SPEECH ACTS USED BY STAND UP COMEDIAN ON METRO TV.
ABSTRACT
Teguh Agustino. Registration Number : 8106112020. Speech Acts Used by Stand Up
comedian on Metro TV. A Thesis. English Applied Linguistic Study Program ,
Postgraduate Shcool. State University of Medan 2015
This research elaborates speech acts used by stand up comedian on Metro TV. The study aims to
discover the types of speech acts used by stand up comedian on Metro TV,to describe the way of
performing speech acts used by stand up comedian on Metro TV and to explain the reason why
those types of speech acts used by them. The research was a qualitative descriptive one by design
covering data display, data reduction that consists of selecting, and categorizing and drawing
conclusionps. The instruments of data collection were observation and transcript.. The sources of
the data were taken from stand up comedy videos downloaded from youtube. There are five
videos fro three comedians, Cak Lontong, Abdel Achrian, and Jui Purwoto. The study found that
there were only four types of speech acts used by stand up comedian on Metro TV namely,
representative, directive, expressive and commisisive. Declarative wasn’t used by them. In
performing speech acts, there are two ways used by stand up comedian on Metro TV, namely
direct and indirect speech acts. There are some reasons of the use of speech acts by comedians in
the way they are. Cak lontong used asserting forms of representative speech acts dominantly
because in his performances he often spoke in confident way to convince his audiences as if his
words were true. In this way he could lead his audiences’ mindset and then executed his jokes
smoothly. Abdel and Jui Purwoto used informing forms of representative speech acts more
dominant because they gave some information to his audiences first and then filled their minds
with some information about what they would talk about later. Since Abdel and Jui in almost of
his stand up comedy shows often describe his personal or someone experiences. Different context
influences the use of different types of speech acts. In stand up comedy shows, the comedian's
performance principally consists of a succession of short joking stories and one-liners that are
usually presented in a monologue without interruptions by the audience. The way in which the
audience can participate in stand-up comedy is by smiling, laughing, and applauding. They used
representative speech acts more dominant than other types of speech act because the type of
representatives tends to state what the speaker believes to be the case or not. In the case of standup comedy, it means, indirectly, the comic makes statements which he assumes are true and hope
that the audience would be affected by those statements. It is match with the function of Stand up
comedy to entertaining, informing, criticizing, and insinuating. Thus, there are only four types of
speech acts used by stand up comedians in his performances, namely representative, expressive,
directive, and commissive, and it is the lectures of pragmatics should develop the theory of
speech acts used by exemplifying the theory with the TV program discourse by which the
lectures can be enlivened and student’s interests in research can be aroused.
Key Words:
Speech Act, Stand Up Comedian, Representative, Declarative, Expressive,
Commissive.
ABSTRAK
Teguh Agustino. NIM: 8106112020. Speech Acts Used by Stand Up comedian on Metro TV.
Sebuah Tesis. Program Studi Linguistik Terapan Bahasa Inggris, Pascasarjana. Universitas
Negeri Medan 2015
Penelitian ini menguraikan tindak tutur yang digunakan oleh Standup Komedian di Metro TV.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menemukan jenis tindak tutur yang digunakan oleh Standup
Komedian di Metro TV, untuk menggambarkan cara menyampaikan tindak tutur, dan
menjelaskan alasan mengapa jenis-jenis tindak tutur digunakan oleh mereka. Penelitian ini adalah
deskriptif kualitatif dengan desain meliputi data display, reduksi data yang terdiri dari memilih,
dan kategorisasi dan menarik kesimpulan. Instrumen pengumpulan data adalah observasi dan
transkrip. Sumber data diambil dari video Standup Komedian yang diunduh dari youtube. Ada
lima video dari tiga komedian yaitu Cak Lontong, Abdel Achrian, dan Jui Purwoto. Studi ini
menemukan bahwa hanya ada empat jenis tindak tutur yang digunakan oleh Standup Komedian
di Metro TV yaitu, representatif, direktif, ekspresif dan commisisive. Deklaratif tidak digunakan
oleh mereka. Dalam melakukan tindak tutur, ada dua cara yang digunakan oleh komedian di
Metro TV, yaitu langsung dan tidak langsung. Ada beberapa alasan penggunaan tindak tutur oleh
komedian. Cak lontong menggunakan bentuk tindak tutur penegasan lebih dominan karena pada
penampilannya, dia sering berbicara dengan percaya diri untuk meyakinkan penonton seolah-olah
kata-katanya itu benar. Dengan cara ini ia bisa mengatur pola pikir penontonnya 'dan kemudian
menyampaikan leluconnya dengan lancar. Abdel dan Jui Purwoto menggunakan bentuk informasi
lebih dominan karena mereka memberikan beberapa informasi kepada khalayak terlebih dahulu
sebelum menyampaikan leluconny dan kemudian mengisi pikiran mereka dengan beberapa
informasi tentang apa yang akan mereka bicarakan nanti. Karena Abdel dan Jui sering
menggambarkan pengalaman pribadi atau orang lain. Perbedaan konteks mempengaruhi
penggunaan jenis – jenis tindak tutur . Dalam acara Standup Comedy, penampilan pada dasarnya
teridiri dari cerita lelucon pendek dan lelucon singkat yang disajikan dalam bentuk monolog
tanpa interupsi oleh penonton. Cara penonton dapat berpartisipasi dalam stand-up comedy adalah
dengan tersenyum, tertawa, dan bertepuk tangan. Mereka menggunakan representatif lebih
dominan daripada jenis lain dari tindak tutur karena jenis ini cenderung untuk mengungkapkan
apa yang komedian yakini benar atau tidak. Dalam kasus stand-up comedy, itu berarti, secara
tidak langsung, komedian membuat pernyataan yang ia anggap benar dan berharap penonton
akan terpengaruh oleh cerita tersebut. Ini cocok dengan fungsi Standup Comedy yaitu untuk
menghibur, menginformasikan, mengkritik dan menyindir secara tidak langsung. Dalam
perkuliahan pragmatics seharusnya mengembangkan teori tindak tutur yang digunakan di dalam
wacana Program TV yang mana perkuliahan tersebut dapat lebih menarik dan minat siswa dalam
penelitian akan tumbuh.
