VERBAL HUMOR IN GUARDIAN OF THE GALAXY AND ITS BAHASA INDONESIA SUBTITLING TEXT.

VERBAL HUMOR IN GUARDIAN OF THE GALAXY AND ITS
BAHASA INDONESIA SUBTITLING TEXT
A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of
a Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Literature

Nadindra Nirvana Irawan
10211144002

ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY
2017

MOTTO

You can’t pick and choose the days that you feel like being responsible. It’s not
something that disappears when you’re tired.
Pat Summitt

v

DEDICATION

This thesis is wholeheartedly dedicated to Papa (Alm.) and Mama who have
raised me to be the person I am today. I thank them for the unconditional love,
guidance and support that they have given to me.
I love them both.
Really much.

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Praise be to Allah SWT, the Beneficent and Merciful, who has given me
His mercies, blessing and everything to complete this thesis. Also, may peace be
to the prophet Muhammad SAW and his family. It is necessary to be known that
this thesis would never have come into existence without all the supports,
encouragement and assistence given to me by several outstanding people.

Therefore, I would like to address my deepest gratitude to
1. my encouragingly resourceful first consultant Pak Andy Bayu Nugroho,
SS., M.Hum. and my second consultant and academic consultant all at
once, Pak Yosa Abduh Alzuhdy, SS., M.Hum. for all their time, help,
guidance and patience throughout the undertaking of this study;
2. all lecturers of the English Language and Literature Study Program of
FBS, UNY for all their knowledge given to me during my academic years;
3. my beloved parents Teguh Irawan (Alm.) and Tri Feriyanti, for their
patience and willingness to wait for my graduation. My sincere gratitude
and love are also dedicated to my brothers and sister Aditia Trisno
Nugroho and Priesca Indahlia Irawan and Priestian Imanuar Irawan for
their unstoppable support and patience;
4. my very helpful triangulators, Anisa Sekar, Permadi Tenrisau and
Rachmad Wijanarko;

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................

i

APPROVAL SHEET .....................................................................................

ii

RATIFICATION SHEET .............................................................................

iii

PERNYATAAN ..............................................................................................

iv

MOTTOS .......................................................................................................

v

DEDICATIONS ............................................................................................

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................

ix

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.............................................................

xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................... xiii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... xiv
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Problem .................................................................

1

B. Focus of the Research ..........................................................................

6

C. Objectives of the Research ...................................................................

9

D. Significance of the Research ................................................................. 10
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK
A. Theoretical Review ..............................................................................

11

1. Translation .....................................................................................

11

a. Definitions of Translation .......................................................

11

b. Translation Process .................................................................

13

c. Types of Translation ................................................................

13

2. Audiovisual Translation .................................................................

15

a. Dubbing....................................................................................

16

ix

b. Subtitling..................................................................................

17

c. Types of Subtitling...................................................................

19

d. Subtitling Strategies .................................................................

21

3. Verbal Humor.................................................................................

24

a. Types of Verbal Humor ...........................................................

26

4. Acceptability ..................................................................................

31

5. Previous Studies .............................................................................

33

6. Guardian of the Galaxy..................................................................

34

B. Conceptual Framework ........................................................................

35

C. Analytical Construct ............................................................................

37

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Type of Research..................................................................................

38

B. Data and Data Sources .........................................................................

38

C. Research Instruments ...........................................................................

39

D. Data Collection Techniques .................................................................

39

E. Data Analysis Techniques....................................................................

40

F. Trustworthiness ...................................................................................

41

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Findings................................................................................................

44

1. Types of the Verbal Humor in Guardian of the Galaxy ................

44

2. Subtitling Strategy of the English Verbal Humor in
Guardian of the Galaxy.................................................................. 45
3. Degree of Acceptability in the Translation of Verbal Humor in

Guardian of the Galaxy..................................................................

47

B. Discussion ...........................................................................................

50

1. Types of Verbal Humor in Guardian of the Galaxy ......................

50

2. Subtitling Strategies in Translation of Verbal Humor in
Guardian of the Galaxy..................................................................

61

3. Degree of Acceptability in Verbal Humor Translation in
Guardian of the Galaxy..................................................................

x

76

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusion ............................................................................................

83

B. Suggestions .........................................................................................

86

REFERENCES ..............................................................................................

88

APPENDICES ...............................................................................................

91

A. The Data Sheet .....................................................................................

92

B. Surat Pernyataan Triangulasi ............................................................... 112

xi

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 1. The Acceptability Assessment Scale System.....................................

32

Table 2.Data Sheet ...........................................................................................

42

Table 3. Types of Verbal Humor by the Characters in Guardian of
the Galaxy ........................................................................................................

45

Table 4. Subtitling Strategies of Translation of Verbal Humor in Guardian
of the Galaxy ...................................................................................................

46

Table 5. Degree of Acceptability in the Translation of Verbal Humor in
Guardian of the Galaxy....................................................................................

47

Table 6. Relationship of Types of Verbal Humor, Strategies and Degree of
Acceptability ....................................................................................................

48

Figure 1. Process of Translation ......................................................................

13

Figure 2. Analytical Construct .........................................................................

