Background of The Study

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of The Study

Using English as a foreign language is not easy. In learning English, learners generally could encounter many kinds of difficulties. One of them is learning question words and its function and position. Question word is related to interrogative sentence. Languages may use both syntax and prosody to distinguish interrogative sentences which pose questions from declarative sentences which state propositions. Syntax refers to grammatical changes, such as changing word order or adding question words; prosody refers to changes in intonation while speaking. One of kind of word that is frequently used in communication is question words that are used to ask information about time, place, reason, people, things, and etc. Question word constitute a word that is used by any language user to make communication longer. A question word, in particular, was chosen as the substance topic of this thesis because it has high frequency of use in speaking and writing activities. From the methodological point of view, it is known that there are many ways of studying a language. One of them is by contrasting two or more languages. Contrastive linguistics is one of the areas of an applied linguistics which has a significant role in the teaching of second language. The writer wants to contrast “English and Muko-Muko Question Words”. It means that the writer wants to find out the similarities and differences of English and Muko-Muko question words. Universitas Sumatera Utara Muko-Muko language is the language that used by Muko-Muko society. The writer write this thesis for growing up the Muko-Muko language for many people, because according to the writer, Muko-Muko can become a metropolis city. Muko-Muko has many beaches that are very beautiful. And one of the beautiful beaches that ever visited by the writer, is Ipuh Beach. Ipuh Beach has its estuary that flow down to the sea. Some people who learn English, do not know what question words and its classification, formation, and function are. It might be due to many factors. Language functions as a tool of human communication. So whether or not English and Muko-Muko have different structures should be known in order to developed the knowledge, science and technology. In English, there are nine Question words. Most of the Question Words are presented with WH-Question. And the aim of the Question Words is for getting the information. Muko-Muko language has eight Question words and all of them used to get the information as well. The phenomenon in Muko-Muko language that attract attention of the writer’s curiosity is about the languages that exist in the regions of Indonesia. And Muko-Muko language is the language that almost similar to Malay, Java and Minang language. Muko-Muko district is one of the districts in the province of Bengkulu, Indonesia, as a division of North Bengkulu. The administration of Muko-Muko district is bordered by: • North side of West Sumatra Province. • East of the Kerinci Seblat National Park TNKS and Jambi Province. • West side with the Indonesian Ocean. • Southern borders with the North Bengkulu. Universitas Sumatera Utara Administratively, Muko-Muko district is divided into 15 sub-district, 132 villages and 4 urban villages. In 2006, it had a population of 131.984 people, made up of 67.721 men and 64.263 woman with population density accounted for 33km². Most residents of Muko-Muko are migrants from Minang, Java, Sunda, and so forth. Therefore, Bengkulu including Muko-Muko since the Dutch colonial era to become a Land of Hope for the people outside of Bengkulu. Of that number 37.4 Javanese, Sundanese 6.3 , 5.4 and the rest of Bali, Minang, Bugis, Malay, Rejang, Serawai, Lembak, as well as others. So, Muko- Muko language is nearly similar to Malay language, Minang language and Java language.

1.2 Problem of the Study The problems of analysis in this thesis are: