MAXIM VIOLATION OF HUMOR IN “INDONESIA LAWAK KLUB”.

MAXIM VIOLATION OF HUMOR
IN “INDONESIA LAWAK KLUB”

A THESIS
Submitted as the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of
Sarjana Sastra

By:

MASRIANISYAM SITORUS
Registration Number 2112220014

ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTEMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2015

DECLARATION
I have familiarized myself with the University’s policy on Academic
integrity. Except where appropriately acknowledged, this thesis is my own work,
has been expressed in my own words and has not previously been submitted for

assessment.
I understand that this paper may be screened electronically or otherwise
for plagiarism.

Medan,
July 2015
The writer

Masrianisyam Sitorus
2112220014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Great thanks and praise to the Almighty Allah SWT who has blessed and
given the ability to the writer to complete her thesis as the partial fulfillment of the
requirements for degree of Sarjana Sastra at the English Department, Faculty of
Languages and Arts, State University of Medan.
This thesis would not have been possible without the guidance and the
help of several individuals who always contributed and extended their valuable
assistances in the preparation and completion of this thesis. The writer’s special
appreciation goes to:



Prof. Dr. Syawal Gultom, M.Pd., the Rector of State University of



Medan.



Arts, State University of Medan.

Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum., the Dean of Faculty of Languages and

Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd., the Head of English and Literature
Department all at once as her Thesis Examiner, Dra. Meisuri, M.A., the
Secretary of English Department, Nora Ronita, S.Pd., S.S., M.Hum., the
Head of English Education Program and Syamsul Bahri, S.S., M.Hum.,
the Head of English Literature Program, Faculty of Languages and Arts,




State University of Medan.
Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd., her Thesis Adviser, Dr. I Wy.
Dirgeyasa T, M.Hum., her Academic Adviser all at once her Thesis
Examiner, Dr. Zainuddin, DIP. TEFL, M.Hum., her Thesis Examiner,
for their helps and suggestions in making this thesis perfect and all her



beloved Lecturers in English and Literature Department.
Eis Sri Wahyuni, M.Pd., for the patience, helps in completing the
requirements due to the rules of University.

ii



Her beloved family, the truly inspiring number one man, her father
Syamsuddin Sitorus, her beloved mother Misnem, her dearest sisters

Nurhayati Sitorus, S.Pd.I., Sri Rahayu Sitorus, S.Pd., Maria Ulpa
Sitorus, S.Sy., Nurul Jannah Sitorus, S.Pd.I., and her dearest brothers
Surya Darma Sitorus., Edi Saputra Sitorus, S.Pd.I., and Donni
Irawan, S.Kom., thank you for the understanding and the big support in



prayer, love, motivation and financial while accomplished this thesis.
Her beloved friends in English Literature A and B 2011 especially for her
comrades Martha, Swidanty, Sofa, Juni, Hotmarina, Ika, Christina,
Riandi, Ichwan Choice, and many others that she cannot be mentioned
one by one. Thanks for your love, happiness, and friendship that we have



been through together.
Her friends in the Boarding home especially Peni Noferianti and Siska
Ayu Octavera thanks for your love, happiness, and friendship that we




have been through together.
Her best friends, Dahratul, Bunga S R, Muliani, Eli, Dwi, Rika,
Khalida F T, Dinda S R Pane, Khalida Haris and Septia Elisabeth N,



thanks for your support, love and friendship.
The people who direct or indirectly contributed in this study, your
kindness means a lot to her.

Medan,
The Writer,

July 2015

Masrianisyam Sitorus

iii


ABSTRACT
Sitorus, Masrianisyam. 2015. Maxim Violation of Humor in Indonesia Lawak
Klub. A Thesis. English and Literature Department. Faculty of Languages
and Arts, State University of Medan.
The study deals with the types of maxims violation in Indonesia Lawak Klub. The
objectives of study are to describe the types of violation maxim and to find the
reason why the host and the panelists do that maxims violation in Indonesia
Lawak Klub. This research was conducted by using descriptive qualitative
method. The source of data was derived from Indonesia Lawak Klub program.
The data were taken from the utterances among the host and the panelists in
selected of three episodes. The instrument of collecting data was documentary
sheet. The data were analyzed by using descriptive technique. There were 152
utterances that violated maxims used by the host and the panelists. The results of
the analysis showed that all types of maxim were violated; violation of maxim of
quantity 56 utterances, violation of maxim of quality 47 utterances, violation of
maxim of relation 32 utterances, and violation of maxim of manner 17 utterances.
The most dominant type of violation of maxims used by the host and the panelists
in Indonesia Lawak Klub is violation of maxim of quantity. The reason why the
host and the panelists do that violated maxims because the host and the panelists
give too much or too little, untrue, irrelevant, unclear information than is needed,

to present the strongest information by adding something unimportant, to
entertaining and to giving much lesson for audiences with funny way and to create
humor.
Keywords: Cooperative Principle, Maxims Violation, Humor

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGMENT .................................................................................... ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................. vi
LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................... vii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION....................................................................... 1
A.
B.
C.
D.

