REGISTER OF AUCTIONEER'S TALK IN STORAGE WARS, AMERICAN REALITY SHOW PROGRAM A THESIS
i REGISTER OF AUCTIONEER'S TALK IN STORAGE WARS, AMERICAN REALITY SHOW PROGRAM A THESIS
By PIPIT ERTIKA DARISTIN 121311223017 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA SURABAYA 2015
REGISTER OF AUCTIONEER'S TALK IN STORAGE WARS, AMERICAN REALITY SHOW PROGRAM
ii
A THESIS Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Sarjana Degree of English Department FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Universitas Airlangga Surabaya
By: Pipit Ertika Daristin
St. N: 121311223017
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA SURABAYA 2015
DECLARATION
This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. And to the best of this candidate‟s knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by other person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis.
Surabaya, 18th June 2015 Pipit Ertika Daristin
iii iv Dedication Page
I dedicate this thesis to Allah SWT Al-Latiif, Rosululloh SAW, my wonderful mother and father and all beloved family
“Say Alhamdulillah Thank You Allah, Thank You Allah
Thesis Advisor Approval Page Approved to be examined Surabaya, 18th June 2015 Thesis Advisor Erlita Rusnaningtias, M. A. NIP 197709242005012001 Head of English Department Dra. Lilla Musyahda, M.Pd. NIP 196612102007012001 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA SURABAYA v vi Thesis Examiners Approval Page
This thesis has been approved and accepted by the Board of Examiners English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Airlangga University on 07 July 2015.
The Board of Examiners are: Noerhayati Ika Putri, S.S., M.A. NIP. 1978107162005012002 Erlita Rusnaningtias, M. A. NIP. 197709242005012001 Salimah, S.S., M.Ed. NIP. 197910062008122001
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillahirobbil‟alamiin, this thesis is finally done. First and foremost, I would like to pay my greatest praise to Allah SubhanahuwaTa‟ala, the One and Only God. Robbi, you are never far away, always guide my way. You enlighten my spirit up when I am down especially in the hardest time of my life, always hear my prayer, and provide greatest people to be around me. Praise is also paid to Rosululloh SAW, the Messanger, and the Ustwatunhasanah.
Finishing this thesis is an exhausting yet interesting experience for me. I would like to pay my gratitude to my thesis advisor, Erlita Rusnaningtias, M. A., for all the patience and guidance my study during finishing this challenging research. The gratitude is also paid to my academic advisor, Lilla Musyahda, M.
Pd. for the guidance during my study in English Department and to all English Department lecturers for all great knowledge.
I am thankful to be surrounded by greatest persons. I would like to dedicate great appreciation for my mother, Isdartin S.Pd, and my father, Ernoto Adi Setyawan S.Pd, who always be my wonderful parents, my inspiration, my life advisors who always practically teach me to be a tough person and always gives me the best in every single thing. Thank you for all prayer, tears, support and dedication in leading me to be as I am now. Hope Allah Ridho with all you have done. I also thank to my beloved brother, Andika Maisal Ferry, for all support and his prayer for my best future.
vii I have a great time during my study at the English Department, especially because of the support from my friends. I thank so much to Amelia Purwandini who becomes my best partner ever for five years studying in Airlangga University, Ibrahim Bahalwan, Sandra, Andika Budi, Nila Wahyu and Danang Prasetya, who always supports me in every condition, and to all English Department students especially students of 2013, Alih Jenis of Sasing. Thank you for being great partners during my study. Hopefully, someday we can meet again in a condition of success person. The gratitude is also paid to everyone, who cannot be listed one by one here for the inspiration to be better and better.
Hope the God Almightly shares the Love for you all. Amiin.
Pipit Ertika Daristin
viii ix Epigraph “Don’t Despair and NEVER lose hope.
„Cos Allah is ALWAYS by your side.
