Analysis of Jokes Based on General Linguistics.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........……………………………....…………

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………

iii

ABSTRACT

.…………………………………………………………….

iv

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..……………..…………………..

1

1.1. Background of the Study ……………………………………..
1.2. Statement of the Problem ……………………………………..

1.3. Purpose of the Study …………………………………………
1.4. Method of Research …………………………………………
1.5. Organisation of the Thesis ……………………………………..

1
3
4
4
4

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK …………………
2.1. Phonology ……………………………………………………..
2.2. Morphology …………………………………………………..

5
5
6

2.3. Syntax …………………………………………………………
2.4. Semantics .……………………………………………………..

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10

CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF JOKES …………………………

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CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ……………………………………..

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BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………

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APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………..

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ABSTRACT
Salah satu bentuk penggunaan bahasa untuk berkomunikasi dengan mitra
tutur adalah melalui jokes atau lelucon. Lelucon merupakan fenomena bahasa
yang dapat dengan mudah dijumpai di lingkungan sekitar kita. Lelucon acapkali
ditemui dalam keseharian karena hal tersebut telah menjadi hal yang biasa
dilakukan manusia.
Dalam lelucon terkandung humor yang dapat membuat orang tersenyum
atau bahkan tertawa. Hal ini disebabkan dalam setiap lelucon terdapat unsur yang
disebabkan oleh perbedaan pemahaman dalam kebahasaan.
Perbedaan pemahaman ini dapat dianalisis melalui ilmu linguistik, yang
dalam skripsi ini, dapat dikaji melalui general linguistics atau biasa disebut
linguistik murni. Linguistik murni dibagi dalam empat tataran yakni fonologi,
morfologi, sintaksis, dan semantik. Teori dari keempat tataran linguistik tersebut
menjadi dasar dalam menganalisis jokes.
Dari hasil analisis yang telah dilakukan, diperoleh temuan bahwasanya
sebagian besar lelucon berkaitan dengan semantik dan sintaksis sedangkan

lelucon yang berkaitan dengan fonologi cukup sulit ditemui, serta yang paling
sulit ditemui adalah lelucon yang berkaitan dengan morfologi.

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APPENDIX

Phonology

Morphology

Data 1
Data 2
Data 3

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Data 5

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Data 4

Syntax

Data 6

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Data 7
Data 8
Data 9

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Data 11
Data 12
Data 13

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Data 20

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Data 16

Data 19

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Data 15

Data 18

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Data 14

Data 17

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Data 10

Semantics

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Data 21

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Data 22

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Human beings are known as living creatures that are full of needs. The
needs are usually classified into two major categories, they are basic and
complementary needs. However, it is an innate tendency for them to always find
ways to fulfil all their needs. Due to the fact that people are social beings, we need
to communicate our needs with others in order to fulfil them. The only way we
can share and communicate with others is through language.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, language is defined
as ‘manner of expressing oneself’ (700). Language becomes a system for people
to express their ideas, feelings, and etcetera. Language also facilitates what people
need, which is to exchange ideas with others. Through language people
communicate with one another, and they can socialise with others as well.
According to Crane, Yeager, and Whitman, “language in turn is often said
to help make humans human” (10). In language, we learn a number of things such
as the symbol system and how to refer to the past and the future. Language is also

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used to communicate with others, so that it can help us to relate with others.

Language becomes a basis for us to make personal and social relationships.
Language itself is divided into two basic forms, the oral form and the
written form. Language in the oral form is used when people are talking.
Normally people are able to use language in the oral form, since it has been
initiated in their early age. Therefore, it has become their habit. There are some
people who are not able to use language in the written form because it usually has
to be learnt from a process of education, and not everyone has the opportunity to
have it.
Sometimes there are words which are pronounced similarly. In other case,
a word may have several meanings. Therefore, there is a chance for
misunderstanding when the word is used in a sentence. These may cause us to
have a different interpretation with the speaker’s or even prevent us from
understanding it, which are the factors that can cause humour. People usually call
such instances jokes.
In Webster’s Encyclopaedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English
Language, a joke is defined as ‘something said or done to provoke laughter or
amusement, as a witticism, a short and amusing narrative, a prankish art, etc’
(770). A joke is definitely part of language. Since a joke is delivered through
language, people can analyse it based on certain theories on language. What is
funny in a joke can be explained in some ways using Linguistics.
Sometimes I find some misunderstandings that occur while I am talking
with my friends. We may laugh together seconds afterwards at the time we

