Register, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

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Language and Language Yeaching Journals
Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 ISSN 1979-8903
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Language and Language Yeaching Journals
Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 ISSN 1979-8903
Table of Content
A Lacanian Reading of the Two Novels The Scarlet Letter And Private
Memoirs And Confessions of A Justified Sinner
Marjan Yazdanpanahi.........................................................................107
A Pragmatic Analysis and Sociological Perspective on Pearl S Buck‘s

The Good Earth
Rochmat Budi Santosa ........................................................................127
Violating the Maxims of Quality and Quantity on the ‗Demo Sabun‘

Sketch of Extravaganza Situation Comedy TV
Setia Rini ...............................................................................................145
Politeness Strategies and Levels

In Tourism-Service Language in Surakarta Residency
Budi Purnomo ......................................................................................163
Introduction to Views of Connectivism Theory of Learning

Sa’adi .................................................................................................201
Javanese Phrase Construction in Classical Books Translation

Moh. Masrukhi .....................................................................................215
Index ......................................................................................................241
Submission Guidelines .........................................................................245

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
A Lacanian Reading of the Two Novels The Scarlet Letter

And Private Memoirs And Confessions of A Justified
Sinner
Marjan Yazdanpanahi
PhD in English Literature (Romanticism) - Lancaster University
Bailrigg, Lancaster UK, LA1 4YW
marjazdanmy@yahoo.com
Abstract
This paper discusses two novels The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a
Justified Sinner and The Scarlet Letter written by James Hogg and
Nathaniel Hawthorn from the perspective of Jacques Lacan theories: the
mirror stage, the-name-of-the-father and desire. The mirror stage refers to
historical value and an essential libidinal relationship with the body-image.
The-name-of-the-father is defined as the prohibitive role of the father as
the one who lays down the incest taboo in the Oedipus complex.
Meanwhile, desire is neither the appetite for satisfaction, nor the demand
for love, but the difference that results from the subtraction of the first
from the second.
Keywords: Lacanian Reading, The Mirror Stage, The-Name-Of-The-

Father And Desire
Abstrak
Dalam jurnal ini akan dibahas dua novel yang berjudul The Private
Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner dan The Scarlett Letter
yang merupakan karya dari James Hogg dan Nathaniel Hawthorn dengan
menggunakan perspektif Jacques Lacan dalam teori-teorinya yang
berkenaan dengan tahap cermin panggung, nama-sang-ayah, dan hasrat.
Cermin panggung merujuk kepada nilai historis dan hubungan libidinal
utama dengan kesan utama. Nama-sang-ayah didefinisikan sebagai peran
penghalang dari seorang ayah sebagai seseorang yang melakukan
perbuatan tabu berupa perzinahan sebagai penderita Oedipus complex
(penyuka orang yang lebih tua). Sementara itu, hasrat yang dimaksud disini
bukanlah berupa nafsu untuk kepuasan ataupun keinginan untuk bercinta,
REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 107

A Lacanian Reading of the Two Novels The Scarlet Letter and Private…
namun tak lain berupa selisih hasil pengurangan nilai yang pertama dari
yang kedua.
Kata Kunci: Membaca Ala Lacania, Cermin Panggung, Nama-Sang-

Ayah, Dan Hasrat
Introduction
Psychoanalytic studies of literature have become of the growing
interest in literary studies. Jacques Lacan is one of the most important
figures in this area. His theories have influenced psychoanalysis, literary
theory and philosophy.
It is the purpose of this paper to see how we can have a Lacanian
reading of the two novels The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a
Justified Sinner by James Hogg and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel
Hawthorn. The interesting thing about this is that these two novels were
written and published nearly one century before Lacan‘s ideas were
introduced to the world. In fact, he was not born until fifty years after the
publication of these two novels. However, if we look at his theories, we
will see that they are true about the characters and what happens to them in
these two novels.
This paper deals with three of his most important theories including
the mirror stage, the-name-of-the-father and desire. At first, we will see
how and in which part of these two novels the mirror stage takes place. We
will then see how the-name-of-the-father comes into the scene. This paves
the way to find some traces of desire in thee two novels.
Discussion
If we look at The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified
Sinner, we will see that when Robert Wringhim meets the Devil for the
108 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
first time, he finds the Devil‘s face and features completely the same as his
own face:
What was my astonishment, on perceiving that he was the same
being as myself! The clothes were the same to the smallest item.
The form was the same; the apparent age; the colour of the hair; the
eyes; and as far as recollection could serve me from viewing my
own features in a glass, the features too were the very same.
(Hogg, 1981:116-117)
Robert stresses the fact that when he looks at the Devil, it seems as
if he has looked himself in a piece of glass. The reason is that the Devil
seems so similar to him in features. Therefore, looking at the Devil is just
the same as looking in a mirror or a piece of glass. What‘s more, at first, he
tries to avoid him but he can‘t and that‘s what happens in the mirror stage,
a theory by Lacan. The mirror stage is a stage at the life of a six-month-old
child. The Child looks at the image of himself in the mirror. This is the
first time he sees himself as a unified whole. Before that, he was conscious
of himself as just a fragmented body. However, when he sees himself in
the mirror, he sees that the head is connected to the body and so are the
hands and the legs. However, there is a threat in this. According to Dylan
Evans, ‗the synthesis of this image produces a sense of contrast with the
uncoordination of the body which is experienced as a fragmented body;
this contrast is felt by the infant as a rivalry with its own image, because
the wholeness of the image threatens the subject with fragmentation, and
the mirror stage thereby gives rise to an aggressive tension between the
subject and the image‘ (Evans, 1996:115). This is what Jacques Lacan says
about the mirroe stage:
[The mirror stage is] a phenomenon to which I assign a twofold
value. In the first place, it has historical value as it marks a decisive
turning-point in the mental development of the child. In the second
place, it typifies an essential libidinal relationship with the body

image.
(Lacan, 1951b:14 in Evans, 1996:115)
These two aspects of the mirror stage including its historical value
and the relationship of the child to its image will be discussed here in
relation to these two novels. We will first see how the characters in the
novels feel about their images and then we will see how they change after
they see their own images.
In the mirror stage, when an infant sees his own image in the
mirror, he feels that he is threatened by that unified image which he can
see there. The child has to solve this problem. Therefore, as Evans writes,
‗in order to resolve this aggressive tension, the subject identifies with the
image‘ (Evans, 1996:115). This is what happens to Robert in The
Confessions of a Justified Sinner. At first, there is a distancing force
between Robert and the Devil. However, he is soon attracted to him and in
fact identifies with him because he starts to obey him for the rest of his life.
This is how Robert describes his feelings about his first meeting with the
Devil (Gil-Martin):
I tried to shun him being bent on my own contemplations; but he
cast himself in my way, so that I could not well avoid him; and
more than that, I felt a sort of invisible power that drew me towards
him, something like a force of enchantment which I could not
resist.
(Confessions of a Justified Sinner, p. 116)
Therefore, Robert is attracted to the Devil who is like his own

image. Robert‘s character is fragmented like that of a child and that‘s why
he identifies with the Devil when he sees him. He has some religious
conflicts before he meets the Devil which shows us that his character is
fragmented. He commits some sins and he knows it‘s wrong to do so.
However, when he compares them to some other big sins which he does
not commit he thinks that he might be forgiven:

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
That I was a great, a transcendent sinner, I confess. But still I had

hopes of Forgiveness, because I never sinned from principle, but
accident; and then I always tried to repent of these by the slump for
individually it was impossible; and though not always successful in
my endeavours, I could not help that.
(Ibid, p. 116)
This suggests that Robert is not really sure about himself. He

knows that he is a big sinner and he is not sure whether or not he is
forgiven. Just before he meets Gil-Martin, he is welcomed by his father
‗into the community of the just upon earth‘ (Confessions of a Justified
Sinner, p. 115). His mother also welcomes him into ‗the society of the just
made perfect‘ (ibid, p.115). Such phrases as ‗the just‘ and ‗the just made
perfect‘ turn out to be ironical because later in the novel we see that Robert
commits sins and also crimes. The word perfect which is used ironically
here can show the fragmented and imperfect character of Robert which
seeks to become a unified whole and perfect by befriending Gil-Martin.
Gil-Martin for Robert is just like the image of a child which according to
Sean Homer ‗provides him/her with a sense of unification and wholeness.
Therefore, the character of Gil-Martin is a perfect one and therefore
superior to his own which is not perfect. That‘s why when the Devil tries
to convince him that he is one of ‗the elect‘, he is surprised that he is given
such a high status by such a superior character:
I confess that I was greatly flattered by these compliments paid to
my abilities by a youth of such superior qualifications.
(Ibid, p. 125)
If we look at the exact definition of the mirror stage in An

Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychology, we will see that it is
described as ‗the formation of the ego via the process of identification; the
ego is the result of identifying with one‘s own specular image‘ (Evans,

1996: 115). That‘s what has happened to Robert. He forms his ego for his
whole life after he identifies with the Devil. The Devil is his specular
image which in Lacan‘s theory is the image of one in the mirror as one
looks at himself in the mirror. He changes himself according to what Gil-
Martin says. Therefore, he tries to identify with him.
According to Dylan Evans, in Lacan‘s theory, ‗the little other is the
other who is not really other, but a reflection and projection of the ego‘
(ibid. p.133). Therefore, Gil-Martin can be considered as the projection of
Robert‘s ego and consequently, his other. This other is not different from
the subject. It is somehow the same. It is the image of the subject with
which the subject (Robert) becomes one. If we look at what Lacan says
about this other, we find out about the similarity of the subject to his own
image (other). Lacan talks about the ‗phenomena of transitivism in which
one finds the infant taking as equivalent his own action and that of the
other‘ (Miller, 1988: 169).
We can see the word ‗transivitism‘ here. Therefore, there is a
change for the infant when he looks in the mirror. We can see the moment
of change for Robert too. The Devil starts to exercise his influence on
Robert from this point in the novel. He acts according to the Devil‘s will
till the end of his life. In fact, he obeys the Devil in every respect. In other
words, he becomes one with the Devil and that‘s what Lacan thinks to
happen in what he calls the imaginary order. The imaginary order is one of
the three orders in Lacan‘s theory which include symbolic, imaginary and
the real order. According to Dylan Evans, ‗the basis of the imaginary order
continues to be the formation of the ego in the mirror stage‘ (Evans, 1996:
82). Therefore, we can see that this mirror stage is related to the imaginary
order. As Evans writes, ‗the principal illusions of the imaginary are those
of wholeness, synthesis, autonomy, duality and, above all similarity‘.(ibid,

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
p.82). Robert is united with the Devil for the rest of his life. That‘s what
happens to him after he identifies with the Devil as his own image. We can
easily see these ideas of wholeness, synthesis and similarity here which
were ‗the principal illusions of the imaginary‘. Robert and the Devil make
a whole for the rest of the story. Wherever one is, the other one can be
found too. This is more obvious when Robert says: ‗I rejoiced in him, was
proud of him, and soon could not live without him‘ (Confessions of a
Justified Sinner: 127). Elsewhere, he calls him something like his shadow:
‗he was constant to me as my shadow‘ (ibid, p. 132). That is how they
make one whole. By becoming one with the Devil Robert tries to gain
autonomy too. The Devil convinces him that he is one of ‗the elect‘. He
tells him that he has been chosen to undertake a great mission:
You are dedicated to the great work of the Lord; for which reasons
I have resolved to attach myself as closely to you as possible, and
to render you all the service of which my poor abilities are capable.
(ibid, p. 125)
That‘s when he sees himself separate and different from others.

That‘s how he tries to gain autonomy. In fact, he thinks he has the power to
do whatever is good (in his opinion) on earth. This is how it seems that
Robert has gone through the mirror stage.
The mirror stage happens in The Scarlet Letter too. When Hester
and Pearl go to the forest and they meet Dimmesdale there, Pearl seems to
go through the mirror stage while her mother is talking to Dimmesdale.
This happens when the child near the water. Pearl looks herself in the
water and the water Pearl looks herself in acts as a mirror. She can see
herself in it and then she goes through this mirror stage:
Just where she had paused the brook chanced to form a pool, so
smooth and quiet that it reflected a perfect image of her little figure,
with all the brilliant picturesqueness of her beauty, in its adornment

of flowers and wreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualized

than reality.
(Confessions of a Justified Sinner: 141)
This is the moment of change for Pearl. This is the moment when
she enters the imaginary order. She sees her image in the water. The image
is hers, but as we can see in this quotation, it is more ‗refined‘. Therefore,
we can see that this image is superior to her.
This image changes her. This is the moment when she disobeys her
mother. The reason is that she has gained autonomy which Lacan talks
about in his theory of the imaginary order. In fact, she becomes
independent. That‘s the moment when Hester feels some change in Pearl‘s
relationship to her:
Hester felt herself, in some indistinct and tantalizing manner,
estranged from Pearl; as if the child, in her lonely ramble through
the forest, had strayed out of the sphere in which she and her
mother dwelt together, and was now vainly seeking to return to it.
(The Scarlet Letter: 141)
That autonomy of the child becomes more obvious when Hester

calls her but she doesn‘t take notice. She stays there looking at Hester and
Dimmesdale. Now she has the power to oppose her mother. For example,
we see that ‗Pearl, without responding in any manner to these honey-sweet
expressions, remained on the other side of the brook‘(ibid,P. 141). Later on
we see an authoritative reaction by her: ‗Assuming a singular air of
authority, Pearl stretched out her hand, with the small forefinger extended,
and pointing evidently towards her mother‘s breast‘ (The Scarlet Letter:
142). The word authority is explicitly stated here. This shows that she has
gained autonomy. That‘s how it seems that Pearl experiences some kind of
mirror stage.
There is a contrast between these two novels regarding the mirror

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
stage through which these two characters go. In The Private Memoirs and
Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Robert‘s meeting with the Devil makes
him go through such a process as the mirror stage and become one with
somebody else who is a projection of himself. However, in The Scarlet
Letter, Pearl goes through this stage and becomes one with her own image.
In fact, she achieves wholeness by trying to be unified with her own image.
She succeeds in becoming autonomous because she has the power to
oppose her mother when she calls her to her side. Robert, on the other
hand, tries to become one with the Devil but doing so makes him
fragmented at the end. He does not get the result he was seeking. He loses
control over his body and actions instead of gaining control over them.
This was not what he was looking for. He liked to have the power to wipe
out evil on earth but the process turns out to be a different one. Therefore,
he does not really gain that autonomy for which he makes himself unified
with the Devil. This is so horrible that Robert thinks Gil-Martin is actually
his second self because he is not conscious of many crimes he is accused of
near the end of his memoirs:
I was a being incomprehensible to myself. Either I had a second
self, who transacted business in my likeness, or else my body was
at times possessed by a body over which it had no control, and of
whose actions my own soul was wholly unconscious.
Therefore, we can see that he is not sure whether it is him

committing these crimes or an external being. There has always been much
debate about whether this Gil-Martin really exists or not. According to
Douglas Gifford, ‗the Devil and the other supernatural apparitions may not
exist at all, and may merely be a link with creatures of a diseased mind‘
(Gilford, 1976: 144). Therefore, the Devil might not have had an external
existence. All of these incidents can be a product of Robert‘s mind. This is

explicitly stated at the end of the novel when we are told that he may have
been ‗a religious maniac, who wrote and wrote about a deluded creature,
till he arrived at that height of madness, that he believed himself the very
object whom he had been all along describing‘ (Confessions of a Justified
Sinner: 254).
Therefore, we see that there is a possibility that Gil-Martin does not
have an external existence. There can be a Lacanian reading of this. If we
consider Gil-Martin‘s existence as a hallucination of Robert‘s mind, the
reason for this can be found by looking at Lacan‘s definition of the word
‗hallucination‘. According to Lacan, ‗psychotic hallucinations are a
consequence of the operation of foreclosure. Foreclosure refers to the
absence of the name-of-the-father‘ (Evans, 1996: 77).
There is a need to define Lacan‘s theory of the name-of-the-father
here. In An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis, this
expression is defined as ‗the prohibitive role of the father as the one who
lays down the incest taboo in the Oedipus complex‘ (ibid, p. 119). In
Oedipus complex, the child has some hostile feelings toward his parent.
The term was coined by Sigmund Freud. He thought that only boys are
jealous of their father. However, Lacan thought that this is possible for
both girls and boys. He believed that girls also become jealous of their
father when his presence separates the child from the mother. This
prohibitive role of the father is called the-name-of-the-father. His presence
imposes some ‗laws‘ upon the child because the child cannot be with his
mother as much as he likes. The child finds out that his mother needs his
father and likes to be with him.
This is what seems to be lacking in The Private Memoirs and
Confessions of a Justified Sinner. The father figure is really absent in this
novel. We have the Laird of Dalcastle to whom her mother had married but

