Doublespeak in Rhoma Irama's Statements on Mata Najwa Talk Show "Mendadak Capres".
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study....................................................................... 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................... 5
1.3 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................. 5
1.4 Methods of Research ............................................................................. 5
1.5 Organization of the Thesis .................................................................... 5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Pragmatics ............................................................................................. 7
2.2 Doublespeak .......................................................................................... 8
2.2.1 Euphemism.................................................................................. 9
2.2.2 Jargon ........................................................................................ 10
2.2.3 Gobbledygook ........................................................................... 10
2.2.4 Inflated Language...................................................................... 11
CHAPTER THREE: DOUBLESPEAK IN RHOMA IRAMA’S
STATEMENTS ON MATA NAJWA TALK SHOW
“MENDADAK CAPRES” .................................................................... 13
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ................................................................. 28
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 33
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... 35
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ABSTRACT
Dalam menulis tugas akhir ini, saya membahas penggunaan doublespeak
(yang merupakan salah satu dari kajian pragmatik) dalam acara bincang-bincang
antara Rhoma Irama dan Najwa Shihab. Acara ini membahas isu mengenai
Rhoma Irama yang berencana untuk maju menjadi salah satu kandidat calon
Presiden Republik Indonesia yang ke-7.
Teori doubespeak yang saya gunakan dalam tugas akhir ini merupakan
gagasan dari William Lutz. Menurut Lutz, doublespeak dapat dikategorikan
menjadi empat macam, terdiri atas: euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook atau
bureacratese dan inflated language.
Tujuan saya menganalisis penggunaan doublespeak dalam pernyataanpernyataan yang digunakan Rhoma Irama di dalam acara bincang-bincang Mata
Najwa adalah untuk mengetahui dampak yang akan ditimbulkan. Doublespeak
adalah suatu metode penyampaian informasi yang bertujuan mengubah dan
menyembunyikan fakta sebenarnya untuk memberikan kesan yang baik tetapi
menyesatkan dan membingungkan pembaca atau pendengar.
Banyak pihak yang menggunakan doublespeak hanya untuk memperoleh
keuntungan untuk dirinya sendiri, baik menutupi keburukan atau kesalahan
mereka. Oleh karena itu kita harus waspada terhadap keberadaan doublespeak di
dalam suatu pernyataan agar tidak mudah termanipulasi.
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Universitas Kristen Maranatha
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study
Human beings are social creatures who cannot live alone. They need to
communicate each other to survive. In communicating, people share ideas,
emotions or exchange information. The system of human communication is
language.
Language can be used in speaking and writing. There are several kinds of
media to use language. In written form, there are magazines, novels, books,
newspaper, etc. In spoken form we can find news or talk shows.
Lately in Indonesia, a popular way that is used to discuss certain issues
and share information is a talk show. A talk show is “a television or radio
programme in which famous people are asked questions and talk in an informal
way about their work and opinions on various topic” (Hornby, 2010, p. 1525).
The guest usually discusses the topic that is related to himself, career, occupation
or even a certain issue with the host. Talk shows are popular as they are cheap and
get most direct participation from audience.
1
Universitas Kristen Maranatha
There are several types of talk shows on television such as Interview Talk
Shows, Political Talk Shows, Issue-Based Talk Shows, Comedic Talk Shows, and
Talk Show Hosts (Types of Talk Shows, n.d.). Nevertheless, the most interesting
talk show that has a certain quality is a political talk show. It is a talk show which
discusses special political issues that has public interest and impact on the
government and the people.
It is not easy to talk in a political talk show. As Ilie says in her book, “The
show host, usually a media personality, is monitoring most of the discussion by
stimulating, guiding, and facilitating the participants’ roles and contributions to
the program (for information exchange, confrontation, and entertainment).” (Ilie,
2001, p. 490).
The questions the talk show host asks may cause discomfort to the guest.
