HUMOR REPRESENTATIONS IN PILKEY’S CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE ATTACK OF THE TALKING TOILETS: A VERBAL AND VISUAL ANALYSIS.

(1)

HUMOR REPRESENTATIONS IN PILKEY’S

CAPTAIN

UNDERPANTS AND THE ATTACK OF THE TALKING

TOILETS: A VERBAL AND VISUAL ANALYSIS

A RESEARCH PAPER

Submitted to the Department of English Education of the Faculty of Language

and Arts Education of Indonesia University of Education in partial fulfillment of requirements for Sarjana Sastra Degree

By: Susan Santika

1004543

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION


(2)

PAGE OF APPROVAL

SUSAN SANTIKA

HUMOR REPRESENTATIONS IN PILKEY’S CAPTAIN

UNDERPANTS AND THE ATTACK OF THE TALKING

TOILETS: A VERBAL AND VISUAL ANALYSIS

Approved by:

Main Supervisor

Dr. R. Safrina Noorman, M.A NIP. 196207291987032003

Co-Supervisor

Nia Nafisah, S.S.,M.Pd. NIP. 195703101987031001

The Head of Department of English Education Faculty of Language and Arts Education

Indonesia University of Education

Prof. Dr. Didi Suherdi, M.Ed NIP.19621 1011987121001


(3)

“Humour

is a way of saying something serious.”

-T.S. Eliot (1888 – 1965)

For My Beloved

Dad, Mom

and for those who want to write

children’s humorous books


(4)

STATEMENT

I certify that this paper entitled Humor Representations in Pilkey’s Captain

Underpants “The Attack of the talking toilets”: A Verbal and Visual Analysis is

my own work. I am aware that I have quoted some ideas and statements from other sources which are acknowledged and stated properly.

Bandung, August 2014

Susan Santika 1004543


(5)

PREFACE

All praise to Allah SWT, the only prerogative of the heart, who has given power to the researcher for accomplishing this paper.

This research paper entitled Humor Representations in Pilkey’s

Captain Underpants “The Attack of the talking toilets”: A Verbal and Visual

Analysis is submitted as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for Sarjana Sastra Degree of English Education Department of FPBS at Indonesia

University of Education. The researcher realizes that there are weaknesses in this paper. Therefore, any comments and suggestion are welcomed.

Hopefully, this paper could contribute to research on children literature, humor and multimodality.

Bandung, August 2014

Susan Santika 1004543


(6)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A paper on humor dissected by multimodality is challenging to write. Therefore, the researcher would like to thank Allah SWT, the only prerogative of the heart, for guidance given through the heart and for acceding all prayers so that this paper can be accomplished. The researcher also would like to thank Dr. R. Safrina Noorman, M.A, as the main supervisor, for her precious time in guiding, encouraging and supporting the researcher during the paper writing; Nia Nafisah, S.S, M.Pd, as the co-supervisor, who first suggested the researcher to conduct this study and gave her precious time, guidance, and knowledge during the paper writing; Budi Hermawan, S.Pd.,M.P.C. who gave the researcher corrections in ‘painful’ data analysis; other lecturers of English Department of UPI who have given precious knowledge; Pak Irvan, Pak Engkus and Pak Parhan who have provided the administration services and all participants involved in data collection.

Moreover, the researcher would like to thank my parents, my sisters, my brother, Riska, Merry, Raka, Fatchu, Sigit, Gya, Eggy, Abe, Dede, Heni, Nadivha, Mia, Amanda, Ira, Novi, Cucu, Erni, April, Nurul, Ucis, Wiwit and my little brothers in Assalam Junior High school, for prayers and support during the difficult days of my paper-writing; Tika Annisa Lestari Koeswandi my benevolent booster who has kindly helped and supported the researcher; Rika Vennia, Nurjanah, and Zulfikar Reza my hilarious best friends, thanks for the joy and the madness during my college life; my warm, lovable class, English Literature A 2010, keep sturdy like a grove of bamboos!; My tumblr readers who kindly visited my account when I did my paper-writing-escape; Au Bain-Marie’s proof readers and readers to be, thanks for encouraging and waiting me to accomplish my paper soon so that I can edit and publish my novel sooner. Last but not least, the researcher would like to thank Raden Firlan Firmansyah, to me you are Captain Underpants and Mr. Krupp as well, thanks for encouraging me to accomplish my paper without your Wedgie Magie power.


(7)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

Table of Contents

PAGE OF APPROVAL……...……….i

STATEMENT ... .iii

PREFACE ... ..iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...………v

ABSTRACT ... vi

Table of Contents ... vii

List of Figures and Examples... ix

List of Tables ...x

CHAPTER I ... Error! Bookmark not defined. INTRODUCTION ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1 Background of Study ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2 Research questions ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.3 Aims of study ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.4 Significance of Study ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.5 Scope of the Study ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.6 Research method ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.7 Clarification of the Terms ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.8 Organization of the Paper ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER II ... Error! Bookmark not defined. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1 The Need for Humor in Children’s Literature . Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.2 Theories of Humor ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.3 Children’s Need for Picturebooks ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4 Multimodality... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4.1 Analysis of transitivity ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4.2 Analysis of representational meanings ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.5 Characterizations ... Error! Bookmark not defined.


