THEME AND RHEME IN DJAGA DEPARI’S SONG LYRICS.

ABSTRACT
Gibretta, Ingrid. 209220022. Theme and Rheme in Djaga Depari’s Song
Lyrics. A Thesis. Medan. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of
Medan. UNIMED. 2013.
This thesis deals with Theme and Rheme of Djaga Depari’s Song lyrics. The
study was conducted to discover the types of Theme as proposed by Halliday
(1994: 53) namely Topical, Interpersonal and Textual. The objective of this study
is to describe types of Theme used in Djaga Depari’s Song lyrics. The research is
conducted by using descriptive qualitative approach. The source of data is all
entire content of the selected Karo’s songs composed by “Djaga Depari”. It was
conducted to describe the three types of Theme and the most dominant ones. The
findings showed that the proportionsTheme from the three types of Theme, they
are: 48.5%, Topical Theme, 29.3% Interpersonal Theme and 22.2% Textual
Theme. Topical Theme was the most dominant type in Theme used in Djaga
Depari’s Song lyrics. Topical Theme is dominantly used when he describes
meaning, gives argumentation and tells about the events.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A great thank to Heavenly Father Jesus Christ for blessing and protection
that the writer has been granted so she can finally complete this thesis as a partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra. The writer is

aware that only by God’s help; she can finish her study and find some solutions
for many difficulties and troubles during the completion of this thesis. During the
process of writing and conducting her thesis, she has accepted a lot of assistance
of some people. The writer’s special appreciation goes to:
 Prof. Dr. Ibnu Hajar Damanik, M.Si as the Rector of State University of
Medan.
 Dr. Isda Pramuniati, M.Hum as the Dean of Faculty of Languages and
Arts State University of Medan and to all her staffs.
 Prof. Dr. Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd as the Head of English Department.
 Dra. Rahmah, M.Hum as the Secretary of English and Literature
Department, and Dra. Meisuri, MA as the Head of Applied
Linguistics,and also Dra. Masitowarni Siregar, M.Ed as the Head of
English Education and the writer’s Academic Counselor who has given
her support to the writer’s thesis topic..
 Prof. Amrin Saragih, M.A., Ph.D as the writer’s Thesis Supervisor for
his guidance, advices, suggestions, valuable ideas, and precious time he
had given during the completion of this thesis.
 Mam Endah and Mam Indri who have helped the writer in providing the
academic administration.
 The writer’s greatest family, Tenang Ginting and Rosmalinda br

Tarigan for their countless love, supports, prayers and patience and
financial supports in her entire life and during her study. The writer would
never forget to say thanks to Sagitha Devy Ginting, her beloved sisters,
who give wonderful supports and motivations in finishing this thesis and
thanks to her beloved sweetheart Arev Samuel, who give huge love to her.
 Special thanks also go to her dearest friends Eva Inriani Rajagukguk,
Elisa Perdana, Rosni L Pasaribu, Lusi Rensi Hutagalung, Nindy
Prameswari, Sisna Astuti Sitepu, Anita Rebekawati Manurung,
Juniar Selpiana and the gangs, M. Irham Taufik and the gangs, Leny
Situmorang and the gangs, Fransiska Bangun, Bang Jamez Hahn
Tarigan, Bang Agus, Bang Roy, and all the collegians of Applied
Linguistics especially Applied Linguistics A & B 2009 and others that
cannot be mentioned in this thesis one by one.
May God our Father and The Lord Jesus Christ give us grace and peace.
Jesus Christ blesses us forever.
Medan,

March 2013

Ingrid Gibretta

Reg. No. 209220022

LIST OF TABLES
Table

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
4.1
4.2

Page

: Table of Conjunctive Adjunct.....................................17
: Table of Mood Adjuncts............................................18
: Table of Conjunctions.................................................19
: Table of Relatives.......................................................20

: Table of Examples of Theme and Rheme.................21
: Table of Example of Multiple Theme........................22
: Table of Identification of the Types of Theme.........34
: Table of Identification of the Dominant Theme........38

LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix

A
B

Page

: Djaga Depari Song Lyrics...........................................43
: Identification Types Of Theme...................................50

2

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION


A. The Background of the Study
Generally person likes to listen to the music, especially songs. Song is as
universal as language that everyone can express their feelings, their thought, and
their experience by using a song, either by writing song or singing song.
Sometimes people do not know what the meaning of the song is because they just
enjoy the rhythm. That is why it is significant to explain about language which its
essence is to give information. A composer always tries to deliver the ideas of his
or her songs to the listener. One of the legend composers of Karo songs is Djaga
Depari. National Composers Djaga Depari was not just writes songs about
romance in Karo life but he also wrote songs about struggle of Karo people
against the colonizer of foreign nations in Karo’s region. His songs describe the
struggle of the people of Karo made him known as a composer of national
Republic of Indonesia.
This research deals with textual function of selected Karo’s song that all
songs composed by Djaga Depari. The Karo’s songs are chosen because they have
many functions. Songs can be used as learning media such as to ease people to
know about the culture of Karonese. Karonese is one of the branches of
Bataknese. But people almost do not familiar about Karonese. So, these analyses
give information to people about Karonese through Karo’s songs. By listen the

song, people easier to understand Karo’s language than learn by text books.