37

xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Ac

:

Acceptable

Al

:

Allusion

Cn

:

Condensation

Dc

:

Decimation

Dl

:

Deletion

Ds

:

Dislocation

Ex

:

Expansion

Im

:

Imitation

Lac

:

Less Acceptable

Pp

:

Paraphrase

Rs

:

Resignation

SE

:

Source Expression

SL

:

Source Language

ST

:

Source Text

Tc

:

Transcription

Tr

:

Transfer

TE

:

Target Expression

TL

:

Target Language

TT

:

Target Text

Unc

:

Unacceptable

VI

:

Verbal Irony

Wp

:

Wordplay

xiii

VERBAL HUMOR IN GUARDIAN OF THE GALAXY AND ITS
BAHASA INDONESIA SUBTITLING TEXT
By:
Nadindra Nirvana Irawan
10211144002

ABSTRACT
This research attempts to analyze how verbal humor in Guardian of the
Galaxy movie is translated into Bahasa Indonesia. In doing so, three objectives
are formulated: 1) to describe the types of verbal humor found in Guardian of The
Galaxy movie, 2) to describe the strategies used by the translator to translate the
verbal humor in Guardian of The Galaxy into Indonesian subtitle, and 3) to
evaluate the impacts of the translation strategies on the degree of acceptability in
verbal humor in Guardian of The Galaxy Indonesian subtitle. This research
employed a descriptive qualitative method since it provides descriptions of
translation phenomena in Guardian of the Galaxy movie. The data of this research
were taken from words, phrases and sentences that contain verbal humor found in
Guardian of the Galaxy movie and its Bahasa Indonesia subtitle. They were
collected manually from English text as the phonic channel and Bahasa Indonesia
text as the graphic channel of the original DVD of Guardian of the Galaxy movie.
The researcher was the main instrument in this research. To gain trustworthiness,
triangulation method was applied. The results of this research show three
important findings. First, the types of verbal humor found in Guardian of the
Galaxy movie are verbal irony, allusion and wordplay. Among them, verbal irony
is in the highest number of occurrence. It can be concluded that verbal irony is the
most common types of verbal humor that the audiences can easily comprehend.
Second, the strategies used to translate the verbal humor are transfer, paraphrase,
condensation, imitation, deletion, transcription and decimation in which transfer
becomes the most frequently used strategy. It is because the translation of verbal
humor in Guardian of the Galaxy movie still focuses on transfer the meaning of
the humor, not on how to make the verbal humor in the target text. Third, from 48
data, 33 data of verbal humor in this research are considered acceptable, 13 data
are considered less acceptable and 2 data are considered unacceptable. It indicates
that the verbal humor translation of Guardian of the Galaxy movie is acceptable.
Keywords: translation, subtitling, verbal humor, degree of acceptability, Guardian
of the Galaxy

xiv

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Problem
Movie is one of many kinds of entertainment that most people in the
world had an eye on. It becomes the communication tools to transfer ideas and
might be one of the information sources which have extended its influence. This
form of entertainment is enjoyed by a lot of people from children to adults
because it gives pleasures. The pleasures that people get by watching movie are,
for instance, getting more knowledge, experiencing something they never have
before, having a media to escape from their hard daily life, knowing other
people’s culture, and so on. With such benefits, once a movie is produced in a
certain country, it will be followed by the act of spreading the movie to other
countries to grab attention from wider audiences. That is what happens to
American movie industries.
Speaking about American movie industries, often metonymously as
Hollywood, rules the global movie market since the early 20th century. As one of
the largest cinema industries in the world, Hollywood own some very well known
worldwide studios, for instances, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Walt
Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, MGM, etc. Every year, Hollywood movie
studios make more than five hundred movies and most of them reach millions of
audiences watching each of them.
Since the early 21st century, superhero movies have become such a thing
that receives a lot of attention in movie industries till these days. Most of those
superhero movies that circulate out there recently are based on comic books from

1

2

Marvel. Marvel Entertainment is one of the world’s most prominent characterbased entertainment companies under The Walt Disney Company with more than
8.000 characters featured in many media for more than seventy years. Marvel
utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing and
most of those characters are then adapted to screen. People can see it from the
repeated production of superhero movies since the early 21st century such as
Spider-Man II (2004), The Dark Knight (2008), Iron Man (2008), The Avengers
(2012) and The Guardian of the Galaxy (2014) and many more. There are many
reasons why these movies are in a lot of demand. Some of them are because of the
good looking casts, the great act, the interesting plot, the awesome audio and
visual effects and last but not least is the humor in the movies.
Entertaining movie is one that could capture the audience’s interest and it
usually contains humor. It is not easy to get audience’s attention if the movie is
too serious and tense. Regardless of the genre, a movie should have at least a little
bit touch of humor in order not to be called as an emotionally-strict movie. In fact,
even emotional movies have scenes of comedy. All the factors mentioned above
are the top things that successfully steal the audience’s heart.
Speaking about wider audiences which might be of other countries,
language is an obstacle for them since not all people master the language in which
the movie was produced. This is where translators play a pivotal role. Through the
act of translation there is an act of transferring the messages in the movie from the
source language to the target language in order to make the target audiences enjoy
the movie easily.