Kata kunci: Tindak Tutur, Stand Up Comedian, representatif, deklaratif, ekspresif, komisif.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, the writer would like to express a very deep thank to Allah SWT
for the help and guidance in accomplishing this thesis as a partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the Master of Humaniora at English Applied Linguistic Program, State
University of Medan. His gratitude is extended to his parents Mr. Karianto, S.pd, Mrs. Sri
Atun and his beloved wife and daughter Fauziah Nur, S.S. M.hum. and Amira Izdihar Tino
for their continuous prayers, encouragement, and patience.
It is a very huge pleasure for the writer to acknowledge the following people for their
contribution to his education and research. His sincere gratitude and deep appreciation are
addrresed to
Prof.Amrin Saragih, M. A., Ph. D., and Dr. Syahron Lubis as his thesis
advisers, for their guidance, encouragement, patience, and supports in improving and
finishing this thesis.
It is also his pleasure to acknowledge the superb reviewers Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning
M.pd, Prof. Dr. Berlin Sibarani. M.pd, Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S. for their effort and
patience in helping, guiding, and advising him in this research.
Great thanks are also expressed to his close friends, Ohara Pasaribu, Rahmat
Wahyudin Sagala, Mr. Haris Tamimi and all XVIII, especially class B.
Overall, the writer hopes that this thesis will be applied and give a bit contribution to
the language education, especially discourse analysis, and further discourse research.
Medan, August 2015
The writer,
Teguh Agustino
8106112020
List of Appendices
Analysis of Cak Lontong Utterances .....................................................................50
Analysis of Abdel Achrian’s Utterances ................................................................54
Analysis of Jui Purwoto’s Utterances ...................................................................61
Transcripts
Transcript of Cak Lontong Utterances ...................................................................64
Transcript of Abdel Achrian’s Utterances .............................................................67
Transcript of Jui Purwoto’s Utterances .................................................................72
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ..................................................................................................................... i
Acknowledgments....................................................................................................ii
List of Appendices ................................................................................................. iii
List of Transcript..................................................................................................... iv
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... v
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study ................................................................................. 1
1.2 Focus of the research ....................................................................................... 7
1.3 Objectives of the Study .................................................................................... 7
1.4 The Scope of the Study .................................................................................... 7
1.5 The Significance of the Study .......................................................................... 8
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Speech Acts ...................................................................................................... 9
2.1.1 Kinds of Speech Acts ..................................................................... 9
2.1.2 Types of Speech Acts ................................................................... 11
2.1.3 The Way of Performing Speech Acts ........................................... 14
2.1.4 Reason for Using Types of Speech Acts ...................................... 15
2.2 Stand Up Comedy ......................................................................................... 16
2.2.1. Differences between Stand up Monologue and
Conversational Dialogue..............................................................17
2.3 Comedian or Comic ....................................................................................... 18
2.4 Previous Study ……………………………………......................................19
2.5 Conceptual Framework ……………………………………..........................21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY RESEARCH
3.1 Research Design ........................................................................................... 23
3.2 Data and Data Sources ................................................................................. 23
3.3 Research Instrument ..................................................................................... 24
3.4 Technique of Collecting Data ....................................................................... 25
3.5 Technique of Data Analysis ......................................................................... 25
3.6 Trustworthiness of the Study........................................................................ 26
CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 28
4.1.1 Types of Speech Acts Used Comedians ....................................... 29
4.1.1.1 Representative Speech Acts Used by Comedians…...............29
4.1.1.2 Directive Speech Acts Used by Comedians............................32
4.1.1.3 Expressive Speech Acts Used by Comedians.........................34
4.1.1.4 Commissive Speech Acts Used by Comedians.......................37
4.1.2 The Way of Performing Speech Acts by Comedians …………...37
4.1.3 The Reason of Using Speech Acts by Comedians ……………...40
4.2 Findings ......................................................................................................... 40
4.3 Discussion ..................................................................................................... 42
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 44
5.2 Suggestions ..................................................................................................... 44
References .......................................................................................................... 46
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Background of the Study
Human language is unique in comparison to other forms of communication,
such as those used by animals, because it allows human to produce an infinite set of
utterances from a finite set of elements, and because the symbols and grammatical
rules of any particular language are largely arbitrary, so that the system can only be
acquired through social interaction. The known systems of communication used by
animals, on the other hand, can only express a finite number of utterances that are
mostly genetically transmitted. Human language is also unique in that its complex
structure has evolved to serve a much wider range of functions than any other kinds
of communication system.