(8)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

2.6 Related Studies ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

CHAPTER III ... Error! Bookmark not defined. RESEARCH METHOD ... 24 3.1 Research Design ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.2 Research Procedure ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1 The Table of Transitivity analysis ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.2 The Table of Representational meanings ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3 Synopsis ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER IV ... Error! Bookmark not defined. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1 The Findings ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.1 Superiority humor from verbal and visual analysis: analysis of transitivity and representations ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.1.1 Analysis of transitivity ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.1.2 Analysis of representational meanings ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.2 Incongruity humor from verbal and visual analysis: analysis of transitivity and representations ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.2.1 Analysis of transitivity ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.2.2 Analysis of representational meanings ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.2 Discussions ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER V ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. APPENDICES ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Appendix 1: A List of Participants and humorous events ...………...59 Appendix 2: The Table of Humorous Events in Verbal and Visual Modes ....….60 Appendix 3: Transitivity Analysis of the Verbal Modes ………..75

Appendix 4: Representational Meanings of the Visual Modes …….…………...99 REFERENCES...133


(9)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

List of Figures and Examples

Example 1: material processes ...32

Example 2: Material processes that happen in mental processes ...32

Example 3: Mental processes ...33

Figure 1: A transactional action and transactional reaction process ...36

Figure 2: Thought Bubble vector ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 3: A transactional action process that happens in a mental process ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 4: Asymmetrical alignment ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Example 4: Material processes showing contrary attitudes Error! Bookmark not defined. Example 5: A set of actors in material processes .. Error! Bookmark not defined. Example 6: Contradicting attitudes in verbal processes ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Example 7: Unexpected connections in verbal processes ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Example 8: Contradicting attitudes in behavioural processes ...45

Example 9: Unexpected response in behavioural processes ...46 Example 10: A set of Carriers in relational processes ... Error! Bookmark not

defined.

Example 11: Unexpected connections in existential processes . Error! Bookmark not defined.

Figure 5: A double-headed vector showing unexpected response in narrative representations ... Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 6: Degradation in conceptual representations ... Error! Bookmark not

defined.

Figure 7: Degradation in conceptual representations ... Error! Bookmark not defined.


(10)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

List of Tables

Table 2.1 Children and young adults’ needs for stories (Xeni, 2010) ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 3.1 Transitivity analysis of the verbal modes ……….…………..…..28 Table 3.2 Representational meanings of the visual modes ….………...……...…28 Appendix 1: A List of Participants and humorous events ...………...59 Appendix 2: The Table of Humorous Events in Verbal and Visual Modes ....….60 Appendix 3: Transitivity Analysis of the Verbal Modes ………..75 Appendix 4: Representational Meanings of the Visual Modes …….…………...99


(11)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu


(12)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

REPRESENTASI HUMOR DALAM NOVEL CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS

AND THE ATTACK OF THE TALKING TOILETS KARYA DAVE PILKEY:

ANALISIS VERBAL DAN VISUAL

HUMOR REPRESENTATONS IN PILKEY’S CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND

THE ATTACK OF THE TALKING TOILETS: A VERBAL AND VISUAL ANALYSIS

Susan Santika (Email: sankausan@gmail.com), R. Safrina Noorman1, Nia Nafisah2

Department of English Literature, Faculty of Language and Arts Education, Indonesia University of Education

ABSTRAK

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menunjukan representasi humor dalam Captain

Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999) karya Pilkey dengan

menggabungkan teori Systemic Functional Grammmar dari Halliday (2004), teori pembacaan gambar dari Kress dan Van Leeuwen (2006), dan kategori humor dari Monro (1988). Hasil analisis verbal dan visual menunjukkan bahwa ada dua tipe humor yang ditemukan dalam cerita: superiority, incongruity. Dalam mode verbal, humor superiority ditunjukkan dalam analisis transitivity; sementara dalam mode visual, ditunjukkan melalui transactional action processes dalam

conceptual representations. Selain itu, humor incongruity sebagian besar

ditunjukkan oleh tokoh utama yang memiliki peran ganda sebagai seorang kepala sekolah dan pahlawan yang mengakibatkan adanya sikap bertentangan dan degradasi tokoh utama, dan hubungan tidak terduga. Dalam mode verbal, hal-hal tersebut ditunjukkan melalui lima proses dalam transitivity: proses material,

verbal, behavioural, relational, dan existential; sementara dalam mode visual

ditujukan melalui analytical dan symbolic processes dalam conceptual

representations. Dari temuan-temuan tersebut dapat dipelajari bahwa, pertama,

mode verbal dan visual dalam novel Captain Uderpants saling melengkapi satu sama lain dalam merepresentasikan humor. Kedua, ada dua tipe humor yang ditemukan dalam novel: superiority dan incongruity. Ketiga, cerita yang lucu memerlukan tokoh yang dinamis. Keempat, humor untuk anak-anak cenderung menertawakan orang dewasa.


(13)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

Kata Kunci: Systemic-functional grammar, reading images, humor, superiority,

incongruity

ABSTRACT

Combining Halliday’s (2004) Systemic Functional Grammar, Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) Reading images, and Monro’s (1988) categories of humor, this study aims to reveal humor representations in Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999). A verbal and visual analysis reveal two

types of humor in Monro’s categories: superiority and incongruity. In verbal modes, superiority humor is revealed through material and mental processes in transitivity analysis. Meanwhile, in visual modes, superiority humor is disclosed through transactional action processes and transactional reaction processes in narrative representations and is emphasized by asymmetrical alignment in conceptual representations. Moreover, incongruity humor is mostly represented through the main character with his double roles as a principal and Captain Underpants that lead to contradicting attitudes and degradation of the main character; and unexpected or twisted connections. The incongruity humor in verbal modes is represented through five types of processes in transitivity: material, verbal, behavioural, relational, and existential processes. Meanwhile, in visual modes, it is represented through analytical and symbolic processes in conceptual representations. Learning from the findings, this study reveals four issues. First, the verbal and visual modes in Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets complement one another in representing humor.

Second, there are two types of humor identified in the novel: superiority and incongruity. Third, a humorous story requires a dynamic character. Fourth, humor for children tends to ridicule adults.

Keywords: Systemic-functional grammar, reading images, humor, superiority, incongruity


(14)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

Humor and pictures are two things needed by children readers (Xeni, 2010; Gerrard, 2008). Humor can help children reduce fears (Xeni, 2010). In this case, the fears of children are “related to loneliness and isolation, supernatural phenomena and animals, noise and situations associated with noise, the school-life [such as] authority punishment or restrictions, supernatural events and beings, bodily injury, etc (ibid)” (Xeni, 2010, pp.1-2). In other words, humor in children‟s literature cannot be simply referred to humor which is just for fun but it provides a multi-purpose (Xeni, 2010). On the other hand, pictures in picturebooks can help children to go deeper in discovering meanings through pictures (Gerrard, 2008).

