AN ANALYSIS OF SLANG FOUND IN THE NOVEL “A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE” BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

AN ANALYSIS OF SLANG FOUND IN THE NOVEL “A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE” BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

THESIS

By:

SISKA PRIHAYUNIATI 09360171

ENGLISH DEPATMENT

AUGUST 2013

AN ANALYSIS OF SLANG FOUND IN THE NOVEL “A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE” BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

THESIS

By:

SISKA PRIHAYUNIATI 09360171

ENGLISH DEPATMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF MALANG

AN ANALYSIS OF SLANG FOUND IN THE NOVEL “A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE” BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

THESIS

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education

By:

SISKA PRIHAYUNIATI 09360171

ENGLISH DEPATMENT

AUGUST 2013

This thesis written by Siska Prihayuniati approved on August 1st, 2013.

By

Advisor II, Advisor I,

This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of Faculty of Teacher

Training and Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang

and accepted as one of the requirements to achieve

Sarjana Degree in English Education

on August1st, 2013

Approved by:

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

University of Muhammadiyah Malang

Dean,

Dr. M. Syaifuddin, M.M.

Examiners: Signatures:

1. Dr. Sudiran, M.Hum 1. ……….

2. Drs. Mas’udi, M.Ed 2. ……….. 3. Dra. Thathit Manon Andini, M.Hum 3. ………..

4. Puji Sumarsono, M.Ed., M.Pd 4. ………..

MOTTO AND DEDICATION

Everything needs a struggle to get success and

never waste any chance that we have.

DEDICATION:

I dedicated this thesis to:  Allah SWT.

 Mrs. Thathit Manon A, M.Hum and Mr. Puji Sumarsono, M.Ed, M.Pd.

 My beloved dad “Bapak

Parmono” and Mom “Ibu

Sumini”, my lovely brother “Dek Rio.

 My beloved dear Satria Jati Perdana.

 My beloved friends who always give me spirit (Nunun, Lenna, Najihah, Refi, wak pren).

 All my friends of English Department 2009.

 And for all who always pray and support me, and gives their help to finish this thesis, thank you… iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Alhamdulillah wa syukurillah, all grateful prays to the great loving Allah SWT, the almighty and the most merciful, for his gift to the writer in finishing the thesis. My Lord sends salutations upon Muhammad SAW and upon the family of Muhammad SAW.

The writer would like to express her deep appreciation and gratitude to Dra. Thathit Manon Andini, M.Hum and Puji Sumarsono, M.Ed., M.Pd their supervisor, for their patience, willingness and invaluable guidance as well as suggestion for the completion of this thesis writing.

The researcher dedicated her deepest and whole hearted gratitude to her beloved mother, Sumini, beloved father, Parmono for their love, patience, and also to her brothers, Rionaldi, for his pray and of course to her close friend Satria Jati Perdana for his patience and support for her.

Finally, her deepest and special thank goes to all of her best friends whose names cannot be mentioned here one by one, to all her friends in campus and many people who know her, thank you very much. She will always remember you all the time. May Allah bless you all, amin.

Malang, 1st August 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL ... i

LEGALIZATION ... ii

MOTTO AND DEDICATION ... iii

ABSTRACT ... iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study ... 1

1.2 Statement of Problems ... 4

1.3 Purpose of the Study ... 4

1.4 Scope and Limitation ... 4

1.5 Significance of Study ... 5

1.6 Definition of Key Terms ... 5

CHAPTER II : REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Language and Society ... 6

2.2 Sociolinguistic ... 7

2.3 Language and Varieties ... 8

2.3.1 Dialect ... 9

2.3.2 Idiolect... 9

2.3.3 Register ... 9 vi

2.3.4. Style ... 10

2.3.5 Jargon ... 10

2.3.6 Colloquial ... 11

2.3.7 Slang ... 11

2.3.7.1 Characteristic of Slang ... 12

2.3.7.2 Categories of Slang ... 15

2.3.7.3 Reason in Using Slang ... 15

2.4 Meaning in Language ... 18

2.5 Slang in literature ... 19

2.6 Novel ... 20

2.7 A Streetcar Named Desire ... 20

CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design ... 21

3.2 Object of Study ... 22

3.3 Research Approach ... 22

3.3.1 Mimetic Approach ... 22

3.3.2 Pragmatic Approach ... 23

3.3.3 Expressive Approach ... 23

3.3.4 Objective Approach ... 23

3.4 Data Collection... 24

CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Research Finding ... 25 4.1.1 Slang in “A Streetcar Named Desire” novel ... 25 4.1.2 Meaning slang in “A Streetcar Named Desire” novel ... 40 4.1.3 Characteristic slang in “A Streetcar Named Desire” novel .. 48 4.2 Discussion ... 52 4.3 Lessons ... 54 CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusions ... 55 5.2 Suggestions ... 56 REFERENCES

