Rhoma Irama’s Use of Non-Observance of the Gricean Maxims to Build a Good Image of Himself in the Media as One of the Candidates of the Seventh President of Indonesia.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini, saya akan membahas pelanggaran bidal yang merupakan salah satu dari kajian Pragmatik. Saya akan menerapkan teori tersebut ke dalam acara bincang-bincang antara Rhoma Irama dan Najwa Shihab pada tanggal 28 November 2012. Dalam hal ini, beliau menjadi salah satu kandidat calon Presiden Republik Indonesia untuk periode tahun 2014/2019.

Teori pelanggaran bidal yang saya gunakan dalam skripsi ini merupakan gagasan dari Herbert Paul Grice. Menurut Grice, pelanggaran bidal dapat dikategorikan menjadi lima macam, terdiri atas: flouting a maxim, violating a maxim, opting out of a maxim, infringing a maxim and suspending a maxim.

Salah satu penemuan yang saya peroleh dari analisis skripsi saya adalah Rhoma Irama sering melakukan flouting the maxim of relation. Hal ini terjadi karena flouting the maxim of relation adalah cara yang paling efektif untuk Rhoma menjawab pertanyaan yang bersifat langsung dan terbuka dengan beralih ke topik baru dan menyiratkan pesan tambahan bertujuan untuk membangun pencitraan yang baik tentang dirinya khususnya dalam menjadi kandidat calon presiden ke-7 Indonesia.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS... i

ABSTRACT... ii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study... 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem... 4

1.3 Purpose of the Study... 4

1.4 Method of Research... 4

1.5 Organization of the Thesis... 5

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 6

2.1 Cooperative Principle... 6

2.2 Conversational Maxims... 7

2.3 Non-observance of Maxims... 8

CHAPTER THREE: RHOMA IRAMA’S USE OF NON OBSERVANCE OF THE GRICEAN MAXIMS TO BUILD A GOOD IMAGE OF HIMSELF IN THE MEDIA AS ONE OF THE CANDIDATES OF THE SEVENTH PRESIDENT OF INDONESIA... 15

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION... 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY... 49

1 Universitas Kristen Maranatha

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

As a member of social community people need to comunicate with other humans. D. Hewett (2011, p. 7) also indicates that communication is one of the essential elements for human beings since communication can satisfy their social needs. For that reason, humans need a succesful comunication in order to make the communication which they conduct run well and effectively.

According to Thomas (1995, p. 63) a successful communication can be achieved if the participants of the conversation follow the four basic conversational maxims, which are, maxim of quantity, maxim of quality, maxim of manner and maxim of relation. These four basic principles of conversation can help people to achieve a successful communication.

In reality, when we look around us, sometimes people have a conversation without fulfilling the four maxims of conversation. Thomas says that people do not usually say what they really mean. “Speakers frequently mean much more than their words actually say” (Thomas, 1995, p. 1).

2 Universitas Kristen Maranatha People break the rules of the Gricean maxims for several purposes such as to mislead the hearer or purposefuly to assert an additional meaning. As an example, A is asking B about a mutual friend’s new boyfriend, A: “Is he nice?” and B responds: “She seems to like him.” In this example, B gives a less informative response than is required. Thus, B’s utterance generates an implied meaning which implies that B does not like the boy. By giving such an answer, B is trying to prompt A to look for an additional meaning. (Thomas, 1995, p. 66)

Based on Thomas (1995, p. 63) in order to understand the implied meaning(s) or message(s) that is not stated clearly in the speaker’s utterances, the hearer must assume or even understand the situation and condition of the conversation or else the hearer will fail to unveil the real meaning of the speaker.

Non-observance of the Gricean maxims can be found in a real conversation. A talkshow is also a source to find people’s failure to observe the Gricean maxims in a real conversation. I choose a talkshow as the source to find out people’s failure of observing the Gricean maxims because it is interesting and suitable for my topic. In addition, a real conversation occurs in talkshows during an interview session.

In interview sessions, sometimes an interviewee speaks without following the rules of the Gricean maxims. One of the examples is Rhoma Irama as an interviewee in a talkshow who tends to break the four basic rules of conversation when he is being interviewed about his intention to become the next president of Indonesia.

3 Universitas Kristen Maranatha The reasons why I choose Rhoma Irama as the subject or the doer of breaking the Gricean maxims is because he is often interviewed by the media, especially in relation to his intention to become the next president of Indonesia. In addition, he also frequently asserts an implied meaning within his utterances during his interview sessions in media.