As a way to fulfill children‟s need of humor and pictures, it seems that humor is not only verbalized but is also visualized in children‟s picturebooks. In reference to Gerrard (2008), there are differences between the words picturebook and picture book. The word picturebook is more appropriate to be used as

based on the premise that pictures play an integral, crucial and undeniable role in children‟s reading comprehension. In short, [picturebooks] … that require children to be visually literate are not simply books with pictures, as picture book would seem to suggest, but books in which the words and pictures are inextricably linked (p.9).

One of picturebooks is Pilkey‟s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999). The novel contains words and pictures which are

inextricably linked. Written by an author-illustrator, the novel was chosen because it was justified as the most humorous novel among three novels (see Appendix 1). The readers who justified the novel are purposely read the texts by themselves as it is based on Sipe (cited in Gerrard, 2008) who argues that

when a teacher reads to a child (or group of children), the child‟s reaction to the text is framed by that particular reading of the text. If, on the other hand, the child is free to read the text for himself or herself then his or her


(15)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

reaction to the text and subsequent comprehension is a direct result of that child‟s perspective on the text alone (p.43).

Besides, illustrations in the novel which do not really portray reality are intended to encourage children to write and illustrate their own stories without concern for perfectionism (Pilkey, cited in Casey 2011). In other words, the novel is not only to entertain and to encourage children to love reading, but also to encourage children to start writing and illustrating their own stories without being afraid of „imperfection‟.

Humor can be analyzed verbally and visually. As a matter of fact, verbal and visual modes in a text cannot be separated since “visual component of a text (image) is an independently organized and structured message, connected with verbal text but not dependent on it.” (Kress and van Leeuwen, cited in Hermawan, 2011, p.140). Regarding this, Halliday‟s (2004) Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) and Kress and van Leeuwen‟s (2006) reading images can be employed to analyze the verbal and visual modes in the novel.

Deriving from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), Halliday‟s (2004) SFG consists of three metafunctions which are ideational, interpersonal, and textual. The three metafunctions are realized in three different structures. The first structure is Transitivity structures which indicate representational meaning. It consists of processes, participants and circumstances. The second structure is Mood structures which indicate interactional meaning. As an exchange between speaker or writer and audience, mood structures tell about what the clause is doing. The third structure is Theme structures which indicate the organization of the message. It tells about the relation between the clause, the discourse, and the context of situation (Halliday, 2004).

Adapting the Halliday‟s (2004) three metafunctions, Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) propose representational meanings for ideational metafunction, interactive meanings for interpersonal metafunction, and compositional meanings for textual metafunction. In terms of representational meanings, the visual analysis covers narrative representations and conceptual representations.


(16)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

[It] requires the identification of the represented participants (henceforth RPs), whether animate or inanimate, the processes or the activity described, the attributes or the qualities of the participants and, finally, the circumstances in which the action is being developed (Unsworth and Wheeler, as cited in Guijarro and Pinar Sanz, 2008, p. 1604).

To analyze interactive meanings, the visual analysis covers offer (information) and demand (goods or service), gaze of the participants, degrees of involvement, power relations between the viewer and the represented participants, and the degrees of social distance and intimacy (Guijarro and Pinar Sanz, 2008). Besides, in terms of compositional meanings, the visual analysis covers three aspects which are first, information value related to left-right, top-bottom, and centre-margin placement; second, visual salience related to size, colour, sharpness; and third, visual framing (Kress and van Leeuwen, Royce, Unsworth as cited in Guijarro and Pinar Sanz, 2008).

To support verbal and visual analysis of humorous events in the novel, Monro‟s theory of humor was employed in this study. Monro (1988) categorizes humor into three types:

1. Superiority: humor derives from the feeling of superiority over those who suffer misfortunes.

2. Incongruity: humor derives from the finding of “the inappropriate within the appropriate” and of unexpected connections between ideas. 3. Relief: humor derives from the feeling of relief which comes from the

sudden removal of strain or restraint.

A study on picture books was conducted by Meerbergen (2009) who analyzed verbal and visual components of Dutch Picture Books in Swedish Translation. She relies on Kress and van Leeuwen‟s (2006) theory of multimodal analysis which is integrated into Toury‟s (1995) descriptive model for translation analysis. She proposed that multimodal analysis which consists of verbal and visual analysis could be the part of translation analysis in translated picture books (Meerbergen, 2009).

Another study was conducted by Guijarro (2010) who analyzed verbal and visual modes to reveal interpersonal meanings of a picture book entitled The Tale


(17)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

of Peter Rabbit. The study employed Halliday‟s (2004) Systemic Functional Grammar and Kress and van Leeuwen‟s (2006) Visual Social Semiotics. The study reveals that the verbal component of the picture book does not indicate much interaction because there is high presence of declarative clauses throughout the verbal narrative sequences. However, the selection of illustrations in the book is made to create engagement with the viewer conveyed by visual mode related to contact, distance and perspective (Guijarro, 2010).

This study focuses on how humor is verbally and visually represented in a children novel entitled Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999). Combining Halliday‟s (2004) SFG, Kress and van Leeuwen‟s (2006) reading images theory, and Monro‟s (1988) theory of humor, this study employed descriptive qualitative approach in textual analysis to reveal verbal and visual representations of humor in Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking

Toilets (1999).

1.2 Research questions

This study has answered a research question: how is humor verbally and visually represented in Pilkey‟s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets

(1999)?

1.3 Aims of study

The aim of this study is to discover how humor is verbally and visually represented in Pilkey‟s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets

(1999).

1.4 Significance of Study

This study is significant to reveal verbal and visual representations of humor in Pilkey‟s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999). It is

also significant to reveal types of humor in the novels. The types of humor revealed in the novel can indicate the appropriateness of the novel for certain age groups of children readers.


(18)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

The result of the study is also expected to make contributions and input particularly for the development of literature subjects in English Department of Indonesia University of Education, in the field SFG, reading images, multimodality, and children‟s literature.