REFERENCES

Andersson, Lars. Trudgill, Petter. 1990. Bad Languange. USA: Basil Blackwell Ltd. Ary, Donald. 2002. Introduction to Research in Education, Seventh Edition. USA:

Thomson Wadsworth.

Chaedar Alwasilah, A. 1985. Sosiologi Bahasa. Bandung: Angkasa.

Fromkin, Victoria. Robert Rodman and Nina Hyams. 2003. An Introduction to

Language Seventh Edition. USA:Thomson Wadsworth.

Graffith JR. Kelley. 1982. Writing Essay about Literature. USA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Kennedy, XJ.1983. Literature, an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, (3rd Ed.). Toronto: Little Broen and Company.

Macmillan. 1984. Appreciating Literature. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Oxford university. 1983.Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary of The English: Third

Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

Sari, Nirmala. 1988. An Introduction to Linguistic. Jakarta: Depdikbud.

Trask, R.L. 1999. Key Concept in Language and Linguistic. New York: Routladge. Wardhaugh, Ronald. 1986. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. UK: Blackwell

Publishing.

Wardhaugh, Ronald. 1998. Introduction to Linguistics. USA. Mc. Graw Hill.

Wardaugh, Ronald. 2002. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Fourth Edition. UK: Blackwell.

Wulandari, Ika. 2005. Study on Slang Words Used in” The Last Picture Show”

Novel. Unpublished Thesis. Malang: UMM

Http://www.whshonorg.wikispaces.com/A+Streetcar+Named+Desire. Accessed on

Sunday, 18th November 2012 at 06 am.

Http://www. Thefreeslangdictionary.com. Accessed on Monday, 25th June 2013 at 09

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses about background of the study, statement of problems, purpose of study, significance of study, scope and limitation, and definition of key terms.

1.1 Background of Study

Language is an important means of communication. It has a social function as a tool to communicate between human beings. It is required by people to fulfill their needs as individual creatures and as a part of communication itself. By the language, people can transfer and show their feelings, thoughts, ideas, emotion to another and they use a language to get information from others.

The ways people communicate will reflect a particular community. People speak their language that can be understood by their community. Many linguists realize that social aspect causes language variation. Language variations are not only as a sign differentiating its speech community but also as an indication of the language situation and reflects purposes, topics, norms, and mode of language. Language variation is also created to make language more interesting and unique. One of language variations, which is very unique, is slang.

According to Trask (1999), slang is informal language and temporary linguistic forms. The using of language is depending on the circumstance. Most obviously, people speak differently informal context. When speaking informally people use slang. Slang is used to make the language to be more creative, colorful and wonderful. Speakers and writer show enormous creativity in their use of slang, and it is often the source of a good deal humor. As a general rule, slang is not used in formal spoken language, or in writing.

Even though slang is a typical of spoken language, there is one type of written material, such as novels and short stories which contains quite a lot of slang especially in the dialogues. Mostly, the author use slang to depict the story that he or she wants to create. According to Wulandari (2005), the slang words used by the author are to describe the character and the situation in the story.

Novel is a book length story in prose, whose author tries to create the sense that, while we read, we experience actual life (Kennedy, 1983:180). In fact, novel is presented to give enjoyment and fun to the reader, it also gives information about daily life.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” novel is written by Tennese William in

1947. This novel tells about two women who come from an educated and wealthy background, Blanche Dubois and Stella Kowalski. Blanche is a psychologically troubled school teacher who has lost the family and her house (Belle Reve). Blanche intends to stay at Stella’s apartment for an unspecified but likely lengthy period of time. Stella lives with her husband in New Orleans

in a duplex apartment called Elysian Fields. Stanley is Stella’s husband who is loyal to his wife and heartlessly cruel to Blanche. In the apartment Blanche met

with Stanley’s friend, Harold Mitch. Mitch is more sensitive and more

gentlemanly than Stanley. In this novel, the conversations between one character and another are using informal diction. There is the example of

informal diction; “H’lo”, She’s gettin’ a drink,” What’s a matter with Eun – uss?”.