Insya Allah you’ll find your way” “Insya Allah” –
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Abstract
Auctioneers in auction activities tend to speak very fast in order to suit the description of certain moments which occur. They have their “own” vocabulary, grammatical and intonation patterns. The language of auctioneers‟ talk shares the idea that the linguistic features of a register, such as vocabulary, syntax, and intonation are dependent to context or social factors. This study concerns with the phenomenon of distinctive language style used by an auctioneer and it aims to describe the vocabulary, syntactic and intonation patterns used by the auctioneer of Storage Wars, an auction reality show broadcasted on History Channel. In analyzing the data, Holmes‟ theory who argued that social factors such as participants, social setting, topic, and function have involved in the language variation is applied. Radford‟s theory on syntax and Wells‟ theory on intonation are also used in analyzing the data. The transcription and soft file sounds of the utterances become the data which are analyzed in a deep description which leads to the use of qualitative method. From the data analysis, it is found that the vocabulary uttered by the auctioneer has a restricted range and is quite clearly distinguishable from the language used in other contexts. Meanwhile, mostly the auctioneer produces syntactic reduction involving null subject and verb, null verb and null auxiliary in his utterances. Syntactic inversion is also found in the data analysis. In addition, the intonation patterns that occur are mostly in the forms of falling intonation. In brief, the auctioneer suits the rapid changing moments which have to be informed to the listeners by using particular vocabulary, and particular syntactic and intonation patterns. Here, the context has an important role to define what exactly happens in ongoing moment of the auction activities.
Keywords: register, auctioneer, linguistic features
xv
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I. Background of the Study People use different styles of language when they communicate. Holmes
(2008) divides styles into contextual and occupational styles. Contextual style is a language variation which is influenced by some factors, such as the age of the addressee and the social background of the addressee. Meanwhile, occupational style is a language variation which is used by a particular occupational group.
This occupational style is usually referred to as register (Holmes, 2008). Furthermore, some linguists describe this kind of language variation as „register‟ variation while others use the term register more narrowly to describe the specific vocabulary associated with different occupational groups like jargon. According to this idea, the style of language used by certain group of people will be different from one group to another.
Differences in style of language on a particular group also lead to a fundamental idea in register. According to Holmes (2008, p. 259), “The term register describes the language of groups of people with common interest or jobs or the language used in situations associated with such groups”. In accordance with this idea, Holmes (2008) states that register refer to the use of particular style of language by certain group of people in conditions they are involved in. They have their own style in uttering the information of the topic they deal with. Furthermore, it is argued that the language used by particular group such as the
1 language of auctioneers, police, sport commentator, military, pilot, politician, journalist, trade, financiers and criminals seems to be different to one another. It can be concluded that register is a variety of language used today, depending on what is done and the nature of their role.
Register is also characterized by a very restricted range of syntactic variation and lexical item. The specific features of formulas are not arbitrary, but motivated by the demands of the context, such as participants, setting, topic, and function (Holmes, 2008, p. 09). The specialized register of occupational groups develops more and more characteristics, whether lexical, syntactic and even phonological, which will distinguish their communications from those of other groups and this causes difficulties for outsiders to penetrate it (Holmes, 2008, p. 264). Therefore, according to this idea, register is simply a rather special case of a particular kind of language being produced by the social situation.
The concept of linguistic register is made clear by Wardhaugh (2002, p. 48) who stated that “register is a set of vocabulary items associated with discrete occupational or social group”. Register is usually characterized entirely by vocabulary differences: either by the use of particular words, or by the use of words in particular sense. It also includes a preference for particular syntactic pattern or rhetorical devices. It is implied from the theory that the main features of register are vocabulary and syntactic ordering in sentences.
The use of a particular style of language in a certain group also happens in auction. Auction seems to be one of the fields using register. Auction is an activity of selling goods in public by means of price offered verbally or written through collection efforts of prospective buyers or enthusiasts as human being is never separated from economic measures in order to fulfill their daily needs (Nugroho, 2013).
Auction has developed rapidly from year to year. It can be seen from the process of auction which does not only occur in traditional way, but also happens in a television program. One of auction activities showed in one of the television programs in New York is named Storage Wars. Storage Wars is an American reality television series on the A&E Network that premiered on December 2010. This program has successfully become one of the favorite International programs. It was announced at the 2012 IMDb on Thursday, July 25 at the Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay (IMDb, 2012).