3

Since there is a significant increasing interest of worldwide audiences
including Indonesian people watching American movies, translators, at this point,
have something more to do. In order to make people enjoy the movie well, the
subtitle of the audience’s language should have a good quality. Not only because
some people do not understand the language in it, but also because there are some
parts of the source has language that contain cultural stuffs like humor. Humor is
not a universal thing that could easily be understood by anyone in any country.
Even if there is still a universal one, but when it appears in a particular movie
from a particular country, mostly it contains cultural humors that can only be
understood by the natives or people who have learned their language and culture.
However, a translator who masters both the source language and the
target language will have to consider some factors before translating difficult
expressions like humor. Besides having to decide whether the target language
reader understand the humor, translators also have to render the humor-inducing
effect of the source text. They have to make sure that the source humor can
function as humor in the target culture. Translators’ ability to make creative
decisions is often tested by culturally bound elements and language-specific
devices in those expressions.
Here is an example of verbal humor expression from an American
computer-animated comedy movie entitled Madagascar. This movie was
produced by DreamWorks Animation and releaseed on May 27, 2005.
SL: Did that just say Grand Central Station? Or my aunt’s constipation?
TL: Katanya “Stasiun Grand Central” atau “bibiku mual”
(Madagascar)

4

The words ‘Central Station’ and ‘constipation’ are considered wordplay
due to their sound similarity. The translator translates them into Bahasa Indonesia
by replacing the wordplay with two words with the same rhyme of ‘al’, that is
‘central’ and ‘mual’. That is the example of verbal humor in terms of wordplay.
When translating wordplay, the translator has to notice some aspects. A translator
has to maintain the wordplay of the ST in the TT. It is not easy to maintain the
whole aspects when translating wordplay, thus, the TT does not necessarily have
to possess the exact meaning and form of the ST as long as both the ST and TT
share similar concept and the humorous effect of ST can still be felt in the TT.
Another example of verbal humor use can be found in Modern Family sitcom. It
is an American sitcom television series that won many awards.
(Luke’s head stuck in the bane stair and Phil try to get him out of it with a
baby oil.)
SL:
Phil : Buddy, why do you keep getting stuck like this?
Luke : I thought I can get out this time.
Alex :I’m just gonna say it, he needs to be checked by a specialist.
Luke : Aaa... (Finally can get his head out)
Phil : There! Be free, Excalibur!
TL:
Phil : Kawan, kenapa kau selalu tersangkut seperti ini?
Luke: Aku pikir aku bisa keluar kali ini.
Alex: Harus aku katakan, Dia perlu diperiksa sama spesialis.
Luke: Aduh...
Phil: Sudah. Bebaslah, Excalibur!

5

(Modern Family-S1,Ep1)
The example above belongs to proper noun allusion. Excalibur is a
legendary sword attributed with magical powers owned by King Arthur in the
mythology of Great Britain King Arthur. This sword can only be drawn from the
stone by Arthur, the rightful king. In relation with Luke’s case, Luke’s head is
compared to Excalibur in the stone or in this case, the bane stair that is going to be
drawn by his father. The use of loan translation strategy in translating ‘Excalibur’
makes the word transferred without any change. Only people who know what
Excalibur is will understand the jokes.
This is another example of allusion used in verbal humor. It occurs in
Guardian of the Galaxy movie. This movie is the object that the researcher used
as the data source. In this scene, Peter Quill cast by Chris Pratt was caught trying
to take the sacred orb from the mysterious planet by Korath and his troops. Korath
then interrogates him while his troops hold into him.
SL:
Korath: You don’t look like a junker. You’re wearing Ravager garb.
Peter: This is just an outfit, man. Ninja turtle, you better stop poking me.
TL:
Korath: Kau bukan tukang barang bekas. Itu seragam Ravager.
Peter: Ini hanya pakaian. Kura-kura Ninja, berhentilah menyodokku.
(Guardian of the Galaxy)
The conversation above shows the use of verbal humor, allusion. The
expression “Ninja turtle” drives the reader to think about the famous character in

6

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) was
first published as a comic book series in 1995 by Archie Comics. The characters
are then adapted to screen and became popular all over the world. It specifically
refers to proper name allusion types of verbal humor. The expression reminds the
viewers to certain popular figures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo,
Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael that creates a humorous effect and makes
the viewers laugh.
In Guardian of the Galaxy movie, the researcher would like to analyze
whether the SE and the TE, especially the expressions that contain humorous
expession, are rendered in a good way or not. Humor is a big thing when it comes
to translation. Not only the language from the ST that is translated to the TT that
matters, but also the fact that not all countries share the same way to deliver
humor. Guardian of the Galaxy contains a lot of jokes that suit the researcher’s
thesis about humor. Thus, Guardian of the Galaxy is an interesting object to be
studied.
B. Focus of the Research
Commonly, there are three major problems of translating humor related
to the movie. The three problems are from linguistic aspect, cultural aspect and
subtitling aspect.
The first problem is from linguistic aspect. Translators might find
complicated humor expressions and translate them directly without considering
some aspects. They do so because it is unusual for translators to alter the structure