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
supposedly he is not his real father because he denies that Robert is his
son:
I was the second son of this unhappy marriage, and, long ere before
I was born, my father according to the flesh disclaimed all relation
or connection with me, and all interest in me, save what the law
compelled him to take, which was togrant me a scanty
maintenance.
(Confession of a Justified Sinner: 98)
He calls Wringhim his father. Throughout the novel it is suggested

that Wringhim is his real father. Robert himself puts the word ‗father‘ in
italics when he writes, ‗―No,‖ said my pastor, and father, (as I shall
henceforth dominate him,)‘ (ibid, p. 99). We never see him feeling jealous
towards a father. According to Lacan, this absence of the father figure can
lead to hallucination.
However, in The Scarlet Letter we have the opposite case. When
Pearl and Hester are in the forest and Hester meets Dimmesdale she talks
and walks with him. It seems that Pearl has a special feeling about the
relationship between Dimmesdale and her mother:
Now she fixed her bright, wild eyes on her mother, now on the
minister, now included them both in the same glance; as if to detect
and explain to herself the relation which they bore to one another.
She does not seem to like it at all. This is directly expressed in the
novel when we are told that ‗whether influenced by the jealousy that seems
instinctive with every petted child towards a dangerous rival, or from
whatever caprice of her freakish nature, Pearl would show no favor to the
clergyman‘ (ibid, p. 144). This shows us exactly the Oedipus complex in
the child and consequently her experiencing the-name-of-the-father. Now
that she sees Dimmesdale with her mother, she considers him as a ‗rival‘.
He has been talking to her mother while she was away. Before this meeting

with Dimmesdale, Hester is with her daughter all the time. Pearl has never
separated from her mother but now the minister‘s presence has made her
separate from her mother. That‘s why when the minister leaves, she is
happy and feels that she can be with her mother again. She considers her
mother her own just after the minister leaves:
…so that these two fated ones, with Earth‘s heaviest burden on
them, might there sit down together, and find a single hour‘s rest
and solace. And was Pearl, too, lightly dancing from the margin of
the brook,-now that the intrusive third person was gone, and taking
her old place by her mother‘s side.
(The scarlet Letter: 145)
Therefore, we can see that she feels the minister has taken her
place. He is called ‗the intrusive third person‘. That‘s exactly what the
Oedipus complex is about. The father figure here is considered as a third
party who prohibits the child‘s relationship with her mother. Here, Pearl
has such an experience. In Lacan‘s theory, this can happen to girls too and
we see that it happens to Pearl. Theses feelings are because the minister is
her real father. Although she is not conscious of the fact yet, she can feel
the threat of his presence. That‘s why she feels somehow jealous of him.
All these happen because Hester is really in love with Dimmesdale.
They have been lovers since seven years before. We know that the subtitle
of The Scarlet Letter is ‗A Romance‘. This proves that The Scarlet Letter is
in fact a love story. From the beginning, there are some references to the
love that is hidden in the story and is going to be revealed later. According
to Ernest Sandeen, ‗what is brought out most forcefully by her statuesque
yet elegant figure, her abundance of dark, glossy hair, her regular features
and rich complexion, her ―marked brow and deep black eyes,‖ is an
impression of great erotic power‘ (Sandeen: 352). This is when Hester
comes out of the prison door at the beginning of the story. According to

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
Mark Van Doren also, ‗She is said to cast a spell over those who behold
her‘ (Doren, 1949: 151). He goes on to say that ‗she is a passionate woman
whom Hawthorn does not need to call passionate, for he has the evidence‘
(Doren: 151). One of the evidences he thinks is ‗her continuing love, so
unconfessed that we can only assume it to be there‘(ibid, 151).
The descriptions given by Hawthorn about Hester help us develop a
positive attitude towards Hester from the beginning although everybody
else in that small town criticize her for what she had done. She is so much
in love that she doesn‘t feel any remorse for her illegal relationship with
Dimmesdale. Even when she appears out of the prison door, the
description we get of her is of a determined woman:
Until , on the threshold of the prison door, she repelled him, by an
action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and
stepped into the open air, as if by her own free-will.
Here, we can see that she is not ashamed of what she has done. It
seems as if she has come in front of people ‗by her own free-will‘. This is
because she is in love and she doesn‘t think what she has done has been
wrong. According to Ernest Sandeen also, ‗Hester Prynn can never bring
herself to regard her relations with Arthur Dimmesdale as ―sinful‖‘
(Sandeen: 352). The reason is that even seven years later, again we see her
in the forest with Dimmesdale trying to convince him to go away with her.
She cannot forget Dimmesdale. We can easily see Hester‘s passionate
reaction in the forest. When Hester reveals that Chillingworth is her
husband, Dimmesdale is so offended that he thinks he cannot forgive her:
‗Woman, woman, thou art accountable for this! I cannot forgive thee‘ (The
Scarlet Letter: 132).
But this is the worst that can happen to Hester. She cannot tolerate
this. We see that ‗all the world had frowned on her,-for seven long years

had it frowned upon this lonely woman,- and still she bore it all, nor ever
once turned away her firm, sad eyes. Heaven, likewise, had frowned upon
her, and she had not died. But the frown of this pale, weak, sinful, and
sorrow-stricken man was what Hester could not bear and live‘ (ibid, p.
132-133). It is here we can see the extent of love Hester feels for
Dimmesdale. In fact, she desires him.
Desire is a word for which Lacan has a theory. It is important to
him that the word ‗desire‘ not be confused with the words ‗need‘ and
‗demand‘. For Lacan need is ‗a purely biological instinct, an appetite
which emerges according to the requirements of the organism and which
abates completely (even if only temporarily)‘ (Evans, 1996: 37). Therefore,
when a baby is hungry and cries, the hunger he feels is a need. However,
he should articulate his need to make his mother notice him. According to
Evans, in Lacan‘s theory, ‗need must be articulated in demand‘ (ibid).
Therefore, the vocal expression of the need is called demand. In this
example, after the mother feeds the baby, her presence ‗soon aquires an
importance in itself, an importance that goes beyond the satisfaction of
need, since this presence symbolizes the Other‘s (the mother‘s) love.
Hence, demand soon takes on a double function, serving both as an
articulation of need and as a demand for love‘ (ibid). However, when the
subject (baby) asks for more love from the mother, he sees that the mother
cannot provide him with ‗that unconditional love which the subject
craves‘(ibid). And according to Evans, the result is that ‗the other aspect of
demand, the craving for love, remains unsatisfied, and this leftover is
desire‘ (ibid). After all these explanations, the definition Lacan has given
us is that ‗desire is neither the appetite for satisfaction, nor the demand for
love, but the difference that results from the subtraction of the first from
the second‘(Evans, 1996: 37). Therefore, we can see that one‘s demand for

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
love should remain unfulfilled for ‗desire‘ to form.

If we consider Hester‘s case, we will see that her marriage is
unsuccessful. When she is speaking to Chillingworth, she says: ‗thou
knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feigned any‘ (The
Scarlet Letter: 53). Therefore, we see that she felt no love for her husband.
That‘s why that aspect of her demand, the one for ‗unconditional love‘ has
remained unanswered. Therefore, she desires love. That‘s what she has
found in Dimmesdale. She doesn‘t love her husband. We are told in the
novel that Chillingworth is an old man. He is often referred to as ‗old
Chillingworth‘ The contrast between Chillingworth and Hester is felt more
when we read those descriptions of Hester‘s beauty. The description we
read at the beginning when she comes out of the prison door is one
example. Even after seven years, when she removes the scarlet letter from
her breast and takes off her cap from her hair, ‗down it fell upon her
shoulders, dark and rich, with at once a shadow and a light in its
abundance, and imparting the charm of softness to her features‘ (The
Scarlet Letter: 138).
The whole novel suggests that she does not love her husband. It
seems that her marriage has been unsuccessful. Even Chillingworth
confesses to this. He also thinks that her marriage to her has been wrong.
He says it somewhere at the beginning of the novel when he meets Hester
in prison:
―I,-a man of thought,-the bookworm of great libraries,-a man
already in decay, having given my best years to feed the hungry
dream of knowledge, what had I to do with youth and beauty like
thine own!
(Ibid, p. 53)
According to Darrel Abel also, Chillingworth ‗married her before
she was mature enough to know the needs of her nature‘ (Abel, 1961: 302).

That‘s why she feels no love for Chillingworth and this leads to her desire
for Dimmesdale. He also desires her. He acts as his lover all throughout the
novel. He is a religious figure but he loves Hester so much that he
transgresses the rules of his religion and still feels no remorse. This is what
he tells Hester: ‗Of penance I have had enough! Of penitence there has
been none‘ (The Scarlet Letter: 130). This shows that he has had no
repentance. Therefore, he does not really regret what he has done.
According to Ernest Sandeen, ‗the obvious explanation would seem to be
that in some unacknowledged depth of his psyche he is still in love and can
no more regret his passion than Hester can regret hers‘ (Sandeen: 354).
Therefore, we see that he is still thinking of Hester and loves her. That‘s
why when Hester asks him to flee with her, he agrees and all the love
which he felt for Hester returns:
―Do I feel joy again?‖ cried he, wondering at himself. ―Methought
the germ of it was dead in me! Oh Hester, thou art my better angel!
I seem to have flung myself- sick, sin-stained, and sorrow-
blackened-down upon these forest leaves, and to have risen up all
made anew, and with new powers to glorify Him that hath been
merciful. This is already a better life! Why did we not find it
sooner?‖
Dimmesdale and Hester desire each other but they can‘t be with
each other. That‘s why we can use the word ‗desire‘ because desire in
never fulfilled. Lacan talks about ‗the unconditional love‘ in his theory.
The other party is not capable of fulfilling the subject with that kind of
love. That‘s what happens to Hester. She demands love from her husband.
However, he can‘t give her this kind of love because she doesn‘t love him.
She tries to find it in Dimmesdale but again her desire can‘t be fulfilled.
The reason is that Dimmesdale is a clergyman who has already
transgressed the borderlines with having this illegal relationship with

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
Hester, a married woman. He confesses at the end of the novel and they
never join each other. Therefore, the desire is still unanswered and that‘s a
part of the definition of this word.
In The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner also,
we can feel this desire in Robert‘s mother. From the beginning of the story
we can see that the marriage is an unhappy one. Lady Dalcastle seems so
devoted to religion that she cannot forget her prayers even on the night of
her marriage: ‗Sure, Mr. Colwan, you won‘t go to bed to-night, at such an
important period of your life, without first saying prayers for yourself and
me‘ (Confessions of a Justified Sinner: 4).
However, the husband is the exact opposite. He is not devoted to
religion at all. We are told that ‗the laird was what his country neighbours
called ―a droll, careless chap,‖ with the very limited proportion of the fear
of God in his heart, and very nearly as little of the fear of man‘
(Confessions of a Justified Sinner: 2). That‘s why when Lady Dalcastle
asks him to say prayers at the night of their marriage, he answers: ‗Prayers,
Mistress! Lord help your crazed head, is this a night for prayers?‘ (ibid, p.
4). This discordance becomes more obvious the day after they get married.
When the laird searches for his wife and finds her the next day, Lady
Dalcastle says: ‗Sir, I will let you know, that I detest your principles and
your person alike‘ (ibid, p. 8). Louis Simpson also calls the wife ‗a
Presbyterian bigot‘ (Simpson and Hogg, 1962: 74). The word bigot
suggests the extent to which she is strict about religion.
Therefore, we can easily feel how different this husband and wife
are. That‘s why Lady Dalcastle feels no love for her husband. Her husband
is not religious at all and that‘s what is lacking in him. However, she can
see this divinity in Mr. Wringhim. He is religious enough for her. Even at
the night of their marriage the only person whose company she enjoys is

the minister:
The only enjoyment in which she appeared to partake, was in now
and then stealing a word of sweet conversation with her favorite
pastor about divine things.
That‘s why she is always with him and he acts as her counselor.
Robert is also brought up under his care: ‗Robert was brought up with Mr.
Wringhim, the laird paying a certain allowance for him yearly‘ (ibid, p.
18).
Therefore, her desire for love is also unanswered and that‘s why
she is always with Wringhim. He suits her better because he is religious.
That‘s how she tries to satisfy herself. In short, she desires Wringhim. This
is how desire, one of the theories of Lacan is true about this novel too.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can see how it is possible to have a Lacanian
reading of the two novels The Private Memoirs and Cofessions of a
Justified Sinner and The Scarlet Letter although the writers did not have
such a thing in mind when they wrote these novels. However,
psychoanalysis is concerned with human nature. Therefore, it should be
true about all men throughout the history of mankind no matter when and
where they lived.
We could see how Robert and Pearl go through the mirror stage.
The theory of the-name-of-the-father was then brought in and was related
to the mirror stage. This was where there was a contrast between these two
novels. We could also see how it was possible that Robert had had
hallucination in the novel. At the end, desire in Hester and Lady Dalcastle
was dealt with and the fact that their marriages were unsuccessful. And
that‘s how Lacan has got a theory for all of these.

Marjan Yazdanpanahi
References
Abel, Darrel. ‗Hawthorn‘s Hester‘ in Gross, Seymore, Bradley, Sculley,
Beatty, Richmond Croom, Long, E. Hudson (eds). 1961. The
Scarlet Letter. 3rd edition. New York and London: W.W. Norton &
Company. pp. 300-308
Doren, Mark Van. 1949. Nathaniel Hawthorne. The United States of
America: William Sloan Associates, Inc.
Evans, Dylan. 1996. An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian
Psychoanalysis. London: Brunner-Routledge.
Gilford, Douglas. 1976. James Hogg. Edinburgh: The Ramsay Head Press.
Hogg, James. 1981. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified
Sinner.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jacques-Allain Miller (ed). 1988. The Seminars of Jacques Lacan,
translated by John Forrester.Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Sandeen, Ernest, ‗The Scarlet Letter as a Love Story‘, in The Scarlet
Letter, ed by Gross, Seymore, Bradley, Sculley, Beatty, Richmond
Croom, Long, E. Hudson (W.W. Norton & Company) pp. 350-361
Simpson, Louis, James Hogg, a Critical Study (Edinburgh and London:
Oliver &Boyd, 1962).