Human beings have two roles in life, namely as individual and social
creatures. As social creatures, people cannot live alone. They need other people to
fulfill their need and help them to solve their problems. To communicate with
others, they need a tool of communication and interaction; Therefore, they create a
language as a communication tool. They use a language to avoid misunderstanding
and miscommunication. This is related to the definition of language is a system of
arbitrary verbal symbol by which member of speech community used as a means of
communication to interact and express their ideas, feeling and thoughts. Another
definition given by Trudgill (1974: 125) who states language is not only a means of
communicating information about the weather or other subjects, but also a very
important means of establishing and maintaining relationship with others. The
definition above shows that language has an important role in human life and it is
the central to the most human activities.
Language is used differently based on the social context. For example,
testimony which is made by someone in a court and in a job interview is different.
Language used by a comedian in a comedy show is also different from other
languages. In the comedy show, the utterances should evoke laughter of the
audiences. It means every comedian must be able to formulate a good joke to evoke
laughter.
In Indonesia We have many TV programs that provide humor shows. Those
are Opera Van Java, Yuk Keep Smile, Pesbukers, and many more. Those TV shows
entertain and give effects to the audiences. Good and bad effects of the shows are
the product of creativity. In this recent time their creativity is always related to
body contact (physical violence) or humiliation (mental violence). They produce
many acts and new words and sometimes there is no educative input instead shows
violence. Among many of them, Stand up Comedy is one of TV Shows that provide
humor in new way.
Stand-up Comedy is considered as a new type of comedy show, and it
started to become famous and widely shown on television in 2011. Kompas TV is
the television station that present and introduce the show of stand-up comedy for
the first time, and now it is popularized by Metro TV. The official purpose of the
performance in Stand up Comedy is to make the audiences laugh and thereby they
are entertained.
A person who delivers jokes in Stand up Comedy is called comic. There are
many famous comics in Indonesia. Some of them are the late of Taufik Savalas,
Cak Lontong, Abdel, Mongol, Raditya Dika and many more. Some of the famous
comics in Indonesia and most viewed in YouTube are Cak Lontong, Jui Purwoto,
and Abdel Achrian. Cak lontong has his own characteristic. His joke is mostly
related to logical settings. The characteristic of Jui Purwoto is mostly related to
teenage or young life. And Abdel tends to social and culture of Indonesian.
Nevertheless Stand up Comedy is not as popular as the others as mentioned
above. It can be seen by the time of the program in television. It is always broadcast
on TV at 10.00 PM up, while programs such OVJ, YKS, Pesbukers etc always
broadcast on prime time at around 6-10 P.M. Therefore that the comics of Stand up
Comedy provide jokes in sentences that are not easy to understand by most of
people. It tends to entertain and interact with the audiences with knowledge
understanding that is covered with words or body languages. For most people in
Indonesia it is something new and strange that we must think of it and then laugh.
That is why Stand up Comedy show is only watched by limited people, most of
them are university students and those who have high sense of humor.
The language used by comics in Stand up Comedy is very interesting.
(Beeman, 1999) states that there are three steps of how comedic language works.
These three steps can be found in both the construction and the interpretation of
humor and, as such, they are being proposed here as being at least logically implicit
in the process. The first step emerges from a very general principle. In all actions
that are considered humorous, one finds something unexpected or surprising. They
violate expectations from some perspective. The second step emerges when it is
forced to interpret a foregrounded action. At this second stage of the process—in
the form of the logical analytical reconstruction aimed to find a proposition or a
series of related propositions that will make the foregrounded act recognizable as a
socially coherent act of some kind. Finally the third and last step reconstructed
logically the form of explicit propositions, here knowledge is used to ‘ground’ the
foregrounded action(s) such that they become not only socially coherent and thus
recognizable, but also arguably humorous in some sense.
Dean (2000) simplifies the term with set up and punch. Set up is the first
part of the joke that prepares audience to laugh. It creates an expectation and raises
an assumption of the audience. Punch is the second part of the joke that evokes
laughter. It presents a surprise that is still relevant to the first story but different
from our expectation. For example from this joke:
Saya sudah menikah selama dua puluh tahun dan cinta sejati
saya hanya ada di satu perempuan. (set up)
Andai istri saya kenal perempuan itu, saya bisa dibunuh.
(punch)
In the first sentence the audiences assume that the man tells that he does
love his wife. But in the second story the assumption of the audiences is violated by
the words if my wif,,,,e knew her, I would be killed. Actually he loves another
woman and has a secret relationship.
Jokes that they convey are often associated with the social, culture,
government criticism and so forth. All are covered with words - that make us laugh.
They must master the techniques of delivering jokes and express their intention
appropriately that the message can be well received by the audience as they
perform lively in front of audiences. One of the theories that can support language
user to understand about what the comics mean is speech acts.
Speech act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language.