Storage Wars is an auction television program which broadcasts almost
every Saturday at 7 pm and 1 pm on History Channel. Storage Wars reality show program provides the activity of auction which is conducted by one auctioneer.
This program is held in cities in America such as Canada, New York and Texas in American continent. Storage Wars is a special kind of treasure hunt, where, if you're lucky, bidding can make you rich” (Home of History Channel, 2014)
What is also interesting from auction activities which are broadcasted in television is the way of the auctioneer speaks to the bidder. The rapidity of the speech which is done by the auctioneer gives different atmosphere of particular style of delivering information because the auctioneer speaks very fast while describing the price which occurs at the time. As the result in the rapid speech of the auctioneer, the auctioneer sometimes gives incomplete sentences but they do not diminish the meaning of the information delivered. As it is known, all the talks are unplanned and sometimes sound lack of coherence. However, the listeners still understand what the auctioneer means. There are also particular intonation patterns in delivering message of the information done by the auctioneer to show what exactly happened. The use of intonation in auctioneer‟s description in this case focuses more on building up the emotion of the bidders who win the auction in certain moments instead of distinguishing certain words from the others. Attracted by the phenomenon of auctioneer in delivering information, the writer is interested to analyze the use of register by the auctioneer of Storage Wars television reality program.
Intense and continuous communication between the auctioneer and the bidders becomes very important since they are supposed to take immediate actions. The auctioneer is expected to make the communication as effective, brief and efficient as possible. In this case, the auctioneer uses specific unique terms which have been done regularly in bidding staffs in auction. In the rapid speech of the auctioneer, the auctioneer always speaks incomplete price. Two digit numbers of price mentioned frequently by the auctioneer to explain about the price which is still in the auction process. In this case, the auctioneer uses particular language variations in order to make communication effective and efficient among the members of the auction group.
The auction activity in the program Storage Wars certainly has its own style of language that contains elements of syntactic reduction. The syntactic reduction can be found in the auction reality television program Storage Wars such as one found in the sentence “[Those cars were] sold!” It can be seen that there are omissions of pronoun and verb be. Another example which also occurs in auction is “[Does] anybody want to buy it?” It can be seen that the auxiliary verb “does” is omitted from the statement but it does not change the meaning itself. It also depends on the intonation which is uttered by the auctioneer at that time to show a clearer context of the information. In this case, it can be seen that syntactic reductions do not only occur in football commentaries but also in auction.
Intonation produced by the auctioneer also becomes a supporting factor in delivering a clearer context of the information to the audience. Intonation is known as melody of speech or variation in pitch (Wells, 2006). According to Wells (2006, p. 1), intonation refers to the way of voice of falling and rising in different ways among the speakers to deliver the “pragmatic and linguistic meaning” of their utterances. Therefore, the distinctive intonation used by the auctioneer is another feature of identified linguistic register.
Several researchers have conducted research in the same field, register. One of them is Nisa (2011). In her analysis, she focused more on the register used by traffic police officers particularly in its words-formation process without analyzing the syntactical pattern used. She analyzed words formation using theory of Bauer‟s Classification (1988), Yule‟s Classification (2010) and Kridalaksana (1992). Another researcher is Rosmia (2011) who conducted a research in the same field explaining the syntactic and intonation patterns in play-by-play description used by football commentator in Barclays Premier League. The theory used for her research is Holmes‟ play-by-play description theory (1992), Radford‟s theory on syntax (2005) and Wells‟ theory on intonation (2006). The last is Nirmalasari (2009). In her study, she analysed more on the register used by Pizza Hut Employee in Mulyosari, particularly emphasized in its lexicogrammar, word choice, and syntactic ordering by combining three dimensions of register (field, mode, and tenor).
The registers that the previous researchers studied all concerned with the language variations in sport and military. Most researchers focused on spoken commentaries such as football commentaries. However, none of them takes a reality show, especially auction, as the object of the study. In addition, none of the previous researchers conducted a study of a television show. Therefore, the writer conducted a study of register used by the auctioneer in a reality television show.