7

of the language as long as the meaning of the whole sentence is maintained. Yet,
the audiences will be unable to understand the subtitle completely because the
humor is unsuccessfully rendered. Most humors depend on the structure of the
language. Usually, it is because of the structure, then the humor is created. When
humor is translated, the language structure changes, which will then sometimes
cause the humor loses its essence and become less meaningful in the target
language. That is why it is not at all easy for the translators to translate humor.
The second problem is from cultural aspect. Translation is not merely an
act of substituting the words from one language to another language. It is also an
act of transferring the source language’s culture to the target language’s culture.
Sometimes, what is considered a humor in one culture may not be considered the
same in others. A translator should find the most appropriate strategy in order to
successfully convey the messages in the target language to make sure that the
translation is acceptable in the target language.
The third problem occurs from the subtitling aspect. Subtitling, which is
an act of translating dialogs in movies into sentences on screen is not an easy
thing to deal with by the translator. It has distinguished challenges for the
translators that are different from other types of translation that they usually faced.
In subtitling, the translation of the target language is usually provided at the
bottom of the screen. It must be fitted in two lines or three at most. The length of
every line should contain no more than 40 characters. Besides, because of the
limitation of the duration, translators should be able to reproduce the dialogues
from the source language to the target language without losing the meaning that

8

the original text tries to convey to the audiences. Thus, translators’ capability to
produce the desired effects and the acceptability of the humor’s translation are
tested here to prove whether they are qualified translators or not. Here is the
example.
SL: ‘Just think of what work it would make with the day and night! You see
the earth takes twenty-four hours to turn around on its axis -‘
‘Talking of axes, said the Duchess,
‘chop off her head!’
TL: “Coba bayangkan akibatnya pada siang dan malam! Kau tahu, bumi
memerlukan waktu dua puluh empat jam untuk berputar pada porosnya –
“Omong-omong soal kapak” kata sang Duchess, penggal kepalanya!”
Catatan kaki:
1. Poros dalam bahasa Inggris adalah axis.
2. Kapak dalam bahasa Inggris adalah axes. Axis dan axes terdengar
mirip. Maksud Alice mengatakan axis. Sementara sang Ratu berpikir
Alice mengucapkan axes.
(Alice Adventure in Wonderland)
In the example above, the translator tries to give additional information
to the readers that there is a wordplay found in the text by using footnote in the
same page. The expression of ‘axis’ and ‘axes’ are belongs to the wordplay,
specifically homophony which sounds similar. Alice intended to say ‘axis’ which
in Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Third Edition means a real or
imaginary straight line which goes through the center of a spinning object, or a
line which divides a symmetrical shape into two equal halves, or a line on a
graph used to show the position of a point, but what the Queen heard was ‘axes’
which means a tool used for cutting wood and which consists of a heavy iron or
steel blade at the end of a long wooden handle. The mishearing of the Queen
cause laughter of the viewers.

9

This research will focus on three problems. They are the types of verbal
humor, the strategies used by the translator in translating the verbal humor and the
degree of equivalence of the translation of verbal humor in Guardian of the
Galaxy movie. Based on the problems identified above, the problems of the study
are formulated as follows.

1. What types of verbal humor are found in Guardian of the Galaxy movie?
2. What strategies are used to translate the verbal humor in Guardian of the
Galaxy movie into the Bahasa Indonesia subtitling text?
3. What are the impacts of the translation strategies on the degree of acceptability
in verbal humor of Guardian of the Galaxy Indonesian subtitle?
C. Objectives of the Research
Based on the formulation of the problems above the objectives of this
study are:
1. to describe the types of verbal humor found in Guardian of the Galaxy movie
2. to describe the strategies used by the translator to translate the verbal humor in
Guardian of the Galaxy Indonesian subtitle, and
3. to evaluate the impacts of the translation strategies on the degree of
acceptability in verbal humor in Guardian of the Galaxy Indonesian subtitle.

D. Significance of the Research
The aim of this study is to bring the following significances:
1. the study can be used as a reference for those who are interested in conducting
a study related to the translation of verbal humor,

10

2. the study can give contribution to the field of translation studies especially in
relation to the translation of verbal humor, and
3. the study can give some insight for the translators when they are translating
verbal humor.

CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
A. Type of Research
The research conducted by the researcher is using descriptive qualitative
method. According to Wahyuni (2012:12), one of the characteristics of qualitative
research is that it is descriptive in nature. What is meant by descriptive is that in a
qualitative research the data collected are in the form of words rather than
numbers. This research aim at describing the phenomena found in the translation
of verbal humor in Guardian of the Galaxy movie. It analyses the types of verbal
humor, the techniques used to translate verbal humor and the degree of
equivalence of the verbal humor. Thus, a qualitative method is considered
relevant to be applied in this research.
B. Data and Data Sources
Schreiber (2008: 185) defines data as a collection of information that can
be in the form of numbers, words, pictures, video, audio, or concepts. More
specifically, Firmin (2008 : 190) states that in qualitative research, the term data is
frequently related to words. The data of this research are words, phrases and
sentences containing verbal humor found in Guardian of the Galaxy movie in
English spoken expression and its Bahasa Indonesia subtitling text, while the
context of the data is the dialogues of the characters in Guardian of the Galaxy
movie. So, the data sources are the English spoken expressions and the Bahasa
Indonesia written expressions of Guardian of the Galaxy movie.

