Analysis of Translation of Language Play in Roald Dahl's 'The BFG'.
ABSTRACT
The BFG adalah salah satu novel anak yang dikarang oleh Roald Dahl dan
diterjemahkan dalam bahasa Indonesia yang bercerita tentang kehidupan para
raksasa yang senang menculik dan memakan anak kecil. Tetapi ada satu raksasa
yang bernama BFG yang baik hati dan berbeda dari raksasa lainnya. BFG berteman
dengan seorang anak perempuan bernama Sophie. Dalam percakapan mereka,
BFG seringkali mengucapkan kata-kata yang tidak lazim. Dalam tugas akhir ini,
kata-kata tersebut dikategorikan sebagai permainan bahasa atau language play.
Novel The BFG ini sudah diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia. Saya tertarik
untuk menganalisis bagaimana permainan bahasa dalam novel ini diterjemahkan.
Data yang dibahas dalam tugas akhir ini dibatasi pada permainan kata yang
berhubungan dengan bentukan kata baru dan permainan makna. Untuk itu dalam
menganalisis data language play tersebut, saya menggunakan teori morfologi dan
semantik dalam bahasa Inggris dan Indonesia. Kemudian saya juga menganalisis
perbandingan bagaimana language play itu diterjemahkan di dalam bahasa Inggris
dan Indonesia. Di sini juga ditunjukkan bagaimana penerjemah menggunakan fiturfitur linguistik dalam menerjemahkan language play, menjaga bentuk dan arti
language play itu sendiri serta bagaimana efek yang dimunculkan dalam hasil
terjemahan language play tersebut.
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Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa mayoritas fitur-fitur linguistik yang
digunakan dalam bahasa Inggris adalah Morfologi dan dalam bahasa Indonesia
adalah Semantik. Ditemukan juga bahwa pada sebagian besar data penerjemah
tetap menjaga bentuk dan arti dari language play tersebut. Efek yang dimunculkan
dengan penggunaan permainan bahasa berhubungan dengan penggambaran tokoh
raksasa dalam buku tersebut. Selain itu, penggunaan language play dalam buku
tersebut juga menciptakan atmosfir lucu dalam novel tersebut bagi para pembac
iv
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................
i
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF SYMBOLS ………………………………………………………………………….. v
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ......................................................................................
Statement of the Problem ......................................................................................
Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................
Method of Research .............................................................................................
Organization of the Thesis .....................................................................................
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..............………………………..
1
3
4
4
4
6
2.1
Translation .......................................................................................................... 6
2.2
Language Play .................................................................................................. 8
2.2.1
Morphology ........................................................................................................ 9
2.2.1.1 Affixation ............................................................................................................ 9
2.2.1.2 Compounding .................................................................................................. 11
2.2.1.3 Blending .......................................................................................................... 11
2.2.1.4 Reduplication .................................................................................................. 11
2.2.1.5 Orthography .................................................................................................... 12
2.2.2
Semantics ........................................................................................................ 12
2.2.2.1 Homophone ..................................................................................................... 12
2.2.2.1.1 Near-homophone ............................................................................................ 13
2.2.2.1.2 Pseudo homophone ........................................................................................ 13
2.2.2.2 Morpheme Metathesis .................................................................................... 14
2.3
Indonesian Linguistics ..................................................................................... 14
2.3.1
Morphology ...................................................................................................... 14
2.3.1.1 Affixation .......................................................................................................... 14
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2.3.1.2
Reduplication .................................................................................................. 16
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION OF LANGUAGE PLAY
IN ROALD DAHL’S THE BFG …………………………………………………….... 18
Data 1 ……………………………………………………………………………………. 18
Data 2 ……………………………………………………………………………………. 21
Data 3 ……………………………………………………………………..……………... 24
Data 4 ……………………………………………………………………………............ 26
Data 5 ……………………………………………………………………………………. 29
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 32
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...............................................................................................................36
APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................38
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LIST OF SYMBOLS:
Affixation
Blending
+
Morpheme metathesis
Near-homophone
Pseudo homophone
Orthography
Reduplication