Rochmat Budi Santosa
A Pragmatic Analysis and Sociological Perspective on

Pearl S Buck’s The Good Earth

STAIN Surakarta
Jl. Pandawa Pucangan Kartasura,
Sukoharjo, Central Java, Indonesia
b_santoz@yahoo.com
Abstract
This paper observes the struggle for life of East Asia people that was
portrayed in the novel The Good Earth. The Good Earth is also portrayal
of a true account experienced by its author, Pearl S Buck. She got
inspiration from the life of farmer in China. She wrote this novel using the
original name as the main character. Those names are Wang Lung and O
Lan. They are couple and their life is on farm. The objectives of this study
are to find the pragmatic and sociological aspects of the Novel. This
research applies content analysis approach to understand the pragmatic and
sociological life in Chinese society, especially in the novel. The finding of
the study shows that the utterances in the novel reflect various speech acts
i.e. expressive, assertive, commisive, persuasive, directive, and phatic. In
the sociological aspect, the life of rural people in Chine is somewhat
similar with that of in Indonesia. Otherwise, rural people have life style in
common i.e. working hard, struggle for life, defending their belonging, and
loving the nature.
Key words: pragmatic analysis, sociological perspective, Good Earth.
Abstrak
Penelitian ini memaparkan perjuangan hidup para penduduk di Asia Timur

yang disajikan pada novel bertajuk The Good Earth. The Good Earth juga
merupakan gambaran kisah nyata pengalaman sang penulis, Pearl S. Buck.
Dia telah mendapatkan inspirasi dari kehidupan seorang petani di China.
Dia pun menulis novel ini menggunakan nama asli dari tokoh utama.
Nama-nama tersebut adalah Wang Lung dan O Lan. Mereka berdua adalah
pasangan suami istri yang tinggal di peternakan. Tujuan dari penelitian ini

A Pragmatic Analysis and Sociological Perspective Pearl S Buck’s the…
adalah untuk menemukan aspek-aspek pragmatik dan sosiologis dari novel

tersebut. Dalam pelaksanaannya, penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan
analisis konten guna memahami kehidupan masyarakat China secara
pragmatik dan sosiologis, terutama dalam novel tersebut. Hasil penelitian
ini menunjukkan bahwa ada beberapa ujaran dalam novel tersebut yang
mencerminkan bermacam-macam speech act yang meliputi expressive,
assertive, commisive, persuasive, directive, dan phatic. Dari segi
sosiologis, kehidupan orang-orang pedesaan di China dapat dikatakan
hampir sama dengan kehidupan masyarakat di Indonesia. Hal itu
mencakup gaya hidup masyarakat pedesaan seperti umumnya, seperti kerja
keras, penuh perjuangan untuk hidup, primpen terhadap apa yang mereka
punya, dan kecintaan terhadap alam sekitar.
Kata Kunci: Analisis Pragmatik, Perspektif Sosiologi, Good Earth
Introduction
Survival is a term which occasionally occurs when talking about
life in difficult circumstance. All of people in the world need something to
survive. There are many kinds of necessity to fulfill the basic requirement
in life, how they get those basic requirements, so they have to work.
Almost all people in Asia work as a farmer to fulfill the necessity in their
life, especially in China. In Chinese society, land is a source of life. Many
people in China are farmers. Land is soul of Chinese society because China
is an agricultural country. In agricultural country rice is the basic
commodity, and other commodities are related to agriculture such as fruits
and vegetables. The land or rice field is one of the most important things or
basic element of agricultural country. According to Fung Yu – Lan
―Agriculture and Trade ―is like ―Root and Branch ―(1990: 22) based on
this statement, in Chinese society agriculture is an important sector beside
trade. The Good Earth novel tells about Chinese culture at the twenty
century and agriculture has been the biggest power of the economy in
China. It existed before machine and industry existed.

One of the most popular ideologies that gave influence and altered
Chinese mind was the theory of organic evolution. The theory says that
there is a continuous struggle in every sector of live for the fittest species.
In order to survive, the fittest species must be adaptable in environment
and able to compete with other. When the Buck‘s novel was written, the
Chinese ideology was communist.
Economy, social and culture developments create an opportunity
for every citizen to seize the change to become wealthy. The rapid and
ruthless competitive spirit at those periods made Chinese society lost their
power to defend old tradition that had existed long time.
The Good Earth describes the condition of Chinese society. In this
novel the social condition and economic life changed their life rapidly and
radically. In Chinese society technology and science aspects were more
influential in the city than in the village society. They defended the old
tradition, being a farmer. The main character in this novel reflects it. He
does not lose his tradition because he adheres to the traditional values,
honoring his relatives.
The Good Earth is a story of a young man, named Wang Lung. He
is about twenty years old. He lives off the land. He loves his land very
much. The feeling toward his land is so strong. He likes to stay, brings roll
of bread and garlic and stands to eat in his field. ― And if he grew too
weary in the day he laid himself into a furrow, and there, with the good
warmth of his own land against his flesh, he slept ― (Buck, 1971: 135).
In agriculture period people create viewpoints used to understand
that view of success comes from different ways. The land is one of
important things in an agriculture country. They always dream having a lot
of land because land is what farmers are proud of. The dream is influenced
by the condition of economy, society, culture, and ideology at the time.

Thus it is understood that the environment influences an individual and

individual influences the environment. Every body hope changes that
brings in the glory and wealthy in their life. They made a great effort to be
successful in their life. This condition could also be seen in Buck‘s The
Good Earth.
Philosophers have different perceptions on wealth. These
differences can be accommodated by looking at a material thing made up
from parts of possessing many physical properties and other properties.
―The physical properties are positioned in space and time, size, shape,
duration, mass, velocity, solidity, inertia electric charge, spin, rigidity,
temperature, harness and the like―(Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1967:
179). In this context of meaning, the word has a derogatory flavor; people
thinks that money, property, power, land and the like are the most
important.
How a person expresses his perceptions on wealth is reflected on
how he communicates with others. The way they communicate, then, can
be traced pragmatically related to the social background.
Pearl S Buck and Her Novel

The Good Earth is one of epistolary novels that is very interesting
to discuss. It is also a realistic novel that portrays the life of Chinese
society in 1949. Pearl S Buck is one of novelist of the 20th century who
was willing to examine her environment with a realistic eye and then
reflected it in producing fiction. In Buck‘s writing, her life experiences
inspired her with the idea of treating the life of a great Chinese farmer.
Buck‘s said:
―I get inspired from the figures of those people emerged first, above
all others, in their simplicity and dignity and good nature. I saw
Wang Lung, O Lan, their children, their farm house home, their

struggle to live and enjoy life. They were the voiceless ones,
though they and their kind made four fifths all China‘s people. I
had seen abused by overloads taxed by governments. They were the
ones who were at the mercy of famine and flood, which left their
homes and wandered over the barren soil to find food that they
might return again. Nothing could have persuaded them to leave the
beloved land except the fear that if they did not they might die and
so leave it forever. It was better to go to the rich southern cities and
beg, though to beg sickened their souls, for they were people of
independence. I knew many other people of China, too ―(The
Good Earth, 1971: vi).
Based on inspiration above, she writes The Good Earth. The figures
of Wang Lung and O Lan became the characters in her novel‘s The Good
Earth. The Good Earth was published in 1949 and became one of the
bestsellers. Besides, it also gave thousand of American readers insight into
life in country about which they knew little. The novel was made into a
Broadway play and a film, also translated into many languages.
Pearl S Buck is not a Chinese but for a long time she had been
living and studied in China because her parents were Christian
missionaries that got an assignment in China, so she knew about the
culture and society condition in China at the time. Pearl S Bucks was born
on June 26, 1892, in Hilsboro, West Virginia. Her parent‘s Christian
missionaries and Buck was raised in China, attending boarding school in
Shanghai. In 1910, she went to America to attend Randolph – Macon
Woman‘s College, in Lynchburg, Virginia.
After graduation, she soon returned to China, marrying an
agricultural specialist in 1917, and living in North China. In the 1920s,
Buck taught English literature at the University of Nanking. In 1925, she
returned to America and received a Master of Arts degree from Cornell
University in 1926. Back in China, Buck and her husband found their lives
in danger when revolutionary army attacked Nanking. They spent a day in

hiding before being rescued by Americans gunboats (http://nobelprizes.

org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1938/buck-bio.htm1).
Buck is an American novelist but she spent her life in China so her
capability to write about the condition of the Chinese society at the time
was not doubted. Buck remained a prolific writer for the remainder of her
life. She published in all over seventy books. These include novels, short
story collection, drama, poetry, children‘s literature and translations from
the Chinese. One of her novels is The Good Earth.
The function of literature is to provide a just and lively image of
human nature or at least who agree on the general proposition that
the end of literature is some kind of illumination of the human
situation (Daiches, 1982: 338).
The word of the good earth has a wealthy symbol. Wang lung is a
farmer and he has land with a lot of nutrition, dark colored and it is a
symbol of fertility. Everywhere, land having a lot of nutrition and fertility
will bring wealthy in the next time. Hence, he keeps the soil fertile, takes
care of his land for getting a wealthy and he loves his land. Actually he
becomes a successful farmer and he gets wealthy from his land in the end
of story. A farmer having good earth or land is something proud for
himself.
This paper discuss about how struggle for life is portrayed through
Wang Lung as the major character.
Cognitive linguistics
In the realm of cognitive linguistics, Janda (2000: 22), points out
that at a recent ICLA (International Cognitive Linguistics Association)
meeting the scholar ―Suzanne Kemmer specifically devoted her talk to
summarizing achievements [in cognitive linguistics] to date and suggesting

‗areas ripe for exploration with cognitive concepts and methods‘. At the
top of her list is sociolinguistic variation‖.
But what exactly is cognitive linguistics? Escandell-Vidal (1996:
634) provides an excellent description of three main ideas on which
cognitive linguistics is based:
First, the idea that the mind is a symbolic system: as human beings,
we need to map all our perceptions of the persons, objects and
events in the real world on to internal representations; our
knowledge can be seen, thus, as a set of assumptions. Second, the
idea that human knowledge is highly structured: our internal
representations do not merely form a list, but a complex network of
sets of organized items. Third, the idea that perception, behaviour
and understanding depend crucially on previous knowledge. These
are common assumptions in cognitive psychology and artificial
intelligence, and have proved relevant also for explaining natural
language processing by humans.
Escandell-Vidal proposes that ―social aspects of communication

have to be explained in terms, not of inferential patterns working on
universal principles but of the structure and contents of specific
knowledge: the emphasis is to be put especially on context, and not on
inferential devices‖ (Escandell-Vidal 1996: 640). Context, she claims, is
related to knowledge: ―In our minds, previous utterances, extra linguistic
situations and encyclopedic knowledge all have the same status: they are
all internal representations. This opens the possibility for a cognitive
pragmatics of social action: social and situational aspects of
communication are interesting to cognitive pragmatics because they are
mapped on to mental representations‖ (Escandell-Vidal 1996: 640).
In her conclusion, Escandell-Vidal (1996: 645) suggests that social
behavior reflects systematic knowledge specific to the culture in which the
language is spoken.

Cognitive linguistics is a theoretical framework that derives from

the assumption that language is based on our experience of the world as
human beings. Constructions in language emerge as a result of the way we
as humans perceive the world around us. Humans map their perceptions of
people, objects, and events onto internal representations. Knowledge is
structured; what we know does not form a list of facts but a network of
information linked in various ways. Further, perception and understanding
are dependent on embodied experience (Escandell-Vidal 1996: 634).
Research Method
In this research paper, the data are analyzed by describing Wang
Lung‘ speech in Buck‘s The Good Earth. The data analysis steps consist of
several process, they are as follows:
a. The researcher identified and recorded the inventory data from the
novel.
b. The inventory data were categorized in accordance with the theme
that emerge. After making category, the researcher checked and
rechecked the categorized data to get the most appropriate data to
the research study.
c. The second step was data interpretation. The researcher explained
the data with his interpretation. The data were analyzed from the
perspective of pragmatics and then the researcher made some
inferences. The data inferences here were conclusion that was
based on the interpretation of the data analysis. Finally, the data
analysis led to the research findings.

Discussion
The portraits of Wang Lung in The Good Earth
China is part of Asia countries, there are many commodities come
from agriculture sector such as rice, wheat, and corn. China – in the setting
of time in The Good Earth - was an agriculture era. Agriculture sector is
the main sector of China beside trade because many people of China are
farmers. Land is one of important thing in agriculture country. On the other
hand, the science of Chinese is about agricultural. Wang Lung is a
common people of China as a farmer. Hence, he considers that land is
important thing in his life.
Wang Lung is a farmer. On the other hand, his life always relates to
agriculture. Wang Lung is a poor farmer in his village. The name of his
village is Ahwei. He does not have a lot of land. He gets his land from
legacy of his parents. He is a good farmer. He always gives more attention
for his land. He always works hard for his land everyday. In the early
morning, he goes to his field. He uses the yoke of ox to help him plough
his land after he harvests his grain in the field. He ploughs his western field
for planting garlic and union. He goes to his home when the sun stucks the
zenith.
In reality he worked as he had always worked. He put his hoe upon
his shoulder and he walked to his plots of land and he cultivated the
rows of grain, and he yoked the ox the plough and he ploughed the
western field for garlic and union. But the work was luxury, for
when the sun struck the zenith he could go to his house and food
would be there ready for him to eat, and the dust wiped from the
table, and the bowls and the chopsticks placed neatly upon it
(Bucks, 1971: 26).
The quotation above is the portrait of Wang Lung‘s struggle for life
in The Good Earth. He tries to get what he wants. He hardly attempts to
make his land fertile. He hopes his land gives him good harvest. Hence, he

works hard to get the perfect result because he considers that the land has
values in his life. The fertility of the land brings wealth to him so he
cultivates his land with all of his capability. He hopes that the land gives
him wealth because he always pays attentions to his land. It is shown when
he works hard in his land.
Wang Lung is a farmer so he fulfills the necessity in his life from
his field. Hence, he must work hard to get it. He believes that his land
gives him wealth next time. Wang Lung always works hard in his field
everyday. He always digs up paddy fields looking for necessity for his life
and family. He works hard until his back feels sick. ―One day when Wang
Lung was hard pressed with the swelling wheat and was cultivating it with
his hoe, day after day, until his back throbbed with wearing
ness…―(Buck‘s, 1970:28). He does not feel tired when he works in his
field because he works sincerely and he loves his land. He hopes his land
gives him good harvest and takes him in wealth. He can expand his land
again.
Pragmatics analysis
(1) Wang Lung: ―I shall have a red coat on him and red flowered
trousers and on his head a hat with a small gilded Buddha sewn
on the front and on his feet tiger – faced shoes. And I will wear
new shoes and a new coat of black sateen“ (Buck‘s, 32).
The context: When the first son was born, he is very busy to prepare
of his child‘s birth. He wants to buy clothes and shoes for him. He has
money from selling a sack of rice in the grain shop. He uses this money to
buy clothes, coat and his son‘s shoes. This quotation shows that he fulfills
his life necessities from the result of his harvest in the field. He sells his
harvest in the grain shop in town and then he changes his harvest with
money. He can buy clothes and food with his money.