However, the person who is invited to a talk show usually has to keep their good
image during the discussion and answer the host’s questions as tactfully as
possible without offending anyone. Furthermore, sometimes they try to use
impressive words only for their own benefit.
There are many ways to make a statement sound impressive. We can add
jokes, figures of speech, proverbs or even use language play. Interestingly, the
purpose of all of them is to create a distortion of the matter. This is effective to
many listeners. One of the effective methods is to use doublespeak.
As Lutz says in his book, “Doublespeak is language that pretends to
communicate but really does not.” (Lutz, 1990, p. 1). Doublespeak is not used to
lie but it is language that is intentionally constructed to hide its actual meaning to
mislead somebody, specifically to prevent bad words or to make simple things
2
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sound impressive.
It is very interesting to learn doublespeak. As listeners, we have to think
before believing other people’s words. However, as speakers, we also have to
choose our words carefully when we are speaking with other people.
In this thesis I am going to analyze how doublespeak works in a political
talk show, especially in Rhoma Irama’s statements when he is invited to Mata
Najwa Talk Show. The reason why I choose his statements is because I want to
analyze how he composes the words in his statements to create a certain
impression in the audience. He wants to show that he is serious and capable to be
the 7th Indonesian president. I believe, in trying to convince the Indonesian people
about this, Rhoma Irama uses doublespeak.
The approach in Linguistics that can be used to analyze Rhoma Irama’s
statements in Mata Najwa Talk Show is Pragmatics. I use the theory of
Pragmatics because it helps me to reveal what the speaker, in this case Rhoma
Irama, truly intends to say in his utterances. Yule states “Pragmatics is the study
of how more gets communicated than is said.” (Yule, 1996, p. 3). There may
sometimes be unspoken things behind a speaker’s utterances. As listeners, we
must be able to interpret what the speaker really wants to say in his utterances.
It is important for us to know what the speaker is trying to say indirectly in
the statements. Because of that, we must be aware of the speaker’s intention,
specifically when they use doublespeak in their statements for not being
manipulated by their words.
The significance of my thesis is to make people realize that the use of
doublespeak can change the listener’s mind. Hence, people would not be too
3
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easily manipulated by political statements and will be more aware of the possible
use of doublespeak when they hear or watch a television talk show related to
politics.
Words: 771
4
Universitas Kristen Maranatha
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1. Which of Rhoma Irama’s statements contain doublespeak?
2. What type of doublespeak is used in the statements?
3. What is the effect of doublespeak on the listeners?
1.3 Purpose of the Study
1. To find out which parts of Rhoma Irama’s statements contain
doublespeak.
2. To find out the types of doublespeak used in the statements.
3. To explain the effect of doublespeak on the listeners.
1.4 Methods of Research
There are some steps that I take in writing this thesis. First, I search for the
theory of doublespeak in the library which can support my analysis. Second, I
browse the Internet to select some talk shows to be used as my data. Third, I
watch the talk shows and analyze the statements containing doublespeak. Finally,
I answer all the statement of the problem and write this thesis.
1.5 Organization of the Thesis
My thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One, which is Introduction, is
divided into five sub-parts: Background of the Study, Purpose of the Study,
Methods of Research and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two, which is
Theoretical Framework, contains the theories that I use to analyze my data.
Chapter Three, which is the analysis of my data, answers the three questions of
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the statements of the problem. The last one is Chapter Four, which contains the
conclusion of the discussion of the data. Bibliography and Appendix are also
presented in this thesis.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to conclude the result of my data analysis
based on the use of doublespeak in Rhoma Irama’s statements on Mata Najwa
Talk Show “Mendadak Capres” in Chapter Three. Lutz states that doublespeak is
language that intentionally changes or hides the actual fact to give the listeners or
readers a wrong idea or impression. (1990, p. 1) After analyzing Rhoma Irama’s
statements in his interview on Mata Najwa; “Mendadak Capres” episode, I find
that there is, indeed, doublespeak that he uses in his statements.