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APPENDICES
Linguistic
Element
English
Data
Language
Indonesian
Data
Language Play
Play
Yes
Gelembung yang
Blending; a
is a catasterous
ke atas adalah
near
disast
busibah
homophone
rophe! (53)
mencana! ( page
and a
64)
pseudo
Morphology Upgoing bubbles
Blending
Translation
homophone
38
Form
Sense
No
Linguistic
Element
English
Data
Indonesian
Language Play
Data
Translation
Language Play
Yes
Morphology
Redunculus and um-
and
possiple;
Semantics
said. (97)
the
BFG
1
blending
2
affixation; a
Form
N
o
Sense
Jika aku menampakkan A near homophone and
x
diri,
“Hil yang mustahal’, kata
1
BFG (113)
a pseudo-homophone
a near homophone and
near
2
homophone
a pseudo-homophone
a near homophone and
and a pseudohomophone
Morphology
If I do, they will be
1
orthography
putting me in the zoo and affixation
with all the jiggyraffes
and cattypiddlers (99)
2
affixation
mereka
mengurungku
di
akan reduplication
kebun
binatang bersama jerapah
dan urat-urat (115)
39
2
1
X
Linguistic
Element
English
Data
Mereka berhati-hati
be skiddling off to the
agar tidak terlalu sering
near homophone
same country too
berjingkat-jengkit ke
often (65)
Negara yang sama (77)
Semantic
We is doing this lovely
Blending
Morpheme Metathesis
Data
Translation
Language Play
Yes
Compounding and
Morphology They is careful not to
Language Play
Indonesian
Kita akan melakukan
bit of buckswashling
kegemboran ini
both together (76).
bersama-sama (90).
40
Affixation
Sense
Form
No
x
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Language is ‘the medium of communication. It is “a system of sounds and
words to communicate” (Hornby 862). Based on Longman Dictionary of the
English Language in Crystal’s book, language is used “for communicating ideas
or feelings” (Crystal 2). Therefore, language is very important in our life because
it is used by people to communicate with others.
As we know, the English language is the international language that is
used by most people in the world. Because of that, many books are written in the
English language. However, since not every book reader understands English,
some books are translated into other languages. Yet, sometimes it is not easy to
make an accurate translation because no two languages are totally equivalent.
Therefore, sometimes the content of the original text is different from the content
of the translation.
When a text has some special features like rhyming words or figures of
speech, the process of translation becomes more difficult. In linguistics, those
special features are called language play. I am interested in doing research on
language play because it is common to happen in our daily life. Language play
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focuses on playing with language by manipulating some linguistic features to
create funny effects or enjoyment for people. “Manipulating” means “we take
some linguistic features – such as a word, a phrase, a sentence, a part of a word,
a group of sounds, a series of letters – and making it do things it does not
normally do. We are in effect, bending and breaking the rules of the language”
(Crystal 1). This manipulation of language makes translation more difficult as the
translator must pay attention not only to the meaning of the text but also its
linguistic form.
I am interested in finding out how language play in one language is
translated into another language. Therefore, the topic of my thesis is Translation
of language play from the English novel into the Indonesian novel. I choose a
novel, specifically those for children, because children novels are usually more
imaginative not only in the story but also the characters. Therefore, sometimes
authors create language play to make the imagination seem real, the story more
amusing or make humor.
In my thesis, I take the data from a children’s novel entitled The BFG by
Roald Dahl. I use this novel because Roald Dahl is a very famous author from
England and many of his works are translated into the Indonesian language. The
BFG is about giants who kidnap children in the night and eat them. But there is
one giant whose name is the BFG, who does not eat the children. Instead, he
blows dream for them every night. Hence, he is called BFG. BFG stands for Big
Friendly Giant. One night, he kidnaps a little girl named Sophie because she sees
him. From that time, they become friends. However, giants do not use language
like human, so their conversations are a little bit strange. I find that language play
happens in the conversation between the girl and the BFG. In this paper, I am
going to focus on the use of language play both in the English and Indonesian
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versions. So I will analyze how the translator translates the language play.
Furthermore, I will find whether how the translator can keep both of the sense
and the form or neither the sense nor the form or either sense or form.
The theory that I use in my research are theory of language play by David
Crystal. I will also use linguistic theories which are related to my analysis. The
most linguistic theories that I used are are theories of morphology. I decide to
focus on morphology because the morphological process is the most outstanding
process used in the book. I use the theory of morphology by Deterding &
Poedjosoedarmo and O’Grady which relates to affixation, blending, and also
compounding. Besides morphology, I also use the theory of semantics that deals
with homophone, near-homophone, pseudo
homophone and morpheme
metathesis. To analyze the language play in the Indonesian translation, I use the
theory of the Indonesian morphology and semantics. Furthermore, I use the
theory of translation by Hatim & Munday and Newmark to analyze the translation
of language play found in the data.