Interpretation: It is a commisive utterance that he promises to

himself to buy many things for his new born baby.
(2) Wang Lung fells happy. ―A first – born son,‖ He said proudly
(Buck‘s,:38).
Wang Lung lives in his village. He is a farmer. He feels that God

gives him life in the world. A son was born from his wife. He has the first
son from his wife. He may not look happier. He thinks that the world full
of malignant spirit. The malignant spirit can disturb in his life. It does not
bring fortune in his life. ―He thought of this at first with joy and then with
a pang of fear. It did not do in this life to be too fortunate. The air and earth
were filled with malignant spirits who could not endure the happiness of
mortals, especially of such as are poor ― (Buck, 1971:38). He fells happy
because he has son in his life. What he has done, he thanks to his God. He
fells proud. He has son because the son symbolizes the luck in the culture
of Chinese.
(3) Wang Lung: “ If I have a handful of silver it is because I work
and my wife works, and we do not, as same do, sit idling over a
gambling – table or gossiping on doorsteps never swept, letting
the fields grow to weeds and our children go half - fed!”
(Buck‘s, 59).
The context of the utterance is when his uncle comes in Wang

Lung‘s field. At that time he is working on his paddy field. His uncle
comes to ask for money. His uncle asks some money for him, he is like
little boy but Wang Lung does not care. He always persuades his nephew
to give money. Wang Lung does not stop to work. He takes a pity to look
at him and then he gives some money for him. He knows that his money is
spent on the gambling table.
Interpretation: The speech uttered by Wang Lung indicates that he
indirectly persuades his uncle to work, not only do gambling.

(4) Wang Lung: ―They cannot take the land from me. The labour of
my body and the fruit of the fields I have put into that which
cannot be taken away. If I had the silver, they would have taken
it. If I had bought with the silver to store it, they would have
taken it all. I have the land still, and it is mine ―(Buck‘s, 70).
The context is his neighbors come to his house again. They enter to
the house looking for food. Wang Lung cannot do anything, he just look at
his neighbors searching his house. He stands in front of the door. He is
forced by his uncle to give a small heap of bean and a handful of corn.
Actually, he will give food for his children, father and himself. His uncle
shows that one of Wang Lung‘s children is fat. He proves that his nephew
has a lot of food in the house.
Interpretation: this expression of anger is quite clear. He expresses
his feeling directly that he does not permit his people take everything he
has. He also uses conditional sentence to make indirect proposition
(5) Wang Lung: Come, woman, we will go south” (Buck‘s, 75).
The context is when Wang Lung said to his wife that they will go to
the southern city exactly in Kiangsu city. They go to southern city to flee
from famine and dryness disaster in his village. The possessive feeling to
his land is brought in Kiangsu.
Interpretation: He calls his wife woman to show that they are really
intimate and he expects his wife to go with him.
(6) Wang Lung: I will not sell my land,‟ (Buck‘s, 81).
The Context: He does not like other people in his village that gives
his land easily to someone from the town. Although his family feels
hungry, he will not sell his land to anyone. He looks at them one by one
and he is very angry with them. It is shown that Wang Lung defends his

land. Although he cannot plant anything in his field, he will not sell his
land. He loves his land so much.
Interpretation: It is declarative sentence to show that he has firm
character.
(7) Wang Lung: “If I had anything to sell I would sell it and go
back to the land. Or if were not for the old head, we would walk
though we starved. But how can he hand the small child walk a
hundred miles? And you with your burden! ” (Buck‘s, 110).
The context is when Wang Lung lives in Kiangsu, he always

remembers and thinks about his land. He feels that his land is waiting for
him. He knows that his village has been poured by rain in this month and
the land becomes fertile. Then he goes back to the hut and he says roughly
to his wife. The strong feels of his land makes him always miss for his
land. He wants to sell everything and goes back to the land but he does not
have anything to sell. Even if his father and his children are able to walk a
hundred miles but they cannot walk as far as a hundred miles.
Interpretation: This is a conditional sentence, Wang Lung utters
something that is hard to realize, but he has a great spirit.
(8) Wang Lung: „ On such a day as this.‟ He said aloud to his

father the fields should be turned and wheat cultivated ‟
(Buck‘s, 110).
The context is he feels he cannot survive again in the southern city.

He really wants to go home in Ahwei. It is the name of his village. He
always remembers and thinks of his land as long as he lives in Kiangsu.
Kiangsu is the name of the southern city. When in the evening wind blows
on his face for the moment, he feels a mighty longing for his field. He tells
his father that on such a day the fields must be cultivated by wheat. He
loves his land. His felling appears when he feels he cannot survive again in
the southern city.

(9) Wang Lung: ―If I had the gold and silver and the jewels, I
would buy land with it, good land and I would bring forth
harvests from the land! ―(Buck‘s, 116).
Wang Lung goes to southern city. He avoids famine disaster in his

village. He lives in southern city. He lives in the hut. There are many huts
in the southern city. He listens to dialogue among the people near his hut.
They talk about their life after that he talks about their dreams. They dream
when they have much money and gold, what they will do with their money
and gold. For the moment, Wang Lung suddenly says; It shows that Wang
Lung considers that there is nothing important than the land in his life. The
land is more valuable than gold, money or silver. Land becomes priority in
his life.
(10) Looking at his wife with strange eyes, Wang Lung cries out at
her: ― Now any one looking at you would say you were the
wife of a common fellow and never of one who has land
which he hires men to plough! “ (Buck‘s, 160).
Wang Lung‘s behavior and life style changed after he becomes a

landlord and also his lifestyle. He becomes consumptive and then is also
practise polygamy. At the first meeting with Lotus in the great tea – shop,
it makes pioneer affair between Wang Lung and Lotus. Lotus makes him
ignore his wife. His land gives the wealth. In reality, the wealth brings
negative impact to him. He has affair with the girl who meets him in the
great tea – shop. Since he meets Lotus in that place, he feels that his wife
does not look beautiful anymore. He begins to insult his wife. He feels
bored with his wife when he looks her body. There is nothing beautiful on
his wife‘s body. He finds the beauty in Lotus because woman symbolizes
beauty but he does not find it in his wife. Wang Lung feels that his wife
just gives him the children but she does not take care of his body. He says
so without thinking about her feeling. He ignores the feeling of his wife

after he becomes a landlord. His wife thought that she does not suit for
him. In fact, his wife is loyal to him. She never asks anything to him. She
gives him children from her womb.
(11) Wang Lung looks at her and said loudly; ―I mean, cannot you
buy a little oil your hair other women do and make yourself a
new coat of black? And those your wear are not fit for a land
prop rioter‟s wife, such as you now are‟―(Buck‘s, 161).
He looks at his wife. She does not have something special in her
body and then he looks at wife‘s hair. Her hair does not look beautiful. She
seldom gives shampoo on her head. She never makes up his face and also
gives a little oil on her hair. She never wears good dress like any other
women do. She does not look like as the wife of landlord in her village.
He considers that his wife is not suitable for landlord‘s wife. He looks of
his wife like wife of farmer, not wife of landlord.
(12) Wang Lung says to his wife; ―I have laboured and have
grown rich and I would have my wife look less like a hind
―(Buck‘ 161).
He has worked hard and he is rich man in his village. He has lots
of lands everywhere and he can rent labors to work in his field. He wants
his wife looks beautiful when other person looks at her. It makes him
proud himself when he has a beautiful wife. On the other hand, he admits
that he is a landlord in his village.
(13) Wang Lung; ―My uncle is one of the Red breads‖ (Buck‘s,
219).
The context is when Wang Lung has become a rich man in his
village but he feels no calm in his house. He has a lot of land. His lands
give him good harvest. Thus, he can change his harvest with money and
save some in the warehouse. He worries when the robber comes to his
house and then they take everything in his house. Everyday he thinks his

problem because he cannot fight against the robber alone. He is surprised

knowing that the leader of the robber is his uncle. His uncle lives together
in his house. The name of the robber is red breads. He will stay at home
although the robbers come to his house. He does not want to leave his
house moreover his land. He will choose to die than leaving his land.
Interpretation: He knows that his uncle is the robber but he doesn‘t
want to take any risk of giving his wealth to other people. He will defends
his belongings from anyone who wants to rob, including to his own uncle.
(13) Wang Lung: “On the same day we will bury these two dead
from our house and I will take a good piece of my hill land
and we will bury them there together and when I die I will be
laid there also“(Buck‘s, 253).
The context is when Wang Lung‘s wife and Ching die in his
village. Wang Lung‘s wife is a good woman. Ching is a faithful servant
and also his neighbor. They are the people that he loves during his life in
the world. His love is like he loves his land. Both leave him from the world
and they sleep forever. He feels sad. His wife dies because she has
incurable disease. Ching dies because he is old. Wang Lung gives his good
earth for funeral to them. When he dies he wants his body buried in his
land and together with his wife and Ching.
Interpretation: From the quotation above, it shows that he loves his
land so much. He wants to be buried in his land when he dies next day.
(14) Wang Lung curses his God. He says ― Now that old man in
heaven will enjoy himself, for he will look down and see
people drowned and starving and what the accursed ones
likes ― (Buck‘s, 257).
Wang Lung disavows his enjoyment that is given from his God. He
is angry when his lands get flood disaster. The land that he loves much was
attacked by flood disaster. All of his lands are full of water. He is against

curse of his God when his lands attacked by flood disaster. Wang Lung‘s
behavior shows that he is a possessive person to his lands. It makes him
materialistic because he considers that land is part of his life because Wang
Lung is a good farmer. In this case land is part of matter.
Conclusion
The utterance used in communication among people seems to be
universal. The utterance must be interpreted in term of in what context the
conversation takes place. In the context of rural people in the novel The
Good Earth, the speech act used in the conversation varies from direct to
indirect speech act. The direct speech acts which are mostly used by the
people who have similar social status are also mostly found in this novel.
The pragmatic analysis can help readers understand the society. People in
the society have speech community in which the social aspects of group‘s
people can emerge. The novel proves it.
References
Brenann, Joseph Gerad. 1967 . The Meaning of Philosophy. New York:
Harper & Row publisher.
Buck S, Pearl. 1971. The Good Earth. Great Britain: Methuen and CO.
LTD. London.
Edwards, Paul. 1967. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. USA: Mcmillan,
Inc.
Muktazam, Rethinking Rural Development Approaches to Ensure Human
Security in Asia: Lesson learnt from Indonesia, Thailand and
Malaysia.
http://nobelprizes.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1938/buck-
bio.htm1(Accessed on May 25 h 2007.23. 30 PM).


Setia Rini
Violating the Maxims of Quality and Quantity on the

‘Demo Sabun’ Sketch of Extravaganza Situation Comedy
TV
Setia Rini
State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga
Jl. Tentara Pelajar no. 2 Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia
Abstract
This study focuses on analyzing the violation of maxims as proposed by

Grice in his cooperative principles. The subject of the study is on one of
TV sitcoms broadcasted by one of the private owned TV station in
Indonesia. The writer collected the data by transcribing the dialogues
among the comedian in one sketch. In this modern era there are many busy
people who need such kind of entertainment to lead them release their
fatigue after having a day work. This situation invites some creative people
to produce humor which is then packaged in the form situation comedy.
These sitcoms can be broadcasted in many television stations now. In
creating such funny expressions, there must be the violation on some
maxims. By violating the maxims; the humorous verbal interaction can be
achieved. The writer found that there are two types of violation on maxims
of quality and quantity in one of the extravaganza‘s sketches.
Key words: Violation, Maxims, Humor
Abstrak
Penelitian ini berfokus pada analisis pelanggaran maksim-maksim sesuai

dengan teori yang dipaparkan oleh Grice dalam prinsip-prinsip
kooperatifnya. Subyek dalam penelitian ini adalah salah satu sitkom yang
ditayangkan di salah satu saluran televisi swasta di Indonesia. Penulis
mengumpulkan data dengan membuat traskip percakapan yang dilakukan
oleh para komedian dalam satu sketsa. Pada era modern seperti saat ini,
dimana banyak orang yang terlalu sibuk dengan pekerjaan mereka, sangat
membutuhkan hiburan yang dapat membantu melepaskan kepenatan
setelah seharian bekerja. Situasi seperti ini akhirnya menarik orang-orang

Violating the Maxims of Quality and Quantity on the ‘Demo Sabun’ Sketch...
yang kreatif untuk membuat lawakan yang akhirnya dikemas dalam bentuk
situasi komedi atau sitkom. Dan sekarang sitkom-sitkom tersebut akhirnya
dapat ditayangkan di beberapa stasiun televisi. Kemudian untuk
membentuk beberapa ekspresi-ekspresi yang lucu, dalam adegan harus
dilakukan pelanggaran pada beberapa maksim. Dengan melanggar
maksim-maksim tersebut, akan diperoleh interaksi verbal yang humoris.
Penulis menemukan bahwa ada dua jenis pelanggaran maksim-maksim
tersebut, yakni pelanggaran pada maksim kualitas dan maksim kuantitas
pada salah satu sketsa dalam acara Extravaganza.
Kata Kunci: Pelanggaran, Maxim, Humor
Introduction
In every day life, people need to get a kind of entertainment to
refresh their mind after having business in whole weeks. People need the
topic of humor to make them laugh a lot and feel happy. Some of the TV
stations in Indonesia present the programs in the form of various situation
comedies TV. There are many situation comedies on some TV stations
such as Office Boy for RCTI, Abdel dan Temon for Global TV, Coffee
Bean Show for Metro TV. One of the TV broadcasters is TRANS TV; it
broadcasts the situation comedies or humor genres such as Bajaj Bajuri,
Ngelenong Nyok, Extravaganza ABG, Komedi Betawi, Suami-Suami Takut
Istri, Sketsa Ajah and Extravaganza that are able to entertain people in their
spare time. Extravaganza situation comedy TV is broadcasted in the form
of series of sketches for each episode. The extravaganza sitcom program is
mostly viewed by the TV viewers because the contents of sketches are very
funny and varied and deals with the current issues. It is played by some
talented comedians like Virnie Ismail, Tora Sudiro, Ronny Dozer, Tike
Priyatna Kusumah, Sogi Indra Duaja, Indra Birowo, Ronald Surapraja,
Mike Amalia, TJ, Aming, Luna Maya, Katty Sharon, Omesh and some of
the new comers. They entertain lots of audiences on Saturday evening and