In this research, the writer studies the register used by the auctioneer in
Storage Wars auction. The characteristic of the language which is used by the
auctioneer is different from the daily conversation language because it deals with the activities of buying and selling staffs where the information is delivered very fast. Therefore, in this thesis, a brief and concise additional element of register is analyzed in order to add several characteristics of register that might be found, considering that other elements could be included as register.
I.2 Statements of the Problem
Based on the background of the study, there are two statements of the problem which are addressed in this study.
1. What are the features of the register used by the auctioneer in Storage Wars Auction?
2. How are the features of the register used by the auctioneer in Storage Wars Auction?
I.3 Objectives of the Study
Based on the statements of the problem, this study is aimed at describing the features of the register used by the auctioneer while communicating with the bidders in Storage Wars Auction and at describing how the features are used by the auctioneer.
I.4 Significance of the Study
The writer hopes that this study contributes to the study of sociolinguistics, especially under the domain of language variation, register. The result of this study is expected to enrich the knowledge about the features of register, especially the syntactic, vocabulary, intonation variations produced by auctioneer. In addition, this study is expected to be useful and inspiring the next researchers who want to conduct similar studies about register. Lastly, the result of this study is expected to be helpful for the readers of this thesis and the viewers of Storage Wars Auction to understand the auctioneer‟s talk, especially in this reality show program.
1.5 Scope and Limitation
The scope of the study is the features of the register used by the auctioneer of Storage Wars, a reality television program. This study analyzes the register used by the auctioneer in serving the bidders when dealing with the price of staff directly. The linguistic features which are analyzed are limited to the vocabulary, syntactic, and intonation variations. Because the area of this study is sociolinguistics, the writer focuses more on the features and the use of the features based on social context.
1.6. Definition of Key Terms
Register: a language variation which concerns with the style used by particular social and occupational groups in particular situation (Holmes, 2008) Auctioneer: a person who runs an auction (http://www.meriam- webster.com/dictionary/auctioneer) Storage Wars: an American reality television series on the A&E Network that broadcasts about a special kind of treasure hunt, where, if someone is lucky, bidding can make him or her rich (Home of History Channel, 2014). A&E network is the sister channel of History channel. History channel is broadcasted in American and Asia, while A&E network is broadcasted in Europe
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Related Theories
Research in Sociolinguistics might cover a very wide area since many subjects can be analyzed and discussed in this field. This study focuses on features of the register such as vocabulary, syntactic and intonation variation found in Storage War‟s auctioneer‟s talk. Furthermore, it analyzes the use of the linguistic features based on the social context. This chapter describes some theories used and relevant to the analysis of the data. In addition, this chapter also provides some studies related to this study.
2.1.1 Register
Sociolinguistics studies the relationship between language and society. It deals with the language variation used by a particular speech community in a particular social context (Holmes, 2008). One of the language variations is register. According to Holmes (2008), the term „register‟ describes the language of group of people with common interests or jobs, or the language used in situation associated with such groups. Auctioneers, airline pilots, police, sport commentator, bank managers, sales clerks, pimps, politician, journalist and trade use different vocabularies. They could all be considered examples of different registers. It is made clear by Wardhaugh (2002, p. 48) stated that “register is a set of vocabulary items associated with discrete occupational or social group”.
9 Holmes (2008) also stated that the development of registers initially from the desire of quick, precise and efficient communication between people who share the same skills, experience, and knowledge. It means that the language used is different in every social group. Register is commonly used in typical context and is uttered by some groups who use it in their activities. Therefore, people outside of the group may have difficult to understand their language. Halliday and Hasan (1985) argue that “register is what you are speaking at the time; depending on what you are doing and the nature of the activity in which the language is functioning” (cited in Mesthrie, Swan, Deumert, & Leap, 2001, p. 74). Based on this idea, register reflects another aspect of the social order, that of social processes, the different types of social activity that people commonly unite it. Indeed, the linguistic features of registers are analyzed along with their situational context. Holmes (2008) elaborates that there are social factors involved in the language variation including participants, social setting, topic, and function.