I believe the topic is significant to discuss because it can enrich the
readers’ knowledge about language play, linguistic processes, and how they are
translated. I hope that my thesis can help the people who intend to be translators
in learning some methods and examples about the translation of the language
play from English into Indonesian.
Word count: 770
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Statement of the Problem
In the thesis I would like to discuss the following problems:
1. What are the linguistic processes used in the language play in both the
English and Indonesian versions of The BFG?
2. Which does the translator keep in translating the language play; the
sense, form, both of the sense and the form or neither of them?
3.
How does the translation give a different effect of the language play
compared to the effect of the language play in the English version?
Purpose of the Study
In the thesis I would like to show:
1. The linguistic processes that used in creating the language play in both
the English and Indonesian version of The BFG.
2. How the translator keeps both of the sense and the form or else only the
sense or the form in translating the language play.
3. How the translation give a different effect of language play compared to
the effect of the language play in the English version.
Methods of Research
In analyzing the data, I first read the novel entitled The BFG. Then I
collected the words containing language play as the data. After that, I read the
Indonesia translation of the novel and then compared the translation of language
play with the English ones. I classified them into tables containing the type of
language play both in English and Indonesian. After that, I selected and classified
the data into several categories. Then I analyzed them, focusing on the linguistic
area.
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Organization of Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters. It begins with Chapter One which is
the Introduction consisting of the Background of the Study, Statement of the
Problem, Purpose of the Study, Methods of Research, and Organization of the
Thesis.
Next is Chapter Two, the Theoretical Framework, which explains the
theories used in this thesis. It is followed by Chapter Three, which contains the
analysis of the language plays in the novel entitled The BFG and the analysis of
the translation from English into Indonesian language.
The last is Chapter Four, which contains the Conclusion, providing my
personal comments and opinions of my findings. At the end of the thesis, there
are the Bibliography and the Appendix.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw the conclusion about the translation of
language play in the children book entitled The BFG by Roald Dahl. I analyze
only five data which contain of the language play and relates with the morphology
and semantic features. It is because the morphological process in the language
play of this novel is the most outstanding process and has many variations which
can make my analysis more various. Besides, the semantic features in the
language play of this novel is used to give the certain effects such as creating
humor, making pleasant sound and making the story more imaginative.
After analyzing the data, I conclude that in the creation of language play in
the English version, morphological process is more applied than semantic
features. In the English version, the mostly used morphological process is
blending which can be found in data 1, 2, and 4. The other data use affixation
process, which can be found in data 2 and 3; and orthography which is found in
data 3. There are only two data that use Semantic features which are a near
homophone and a pseudo-homophone in data 2 and morpheme metathesis in
data 5.
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On the other hand, the language play in the Indonesian translation mostly
is playing with Semantic features. We can see in the Indonesian translation, the
mostly used semantic feature is near homophones which can be found in data 1,
2, 3, 4. Another semantic feature is pseudo-homophone which can be found in
data 1 and 2. Furthermore, the rest of the data use morphological processes
which are blending in data 2, reduplication in data 3, and an affixation in data 5.
Concerning the translation of language play, in most of the data the
translator keeps both the sense and the form of the language play as can be
seen in data 1 and 5 although in data 3, the translator only keeps part of the
sense and form. Judging from the numbers, I conclude that the translator is
successful to keep both the form and the sense of the English language play.
However, there are two data in which the translator keeps only the form of
language play and not the sense because it is very difficult to translate the
meaning of the language play in Indonesian because of there is incongruity
words. Actually, the translator has to choose whether she has to keep the sense
or the form. On the other hand, the translator chooses to keep the form rather
than the sense of language play to maintain the exits of the language play in
Indonesian translation. And in data 3, the translator keeps only the sense of
language play and not the form because the translator wants to make easier for
the reader to catch the meaning itself without making incongruity words.
After analyzing the language play, I find that mostly, the effect of using
language play in the English version is to form the opinion that the giant likes to
exaggerate things when speaking which is found in data 1, 2, 3, and 4. Another
effect of using language play is to describe that the giant is uneducated which is
found in data 4, 5 and the last is to make a pleasant sound for the readers which
is found in data 2 and 3. While the effect of using language play in the Indonesian
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version is to describe that the giant is uneducated and it can be seen in all the
data. Besides, there is an additional effect which is to make a pleasant sound for
the readers which can be seen in data 1 and 2.