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Monday evening at 7 to 9 pm but then it is replaced to be broadcasted at 8

to 10 pm with full of intellectual ideas which sometimes also inserting
some taboo ideas. In each episode, it consists of many sketches and
presented in ten minutes then it is broken by the commercial breaks. After
presenting the sketches, the other segment is Bincang- Bincang
Extravaganza, Sinden Gosip, and Extra News. Bincang - bincang
Extravaganza deals with the interview with the guest star and the imitation
of the guest star performed by one of the comedians for example if the
guest star‘s name is Dewi Persik, so the imitation of the guest star‘s name
is Dewi Bersisik and so on. In Sinden Gosip, two female of the
extravaganza‘s comedians called Tike, Tije Watije dress like sinden (a
Javanese traditional singer) and one male comedian called Tora Sudiro
who must perform like a female dresses in Indonesian traditional costumes
represents the involving of the tribes all over Indonesia. In Extra News,
they perform as news presenters and present the funny news by giving the
different pictures for the news presented.
We know that such a kind of genre is so popular among us but
studies of television comedy are rare. According to Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia, a situation comedy is a genre of comedy programs which
originated in radio, but today they are found almost exclusive on common
television as one of its dominant narrative forms. Sitcoms usually consist
of recurring characters in environment such as a home, a workplace and
generally include laugh tracks or studio audiences. Some TV comedies
have different comedy format, a sketch comedy, which generally featured
new characters and situations each outing, or the humorous monologue or
dialogue which did not feature character. Often these other formats were
presented within a variety format mixed with musical performances. As we
know that the humor in sitcoms varies, it is usually character driven, which

result in running gags during the series. The extravaganza situation

comedy is a sketch comedy filled by some humorous dialogues. It is also
featured by the characters for different situations and always makes the
audiences laugh at them a lot due to the jokes they present.
What make the audiences laugh at them a lot is not only a matter of
the jokes but also of the costumes they wear for the appropriate situations
and body language they act when they perform for certain characters which
are followed by musical performances. Most of the sketches presented in
the sitcoms must be prepared as well as possible. In the back of the stage
they make the preparation by practicing the scripts altogether. But there is
the one who is in charge of writing the scripts or we can call him/her a
scriptwriter. In creating the scripts that deal with social reality, the
scriptwriter must be able to violate the maxim. As we know that the scripts
for humorous utterances can also be interpreted from pragmatics angle by
employing Grice‘s Cooperative Principle.
Pragmatics is the branch of linguistics which studies how speakers
use language to achieve their goals and how hearers interpret the meaning
the speaker wishes to convey (Aitchison 2003:104). He added that a
conversation depends not only on the speaker, who is trying to deliver a
message, but also on the hearer, who draws a conclusion from the
implication of the utterance, depending on the context in which it occurs.
In contrast to syntax and semantics, pragmatics focuses on human
cooperation and knowledge instead of on linguistic meaning and structure
only. Semantics, which concentrates on the study of meaning of the lexical
item and lexical structure, is the precursor to pragmatics, which focuses on
the intended meaning dependent on the context (Aitchison 2003:88104).
The scripts for the extravaganza sitcoms are also written in the form
of conversation which consists of many utterances presented for each

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sketch which is then interpreted by the audiences based on the contexts and
mostly create laughter. In order to show what goes on in conversation,
Grice introduced four conversational maxims. A speaker might fail to
observe a maxim but still get the intended meaning through to the hearer.
Failing to observe a maxim is often referred to as ‗breaking a maxim‘ or
violating the maxims. In sitcoms these maxims are constantly broken to
create humor. The writer focuses on the violation of maxim quality and
quantity that can create humorous situation in verbal interaction. Dealing
the description above, there is a simple problem formulation in a simple
question as follows; what kind of maxims violated in the extravaganza
situation comedy on sketches ‗Demo Sabun‘? and how the maxims are
violated in the sketch?
Definition of humor
The definition of humor is ultimately depends on the purpose for
which it is used. As Attardo (1994:4) points out, in the field of literary
criticism, for example, there is a need for a fine-grained categorization,
whereas linguists have often been happy with broader definitions, arguing
that whatever evokes laughter or is felt to be funny is humor, i.e. that
humor can be deduced from its effect. However, laughter as such is not
necessarily a condition for humor. Many views of humor are based merely
on circular statements. For example humor is based on the will to laugh.
Humor is based on what is funny. We laugh at what is funny. Humor is
based on the ludicrous. In other words, humor is whatever is intended to be
funny, even if it might not always be perceived or interpreted as such. This
definition does have its problems, since measuring intention is hardly easy;
yet it is useful because it accounts for humor as a fundamentally social
phenomenon as well as one whose manifestations can vary greatly in

different cultures. That is why most TV channels broadcast such kind of

program for the purpose of entertaining people which stimulate them to
laugh. It can be scrutinized that there are no basic differences of humor
from different culture, that all the things and actions performed by some
humorists can be perceived as funny will result in laugh.
Cooperative principle
In order to explain how hearers interpret the utterance, Grice
introduced Cooperative Principle (CP). The CP states: ―Make your
contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the
accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are
engaged‖ (Grundy 1995:37). According to this principle, both speaker and
hearer converse with the willingness to deliver and interpret a message.
The speaker and hearer cooperate and that is why they communicate
efficiently (Thomas 1995:63). Based on the definition above it means that
when people converse, they need to cooperate with the ideas and the
message so that there will be no miss communication among the speaker
and the hearer. For example, the communication among the speakers in
TV sitcoms can be accepted by the hearer. In this case the TV viewers,
they can accept the utterances produced by the comedians. It means that
there cooperative principles occur, and it is responded by laughing at what
they hear and see.
Conversational maxims
In order to illustrate how we interpret meaning, Grice presented, in
addition to the Cooperative Principle, four conversational maxims to show
how we communicate effectively in the light of certain rules. He
formulates the principle and its maxims in Logic and Conversation (1975)
as follows: make your contribution such as is required at the stage at which

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it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in

which you are engaged. So, when we communicate with other people, we
must deliver the message as it is required based on the context so that we
can interpret and understand the implicatures of an utterance as effective as
possible. From what has been stated by Grice, it can be formulated, in
communication whatever messages are delivered, it must follow the path
of contexts, so that the messages can be understood based on their
observation toward those related maxims. We can communicate each other
by following certain rules as formulated by Grice called the conversational
maxims as described below:
Maxim of quantity
Maxim of quantity requires the speaker to give the right amount of
information when s/he speaks, which means not to be too brief or to give
more information than the situation requires. Consider the example when
someone asks, by way of greeting, ―How are you doing today‖?, and then a
speaker says: ―I‘m feeling good today, but yesterday I was very ill, and the
day before that, even worse‖,. In the greeting context the utterance contains
too much information and the maxim is not being observed. The speaker
fails observing the maxim. In short, first, when we make the conversation,
make our contributions as informative as is required (for the current
purpose of the exchange) and second, do not make our contributions more
or less informative than is required.
Maxim of quality
The maxim of quality is a matter of giving the right information.
The speaker says nothing that s/he knows to be false or for which s/he
lacks sufficient evidence (Thomas 1995:67). The other maxims are

dependent on this maxim since, if a speaker does not convey the truth then
the utterance is false, even if the right amount of information is given or
the speaker is clear and orderly when speaking (Finegan 1994:341). An
example of non-observance is: ―you look good with your new haircut‖
when one actually believes the opposite. The statement is then an untruth,
the speaker fails to observe the maxim in order to be polite. In short, (1)
not say what they believe to be false, (2) do not say that for which you lack
adequate evidence.
Maxim of relevance
The maxim of relevance requires the speaker to be relevant to the
context and situation in which the utterance occurs (Thomas 1995:70). For
instance, a speaker should not say ―I am on the phone‖ when someone asks
if s/he wants dinner. Here the utterance meaning is irrelevant and the
speaker fails to observe the maxim. In short, be relevant. In other case,
most comedians violate this maxim also. Again, the purpose is to make it
funny and the audiences will laugh at what they produced.
Maxim of manner
The maxim of manner is a matter of being clear and orderly when
conversing. The speaker describes things in the order in which they
occurred and avoids ambiguity and obscurity (Thomas 1995:64). A speaker
fails to observe the maxim of manner when s/he says ―I went to bed and
got undressed‖ when, of course, s/he undressed first and then went to bed.
In short, (1) avoid obscurity of expression, (2) avoid ambiguity, (3) be
brief, (4) be orderly
People are supposed to follow this cooperative principle and its
maxims in order to arrive at meaningful verbal exchanges in their
communication in an effective way.

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Violation of the four maxims and achievement of humor

Grice (1975) stated that the sense of humor achieved by violating
the maxims of the cooperative principle deliberately. But different from
dull and uninteresting conversation, humor is the embodiment of
intelligence. One of its conspicuous features is funny and comical. Humor
shows a brisk and happy attitude and an optimistic belief, as well profound
meaning. Another feature of humor is implicit. It doesn‘t show the
opinions, comments, suggestion directly. Through all various techniques of
language, it exposes the absurd and suspicious of the problem, which
attracts people to reasoning, deduction. The example below is going to
analyze the humor caused by violating cooperative principles of
conversation in detail. Some examples together with brief analyses on
violating each maxim of CP concerned provided below:
Violating maxim of quantity

Violating maxim of quantity is when people in conversations offer
more or less information than is required, which thus creates humorous
effects. Nevertheless, as we mentioned above, in people‘s daily
communication, the interlocutors often offer too much or inadequate
information, that is to say, it deviates from the maxims of quantity.
Example 1:
A: Why don‘t you study hard?
B: The more we study, the more we know. The more we know, the
more we forget. The more we forget, the less we know. The less we
know, the less we forget. The less we forget, the more we know. So
why study?
Putting aside B‘s series of sentence patterns—―the more…the

more…‖ and ―the less…the less…‖ we can see that what B actually
expresses is that study is no use. His seemingly logical remarks sound

sensible at the first sight but on the second thought turn out to just be an
excuse that he has found for himself. Obviously, B here offers more
information deliberately than is required in A‘s question. And this is just
how the sense of humor is embedded.
In this case, when we consider at most utterances found in the
comedy scripts, there are many violations occurred in this maxim in order
to make it funny such as the speakers give the information in an exchange
is not as informative as it is required, and most of them are more
informative than it is required. As can be observed in the following
example in bold:
(Data 1)
Ronald: Pemirsa jika anda mendapat masalah dengan yang kotor-
kotor, seperti piring kotor, gelas kotor, baju kotor serta pikiran
kotor, silahkan anda mencuci dengan sabun cuci sanjay. Password
yang harus anda ucapkan sebelum anda mencuci adalah „bersih-
bersihin sanjay‟.
Actually, it is impossible for dirty mind (pikiran kotor) to be

washed by detergent. After observing such kind of information, the result
of such kind of violation in maxim of quantity is something funny.
Violating maxims of quality

This violation means people in conversations may offer false
information or offer information with not enough evidence purposely,
which thus creates humorous effects. According to the maxim of quality,
the interlocutors should offer the true information to others. They should
not say what they believe to be false. Neither should they say that for
which they lack adequate evidence. However, there are still many
examples to flout the maxim of quality in the purpose to gain some special
targets, using such techniques as irony, metaphor, hyperbole.

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Example 2:
Diner: Waiter, there‘s a fly in my soup.
Waiter: Don‘t worry; there‘ll be no extra charge.
The waiter made a smart reaction to the dinner‘s obvious complaint

at the fly. He beat around the bushes intentionally, i.e. consciously
disregarding the actual complaint of the diner and simply following the
literal meaning. But most probably his sense of humor may dissipate the
initially apparent anger on the part of the diner and thus avoids an
otherwise possible dispute.
The speakers in the comedy usually give the wrong information in
order to create humor by violating this maxim. Consider the other example
below:
(Data 2)
Ronald: Buk, anda pasti akan terkejut lagi. Maukan ibu mencuci
baju ibuk yang sudah bersih ini dengan sabun sanjay. Dijamin
baju ibu akan berubah menjadi baju baru. Jangan lupa
passwordnya buk, „bersih – bersihin sanjay‟. Lalu masukkan baju
ibuk yang sudah bersih dan tuangkan sabun sanjay ke dalam mesin
ini lalu tunggu sebentar. Stop, sekarang kita buka mesin cucinya
dan silahkan ibuk ambil baju yang ibu cuci.
Here the comedian gives the wrong information, and that someone
does not need to rewash a clean cloth.
Violating maxim of relation

This violation is when people may offer irrelevant information
deliberately. According to the maxim of relation, the interlocutors should
make their contribution relevant. This maxim demands that the hearer
should give answers relevant to what the speaker has said in their dialogue.
The ―relevant theory‖ includes two sides. One is under the same condition,
the more situation effect, the closer relation they are; the other is under the
same condition, the less efforts to handle, the more relevant they are

(Sperber &Wilson , 1986 , p125). The technique of violating the maxim of

relation is obviously used in the following jokes:
Example 5
Jay, my brother-in-law, was studying political science at U.C.L.A.
one summer. Many mornings the lure of the beach won out over
his obligation to attend class, until finally he realized he‘d fail the
course if he missed any more lectures. When Jay walked into class
late, the professor interrupted his talk about folkways, customs and
mores. He consulted his seating chart, then called on Jay: ―Please
tell the class what mores are.‖
Jay‘s sense of humor took over as he sang out, ―When the moon
hits your eye like a pizza pie, that‘s a mores are .Jay is late for school. So
the professor asks him to explain what mores is. It implies that it is not a
good mores always late for class. Jay violates the maxim of relation
purposely and not answers correctly. But his reply tests the professor and
has the sense of humor.
The maxim of relevant literally means the conversation between
interlocutors is coherent. If the one is talking A, and the other one continue
with B, their communication is unsuccessful, or it may be a humorous end.
Violating maxims of manner

That is, people may disregard the basic maxim of being
perspicuous and thus creates humorous effects in their conversations. To
achieve the effect of humor, the usually use technique of violating the
maxim of manner is the technique of violating the maxim of avoiding
ambiguity. It is also the most frequently used one of the four techniques
discussed in this paper. Through ignoring the issue /topic, occasion,
background, misusing or abusing the grammar of the language, all those
behaviors will lead to violating of the maxim of manner is resulted in sense
of humor.

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Example 3
Landlor : ―In a word, when are you going to pay your arrears?‖
Hard-up author: ―I will satisfy your demands as soon as I receive

the money which the publisher will pay me if he accepts the novel I
am going to send him as soon as the work is finished which I am
about to commence when I have found a suitable subject and
necessary inspirations.‖
The deliberately disorderly sentence organization showed us a

picture of a poor author who wished his promise of an unknown future
remuneration were to comfort the landlord for a period of time, which
sounds to us outsiders amusing but sad. The maxim of manner is different
from other maxims in that it relates not to what is said but rather, to how
what is said is to be said. The interlocutors should try to avoid obscurity
and ambiguity when trying to pass a message. They should also try to be
brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity), and the last requirement is to be
orderly. This maxim requires that the conveyed meaning should be
adequately clear.
Discussion
The writer chooses one of the sketches in one of these series of
extravaganza TV sitcom, and then she transcribes the scripts of the sketch
in the written form. After transcribing them, the writer classifies the scripts
into a piece of utterances delivered by the comedians. The writer then
analyzes the expressions, which considered violating on maxims of
Gricean Cooperative Principles.
The title of the sketch is “Demo Sabun”. In this sketch there are
two comedians of extravaganza. The first is Ronald Surapraja who is
acting as a detergent promotion man, and the second is Tike
Priyatnakusumah who is acting as a customer of the detergent. The setting

of this sketch is in front of the house. There are two tables, on the table
there is a big basket for clothes and some package of detergent that has
been entitled ‗SANJAY‘. Next to the tables is a washing machine but it is
made from a large, hard paper.
Ronald : Pemirsa jika anda mendapat masalah dengan yang kotor-
kotor, seperti piring kotor, gelas kotor, baju kotor serta pikiran
kotor, silahkan anda mencuci dengan sabun cuci sanjay.
Password yang harus anda ucapkan sebelum anda mencuci adalah
„bersih-bersihin sanjay’.
In this case, Ronald as one of the comedian in extravaganza acted

as a person who is in charge of promoting a detergent which is so familiar
among the female, called Sunlight. Firstly, Ronald introduces the function
of this detergent for cleaning some dirty kitchen tools and house
equipment, such as on plates, glasses, clothes and mind. Ronald mentions
the word ‗dirty mind‘ that can be cleaned by sunlight. In this case he has
tried to violate the maxim of quantity by offering more information like in
‗dirty mind‘. Also he violates maxim of quality by presenting false
information. Secondly, he suggested the audiences to clean it with the
detergent called „sanjay‟. As we know so far that there is no detergent
called „sanjay‟ but ‗sunlight‘. Again, he violates the maxim of quality by
offering false information. The third, he asks the audiences to mention the
password before washing those dirty things. He introduces the password
„bersih-bersihin sanjay‟. Most female has been familiar with this term
introduced in the TV commercial breaks. It must be „bersih-bersihnya
sunlight‘. Again he violates the maxim of quality by offering false
information. As a result, the audiences will laugh at this humor because
this violation is aimed at creating humorous effects.
Tike: Permisi pak, saya dapat masalah dengan baju saya kotor
sekali pak, baju saya tadinya warnanya putih sekarang berubah
jadi hitam. Saya minta tolong di cucikan ya pak.