Rhoma Irama uses doublespeak in his statements in order to build a good
image of him to make the Indonesian people believe that he is competent to lead
this country, while the actual fact he is incompetent and racist. He tries to
emphasize his hatred towards the Chinese-Indonesian and his disapproval of their
involvement in politics for they are the minority. Thus, as a person of the majority
group in Indonesia, he hopes that he will gain a lot of support to be the next
president of Indonesia. I analyze six data from Rhoma Irama’s statements. There
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are only three out of four types of doublespeak that appear in the data. They are
euphemism, gobbledygook or bureaucratese, and inflated language. The other
type, jargon, is not found in the data.
The most dominant doublespeak which appears in my data is
gobbledygook or bureaucratese. I found 5 data of gobbledygook of the whole
data. Gobbledygook or bureaucratese as doublespeak occurs when a speaker
wants to impress the hearers by overwhelming them by using long sentences in
order to make something seem impressive where actually it is of little importance
or even meaningless. Gobbledygook or bureaucratese contains long-winded,
meaningless or irrelevant information. This can be seen in data 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
which is mostly found in statements that Rhoma Irama uses to cover up his
incompetence and make it seem as if he were qualified and capable to run for the
presidential candidacy. In the beginning, Rhoma Irama’s statements sound
impressive. However, if we analyze it further, he only wants to build his good
image and hide his incompetence in front of the audience. In fact, he does not
have any knowledge that a candidate for the next president must have. By using
doublespeak, he can give the Indonesian people a wrong idea or impression which
is a good impression of him to gain a lot of support.
The next type of doublespeak which is most frequently found in the data is
inflated language. It occurs in 2 data of the whole data. This can be seen in data 1
and 5. Inflated language is mostly found in statements that Rhoma Irama uses to
raise his statements so as to make them sound more complex and important than
they really are. In data 1, Rhoma Irama uses inflated language to make the issue of
his candidacy to be the next president sound serious and seem to have been done.
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While in data 4, Rhoma Irama uses inflated language to emphasize his
disagreement towards Chinese-Indonesian’s involvement in politics. Inflated
language in Rhoma Irama’s statement is used to impress the listeners or readers.
This kind of doublespeak is easy to find. Yet, we have to be aware of the real
meaning behind the statements. There is always a specific intention behind the
statements that contain inflated language as Rhoma Irama does in his statements.
It sounds very important and complex at first, while behind the words the fact is
not like what it seems.
Another doublespeak that I found in my data analysis is euphemism.
Euphemism appears only in data 3. The speaker uses euphemism in order to make
unpleasant things seem more tolerable than they really are and it can also be a
tactful way to mention an offensive or uncomfortable reality indirectly.
Euphemism sounds good at first but behind the speaker’s statements, it hides bad
words or discomfort reality. It is used to impress not to express, the same as the
other types of doublespeak. Rhoma Irama uses euphemism in his statements to
give a good impression in front of the listeners and cover up his bad side so as not
to make him look racist. Actually, he wants to express his hatred towards
Chinese-Indonesians who become bureucrats. Yet, he does not want to look racist
in front of the audience for he aims to be the next president candidate. Therefore,
he needs a lot of support and he has to build a good image to make the Indonesian
people approve of his candidacy.
The doublespeak which I cannot find in my analysis data is jargon. Jargon
is a special expression used by members of a particular group of people which are
not familiar to common people. In doublespeak, jargon is most often used to
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create a good impression and has a great effect to make things sound complicated
or hard to be understood. Jargon can be said as doublespeak if the intention is to
impress people. In his statements, Rhoma Irama uses some Islamic terms, but the
intention is not to impress nor to mislead people. Therefore, they cannot be
categorized as doublespeak.
The use of doublespeak may give a big impact to Rhoma Irama’s
statements. Successful or not, the use of doublespeak in a statement is still
doublespeak as the intention is to mislead people. I believe Rhoma Irama is aware
of this and is intentionally using the words which contain doublespeak in his
statements for his own benefit. Accordingly, we must have the ability to know the
real meaning behind that, especially in this talk show is Rhoma Irama’s
statements, for not being manipulated by the use of doublespeak.