As stated by Holmes (2008), auctioneers‟ talk also contains particular linguistic features which mark the register of this group. The auctioneer‟s talk reflects the use of register as a language variety.
2.1.2 Auction
Nowadays, the auction progress is growing rapidly. The more advanced technology, the auction process also has been changed. The process of auction does not only occur in traditional way, but is also broadcasted in television. Indeed, the activities of auction also have grown up online and legally. Thus, the buyers who want to participate in the auction process also increasingly widespread.
According to Easley & Kleinberg (2010), an auction defines as a kind of economic activity that has been brought into many people‟s everyday lives by the Internet, through sites such as eBay. Meanwhile, Ausubel (2010) says that auction is an activity of selling valuable items. According to NAA (National Auctioneers Associations) (2015), auction began in 500 B.C. In that time, auction was an illegal thing because women were auctioned as wife and also daughters to be sold as auction. After that, auction moved in America in the 1600s and continued during colonization with the sale of crops, imports, clapboard, livestock, tools, tobacco, slaves and even entire farms. Since then, auction began to be very popular, but auction got its depression in 1929. Then, auction was reborned after Second World War. In the 1950 until todays, auction has been upgraded. The auctioneers have started to use technology such as computers, fax machines, cell phones and other technology to make their businesses run faster and more smoothly.
According to Caplice (2003), auction has several lexical items that must be understood by buyers and seller in auction. They are price discovery, auction serves as market test (seller or buyers do not know what an item is “worth” and how much should they sell or buy), winner determination (to determine who the object should be allocated to, or who “wins” the auction), payment mechanism (the process can be used to determine how much the winner should pay).
2.1.3 Reality Show
Auction as reality show has been very popular today. It can be seen from one of the television programs which broadcast about auction activities, such as
Storage Wars. Storage Wars is an American reality television series that
premiered on December 2010 (IMDb, 2012). This program is broadcasted almost every Saturday at 7 pm and 1 pm in History Channel. Storage Wars reality show program provides the activity of auction which is conducted by an auctioneer. This program is held in cities in America such as Canada, New York and Texas in American continent.
Some experts have suggested several definitions of reality show. Cavender and Fishman (1998) argued that reality television is distinguished by programs that claim to present reality (cited in Nabi,.et. all). Nabi, Biely, Morgan, & Stitt (2003) concluded that reality show is such programming which is characterized by several elements. Those are people portraying themselves (for example actors or public figures performing roles), without a script, filmed at least in part in their living or working environment rather than on a set, with events placed in a narrative context, and for the primary purpose of viewer entertainment. One of the programs that claim to present reality is auctions which need those criteria has been mentioned above based on those definition.
2.1.4 Social Factors
According to Holmes (2008), registers develop initially from the desire of quick, efficient and precise communication between people who share the same experience, knowledge, and skill. It means that language is used differently in every social group. Register really depends on the context and is uttered by some groups whose use registers in their activities. So, people outside of the group may be faced difficult things to understand the language. Biber and Conrad (2009) stated that the register combines an analysis of linguistic with analysis of the situation of use of the variety. Indeed, the registers are analyzed along with their situation context. Holmes (2008) declares that the social factors have involved in variety of language are participants, social setting, topic of discussion, and function of interaction.
Participant • Participant is the users of the language. There are two terms of participants, addressee and addressor include various combinations of speaker- listener or sender-receiver. They generally fill certain social specified roles. Addressee refers to a person to whom the speaker speaks, while addressor is a person who produces an utterance. In auction activities, the addressee is the bidders and the addressor is the auctioneer‟s talk.
Setting • Setting refers to the time and place of registers, i.e., the concrete physical circumstances or conveys the social context of language uses in which speech takes place, while scene refers to the abstract psychological setting or the cultural definition of the occasion. What is meant here is that a setting can be changed, for example, from formal to informal, by the participants. Auctioneer‟s talk are broadcasted on television always share the same setting.
Function • This factor explains the meaning of the auctioneer to the listeners (the bidders). It describes the purposes (general or specific) and the reason of the communication.