To society, for people who are interested in writing or illustrating books for children, this study is useful to represent humor in stories.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This study focuses on humor representations in Pilkey‟s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999). The scope of the study is limited to verbal

and visual analysis of humorous events in the novel.

In verbal analysis, Halliday‟s (2004) Systemic Functional Grammar was employed to analyze transitivity structures. Transitivity structures reveal types of processes and the participants involved in the processes. The types of processes and participants can reveal Monro‟s (1988) categories of humor: superiority, incongruity, and relief. The types of processes, the participants involved in the processes, in addition to the contexts of situation can indicate power among characters (Gallardo, 2006). In this study, the power relations indicate superiority humor through superior characters in the novel and incongruity humor through degradation of the superior characters.

Meanwhile, in visual analysis, Kress and van Leeuwen‟s (2006) reading images was employed to analyze representational meanings that consist of narrative and conceptual representations. The narrative representations are equal to transitivity analysis; meanwhile, the conceptual representations can emphasize the superiority of the participants through classificational processes, and the incongruity humor through attributes assigned to represented participants with their symbolic meanings.

The results of this study were interpreted to discover humor representations in Pilkey‟s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999).


(19)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

1.6 Research method

The present study employed a descriptive qualitative approach in textual analysis. Study that employed a descriptive qualitative method attempted to describe phenomena or subjects by using non-numerical data, such as interviews, case studies, or participant observation (Richard and Schmidt, 2002). Meanwhile, textual analysis of data

show[s] the set of cognitive models and conceptual schemata that actually generate the text and make it stand as a unified whole. These models can be attained only through a characterisation of what relations actually underlie the generation and organisation of the text. (Al-Sharafi, 2004, p. 126)

In addition, a purposive sampling method was employed to choose participants involved in data collection. The participants were chosen by considering age and demography factors to justify that the book analyzed in this study is the most humorous books and to mark humorous events in the most humorous book. The humorous events in visual modes were collected and were juxtaposed with humorous events in verbal modes that appeared on the same page (see Appendix 2). In analyzing the data, this study employed Halliday‟s (2004) SFG, Kress and van Leeuwen‟s(2006) reading images and Monro‟s (1988) humor categorizations.

1.7 Clarification of the Terms

Some key terms used in this study are as follows: 1. Children‟s literature

Children‟s literature refers to “all literature intended and produced for children” (Klingberg, cited in Wohlgemuth, 1998, p.7).

2. Picturebooks

Picturebooks “are not simply books with pictures, as picture book would seem to suggest, but books in which the words and pictures are inextricably linked” (Gerrard, 2008, p.9).


(20)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

Humor refers to “any message transmitted in action, speech, writing, images or music intended to produce a smile or a laugh” ( Bremmer and Roodenberg, cited in Mawter, 2005, p.2).

4. Types of humor

 Superiority: The pleasure of humor derives from the feeling of superiority over those who suffer misfortunes.

 Incongruity: The finding of “the inappropriate within the appropriate” and of unexpected connections between ideas.

 Relief: The feeling of relief comes from sudden removal of strain or restraint (Monro, 1988).

5. Theory of reading images

Reading images “describe[s] the way in which depicted elements – people, places and things –combine in visual „statements‟ of greater or lesser complexity and extension.” (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006, p.1).

1.8 Organization of the Paper This study is organized as follows:

Chapter one consists of an introduction which provides the information on the background of the study, research question, aims of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, research method, clarification of the terms and organization of the paper.

Chapter two consists of the theoretical reviews that are relevant to the present study. The theoretical reviews consist of Halliday‟s (2004) SFG (systemic functional grammar), Kress and van Leeuwen‟s (2006) reading images, and Monro‟s (1988) theory of humor.

Chapter three contains the methodology of the study including research design, research procedure, and synopsis.

Chapter four explains the findings of the study. It also discusses issues related to the findings.


(21)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

The last chapter, chapter five, concludes the discussions in the previous chapter. It gathers the important points of the findings and draws suggestions for further studies.


(22)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Research Design

This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach in textual analysis. Studies that employed a descriptive qualitative method attempt to describe phenomena or subjects by using non-numerical data, such as interviews, case studies, or participant observation (Richard and Schmidt, 2002). As such, the novel in this study described a phenomenon of humor which is verbally and visually represented in children novels. Textual analysis of data was employed to show the set of information and ideas that construct the text. It was achieved through a characterization of relations that underlie the organization of the text (Al-Sharafi, 2004). The results of the analysis were presented in the form of narration in addition to tables provided with brief explanations.

3.2Research Procedure

The procedure of this study consists of six steps, which are as follows: 1. Selecting a topic

The topic of this study, humor representations in Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and The Attack and The Talking toilets, was selected based on a concern that

humorous books for children are limited in Indonesia. Even though there are humorous books found in Indonesia, the contents of the books are not appropriate to the age of the children readers. By revealing humor representations in a best-selling novel written in the form of picturebooks, this study can contribute to give descriptions in writing appropriate humorous stories, especially, stories that are written in the form of picturebooks.


(23)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

In this step, a research question was formulated to be a guide of this study in revealing humor representations in verbal and visual modes in Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999).

3. Finding related studies

As an attempt to answer the research question, theoretical frameworks and the findings of related studies were collected. The related studies cover studies on multimodality, Halliday’s (2004) Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) reading images, and humor in literary study, especially that of Monro (1988).

4. Collecting the data

Data of this study were collected by several steps. The first step is selecting participants. The participants were selected to choose the most humorous novel and to identify humorous events in the form of pictures (visual modes) of the chosen novel. In selecting the participants, a purposive sampling method was employed. According to Battaglia (2011), the purposive sampling method produces ‘representative’ participants of a population by applying knowledge of the population to select in a non random way and decide important characteristics to be presented. In this study, the important characteristics of the participants are those who are involved as the intended readers of the novel and involved in Xeni’s (2010) second group of children readers. The participants chosen are school children from class 1 until class 6 and are in range of six until eleven years old. Moreover, by considering the demographic factor, the participants chosen are those who study in SDS Dian Kencana and SDN Tegalega Bandung.