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understand one another, correcting the misinterpretation for things we have said.
Yet, there are times when we have to think a bit longer to understand why such a
misunderstanding can emerge. It is always interesting to wonder why this happens
and to think about it, and then to explain it in a logical way. These are what draw
my attention and encourage me to analyse jokes. I would like to know not only the
general linguistic areas and the linguistic features that occur in the jokes, but also
the way they makes jokes funny.
In analysing the jokes, I use the theories of the four branches of general
linguistics. I use general linguistic areas since they deal with language properties
independently from any other disciplines and they do not deal with linguistics for
the purposes of application. Besides, they are the basic study of Linguistics. In
order to know which area is likely to have more jokes, I use all four branches in
general linguistics: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.
Finally, the source of data that I use is taken from the Internet. The data
which I can gather from it is so unlimited that they vary from one-line jokes to the
long ones, from recent jokes to the old ones, and they are written by different
people, while the data from the other sources are limited.

Statement of the Problem
In this thesis I would like to discuss the following problems:
1. What linguistic feature makes each joke funny?
2. Which area of general linguistics is used in creating the humour?
3. How does the linguistic feature in the joke contribute to the humour?

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Purpose of the Study
In this thesis I would like to show:
1. The linguistic feature that makes each joke funny.
2. The area of general linguistics which is used in the jokes.
3. The way the linguistic feature in the joke contributes to the humour.

Method of Research
First, I gather the jokes from the Internet. Then I read and classify the
jokes into their categories, depending on the causes of the misunderstandings,
whether the misunderstandings deal with phonology, morphology, syntax, or
semantics. Next I analyse the data and finally I draw a conclusion based on the
analysis.

Organisation of the Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters, preceded by Acknowledgements,
Table of Contents, and Abstract. Chapter I is Introduction, containing Background
of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Method of Research, and Organisation of
the Thesis. Chapter II is Theoretical Framework of General Linguistics used in
analysing the jokes. Chapter III contains the analysis of the misunderstandings in
the jokes. Chapter IV is the conclusion. It contains comments and opinions, as
well as suggestions for further researches. At the end of this thesis is Bibliography,
which lists the references and the source of the jokes that are used in this thesis.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

Having analysed twenty jokes that deal with general linguistics, I come to
the conclusion that finding certain jokes that can be analysed from general
linguistic area on the internet is quite difficult. It is because there are so many
jokes that seem fit to be analysed with the theory in general linguistics, but
actually they do not belong to these areas. That is why, I have to select them
carefully and classify them into the appropriate areas.
Most of the jokes that I find deal with only one branch of general
linguistics, except for seven data, i.e. data 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 13, and 18, each of
which deals with two branches of general linguistics. There are five cases dealing
with phonology, two dealing with morphology, seven dealing with syntax, and
sixteen dealing with semantics. Table 1 below shows in percentage the areas of
general linguistics used in the data.
Area
Phonology

Percentage of Data
22.72 %

Morphology

9.09 %

Syntax

27.27 %

Semantics

77.27 %
Table 1

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Data 3, data 9, data 13, data 18, and data 20 deal with phonology.
However, the funny effect in each joke is not caused by the same factor. In data 9,
the linguistic feature which causes misunderstanding is homophony. The similar
sound of the two words causes different interpretations.
In data 20, the joke becomes funny because of a linguistic feature called
juncture. The phrase a frayed knot and afraid not has a different meaning but they
are pronounced similarly because of the same number of syllable and the sound.
The similar pronunciation can cause a different interpretation.
In the rest of the data, i.e. data 3, data 13, and data 18, the linguistic
feature which causes jokes to be funny is minimal pair. Those jokes become
funny because there are words that are pronounced similarly.
In short, jokes which deal with phonology usually occur because of the
similarity of sounds between words or phrases. It happens because of different
interpretations.
There are only two data which deal with morphology. They are data 5 and
data 11. The cause of misunderstanding in both data deals with a linguistic feature
called bound morpheme. Bound morpheme, which adds meaning to the word such
as in data 5, and which affects the root of the word such as in data 11, causes
misunderstanding.
In short, jokes which deal with morphology are caused by the additional
morpheme that is attached to a word. It may affect the meaning of the word and
cause different interpretations.