Josiah and Johnson (2012:262) state that speech act is a process in which a person
uses an utterance to perform an act such as stating fact, stating an opinion,
confirming or denying something, making a prediction or a request, asking a
question, issuing an order, giving a permission, giving a piece of advice, making an
offer, making a promise, thanking somebody or condoling somebody.
There are three types of act performed by a speaker in uttering a sentence
(Austin 1962). The first is a locutionary act, the performance of an utterance: the
actual utterance and its ostensible meaning, comprising phonetic, phatic and rhetic
acts corresponding to the verbal, syntactic and semantic aspects of any meaningful
utterance; the second is an illocutionary act: the semantic 'illocutionary force' of the
utterance, thus its real, intended meaning and in certain cases a further the third is
perlocutionary act: its actual effect, such as persuading, convincing, scaring,
enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or realize something,
whether intended or not. It means it is important to consider some ways in which
the meaning of sentence in terms of what the speaker of those sentences intends to
convey is interpreted. In other words speech is closely related to the intention of the
speaker. Austin (1988:21) points out that in uttering a sentence, we can do things as
well as say things. In addition, Austin (1962:231) stated that while sentence can
often be used to report states of affairs, the utterances of some sentences must be
treated as the performance of act. The choice of speech act theory as the linguistic
framework for the analysis of Stand up Comedian on Metro TV is premised on the
fact that comics perform various actions through the use of words and when
utterances are made, a particular act is performed as well.
The language used by each comedian is different in a stand up comedy
show. Cak Lontong, Abdel. Jui Purwanto and others comedians have their own way
in delivering their jokes. For example:
Cak Lontong
Walaupun kehidupan itu berat namun kuncinya kita harus pasrah dan berserah.
(set up)
(directives – suggesting)
Contohnya saya sendiri, saya punya dua anak, berat membiayai hidup lalu saya
pasrahkan dan serahkan ke mertua dan hidup saya menjadi ringan.(punch)
(Representative – explaining)
In the first statement he suggests the audiences to run this life to be sincere.
In the second statement he doesn’t give an example about resignation and sincerity
of life but he informs that he gives his children to his parent in law so that his life is
lighter than before. The expectation raises a surprise that is covered with directive
and representative act. He performs this speech act directly. It can be easily
understood by the audience.
Based on the phenomena above, the researcher is interested in investigating
the use of speech acts by the comedians on Stand up Comedy on Metro TV. The
types of speech act, the way they utter the speech acts and why they use the types
of speech acts as very important to make their jokes successful. They must be able
to build a good communication. The audiences must know what comics mean, and
it will evoke a great laughter. In this case, the choice of speech acts theory as
linguistic framework for the analysis in Stand up Comedy show on Metro TV is
based on the fact that the comedians perform various actions through various
utterances.
1.2 The Focus of the Research
The focus of this research is “Speech acts used by comedian on Metro TV”.
Based on the background of the study the problems were investigated operationally
are formulated as follows.
1. What types of speech acts are used by the Stand up Comedian on Metro
TV?
2.
How are the speech acts used by the Stand up Comedian on Metro TV?
3. Why are those types of speech acts used in the ways they are?
1.3 The objectives of the study
The objectives of this analysis are (1) to discover the types of speech acts
used by the comics in Stand up Comedy on Metro TV, (2) to describe the way of
performing acts used by Stand up Comedian on Metro TV. (3) to explain the reason
why those types of speech acts are used in the way they are.
1.4 The Scope of the Study
There are many comics who perform on Stand up Comedy show in Metro
TV. This research only focused on speech acts used by Cak lontong, Jui Purwoto
and Abdel Achrian to their audiences during stand up comedy show. The researcher
decides to choose these three comics because they are most popular and most
viewed in Youtube as Indonesian comics. Each of them has his own unique style of
performing jokes. The focus is on types of speech acts, namely assertives, directive,
commisive, expressive, and declarative. Further, investigation was on the
realizations of speech acts and reasons for their occurrences.
1.5 The Significance of the Study
Theoretically the research findings will potentially enrich the theories of
discourse analysis especially speech acts in Stand up Comedy. The types, the
function and the way performing speech acts are used by the comics to the
audiences.
Practically, the findings would be a guidance for those who are interested in
the Stand up Comedy especially as entertainment and educational sectors. It is a
contributive source for comics by using linguistics aspects of verbal humor.
REFERENCES
Attardo, Salvatore. 1993. Violation of conversational maxims and
cooperation: The case of jokes. Journal of Pragmatics 19. 537-558
Arief, M. R. 2012. Speech Acts Used in Courtroom Text in Langsa. An
unpublished Thesis. Medan: English Applied Linguistics Study
Program, State University of Medan.
Austin, J. L. 1962. How to do things with words. London: Oxford University
Press.
Benjamin, Croft. 1994. Speech Act Classification, Language Typology and
Cognition. In:Tso-hatzidis,Svas L.
Bogdan, R & Biklen, S. 1992. Qualitative Research for Education: An
Introduction to Theory and Methods. USA: Simon and Schuster Inc.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language
Usage. Cambridge. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Curse, Alan. 2000. Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and
Pragmatics. New York. USA: Oxford University Press.
Dean, Greg.2000. Step by Step to Stand Up Comedy.USA: Heinemann Drama
Geis, Michael. 1995. Speech acts and conversational interaction.USA:
Cambridge University Press.