The previous research related to this research was about Slang Words

used in “The Last Picture Show” Novel. That research was written by Ika

Wulandari, she was student in University of Muhammadiyah Malang. She analyzed slang words in romance novel. It was found out that there were two types of slang words used in that novel. They were common slang and in group slang. The slang words that were used in that novel were mostly in group slang words.

Because the previous research analyzed slang in romance novel, the

writer want to investigate the slang found in historical novel ”A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennese Williams that consist of 142 pages. The writer chose this novel because it used a lot of slang that are fashionable used by the characters to communicate with others. Besides, the characters used slang to make their conversation more interesting, creative and attractive.

1.2 Statements of Problem

Based on the background of the study, the writer formulates the statements of problems as follow:

1. What slangs are found in the novel “A Streetcar Named Desire”?

2. What are the meanings of slang found in the novel “A Streetcar Named

Desire”?

3. What are the characteristics of slang found in the novel “A Streetcar

Named Desire”?

1.3 Purposes of Study

Related to the problems above, the writer has purposes as follows: 1. To find out slang in the novel “A Streetcar Named Desire”.

2. To know the meaning of slang found in the novel “A Streetcar Named

Desire”.

3. To know the characteristics of slang found in novel “A Streetcar Named

Desire”?

1.4 Scope and Limitation

The scope in this study is slang in the novel. Moreover, this study is limited the investigation only in slang used by the characters to communicate

1.5 Significance of Study

The writer expect that the study meaningfully contribute to sociolinguistics theoretically and practically to increase the understanding of slang and its characteristic. Theoretically, the study can learn more about language, especially concerning slang in novel. Practically, it can be used as a reference for the students who want to analyze slang as object in their thesis writing, and are interested in studying slangs in novel.

1.6 Definition of Key Terms

There are several key terms, which are clarified in this study. The writer defines the key terms as follows:

1. Analysis is the study of something by examining its part and their relationship ( Oxford Dictionary, 1983)

2. Slang is informal and often ephemeral linguistic forms (Trask, 1999:279). 3. Novel is a book length story in prose, whose author tries to create the

sense that, while we read, we experience actual life (Kennedy 1983:180) 4. A Streetcar Named Desire is the title of novel that uses slang in its writing

styles. It is written in omniscient third person, which means the narrator is not character in the story and they know everything that happens in the story and how each character feels.

REFERENCES

Andersson, Lars. Trudgill, Petter. 1990. Bad Languange. USA: Basil Blackwell Ltd. Ary, Donald. 2002. Introduction to Research in Education, Seventh Edition. USA:

Thomson Wadsworth.

Chaedar Alwasilah, A. 1985. Sosiologi Bahasa. Bandung: Angkasa.

Fromkin, Victoria. Robert Rodman and Nina Hyams. 2003. An Introduction to Language Seventh Edition. USA:Thomson Wadsworth.

Graffith JR. Kelley. 1982. Writing Essay about Literature. USA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Kennedy, XJ.1983. Literature, an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, (3rd Ed.). Toronto: Little Broen and Company.

Macmillan. 1984. Appreciating Literature. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Oxford university. 1983.Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary of The English: Third Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

Sari, Nirmala. 1988. An Introduction to Linguistic. Jakarta: Depdikbud.

Trask, R.L. 1999. Key Concept in Language and Linguistic. New York: Routladge. Wardhaugh, Ronald. 1986. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. UK: Blackwell

Publishing.

Wardhaugh, Ronald. 1998. Introduction to Linguistics. USA. Mc. Graw Hill.

Wardaugh, Ronald. 2002. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Fourth Edition. UK: Blackwell.

Wulandari, Ika. 2005. Study on Slang Words Used in” The Last Picture Show” Novel. Unpublished Thesis. Malang: UMM

Http://www.whshonorg.wikispaces.com/A+Streetcar+Named+Desire. Accessed on Sunday, 18th November 2012 at 06 am.

Http://www. Thefreeslangdictionary.com. Accessed on Monday, 25th June 2013 at 09 am.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses about background of the study, statement of problems, purpose of study, significance of study, scope and limitation, and definition of key terms.

1.1 Background of Study

Language is an important means of communication. It has a social function as a tool to communicate between human beings. It is required by people to fulfill their needs as individual creatures and as a part of communication itself. By the language, people can transfer and show their feelings, thoughts, ideas, emotion to another and they use a language to get information from others.

