A study of semantic change: pejoration analysis in American History X Movie (1998) - USD Repository

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A STUDY OF
O SEMA
ANTIC CHANGE
C
: PEJORA
RATION
AN
NALYSIS IN AMER
RICAN HISTORY
H
X MOVIIE (1998)

AN
A UNDE

ERGRADUATE TH
HESIS
Presented
d as Partiaal Fulfillm
ment of thee Requirem
ments
for the ddegree of Sarjana
S
Sa
astra
inn English Letters

By
YO
OGA GHO
OTAMA
Studennt Numberr: 0842140
033

ENGL

LISH LET
TTERS STUDY
S
PROGRAM
M
DEPA
ARTMEN
NT OF EN
NGLISH LETTER
RS
FACU
ULTY OF
F LETTER
RS
SA
ANATA D
DHARMA
A UNIVE
ERSITY
Y

YOGYAK
KARTA
2014
4

 

 

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A STUDY OF
O SEMA
ANTIC CHANGE

C
: PEJORA
RATION
AN
NALYSIS IN AMER
RICAN HISTORY
H
X MOVIIE (1998)

AN
A UNDE
ERGRADUATE TH
HESIS
Presented
d as Partiaal Fulfillm
ment of thee Requirem
ments
for the ddegree of Sarjana
S
Sa

astra
inn English Letters

By
YO
OGA GHO
OTAMA
Studennt Numberr: 0842140
033

ENGL
LISH LET
TTERS STUDY
S
PROGRAM
M
DEPA
ARTMEN
NT OF EN
NGLISH LETTER

RS
FACU
ULTY OF
F LETTER
RS
SA
ANATA D
DHARMA
A UNIVE
ERSITY
Y
YOGYAK
KARTA
2014
4

 

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This soul prayeth not for victory, but for loss.
This body kneeleth not in vain, but in blood.
These eyes seeth not nil, but truth.
These words are spoken not by me, but through.

The Devil’s Blood
(E)
 
 

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Be now by my side,
O spirits that serve the Lord of the Bloody Scythe.
Guide my steps towards Your Kingdom,
And enlighten me with death's Blackened Light.

 
For Thee,
Love, and The Cult.

 

 

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and Foremost, I would like to give my deepest gratitude to my
supervisors, Dr. Fr.B. Alip, M.Pd.,M.A., for his patience, immense knowledge,
and motivation. Thank you for the support and suggestions. I am inspired of this
undergraduate thesis and finally make it presentable. I am indebted to my co advisor, Anna Fitriati, S.Pd., M.Hum., for her guidance in writing this
undergraduate thesis, and the suggestions and corrections for the improvement of
this undergraduate thesis. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to my fellow
music, especially to my band Exhumation. Thank you Grave and Bones for
sharing the same passion, dedication, and devotion through death music. Thank
you for being there and helping me regain some sort of beautiful art in Death
music. I also own endless gratitude to Iannoh, Dedhy, Matias, TJ, Tataa, Aryo
Jungs, Deris, Mutia, Icha, Bayu Putrasangfajar, and Nikko. Last but not least, I
would like to give my best regards to my dearest Yunior family. I thank my father
and mother for supporting me throughout my studies at Sanata Dharma
University. Thank you for helping me focus on my ideas. None of this would have
been possible without your love and patience.

Yoga Ghotama

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLEPAGE ...................................................................................................
APPROVAL PAGE .........................................................................................
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ....................................................................................
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
.............................................................................................................................
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ...............................................................
MOTTO PAGE ...............................................................................................
DEDICATION PAGE .....................................................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................
ABSTRAK .........................................................................................................

ii
iii
iv
.....
v
vi
vii
viii
ix
x
xi
xii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................
A. Background of the Study .................................................................
B. Problem Formulation .......................................................................
C. Objective Of the Study .....................................................................
D. Definition Of Terms .........................................................................

1
1
6
6
6

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................... 9
A. Review of Related Studies ............................................................... 9
B. Review of Related Theories ............................................................. 12
C. Theoretical Framework .................................................................... 19
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ...............................................................
A. Object of the Study ..........................................................................
B. Approach of the Study .....................................................................
C. Method of the Study .........................................................................
D. Data Analysis ...................................................................................