After selecting the participants, the participants were asked to choose the most humorous novel of three novels:

 Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets

(1999)


(24)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

 Thaler’s The Author Visit from the Black Lagoon (2010)

The three humorous novels were selected based on the same genre (i.e humorous), the same theme (i.e adventurous), the same form of writing (i.e in the form of picturebooks and written in English), the average thickness of the novels (i.e not more than one hundred and fifty pages), and the ages of the intended readers (i.e children in range of six until eleven or twelve years old).

Moreover, the three novels were written by author-illustrators (i.e authors who illustrate their own books). By choosing picturebooks created by author-illustrators,

[it] helps to control for variation in text type and author’s purpose, since it is hard to determine whether or not an author and an illustrator working on the same text have the same goals and purposes for that particular text. [Besides, it] simply narrows down the vast list of possible picturebooks to include in such a study (Gerrard, 2008, p. 47).

There were nine participants who chose Captain Underpants as the most humorous book. Then, the participants who chose Captain Underpants were gathered to identify humorous events in the form of pictures (visual modes) of the novel.

The humorous events in the form of visual modes chosen by the participants were collected and were juxtaposed with humorous events in verbal modes that appeared on the same page (see Appendix 2). If a picture was accompanied by verbal modes that did not contain humorous events, the picture was not included to be analyzed.

5. Analyzing the data

According to Kress and van Leeuwen (2006), the visual modes were not dependent on the verbal modes so that both modes should be analyzed. In other words, the procedure of this analysis is called multimodality (Hermawan, 2013).

Multimodal analysis enables the verbal and visual modes to be analyzed by using Halliday’s (2004) transitivity analysis in Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) and Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) representational meanings in reading images. Transitivity structures are adapted by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) to


(25)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

be applied in visual analysis. Therefore, transitivity structures in SFG are equal to narrative and conceptual representations of representational structures in reading images (Hermawan, 2013; Andrade and de Oliveira Pimenta, 2011; Guijarro A. J., 2010; Motta-Roth and Nascimento, 2009; Guijarro and Pinar Sanz, 2008; Royce, 1999).

Both transitivity structures and representational structures reveal processes and participants involved in the processes. However, the difference lies in naming terms used in both structures. For example, participants in transitivity structures are called participants; meanwhile, participants in representational structures are called represented participants.

Transitivity analysis is usually employed in analyzing non literary text. However, it can be employed in analyzing literary work. In terms of analyzing humor in a novel, there are three types of humor proposed by Monro (1988) which are superiority, incongruity, and relief. The three types of humor are related to power relations between characters in a novel (Lin and Tan, 2010; Bardon, 2005). The analysis of transitivity in literary work can reveal power relations (Bilal, 2012; Gallardo, 2006). It shows who has more power of doing actions, and how this power is realized through the processes.

Moreover, Díaz (2014) adds that processes identified in transitivity analysis help to confirm the relationship between power and violence in narrative. The relationship between power and violence can produce humor. The violence here refers to actions done by either inferior characters or superior characters in the narrative that aim to make others suffer misfortunes. Both superior and inferior characters who do actions are considered as having power.

The characters in Captain Underpants are portrayed as powerful vs. non-powerful through their actions. Powerful characters are those who carry out actions in the narrative. Their actions are realized through verbs. Power that is distributed among the characters and that allows the characters to do (actions performed by whom and to whom they affect) shows representations of humor in the narrative. According to Ross (cited in Hassan, 2013), superior character as powerful characters can be the target of humor. In other words, the inferior


(26)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

characters are not always the target of humor. It is because humor also refers to an attack on characters in superior positions of power as the fight back of the victim.

In this study, the analysis of processes and participants in transitivity and representational meanings is essential to show the relationship between power, violence, and characters that produce humor in Captain Underpants. An example of verbal modes analyzed in transitivity analysis can be seen in this following table.

Table 3.1 Transitivity analysis of the verbal modes

Meanwhile, an example of visual modes analyzed in representational meanings can be seen in this following table.

Table 3.2 Representational meanings of the visual modes

No Verbal Modes

1. Come and See our hairy

armpits

material behavioural range

No. Visual Modes Narrative Representations Conceptual Representations

1.

 Non-transactional action

 Vector : the road running diagonally across the image space (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006)

 Actor : George and Harold skateboarding on the road  Goal : unclear, but the short

lines behind George and Harold imply that the funny words on the advertisement board are made by them.

 covert taxonomy

 carrier : George and Harold

 attribute : George – a tidy haircut, a shirt, a tie, short pants, a

skateboard, socks and shoes,

Harold – a bad haircut, a t-shirt, short pants, a skateboard, socks and shoes

 symbolic attributive : George – a tidy student


(27)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

6. Drawing conclusions

Conclusions were drawn regarding the findings of the study. Recommendations for further studies on multimodality and humor were also provided.

3.3 Synopsis

The objects of this study were humorous events in Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets (1999). Written in the form of picturebooks,

this novel contains verbal and visual modes of narrative sequences as the source of data. The novel tells about Captain Underpants who fought against talking toilets. The talking toilets came from a machine invented to compete in an annual Invention Convention. The machine called Patsy 2000 could make any one-dimensional image alive to be a living, breathing, three-one-dimensional copy of that image. Accidentally, George and Harold the main characters of the novel, threw their talking toilets comic into Patsy 2000. The talking toilets were alive and attacked people in their school. Captain Underpants who fought the talking toilets were eaten by Turbo Toilet 2000, the biggest talking toilet. Then, George and Harold drew an image of The Incredible Robo-Plunger to save Captain Underpants. In the end of the narrative, The Incredible Robo-Plunger won the fight against Turbo Toilet 2000, and Captain Underpants together with people who were eaten by Turbo Toilet 2000 could be saved.

Harold – an untidy student


(28)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis


(29)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter concludes the discussions in the previous chapter. It gathers the important points of the findings and draws suggestions for further studies on multimodality and humor.

5.1 Conclusions

This study aims to reveal verbal and visual representation of Humor in Pilkey’s

Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets. The analysis of verbal

and visual modes in Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets reveals two types of humor in Monro’s (1988) categories: superiority and incongruity.