3

Language is the most important aspect in human life and is used to
communicate with others and express inner thoughts and emotions either in
spoken or written. Language is so basic to our existence that life without words is
difficult to envision (Gleason and Ratner, 1993:2). Language is not an isolated
system; it is part of human culture and the way of life. The purposes of language
use and meanings come from the social contexts and the language is organized to
serve social functions. These are reflected in the grammar. Grammar is the central
processing unit of language, the powerhouse where meanings are created
(Halliday, 1994:15).
A language is a coding system and a means by which information may be
transmitted or shared between two or more communicators for purposes
of command, instruction or play. Language is used in order to talk about our
experience of the world; including the worlds in our own minds, to describe
events and states and the entities involved in them (Thompson, 1996:28).
Language may be used to perform many communicative functions. The most
important function of language is the communication of information. Language

has three major functional components called as language metafunctions. Three
metafunctions of language are identified by Halliday in Systemic Functional
Linguistics, namely (1) the ideational function, (2) the interpersonal function and
(3) the textual function. Bilal mentioned that (2012:726):
The ideational metafunction is about the natural world in the broadest
sense, including our own consciousness. The interpersonal metafunction
is about the social world, especially the relationship between speaker and

4

hearer. The textual metafunction is about the verbal world, especially the
flow of information in a text.
Based on Halliday that the ideational function is the 'content function of language'
(2007: 183). It is realized in transitivity and serves to represent situations and
events in the world and the entities, actions and processes involved. The
interpersonal function is realized by the mood system and it is language as
exchange or action, in which the speaker as an intruder of reality construes inter
subjective reality. The textual function is realized by the theme system of
language and it is language as message. The textual function is realized in
information structure and cohesion (Bilal, 2012:726).

In this case, it is important to study about Theme and Rheme. Halliday
(1994: 36) argues that:
The Theme is the element which serves as the point of departure of the
message; it is that with which the clause is concerned. The remainder of
the message, the part in which the Theme is developed, is called in
Prague school terminology the Rheme.
There are three types of Theme namely: (a) Ideational or Topical, (b) Textual, and
(c) Interpersonal. Ideational or Topical Theme consists of: (1) Unmarked Topical
Themes and (2) Marked Topical Themes. The textual Theme is any combination
of (i) continuative, (ii) structural and (iii) conjunctive (Halliday, 1994: 53). Based
on Eggins (1994:278) stated that it is called Interpersonal Theme when a
constituent to which would assign a Mood label (but not Transitivity label) occurs
at the beginning of a clause. The interpersonal Theme is any combination of (i)
vocative, (ii) modal, (iii) mood-marking (Halliday, 1994:53).
Theme and Rheme can be analyzed through the written text or spoken.
By learning and understanding textual function, the readers can easily determine

5

the aspects of Theme such as simple, multiple, unmarked and marked Theme. In

fact, many people difficult to identify the Theme and Rheme in a clause and
distinguished unmarked and marked Theme.
Music is a branch of abstract arts in the form of sounds. Lyrics are a set
of words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. If the
music included to the lyric will make a song be harmony. Most of the people in
this world like songs and enjoy the songs by listening to it by using the tape
recorder, MP3, MP4, compact disc, and cassette. Every song has meaning in its
lyric or sentences. A song is a composition for voice or voices, performed
by singing. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics
are abstract, almost unintelligible and in such cases their explication
emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of expression. Language can
build a meaning of a song. Language is very important because it is means of
communication. He or she will choose the right words that she or he thinks can
best convey his or her thought, feeling and experience.
Thus, by analyzing Karo’s songs through functional grammar; the writer
can find out the focusing of Karo’s songs, whether it is focused on activities or
entities. By conducting this research, the writer can describe the Karo’s songs and
its meaning from functional grammar point of view. The writer can figure out
whether the textual meanings of Karo’s songs are monotone or not. In this
research, the writer limits on analyzing the data without changing the lyrics of the

songs.

6

It is significant to analyze Theme and Rheme in Karo’s songs in order to
find out what types are dominantly used in Karo’s songs. In addition, the analysis
of Theme and Rheme in this study must be lyric by lyric. After finding the
dominant type of Theme, we can compare how many percent the dominant type of
Theme used in Djaga Depari’s (henceforth DD) selected song.

B. The Problems of The Study
Based on the background of this study, the problems of the study are
formulated as following.
1. What types of Theme are used in ten selected DD’s song lyrics?
2. What is the dominant type of Theme used in the lyrics?
3. In what context is the dominant Theme used?

C. The Objectives of The Study
In line with the problems, the objectives are.
1. to describe the types of Theme used in DD’s song lyrics,

2. to derive the dominant type of Theme used in the song lyrics and
3. to elaborate the contextual occurrence of the use of dominant Theme in the
song lyrics.

D. The Scope of The Study
This study is focused on the Textual Functions applied in Karo’s songs. All
these Karo’s songs are composed by DD. To limit the data, every repetition on the

7

lyric of ten songs will not be analyzed. The concepts of Theme and Rheme are
textual function which explains in the most general way how a message is
organized in language. The data will take from browsing internet.

E. The Significance of The Study
The findings of this study are significant in two respects, theoretically and
practically. Theoretically, the findings are expected to enrich theories of Systemic
Functional Linguistics (SFL), particularly on the use of English in Indonesian
context of culture. Practically, the findings are helpful for the listener of DD’s
songs in better understanding the messages of the songs.

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions
After analyzing the Theme and Rheme in Djaga Depari’s song lyrics,
conclusions are drawn as the following
(1) There are three types of Theme used in Djaga Depari’s song lyrics; they are 81
Topical Theme, 49 Interpersonal Theme and 37 Textual Theme.
(2) The most dominant Theme is used in Djaga Depari’s songs is Topical Theme.
(3) Topical Theme is dominantly used when he describes meaning, gives
argumentation and tells about the events.

B. Suggestions
In relation to the conclusions, suggestions are presented as the following
(1) It is suggested that everyone who wants to do a similar research should focus
the attention to Theme used in the songs to stimulate people to do some
activities.
(2) It is also suggested that others researcher should conduct further researches on
Theme and Rheme in other field of studies.
(3) It is advised that Karonese who has study in applied linguistics should
appreciate their songs by learning the Theme of the song.

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