Topic • Topic contains the main idea of the registers. It refers to the conventionally recognized and expected outcomes of an exchange as well as to the personal goals that participants seek to accomplish on particular occasions. Topic is also an important factor because it is influenced the word choice and vocabulary of an utterances.
2.1.5 The Linguistic Features of Register
Holmes (2008) stated that linguistic features refer to variation which offers the speaker a choice of ways of expression including the different of vocabulary choice, grammatical variation, word structure (morphology) and pronunciation differences (sound). Knowing from these ideas, it can be seen that linguistic features cover vocabulary, morphology, syntax and intonation features.
According to Holmes (2008), register characterized by a very restricted range of syntactic variation and lexical item. The specific features of formulas are not arbitrary, but motivated by the demands of the context, such as participants, setting, topic, and function. The specialized register of occupational groups develops more and more characteristics, whether lexical, syntactic and even phonological, which will distinguish their communications from those of other groups and this causes difficulties for outsiders to penetrate it (Holmes, 2008, p.
264). Therefore, according to this idea, register is simply a rather special case of a particular kind of language being produced by the social situation.
The concept of linguistic register is made clear by Wardhaugh (2002, p. 48) who stated that “register is a set of vocabulary items associated with discrete occupational or social group”. Register is usually characterized entirely by vocabulary differences: either by the use of particular words, or by the use of words in particular sense. It also includes a preference for particular syntactic pattern. It is implied from the theory that the main features of register are vocabulary and syntactic ordering in sentences.
Beside vocabulary, oddity in the use of language occurs too in the grammar. Holmes (2008) explained that in the case of sport announcer talk there is a distinctive grammar which focuses on the action. He also elaborates that those distinctive grammar involves features such as syntactic reduction and syntactic inversion of normal word order in sentences. The features which characterize linguistic features of register do not only occur in football commentaries but also in auctioneer‟s talk.
Syntactic reduction has omission of sentence component. The reduction can be produced by the auctioneer in ongoing moments of the auction due to the actions are rapidly changing. It is also considering the limited time to description what is going on at that time. This also relates to null constituents or empty categories in syntactic structure as mentioned by Radford (2009). According to Radford (2009), Null constituents are those which have grammatical and semantic features, but lack of audible phonetic features. However, it can be seen from previous example of the Storage War New York Auction that there is also syntactic reduction. In the sentence “[Those cars were] sold!!” it can be found that there are omission of pronoun and verb be. Another example, “[Does] anybody want to buy it?” It can be found that the auxiliary verb “does” is omitted from the sentence but it does not change the meaning itself. In this case, it can be seen that syntactic reduction does not only occur in football commentator, but also in auction.
Other features of distinctive linguistic feature of register are syntactic inversion. Holmes (2008) elaborates that this inversion of normal word order allows speaker to focus on the action and provides him with to identity the subject of the action, which is also an important piece of information for the listeners.
2.1.5.1 Vocabulary
According to Read (2000), dictionary dominates in understanding the concept of vocabulary. It concerns that dictionary as an inventory of individual words with their associated meanings. Read (2000) states that the strategies in understanding the meaning of dictionary that must be done by the readers is dealing with the situations where their knowledge of vocabulary is insufficient to meet the communication needs. However, it can be seen that, nowadays, the vocabulary which is put in many kinds of dictionary has effect of progressively broadening the scope of what it needs to access. Thus, the readers have to be ready to input that knowledge and understand the language-use-tasks applied in society. Considered that, vocabulary has already involved more than just realizing a lot of lexical items.
According to Holmes (2008), the specialized register of occupational groups develops more and more characteristics. The most obvious distinguishable feature is generally the vocabulary. It is strengthened by Wardhaugh (2002) stated that register refers to vocabulary items associated with discrete occupational or social group. As stated given by Merriam Webster Dictionary, “Folk” means as form of address and it is used when speaking informally in a particular group of people. It has quite different meaning referring to the original context of the main source data that the vocab “folk” the term referring to the greeting all the participants who join auction activities or the name of the bidders. Furthermore, “wink” describes in Merriam Webster Dictionary is to close one eye for a short time as a way of greeting someone or showing friendliness. It seems that it has a different meaning referring to the original context that “wink” is the term gives signal in auction activities that the bidders follow bargain the items which is negotiated or the bidders agree with the price which offered by the auctioneer. For example Paul winks.