In my opinion, the author of this novel makes use many of language play
in his book with the purpose to give a clearer description of the giant’s
characteristics to the readers. As giants have a much bigger size than humans,
there are the uses of blended words with similar meaning in the language play. I
conclude this is to show that the giant’s characteristics that their bodies are
bigger and double of human so he likes to exaggerate things when speaking
through the use of blending and reduplication. Furthermore, the giant is
uneducated so he does many mistakes when speaking. This characteristic is
created by using wrong affixation, morpheme metathesis, and near homophone.
Besides, the author tries to create a good atmosphere by making a pleasant
sound in the language play so the readers will enjoy reading the book. The author
creates that effect by using an alliteration, an assonance that are created from
using a near homophone, a pseudo-homophone and an orthography. By using
language play, the different worlds between humans and giants are made clear.
Besides to make pleasant sound for the reader and convey the giant’s
characteristics, the other effect of the language play is to create humor for the
readers. It happens when we read the language play in the book; we will find that
the words actually not exist in the vocabulary. Being acquainted with the
language, we can know what the words refer to, or what the words should be.
Therefore, it makes us as the readers laugh because there is incongruity in the
use of words which the author used to create language play.
I know that there are other aspects of linguistic features which can be
used to analyze the language play in this book beside the morphological and
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semantic features. There are some phonological and syntactic features shown in
the book which can be further analyzed. Therefore, I would like to suggest to the
others if they want to do further research, I suggest to analyze the language play
by using the phonological process and syntactic features.
Words: 961
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References:
Ali, Faidal Rahman. English Grammar Completed Edition. Yogyakarta: Pustaka
Widyatama, 2010.
Cook, Guy. Language Play, Language Learning. Oxford: University Press. 2000
Crystal, David. Language Play. England: Penguin Books, 1998.
Dahl, Road. Raksasa Besar yang Baik. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama,
2010.
Dahl, Road. The BFG. England: Puffin Books, 1984.
Deterding, David H., Poedjosoedarmo, Gloria R. The Grammar of English
Morphology and Syntax for English Teachers in Southeast Asia. Singapore:
Prentice Hall, 2001.
Hatim, Basil, Munday, Jeremy. Translation an Advanced Resource Book. Oxon:
Routledge, 2004.
Hornby, A S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7 th Edition. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2005.
Leech, Geoffrey. An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage. Indonesia: Gelatik,
1990.
Nash, Walter. The Language of Humour. New York: Longman Inc. 1985
Newmark, Peter. Approaches to Translation. England: Pergamon Press Ltd,
1981.
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O’Grady, William, Michael Dobrovolsky, and Francis Katamba. Contemporary
Linguistics: An Introduction. Essex: Longman (Pearson Education Limited),
1997.
Stewart, JR, Thomas W, Nathan Vaillete. Language Files Materials for an
Introduction to Language & Linguistics. Ohio: The Ohio State University
Press Columbus. 2001
Tanto, Trisnowati. Implikasi Pragmatis Dari Permainan Bahasa Dalam Fiksi
Berbahasa Inggris Untuk Anak-Anak. Indonesia: Universitas Padjajaran,
2010.
Tim Penyusun Kamus Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa. “Kamus
Besar Bahasa Indonesia”. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka, 1989.
Tim Redaksi Ayahbunda. “Perkembangan Bahasa dan Bicara”. Dari A sampai Z
tentang PERKEMBANGAN ANAK Buku Pegangan untuk Pasangan Muda.
Jakarta: PT. Gaya Favorit Pres, 1992. Print.
Wijana, I Dewa Putu. Kartun: Studi Tentang Permainan Bahasa. Jogjakarta:
Ombak, 2003.
Electronic Publications:
Lanin, Ivan. “Rangkuman Tata Bahasa Indonesia.” 17. Web. 9 Juli 2010.
Nordquist, Richard. “Near-homophone”. Web. 2010.
Nordquist, Richard. “Orthography”. Web. 2010.
Nordquist, Richard. “Pseudo homophone”. Web. 2010.
Nur Azizah, Siti. “Bahasa”. Kompasiana. 22 Agustus 2012.
Putri, Dini Amanda. “Tata Bahasa”. Web. 2009.
Sinta, Ani. “Perkembangan Bahasa Anak.” Web. 26 July 2010.