E.

The Background of the Study ...................................................................
The Problems of the Study .......................................................................
The Objectives of the Study ......................................................................
The Scope of the Study .............................................................................
The Significance of the Study ...................................................................

1
5
6
6
6

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................. 8
A. Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 8
1. Conversational Implicature .............................................................. 8
a. Generalized Conversational Implicature .................................... 9
b. Particularized Conversational Implicature ................................. 9
2. Cooperative Principle ....................................................................... 10

3. Maxim .............................................................................................. 11
4. Types of Maxims ............................................................................. 11
a. Maxim of Quantity ..................................................................... 12
b. Maxim of Quality ....................................................................... 12
c. Maxim of Relation ..................................................................... 13
d. Maxim of Manner ...................................................................... 13
5. Violation of Maxims ........................................................................ 14
a. Violation of Maxim Quantity ..................................................... 14
b. Violation of Maxim Quality ....................................................... 15
c. Violation of Maxim Relation ..................................................... 15
d. Violation of Maxim manner16
6. Humor .............................................................................................. 17
7. Relation Maxim Violation with Humor ........................................... 19
8. Indonesia Lawak Klub ..................................................................... 19
B. Relevant Studies ......................................................................................... 22

iv

C. Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………....23
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................... 25

A. Research Method ........................................................................................ 25
B. Data and Source of Data ............................................................................. 25
C. Technique for Collecting Data ................................................................... 26
D. Research Instrument ................................................................................... 26
E. Technique for Analyzing Data.................................................................... 26
CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS .............. 28
A. The Data .................................................................................................... 28
B. The Data Analysis ..................................................................................... 28
1. Types of Maxims Violation ................................................................ 28
2. The Reasons of Using the Maxims Violation ..................................... 38
C. Research findings ...................................................................................... 39
D. Discussion ................................................................................................. 40
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ..................................... 41
A. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 41
B. Suggestion ................................................................................................. 41
REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 43
APPENDIX .......................................................................................................... 45

v


LIST OF TABLE
Page
Table 4.1. The Percentages of Maxims Violation in Indonesia Lawak Klub ..... 29

vi

LIST OF APPENDICES
Pages
Appendix A Identification of Violation of Maxims in the Host and the
Panelists’s Utterances Of “Indonesia Lawak Klub .....................

45

Appendix B The Transcript of Indonesia Lawak Klub Episodes ....................

60

vii

2

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the Study
Generally, the ideal communication can be successfully achieved if the
speakers and the hearers have good interaction by cooperating each other.
However, there are principles that must be obeyed in order to gain the purpose of
interactions. As stated by Grice in Peccei (1999: 27) that all speakers regardless of
their cultural background, adhere to a basic principle governing conversation
which he termed cooperative principles. Grice then elaborated these principles
into four sub-principles called maxims.
Grice in Yule (1996: 37) states that in cooperative Principle, a speaker
must obey four maxims. They are maxim of quantity, maxim of quality, maxim of
relation, and maxim of manner. The four maxims are basically used for making
the information adequate, informative, relevant, and clear. Without using these
maxims, the interactions cannot run effectively as the process of transmitting
information becomes unclear. However, people sometimes do interaction which is
not accordance with the maxims. They do not follow the principles to
communicate their ideas for some reasons. In this case, the speakers are said to
violate them and even do it to achieving some purposes. This action is called
maxims violation.

Maxim violation is the condition in which the speakers do not
purposefully fulfill or obey the four sub-maxims. Violation in conversational

1

2

maxims actually can increase awkward impression to the hearers. Nevertheless,
there are some situations that make the speakers use maxims violation;one of
them is in the comedy show. Comedy show is a funny program on television or
radio

(http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/comedy-show).