2.1.5.2 Syntactic Pattern
According to Radford (2009), syntactic structure relates to how words are combined together to form phrases and sentences. It is also explained that syntactic structure can be represented in a form of tree diagram. There many some abbreviations in three diagrams are used to inform the category of the words:
AUXP = Auxiliary Phrase C = Complementiser CP = Complementiser Phrases D = Determiner DP = Determiner Phrases V = Verb
VP = Verb Phrase PRN = Pronoun Q = Quantifier QP = Quantifier Phrase TP= Tense Phrase N = Noun NP= Noun Phrase AP = Adjective Phrase ADV = Adverb.
(Radford, 2009)
2.1.5.2.1 Syntactic Reduction
Regarding syntactic reduction in sentence, it is explained by Radford (2009) states that there are the term null constituent or empty categories in syntactic structure. According to Radford (2009, p. 106), null constituent refers to constituent “which have grammatical and semantic features but lack audible phonetic, as they are given null spellout or omitted”.
To describe syntactic reduction as stated by Holmes (2008), Radford (2009) uses the term of null constituent. Null constituent is a constituent which has semantic (the study of meaning), has grammatical (the study of English grammars) and lack of phonetic features (the study of the sound).
Radford (2009) explains further that null constituent can be classified into eight categories such as null subject, null auxiliaries, null T in finite clauses, null T in infinitive clauses, null C infinitive clauses, null C in finite clauses, null quantifiers and determiners and defective clause.
2.1.5.2.1. A Null Subject
According to Radford‟s theory, there are three types of null subject which are possible to occur in English, namely imperative null subjects, truncated null subjects and non-finite null subjects (Radford, 2009, p. 17). In English imperative null subjects usually includes the silent counterpart of you in imperative sentence. For example, Don‟t you lose your nerve! From this imperative sentence, the pronoun you can be omitted in the speech. So, the sentence becomes „Don‟t lose your nerve!.
Truncated null subjects in English are undergone by sentences whose one or more beginning words are truncated (or omitted). Radford (2009) explains that the omitted the truncated subjects can be done if the context of the conversation in informal style and also in diary styles of written English. For example, in the sentence „I can‟t go watching movie tonight‟. The word I can be omitted into „Can‟t go watching movie tonight‟. Regarding truncated subjects, a sentence can be shortened by giving a subject pronoun a null spellout if the pronoun is the first word in a sentence and if it is weak.
Non-finite null subjects, as the third type of English null subjects, can be “found in non-finite clauses which don‟t have an overt subject” (Radford, 2009, p.
107). For example, (a) We would like [you to stay] and (b) We would like [to stay]. Sentence (a) contains an overt subject you whereas sentence (b) seems to be subjectless. The subjectless infinitive clauses (as in (b)) are argued to contain a null subject (in this case is a null pronoun). This nonfinite null subject can be represented in tree diagram as follow:
TP PRN (we) T‟ T (would)
VP V (like) TP
PRN (PRO) T‟
T(to) V (stay)Figure1. Three Diagrams for Null Subject 2.1.5.2. 1. B Null auxiliaries
Radford (2009) states that null constituents include auxiliaries which are omitted. For example it can be seen in the sentence, „He could have helped her, or [she have helped him]‟. First consideration is that both clauses are finite since both contain nominative subject (he/she). „He‟ clause contains could as the finite modal auxiliary whereas „she‟ clause seems to contain no finite auxiliary constituent. This sentence can be considered to have a null spellout or omitted of the auxiliary “could” in the second clause [she have helped him]. In a tree diagram, the sentence can be drawn as follow:
TP PRN T‟ She T AUXP Could AUX
VP
V PRN
have
Helped
him
Figure 2. Tree Diagram of Null Auxiliary Radford (2009, p. 87) also explains about cliticisation which refers to a process by which one word attaches itself in a leech-like fashion to another.