Glick, Douglas J. 2007. Some Performative Techniques of Stand-up Comedy:
An Exercise in the Textuality of Temporalization. Journal of
Language & Communication 27 (2007) 291–306
Helitzer, Mel. 2005. Comedy Writing Secrets.USA: Writer's Digest Books.
Holmes, Janet. 2001. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London. UK:
Pearson Education Limited.
Katayama, Hanae. 2009. A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Humor in Stand-up
Comedy in the United States and Japan. Australia: The University of
Wollongong.
Melser, Derek.2004. The Act of Thinking. London. England: The MIT Press.
McCarron, Kevin & Savin-Baden, M. Compering and Comparing: Stand-up
Comedy and Pedagogy. International Journal of Innovations in
Education and Teaching Vol. 45, No. 4, November 2008, 355-363
Searle, J.R. & Vanderveken, D. 1985. Foundations of Illocutionary logic.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Griffiths, Patrick. 2006. An Introduction to English Semantics and
Pragmatics. Edinburgh. Great Britain: Edinburgh University Press
Ltd.
Vanderveken, D & Kubo, S. 2001. Essays in Speech Act Theory.
Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.
Teguh Agustino. Registration Number : 8106112020. Speech Acts Used by Stand Up
comedian on Metro TV. A Thesis. English Applied Linguistic Study Program ,
Postgraduate Shcool. State University of Medan 2015
This research elaborates speech acts used by stand up comedian on Metro TV. The study aims to
discover the types of speech acts used by stand up comedian on Metro TV,to describe the way of
performing speech acts used by stand up comedian on Metro TV and to explain the reason why
those types of speech acts used by them. The research was a qualitative descriptive one by design
covering data display, data reduction that consists of selecting, and categorizing and drawing
conclusionps. The instruments of data collection were observation and transcript.. The sources of
the data were taken from stand up comedy videos downloaded from youtube. There are five
videos fro three comedians, Cak Lontong, Abdel Achrian, and Jui Purwoto. The study found that
there were only four types of speech acts used by stand up comedian on Metro TV namely,
representative, directive, expressive and commisisive. Declarative wasn’t used by them. In
performing speech acts, there are two ways used by stand up comedian on Metro TV, namely
direct and indirect speech acts. There are some reasons of the use of speech acts by comedians in
the way they are. Cak lontong used asserting forms of representative speech acts dominantly
because in his performances he often spoke in confident way to convince his audiences as if his
words were true. In this way he could lead his audiences’ mindset and then executed his jokes
smoothly. Abdel and Jui Purwoto used informing forms of representative speech acts more
dominant because they gave some information to his audiences first and then filled their minds
with some information about what they would talk about later. Since Abdel and Jui in almost of
his stand up comedy shows often describe his personal or someone experiences. Different context
influences the use of different types of speech acts. In stand up comedy shows, the comedian's
performance principally consists of a succession of short joking stories and one-liners that are
usually presented in a monologue without interruptions by the audience. The way in which the
audience can participate in stand-up comedy is by smiling, laughing, and applauding. They used
representative speech acts more dominant than other types of speech act because the type of
representatives tends to state what the speaker believes to be the case or not. In the case of standup comedy, it means, indirectly, the comic makes statements which he assumes are true and hope
that the audience would be affected by those statements. It is match with the function of Stand up
comedy to entertaining, informing, criticizing, and insinuating. Thus, there are only four types of
speech acts used by stand up comedians in his performances, namely representative, expressive,
directive, and commissive, and it is the lectures of pragmatics should develop the theory of
speech acts used by exemplifying the theory with the TV program discourse by which the
lectures can be enlivened and student’s interests in research can be aroused.
Key Words:
Speech Act, Stand Up Comedian, Representative, Declarative, Expressive,
Commissive.
ABSTRAK
Teguh Agustino. NIM: 8106112020. Speech Acts Used by Stand Up comedian on Metro TV.