21
21
22
23
23

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ............................................................................ 25
A. Pejoratives in the Movie .................................................................. 26
B. What are pejorative used as part of pejoration ................................. 34
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ....................................................................... 43
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................ 45
APPENDIX ....................................................................................................... 47

 


 

 

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ABSTRACT

YOGA GHOTAMA.A Study of Semantic Change: Pejoration Analysis in
American History X Movie. Yogyakarta. Department of English Letters, Faculty
of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.
This undergraduate thesis concerns primarily in the pejoration of semantic
change in American History X movie. The movie scripts provide a substantial
number of offensive words that play an important role in the movie.
The problems revealed for this undergraduate thesis are related to two
matters as follows: (1) the identification of pejorative expression in the movie and
(2) the analysis of pejorative expression as part of pejoration.
In conducting the research on the subject matter, the researcher collected
data by reading the dialogues on the script writing of the movie from David
McKenna which provides 19040 words and 203 pages. The analysis of pejorative
expression used two instruments, namely Cambridge Advanced Learner's
Dictionary 3rd Edition (2008) and Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary
(2003). The theory of pejorative by Richard Nordquist also supports the analysis
of the first problem. The analysis of the pejorative expression is given on random
technique. In order to analyze the second problem, the researcher used the theory
of pejoration from Michel Breal (2001).
There are several results of this research. (1) 29 pejorative expressions
were found in the movie. (2) There are 16 pejorative expressions that used as part
of pejoration expression in the movie. Therefore, not all of the pejorative
expressions were used as pejoration expressions in the movie.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

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ABSTRAK

YOGA GHOTAMA.A Study of Semantic Change: Pejoration Analysis in
American History X Movie. Yogyakarta. Department of English Letters, Faculty
of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.

Skripsi ini pertama-tama berkonsentrasi pada masalah perubahan semantik
pejorasi dalam film American History X. Naskah film tersebut menyajikan katakata offensif dalam jumlah yang banyak dan memainkan peran pentingnya di
dalam film tersebut.
Masalah yang diangkat dalam penelitian ini berkaitan dengan dua
perumusan masalah, yaitu: (1) Penemuan ekspresi merendahkan di dalam film (2)
Analysis ekspresi merendahkan sebagai bagian dari peyorasi.
Dalam melakukan penelitian ini, penulis mencari dan mengumpulkan data
dengan membaca seluruh dialog draf naskah film dari David McKenna yang
menyajikan 19.040 kata dan 203 halaman. Analisis ekspresi pejoratif dipilih
dengan menggunakan dua instrumen yaitu Kamus Cambridge Advanced
Learner's 3rd Edition (2008) dan Kamus Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate
(2003). Teori pejoratif dari Richard Nordquist juga mendukung untuk analisa
materi pertama. Analisa ekspresi pejoratif dikumpulkan dengan metode acak.
Untuk menganalisis materi kedua, penulis menggunakan teori pejorasi dari Michel
Breal (2001).
Hasil dari penelitian ini mencakup beberapa kesimpulan. (1) Terdapat 29
ekspresi pejoratif di dalam film. (2) Terdapat 16 ekspresi pejoratif yang digunakan
sebagai ekspresi pejorasi di dalam film. Oleh karena itu, tidak semua ekspresi
pejoratif merupakan bagian dari ekspresi pejorasi di dalam film. 
 
 

 

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study
Movies have been an important part of the cultural aesthetic for many
years and it continues until today. It is an art form which widely acceptable for all
over the world. Movies also become the new innovation of the entertainment
world. It is also grown as valuable source where people able to gain inspiration
and information from movies. On the other hand, linguistics is the study of
language and it works on human language and how they communicate with an
individual or even a group. Linguistics also focuses on the elements such as
grammar, phonology and syntax in order to help people to understand the barriers
of language.
In some cases, they are both connected since language can determine the
quality of a film based on its dialogue on the movie script. Nowadays, movie
scripts play an important role in the movie. The words of the movie scripts, good
or bad, they are appearing in order to show the connection of the dialogue and the
image of the movie.
American History X is a powerful movie in recent years. The direction of
the movie creates an atmosphere of a strong performance of white supremacy in
the states and broken down in a tragic consequences.


 

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The movie also provides some provocative thoughts which turn out to be
worth a story and offer a wide range of speakers from diverse social classes and
therefore shows explicitly their distinctive usage of language. To sum up
American History X provides plenty interesting discussion about racism words
which build the tension among the audience. It is not a surprise that American
History X shows a lot of dialogues that reflect the bad situation that happened.
There are also so many offensive words, a form of racist language they
demonstrate how language may function to set some actions in the movie. As for
the example, the offensive speech in the movie is intended to ridicule, poses a
threat, and belittle a person because of the cultural, racial origin, religious
practice, political beliefs, and sexual orientation.
Movies and linguistics are important for this research. It is important to
understand the connection between them. Of course, the purpose of this research
is to understand the linguistics used in the movie. Semantics as part of linguistic
studies is the best way to approach the description and explanation of the word
meaning in several scopes. In this research, semantics is the tool to generate the
analysis of word meaning in movie script. It is also the foundation that language
expression not only able to determine the quality of movie script but they have a
meaning.
Language expression is developed every day and the semantic
representation of words is absolutely developed, by becoming broader or
narrower, or by shifting. The new meanings which are developed by these cases
are usually connected to the original one.