Superiority humor is mostly represented by the existence of inferior characters who suffer misfortunes in the narrative. The inferior characters are identified in verbal and visual modes. In verbal modes, the inferior characters are characterized in transitivity analysis. Meanwhile, in visual modes, they are characterized in representational meanings. In verbal modes, the characteristics of inferior characters are those who mostly do actions, who are mostly set as the goals of the actions, and who mostly think of actions. The actions done by the inferior characters are to change their misfortunes. The fact that the inferior suffer from misfortunes is that they are set as the goal of actions carried out by other characters. In addition, the inferior characters also think of actions to change their misfortunes. On the other hand, in visual modes, the analysis of representational meanings identifies the inferior characters in superiority humor through narrative and conceptual representations. In narrative representations, the inferior characters are characterized as those who mostly emanate vectors and who are mostly aimed by vectors. The vectors are mostly formed by bodies and eyelines. In addition, asymmetrical alignment in conceptual representations emphasizes the inferior characters in the narrative. Therefore, in line with verbal analysis, the visual


(30)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

analysis shows that there are efforts made by the inferior characters to change their misfortunes through processes carried out by them.

Moreover, incongruity humor has three characteristics identified in the narrative: contradicting attitudes, degradation, and unexpected connections. Since the main character has double roles as a principal and a hero, those characteristics are mostly found in the main character, through verbal and visual analysis. In verbal analysis, through transitivity analysis, it is found in five types of processes: material, verbal, behavioural, relational, and existential processes. Each process consists of minimum one of the three characteristics. Meanwhile, in visual analysis, through analysis of representational meanings, incongruity humor is identified in narrative and conceptual representations. In narrative representations, two of the three characteristics, contradicting attitudes and unexpected connections, are revealed. The contradicting attitudes are revealed through different processes that involve the main characters as the principal and the hero. The different processes are shown by different vectors that the principal and the hero emanate. Meanwhile, the unexpected connections are identified through double headed vectors between the exalted and the trivial characters. The double headed vectors indicate that the trivial do the same actions as the exalted. However, the trivial is expected to do different actions in responding the exalted. Besides, in conceptual representations, analytical and symbolic processes reveal degradation as one of the three characteristics of incongruity humor found in the narrative.

Learning from the findings, this study reveals that there are four issues emerging to discuss. First, the verbal and visual modes in Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets complement one another in

representing humor. Second, there are two types of humor identified in the novel: superiority and incongruity. Third, a humorous story requires a dynamic character. Fourth, humor for children tends to ridicule adults.


(31)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

To enrich future study on multimodality and humor, this study recommends four things. First, in terms of the participants involved in data collection, the native-speaker participants will emerge different point of view on humorous events in the narrative. Second, in terms of multimodality, the verbal and visual mode analysis within interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction will enrich the findings and complement the humor representations in the narrative. Third, it is beneficial if further studies reveal humor representations in picturebooks intended for the first group of children readers in Xeni’s (2010) categorizations, which consists of very young children up to the age of five or six since the first group readers need suitable humor that can help them to overcome worries, anxieties, and fears. Fourth, further studies on multimodality can disclose other representations such as verbal and visual representations of fear in ghost stories.

The conclusions and recommendations have been provided above. Hopefully, this study is beneficial, especially, for those who want to write children’s humorous books, for the present writer, and for future study on humor, multimodality, and children’s literature. It is hoped that further studies can be conducted to fill in the gaps of this study, so that, there will be more writers encouraged to write humorous books for children.


(32)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

REFERENCES

Al-Sharafi, A. G. (2004). Textual metonymy. A semiotic approach. New York, USA: Palgrave Macmillan.

Andrade, L. A., & de Oliveira Pimenta, S. M. (2011). Commodified relations (A systemic-functional and multimodal analysis of the discourse of

advertising). Mestrado em Letras: Linguagem, Discurso e Cultura/

UNINCOR .

Bardon, A. (2005). The philosophy of humor. In M. Charney, “The Philosophy of

Humor,” in Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide. Connecticut,

USA: Greenwood press.

Barone, D. M. (2011). Readers, children's literature in the classroom. Engaging

lifelong readers. The Guilford press.

Battaglia, M. P. (2011). Nonprobability sampling. Encyclopedia of survey research methods. Sage Publications, 523.

Bilal, H. A. (2012). Analysis of thank you m'am: Halliday's metafunctions.

Academic Study International. Savap Study International.

Casey, K. (2011). CaptainUnderpantsTeacherGuideUpdated.pdf. Retrieved October 22, 2013, from http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/tradebooks/ videocenter/CaptainUnderpantsTeacherGuideUpdated.pdf

Chandler, D. (2007). Semiotics the basics. New York, USA: Routledge.

Cobley, P. (2001). The routledge companion to semiotics and linguistics. London, England: Routledge.

Díaz, M. A. (2014). ‘Kill her, and bring me back her heart as a token!’ Identity,

power and violence in the Grimms’ fairy tales collection. International

Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL) Volume 2, Issue 7, 84-99.

Dougherty, S. (1971). Alice in Wonderland: A summary of selected criticism and an explication. A thesis .


(33)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

Duke, N. K., & Mallette, M. H. (2011). Literary research methodologies . The Guilford press.

Fauziah, T. (2010). A systemic functional multimodal analysis of business brochures. PhD thesis, University of Malaya.

Forceville, C. J., & Urios-Aparisi, E. (2009). Applications of cognitive linguistics.

Multimodal metaphor. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.

Gallardo, B. C. (2006). Analysis of a literary work using systemic functional grammar. 33rd International Systemic Functional Congress.

Gerot, L., & Wignell, P. (1994). Making sense of functional grammar. An

introductory work book. Gerd Stabler.

Gerrard, E. E. (2008). Picturebooks as visual literacy: The influence of

illustrations on second-graders' comprehension of narrative text. Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, 9.

Guijarro, J. M., & Pinar Sanz, M. J. (2008). Compositional, interpersonal and

representational meanings in a children’s narrrative. A multimodal

discourse analysis. Journal of Pragmatics , 1604.