Sebuah Tesis. Program Studi Linguistik Terapan Bahasa Inggris, Pascasarjana. Universitas
Negeri Medan 2015
Penelitian ini menguraikan tindak tutur yang digunakan oleh Standup Komedian di Metro TV.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menemukan jenis tindak tutur yang digunakan oleh Standup
Komedian di Metro TV, untuk menggambarkan cara menyampaikan tindak tutur, dan
menjelaskan alasan mengapa jenis-jenis tindak tutur digunakan oleh mereka. Penelitian ini adalah
deskriptif kualitatif dengan desain meliputi data display, reduksi data yang terdiri dari memilih,
dan kategorisasi dan menarik kesimpulan. Instrumen pengumpulan data adalah observasi dan
transkrip. Sumber data diambil dari video Standup Komedian yang diunduh dari youtube. Ada
lima video dari tiga komedian yaitu Cak Lontong, Abdel Achrian, dan Jui Purwoto. Studi ini
menemukan bahwa hanya ada empat jenis tindak tutur yang digunakan oleh Standup Komedian
di Metro TV yaitu, representatif, direktif, ekspresif dan commisisive. Deklaratif tidak digunakan
oleh mereka. Dalam melakukan tindak tutur, ada dua cara yang digunakan oleh komedian di
Metro TV, yaitu langsung dan tidak langsung. Ada beberapa alasan penggunaan tindak tutur oleh
komedian. Cak lontong menggunakan bentuk tindak tutur penegasan lebih dominan karena pada
penampilannya, dia sering berbicara dengan percaya diri untuk meyakinkan penonton seolah-olah
kata-katanya itu benar. Dengan cara ini ia bisa mengatur pola pikir penontonnya 'dan kemudian
menyampaikan leluconnya dengan lancar. Abdel dan Jui Purwoto menggunakan bentuk informasi
lebih dominan karena mereka memberikan beberapa informasi kepada khalayak terlebih dahulu
sebelum menyampaikan leluconny dan kemudian mengisi pikiran mereka dengan beberapa
informasi tentang apa yang akan mereka bicarakan nanti. Karena Abdel dan Jui sering
menggambarkan pengalaman pribadi atau orang lain. Perbedaan konteks mempengaruhi
penggunaan jenis – jenis tindak tutur . Dalam acara Standup Comedy, penampilan pada dasarnya
teridiri dari cerita lelucon pendek dan lelucon singkat yang disajikan dalam bentuk monolog
tanpa interupsi oleh penonton. Cara penonton dapat berpartisipasi dalam stand-up comedy adalah
dengan tersenyum, tertawa, dan bertepuk tangan. Mereka menggunakan representatif lebih
dominan daripada jenis lain dari tindak tutur karena jenis ini cenderung untuk mengungkapkan
apa yang komedian yakini benar atau tidak. Dalam kasus stand-up comedy, itu berarti, secara
tidak langsung, komedian membuat pernyataan yang ia anggap benar dan berharap penonton
akan terpengaruh oleh cerita tersebut. Ini cocok dengan fungsi Standup Comedy yaitu untuk
menghibur, menginformasikan, mengkritik dan menyindir secara tidak langsung. Dalam
perkuliahan pragmatics seharusnya mengembangkan teori tindak tutur yang digunakan di dalam
wacana Program TV yang mana perkuliahan tersebut dapat lebih menarik dan minat siswa dalam
penelitian akan tumbuh.
Kata kunci: Tindak Tutur, Stand Up Comedian, representatif, deklaratif, ekspresif, komisif.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, the writer would like to express a very deep thank to Allah SWT
for the help and guidance in accomplishing this thesis as a partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the Master of Humaniora at English Applied Linguistic Program, State
University of Medan. His gratitude is extended to his parents Mr. Karianto, S.pd, Mrs. Sri
Atun and his beloved wife and daughter Fauziah Nur, S.S. M.hum. and Amira Izdihar Tino
for their continuous prayers, encouragement, and patience.
It is a very huge pleasure for the writer to acknowledge the following people for their
contribution to his education and research. His sincere gratitude and deep appreciation are
addrresed to
Prof.Amrin Saragih, M. A., Ph. D., and Dr. Syahron Lubis as his thesis
advisers, for their guidance, encouragement, patience, and supports in improving and
finishing this thesis.
It is also his pleasure to acknowledge the superb reviewers Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning
M.pd, Prof. Dr. Berlin Sibarani. M.pd, Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S. for their effort and
patience in helping, guiding, and advising him in this research.
Great thanks are also expressed to his close friends, Ohara Pasaribu, Rahmat
Wahyudin Sagala, Mr. Haris Tamimi and all XVIII, especially class B.
Overall, the writer hopes that this thesis will be applied and give a bit contribution to
the language education, especially discourse analysis, and further discourse research.
Medan, August 2015
The writer,
Teguh Agustino
8106112020
List of Appendices
Analysis of Cak Lontong Utterances .....................................................................50
Analysis of Abdel Achrian’s Utterances ................................................................54
Analysis of Jui Purwoto’s Utterances ...................................................................61
Transcripts
Transcript of Cak Lontong Utterances ...................................................................64
Transcript of Abdel Achrian’s Utterances .............................................................67
Transcript of Jui Purwoto’s Utterances .................................................................72
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ..................................................................................................................... i
Acknowledgments....................................................................................................ii
List of Appendices ................................................................................................. iii
List of Transcript..................................................................................................... iv
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... v
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study ................................................................................. 1
1.2 Focus of the research ....................................................................................... 7
1.3 Objectives of the Study .................................................................................... 7
1.4 The Scope of the Study .................................................................................... 7
1.5 The Significance of the Study .......................................................................... 8
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Speech Acts ...................................................................................................... 9
2.1.1 Kinds of Speech Acts ..................................................................... 9
2.1.2 Types of Speech Acts ................................................................... 11
2.1.3 The Way of Performing Speech Acts ........................................... 14
2.1.4 Reason for Using Types of Speech Acts ...................................... 15
2.2 Stand Up Comedy ......................................................................................... 16
2.2.1. Differences between Stand up Monologue and
Conversational Dialogue..............................................................17
2.3 Comedian or Comic ....................................................................................... 18
2.4 Previous Study ……………………………………......................................19
2.5 Conceptual Framework ……………………………………..........................21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY RESEARCH
3.1 Research Design ........................................................................................... 23
3.2 Data and Data Sources ................................................................................. 23
3.3 Research Instrument ..................................................................................... 24
3.4 Technique of Collecting Data ....................................................................... 25
3.5 Technique of Data Analysis ......................................................................... 25
3.6 Trustworthiness of the Study........................................................................ 26
CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 28
4.1.1 Types of Speech Acts Used Comedians ....................................... 29
4.1.1.1 Representative Speech Acts Used by Comedians…...............29
4.1.1.2 Directive Speech Acts Used by Comedians............................32
4.1.1.3 Expressive Speech Acts Used by Comedians.........................34
4.1.1.4 Commissive Speech Acts Used by Comedians.......................37
4.1.2 The Way of Performing Speech Acts by Comedians …………...37
4.1.3 The Reason of Using Speech Acts by Comedians ……………...40
4.2 Findings ......................................................................................................... 40
4.3 Discussion ..................................................................................................... 42
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 44
5.2 Suggestions ..................................................................................................... 44
References .......................................................................................................... 46
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Background of the Study
Human language is unique in comparison to other forms of communication,
such as those used by animals, because it allows human to produce an infinite set of
utterances from a finite set of elements, and because the symbols and grammatical
rules of any particular language are largely arbitrary, so that the system can only be
acquired through social interaction. The known systems of communication used by
animals, on the other hand, can only express a finite number of utterances that are
mostly genetically transmitted. Human language is also unique in that its complex
structure has evolved to serve a much wider range of functions than any other kinds
of communication system.