 

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There are a number of ways in which semantic change can occur; for
example the use of words can be narrowed down: 'acorn' used to mean ‘fruit’ in
Early Modern English, but today it has narrowed down to a specific fruit, namely
that of the oak tree (Denham and Lobeck, 2013: 309). For example, there is a use
of the word to be widened and increased its range of meaning, 'salary' which
originally meant ‘wages for soldiers’ but has come to mean ‘wages’ in general. As
word may have more than one meaning, each word development able to be the
bridge to create the semantic link between a new sense and the original.
Since the research dealing with meaning change, there are classifications
which are suggested for semantic change. The suggestion that meaning change
may follow. Michel Bréal attempts some notions related to word changes or
meaning changes in the 19th century. Those notions become the first reference
and knowledge of this research. To sum up Bréal mentions the classification of
semantic change into some types; pejoration, amelioration, restriction,
generalization, metaphor, and contagion (Bréal, 2001: 52).
Those classifications are the contribution of this research in order to show
how things be divided into types of semantic change in any further explanatory
progress. Therefore, it is possible to approach the language expression in the
movie, also it is very important to have a method to approach this research from
those points. Those classifications used in order to understand what the speakers
say about others in the movie and how the speakers justify their personal attitudes
and actions in the movie.

 

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There are a lot of violence, dark, and terrible scenes in American History
X, because the matter of different culture and race which caused bad effect of
communication. This is an example that is taken from one of the movie script:

‘Well... look at our country. It's a haven for criminals. Black... brown...
yellow... whatever.

The words 'black, brown, and yellow' are offensive words because 'the
actor' stated those words to describe someone's figure. In this case the actor
intends to describe 'black' as the reference for identical race, economic status,
parenthood, and etc. Those words being downgraded into something less
favorable and refers to a specific group of people with particular experiences
which is labeled as bad black people in the movie. The word 'black' in the movie
considered to be offensive when the word is intended as the suggestive word of
the colored people.
On the other hand, pejoration takes a worsening place in English standard
language; it is the process in which the word meaning becomes negative or
showing lack of good sense. A lot of expressive dialogue which labeled as
pejorative that discovered through this American History X movie. Pejorative are
derogatory terms that are used to convey hatred and disdain. Words like ‘nigger,
faggot, spinster, kike (as applied to Jews) or chink (for Chinese people)’ are but a
few examples in a huge variety of expressions of hatred and contempt.

 

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The main reason why a pejorative word is used, because the basic problem
of stereotypes, unfamiliarity, selfishness, and family education are often
happening in the script writing. In order to show there are cases of pejorative
words which happened in the movie, these are the example:
(a) “Who runs the place? The monkeys or the wetbacks?”
(b) “F**k you, Cameron. You're a f**king chicken hawk...praying on kids.”
The actor stated ‘monkey and chicken’ as the original meaning of
‘animals’ in English language, in order to use it as reference to offend someone, to
treat them as animals. Those offensive words are pejoratives and have been
downgraded to make the dialogue sound interesting and more applicable to each
scene. However, this downgrading process called pejoration.
Every pejorative and pejoration contributes in each dialogue to be more
interesting. This phenomenon encourages the author to analyze how the pejorative
and pejoration terms work in American History X.

 

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B. Problem Formulation
This study has been designed to solve the problems which are formulated
as follows:
1. What pejorative expressions are found in the movie American History X?
2. What are the pejoratives which are used as part of pejoration?

C. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study of the pejoration analysis in the movie are
mainly to answer the problems which are:
1. To find out the pejorative expressions found in the movie
2. To identify the use of pejorative as part of pejoration in the movie
By doing so, the author will understand the finding of the regular pattern of
pejorative expressions in the movie that's taking a role as part of pejoration
expressions.

D. Definition of Terms
In the definition of terms, it is conceptually to define of a better
understanding for reader, and to avoid the misunderstanding of certain terms.
Thus, it is not necessary to define a term which is generally understood.
Semantics: Semantics (as the study of meaning) is central to the study of
communication and as communication becomes more and more a crucial factor in
social organization, the need to understand it becomes more and more pressing.
Semantics also at the center of the study of the human mind - thought processes,

 