Setia Rini
In her turn, Tike acted as a customer who complains that she got a
trouble with her dirty clothes. Actually the color of her cloth is white, but it
turns into black. She asks Ronald to clean it. In this case, Tike also tries to
violate the maxim of quality by offering false information. In daily life,
people almost never get the problem in such a way. A white colored
clothes turns into the black one. Except, the cloth falls down into the bowl
of ink.
Ronald: Baik buk, silahkan langsung saja bajunya dimasukkan ke
dalam mesin cuci ini lalu akan saya tuangkan sabun cuci sanjay ini
ke dalamnya , dan mesinnya akan saya nyalakan. Kita tunggu
sebentar saja, tidak perlu lama – lama. Sekarang kita buka ya buk
dan silahkan ambil baju anda.
As a good promotion man, Ronald serves her better. He asks her to

put her dirty cloth into the washing machine and he pours the powder
detergent ‗sanjay‘ into it and he turns it on. He said that it needs no longer
time for doing it and then he invites her to open the washing machine and
put up the cloth. In this case, Ronald violates the maxims of quality by
saying ‗saya tuangkan sabun cuci sanjay ini ke dalamnya‘. Instead of
saying ‗saya tuangkan sabun cuci sunlight ini ke dalamnya‘, so that this
can create humorous effect and make people laugh by watching it.
Ronald: Buk, anda pasti akan terkejut lagi. Maukan ibu mencuci
baju ibuk yang sudah bersih ini dengan sabun sanjay. Dijamin baju
ibu akan berubah menjadi baju baru. Jangan lupa passwordnya buk,
‘bersih – bersihin sanjay’. Lalu masukkan baju ibuk yang sudah
bersih dan tuangkan sabun sanjay ke dalam mesin ini lalu tunggu
sebentar. Stop, sekarang kita buka mesin cucinya dan silahkan ibuk
ambil baju yang ibu cuci.
In order to make the customer is more interested in the product,

Ronald told her that she will be more surprise when she washes again her
already clean cloth with the ‗sanjay‘ detergent. The cloth will turn as a new

one. In this case, Ronald violates the maxims quality, by giving false
information. The information given is not based on the sufficient evidence,
but there is a reason for the comedians saying something false; make it as a
humorous expression to the audience to laugh at it.
Tike: Wah, ajaib. Baju saya sekarang berubah jadi sangat baru
dan dengan penampilan yang berbeda, ada bungkusnya!.
Again, Tike is so surprise because her cloth is turning new;

moreover it is also covered by a good packaging. In this case, Tike violates
the maxim of quality by presenting false information. The implicature is
that after being washed by sanjay detergent for the second time, a very
dirty cloth turns whiter and even be a new full package cloth.
Ronald: Hebat kan buk, karena sabun cuci sanjay ini mengandung
ekstrak daun pepaya. Sehingga baju yang kotor bisa menjadi
bersih, dicuci lagi dengan sabun sanjay baju bersih anda berubah
jadi seperti baru, dan dicuci lagi dengan sabun cuci sanjay baju
anda berubah jadi baju baru yang tentu saja berubah dari kaos
menjadi kemeja yang masih dalam kemasan.
Conclusion
The writer investigates the scripts which ignore what is relevant to
the situations in order to make them come off as flustered, odd and stupid
in humorous situations. Then after transcribing the spoken data into the
written data, the writer analyzes the script conversation of one of the
sketches to find the pragmatic manipulation of the conversation through
finding the conversational implicatures of the transcriptions and the result
of this study is that based on the analysis of the pragmatic manipulation of
the extravaganza comedy TV, the content of the humor is dealing with the
trademark of a kind of famous product of detergent called ―Sunlight‖
which is very popular among the housewives.
This kind of detergent is very much useful for many things around

Setia Rini
the house. It is used to clean up the kitchen utensils, clothes or even the
fruits and vegetables. People believe that wash many things using this
detergent will make the things clean. As we know that the comedian also
imitates the password of this detergent‘s TV advertisement that should be
“bersih – bersihnya Sunlight”, but then it is said “bersih – bersihin
sanjay”.
This kind of pragmatic manipulation is made to make the humor
itself become more interesting and funnier so that the audiences come into
the laughter. The example of the usefulness of the detergent then is
manipulated to the very fantastic result. Such as in the process of cleaning
the dirty shirt become clean and purely white and the process of cleaning
the already clean shirt become new clothes in a wrapped form.
The violation of maxims in conversation has a result in something
funny and humorous. This kind of programs has many advantages and one
of them is entertaining people.
References
Aitchison, Jean. 2003. Teach Yourself Linguistics. London: Hodder and
Stroughton Educational.
Dornerus,Emma. Breaking Maxims in Conversation: A Comparative Study
of How Script Writers Break Maxims in Desperate Housewives and
That 70‟s Show
http://ethesis.helsiki.fi/julkasut/hum/engla/pg/jaskanen/index.html
Grice, H.P. 1975. Logic and Conversation. New York: Academic Press
Levinson, Stephen C. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Leech, Geoffrey N. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. USA. Longman.

Lin-Qiong, Yan. Pragmatic Interpretation and Humor Production and

Comprehension. US-China Foreign Language. ISSN 1539-
8080,USA. April 2007, Volume 5, No.4
Parker, Frank. Ph.D. 1999. Linguistics for Non-Linguists. London. Tailor
and Francis Ltd.
Situationcomedy-wikipedia,
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situation_comedy
The Humor of Sitcoms.www.sitlec.unibo.it/ishs2002/abstract

Budi Purnomo
Politeness Strategies and Levels

In Tourism-Service Language in Surakarta Residency
Budi Purnomo
PhD Program - Gadjah Mada University
Nusantara Street no.1 Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta INDONESIA 55281
bupur_2005@yahoo.com
Abstract
In tourism industry, tourists act as guests and tourism industry practitioners

act as hosts. Typically tourism industry practitioners will try to act politely
and follow politeness strategies as well as possible when serving tourists to
ensure their satisfaction. Levels of satisfaction could be determined by the
politeness of the hosts' behaviour towards their guests, including the
politeness levels of their tourism-service language. This research was done
in Surakarta Residency, the main tourist destination in Central Java. Data
sources of this research came from (1) informants and (2) events. The data
were analyzed by Brown and Levinson‘s politeness strategies (1987). The
results of this research show that the tourism industry practitioners in
Surakarta Residency use various politeness strategies and levels in
tourism-service language to serve their guests.
Keywords: Politeness Strategies, Politeness Levels, Tourism-Service

Language
Abstrak
Dalam industri pariwisata, para turis bertindak sebagai tamu dan para
praktisi industri bertindak sebagai tuan rumah. Secara khas, para praktisi
industri tersebut akan berusaha bersikap ramah dan menggunakan strategi-
strategi kesopanan sebaik mungkin ketika melayani para turis untuk
memastikan kepuasan mereka terhadap pelayanan yang diberikan. Tingkat
kepuasan pelanggan dapat ditentukan dari tingkat kesopanan pada sikap
para juru tamu terhadap tamu mereka, termasuk tingkat kesopanan dalam
bahasa yang digunakan ketika melakukan pelayanan kepariwisataan. Hasil
dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa para praktisi industri wisata di
daerah Surakarta menggunakan beraneka strategi dan tingkat kesopanan

Politeness Strategies and Levels in Tourism-Service Language in…
dalam bahasa yang mereka gunakan ketika memberikan pelayanan

terhadap para pelanggan.
Kata Kunci: Strategi-Strategi Kesopanan, Tingkat Kesopanan, Bahasa

Dalam Pelayanan Pariwisata
Introduction
Tourism is the second-largest source of income for Indonesia after
the oil and gas sector. That is why the development of tourism in this
country is so important (www.tourismindonesia.com). Since 2007 there
has been rapid development of tourism infrastructure in Surakarta
Residency, Central Java. This new infrastructure includes several new four
star hotels, a dedicated area for evening culinary tours, a new batik
museum, a colonial era steam train, a world water park, a world karst
museum, a pre-historic Java man museum tower, numerous new souvenir
markets using traditional architecture, even accommodation for tourists
with mobility difficulties. On 13 November 2009, the Indonesian Tourism
Award Association declared Surakarta City, a main tourism city in
Surakarta Residency, to be the best Indonesian destination (www.
wisatasolo.com). However, the local government has not provided
adequate training for the many current and potential people employed in
this new tourism industry, in particular has not improved the quality of
their service and attitude to tourists towards verbal and non-verbal
communication.
As one of the main tourism centres in Indonesia, Surakarta
Residency is a destination with many places of interest for tourists. Places
of interaction between tourists and tourism service providers in this area
are the airport, bus stations, train stations, tourist information centres,
travel agents, accommodation, restaurants, places of tourist interest,

Budi Purnomo
souvenir shops and excursions. The language the tourism service providers
use during interaction in these many and varied locations – both verbal and
non-verbal – plays an important role in satisfying the tourists.
A basic goal of the tourism industry anywhere in the world is to
provide an enjoyable and positively memorable time to tourists. It can be
especially accomplished by tourism industry practitioners who are not only
skilful at their services, but also know how to communicate well and using
appropriate nuances of politeness.
In the tourism industry, tourists act as guests and tourism industry
practitioners act as hosts. As the hosts, tourism industry practitioners serve
guests as well as possible in order to ensure the guests' satisfaction. Levels
of satisfaction could be determined by the politeness of the hosts'
behaviour towards their guests, including the politeness of their ―tourism-
service language‖. In this research project, I propose the term ―tourism-
service language‖ or bahasa layanan wisata as a new term in English and
Indonesian which is different from the language of tourism which often
refers to foreign language phrases provided for tourists. This research
project focuses on the ―tourism-service language‖ of the tourism service
providers in Surakarta Residency, Central Java.
The study of tourism-service language in use lends itself to the
study of pragmatic linguistics. According to Verhaar (1996), pragmatics is
a study of speech strategy, and this speech strategy is called rhetoric
(Leech, 1983). The form of speech includes two kinds: structural speech
form and pragmatic speech form (Rahardi, 2005). The former is a
realisation of the speaker's intention based on structural characteristics
whereas the latter is a realisation of the speaker's intention related to the
background context of the speech situation. The context here means the
broader situation which enables the speaker and hearer to interact with

each other, and to understand each other's utterances (Leech, 1983; Mey,
1993). The situation includes things in environmental situation related to
physical and social environments of an utterance or knowledge background
possessed by the speaker and hearer as a tool for the hearer to interpret the
utterance meaning (Nadar, 2009).
Typically tourism industry practitioners will try to act politely and
follow politeness strategies when serving tourists. In an interaction tourists
and tourism industry practitioners will co-operate each other in order that
their speech can flow well, and each speaker can understand what they
want through each other's utterances. Moreover, considered in light of the
host/guest roles of service provider and tourist, communicative interaction
would certainly seek to avoid acts that could irritate his/her hearer's
feeling, and the interaction would use certain strategies to reduce the
hearer's unhappy feeling. To minimize the hearer's dissatisfaction, Brown
and Levinson (1987) describe a model of politeness strategies which
include positive politeness strategies and negative politeness ones.
Positive politeness is redress directed to the addressee's positive
face, his/her perennial desire that his/her wants (or the
actions/acquisitions/values resulting from them) should be thought of as
desirable. Redress consists in partially satisfying that desire by
communicating that one's own wants (or some of them) are in some
respects similar to the addressee's wants. Unlike negative politeness,
positive politeness is not necessarily redressive of the particular face want
infringed by the face threatening acts (FTA); that is, whereas in negative
politeness the sphere of relevant redress is widened to the appreciation of
alter's wants in general or to the expression of similarity between ego's and
alter's wants. Negative politeness is redressive action addressed to the
addressee's negative face: his/her want to have his/her freedom of action

Budi Purnomo
unhindered and his/her attention unimpeded. It is the heart of respect

behaviour, just as positive politeness is the kernel of 'familiar' and 'joking'
behaviour. Where positive politeness is free-ranging, negative politeness is
specific and focused; it performs the function of minimizing the particular
imposition that the FTA unavoidably effects.
In the politeness model of Brown and Levinson (1987: 74), there
are three scales to determine the high and low of politeness level for an
utterance. The three scales are determined contextually, socially and
culturally. They include (1) D the Social Distance between the Speaker and
the Hearer, that is the degree of familiarity and solidarity they share, or
might be thought to share; (2) P the Relative Power of the Speaker with
respect to the Hearer, that is the degree to which the Speaker can impose
on the Hearer and (3) R the Absolute Ranking of the imposition in a
particular culture, both in terms of the expenditure of goods and/or services
by the Hearer, the right of the Speaker to perform the act and the degree to
which the Hearer welcomes the imposition.
With respect to the Brown and Levinson‘s politeness model above,
the question on one level is: how are the politeness strategies in tourism-
service language used by tourism industry practitioners in Surakarta
Residency? The next question is: how are the politeness levels in tourism-
service language used by tourism industry practitioners in Surakarta
Residency that might satisfy or even disappoint tourists?
The research questions above reconfirm more the needs of deep
research related to tourism-service language in Surakarta Residency. The
languages studied in this research are English as a foreign language (EFL)
and Indonesian influenced by Javanese. English is mostly used by tourism
industry practitioners to communicate with foreign tourists and Indonesian
is mostly used by these practitioners to communicate with Indonesian

speaking tourists.
This research undertakes a socio-pragmatic study with the
consideration that socio-pragmatics is a branch of linguistics which studies
language with social and pragmatic approaches. Therefore, the objective of
the study is to describe politeness strategies and levels in tourism-service
language used by tourism industry practitioners in Surakarta Residency.
Research Methodology
The type of this research is descriptive and qualitative because the
problems studied related to describing strategies and levels of politeness in
tourism-service language as used by the tourism industry practitioners in
Surakarta Residency.
This research was done in Surakarta Residency, the main tourist
destination in Central Java. The Surakarta Residency includes Surakarta,
Boyolali, Sukoharjo, Karanganyar, Wonogiri, Sragen and Klaten regencies.
It is also abbreviated as Subosukawonosraten or well known as Soloraya
(www.wisatasolo.com).
Data sources of this research came from (1) informants and (2)
events. The informants included (a) tourism industry practitioners in
Surakarta Residency and (b) English speaking tourists and Indonesian
speaking tourists who get services from the tourism industry practitioners.
The events were speech act events between tourism industry practitioners
and tourists in places of interest and during the tour.
To describe politeness strategies of tourism industry practitioners in
using tourism-service language, the data were analyzed by Brown and
Levinson‘s politeness strategies (1987) and to describe the politeness
levels, the data were analyzed based on the tourists‘ perception towards
tourism-service language as used by the tourism industry practitioners.