Furthermore, Rhoma Irama’s utterances are suitable as the subject for my study because he is a controversial figure who shocked the public with his intention to join the presidential election in 2014. In addition, he is more known for his contributions in the world of music than in politics. Thus, his responses toward some questions which he should be able to respond effectively and appropriately as a president are interesting to be analyzed.

During his lifetime, he is also famous for being “raja dangdut” in the music industry who often inserts religious values through his songs in his concerts. This is also interesting to study because as an Indonesian citizen, I want to know his vision and mission for Indonesia and whether he has the qualifications to become a president or not.

From the reasons above, I come up with my topic thesis, which is Rhoma

Irama’s use of non-observance of the Gricean maxims to build a good image of

himself in the media as one of the candidates of the seventh president of Indonesia. This topic mainly discusses Rhoma Irama’s utterances, the implicatures, and also his intention of breaking the Gricean maxims. The significance of this topic is to make people more aware of the implied meaning created by some politicians in media.

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1.2 Statement of the Problem

In doing the research, I want to focus on this following issues:

1. What are the types of non-observance of the Gricean maxims in his utterances?

2. What are the implicatures generated from Rhoma Irama’s utterances?

3. What is Rhoma Irama’s intention of using the non-observance of the Gricean maxims?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

By stating the statement of the problem above, I hope to:

1. Identify the types of non-observance of the Gricean maxims in his utterances.

2. Identify the implicatures that are generated from Rhoma Irama’s utterances. 3. Reveal Rhoma Irama’s intention of using the non-observance of the Gricean

maxims.

1.4 Method of Research

I start my research by choosing the linguistic area to discuss which is Pragmatics and the specific topic that I want to analyze. After that, I tried to find a relevant data on the Internet mainly Youtube as my source of data. After finding the data, I analyze the data which break the rules of the Gricean maxims based on the statement of the problem. In analyzing the data, I use the theory of the non-observance of maxims proposed by H.P. Grice that I have learned from books or websites. Finally, I wrote the research report.

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1.5 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is Introduction, which contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research and Organization of the Thesis. The second chapter is Theoretical Framework, which discusses the related theories that I use to support my study. Chapter Three is the analysis of the data, which is taken from several interview sessions of Rhoma Irama in becoming the seventh president of Indonesia. Chapter Four is Conclusion, which includes my personal comments on the analysis and suggestions for further researches. The last in this thesis is Bibliography and Appendices.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to point out my conclusion based on my analysis in the previous chapter to sum up the findings of my study. In my study, there are thirteen dialogues of Rhoma and Najwa which mainly discuss Rhoma’s intention to become the next president of Indonesia. These data have the presence of the non-observance of the Gricean maxims in their conversation.

Based on the data that I analyze, I find out that out of thirteen utterances, ten of his utterances are flouting a maxim and three utterances are opting out of a maxim. The reason is logical, because as the person who has already announced that he wants to become the next president of Indonesia, he needs to make his image looks good in the media. In addition, by flouting a maxim, he can purposely communicate an “additional meaning” or implicature that can support his intention to build a good image of himself in the media. In other words, flouting a maxim is the tools for Rhoma to convey the implicature.

45 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha} According to my analysis, by opting out of a maxim, Rhoma can also avoid the question by not giving the requested information that might put him in danger. In this case, his intention to build a good image of himself in the media. Rhoma opts out of a maxim for self-defence. It is also to conceal his weaknesses by showing his unwillingness to cooperate in the discussion of particular topics.

In other words, it is either to flout or opt out of a maxim, his main intention is to make a good image of himself in the media. It is proved in each data that I analyze that he uses non-observance of the Gricean maxims to support his main intention. In my opinion, these are all parts of his strategy that is useful for him to build his good image that he presents in the media.

Furthermore, my data shows that the maxim of relation is the most flouted maxim by Rhoma. I find out that there are eight utterances that breaks the maxim of relation. The reason is, Rhoma wants to make Najwa’s questions leave hanging, and he is too occupied in giving additional meanings that leads to his intention to build a good image. As a results, he provides unrelated information. This also happens because he does not have any idea about specific topics and disregards the real essence of the question. In my opinion, instead of being caught by the media that he is unable to give any response, he prefers to overtly change the topic to lead Najwa to discuss different topics. By doing so, the hearer will pay attention to the different topics and the implicature generated from his utterance.