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cognition, conceptualization - all these are intricately bound up with the way in
which we classify and convey our experience of the world through language.
Because it is, in these two ways, a focal point in a man's study of man, semantics
have been the meeting place of various cross-currents of thinking and various
disciplines of study. Philosophy, psychology, and linguistics all claim a deep
interest in the subject. (Leech, 1990: 9).
Semantic Change: Semantic change in the context of words describes the gradual
shift in the conventional meaning of words, as people use them in new types of
context and this usage become normal. Often in the course of semantic change, a
word shifts its meaning to the point that the modern meaning is radically different
from the original usage. A semantic change is a change in one of the meanings of
a word. Every word has a variety of senses and connotations which can be added,
removed or altered over time, often to the extent that cognates across space and
time have very different messages (Blank,1999: 61). This change in meaning
involves the altering, removing, and adding on meanings behind a word by
following its classification. See the classification by Michel Bréal above (Page 3).
Pejoration: It is a simple the concept of semantic changes in which a word's
meaning worsens or degenerates and coming to represent something less
favorable than it originally did. In pejoration, a word takes on a derogatory
meaning. (Riemer and Bréal, 2010: 374). For instance, it is the process of a
lexeme to develop a negative sense and when a word acquires more negative
connotations.

 

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Pejorative: Pejoratives are the class of expressions that is meant to insult or
disparage. They include swear words and slurs. These words allow speakers to
convey emotional states beyond the truth-conditional contents that they are
normally taken to encode (Hom, 2010: 164-185). In addition, pejorative are
consist of words and phrases that hurt, insult, or disparage someone or something.
The label pejorative (or derogatory) are sometimes used in dictionaries and
glossaries to identify expressions that offend or belittle a subject. Nonetheless, a
word that's regarded as pejorative in one context may have a non-pejorative
function or effect in a different context (Nordquist, 2007).

 

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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies
1. Old Words, New Meanings: A Survey of Semantic Change amongst YorubaEnglish Bilingual Undergraduates by Anjola A. Robbin.
In the following study, she concentrates in the extended meaning in
semantic change. She views that the semantic changes are a common phenomenon
amongst Yoruba-English bilingual undergraduates. She also adds some point that
semantics change can help the broadening process of the vocabulary by giving
new meaning to old words in the English language.
Also, she realizes that the semantics change is motivated by socio cultural
background, psychological background, even more encyclopedia forces. Along
with the conclusion of her study, it is true that semantic changes can broad the
progress of vocabulary and giving it words new meaning. Pejoration as one of the
semantic changes terms, also tries to help some words change the new meaning
though they concern on worsening them into negative meaning.
This study and Pejoration analysis in American History X movie
associated on the same terms which work in the cases of how meaning word can
affect the attitude toward social relationship between two groups or more. Also,
these works present as the semantic development in language using.


 

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2. Language Analysis of the Movie American History X by Jessica Weber,
Fabian Rätzer.
In the following study, they concentrate on the differences of Standard
American English and Black English, placing particular emphasis on phonological
and grammatical distinctions as well as the specific usage of terms. Besides, it is
also elaborate on the different social accents that plays a significant role in our
determination of the traits of special accents of American English.
Along with this introduction, there is an important point between the
pejoration analysis and their study. It is obviously clear that both of the studies
using the same object, American History X movie, which is offering the widest
range of language using.
This study is more about the discussion between the use of standard
American English language and Black English and what roles they have in the
movie and as there is particular language which can affect and help to create a
new meaning in English language. Also, this study is concerned with some
examples which reflect the difficulties in understanding Black English speakers.
Even native speakers have problems to follow their speech and to figure out some
individual words.
It is more obviously clear to see that the pejoration study is different with
their study, though both of them is dealing with the same approach of semantic
field, but they are concerned with their each tendency, each of the study is dealing
with the word meaning and the real expression of its words.

 

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3. The Analysis of Pejoration and Amelioration in Alice Walkers The Color
Purple by Yunawati
In the following study the author wanted to know what words that
experienced the pejoration and the amelioration process, and to describe what the
process that makes the meaning change. Yunawati also found that history, society
and people influence the shaping of the meaning changes, which is pejoration and
amelioration process.
Throughout this finding analysis, there are many words that experienced
pejoration and amelioration in the novel The Color Purple. The pejoration and the
amelioration processes happen because of several factors, there are society,
history and people. The origin of the words that experienced the pejoration and
the amelioration also gives contribution in shaping the new meaning of those
words.
The finding helps the reader of the Color Purple understand to the word
that experienced the pejoration and the amelioration process, so that the reader
will not take a wrong meaning while reading the novel. Along this brief
explanation and conclusion, there is a relation between Yunawati’s study and
pejoration analysis of this study. Both of them are dealing with the same approach
semantics change pejoration. Though Yunawati is aiming to know the changes of
words either it is degenerating or elevating meaning. People somehow confuse as
a reader, so the author hopes that her finding may help the reader understand the
word changing.

 

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B. Review of Related Theories
This study belongs to a semantic study. Therefore, there will be semantics
reviews in general which followed by detailed data reviews on pejoration.