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There are seven data in total that deal with syntax. They are data 1, data 2,
data 4, data 6, data 10, and data 22. The funny effect in those data occurs for more
than one cause.
The first cause is the word that can be applied into two sentence structures.
The word may cause people to have more than one interpretation since it can be
applied into more than one sentence structure and causes misunderstanding. It can
be found in data 1.
Another cause is an incomplete sentence that may lead to an ambiguity,
such as in data 2. It is not clear to which the clause refers, so the ambiguity causes
different interpretations.
The formation of a phrase may causes misunderstanding to occur. A
phrase which is formed from two single words may be misunderstood when it no
longer has the same meaning as its original meaning. The formation of the phrase
that changes the original meaning of the words may be misleading, such case can
be found in data 4.
Another cause is the combination of words in a sentence. It deals with
parts of speech. A word in a sentence which can be categorised into more than one
part of speech may cause more than one interpretation; moreover it may have
more than one meaning. This case can be found in data 6 and data 22.
The combination of two clauses may also cause more than one
interpretation. The arrangement of the two clauses may result in more than one
sentence so that it is possible for people to have different interpretation. That is
why there is a chance for misunderstanding. It can be seen in data 10.

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In short, jokes that deal with syntax usually occur because of the
arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses that is not very clear so it may suggest
more than one interpretation.
Most of the jokes that I have analysed deal with semantics. There are three
linguistic features that cause a different interpretation. The major cause is most
likely due to a linguistic feature called homonymy. This case leads the hearer to
have a different interpretation from the speaker. The more meanings a word has,
the bigger is the chance for it to be misunderstood. It can be found in most jokes,
i.e. data 1, data 3, data 4, data 5, data 6, data 7, data 8, data 11, data 12, data 14,
data 15, data 16, data 17, and data 19.
In addition, synonymy or words that share similar meaning may also be the
cause for jokes to be funny. Synonymy can be one of the factors for
misunderstanding when it is used in a person’s name such as in joke 13.
Another cause is due to the meaning of a phrase and words. When a phrase
is translated literally, it may produce a different meaning from its idiomatic
meaning. Thus, it will result jokes to be funny since there will be a different
interpretation. Such jokes may be found in data 18 and data 21.
In short, jokes which deal with semantics are mostly caused by the word
with more than one meaning. Thus, it is possible for different interpretations to
occur.
In conclusion, the field which can be explored in analysing jokes is
semantics. It is proved by the fact that more than half or fifty percent of the jokes
deal with this area. It can be because many English words have more than one

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meaning. Syntax is on the second place because it is still easy to play with
sentence, clause, and phrase structures. As is the case of phonology, it is still quite
easy to find since there are a lot of homophones and minimal pairs in English. On
contrary, the field that has fewer jokes is morphology. It is proved by only few
jokes deal with this area since it is not so easy to play with a word formation.
It is possible for jokes to be further analysed by simply focusing on only
one area of general linguistics. Semantics and syntax are the fields in which many
jokes deal with. Those areas are possible to be explored more as field for
analysing jokes.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References
Crane, L. Ben, Edward Yeager, Randal L. Whitman. An Introduction to
Linguistics. Canada: Little, Brown & Company (Canada) Limited, 1981.
Hornby, A.S. Guide to Patterns and Usage in English (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1975.
Hornby, A.S. Oxford Learner’s Advanced Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989.
Leech, Geoffrey. An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage. London: A division of
Hodder & Stoughton, 1989.
McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1992.
Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. New
York: Dilithium Press, 1989.



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Electronic Publications




Jokes in English for the ESL/EFL Classroom, A Project of The Internet TESL
Journal:







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