Based on my analysis, the maxim of quality and manner is also commonly flouted by Rhoma. For example, when Najwa asks question, Rhoma tends to exaggarate his statement or the reality, such as claiming himself as the

46 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha} representative of Islam which he cannot provide the proof, and once he responds, he tends to give a long-winded answer. In my opinion, he flouts maxim of quality because he wants to say something good for his image but in the reality he cannot provide the proof to support his statements. He also flouts the maxim of manner because he does not want to provide any direct answer which can harm his intention to build a good image of himself in media.

I also find out that when Rhoma is being asked about his knowledge of public issues in Indonesia, he opts out of the maxim or is unwilling to respond in the conversation to conceal his lack of knowledge about the public issue which can harm his intention to build his good image as the next president. This is because, as the candidate, he does not want to be publicly seen by people that he is unable to answer.

Moreover, the data shows that Rhoma does not infringe a maxim because I think that they are both native Indonesians. It enables them to speak bahasa Indonesia well. Rhoma also does not violate a maxim simply because he does not have an intention to fool anyone. Last but not least, suspending a maxim is not used by Rhoma. It is because perhaps Najwa and Rhoma does not come from the same social environment. Moreover, those tools are not really useful and effective for Rhoma to fulfiil his intention by conducting this interview which is to build a good image of himself in the media.

Another finding from my analysis is, when Najwa asks about his intention to become the next president of Indonesia, he often flouts the maxim of relation, quality and manner to prompt the hearer to look for an implicature. Data 1 to 10 reveal the images which he builds during the interview through flouting the

47 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha} maxim which is Rhoma is the representative of Islam, Rhoma is a caring candidates who listens to other people’s opinion specifically Moslems, Rhoma is a religious and a well-experienced leader. Last but not least, Rhoma is the only figure needed for Indonesia, and he is not racist, which is not succesfull as he does not provide specific and clear evidence. In addition, I find out that in data 11,12 and 13 the image which he builds within his utterance is that he wants to conceal his lack of knowledge of the public issue and his personal life by not giving the requested information that can harm his intention to build a good image of himself.

In my opinion, Rhoma opts out of the maxim and flouts the maxim because as a politician who wants to be the next president, he thinks that he must be really careful in saying something and uttering his ideas. It is because he becomes the centre of attention as the result of him announcing his intention to be the next president. This is logical because during that period he needs supports not only from his supporters but also from people, groups other than his supporters. He tries to avoid everything that might harm his intention to build a good image of himself which can be obstacles for him to become the next president of Indonesia.

To sum up, my study shows that during the interview, he disregards the real essence of the questions and wish the hearer to look for another meaning which fails him to give related and accurate respond. Plus, it shows his unwillingness to contribute in the conversation for self-defence; to cover up his lack of knowledge. All the tools above are used by Rhoma only to build his good image of himself in media.

48 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha} Last but not least, I want to put forward my suggestion for further researchers who are interested in using this data source. This data source can be analyzed by using one of the tools in Pragmatics which is the politeness strategy.

49 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha}

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary text

Toto, A. (2012, November, 28). Mata Najwa Rhoma Irama Mendadak Capres Capres.flv [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 0hL503g2G71

References

Dornerus, E. “Breaking maxims in conversation.” A comparative study of how scriptwriters break maxims in Desperate Housewives and That 70's Show (2006): 7.

Hewett, Dave. The Nature of Human Communication. (2011): 7.

Thomas, J. (1995), Meaning in Interaction. An Introduction to Pragmatics. London and New York: Longman.

44 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha}

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to point out my conclusion based on my analysis in the previous chapter to sum up the findings of my study. In my study, there are thirteen dialogues of Rhoma and Najwa which mainly discuss Rhoma’s intention to become the next president of Indonesia. These data have the presence of the non-observance of the Gricean maxims in their conversation.

Based on the data that I analyze, I find out that out of thirteen utterances, ten of his utterances are flouting a maxim and three utterances are opting out of a maxim. The reason is logical, because as the person who has already announced that he wants to become the next president of Indonesia, he needs to make his image looks good in the media. In addition, by flouting a maxim, he can purposely communicate an “additional meaning” or implicature that can support his intention to build a good image of himself in the media. In other words, flouting a maxim is the tools for Rhoma to convey the implicature.

45 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha} According to my analysis, by opting out of a maxim, Rhoma can also avoid the question by not giving the requested information that might put him in danger. In this case, his intention to build a good image of himself in the media. Rhoma opts out of a maxim for self-defence. It is also to conceal his weaknesses by showing his unwillingness to cooperate in the discussion of particular topics.