Basically, it is made to humor that can make people laugh. Humor can be funny,
happy, or amusing and can be very significant as it can function as another means
of communication. In addition, humor is also used to communicate things which
cannot be presented in a serious communication and the application of these
violated maxims is able to influence the success of humor in comedy show.
In this research, the analysis focused Indonesia LawakKlub as the data
source. This comedy show is selected because it is one of the most famous
television programs in Indonesia. It is a comedy show in Trans 7 which imitates
Indonesia Lawyers Club in TvOne which shows live socio-politics discussion.
This program is set like a discussion forum of some Indonesian comedians and
discussing a certain topic that is being a hot and up-to-date issue in Indonesia. It
has a comedy genre.
The problem is sometimes the panelists speak unclear, ambiguous,
complicated, not relate to each other, and untrue, and there is a great chance that
the panelists repeatedly violate the maxims. It can make the hearer will
misunderstand with the utterances that used by panelists. Actually, they speak like
that for make funny and the audiences or viewer can laugh. So, the panelists are
violated maxims. The application of maxims violation use in comedy show can be
illustrated in these following examples of observation:

2

3

Indonesia LawakKlub (TV Comedy Show) in the episode of India
LawakKlub(14th January 2015):
CakLontong: justru, yang pertama kali Iklan rokok. Yang kedua, justru di
anggap kayak rumah sendiri karena sangking panjangnya,
jadiboleh, penonton ngobral ngobrol disana itu gak
mengganggu karena sangking lamanya film, dan diambil
dalam satu film itu ada jeda iklan, ada satu judul film di India
memecahkan rekor dunia.
Denny

: apa?

CakLontong: judulnya Diljahe Dulhaniya Le janyenge
In the conversation above, CakLontong gives the explanation that there
is a Hindi’s movie that break a record of the world and Denny Chandra responds
with give the question and then CakLontong Answer with the wrong title.
Actually the true title is DilwaleDulhaniya Le Jayenge. Instead of telling the true
title, CakLontong violates the principles of good interactions. CakLontong
violated maxim of Quality. Yet, his answer sounds funny to the audiences and he
successfully attracts people to laugh at the humor he creates in the show.
Other exampleIndonesia LawakKlub (TV Comedy Show) in the episode of
Mubazir(7th January 2015):
Komeng
Denny

Akbar
Denny

: Kang Maman beli sisir mubazir gak menurut bapak?
(Kang maman has not hair or bald)
: nah iya, kecuali kalau memang maksudnya untuk koleksi
tapi kalau untuk digunakan gak bisa, mubazir banget,
untuk apa coba?
: Pak Maman beli sisir?
: Atau gak gini Kang Maman memelihara ketombe, buat
apa?

In the conversation above, Komeng asks him about whether it is a waste
for Kang Maman if he buys a comb. Kang Maman actually is bald. Logically,
there is no function of comb for Kang Maman. Denny also gives the question if

4

Kang Maman has dandruff. Komeng and Denny violates the principles of good
interactions. They violated maxim quality. Because for the reality Kang Maman is
bald, cannot use the comb and have not the dandruff. By violated maxims, the
panelists successfully attract people to laugh at the humor he creates in the show.
Based on the examples of observation above, by violating the cooperative
principles, the panelists speak more or less than needed, ambiguity, unclear and
untrue perhaps to create some humors,to show respect, to be honest but it depends
on their intentions in speaking. So, the script writers intentionally violate the
cooperative principle in order to make humorous effect of the script in Indonesia
LawakKlub. This kind of script usually intended for make a comedy show in
television.
There have been some previous researches related on the maxim violation,
such as “An Analysis of the Violation of Maxims in MalamMingguMiko Situation
Comedy” by Hidayati and Indartiin their journal(2013) their study is to describe
types of cooperative principle, violation and the most dominant of maxim
violation in MalamMingguMikositcom. Andriani, Hamzah and Ardi in their
journal (2013) “Comparison of the maxim violation found in action and drama
movies” the study is focused on comparison maxim violation in two different
genres of movie; it is Charlie’s Angels and The Pacifier. They found that all types
of maxims are violated and the most dominant maxim in film “Charlie’s Angels”
is maxim quality while in drama film “The Pacifier” is maxim of quantity.
To distinguish this study with the previous studies above, the researcher
used Grice’s theory on cooperative principles and tries to find the maxims

5

violation which occurs in Indonesia LawakKlub show. This television program
“Indonesia LawakKlub” is one of the most famous programs in Trans 7 which
has been nominated for Panasonic Gobel Awards 2014 as program of comedy
show. Indonesia LawakKlub has some differences from other comedy show. It
usually discussed about the hot issues in society in funny way while other
comedy shows just present drama comedy.The researcher is interested in
studying maxim violation of utterance used by the panelists “Indonesia
LawakKlub” because the researcher wants to know more about the application of
maxim violation, especially in comedy show. Besides, the researcher also find
out that Indonesia LawakKlub contains many utterances that violated the maxim
and also the researcher assumed that it would violate the maxim of quantity,
maxim of quality, maxim of relation and maxim of manner. This is what makes
the researcher interested to conduct a study about maxim violation of humor in
Indonesia LawakKlub.