The ways people communicate will reflect a particular community. People speak their language that can be understood by their community. Many linguists realize that social aspect causes language variation. Language variations are not only as a sign differentiating its speech community but also as an indication of the language situation and reflects purposes, topics, norms, and mode of language. Language variation is also created to make language more interesting and unique. One of language variations, which is very unique, is slang.

According to Trask (1999), slang is informal language and temporary linguistic forms. The using of language is depending on the circumstance. Most obviously, people speak differently informal context. When speaking informally people use slang. Slang is used to make the language to be more creative, colorful and wonderful. Speakers and writer show enormous creativity in their use of slang, and it is often the source of a good deal humor. As a general rule, slang is not used in formal spoken language, or in writing.

Even though slang is a typical of spoken language, there is one type of written material, such as novels and short stories which contains quite a lot of slang especially in the dialogues. Mostly, the author use slang to depict the story that he or she wants to create. According to Wulandari (2005), the slang words used by the author are to describe the character and the situation in the story.

Novel is a book length story in prose, whose author tries to create the sense that, while we read, we experience actual life (Kennedy, 1983:180). In fact, novel is presented to give enjoyment and fun to the reader, it also gives information about daily life.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” novel is written by Tennese William in

1947. This novel tells about two women who come from an educated and wealthy background, Blanche Dubois and Stella Kowalski. Blanche is a psychologically troubled school teacher who has lost the family and her house (Belle Reve). Blanche intends to stay at Stella’s apartment for an unspecified but likely lengthy period of time. Stella lives with her husband in New Orleans

in a duplex apartment called Elysian Fields. Stanley is Stella’s husband who is loyal to his wife and heartlessly cruel to Blanche. In the apartment Blanche met

with Stanley’s friend, Harold Mitch. Mitch is more sensitive and more

gentlemanly than Stanley. In this novel, the conversations between one character and another are using informal diction. There is the example of

informal diction; “H’lo”, She’s gettin’ a drink,” What’s a matter with Eun – uss?”.

The previous research related to this research was about Slang Words used in “The Last Picture Show” Novel. That research was written by Ika Wulandari, she was student in University of Muhammadiyah Malang. She analyzed slang words in romance novel. It was found out that there were two types of slang words used in that novel. They were common slang and in group slang. The slang words that were used in that novel were mostly in group slang words.

Because the previous research analyzed slang in romance novel, the

writer want to investigate the slang found in historical novel ”A Streetcar

Named Desire” by Tennese Williams that consist of 142 pages. The writer

chose this novel because it used a lot of slang that are fashionable used by the characters to communicate with others. Besides, the characters used slang to make their conversation more interesting, creative and attractive.

1.2 Statements of Problem

Based on the background of the study, the writer formulates the statements of problems as follow:

1. What slangs are found in the novel “A Streetcar Named Desire”?

2. What are the meanings of slang found in the novel “A Streetcar Named

Desire”?

3. What are the characteristics of slang found in the novel “A Streetcar

Named Desire”?

1.3 Purposes of Study

Related to the problems above, the writer has purposes as follows:

1. To find out slang in the novel “A Streetcar Named Desire”.

2. To know the meaning of slang found in the novel “A Streetcar Named

Desire”.

3. To know the characteristics of slang found in novel “A Streetcar Named

Desire”?

1.4 Scope and Limitation

The scope in this study is slang in the novel. Moreover, this study is limited the investigation only in slang used by the characters to communicate

1.5 Significance of Study

The writer expect that the study meaningfully contribute to sociolinguistics theoretically and practically to increase the understanding of slang and its characteristic. Theoretically, the study can learn more about language, especially concerning slang in novel. Practically, it can be used as a reference for the students who want to analyze slang as object in their thesis writing, and are interested in studying slangs in novel.

1.6 Definition of Key Terms

There are several key terms, which are clarified in this study. The writer defines the key terms as follows:

1. Analysis is the study of something by examining its part and their relationship ( Oxford Dictionary, 1983)

2. Slang is informal and often ephemeral linguistic forms (Trask, 1999:279). 3. Novel is a book length story in prose, whose author tries to create the

sense that, while we read, we experience actual life (Kennedy 1983:180) 4. A Streetcar Named Desire is the title of novel that uses slang in its writing

styles. It is written in omniscient third person, which means the narrator is not character in the story and they know everything that happens in the story and how each character feels.