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The BFG adalah salah satu novel anak yang dikarang oleh Roald Dahl dan
diterjemahkan dalam bahasa Indonesia yang bercerita tentang kehidupan para
raksasa yang senang menculik dan memakan anak kecil. Tetapi ada satu raksasa
yang bernama BFG yang baik hati dan berbeda dari raksasa lainnya. BFG berteman
dengan seorang anak perempuan bernama Sophie. Dalam percakapan mereka,
BFG seringkali mengucapkan kata-kata yang tidak lazim. Dalam tugas akhir ini,
kata-kata tersebut dikategorikan sebagai permainan bahasa atau language play.
Novel The BFG ini sudah diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia. Saya tertarik
untuk menganalisis bagaimana permainan bahasa dalam novel ini diterjemahkan.
Data yang dibahas dalam tugas akhir ini dibatasi pada permainan kata yang
berhubungan dengan bentukan kata baru dan permainan makna. Untuk itu dalam
menganalisis data language play tersebut, saya menggunakan teori morfologi dan
semantik dalam bahasa Inggris dan Indonesia. Kemudian saya juga menganalisis
perbandingan bagaimana language play itu diterjemahkan di dalam bahasa Inggris
dan Indonesia. Di sini juga ditunjukkan bagaimana penerjemah menggunakan fiturfitur linguistik dalam menerjemahkan language play, menjaga bentuk dan arti
language play itu sendiri serta bagaimana efek yang dimunculkan dalam hasil
terjemahan language play tersebut.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa mayoritas fitur-fitur linguistik yang
digunakan dalam bahasa Inggris adalah Morfologi dan dalam bahasa Indonesia
adalah Semantik. Ditemukan juga bahwa pada sebagian besar data penerjemah
tetap menjaga bentuk dan arti dari language play tersebut. Efek yang dimunculkan
dengan penggunaan permainan bahasa berhubungan dengan penggambaran tokoh
raksasa dalam buku tersebut. Selain itu, penggunaan language play dalam buku
tersebut juga menciptakan atmosfir lucu dalam novel tersebut bagi para pembac
iv
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................
i
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF SYMBOLS ………………………………………………………………………….. v
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ......................................................................................
Statement of the Problem ......................................................................................
Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................
Method of Research .............................................................................................
Organization of the Thesis .....................................................................................
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..............………………………..
1
3
4
4
4
6
2.1
Translation .......................................................................................................... 6
2.2
Language Play .................................................................................................. 8
2.2.1
Morphology ........................................................................................................ 9
2.2.1.1 Affixation ............................................................................................................ 9
2.2.1.2 Compounding .................................................................................................. 11
2.2.1.3 Blending .......................................................................................................... 11
2.2.1.4 Reduplication .................................................................................................. 11
2.2.1.5 Orthography .................................................................................................... 12
2.2.2
Semantics ........................................................................................................ 12
2.2.2.1 Homophone ..................................................................................................... 12
2.2.2.1.1 Near-homophone ............................................................................................ 13
2.2.2.1.2 Pseudo homophone ........................................................................................ 13
2.2.2.2 Morpheme Metathesis .................................................................................... 14
2.3
Indonesian Linguistics ..................................................................................... 14
2.3.1
Morphology ...................................................................................................... 14
2.3.1.1 Affixation .......................................................................................................... 14
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2.3.1.2
Reduplication .................................................................................................. 16
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION OF LANGUAGE PLAY
IN ROALD DAHL’S THE BFG …………………………………………………….... 18
Data 1 ……………………………………………………………………………………. 18
Data 2 ……………………………………………………………………………………. 21
Data 3 ……………………………………………………………………..……………... 24
Data 4 ……………………………………………………………………………............ 26
Data 5 ……………………………………………………………………………………. 29
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 32
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...............................................................................................................36
APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................38
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LIST OF SYMBOLS:
Affixation
Blending
+
Morpheme metathesis
Near-homophone
Pseudo homophone
Orthography
Reduplication
iii
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APPENDICES
Linguistic
Element
English
Data
Language
Indonesian
Data
Language Play
Play
Yes
Gelembung yang
Blending; a
is a catasterous
ke atas adalah
near
disast
busibah
homophone
rophe! (53)
mencana! ( page
and a
64)
pseudo
Morphology Upgoing bubbles
Blending
Translation
homophone
38
Form
Sense
No
Linguistic
Element
English
Data
Indonesian
Language Play
Data
Translation
Language Play
Yes
Morphology
Redunculus and um-
and
possiple;
Semantics
said. (97)
the
BFG
1
blending
2
affixation; a
Form
N
o
Sense
Jika aku menampakkan A near homophone and
x
diri,
“Hil yang mustahal’, kata
1
BFG (113)
a pseudo-homophone
a near homophone and
near
2
homophone
a pseudo-homophone
a near homophone and
and a pseudohomophone
Morphology
If I do, they will be
1
orthography
putting me in the zoo and affixation
with all the jiggyraffes
and cattypiddlers (99)
2
affixation
mereka
mengurungku
di
akan reduplication
kebun
binatang bersama jerapah
dan urat-urat (115)
39
2
1
X
Linguistic
Element
English
Data
Mereka berhati-hati
be skiddling off to the
agar tidak terlalu sering
near homophone
same country too
berjingkat-jengkit ke
often (65)
Negara yang sama (77)
Semantic
We is doing this lovely
Blending
Morpheme Metathesis
Data
Translation
Language Play
Yes
Compounding and
Morphology They is careful not to
Language Play
Indonesian
Kita akan melakukan
bit of buckswashling
kegemboran ini
both together (76).