In Mata Najwa Talk Show, especially “Mendadak Capres” episode when
Rhoma Irama becomes the guest, I found a lot of utterances containing
doublespeak which are intended to manipulate the audience. For the researchers
who are interested in analyzing doublespeak, I would like to suggest that they
analyze another controversial episodes of Mata Najwa Talk Show because we
have to open the audience’s mind not to be manipulated by the guest who uses
doublespeak in their statements for their own benefit only. The talk show host is
clever enough to get more information from the guest. Hence, sometimes it causes
discomfort and forces the guest to think of a way to answer the host’s questions as
tactfully as possible. Sooner or later the use of doublespeak in the guest’s
statements can be seen and make the audience aware of it.
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As the thesis writer, I realize that my research is far from perfection. I will
be grateful if there are some suggestions to make my thesis better. I hope my
analysis will give the readers more understanding about the Pragmatics, especially
doublespeak. Hopefully, this study can be a helpful reference for those who want
to analyze a similar topic.
Words: 1154
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DOUBLESPEAK
IN RHOMA IRAMA’S STATEMENTS
ON MATA NAJWA TALK SHOW
“MENDADAK CAPRES”
a thesis
submitted to the English Department
of the Faculty of Letters
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the “Sarjana” degree
ASTRID RIANI DAMAYANTI
1241034
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS
MARANATHA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
BANDUNG
2017
Approved by:
Bernadette Santosa, S.S., M.A
Supervisor
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my highest gratitude to Allah
SWT for blessing, love, opportunity, health, and mercy to complete this thesis.
Thank you for giving me wisdom and strength so that I am able to finish my
thesis.
In arranging this thesis, a lot of people have provided motivation, advice,
and support for me. In this valuable chance, I intended to express my gratitude
and appreciation to all of them. This thesis would not have been possible without
the help, support and patience of my only advisor Bernadette Santosa, S.S., M.A
for his supervision, advice, and guidance from the very early stage of this research
as well as giving me extraordinary experiences throughout the past few years.
I am profoundly grateful to my beloved parents. Thank you for the endless
love, pray, and support, thank you for reminding me to keep going and never
giving up. Your supports magicaly give me reason to be focus to finish my study
as soon as posible, for that I am really grateful to have you two in my life.
I would like to say thanks to the following friends for their continued
support and friendship: Restiayu, Pattas Pattar, Cindy Alviyunita, Cindy Zahra,
Rambu, and Antonieta. And my special thanks go to Sammy Syauta. You are
always a good listener for every problem I faced, especially when I had to revise
this thesis and re-start over and over again. Your oppinions never stop surprise me
and also allow me to see my problem from a different angle.
Finally, I would like to thank everybody who was important to the
successful realization of this thesis.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
Toto, A. (2012, November, 28). Mata Najwa Rhoma Irama Mendadak Capres
Capres.flv [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
0hL503g2G71
References
Examples of euphemism. (n.d). Retrieved from
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-euphemism.html
Hornby, A. S. (2010). Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary. (8th ed). Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Ilie, C. (2001). In Keith Brown (ed.) Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
2nd Edition, Vol. 12, 489-494. Oxford: Elsevier
Lutz, W. (1989). Doublespeak: From “revenue enhancement” to “terminal
living”: How government, business, advertisers, and others use
language to deceive you. New York: Harper & Row.