1. Semantics
There are several definitions about semantics, which are very relevant to
this study:
There are several definitions of semantics which offer the formulation to start on
the study of meaning. Kreidler stated that linguistics semantics is the study of how
languages organize and express meaning (Kreidler, 1998: 1) and Löbner pointed
out that semantics also the part of linguistics that is concerned with the meaning
(Löbner, 2002: 1). In very general terms, semantics is the knowledge that study all
the aspects of meaning. It is a particular theory to understand the essence of
meaning. The basic of this approach allows some speaker to communicate facts,
feelings, intentions, and products of imaginations to the other speakers and to
understand what they communicate to him or her.

2. Semantic Change
Semantic change in the context of words describes the gradual shift in the
conventional meaning of words, as people use them in new types of context and
this usage become normal. Often in the course of semantic change, a word shifts
its meaning to the point that the modern meaning is radically different from the
original usage.

 

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Semantic change is a change in one of the meanings of a word. Every
word has a variety of senses and connotations which can be added, removed or
altered over time, often to the extent that cognates across space and time have
very different messages (Blank, 1999: 61).
In addition to the general mechanisms like analogy, Bréal stated several
‘laws’. As a result, these are the types of semantic change and some example by
Bréal, as follows:

a. Pejoration
The tendency to semanticize the more negative connotations of a word: for
example, Old English 'boy' becomes Modern English 'knave' someone dishonest.
Bréal also sees it as the result of euphemism, the tendency to veil disagreeable
ideas, and to disguise such ideas with new terms that they later take on the taboo
meanings they were meant to mask. It means that pejoration leads the process in
avoiding some taboo word that speakers may use an alternative which in time
acquires the meaning of the original and itself falls out of use (Bréal 2001: 55).
Here are examples of English words that have undergone in amelioration process:
Word
silly
criticize
lust
villain
cunning
queen

Old Meaning
happy
appraise
pleasure
worker at a villa
skillful
homosexual

 

Degraded Meaning
foolish
find fault with
sexual desire
wicked person
sly
wife

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b. Amelioration
The tendency to semanticize the more positive connotations of a word. It
is a process of semantic change in which there is an upward shift in the meaning
of the word: for example, kawaii 'cute' and its 'lovable' similarly develop from
earlier meanings 'pitiful' and 'pathetic,' respectively (Bréal 2001: 55). In addition,
amelioration is the process by which a word's meaning improves or becomes
elevated, coming to represent something more favorable than it is originally
referred to. Here are examples of English words that have undergone in
amelioration process:
Word
angel
knight
earl
governor
fond
minister

Old Meaning
messenger
servant
man
pilot
foolish
servant

Upgrading Meaning
messenger of god
rank below baronet
count
head of state
affectionate
head of ministry

c. Restriction/Narrowing of meaning
The change from subordinate level of subordinate level. Sometimes the
narrowing may take place in only one part of speech: for example, 'erection',
which was used of buildings and parts of the body from the sixteenth century on,
is not now usually used for a building, although the verb erects still is, and
children get 'erector' sets as presents (Bréal 2001: 56). In addition, It is a process
by which a word of wide meaning acquires a narrower or specialized sense.

 

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In other words, a word which used to have a more general sense becomes
restricted in its application and conveys a special meaning in present day. Here are
examples of English words that have undergone in restriction process:

Word
liquor
meat
disease
poison
wife
accident
girl

Old Meaning
liquid
food
discomfort
drink
woman
event
young person of either sex

Narrowing Meaning
alcoholic drink
flesh of animals
illness
poisonous drink
a married woman
unfortunate event
female young person

d. Expansion/Generalization/Broadening of meaning
The change from subordinate level to superordinate level. Sometimes the
same root may undergo broadening in one language and narrowing in another: for
example, 'ejaculate' was originally (in the sixteenth century) used for ejecting
fluids from the body, and only later came to be used for 'locutionary acts' (Bréal
2001: 56). In addition, It is a process by which a word which originally had a
specialized meaning has now become generalized. In other words, the term has
extended to cover a broader and often less definite concept. Here are examples of
English words that have undergone in generalization process:

Word
journal
butcher
companion

Old Meaning
daily
one who kills goats
one who shares

 

Broadening Meaning
paper periodical
one who kills animals
bread a company

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e. Metaphor
The mapping of one concept onto another. For Bréal metaphor is
associated with images, and languages are full of metaphors: for example, Yakuza
'good-for-nothing (person)' becomes 'gangster' originally referred to the worst
possible hand in a traditional game of playing cards. In addition, a metaphor is a
trope, or figurative , in which a word or phrase is shifted from its normal uses to a
context where it is evokes a new meanings. It is based on similarity and it
originates from the Greek word which carrying from one place to another (Bréal
2001: 57).