bersama-sama (90).
40
Affixation
Sense
Form
No
x
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Language is ‘the medium of communication. It is “a system of sounds and
words to communicate” (Hornby 862). Based on Longman Dictionary of the
English Language in Crystal’s book, language is used “for communicating ideas
or feelings” (Crystal 2). Therefore, language is very important in our life because
it is used by people to communicate with others.
As we know, the English language is the international language that is
used by most people in the world. Because of that, many books are written in the
English language. However, since not every book reader understands English,
some books are translated into other languages. Yet, sometimes it is not easy to
make an accurate translation because no two languages are totally equivalent.
Therefore, sometimes the content of the original text is different from the content
of the translation.
When a text has some special features like rhyming words or figures of
speech, the process of translation becomes more difficult. In linguistics, those
special features are called language play. I am interested in doing research on
language play because it is common to happen in our daily life. Language play
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focuses on playing with language by manipulating some linguistic features to
create funny effects or enjoyment for people. “Manipulating” means “we take
some linguistic features – such as a word, a phrase, a sentence, a part of a word,
a group of sounds, a series of letters – and making it do things it does not
normally do. We are in effect, bending and breaking the rules of the language”
(Crystal 1). This manipulation of language makes translation more difficult as the
translator must pay attention not only to the meaning of the text but also its
linguistic form.
I am interested in finding out how language play in one language is
translated into another language. Therefore, the topic of my thesis is Translation
of language play from the English novel into the Indonesian novel. I choose a
novel, specifically those for children, because children novels are usually more
imaginative not only in the story but also the characters. Therefore, sometimes
authors create language play to make the imagination seem real, the story more
amusing or make humor.
In my thesis, I take the data from a children’s novel entitled The BFG by
Roald Dahl. I use this novel because Roald Dahl is a very famous author from
England and many of his works are translated into the Indonesian language. The
BFG is about giants who kidnap children in the night and eat them. But there is
one giant whose name is the BFG, who does not eat the children. Instead, he
blows dream for them every night. Hence, he is called BFG. BFG stands for Big
Friendly Giant. One night, he kidnaps a little girl named Sophie because she sees
him. From that time, they become friends. However, giants do not use language
like human, so their conversations are a little bit strange. I find that language play
happens in the conversation between the girl and the BFG. In this paper, I am
going to focus on the use of language play both in the English and Indonesian
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versions. So I will analyze how the translator translates the language play.
Furthermore, I will find whether how the translator can keep both of the sense
and the form or neither the sense nor the form or either sense or form.
The theory that I use in my research are theory of language play by David
Crystal. I will also use linguistic theories which are related to my analysis. The
most linguistic theories that I used are are theories of morphology. I decide to
focus on morphology because the morphological process is the most outstanding
process used in the book. I use the theory of morphology by Deterding &
Poedjosoedarmo and O’Grady which relates to affixation, blending, and also
compounding. Besides morphology, I also use the theory of semantics that deals
with homophone, near-homophone, pseudo
homophone and morpheme
metathesis. To analyze the language play in the Indonesian translation, I use the
theory of the Indonesian morphology and semantics. Furthermore, I use the
theory of translation by Hatim & Munday and Newmark to analyze the translation
of language play found in the data.