Budi Purnomo
The data from informants were obtained through distributing

questionnaire to tourists and conducting in-depth interviewing with tourism
industry practitioners. The data from events were obtained through
observation, field notes and recordings of speech acts between tourism
industry practitioners and tourists. The secondary data were obtained from
document analysis.
Subject of this research was tourism industry practitioners
(speakers) and tourists (hearers) in tourism industry and other areas in
Surakarta Residency where speech acts made by them. For reasons of wide
population, it was used sampling technique to determine the research
object. The sampling technique was done based on area sample and
speaker sample. They were purposive samples used to determine research
area by considering category of tourism industry and various speech acts
made by the tourism industry practitioners and the tourists.
Based on the consideration, the research area chosen was tourism
industries in Surakarta Residency and the subjects chosen were the tourism
industry practitioners in the same area. The complete samples of area and
subject observed are obviously shown in table 1 below.
Table 1. The Samples of Area and of Subject Observed
No. Location Category Speaker and Hearer
1. Adi Sumarmo Tourist Tourist guide and tourist
International Airport transportation
2. Tourist Information Tourist TIC officer and tourist
Center (TIC), Surakarta Information
City Tourism Office Center
3. Natratour Travel agent Ticket reservation clerk
and tourist
4. Kusuma Sahid Prince Accommodation Bellboy, receptionist and
Hotel tourist
5. Hotel Sahid Jaya Solo Accommodation Bellboy, receptionist and
tourist
6. Hotel Pramesthi Solo Accommodation Bellboy, receptionist and

tourist
7. Diamond Restaurant Restaurant Tour guide,
waiter/waitress and
tourist
8. Kasunanan Palace Palace tourist Tour guide and tourist
Surakarta destination
9. Radya Pustaka Museum Museum Tour guide and tourist
10. Windujenar Antique Souvenir shop Tour guide, souvenir
Market seller and tourist
11. Laweyan Batik Village Souvenir shop Tour guide, batik seller,
batik painter and tourist
12. Tawangmangu Resort Panorama Tour guide, ticket staff
tourist and tourist
destination
13. Sukuh Temple Temple tourist Tour guide, ticket officer
destination and tourist
14. Pandawa Water World Water tourist Ticket officer and tourist
destination
15. Janti Fishery Court Water tourist Cook, waiter/waitress
destination and tourist
This research used five techniques of collecting data: (1)

observation and field notes, (2) recordings, (3) questionnaire, (4) in-depth
interviewing and (5) document analysis.
The observation was done in the airport, tourist information centres,
travel agents, hotels, restaurants, places of interest and souvenir shops
where the tourism industry practitioners and the tourists made speech acts
during their interaction. During the observation, the researcher took
fieldnotes. The fieldnotes were written to complement the observation.
In this research the recordings was done to informants naturally. It
means that they were not aware of being recorded. The recording was done
by using a small tape recorder which has very high recording quality.
This research used multiple-choice questionnaire. The informants
(tourists) could choose one of the three alternative answers provided. The
purpose of using the questionnaire was to obtain information about

Budi Purnomo
politeness levels of tourism-service language as used by tourism industry

practitioners based on the tourists‘ perception. Before printing 150 pieces
of questionnaire, the researcher made a ‗guinea pig‖ and did a trial
questionnaire by distributing it to five tourists. The trial to the typical
respondents aimed to find the weaknesses or omission, and then correct
them. The type of questions in the questionnaire was multiple choice with
Likert scale, meaning that the tourists are supposed to choose three
options, either P Polite, N Neutral or I Impolite. A polite utterance is an
utterance which has the criteria: appropriate manner and appropriate
explanation; a normal utterance is an utterance which has the criteria: the
tourist‘s desire is fulfilled and an impolite utterance is an utterance which
has the criteria: the tourists feel unpleasant.
From 150 pieces of the questionnaire distributed, 120 of them were
completed by the tourists. From the 120 tourists, 70 of them were
Indonesian speaking tourists and 50 of them were English speaking
tourists.
The interview was done by the researcher to tourism industry
practitioners to know the reasons why they used politeness strategies and
levels during their interaction with the tourists.
In this research the researcher analyzed documents of standard
operation procedures (SOP) of tourism industry practitioners to serve
tourists made by tourism industries in Surakarta Residency. The purpose to
analyze SOP documents is to know whether politeness is included in the
standard of serving tourists.
Before analyzing the data, the data corpus was classified to obtain
accurate data types and to make easy in the process of further step analysis.
The data analysis results or the research findings were in the forms of
politeness strategies and levels in tourism-service language as used by the

tourism industry practitioners in Surakarta Residency.

In this research, the data validation was verified by using
triangulation technique in order to improve the credibility of the data. They
were carried out by comparing the data with similar type ones obtained
from 13 (thirteen) kinds of conversation between tourists and tourism
industry practitioners.
In addition, the data were also verified by using different methods,
that was, by observations and field notes, questionnaires, interviews and
documents analysis. The speech acts identified in the observations and
field notes were verified against the information elicited from
questionnaires with the tourists, interviews with tourism industry
practitioners and documents analysis of tourism industry.
The utterances made by the tourism industry practitioners
(speakers) were analyzed from the context of their background and then
interpreted based on politeness strategies and levels which show politeness
in tourism-service language to the tourists (hearers). The politeness
strategies and levels were abbreviated to make easy in concluding research
findings.
The 15 positive politeness strategies were abbreviated as (1) PPS1
(Positive Politeness Strategy 1): Notice, attend to H (his interests, needs,
goods), (2) PPS2 (Positive Politeness Strategy 2): Exaggerate (interest,
approval, sympathy with H), (3) PPS3 (Positive Politeness Strategy 3):
Intensify interest to H, (4) PPS4 (Positive Politeness Strategy 4): Use in-
group identity markers, (5) PPS5 (Positive Politeness Strategy 5): Seek
agreement, (6) PPS6 (Positive Politeness Strategy 6): Avoid disagreement,
(7) PPS7 (Positive Politeness Strategy 7): Presuppose/ raise/assert
common ground, (8) PPS8 (Positive Politeness Strategy 8): Joke, (9) PPS9
(Positive Politeness Strategy 9): Assert or presuppose S‘s knowledge of

Budi Purnomo
and concern for H‘s wants, (10) PPS10 (Positive Politeness Strategy 10):
Offer, promise, (11) PPS11 (Positive Politeness Strategy 11): Be
optimistic, (12) PPS12 (Positive Politeness Strategy 12): Include both S
and H in the activity, (1) PPS13 (Positive Politeness Strategy 13): Give (or
ask for) reasons, (1) PPS14 (Positive Politeness Strategy 14): Assume or
assert reciprocity and (15) PPS15 (Positive Politeness Strategy 15): Give
gifts to H (goods, sympathy, understanding, cooperation). If an utterance
was against a positive politeness strategy, it would be marked by X code.
PPS1X, for instance, is an utterance which was against Positive Politeness
Strategy 1.
Besides that, the 10 negative politeness strategies were abbreviated
as (1) NPS1 (Negative Politeness Strategy 1): Be direct, (2) NPS2
(Negative Politeness Strategy 2): Question, hedge, (3) NPS3 (Negative
Politeness Strategy 3): Be pessimistic, (4) NPS4 (Negative Politeness
Strategy 4): Minimize the imposition, (5) NPS5 (Negative Politeness
Strategy 5): Give deference, (6) NPS6 (Negative Politeness Strategy 6):
Apologize, (7) NPS7 (Negative Politeness Strategy 7): Impersonalize S
and H, (8) NPS8 (Negative Politeness Strategy 8): State the FTA as a
general rule, (9) NPS9 (Negative Politeness Strategy 6): Nominalize and
(10) NPS10 (Negative Politeness Strategy 10): Go on record as incurring a
debt, or as not indebting H. If an utterance was against a negative
politeness strategy, it would be marked by X code. NPS1X, for instance, is
an utterance which was against Negative Politeness Strategy 1.
The three politeness levels were abbreviated as (1) P (Polite): well
accepted and satisfactory enough, (3) N (Normal): accepted, (4) I
(Impolite): not accepted and not satisfactory.
Data analysis of this research was done through three steps, those
are (1) sorting data corpus by giving data number, context and content of

conversation; (2) analyzing data based on politeness strategies and (3)

analyzing them based on politeness levels.
Discussion
The data analysed came from the 13 kinds of conversational
discourse between tourists and tourism-industry practitioners, those are (1)
receiving reservations, (2) meeting tourists at the airport/railway station,
(3) providing information upon arrival on the way to the hotel, (4) helping
tourists with their registration, (5) handling telephone enquiries, (6) giving
directions, (7) giving information about art performances and
entertainment, (8) beginning a tour and describing the itinerary, (9)
describing points of interest on the tour route, (10) serving meals at
restaurants, (11) describing processes used in making art objects (batik,
leather puppets, gamelan instruments, etc.), (12) bargaining for souvenir
prices and (13) describing tourist sites.
Conversation on handling reservations

Data (1)
O: Selamat siang, Bu. Ada yang bisa saya bantu? ‗Good afternoon,
Madam. What can I do for you?‘
T: Gini, mbak saya kemarin kan sudah pesan tiket Solo-Jakarta
untuk sore nanti. Tapi berhubung ada acara mendadak di Solo,
apa bisa saya tunda penerbangannya? ‗Yesterday I booked a
ticket for Solo-Jakarta for this afternoon flight. Unfortunately, I
have a sudden program in Solo. Can I delay the flight?‘
O: Wah, kalau untuk mengundur seharusnya dua hari sebelumnya.
‗If you want to delay the flight, you should do it two days
before.‘
T: Waduh sudah kebacut itu, mbak. Terus bagaimana nih karena
saya nggak jadi terbang nanti sore, apa masih bisa ditukar
uang? ‗I can‘t. So, if I cancel to fly this afternoon, can I change
the ticket with money?‘

Budi Purnomo
O: Ya berarti tiket Ibu hangus. ‘It means that your ticket is

expired.‘
This conversation was between a Natratour officer (O) and a tourist

(T). The clerk‘s utterance Wah, kalau untuk mengundur seharusnya dua
hari sebelumnya (If you want to delay the flight, you should do it two days
before) is against Brown and Levinson‘s PPS6 (avoid disagreement). The
clerk‘s utterance Ya berarti tiket Ibu hangus (It means that your ticket is
expired) is against Brown and Levinson‘s PPS15 (Give gifts to H (goods,
sympathy, understanding, cooperation)).
The questionnaire answers show that 36 (72%) foreign tourists
stated that the utterance ‗If you want to delay the flight, you should do it
two days before‘ used by the reservation clerk is P (polite), 14 (28%) of
them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). On the
other hand, 19 (27.15%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance Wah,
kalau untuk mengundur seharusnya dua hari sebelumnya is P (polite),
none of them stated it N (normal) and 51 (72.85%) of them stated it I
(impolite). So, it can be concluded that based on the foreign tourists'
perceptions, the use of the reservation clerk‘s utterance ‗If you want to
delay the flight, you should do it two days before‘ has polite level, but
based on the Indonesian tourists‘ perceptions, the utterance Wah, kalau
untuk mengundur seharusnya dua hari sebelumnya has impolite level.
The questionnaire answers also show that 14 (28%) foreign tourists
stated that the utterance ‘It means that your ticket is expired‘ used by the
reservation clerk is P (polite), 32 (64%) of them stated it N (normal) and 4
(8%) of them stated it I (impolite). On the other hand, none of Indonesian
tourists stated that the utterance Ya berarti tiket Ibu hangus is P (polite), 7
(10%) of them stated it N (normal) and 63 (90%) of them stated it I

perceptions, the use of the reservation clerk‘s utterance ‘It means that your
ticket is expired‘ has normal level, but based on the Indonesian tourists‘
perceptions, the utterance Ya berarti tiket Ibu hangus has impolite level.
Conversation on meeting tourists at the airport/railway station

Data (2)
G: Excuse me, Madam. Are you Mrs. Gisela Tiedemann?
T: Yes, that‘s right.
G: Welcome to Solo. I‘m Wulan, your tour guide from Nusantara
Tours.
T: Oh, good. It‘s nice to meet you.
G: It‘s nice to meet you too, Madam. Are you ready to go to your
hotel?
T: Yes.
G: Could you come this way, please? The car is just over there.
This conversation was between a tour guide (G) and a tourist (T) in
Adi Sumarmo International Airport. The tour guide‘s utterance Could you
come this way, please? The car is just over there follows Brown and
Levinson‘s NPS1 (be conventionally indirect).
stated that the utterance Could you come this way, please? The car is just
over there used by the tour guide is P (polite), 3 (6%) foreign tourists
stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). On the other
hand, 62 (88.57%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance ‗Ibu bisa
lewat sini? Mobilnya ada di sana‘ is P (polite), 8 (11.43%) of them stated it
N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be concluded
that based on the foreign and Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of
the tour guide‘s utterance Could you come this way, please? The car is just
over there (‗Ibu bisa lewat sini? Mobilnya ada di sana‘) has polite level.

Budi Purnomo
Conversation on providing information upon arrival on the way to hotel

Data (3)
G: Hello, everyone. My name is Kiky and the driver‘s name is
Abim. On behalf of Natratour I‘d like to welcome you all to
Solo. The bus ride to your hotel will take about fifteen minutes.
The hotel is located in the center of the city and the airport is in
the western part just outside Solo. Right now I‘d like to take a
minute to familiarize you with some brief safety precautions.
Firstly, I recommend you to remain seated until we reach our
destination. Secondly, please realize that it is against the law to
get drunk in public. Enjoy your vacation.
T: OK, no problem.
This Conversation was between a tour guide (G) and a tourist (T)
from Adi Sumarmo International Airport to Hotel Sahid Jaya Solo. The
tour guide‘s utterance Secondly, please realize that it is against the law to
get drunk in public follows Brown and Levinson‘s NPS8 (state the FTA as
a general rule).
stated that the utterance Secondly, please realize that it is against the law to
get drunk in public used by the tour guide is P (polite), 3 (6%) foreign
tourists stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). On the
other hand, 62 (88.57%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance ‗Yang
kedua, tolong dimengerti bahwa mabuk-mabukan di depan umum adalah
tindakan melawan hukum‘ is P (polite), 8 (11.43%) of them stated it N
(normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be concluded
the tour guide‘s utterance Secondly, please realize that it is against the law
to get drunk in public ‗Yang kedua, tolong dimengerti bahwa mabuk-
mabukan di depan umum adalah tindakan melawan hukum‘ has polite
level.