Guijarro, A. J. (2010). A multimodal analysis of The Tale of Peter Rabbit within the interpersonal metafunction. ATLANTIS. Journal of the Spanish

Association of Anglo-American Studies.

Guijarro, A. J. (2011). A bi-modal and systemic-functional study of Dear Zoo within the textual metafunction. Revista Canaria De Estudios Ingleses. Hagström, A. (2011). From the golden compass to the golden compass. A

narratological study of novel and film adaptations. C essay, 15 hp. Halliday, M. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar. Third edition. New

York, USA: Oxford University Press Inc.

Hassan, B. A. (2013). The pragmatics of humor: January 25th revolution and occupy wall street. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. Vol. 4 No.

2.


(34)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

Hermawan, B. (2011). Reading images. The grammar of visual design. Conaplin

Journal, 140.

Hermawan, B. (2013). Multimodality: Menafsir verbal, membaca gambar, dan memahami teks. ejournal.upi.edu.

Huck, C. S., Kiefer, B., & et.al. (2004). Children's literature in the elementary

school. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill.

Jalongo, M. R. (2004). Young children and picture books. Second edition. Washington DC, USA: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Jankauskis, T. (2012). Branding fragrance for the modern man: A multimodal analysis of persuasive strategies in Axe and Old-spice marketing campaigns. Bachelor Thesis published in pure.au.dk.

Jewitt, C. (2009). The routledge handbook of multimodal analysis. New York, USA: Routledge.

Kiefer, B. (1997). Children's literature in the elementary school. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill.

Kneen, B. (2003). Playing grown-up: Complexity, shopistication and children's (picture) books. Dissertation University of Pretoria etd.

Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images. The grammar of visual

design. the Taylor and Francis e-Library.

Lin, T., & Tan, P. (2010). How cultural and linguistic pluralism shape humor:

social construction of Singapore’s humor industry. Intercultural

Communication Studies XIX: 1.

Lynch-Brown, C., & Tomlinson, C. (2005). Essentials of children's literature 5th

edition. Retrieved april 16, 2014, from Children Literature. Instructor:

Chi-Fen Emily Chen, Ph.D.Department of English, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, Taiwan:

http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/Picturebooks.htm

Mawter, J. (2005). Humour in literature: why gross works for kids. Retrieved Mei 20, 2014, from www.jenimawter.com


(35)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

McGillis, Roderick. "Humour and the body in children’s literature", The

Cambridge Companion to Children's Literature. 1st ed. Cambridge,

England: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 258-271. Cambridge

Companions Online. Web. 15 April 2014.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521868198.016

Meerbergen, S. V. (2009). Dutch picture books in Swedish translation towards a model for multimodal analysis. Translation and the (Trans)formation of

Identities. Selected Papers of the CETRA Study Seminar in Translation Studies 2008.

Monro, D. H. (1988). Theories of humor. In L. Behrens, and L. J. Rosen, Writing

and Reading Across the Curriculum 3rd ed. Scott, Foresman & Company.

Motta-Roth, D., & Nascimento, F. S. (2009). Transitivity in visual grammar: Concepts and applications. Linguagem and Ensino, Pelotas, V.12, n.2

p.319-349, Jul./Dez.2009.

Pilkey, D. (1999). Captain underpants and the attack of the talking toilets. Scholastics.

Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching

and applied linguistics. 3rd edition. Pearson Education Limited.

Royce, T. (1999). Visual - verbal intersemiotic complementarity in the Economist magazine. Ph.D. Dissertation.

Smeed, J. (2012). Nonsense and early childhood. He Kupu Ejournal Article. Stallcup, J. E. (2008). "The feast of misrule": Captain underpants, satire, and the

literary establishment. Genre XLI - SPRING/SUMMER, 172.

Truman, L. (2010). Why so serious?: A study in perspective, perfection, and plausibility.

van Leeuwen, T., & Jewiitt, C. (2001). Handbook of visual analysis. London, England: Sage .

Wohlgemuth, G. T. (1998). Children's literature and its translation. An overview.

Dissertation, 7.

Xeni, E. (2010). Meeting childhood needs: The need for humor in children's literature.


(36)

Susan Santika, 2014

Humor Representations In Pilkey’s Captain Underpants And The Attack Of The Talking Toilets : A Verbal And Visual Analysis

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

Zeece, P. D. (1995). Books for children. Laughing all the way: Humor in children's books. Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol.23, No.2., 93.


(1)

To enrich future study on multimodality and humor, this study recommends four things. First, in terms of the participants involved in data collection, the native-speaker participants will emerge different point of view on humorous events in the narrative. Second, in terms of multimodality, the verbal and visual mode analysis within interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction will enrich the findings and complement the humor representations in the narrative. Third, it is beneficial if further studies reveal humor representations in picturebooks intended for the first group of children readers in Xeni’s (2010) categorizations, which consists of very young children up to the age of five or six since the first group readers need suitable humor that can help them to overcome worries, anxieties, and fears. Fourth, further studies on multimodality can disclose other representations such as verbal and visual representations of fear in ghost stories.

The conclusions and recommendations have been provided above. Hopefully, this study is beneficial, especially, for those who want to write children’s humorous books, for the present writer, and for future study on humor, multimodality, and children’s literature. It is hoped that further studies can be conducted to fill in the gaps of this study, so that, there will be more writers encouraged to write humorous books for children.


(2)

Susan Santika, 2014

REFERENCES

Al-Sharafi, A. G. (2004). Textual metonymy. A semiotic approach. New York, USA: Palgrave Macmillan.

Andrade, L. A., & de Oliveira Pimenta, S. M. (2011). Commodified relations (A systemic-functional and multimodal analysis of the discourse of

advertising). Mestrado em Letras: Linguagem, Discurso e Cultura/ UNINCOR .

Bardon, A. (2005). The philosophy of humor. In M. Charney, “The Philosophy of Humor,” in Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide. Connecticut, USA: Greenwood press.

Barone, D. M. (2011). Readers, children's literature in the classroom. Engaging lifelong readers. The Guilford press.

