset lifestyle which showed by her blog posts previously. In the contrary, the use of why not
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here by the researcher‘s interpretation was also to express how excited she was
about enjoying life in the middle of dessert without any five-stars hotel facilities.
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CHAPTER III CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Kategori