f. Metonym
The association of one word with another: for example, A ’steering wheel’
would be a good metonym for ‘driving’, a ‘violin’ a good metonym for a
‘classical orchestra’, ‘bread’ a good metonym for a ‘baker's shop’, a ‘file folder’ a
good metonym for ‘organizing documents in a computer’ (Bréal 2001: 57).
Therefore, there are factors which facilitate the meaning change. These
factors motivate the semantic change in English language development which is
not static but growing every day. Bréal (1964 - 1900) and supported by Palmer’s
theory (Palmer, 2001: 160) mention some characteristics for such factors which
motivate the meaning change, those are:

 

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i. Discontinuance of Language
Language is handed down in a discontinuous way from one generation to
another.
ii. Vagueness in Meaning
The generic nature of words, the multiplicity of their aspects, the lack of
familiarity and the absence of clear cut boundaries facilitate shifts in usage.
iii. Lost Motivation
Some links of words, such as root of language are severed, so that, the sense
may move far from its original meaning.
iv. Taboo
The meaning of a word is changing when it is used as a taboo word.
v. Polysemy
A word may acquire a new sense or scores of new senses without losing its
original meaning.
vi. External Factors such as cultural changes
Due to the respect to 'laws' of semantic change, Bréal suggests that
pejoration dominates over the other types of change mentioned above. With
respect to the factors of semantic change, Bréal considers that pejoration pays
attention to a certain role regarded by some semantic change. This opinion
became the major motivation for the author to move further and predict the
significant pejoration analysis in the movie. Below is the further explanation of
pejoration itself.

 

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3. Concepts of Pejoration
Bréal argued pejoration is the tendency to semanticize the more negative
connotations of a word. In addition a pejoration also simply involves shifting from
higher to lower value (Bréal 2001: 55)
Blank also mentioned in his book and further pointed out that pejoration is
the process whereby word meaning being worsens or degenerates and coming to
represent something less favorable that it originally did. The word 'knave' is one
of the numerous examples of this phenomenon in English. In modern English, the
word knave means a 'dishonest man'. In old English, this word did not have an
elevated meaning either, but it did not have at that time the pejorative
connotations that it has these days (Blank, 1999:75).
Pejoration develops through narrowing of meaning which happens when
the item in question begins to co-occur in steadily more restricted environments
— in terms of lexical grammar, when it becomes primed to occur with a more
specialized set of items or, put another way, when the variety of its semantic
preferences becomes smaller.
Thus, pejoration is a set of semantic preferences, which consolidates its
role as the conveyor of negative connotation departure of the word. It also
functions as a process whereby the positive connotations of a word fall into
negative connotation and claims to be the purpose of semantic pejoration.

 

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Another notion that support the theory claims that the process of
pejoration begins with the reflection of the derivation pejorative meanings which
are sometimes straightly-forward. For example, ‘son of a bitch’ appears in written
form in 1833 and refers to the offspring of a lewd woman (Farmer, 1965: 202).
This term is at the same time an example of a dead metaphor since we often hear
it in contemporary usage in situations which are not necessarily pejorative in
context. To summarize this, based on Bréal theory; the characteristics of
pejoration are summarized as follows: pejoration = change from appreciative to
pejorative from positive to negative from important to unimportant from neutral to
negative. And it is basically derived from pejorative meanings.

C. Theoretical Framework
All the contribution of the theories and reviews are explained to support
the progress and development of this study. It is to make exact predictions and
make the accurate conclusion, it is also helping the author to finding the new
meaning of words and to analyze the relationship between the source and the
meaning change by using these theories. Each point and standpoint become an
attempt to solve the problems which formulated in this study.
The suggestion of the types of semantic change from the ‘Regularity in
Semantic Change, Elizabeth Closs and Traugott, Richard B. Dasher, 2001’
enables the author to differentiate the classification of the semantic change and
also to avoid the misunderstanding of the classification itself.

 

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In order to answer the problem formulation which formulated as the
finding of pejorative expression, the author will use the theory of pejorative by
Richard Nordquist.
This theory will contribute to cognition on the finding of words that is
hurt, insult, or offensive to someone or something in the script writing. The
pejorative deals with the finding of pejoration expression which associates to the
first problem formulation. Moreover, pejorative theory will allow the use of
primal source to covers the validity of pejorative words.
In order to answer the problem formulation which formulated as the
finding of the use pejorative as part of pejoration, the author will use the theories
of pejoration of Michel Breal in the book ‘Regularity in Semantic Change’.
This theory will contribute a knowledgeable understanding on the issue
dealing with the process of downgrading of a word's meaning as when a word
with a positive connotation develops into the negative one. This theory later will
operate in the investigation on certain words, which are previously predicted as
pejorative words.
This theory also will work on the role of pejoration regarding to the
pejorative use in certain development. Pejoration later will contribute to
formulating the second problem formulation of this study.