Human beings have two roles in life, namely as individual and social
creatures. As social creatures, people cannot live alone. They need other people to
fulfill their need and help them to solve their problems. To communicate with
others, they need a tool of communication and interaction; Therefore, they create a
language as a communication tool. They use a language to avoid misunderstanding
and miscommunication. This is related to the definition of language is a system of
arbitrary verbal symbol by which member of speech community used as a means of
communication to interact and express their ideas, feeling and thoughts. Another
definition given by Trudgill (1974: 125) who states language is not only a means of
communicating information about the weather or other subjects, but also a very
important means of establishing and maintaining relationship with others. The
definition above shows that language has an important role in human life and it is
the central to the most human activities.
Language is used differently based on the social context. For example,
testimony which is made by someone in a court and in a job interview is different.
Language used by a comedian in a comedy show is also different from other
languages. In the comedy show, the utterances should evoke laughter of the
audiences. It means every comedian must be able to formulate a good joke to evoke
laughter.
In Indonesia We have many TV programs that provide humor shows. Those
are Opera Van Java, Yuk Keep Smile, Pesbukers, and many more. Those TV shows
entertain and give effects to the audiences. Good and bad effects of the shows are
the product of creativity. In this recent time their creativity is always related to
body contact (physical violence) or humiliation (mental violence). They produce
many acts and new words and sometimes there is no educative input instead shows
violence. Among many of them, Stand up Comedy is one of TV Shows that provide
humor in new way.
Stand-up Comedy is considered as a new type of comedy show, and it
started to become famous and widely shown on television in 2011. Kompas TV is
the television station that present and introduce the show of stand-up comedy for
the first time, and now it is popularized by Metro TV. The official purpose of the
performance in Stand up Comedy is to make the audiences laugh and thereby they
are entertained.
A person who delivers jokes in Stand up Comedy is called comic. There are
many famous comics in Indonesia. Some of them are the late of Taufik Savalas,
Cak Lontong, Abdel, Mongol, Raditya Dika and many more. Some of the famous
comics in Indonesia and most viewed in YouTube are Cak Lontong, Jui Purwoto,
and Abdel Achrian. Cak lontong has his own characteristic. His joke is mostly
related to logical settings. The characteristic of Jui Purwoto is mostly related to
teenage or young life. And Abdel tends to social and culture of Indonesian.
Nevertheless Stand up Comedy is not as popular as the others as mentioned
above. It can be seen by the time of the program in television. It is always broadcast
on TV at 10.00 PM up, while programs such OVJ, YKS, Pesbukers etc always
broadcast on prime time at around 6-10 P.M. Therefore that the comics of Stand up
Comedy provide jokes in sentences that are not easy to understand by most of
people. It tends to entertain and interact with the audiences with knowledge
understanding that is covered with words or body languages. For most people in
Indonesia it is something new and strange that we must think of it and then laugh.
That is why Stand up Comedy show is only watched by limited people, most of
them are university students and those who have high sense of humor.
The language used by comics in Stand up Comedy is very interesting.
(Beeman, 1999) states that there are three steps of how comedic language works.
These three steps can be found in both the construction and the interpretation of
humor and, as such, they are being proposed here as being at least logically implicit
in the process. The first step emerges from a very general principle. In all actions
that are considered humorous, one finds something unexpected or surprising. They
violate expectations from some perspective. The second step emerges when it is
forced to interpret a foregrounded action. At this second stage of the process—in
the form of the logical analytical reconstruction aimed to find a proposition or a
series of related propositions that will make the foregrounded act recognizable as a
socially coherent act of some kind. Finally the third and last step reconstructed
logically the form of explicit propositions, here knowledge is used to ‘ground’ the
foregrounded action(s) such that they become not only socially coherent and thus
recognizable, but also arguably humorous in some sense.
