B. Previous Study
Previous study gives contribution along the process of understanding the case and leads the researcher to find the relevant theories. There are two previous
studies utilized as the reading materials before the researcher finds the relevant theories to strengthen her analysis.
The researcher presents two studies here considering their similarities to her study. They are the study of The Role of Convesational Maxims, Implicature,
and Presupposition in the Creation of Humor: an Analysis of Woody Allen’s Anything Else and A Pragmatic analysis of American Humor in Spongebob
Squarepants TV Series as a Reflection of American Social Issues. The Role of Conversational Maxims, Implicature, and Presupposition in
the Creation of Humor: an Analysis of Woody Allen’s Anything Else is the study conducted by Ramiro 2011. The study aims at discovering various pragmatics
concepts such as implicature, conversational maxims, and presupposition in combination with rhetorical devices and humor theories as reflected in the movie
Anything Else. The second previous study is conducted by Intan Pradita 2010 entitled
A Pragmatic analysis of American Humor in Spongebob Squarepants TV Series as a Reflection of American Social Issues. The study aims at identifying and
explaining the employment of maxim flouting to reveal American social issues in Spongebob Squarepants TV series.
The previous studies are different from this study in terms of the focus and object. Ramiro study focuses to analyze Woody Allen’s transcript by finding
out possible pragmatics analysis and rhetorical devices that can be done. Meanwhile, this study focuses on maxim flouting as well as rhetorical devices to
create humor. The second previous study, conducted by Intan Pradita, analyzes maxim
flouting and relates them to American social issues. This study is different from Intan’s study because this study focuses on maxim flouting and rhetorical devices
to create humor. Moreover, the researcher here uses American sitcom while Intan’s object is a cartoon.
C. Conceptual Framework
This study presents analysis of humor involving language in a sitcom Modern Family Season 1, i.e., Episodes 1-3. To achieve the objectives, the
analysis consists of two viewpoints: pragmatics and rhetorics. There are five disciplines under pragmatics: deixis, conversational implicature, cooperative
principles, and speech act. The pragmatics view is based on the assumption that humor breaks cooperative principles. Pragmatically, humor appears when there is
any failure to observe a maxim. Therefore, when speaker intentionally fails to follow cooperative principles, she flouts maxim to create humor. There are four
types of maxim flouting: quality, quantity, manner, and relation.
Additionally, to see humorous effect from maxim flouting, humor language is also analyzed from rhetorics. In this humor study, rhetorics is defined
as the study of using language to persuade laughter. Rhetorically, humor is created by using rhetorical devices. According to Berger, rhetorical devices in
humor are used by speaker to manipulate language to persuade laughter. There are totally fifteen types of rhetorical devices: allusion, bombast, definition,
exaggeration, facetiousness, insult, infantilism, irony, misunderstanding, over literalness, pun and wordplay, repartee, ridicule, satire, and sarcasm.
Together Pragmatics and rhetorics are able to answer the question of how humor in Modern Family Season 1 is created. Humor occurs when speaker flouts
maxim by employing rhetorical devices.
Pragmatics
Context Language
Rhetorical Devices in Humor
1. Allusion
2. Bombast
3. Definition
4. Exaggeration
5. Facetiousness
6. Insult
7. Infantilism
8. Irony
9. Misunderstanding
10. Overliteralnes
11. Punwordplay
12. Repartee
13. Ridicule
14. Sarcasm
15. Satire
Deixis
Conversational Implicature
Speech Act
Cooperative Principles
Non ‐Observance of
Maxim
Observance of Maxim
Violating Opting
Out Flouting
Flouting of Quality Maxim
Humor
Flouting of Relation Maxim
Flouting of Manner Maxim
Script of Modern Family Season 1
Flouting of Quantity Maxim
Infringing
Rhetorics
Figure 2. Analytical Construct 37
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