I believe the topic is significant to discuss because it can enrich the
readers’ knowledge about language play, linguistic processes, and how they are
translated. I hope that my thesis can help the people who intend to be translators
in learning some methods and examples about the translation of the language
play from English into Indonesian.
Word count: 770
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Statement of the Problem
In the thesis I would like to discuss the following problems:
1. What are the linguistic processes used in the language play in both the
English and Indonesian versions of The BFG?
2. Which does the translator keep in translating the language play; the
sense, form, both of the sense and the form or neither of them?
3.
How does the translation give a different effect of the language play
compared to the effect of the language play in the English version?
Purpose of the Study
In the thesis I would like to show:
1. The linguistic processes that used in creating the language play in both
the English and Indonesian version of The BFG.
2. How the translator keeps both of the sense and the form or else only the
sense or the form in translating the language play.
3. How the translation give a different effect of language play compared to
the effect of the language play in the English version.
Methods of Research
In analyzing the data, I first read the novel entitled The BFG. Then I
collected the words containing language play as the data. After that, I read the
Indonesia translation of the novel and then compared the translation of language
play with the English ones. I classified them into tables containing the type of
language play both in English and Indonesian. After that, I selected and classified
the data into several categories. Then I analyzed them, focusing on the linguistic
area.
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Organization of Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters. It begins with Chapter One which is
the Introduction consisting of the Background of the Study, Statement of the
Problem, Purpose of the Study, Methods of Research, and Organization of the
Thesis.
Next is Chapter Two, the Theoretical Framework, which explains the
theories used in this thesis. It is followed by Chapter Three, which contains the
analysis of the language plays in the novel entitled The BFG and the analysis of
the translation from English into Indonesian language.
The last is Chapter Four, which contains the Conclusion, providing my
personal comments and opinions of my findings. At the end of the thesis, there
are the Bibliography and the Appendix.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw the conclusion about the translation of
language play in the children book entitled The BFG by Roald Dahl. I analyze
only five data which contain of the language play and relates with the morphology
and semantic features. It is because the morphological process in the language
play of this novel is the most outstanding process and has many variations which
can make my analysis more various. Besides, the semantic features in the
language play of this novel is used to give the certain effects such as creating
humor, making pleasant sound and making the story more imaginative.
After analyzing the data, I conclude that in the creation of language play in
the English version, morphological process is more applied than semantic
features. In the English version, the mostly used morphological process is
blending which can be found in data 1, 2, and 4. The other data use affixation
process, which can be found in data 2 and 3; and orthography which is found in
data 3. There are only two data that use Semantic features which are a near
homophone and a pseudo-homophone in data 2 and morpheme metathesis in
data 5.
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On the other hand, the language play in the Indonesian translation mostly
is playing with Semantic features. We can see in the Indonesian translation, the
mostly used semantic feature is near homophones which can be found in data 1,
2, 3, 4. Another semantic feature is pseudo-homophone which can be found in
data 1 and 2. Furthermore, the rest of the data use morphological processes
which are blending in data 2, reduplication in data 3, and an affixation in data 5.
Concerning the translation of language play, in most of the data the
translator keeps both the sense and the form of the language play as can be
seen in data 1 and 5 although in data 3, the translator only keeps part of the
sense and form. Judging from the numbers, I conclude that the translator is
successful to keep both the form and the sense of the English language play.
However, there are two data in which the translator keeps only the form of
language play and not the sense because it is very difficult to translate the
meaning of the language play in Indonesian because of there is incongruity
words. Actually, the translator has to choose whether she has to keep the sense
or the form. On the other hand, the translator chooses to keep the form rather
than the sense of language play to maintain the exits of the language play in
Indonesian translation. And in data 3, the translator keeps only the sense of
language play and not the form because the translator wants to make easier for
the reader to catch the meaning itself without making incongruity words.
After analyzing the language play, I find that mostly, the effect of using
language play in the English version is to form the opinion that the giant likes to
exaggerate things when speaking which is found in data 1, 2, 3, and 4. Another
effect of using language play is to describe that the giant is uneducated which is
found in data 4, 5 and the last is to make a pleasant sound for the readers which
is found in data 2 and 3. While the effect of using language play in the Indonesian
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version is to describe that the giant is uneducated and it can be seen in all the
data. Besides, there is an additional effect which is to make a pleasant sound for
the readers which can be seen in data 1 and 2.