38

39

C. Research Instruments
According to Lincoln and Guba in Vanderstoep and Johnston (2009:188)
human is the best instrument in a qualitative research. In line with Lincoln and
Guba, Moleong (2009: 168) points out that in qualitative research, the researcher
is the center of the whole research process because he is the one who plan the
research, collect, analyze, interpret the data, and eventually report the research
findings. In conclusion, it can be said that the researcher is the main instrument in
this research. In this research, two kinds of instruments are used concerning the
method of collecting data.
1. The Researcher
The researcher is the center of the whole research process because he is
the one who plan the research, collect, analyze, interpret the data, and also report
the research findings.
2. Data Sheets
Data sheet is the supporting instrument used to record and classify the
verbal humor data in the movie.
D. Data Collection Techniques
The steps taken to collect the data for this research include:
1. watching the movie several times to get an insight about the phenomena under
study, which is the translation of verbal humor,
2. transcribing the English text that contains verbal humor and their Bahasa
Indonesia subtitling text,
3. identifying all verbal humor and their translations as the main data,

40

4. classifying the verbal humor and their translations,
5. comparing the data and made classification based on their subtitling strategies,
6. classifying based on the acceptability of meaning, and
7. putting the data into the data sheet.
E. Data Analysis Techniques
The data in this research were analyzed using some steps as follows.
1.

Reading
In this first step all the data that had been collected before, both from the ST
and from TT, were read comprehensively.

2.

Classifying
The relevant data were categorized using a table. The table was made to
classify the data into types of verbal humor, subtitling strategies used to
translate the humor, and the degree of acceptability of the verbal humor.

3.

Interpreting
When the classification was finished, the data were analyzed by interpreting
each datum to answer the research questions.

4.

Reporting
In this last step, the data were presented in the discussion. Some examples
from the findings were taken and further explanations of the interpretation
were elaborated

41

F. Trustworthiness
Moleong (2001:173) states that there are four criteria of validity and
reliability to obtain trustworthiness of a data. They consist of credibility,
transferability, dependability, and conformability. This research only employed
credibility and dependability.
To achieve trustworthiness, the concepts of credibility were applied in
this research. In this research, the researcher reread both texts carefully so that the
data were in accordance with the research questions. Moreover, the credibility was
also obtained by conducting triangulation technique. The triangulation technique
was attained by asking other people to discuss the data in order to know the
correct interpretation. The triangulators are three students of English Literature
study program with translation concentration, the researcher first’s consultant, and
the second consultant. Their capability in analyzing and criticizing translation
would be in accordance with this research.
To achieve the degree of dependability, the researcher examined the data
collection and data analysis. The researcher reread the data to gain certainty and
stability of the data. The researcher ensured that the data were in accordance with
the research questions.

42

Table 2: Data Sheet

N
o

1

2

3

Datum
Code

VH Types
Source Expression

Target Expression

01/Vi/Dl/U
ac

Korath: Drop it now!
Peter: Hey, cool, man.
No problem. No
problem at all.

"Korath: Letakkan,
sekarang!
Peter: Tenanglah.
Tidak masalah. Sama
sekali tidak masalah."

02/Al/Tr/A
c

Korath: You don't look
like a junker.You're
wearing Ravager garb.
Peter: This is just an
outfit, man. Ninja
Turtle, you better stop
poking me."

Korath: Kau bukan
tukang barang bekas.
Itu seragam Ravager.
Peter: Ini hanya
pakaian. Kura-kura
Ninja, berhentilah
menyodokku.

03/Vi/Pp/A
c

Yondu:
I
slaved
putting
this
deal
together.
Peter: Slaved? Making
a few calls is a
“slaved”?

Yondu: Aku bekerja
keras
mengatur
kesepakatan.
Peter:
Menelepon
adalah “kerja keras?”

Situation

W
p

A
l

Peter get
arrested by
Ronan's troops
because he tries
to take the orb
that they have
been seeking
for.
Peter tries to
deceive Korath
and his troop
by saying that
he's just a
junker. Yet,
Korath does not
believe Peter.

Yondu, the
leader of
Ravager is
contacting
Peter. Peter
does not want
to pick up the
call because he
has been
avoiding him.

V
i

Subtitling Strategies
E
x

P
p

T
r

√

T
c

D
s

C
n

Acceptability
D
c

D
l

R
s

A
c

√

√

√

√

I
m

√

La
c

√

√

√

Ua
c

43

Below is the complete convention of abbreviation used in data coding:
1

: Number of the Datum

Pp

: Paraphrase

Ac

: Acceptable

Rs

: Resignation

Al

: Allusion

SE

: Source Expression

Cn

: Condensation

Tc

: Transcription

Dc

: Decimation

Tr

: Transfer

Dl

: Deletion

TE

: Target Expression

Ds

: Dislocation

Unc

: Unacceptable

Ex

: Expansion

VI

: Verbal Irony

Im

: Imitation

Wp

: Wordplay

Lac

: Less Acceptable

CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

A. FINDINGS
There are 48 data found in this research. They are classified based on the
theory discussed in the previous chapter. There are tables and the detail
explanation of the findings in this section.
The tables provide description of the findings. They contain a list of spoken
expressions that belongs to the types of verbal humor (wordplay, allusion, and
verbal irony) expressed by the characters in Guardian of the Galaxy. The tables
indicate the frequency of occurrence of the verbal humor in the movie.
There are three findings in this chapter. They are types of verbal humor in
Guardian of the Galaxy movie, subtitling strategies used by the translator to
translate the English spoken expression especially verbal humor and the degree of
acceptability of the translation of verbal humor in Guardian of the Galaxy movie
into Bahasa Indonesia.
1. Types of the Verbal Humor in Guardian of the Galaxy
There are three types of verbal humor found in this research. They are
wordplay, allusion and verbal irony. Table 3 provides a description of the first
finding. It contains the list of three types of verbal humor expressed in Guardian
of the Galaxy movie and their frequency of occurrences.