According to Radford, cliticisation refers to an item which is reduced from of another word and has the property that it must attach itself to an appropriate kind of host, which is another phrase or word.
The example of cliticisation can be seen in the sentence as in „you‟ve done your duty‟ in which the auxiliary ‟have‟ is reduced and attached to the subject ‟you‟. The sentence can be observed through the structure below:
Figure 3. Tree Diagram of Cliticisation 2.1.5.2. 1. C Null T in finite and infinite clauses
Radford (2009) puts a hypothesis that all finite clauses are TPs (Tenses Phrase) headed by an (overt or null) T constituent (Tense Markers). For example, a clause like „He enjoys syntax‟ is considered as finite clause which has no auxiliary but it contains a finite verb. It suggests that there is no silent counterpart like could or is as a specific auxiliary. It means that the clause above does not contain any auxiliary at all and the head T in the clause contains nothing because the T constituents (Tense Markers) seems to be omitted.
TP PRN T‟ He T
VP
Af3SgPr V N
enjoys syntaxFigure 4. Null T in finite Clause
Radford (2009) also states that TPs occurs in all finite and infinite clauses. The sentence with to- less infinitival clause such as in the sentence “I have never known [Tom to criticize anyone]” can be considered to be TPs headed by a null T constituent. So, the sentence will be” “I have never known [Tom criticize anyone]‟. In a tree diagram, the sentence can be drawn as follow:
TP N T‟
VP
Tom T toV PRN criticize anyone Figure 5. Null T in Infinite Clause 2.1.5.2. 1. D Null C infinitive and finite clauses
Radford (2009) mentions that null complementiser are possible happen in infinitive and finite clauses. Clauses can be introduced by complementisers such as for, that and if. According to this idea, complementiserless clauses are possible happen in sentences which have Complementiser Phrase (CP) headed by a null complement. An example of null complementiser in infinite clauses can be seen in the sentence‟ he wanted [her to apologize]. It can be originated from the sentence‟ „he wanted for her to apologize‟. The word for can be omitted because this sentence has a null spellout of the complementiser.
CP C TP for PRN T‟ her
T
V to apologize Figure 6. Tree Diagram for Null C infinite Clause
Besides, An example of complementiser clause can be seen in this sentence‟ we did not know [he has resigned]‟. The clause in bracket can be considered to have a null complementiser as it can be „that he had resigned‟. In a tree diagram, the sentence which shown the clause with null spellout of the complementiser can be drawn as follow:
CP C TP That PRN T‟ he
T
V had resigned Figure 7. Tree Diagram of Null C finite Clause 2.1.5.2. 1. E Null quantifiers and determiners
According to Radford (2009), noun expression contains no overt quantifier or determiner and is generally headed by null quantifier or determiner.
It can be seen in the sentence which shows null determiner „Andrew and the chairman are attending the meeting‟. The DP of „Andrew‟ has a null determiner as opposed to „the chairman‟ which has overt determiner ‟the‟. Furthermore, the example of a null quantifier such as‟ eggs and many products cause cholesterol‟. It can be drawn to represent the phrase with null determiner and quantifier.
TP D N O Andrew Figure 8. Tree Diagram Null of Determiner
TP
Q N O eggs Figure 9. Tree Diagram of Null Quantifiers 2.1.5.2. 1. F Defective clause
Radford (2009) states that all complete clauses are Complementiser Phrases (CP). However, this condition is not happen in defective clause. Defective clause is an exception type of this clause because it has no CP. For example in the sentence‟ they believe [him to be innocent]‟ can be passive into „he is believed to be innocent.‟ The verb „believe‟ in this case shows different clause from the subject which explains accusative case.
2.1.5.2.2 Syntactic Inversion
Radford (2009) explains that inversion refers to a movement of word(s) into pre-subject position in the phrase. The main focus here is located in the movement of component (s) a sentence contains. Then, sentences which undergo inversion have expressions which are reverse. Radford also shares the sentence which indicates the syntactic inversion. In sentence “Who had he said would do what” reflects the position of subject „he‟ is moved in behind of its auxiliary „had‟‟
2.1.5.3 Intonation