Ricks, C. (1990). The state of the language: A centennial book. California:
University of California Press
Types of Talk Shows. (n.d). Retrieved from
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http://www.ehow.com/about_7227990_types-talk-shows.html
Wordiness and gobbledygook. (n.d). Retrieved from
http://www.nipissingu.ca/departments/student-development-andservices/academic-skills/resources/Pages/Wordiness-andGobbledygook.aspx
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study....................................................................... 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................... 5
1.3 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................. 5
1.4 Methods of Research ............................................................................. 5
1.5 Organization of the Thesis .................................................................... 5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Pragmatics ............................................................................................. 7
2.2 Doublespeak .......................................................................................... 8
2.2.1 Euphemism.................................................................................. 9
2.2.2 Jargon ........................................................................................ 10
2.2.3 Gobbledygook ........................................................................... 10
2.2.4 Inflated Language...................................................................... 11
CHAPTER THREE: DOUBLESPEAK IN RHOMA IRAMA’S
STATEMENTS ON MATA NAJWA TALK SHOW
“MENDADAK CAPRES” .................................................................... 13
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ................................................................. 28
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 33
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... 35
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ABSTRACT
Dalam menulis tugas akhir ini, saya membahas penggunaan doublespeak
(yang merupakan salah satu dari kajian pragmatik) dalam acara bincang-bincang
antara Rhoma Irama dan Najwa Shihab. Acara ini membahas isu mengenai
Rhoma Irama yang berencana untuk maju menjadi salah satu kandidat calon
Presiden Republik Indonesia yang ke-7.
Teori doubespeak yang saya gunakan dalam tugas akhir ini merupakan
gagasan dari William Lutz. Menurut Lutz, doublespeak dapat dikategorikan
menjadi empat macam, terdiri atas: euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook atau
bureacratese dan inflated language.
Tujuan saya menganalisis penggunaan doublespeak dalam pernyataanpernyataan yang digunakan Rhoma Irama di dalam acara bincang-bincang Mata
Najwa adalah untuk mengetahui dampak yang akan ditimbulkan. Doublespeak
adalah suatu metode penyampaian informasi yang bertujuan mengubah dan
menyembunyikan fakta sebenarnya untuk memberikan kesan yang baik tetapi
menyesatkan dan membingungkan pembaca atau pendengar.
Banyak pihak yang menggunakan doublespeak hanya untuk memperoleh
keuntungan untuk dirinya sendiri, baik menutupi keburukan atau kesalahan
mereka. Oleh karena itu kita harus waspada terhadap keberadaan doublespeak di
dalam suatu pernyataan agar tidak mudah termanipulasi.
iii
Universitas Kristen Maranatha
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study
Human beings are social creatures who cannot live alone. They need to
communicate each other to survive. In communicating, people share ideas,
emotions or exchange information. The system of human communication is
language.
Language can be used in speaking and writing. There are several kinds of
media to use language. In written form, there are magazines, novels, books,
newspaper, etc. In spoken form we can find news or talk shows.
Lately in Indonesia, a popular way that is used to discuss certain issues
and share information is a talk show. A talk show is “a television or radio
programme in which famous people are asked questions and talk in an informal
way about their work and opinions on various topic” (Hornby, 2010, p. 1525).
The guest usually discusses the topic that is related to himself, career, occupation
or even a certain issue with the host. Talk shows are popular as they are cheap and
get most direct participation from audience.
1
Universitas Kristen Maranatha
There are several types of talk shows on television such as Interview Talk
Shows, Political Talk Shows, Issue-Based Talk Shows, Comedic Talk Shows, and
Talk Show Hosts (Types of Talk Shows, n.d.). Nevertheless, the most interesting
talk show that has a certain quality is a political talk show. It is a talk show which
discusses special political issues that has public interest and impact on the
government and the people.
It is not easy to talk in a political talk show. As Ilie says in her book, “The
show host, usually a media personality, is monitoring most of the discussion by
stimulating, guiding, and facilitating the participants’ roles and contributions to
the program (for information exchange, confrontation, and entertainment).” (Ilie,
2001, p. 490).
The questions the talk show host asks may cause discomfort to the guest.
However, the person who is invited to a talk show usually has to keep their good
image during the discussion and answer the host’s questions as tactfully as
possible without offending anyone. Furthermore, sometimes they try to use
impressive words only for their own benefit.