44

45

Table 3: Types of Verbal Humor by the Characters in Guardian of the
Galaxy Movie
No

Types of Verbal Humor

Frequency

Percentage

1

Verbal Irony

32

66.67 %

2

Allusion

12

25 %

3

Wordplay

4

8.33 %

TOTAL

48

100 %

According to the table above, verbal irony is the most frequent type of
verbal humor with 66.67 % data occurrence. It is followed by allusion in the
second place with 25 % data occurrence and wordplay with 8.33 % data
occurrence in the third place. It can be concluded that verbal irony is the most
common type of verbal humor. It is used in common daily conversation and come
out as the most ordinary form of verbal humor that the audiences can easily
comprehend.
2. Subtitling Strategy of the English Verbal Humor in Guardian of the
Galaxy
In Table 4, it can be seen that the translator uses seven subtitling strategies in
translating verbal humor in Guardian of the Galaxy movie out of ten subtitling
strategies in the theory. The strategies used to translate the verbal humor are
transfer, paraphrase, condensation, imitation, deletion, transcription and

46

decimation. Dislocation, expansion and resignation are the strategies that are not
used by the translator to translate the verbal humor.
Table 4: Subtitling Strategies of Translation of Verbal Humor in
Guardian of the Galaxy Movie.
No

Subtitling Strategy

Frequency

Percentage

1

Transfer

14

29.17 %

2

Paraphrase

8

16.67 %

3

Condensation

8

16.67 %

4

Imitation

7

14.58 %

5

Deletion

6

12.5 %

6

Transcription

4

8.33 %

7

Decimation

1

2.08 %

8

Expansion

0

0%

9

Dislocation

0

0%

10

Resignation

0

0%

TOTAL

48

100 %

According to Table 4, the result of the analysis shows that out of 48 data,
transfer is the most frequent subtitling strategy used by the translator in translating
the verbal humor dialogue with 29.17 % of occurrence. The second and the third
ranks with 16.67 % are paraphrase and condensation. Imitation is on the fourth

47

rank with 14.58 % occurrence, deletion 12.5 % and last but not least, decimation
is on the seventh rank with 2.08 % occurrence.
3. Degree of Acceptability of the Translation of Verbal Humor in Guardian
of the Galaxy
Acceptability is divided into 3 degrees. They are acceptable, less acceptable
and unacceptable. The table below shows the frequency of degree of acceptability
in the translation of Indonesian subtitle from the Guardian of the Galaxy movie.
Table 5: Degree of Acceptability in the Translation of Verbal Humor
in Guardian of the Galaxy Movie
No

Degree of Acceptability

Frequency

Percentage

1

Acceptable

33

68.75 %

2

Less Acceptable

13

27.08 %

3

Unacceptable

2

4.17 %

TOTAL

48

100 %

From the table above, 68.75 % data in the research that belong to acceptable
degree. The researcher also found 27.08 % data that are considered less acceptable
and 4.17 % data are unacceptable. The findings indicate that the translation of
verbal humor in Guardian of the Galaxy movie is considered acceptable.
Table 6 shows the relationship between all the previous three findings which
are the types of verbal humor, the subtitling strategies and the degree of

48

acceptability. Through this table, the relationship of the findings can be seen in
two points of view. First, the application of the subtitling strategies used in
translating the types of verbal humor. The second is the translated verbal humor
that is used the subtitling strategies and the acceptability degree.
Table 6. Relationship of Types of Verbal Humor, Strategies and

Subtitling
Strategies

Types of
VH

Degree of Acceptability

Transfer

Paraphrase

Condensation

Imitation

Deletion

Transcription

Decimation

Total

Wordplay

Allusion

Verbal Irony

Ac : Lac: Unc: -

Ac : 3
Lac: Unc: -

Ac : 10
Lac: Unc: 1

Ac : 13
Lac: 0
Unc: 1

14

Ac : Lac: Unc: -

Ac : Lac: 1
Unc: -

Ac : 5
Lac: 2
Unc: -

Ac : 5
Lac: 3
Unc: 0

8

Ac : Lac: 1
Unc: -

Ac : Lac: Unc: -

Ac : 2
Lac: 5
Unc: -

Ac : 2
Lac: 6
Unc: 0

8

Ac : Lac: Unc: -

Ac : 7
Lac: Unc: -

Ac : Lac: Unc: -

Ac : 7
Lac: 0
Unc: 0

7

Ac : Lac: Unc:-

Ac : Lac: Unc:-

Ac : 3
Lac: 3
Unc: -

Ac : 3
Lac: 3
Unc:0

6

Ac : 2
Lac: 1
Unc: -

Ac : 1
Lac: Unc: -

Ac : Lac: Unc: -

Ac : 3
Lac: 1
Unc:0

4

Ac : Lac: Unc: -

Ac : Lac: Unc: -

Ac : Lac: Unc: 1

Ac : 0
Lac: 0
Unc:1

1

Ac : 33
Lac: 13
Unc: 2

48

Ac : 2
Lac: 2
Unc: 0

4

Ac : 11
Lac: 1
Unc: 0

12

Ac : 20
Lac:10
Unc: 2

32

Total

As it can be seen from Table 6, wordplay is translated only by using 2
different strategies. They are condensation and transcription. Condensation results