B. The Problems of the Study
The problems of the study are formulated as in the following.
1. What types of maxim of violation are used in the utterances in “Indonesia
LawakKlub”?
2. Why do the host and the panelists do that maxims violated?

6

C. The Objectives of the Study
Related to the problems of the study formulated above, the objectives of
the study are:
1) to find out the types of maxim violation used in “Indonesia LawakKlub”.
2) to describe the reason why the host and the panelists do the maxims
violation in “Indonesia LawakKlub”.

D. The Scope of the Study
The scope of the study is limited to the maxim violation in humor
utterances among the panelists in the comedy show “Indonesia LawakKlub”. The
types of maxims discussed on Grice’s theory are divided into four sub-maxims;
maxim of quantity, maxim of quality, maxim of relation and maxim of manner.

E. The Significance of the Study
The finding of this study is expected to be useful both in theoretically and
practically. Theoretically, it can be used to improve the study of maxim violation,
especially in Indonesia LawakKlub television program, and the findings of the
research will useful to give information to the speakers or hearers about their
problems and difficulties in understanding the violation of maxims in their
utterances.
Practically, the students who learn English are expected to be able to
recognize and to analyze the violating maxims used in spoken language. In
addition, to the lecturers, the result of the research will be an additional material in

7

studying and understanding the types of Cooperative Principles. Also the result of
the study is expected to be a contribution to others who are interested in doing
future research with similar field.

41

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A.

Conclusion
After collecting and analyzing the data, it can be concluded that:
1. All types of maxims violation were uses by the host and the panelists
in three selected episodes in Indonesia Lawak Klub with the total
number 152 utterances. The total number and percentages of each type
are violation of maxim of quantity with the total number 56 utterances,
violation of maxim of quality with the total number 47 utterances,
violation of maxim of relation with the total number 32 utterances and
violation of maxim of manner with the total number 17 utterances. The
most dominant type that the host and the panelists use is violation of
maxim of quantity.
2. The reason why the host and the panelists do that maxims violated in
the Comedy Show “Indonesia Lawak Klub” is to create humor or joke,
entertaining and giving much lesson for audiences with the funny way.

B.

Suggestion
By considering the research finding and conclusions, there are some

suggestions which are useful for:
1. to everyone who is speaking especially in a formal situation should give
complete, clear, true, and orderly information so that there will be no
violation in the conversation.

41

42

2. for the students of English Department who want to take the pragmatics
study as the tool of the research, especially on cooperative principle,
they must understand and learn more about this study. They may take
different object so that it will make the research more interesting.
3. for the readers should have a good knowledge of the use of maxim to
avoid the violation of maxim because not everyone know the violation
of maxim.

42

REFERENCES

Adriani, Kadek.G.D. et.al. 2013. Comparison of the Maxim Violation Found in
Action and Drama Movies. FBS Universitas negeri Padang journal.
(retrieved on January 18th,2015)
Chairunnisa, Nanda. 2014. The Violating Maxims of Main Characters in the
Hangover Movie’s Script. (Thesis). Medan: English Department FBS
Universitas Negeri Medan.
Chairina, Nurul. 2013. The Violation of Maxims in “Hannah Montana” TV Series.
(Thesis). Medan: English Department FBS Universitas Negeri Medan.
Cruse, D.Alan. 2000. An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. New York:
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Finch, Geoffrey. 1998. How to Study Linguistics. Macmillan.
Hidayati and Indarti. 2013. An Analysis of the Violation of Maxims in Malam
Minggu Miko Situation Comedy. Anglicist Volume 02 Number 01
(February2013).http://journal.unair.ac.id/filerPDF/anglicist4f907bbbd5full
.pdf (retrieved on January 18th, 2015)
Nadar, F.X. 2009. Pragmatik & Penelitian Pragmatik. Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu
Peccei, Jean Stilwell. 1999. Pragmatics. New York: Routledge
Ross, Alison.1998. The Language of Humor. London and New York: Routledge
Sultanoff, Steven M.2002. Integrating Humor into Psychoterapy. In Play Therapy
with Adults Article. (http://www.humormatters.com/definition.html,
retrieved March 4th 2015).
Telaumbanua, Wira. 2012. Analysis the Maxim Violation of Main Character in the
Kung Fu Panda 2 Movie. (Thesis). Medan: English Department FBS
Universitas Negeri Medan.
Yule, George. 1996. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.

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http:// www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/comedy-show (retrieved on
January 18th 2015).
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia_Lawak_Klub (retrieved on January 18th,
2015)
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daftar_episode_Indonesia_Lawak_Klub(retrieved on
January 18th, 2015)
http://id-666.blogspot.com/2014/04/6-fakta-unik-indonesia-lawak-klub-ilk.html
(retrieved on February 10th, 2015).