There are many ways to make a statement sound impressive. We can add
jokes, figures of speech, proverbs or even use language play. Interestingly, the
purpose of all of them is to create a distortion of the matter. This is effective to
many listeners. One of the effective methods is to use doublespeak.
As Lutz says in his book, “Doublespeak is language that pretends to
communicate but really does not.” (Lutz, 1990, p. 1). Doublespeak is not used to
lie but it is language that is intentionally constructed to hide its actual meaning to
mislead somebody, specifically to prevent bad words or to make simple things
2
Universitas Kristen Maranatha
sound impressive.
It is very interesting to learn doublespeak. As listeners, we have to think
before believing other people’s words. However, as speakers, we also have to
choose our words carefully when we are speaking with other people.
In this thesis I am going to analyze how doublespeak works in a political
talk show, especially in Rhoma Irama’s statements when he is invited to Mata
Najwa Talk Show. The reason why I choose his statements is because I want to
analyze how he composes the words in his statements to create a certain
impression in the audience. He wants to show that he is serious and capable to be
the 7th Indonesian president. I believe, in trying to convince the Indonesian people
about this, Rhoma Irama uses doublespeak.
The approach in Linguistics that can be used to analyze Rhoma Irama’s
statements in Mata Najwa Talk Show is Pragmatics. I use the theory of
Pragmatics because it helps me to reveal what the speaker, in this case Rhoma
Irama, truly intends to say in his utterances. Yule states “Pragmatics is the study
of how more gets communicated than is said.” (Yule, 1996, p. 3). There may
sometimes be unspoken things behind a speaker’s utterances. As listeners, we
must be able to interpret what the speaker really wants to say in his utterances.
It is important for us to know what the speaker is trying to say indirectly in
the statements. Because of that, we must be aware of the speaker’s intention,
specifically when they use doublespeak in their statements for not being
manipulated by their words.
The significance of my thesis is to make people realize that the use of
doublespeak can change the listener’s mind. Hence, people would not be too
3
Universitas Kristen Maranatha
easily manipulated by political statements and will be more aware of the possible
use of doublespeak when they hear or watch a television talk show related to
politics.
Words: 771
4
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1.2 Statement of the Problem
1. Which of Rhoma Irama’s statements contain doublespeak?
2. What type of doublespeak is used in the statements?
3. What is the effect of doublespeak on the listeners?
1.3 Purpose of the Study
1. To find out which parts of Rhoma Irama’s statements contain
doublespeak.
2. To find out the types of doublespeak used in the statements.
3. To explain the effect of doublespeak on the listeners.
1.4 Methods of Research
There are some steps that I take in writing this thesis. First, I search for the
theory of doublespeak in the library which can support my analysis. Second, I
browse the Internet to select some talk shows to be used as my data. Third, I
watch the talk shows and analyze the statements containing doublespeak. Finally,
I answer all the statement of the problem and write this thesis.
1.5 Organization of the Thesis
My thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One, which is Introduction, is
divided into five sub-parts: Background of the Study, Purpose of the Study,
Methods of Research and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two, which is
Theoretical Framework, contains the theories that I use to analyze my data.
Chapter Three, which is the analysis of my data, answers the three questions of
5
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the statements of the problem. The last one is Chapter Four, which contains the
conclusion of the discussion of the data. Bibliography and Appendix are also
presented in this thesis.
6
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to conclude the result of my data analysis
based on the use of doublespeak in Rhoma Irama’s statements on Mata Najwa
Talk Show “Mendadak Capres” in Chapter Three. Lutz states that doublespeak is
language that intentionally changes or hides the actual fact to give the listeners or
readers a wrong idea or impression. (1990, p. 1) After analyzing Rhoma Irama’s
statements in his interview on Mata Najwa; “Mendadak Capres” episode, I find
that there is, indeed, doublespeak that he uses in his statements.