Dean (2000) simplifies the term with set up and punch. Set up is the first
part of the joke that prepares audience to laugh. It creates an expectation and raises
an assumption of the audience. Punch is the second part of the joke that evokes
laughter. It presents a surprise that is still relevant to the first story but different
from our expectation. For example from this joke:
Saya sudah menikah selama dua puluh tahun dan cinta sejati
saya hanya ada di satu perempuan. (set up)
Andai istri saya kenal perempuan itu, saya bisa dibunuh.
(punch)
In the first sentence the audiences assume that the man tells that he does
love his wife. But in the second story the assumption of the audiences is violated by
the words if my wif,,,,e knew her, I would be killed. Actually he loves another
woman and has a secret relationship.
Jokes that they convey are often associated with the social, culture,
government criticism and so forth. All are covered with words - that make us laugh.
They must master the techniques of delivering jokes and express their intention
appropriately that the message can be well received by the audience as they
perform lively in front of audiences. One of the theories that can support language
user to understand about what the comics mean is speech acts.
Speech act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language.
Josiah and Johnson (2012:262) state that speech act is a process in which a person
uses an utterance to perform an act such as stating fact, stating an opinion,
confirming or denying something, making a prediction or a request, asking a
question, issuing an order, giving a permission, giving a piece of advice, making an
offer, making a promise, thanking somebody or condoling somebody.
There are three types of act performed by a speaker in uttering a sentence
(Austin 1962). The first is a locutionary act, the performance of an utterance: the
actual utterance and its ostensible meaning, comprising phonetic, phatic and rhetic
acts corresponding to the verbal, syntactic and semantic aspects of any meaningful
utterance; the second is an illocutionary act: the semantic 'illocutionary force' of the
utterance, thus its real, intended meaning and in certain cases a further the third is
perlocutionary act: its actual effect, such as persuading, convincing, scaring,
enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or realize something,
whether intended or not. It means it is important to consider some ways in which
the meaning of sentence in terms of what the speaker of those sentences intends to
convey is interpreted. In other words speech is closely related to the intention of the
speaker. Austin (1988:21) points out that in uttering a sentence, we can do things as
well as say things. In addition, Austin (1962:231) stated that while sentence can
often be used to report states of affairs, the utterances of some sentences must be
treated as the performance of act. The choice of speech act theory as the linguistic
framework for the analysis of Stand up Comedian on Metro TV is premised on the
fact that comics perform various actions through the use of words and when
utterances are made, a particular act is performed as well.
The language used by each comedian is different in a stand up comedy
show. Cak Lontong, Abdel. Jui Purwanto and others comedians have their own way
in delivering their jokes. For example:
Cak Lontong
Walaupun kehidupan itu berat namun kuncinya kita harus pasrah dan berserah.
(set up)
(directives – suggesting)
Contohnya saya sendiri, saya punya dua anak, berat membiayai hidup lalu saya
pasrahkan dan serahkan ke mertua dan hidup saya menjadi ringan.(punch)
(Representative – explaining)
In the first statement he suggests the audiences to run this life to be sincere.
In the second statement he doesn’t give an example about resignation and sincerity
of life but he informs that he gives his children to his parent in law so that his life is
lighter than before. The expectation raises a surprise that is covered with directive
and representative act. He performs this speech act directly. It can be easily
understood by the audience.
Based on the phenomena above, the researcher is interested in investigating
the use of speech acts by the comedians on Stand up Comedy on Metro TV. The
types of speech act, the way they utter the speech acts and why they use the types
of speech acts as very important to make their jokes successful. They must be able
to build a good communication. The audiences must know what comics mean, and
it will evoke a great laughter. In this case, the choice of speech acts theory as
linguistic framework for the analysis in Stand up Comedy show on Metro TV is
based on the fact that the comedians perform various actions through various
utterances.
1.2 The Focus of the Research
The focus of this research is “Speech acts used by comedian on Metro TV”.
Based on the background of the study the problems were investigated operationally
are formulated as follows.
1. What types of speech acts are used by the Stand up Comedian on Metro
TV?
2.
How are the speech acts used by the Stand up Comedian on Metro TV?
3. Why are those types of speech acts used in the ways they are?
1.3 The objectives of the study
The objectives of this analysis are (1) to discover the types of speech acts
used by the comics in Stand up Comedy on Metro TV, (2) to describe the way of
performing acts used by Stand up Comedian on Metro TV. (3) to explain the reason
why those types of speech acts are used in the way they are.
1.4 The Scope of the Study
There are many comics who perform on Stand up Comedy show in Metro
TV. This research only focused on speech acts used by Cak lontong, Jui Purwoto
and Abdel Achrian to their audiences during stand up comedy show. The researcher
decides to choose these three comics because they are most popular and most
viewed in Youtube as Indonesian comics. Each of them has his own unique style of
performing jokes. The focus is on types of speech acts, namely assertives, directive,
commisive, expressive, and declarative. Further, investigation was on the
realizations of speech acts and reasons for their occurrences.
1.5 The Significance of the Study
Theoretically the research findings will potentially enrich the theories of
discourse analysis especially speech acts in Stand up Comedy. The types, the
function and the way performing speech acts are used by the comics to the
audiences.
Practically, the findings would be a guidance for those who are interested in
the Stand up Comedy especially as entertainment and educational sectors. It is a
contributive source for comics by using linguistics aspects of verbal humor.
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