49

in 1 less acceptable translation while transcription results in 2 acceptable
translations and 1 less acceptable translation.
Additionally, allusion is translated using 4 different strategies. They are
transfer, paraphrase, imitation and transcription strategies. Transfer results in 3
acceptable translations. Paraphrase results in 1 less acceptable translation.
Imitation results in 7 acceptable translations and transcription results in 1
acceptable translation.
Lastly, verbal irony is translated using 5 different strategies. They are
transfer, paraphrase, condensation, deletion and decimation. Transfer results in 10
acceptable translations and 1 unacceptable translation. Paraphrase results in 5
acceptable translations and 2 less acceptable translations. Condensation results in
2 acceptable translations and 5 less acceptable translations. Deletion results in 3
acceptable translations and 3 less acceptable translations, while decimation
produces only 1 unacceptable translation.
B. DISCUSSION
1. Types of Verbal Humor in Guardian of the Galaxy
a. Verbal Irony
Irony in verbal humor is using word to express something completely
different from the literal meaning. Usually, the speaker says something opposite
of what he/she means and the listener believes the opposite of what the speaker
says. Verbal irony according to Pelsmaekers and Van Bensien (2002: 246 in Salik
2010: 9) comprises hyperbolic expression, tag question, hyperformaility,
intensifier, interjection and ironic repetition of previous talk. In this research, the

50

researcher found verbal irony as the most frequent verbal humor occur with 32
occurrences out of 48 verbal humor found in the research. From 32 occurrences,
11 of them are translated with transfer strategy in which 10 of them are considered
acceptable and 1 as unacceptable. The frequency of occurrences here indicates
that verbal irony is the most common form of verbal humor that can be found in
common daily conversation and come out as the most ordinary form of verbal
humor that the audiences can easily comprehend. Below are the examples of
verbal irony occurring in the Guardian of the Galaxy movie.
SE:
Rocket: His people are completely literal. Metaphors are gonna go over
his head.
Drax: Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast. I would catch
it.
Gamora: I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy
TE:
Rocket: Bangsanya benar-benar harfiah. Kiasan akan lewat begitu saja.
Drax: Takkan ada yang lewat.Refleksku cepat. Aku tentu akan
menangkapnya.
Gamora: Aku akan mati dikelilingi orang-orang terbodoh di tata
surya.
(Datum number: 23/Vi/Tr/Ac)
In this scene, Groot, Rocket, Peter, Gamora and Drax were trying to escape
the prison. When Rocket got ready for his plan, Peter mocked Drax as a walking
thesaurus and he got Drax feeling offended because he was very literal. Drax and
his people, called The Destroyer, were not the kind of people who understand
metaphor, so, when people talked about it they will only catch the literal meaning,
which might lead to misunderstanding. The situation got Gamora impatients

51

because she had to stuck with a group of people whom she refered as the biggest
idiots in the galaxy.
The expression I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy is
a hyperbolic expression. She was exaggerating the situation that she could die for
being stuck with her companions whom she considered idiot. The verbal humor
expression above is translated into Aku akan mati dikelilingi orang-orang
terbodoh di tata surya using transfer strategy. This strategy is chosen by the
translator because it does not give any significant change in the translation.
By translating it literally, the translator hopes that the message can be
transferred completely. The verbal humor in this expression can be rendered well
and does not feel like translation when the audiences read the subtitle. Thus, the
translation of the SE into the TE is considered acceptable.
SE:
Yondu: I mean, really? And now you’re gonna rip me off! We do not
do that to each other. We’re Ravagers. We got a code.
Peter: Yeah, and that code is “steal from everybody.
TE:
Yondu: Kini kau memerasku! Kita tak saling mencuri. Kita Ravager.
Kita punya prinsip.
Peter: Ya, dan prinsipnya adalah “mencuri dari semua orang.”
(Datum number 05/Vi/Pp/Ac)
Yondu, the leader of Ravager was contacted Peter. Peter did not want to
pick up the call because he had been avoiding him, but Bereet accidentally picked
it up. Yondou was trying to persuade Peter to tell him where Peter is to get the orb

52

so Yondu could get the profit share from selling the orb. Yet, Peter refused to tell
him where he is.
The conversation above belongs to ironic repetition of previous talk that
translated with paraphrase strategy. Since the translation can be understood easily
and the humor can be felt by the audiences, the translation considered acceptable.
SE:
Peter: Shut up. Hey! What is that?
Rocket: That's for if things get really hardcore. Or if you wanna
blow up moons.
TE:
Peter: Diam. Hei. Apa ini?
Rocket: Untuk keadaan mendesak. Atau meledakkan bulan.
(Datum number: 25/Vi/Cn/Lac)
In this scene, Peter found a bomb in Rocket's belonging. He was shocked
and shouted to Rocket then asked what the suspicious thing within his bag is.
Rocket then answered that it was a bomb, which can be used in what he called a
hardcore situation.
The expression above is a hyperbolic expression that is translated with
condensation strategy. The expression “That’s for if things get really hardcore” is
translated into “Untuk keadaan mendesak” is considered less acceptable because
the hyperbolic expression from SE cannot be felt by the audiences. For
suggestion, the translator can translate it with expansion strategy into “Ini untuk
keadaan super gawat darurat.”