Rhoma Irama uses doublespeak in his statements in order to build a good
image of him to make the Indonesian people believe that he is competent to lead
this country, while the actual fact he is incompetent and racist. He tries to
emphasize his hatred towards the Chinese-Indonesian and his disapproval of their
involvement in politics for they are the minority. Thus, as a person of the majority
group in Indonesia, he hopes that he will gain a lot of support to be the next
president of Indonesia. I analyze six data from Rhoma Irama’s statements. There
28
Universitas Kristen Maranatha
are only three out of four types of doublespeak that appear in the data. They are
euphemism, gobbledygook or bureaucratese, and inflated language. The other
type, jargon, is not found in the data.
The most dominant doublespeak which appears in my data is
gobbledygook or bureaucratese. I found 5 data of gobbledygook of the whole
data. Gobbledygook or bureaucratese as doublespeak occurs when a speaker
wants to impress the hearers by overwhelming them by using long sentences in
order to make something seem impressive where actually it is of little importance
or even meaningless. Gobbledygook or bureaucratese contains long-winded,
meaningless or irrelevant information. This can be seen in data 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
which is mostly found in statements that Rhoma Irama uses to cover up his
incompetence and make it seem as if he were qualified and capable to run for the
presidential candidacy. In the beginning, Rhoma Irama’s statements sound
impressive. However, if we analyze it further, he only wants to build his good
image and hide his incompetence in front of the audience. In fact, he does not
have any knowledge that a candidate for the next president must have. By using
doublespeak, he can give the Indonesian people a wrong idea or impression which
is a good impression of him to gain a lot of support.
The next type of doublespeak which is most frequently found in the data is
inflated language. It occurs in 2 data of the whole data. This can be seen in data 1
and 5. Inflated language is mostly found in statements that Rhoma Irama uses to
raise his statements so as to make them sound more complex and important than
they really are. In data 1, Rhoma Irama uses inflated language to make the issue of
his candidacy to be the next president sound serious and seem to have been done.
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While in data 4, Rhoma Irama uses inflated language to emphasize his
disagreement towards Chinese-Indonesian’s involvement in politics. Inflated
language in Rhoma Irama’s statement is used to impress the listeners or readers.
This kind of doublespeak is easy to find. Yet, we have to be aware of the real
meaning behind the statements. There is always a specific intention behind the
statements that contain inflated language as Rhoma Irama does in his statements.
It sounds very important and complex at first, while behind the words the fact is
not like what it seems.
Another doublespeak that I found in my data analysis is euphemism.
Euphemism appears only in data 3. The speaker uses euphemism in order to make
unpleasant things seem more tolerable than they really are and it can also be a
tactful way to mention an offensive or uncomfortable reality indirectly.
Euphemism sounds good at first but behind the speaker’s statements, it hides bad
words or discomfort reality. It is used to impress not to express, the same as the
other types of doublespeak. Rhoma Irama uses euphemism in his statements to
give a good impression in front of the listeners and cover up his bad side so as not
to make him look racist. Actually, he wants to express his hatred towards
Chinese-Indonesians who become bureucrats. Yet, he does not want to look racist
in front of the audience for he aims to be the next president candidate. Therefore,
he needs a lot of support and he has to build a good image to make the Indonesian
people approve of his candidacy.
The doublespeak which I cannot find in my analysis data is jargon. Jargon
is a special expression used by members of a particular group of people which are
not familiar to common people. In doublespeak, jargon is most often used to
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create a good impression and has a great effect to make things sound complicated
or hard to be understood. Jargon can be said as doublespeak if the intention is to
impress people. In his statements, Rhoma Irama uses some Islamic terms, but the
intention is not to impress nor to mislead people. Therefore, they cannot be
categorized as doublespeak.
The use of doublespeak may give a big impact to Rhoma Irama’s
statements. Successful or not, the use of doublespeak in a statement is still
doublespeak as the intention is to mislead people. I believe Rhoma Irama is aware
of this and is intentionally using the words which contain doublespeak in his
statements for his own benefit. Accordingly, we must have the ability to know the
real meaning behind that, especially in this talk show is Rhoma Irama’s
statements, for not being manipulated by the use of doublespeak.
