7 women a lot, has less brain intellect of all and he is obsessed by becoming a big
actor and getting famous. Phoebe Lisa Kudrow, the one who has the most complicated family problems, is bad at singing. She believes that she has the sixth
sense, which is not, and she sometimes gives unexpected funny comments and reactions.
B. Research Problems
Based on the background above, the research problems on are: 1.
How are breaking maxims applied in verbal humor on TV-sitcom Friends?
2. How is the acceptability of Indonesian subtitles of breaking maxims in verbal
humor on TV-sitcom Friends?
C. Problem Limitation
This research focused on the breaking maxims, which includes violating a maxim, flouting a maxim, opting out a maxim, infringing a maxim, and
suspending a maxim in verbal humor of sitcom Friends. Two things were
discussed in this research. The first one was a discussion on verbal humor in general. The second was a discussion on the acceptability of Indonesian subtitles.
The subtitles were examined using three characteristics of ideal translations from Larson 1984. The data were taken from three episodes of
Friends session 2.
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D. Research Objectives
The objectives of this research are: 1.
To see how breaking maxim are applied in verbal humor on TV-sitcom Friends.
2. To see how the acceptability of Indonesian subtitles of breaking maxims in
verbal humor on TV-sitcom Friends.
E. Research Benefits
The writer expects this research to contribute academic and practical field: 1. Academic Benefit:
a. This research will contribute to pragmatics study, especially related to Grice’s Cooperative Principle, verbal humor, and humor translation.
b. The research finding will enrich the theories of pragmatics related to Grice’s Cooperative Principle, verbal humor, and humor translation.
c. This research can be used as an academic reference by other researchers to conduct further studies dealing with maxims, verbal humor, and humor
translation.
2. Practical Benefit: a. The students would be able to learn how pragmatics theories take part in the
creation of verbal humor in TV-Sitcoms. b. The teachers would know better about the use of breaking maxims in
creating verbal humor on purpose.
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F. Definition of Terms