Battaglia, M. P. (2011). Nonprobability sampling. Encyclopedia of survey research methods. Sage Publications, 523.

Bilal, H. A. (2012). Analysis of thank you m'am: Halliday's metafunctions. Academic Study International. Savap Study International.

Casey, K. (2011). CaptainUnderpantsTeacherGuideUpdated.pdf. Retrieved October 22, 2013, from http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/tradebooks/ videocenter/CaptainUnderpantsTeacherGuideUpdated.pdf

Chandler, D. (2007). Semiotics the basics. New York, USA: Routledge.

Cobley, P. (2001). The routledge companion to semiotics and linguistics. London, England: Routledge.

Díaz, M. A. (2014). ‘Kill her, and bring me back her heart as a token!’ Identity,

power and violence in the Grimms’ fairy tales collection. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL) Volume 2, Issue 7, 84-99.

Dougherty, S. (1971). Alice in Wonderland: A summary of selected criticism and an explication. A thesis .


(3)

Duke, N. K., & Mallette, M. H. (2011). Literary research methodologies . The Guilford press.

Fauziah, T. (2010). A systemic functional multimodal analysis of business brochures. PhD thesis, University of Malaya.

Forceville, C. J., & Urios-Aparisi, E. (2009). Applications of cognitive linguistics. Multimodal metaphor. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.

Gallardo, B. C. (2006). Analysis of a literary work using systemic functional grammar. 33rd International Systemic Functional Congress.

Gerot, L., & Wignell, P. (1994). Making sense of functional grammar. An introductory work book. Gerd Stabler.

Gerrard, E. E. (2008). Picturebooks as visual literacy: The influence of

illustrations on second-graders' comprehension of narrative text. Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, 9.

Guijarro, J. M., & Pinar Sanz, M. J. (2008). Compositional, interpersonal and

representational meanings in a children’s narrrative. A multimodal

discourse analysis. Journal of Pragmatics , 1604.

Guijarro, A. J. (2010). A multimodal analysis of The Tale of Peter Rabbit within the interpersonal metafunction. ATLANTIS. Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies.

Guijarro, A. J. (2011). A bi-modal and systemic-functional study of Dear Zoo within the textual metafunction. Revista Canaria De Estudios Ingleses. Hagström, A. (2011). From the golden compass to the golden compass. A

narratological study of novel and film adaptations. C essay, 15 hp. Halliday, M. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar. Third edition. New

York, USA: Oxford University Press Inc.

Hassan, B. A. (2013). The pragmatics of humor: January 25th revolution and occupy wall street. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. Vol. 4 No. 2.


(4)

Susan Santika, 2014

Hermawan, B. (2011). Reading images. The grammar of visual design. Conaplin Journal, 140.

Hermawan, B. (2013). Multimodality: Menafsir verbal, membaca gambar, dan memahami teks. ejournal.upi.edu.

Huck, C. S., Kiefer, B., & et.al. (2004). Children's literature in the elementary school. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill.

Jalongo, M. R. (2004). Young children and picture books. Second edition. Washington DC, USA: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Jankauskis, T. (2012). Branding fragrance for the modern man: A multimodal analysis of persuasive strategies in Axe and Old-spice marketing campaigns. Bachelor Thesis published in pure.au.dk.

Jewitt, C. (2009). The routledge handbook of multimodal analysis. New York, USA: Routledge.

Kiefer, B. (1997). Children's literature in the elementary school. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill.

Kneen, B. (2003). Playing grown-up: Complexity, shopistication and children's (picture) books. Dissertation University of Pretoria etd.

Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images. The grammar of visual design. the Taylor and Francis e-Library.

Lin, T., & Tan, P. (2010). How cultural and linguistic pluralism shape humor:

social construction of Singapore’s humor industry. Intercultural Communication Studies XIX: 1.

Lynch-Brown, C., & Tomlinson, C. (2005). Essentials of children's literature 5th edition. Retrieved april 16, 2014, from Children Literature. Instructor: Chi-Fen Emily Chen, Ph.D.Department of English, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, Taiwan:

http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/Picturebooks.htm

Mawter, J. (2005). Humour in literature: why gross works for kids. Retrieved Mei 20, 2014, from www.jenimawter.com


(5)

McGillis, Roderick. "Humour and the body in children’s literature", The Cambridge Companion to Children's Literature. 1st ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 258-271. Cambridge Companions Online. Web. 15 April 2014.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521868198.016

Meerbergen, S. V. (2009). Dutch picture books in Swedish translation towards a model for multimodal analysis. Translation and the (Trans)formation of Identities. Selected Papers of the CETRA Study Seminar in Translation Studies 2008.

Monro, D. H. (1988). Theories of humor. In L. Behrens, and L. J. Rosen, Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum 3rd ed. Scott, Foresman & Company. Motta-Roth, D., & Nascimento, F. S. (2009). Transitivity in visual grammar:

Concepts and applications. Linguagem and Ensino, Pelotas, V.12, n.2 p.319-349, Jul./Dez.2009.

Pilkey, D. (1999). Captain underpants and the attack of the talking toilets. Scholastics.

Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. 3rd edition. Pearson Education Limited.

Royce, T. (1999). Visual - verbal intersemiotic complementarity in the Economist magazine. Ph.D. Dissertation.

Smeed, J. (2012). Nonsense and early childhood. He Kupu Ejournal Article. Stallcup, J. E. (2008). "The feast of misrule": Captain underpants, satire, and the

literary establishment. Genre XLI - SPRING/SUMMER, 172.

Truman, L. (2010). Why so serious?: A study in perspective, perfection, and plausibility.

van Leeuwen, T., & Jewiitt, C. (2001). Handbook of visual analysis. London, England: Sage .

Wohlgemuth, G. T. (1998). Children's literature and its translation. An overview. Dissertation, 7.

Xeni, E. (2010). Meeting childhood needs: The need for humor in children's


(6)

Susan Santika, 2014

Zeece, P. D. (1995). Books for children. Laughing all the way: Humor in children's books. Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol.23, No.2., 93.