 

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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study
The main object of this study is American History X movie. According to
IMDb, American History X is an American crime/drama film which was named
by Empire magazine in 2008 as one of the greatest movie of all the time and
involved in the top 250 movies all of all the time. This film was distributed by
New Line Cinema. It is the first debut in 1998. The 2 hours movie got a big
number in cross revenue, $23,875,127. American History X showing 10
nominations at Academy Awards, USA 1999 Nominated Oscar. This movie
contribute as the most watching list and truly one of the film back then in 1998.
Also, the movie was a corporation of many talented people such as: Tony Kaye
(the versatile director who won a Grammy Award), the movie script was written
by David McKenna; John Morrissey is the producer, music by Anne Dudley.
However, the movie received an “R” or great rated because of many
violent scenes with fighting, bad language (such as: f**k, what the hell, bullshit,
and etc during the film). The background of it is Venice Beach in Los Angeles,
California, USA with a strong actor force. Throughout the movie, the past and
present are mixed together.

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The movie told a story with two main characters: Derek and Danny
Vinyard. Derek was frustrated about black communication because of his past.
Therefore, he joined the D.O.C, a Neo-Nazi gang.
Derek was the leader of that group. He used to lead his group to destroy
and demolish a shop in the town. Derek also won a game with black group at the
local basketball court to own the play place. One night, two black teens try to steal
a Derek’s truck (which is given by his father). Derek used a gun to shoot them and
killed one of them. Danny looked at the terrible sense. Derek was sentenced to
imprisonment of 3 years. At this time, he met and made friend with a black inmate
in the laundry room. And, he realized what he had done were absolutely wrong.
He changed his mind and accepted black people. Danny tries to follow
Derek’s mistakes. Danny joined the Neo-Nazi group. After backing him, Derek
tried to pull his younger brother out of the dark marsh (the Neo-Nazi group). After
existing of the Neo-Nazi group, the two brothers backed home and threw away all
the D.O.C stuffs. At the end of the movie, Danny was killed by a black student
before giving his assignment (the assignment is about Derek’s incarceration) at
the restroom of Danny’s school.

B. Approach of the Study
The main approach in this study is semantic change; pejoration as the
source of the theory of its comprehensive values in term of definition of semantic
change (Bréal, 2001: 54).

 

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This is the best way to approach and also to find out the way of meaning
change which less elevated or degenerated from the original one in English
language.

C. Method of the Study
1. Data Collection
The process of data collection in this undergraduate thesis employs a
random selection method. The selection process covers the criteria that the
offensive or pejorative words found in the movie script by using the description of
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary 3rd Edition (2008) (CAL) and
Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary (2003) (MWC).

2. Data Analysis
This following process will take several steps. The first step is identifying
the pejorative expression, as follows:
a. Reading all the dialogues on the script writing and work in text.
b. Scanning the offensive words, and start describing the function, authentic
meaning dialogue per dialogue by using CAL and MWC in the movie
c. Collect all the pejorative words and making description by using CAL and
MWC in every pejorative word.
These findings will determine the latter process of the second problem
formulation. The second step is identifying the roles of the pejoration words in the
movie as follows:

 

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a. Scanning the pejorative words in the movie, and start describing the
function and authentic meaning using CAL and MWC.
b. Classifying the original meaning and meaning change of the pejorative
words.
c. Finding the pejoratives which are pejoration by looking up the etymology
and the development of the pejorative words using CAL and MWC.
On the last session of this following process, all the pejoration expression will
cope into groups in order to make every analysis is transparent.

 

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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS RESULTS

This part of undergraduate thesis writing aims to attain the analysis on the
two problem formulations mentioned above of the finding pejorative expressions
in American History X movie and the identifying pejorative expression as part of
pejoration.
The movie scripts of American History X contains 19040 words and 203
pages and it is written by from David McKenna (February 6, 1997) and all the
data will take from this script writing. Two instruments for this analysis are
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary 3rd Edition (2008) and MerriamWebster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary (2003), in order to collect all the valid data
focus on the pejorative words as characterized as a word or phrase that hurts and
insults to someone.
There are 29 pejorative words from the analysis evaluated by the present
researcher. The following part will present the answer for the first problem
formulation of this study. Below is the table of pejorative words in the movie:

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A. Pejorative expression in the movie

Table 1: pejorative expression in the movie
No Word

Function

CAL

MWC

A person
whose sexual
behavior is
considered
strange and
unpleasant
To stop
talking or
making a
noise
Informal a
stupid person

A form of
sexual
perversion

1.

Pervert

Noun

2.