In other words, it is either to flout or opt out of a maxim, his main intention is to make a good image of himself in the media. It is proved in each data that I analyze that he uses non-observance of the Gricean maxims to support his main intention. In my opinion, these are all parts of his strategy that is useful for him to build his good image that he presents in the media.

Furthermore, my data shows that the maxim of relation is the most flouted maxim by Rhoma. I find out that there are eight utterances that breaks the maxim of relation. The reason is, Rhoma wants to make Najwa’s questions leave hanging, and he is too occupied in giving additional meanings that leads to his intention to build a good image. As a results, he provides unrelated information. This also happens because he does not have any idea about specific topics and disregards the real essence of the question. In my opinion, instead of being caught by the media that he is unable to give any response, he prefers to overtly change the topic to lead Najwa to discuss different topics. By doing so, the hearer will pay attention to the different topics and the implicature generated from his utterance.

Based on my analysis, the maxim of quality and manner is also commonly flouted by Rhoma. For example, when Najwa asks question, Rhoma tends to exaggarate his statement or the reality, such as claiming himself as the

46 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha} representative of Islam which he cannot provide the proof, and once he responds, he tends to give a long-winded answer. In my opinion, he flouts maxim of quality because he wants to say something good for his image but in the reality he cannot provide the proof to support his statements. He also flouts the maxim of manner because he does not want to provide any direct answer which can harm his intention to build a good image of himself in media.

I also find out that when Rhoma is being asked about his knowledge of public issues in Indonesia, he opts out of the maxim or is unwilling to respond in the conversation to conceal his lack of knowledge about the public issue which can harm his intention to build his good image as the next president. This is because, as the candidate, he does not want to be publicly seen by people that he is unable to answer.

Moreover, the data shows that Rhoma does not infringe a maxim because I think that they are both native Indonesians. It enables them to speak bahasa Indonesia well. Rhoma also does not violate a maxim simply because he does not have an intention to fool anyone. Last but not least, suspending a maxim is not used by Rhoma. It is because perhaps Najwa and Rhoma does not come from the same social environment. Moreover, those tools are not really useful and effective for Rhoma to fulfiil his intention by conducting this interview which is to build a good image of himself in the media.

Another finding from my analysis is, when Najwa asks about his intention to become the next president of Indonesia, he often flouts the maxim of relation, quality and manner to prompt the hearer to look for an implicature. Data 1 to 10 reveal the images which he builds during the interview through flouting the

47 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha} maxim which is Rhoma is the representative of Islam, Rhoma is a caring candidates who listens to other people’s opinion specifically Moslems, Rhoma is a religious and a well-experienced leader. Last but not least, Rhoma is the only figure needed for Indonesia, and he is not racist, which is not succesfull as he does not provide specific and clear evidence. In addition, I find out that in data 11,12 and 13 the image which he builds within his utterance is that he wants to conceal his lack of knowledge of the public issue and his personal life by not giving the requested information that can harm his intention to build a good image of himself.

In my opinion, Rhoma opts out of the maxim and flouts the maxim because as a politician who wants to be the next president, he thinks that he must be really careful in saying something and uttering his ideas. It is because he becomes the centre of attention as the result of him announcing his intention to be the next president. This is logical because during that period he needs supports not only from his supporters but also from people, groups other than his supporters. He tries to avoid everything that might harm his intention to build a good image of himself which can be obstacles for him to become the next president of Indonesia.

To sum up, my study shows that during the interview, he disregards the real essence of the questions and wish the hearer to look for another meaning which fails him to give related and accurate respond. Plus, it shows his unwillingness to contribute in the conversation for self-defence; to cover up his lack of knowledge. All the tools above are used by Rhoma only to build his good image of himself in media.

48 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha} Last but not least, I want to put forward my suggestion for further researchers who are interested in using this data source. This data source can be analyzed by using one of the tools in Pragmatics which is the politeness strategy.

49 _{Universitas Kristen Maranatha}

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary text

Toto, A. (2012, November, 28). Mata Najwa Rhoma Irama Mendadak Capres Capres.flv [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 0hL503g2G71

References

Dornerus, E. “Breaking maxims in conversation.” A comparative study of how scriptwriters break maxims in Desperate Housewives and That 70's Show (2006): 7.

Hewett, Dave. The Nature of Human Communication. (2011): 7.

Thomas, J. (1995), Meaning in Interaction. An Introduction to Pragmatics. London and New York: Longman.