In my opinion, the author of this novel makes use many of language play
in his book with the purpose to give a clearer description of the giant’s
characteristics to the readers. As giants have a much bigger size than humans,
there are the uses of blended words with similar meaning in the language play. I
conclude this is to show that the giant’s characteristics that their bodies are
bigger and double of human so he likes to exaggerate things when speaking
through the use of blending and reduplication. Furthermore, the giant is
uneducated so he does many mistakes when speaking. This characteristic is
created by using wrong affixation, morpheme metathesis, and near homophone.
Besides, the author tries to create a good atmosphere by making a pleasant
sound in the language play so the readers will enjoy reading the book. The author
creates that effect by using an alliteration, an assonance that are created from
using a near homophone, a pseudo-homophone and an orthography. By using
language play, the different worlds between humans and giants are made clear.
Besides to make pleasant sound for the reader and convey the giant’s
characteristics, the other effect of the language play is to create humor for the
readers. It happens when we read the language play in the book; we will find that
the words actually not exist in the vocabulary. Being acquainted with the
language, we can know what the words refer to, or what the words should be.
Therefore, it makes us as the readers laugh because there is incongruity in the
use of words which the author used to create language play.
I know that there are other aspects of linguistic features which can be
used to analyze the language play in this book beside the morphological and
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semantic features. There are some phonological and syntactic features shown in
the book which can be further analyzed. Therefore, I would like to suggest to the
others if they want to do further research, I suggest to analyze the language play
by using the phonological process and syntactic features.
Words: 961
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References:
Ali, Faidal Rahman. English Grammar Completed Edition. Yogyakarta: Pustaka
Widyatama, 2010.
Cook, Guy. Language Play, Language Learning. Oxford: University Press. 2000
Crystal, David. Language Play. England: Penguin Books, 1998.
Dahl, Road. Raksasa Besar yang Baik. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama,
2010.
Dahl, Road. The BFG. England: Puffin Books, 1984.
Deterding, David H., Poedjosoedarmo, Gloria R. The Grammar of English
Morphology and Syntax for English Teachers in Southeast Asia. Singapore:
Prentice Hall, 2001.
Hatim, Basil, Munday, Jeremy. Translation an Advanced Resource Book. Oxon:
Routledge, 2004.
Hornby, A S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7 th Edition. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2005.
Leech, Geoffrey. An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage. Indonesia: Gelatik,
1990.
Nash, Walter. The Language of Humour. New York: Longman Inc. 1985
Newmark, Peter. Approaches to Translation. England: Pergamon Press Ltd,
1981.
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O’Grady, William, Michael Dobrovolsky, and Francis Katamba. Contemporary
Linguistics: An Introduction. Essex: Longman (Pearson Education Limited),
1997.
Stewart, JR, Thomas W, Nathan Vaillete. Language Files Materials for an
Introduction to Language & Linguistics. Ohio: The Ohio State University
Press Columbus. 2001
Tanto, Trisnowati. Implikasi Pragmatis Dari Permainan Bahasa Dalam Fiksi
Berbahasa Inggris Untuk Anak-Anak. Indonesia: Universitas Padjajaran,
2010.
Tim Penyusun Kamus Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa. “Kamus
Besar Bahasa Indonesia”. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka, 1989.
Tim Redaksi Ayahbunda. “Perkembangan Bahasa dan Bicara”. Dari A sampai Z
tentang PERKEMBANGAN ANAK Buku Pegangan untuk Pasangan Muda.
Jakarta: PT. Gaya Favorit Pres, 1992. Print.
Wijana, I Dewa Putu. Kartun: Studi Tentang Permainan Bahasa. Jogjakarta:
Ombak, 2003.
Electronic Publications:
Lanin, Ivan. “Rangkuman Tata Bahasa Indonesia.” 17. Web. 9 Juli 2010.
Nordquist, Richard. “Near-homophone”. Web. 2010.
Nordquist, Richard. “Orthography”. Web. 2010.
Nordquist, Richard. “Pseudo homophone”. Web. 2010.
Nur Azizah, Siti. “Bahasa”. Kompasiana. 22 Agustus 2012.
Putri, Dini Amanda. “Tata Bahasa”. Web. 2009.
Sinta, Ani. “Perkembangan Bahasa Anak.” Web. 26 July 2010.
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