Shut up

Adjective

3.

Ass

Noun

4.

Dick

Noun

5.

Pussy

Noun

6.

Faggot

Noun

7.

Pig

Noun

8.

Nigger

Noun

Offensive a
black person

9.

Shit

Noun

Offensive
someone or
something
you do not
like

Offensive a
penis
Offensive a
woman's
vagina
Offensive
when it is
used by
people who
are not
homosexual
Offensive a
police officer

 

To cause a
person to stop
talking
Sometimes
vulgar: a
stupid,
obstinate, or
perverse
person
Usually
vulgar: penis
Usually
vulgar: vulva.
Usually
disparaging:
a male
homosexual

Usually
disparaging:
police officer
Usually
offensive: a
black person.
Usually
vulgar:
nonsense

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No Word

Function

CAL

MWC

10. Fuck

Adjective

Usually
vulgar: mess

11. Bitch

Noun

12. Black

Noun

Offensive to
behave
stupidly
Offensive an
unkind or
unpleasant
woman
Offensive
black person

13. Fucking

Adjective

14. Motherfucker

15

Negro

Noun

Noun

 

Offensive
used to
emphasize a
statement,
especially an
angry one
Offensive an
extremely
insulting
name for
someone you
hate or for
someone who
has made you
angry
Offensive
old-fashioned
a black
woman

A lewd or
immoral
woman
Characterized
by hostility or
angry
discontent
Usually
 
vulgar:
damned
 

Usually
vulgar: one
that fucks

Sometimes
offensive: a
member of a
race of
humankind
native to
Africa and
classified
according to
physical
features (as
dark skin
pigmentation)

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No Word

Function

CAL

MWC

16. Cracker

Noun

Silly, stupid
or slightly
mentally ill

Offensive
someone or
something
you do not
like because
they are
unpleasant

17. Balls

Noun

18. Monkey

Noun

Often vulgar:
nonsense
A person
resembling a
monkey

19. Negroid

Adjective

Offensive
nonsense
Informal a
child who
behaves
badly
Offensive
old-fashioned
specialized
having the
physical
features of a
black person
from Africa

20. Asshole

Noun

Offensive
unpleasant
person

21. Fucker

Noun

Offensive a
stupid person

22. Dumb

Noun

Offensive
and annoying

 

Sometimes
offensive: a
member of a
race of
humankind
native to
Africa and
classified
according to
physical
features (as
dark skin
pigmentation)
A usually
vulgar: a
stupid,
incompetent,
or detestable
person
Usually
vulgar: one
that fucks
Usually
vulgar: stupid

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No Word

Function

CAL

MWC

23. Wetbacks

Noun

Usually
offensive: a
Mexican who
enters the
United States
illegally

24. Chicken

Noun

Wetback is a
derogatory
term used to
describe
Mexicans
who have
immigrated
illegally to
the United
States
A coward or
person who
is not brave

25. Bastard

Noun

26. Idiot

Noun

27. Shithead

Noun

28. Kike

Noun

29. Spic

Noun

Offensive an
unpleasant
person

A coward

An offensive
or
disagreeable
person
A stupid
Usually
person or
offensive: a
someone who person
is behaving
affected with
in a stupid
idiocy
way
Offensive a
Usually
stupid,
vulgar: a
unpleasant
worthless,
and
offensive, or
unpopular
detestable
person
person
Offensive a
Usually
Jewish
offensive:
person
Jew
Offensive a
Usually
person from
offensive:
a SpanishSpanishspeaking
American
country

 

 

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Based on the pejorative finding listed above, the used of CAL and MWC
is suggested in order to know the authentic meaning of pejorative words that is
defined as offensive words. Those standards are the instruments to identify the
expression that is offending and labeled as pejorative. In American History X, the
pejorative expressions appear in noun (25 numbers) and adjective (4 numbers)
functions, as well as in numerous combinations through its functional shift. The
descriptive element that is identified by using CAL and MWC contributes to the
meaning in every dialogue of the sentences in which pejorative appears in order to
negate the words that the speaker intends to convey and also contribute the
expressive value of negative attitudes that every dialogue in the movie intends to
convey.
The use of pejorative often appear in order to dispose some speaker in a
particular direction toward one's own viewpoint and against that of others. The
use of pejorative also not more accidental, but rather than emotional language to
express the negative attitude toward others in the fact that the speaker know the
mutual original meaning and against the opposing viewpoints. Below are the
example of the pejorative words which found in the movie;

Seth: Where are you, you free motherfucker?
Davina: He's on the phone, asshole!
The word ‘asshole’ here is a noun and become as pejorative because the
speaker used it as a vulgarity, and it's generally to describe people who are viewed
as a stupid person.

 

 

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Pejorative term can explain how the word