In Mata Najwa Talk Show, especially “Mendadak Capres” episode when
Rhoma Irama becomes the guest, I found a lot of utterances containing
doublespeak which are intended to manipulate the audience. For the researchers
who are interested in analyzing doublespeak, I would like to suggest that they
analyze another controversial episodes of Mata Najwa Talk Show because we
have to open the audience’s mind not to be manipulated by the guest who uses
doublespeak in their statements for their own benefit only. The talk show host is
clever enough to get more information from the guest. Hence, sometimes it causes
discomfort and forces the guest to think of a way to answer the host’s questions as
tactfully as possible. Sooner or later the use of doublespeak in the guest’s
statements can be seen and make the audience aware of it.
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As the thesis writer, I realize that my research is far from perfection. I will
be grateful if there are some suggestions to make my thesis better. I hope my
analysis will give the readers more understanding about the Pragmatics, especially
doublespeak. Hopefully, this study can be a helpful reference for those who want
to analyze a similar topic.
Words: 1154
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DOUBLESPEAK
IN RHOMA IRAMA’S STATEMENTS
ON MATA NAJWA TALK SHOW
“MENDADAK CAPRES”
a thesis
submitted to the English Department
of the Faculty of Letters
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the “Sarjana” degree
ASTRID RIANI DAMAYANTI
1241034
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS
MARANATHA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
BANDUNG
2017
Approved by:
Bernadette Santosa, S.S., M.A
Supervisor
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my highest gratitude to Allah
SWT for blessing, love, opportunity, health, and mercy to complete this thesis.
Thank you for giving me wisdom and strength so that I am able to finish my
thesis.
In arranging this thesis, a lot of people have provided motivation, advice,
and support for me. In this valuable chance, I intended to express my gratitude
and appreciation to all of them. This thesis would not have been possible without
the help, support and patience of my only advisor Bernadette Santosa, S.S., M.A
for his supervision, advice, and guidance from the very early stage of this research
as well as giving me extraordinary experiences throughout the past few years.
I am profoundly grateful to my beloved parents. Thank you for the endless
love, pray, and support, thank you for reminding me to keep going and never
giving up. Your supports magicaly give me reason to be focus to finish my study
as soon as posible, for that I am really grateful to have you two in my life.
I would like to say thanks to the following friends for their continued
support and friendship: Restiayu, Pattas Pattar, Cindy Alviyunita, Cindy Zahra,
Rambu, and Antonieta. And my special thanks go to Sammy Syauta. You are
always a good listener for every problem I faced, especially when I had to revise
this thesis and re-start over and over again. Your oppinions never stop surprise me
and also allow me to see my problem from a different angle.
Finally, I would like to thank everybody who was important to the
successful realization of this thesis.
i
Universitas Kristen Maranatha
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
Toto, A. (2012, November, 28). Mata Najwa Rhoma Irama Mendadak Capres
Capres.flv [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
0hL503g2G71
References
Examples of euphemism. (n.d). Retrieved from
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-euphemism.html
Hornby, A. S. (2010). Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary. (8th ed). Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Ilie, C. (2001). In Keith Brown (ed.) Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
2nd Edition, Vol. 12, 489-494. Oxford: Elsevier
Lutz, W. (1989). Doublespeak: From “revenue enhancement” to “terminal
living”: How government, business, advertisers, and others use
language to deceive you. New York: Harper & Row.
Ricks, C. (1990). The state of the language: A centennial book. California:
University of California Press
Types of Talk Shows. (n.d). Retrieved from
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http://www.ehow.com/about_7227990_types-talk-shows.html
Wordiness and gobbledygook. (n.d). Retrieved from
http://www.nipissingu.ca/departments/student-development-andservices/academic-skills/resources/Pages/Wordiness-andGobbledygook.aspx
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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