53

b. Allusion
Allusion is something that is said or written that is intended to make readers
think of particular thing or person related to the humor function. Leppihalme
(1997: 10 in Hellgren 2007: 12) divides allusion into two parts, i.e.; proper name
allusion and key phrase allusion. Proper name is identical with names of people
either in real life or in fictional works, titles of fictional works and names of
organizations. In the other hand, key phrase allusion does not contain any proper
name, for example, references to song lyrics and well known literary works. Out
of 48 data, the occurrences of allusion are 12 times. 11 of them are considered
acceptable, and 1 considered less acceptable.
Allusion becomes the second most frequent occurrences in the research. It is
the type of verbal humor that strongly depends on the audiences’ knowledge and
familiarities towards the particular expression containing cultural elements in in
the movie. For example, if the reader has heard a name or a phrase repeatedly
since childhood, read in books, heard at school or in songs they listen to, in films
and television programs etc. s/he will easily recognize them and their sources.
Below are the examples of allusion that found in the ST of Guardian of the
Galaxy movie.
SE:
Korath: You don't look like a junker.You're wearing Ravager garb.
Peter: This is just an outfit, man. Ninja Turtle, you better stop poking
me."
TE:
Korath: Kau bukan tukang barang bekas. Itu seragam Ravager.
Peter: Ini hanya pakaian. Kura-kura Ninja, berhentilah menyodokku.

54

(Datum number: 02/Al/Tr/Ac)
Peter was on a mission to get a sacred ball called Orb in a foreign planet. He
did not know that the Orb was something with great power and had been wanted
by a lot of people, including Ronan, The Accuser. Peter took the orb and brought
it casually, Korath, one of Ronan’s trusted soldier was trying to snatched the Orb.
Korath and his troops were then tied Peter up and asked him questions. Peter
claimed himself as a junker but Korath and his troops suspected him because his
outfit did not look like a junker. Peter got mad because Korath’s troops kept him
from escaping. Since they wore a mask, Peter then called them Ninja Turtle.
The allusion found in the SE above is a proper name allusion. In the
expression Ninja Turtle, you better stop poking me, the word Ninja Turtle is a
fictional character in a well-known movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie or
usually abbreviate as TMNT. In TMNT, the main characters are half-human halfturtle superheroes who use masks on their face and so do Korath’s troops. Since
TMNT is a quite well known movie, most audiences will immediately relate the
expression stop poking me you ninja turtle that is said by Peter with the 5 well
known character known as a half turtle half human wearing color mask who save
the city.
In the scene mentioned above, the men who tried to arrest Peter under
Korath’s command were wearing armors and iron masks. The scene looks tense
and serious, until Peter said Ninja Turtle, stop poking me. The expression causes
an amusement for the audience because the situation that at first feels tense
suddenly turns into laughter.

55

In translating the expression, the translator uses transfer strategy. He/ she
chooses to use it because Kura-Kura Ninja is not a new thing and already a wellknown movie for Indonesian audiences. Allusion, especially the proper name
allusion is the type of verbal humor that is said or written with intention to make
people think of particular thing/person. Thus, to achieve such purpose, the
translator has to be able to make the viewers understand what the movie intends to
say.
SE:
Drax: How are we gonna leave?
Peter: Well, he's got a plan. Right? Or is that another thing you made up?
Rocket: I have a plan! I have a plan!
Drax: Cease your yammering and relieve us from this irksome
confinement.
Peter: Yeah, I'll have to agree with the walking thesaurus on that one.
Drax: Do not ever call me a thesaurus.

TE:
Drax: Bagaimana kita akan pergi?
Peter: Dia punya rencana. Benar? Atau itu karanganmu juga?
Rocket: Aku punya rencana!
Drax: Hentikan ocehanmu dan bebaskan kami dari kurungan ini.
Peter: Aku setuju dengan kamus berjalan ini dalam hal itu.
Drax: Jangan panggil aku kamus.
(Datum number 22/Al/Tr/Ac)
Peter, Gamora, Rocket, Groot and Drax were ready for Rocket's plan to
escape the prison. In the middle of their conversation, Peter called Drax a walking
thesaurus. Drax got upset because Peter called him a walking thesaurus. This
expression causes an amusement because Peter dares to call the monster-like
creature, Drax, as a walking thesaurus.

56

The expression walking thesaurus above is a proper name allusion which
translated into kamus berjalan with transfer strategy. It directly reminds us of a
dictionary. Since the translation can easily be understood and arising amusement,
the translation is considered acceptable.
SE:
Groot: I am Groot.
Peter: Well, that's just as fascinating