Conversation on helping tourists with their registration

Data (4)
R: Good evening, Sir. May I help you?
G: Hallo. I have poor eyesight. Can you fill in the form for me?
R: Yes, certainly Sir. Can I have your name?
G: John Davis.
R: Mr. John Davis. Now, can you give me your passport number?
G: It‘s zero nine two zero four seven eight.
R: Right. I am sorry, how are you going to pay? By cheque? By
credit card?
G: Err … by credit card … Visa.
R: Very good Mr. Davis. Now, I‘ve put you in Room 119, on the
first floor.
G: Okay.
This Conversation was between a receptionist (R) and a walk-in

guest (G) in Kusuma Sahid Prince Hotel. The receptionist‘s utterances Can
I have your name? and Now, can you give me your passport number?
follow Brown and Levinson‘s NPS1 (be conventionally indirect). The
receptionist‘s utterance I am sorry, how are you going to pay? By cheque?
By credit card? follows Brown and Levinson‘s NPS6 (apologize).
stated that the utterance Can I have your name? used by the receptionist is
P (polite), 9 (18%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it
I (impolite). On the other hand, 66 (94.3%) Indonesian tourists stated that
the utterance ‗Bisa minta nama Bapak?‘ is P (polite), 4 (5.7%) of them
stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be
concluded that based on the foreign and Indonesian tourists' perceptions,
the use of the receptionist‘s utterance Can I have your name? ‗Bisa minta
nama Bapak?‘ has polite level.
stated that the utterance Now, can you give me your passport number? used

Budi Purnomo
by the receptionist is P (polite), 7 (14%) stated it N (normal) and none of

them stated it I (impolite). On the other hand, 52 (74.29%) Indonesian
tourists stated that the utterance ‗Lalu, nomor paspor Bapak?‘ is P (polite),
18 (25.71%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I
(impolite). So, it can be concluded that based on the foreign and
Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the receptionist‘s utterance
Now, can you give me your passport number? ‗Lalu, nomor paspor
Bapak?‘ has polite level.
Furthermore, the questionnaire answers show that 49 (98%) foreign
tourists stated that the utterance I am sorry, how are you going to pay? By
cheque? By credit card? used by the receptionist is P (polite), 1 (2%)
hand, 67 (95.71%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance ‗Maaf,
bagaimana cara pembayarannya? Dengan cek? Dengan kartu kredit?‘ is P
(polite), 3 (4.29%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I
Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the receptionist‘s utterance I am
sorry, how are you going to pay? By cheque? By credit card? ‗Maaf,
bagaimana cara pembayarannya? Dengan cek? Dengan kartu kredit?‘ has
polite level.
Data (5)
R: Good morning, Madam. May I help you?
G: Yes, I want to pay my bill.
R: What is your name?
G: Kate Doolan
R: Mrs. Kate Doolan. Just a moment, please. (R prepares the bill).
This is your bill. The total amount is Rp 2,875,000 rupiahs.
You want to recheck it?
G: Yes. (G checks the bill). That‘s right, thank you.

This Conversation was between a receptionist (R) and a guest (G)

in Pramesthi Hotel. The receptionist is helping the guest who will check
out. The receptionist‘s utterance What is your name? does not follow
Brown and Levinson‘s NPS1 (be conventionally indirect). The
receptionist‘s utterance You want to recheck it? does not follow Brown and
Levinson‘s NPS1 (be conventionally indirect).
stated that the utterance What is your name? used by the receptionist is P
(polite), 3 (6%) of them stated it is N (normal) and none of them stated it is
I (impolite). On the other hand, none of Indonesian tourists stated that the
utterance ‗Siapa nama Anda?‘ is P (polite), 28 (40%) of them stated it is N
(normal) and 42 (60%) of them stated it is I (impolite). So, it can be
concluded that based on foreign tourists' perceptions, the use of the
receptionist‘s utterance What is your name? has polite level, but based on
Indonesian tourists‘ perception, the utterance ‗Siapa nama Anda?‘ has
impolite level.
The questionnaire answers also show that 50 (100%) foreign
tourists stated that the utterance You want to recheck it? used by the
receptionist is P (polite) and 70 (100%) Indonesian tourists stated that the
utterance ‗Anda ingin mengecek ulang?‘ is P (polite). Neither foreign
tourists nor Indonesian tourists stated that it is N (normal) and I (impolite).
So, it can be concluded that based on the foreign and Indonesian tourists'
perceptions, the use of the receptionist‘s utterance You want to recheck it?
‗Anda ingin mengecek ulang?‘ has polite level.
Conversation on handling telephone enquiries

Data (6)
C: Hallo. Bisa disambungkan ke kamar Pak Suryono? (‗Hello.
Can you connect me to Mr. Suryono‘s room?‘)

Budi Purnomo
O: Mohon ditunggu sebentar … Kok di sini tidak ada tamu yang

menginap atas nama Bapak Suryono ya?( ‗Wait a moment,
please … There is no guest with the name Mr. Suryono here.‘)
C: Lho gimana sih hotel ini. Pak Suryono sudah check in
seperempat jam yang lalu.(‗What happens with this hotel? Mr.
Suryono has checked in fifteen minutes ago.‘)
O: Oh maaf, Bu. Kalau begitu coba saya sambungkan ke
resepsionis. (‗Oh, I‘m sorry, Madam. I‘ll try to connect you to
receptionist.‘)
This Conversation was between a hotel telephone operator (O) of

Kusuma Sahid Prince Hotel and a caller (C). The telephone operator‘s
utterance Kok di sini tidak ada tamu yang menginap atas nama Bapak
Suryono ya?( ‗There is no guest with the name Mr. Suryono here.‘) does
not follow Brown and Levinson‘s NPS2 (question, hedge). The telephone
operator‘s utterance Oh maaf, Bu. Kalau begitu coba saya sambungkan ke
resepsionis (‗Oh, I‘m sorry, Madam. I‘ll try to connect you to
receptionist‘) follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS6 (apologize).
stated that the utterance ‗There is no guest with the name Mr. Suryono
here‘ used by the telephone operator is P (polite), 12 (18%) stated it N
(normal) and none of them stated in I (impolite). On the other hand, no
Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance Kok di sini tidak ada tamu
yang menginap atas nama Bapak Suryono ya? is P (polite), 5 (7.14%) of
them stated it N (normal) and 65 (92.85%) of them stated it I (impolite).
So, it can be concluded that based on the foreign tourists' perceptions, the
use of the telephone operator‘s utterance ‗There is no guest with the name
Mr. Suryono here‘ has polite level, but based on the Indonesian tourists‘
perceptions, the utterance Kok di sini tidak ada tamu yang menginap atas
nama Bapak Suryono ya? has impolite level.

tourists stated that the utterance ‗Oh, I‘m sorry, Madam. I‘ll try to connect
you to receptionist‘ used by the telephone operator is P (polite) and 70
(100%) Indonesian tourists also stated that the utterance Oh maaf, Bu.
Kalau begitu coba saya sambungkan ke resepsionis is P (polite). Neither
foreign tourists nor Indonesian tourists stated that it is N (normal) and I
Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the telephone operator‘s
utterance ‗Oh, I‘m sorry, Madam. I‘ll try to connect you to receptionist‘
Oh maaf, Bu. Kalau begitu coba saya sambungkan ke resepsionis has
polite level.
Conversation on giving directions

Data (7)
G: Can you tell me the best way to get to Klewer Market?
B: Well, it‘s easy. If you‘ll go there on foot, first, go down this
street until you find a T-junction. Turn left and go east for
about two hundred meters until you see the big statue of Slamet
Riyadi Hero at Gladak crossroad. Then, turn right at the
crossroad and go south for about a hundred meter until you see
Alun-alun of Kasunanan Palace. After that, cross the Alun-
alun, you will finally find the two-storey building with a big
gate on the right. That‘s the Klewer Market. Don‘t miss it.
This Conversation was between a bellboy (B) and a hotel guest (G)
in the lobby of Kusuma Sahid Prince Hotel. The bellboy‘s utterance Well,
it‟s easy follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS11 (be optimistic). His
utterance Don‟t miss it also follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS11 (be
optimistic).
stated that the utterance Well, it‟s easy used by the bellboy is P (polite), 21
(42%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite).
On the other hand, 63 (90%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance

Budi Purnomo
‗Baik, mudah saja‘ is P (polite). 7 (10%) of them stated that it N (normal)

and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be concluded that based
on the foreign and Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the bellboy‘s
utterance Well, it‟s easy ‗Baik, mudah saja‘ has polite level.
stated that the utterance Don‟t miss it used by the bellboy is P (polite), 33
(66%) of them stated it N (neutral) and none of them stated it I (impolite).
On the other hand, 5 (7.14%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance
‗Jangan sampai kesasar‘ is P (polite), 14 (20%) of them stated it N
(normal) and 31 (72.86%) of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be
concluded that based on the foreign tourists' perceptions, the use of the
bellboy‘s utterance Don‟t miss it has normal level, but based on the
Indonesian tourists‘ perceptions, the utterance ‗Jangan sampai kesasar‘ has
impolite level.
Conversation on giving information about art performances and

entertainment
Data (8)
G: Excuse me, is there any particular art performance or
entertainment I can see in this city?
O: Why don‘t you watch wayang orang Sriwedari in the evening?
For city sightseeing, you can visit Kasunanan Palace,
Mangkunegaran Palace, or Radya Pustaka Museum. And for
shopping, you can visit traditional markets, like Klewer Market
and Triwindu Antique Market or modern shopping malls, like
Solo Grand Mall and Solo Square.
G: Well, I‘d like to see the museum. How do I get there?
O: Why don‘t you go by becak? Make sure that you negotiate the
price before you go. You can also go by public transport. There
are lots of buses passing by the museum. Just tell the conductor
your destination.
This Conversation was between a guest relation officer (O) and a

guest (G) in Hotel Sahid Jaya Solo. The guest relation officer‘s utterances
Why don‟t you watch wayang orang Sriwedari in the evening? and Why
don‟t you go by becak? follow Brown and Levinson‘s PPS13 (give or ask
for reasons).
stated that the utterance Why don‟t you watch wayang orang Sriwedari in
the evening? used by the guest relation officer is P (polite), none of them
stated it N (normal) and I (impolite). On the other hand, 16 (%) Indonesian
tourists stated that the utterance ‗Mengapa tidak menonton wayang orang
Sriwedari di malam hari?‘ is P (polite), 54 (%) stated it N (normal) and
none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be concluded that based on
the foreign tourists' perceptions, the use of the guest relation officer‘s
utterance Why don‟t you watch wayang orang Sriwedari in the evening?
has polite level, but based on the Indonesian tourists‘ perception, the
utterance ‗Mengapa tidak menonton wayang orang Sriwedari di malam
hari?‘ has normal level.
tourists stated that the utterance Why don‟t you go by becak? used by the
guest relation officer is P (polite), none of them stated that it is N (normal)
and I (impolite). On the other hand, 17 (24.29%) Indonesian tourists stated
that the utterance ‗Mengapa tidak naik becak saja?‘ is P (polite), 53
(75.71%) stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it
can be concluded that based on the foreign tourists' perceptions, the use of
the guest relation officer‘s utterance Why don‟t you go by becak? has polite
level, but based on the Indonesian tourists‘ perceptions, the utterance
‗Mengapa tidak naik becak saja?‘ has normal level.

Budi Purnomo
Conversation on beginning a tour and describing the itinerary

Data (9)
G: Please be careful with your head when you enter the car. We
have to go by car, instead of by bus today because the road is
too steep for a bus.
T: Won‘t it be dangerous?
G: No, it‘s quite safe. Beside, we have an experienced driver. And
the scenery will be worth seeing. Don‘t worry. Just enjoy
yourself.
T: Okay. I‘ll take your words. Let‘s go.
a tourist bus in front of Pramesthi Hotel The tour guide‘s utterance We
have to go by car, instead of by bus today because the road is too steep for
a bus is against Brown and Levinson‘s PPS13 (give or ask for reasons).
The tour guide‘s utterance No, it‟s quite safe is against Brown and
Levinson‘s PPS6 (avoid disagreement).
stated that the utterance We have to go by car, instead of by bus today
because the road is too steep for a bus used by the tour guide is P (polite),
39 (78%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I
(impolite). On the other hand, 10 (14.29%) Indonesian tourists stated that
the utterance ‗Kita harus pergi dengan mobil, bukannya bis karena
jalannya terlalu curam jika kita menggunakan bis‘ is P (polite), 60
(85.71%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I
Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance We
have to go by car, instead of by bus today because the road is too steep for
a bus ‗Kita harus pergi dengan mobil, bukannya bis karena jalannya terlalu
curam jika kita menggunakan bis‘ has normal level.

stated that the utterance No, it‟s quite safe used by the tour guide is P
(polite), 31 (62%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I
the utterance ‗Tidak, cukup aman‘ is P (polite), 52 (74.29%) stated it N
the tour guide‘s utterance No, it‟s quite safe ‗Tidak, cukup aman?‘ has
normal level.
Conversation on describing points of interest on the tour route

Data (10)
G: It‘s about a twenty minute trek down to the Grojogan Sewu
Waterfall through hundreds of stairs.
T: It looks steep! These stair steps are safe, right? I‘m scared …
better to stay here.
G: Yes, you don‘t have anything to worry about. We do about 100
trips a day trek up and down the stair steps, and these tours
have been going on for over ten years without any accidents.
I‘m sure you can trek down through these stairs. Let‘s try it!
Your tiresome will be paid by the beauty of the waterfall.
This conversation was between a tour guide (G) and a tourist (T) at
Tawangmangu Resort. The tour guide‘s utterance I‟m sure you can trek
down through these stairs. Let‟s try it! follows Brown and Levinson‘s
PPS11 (be optimistic) and PPS12 (include both S and H in the activity).
stated that the utterance I‟m sure you can trek down through these stairs.
Let‟s try it! used by the telephone operator is P (polite), 21 (42%) of them
hand, 9 (12.85%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance ‗Saya yakin
Anda mampu menuruni tangga ini. Mari kita coba!‘ is P (polite), 61

Budi Purnomo

perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance I‟m sure you can trek
down through these stairs. Let‟s try it! Has polite level, but based on the
Indonesian tourists‘ perceptions, the utterance ‗Saya yakin Anda mampu
menuruni tangga ini. Mari kita coba!‘ has normal level.
Data (11)
G: Now, if you look up straight ahead, you should be able to see a
group of monkeys…. Does anybody see the apes over there?
On that branch. See?
T: Are they wild or tame?
G: That‘s a good question. Until now I haven‘t had any bad
experience with them. Unless you tease them, they don‘t attack
people. Most of them are tame. Just like the ones we met at the
entrance.
This cconversation was between a tour guide (G) and a tourist (T)
at Tawangmangu Resort The tour guide‘s utterance Now, if you look up
straight ahead, you should be able to see a group of monkeys follows
Brown and Levinson‘s PPS14 (assume or assert reciprocity). The tour
guide‘s utterance Does anybody see the apes over there? On that branch.
See? follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS3 (intensify interest to H). His
utterance That‟s a good question follows Brown and Levinson‘s NPS9
(nominalize). Moreover, his utterance Unless you tease them, they don‟t
attack people follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS14 (assume or assert
reciprocity).
stated that the utterance Now, if you look up straight ahead, you should be
able to see a group of monkeys used by the tour guide is P (polite), 8
(16%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite).
On the other hand, 65 (93%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance
‗Sekarang, jika Bapak Ibu lihat lurus di depan sana, akan terlihat

sekawanan kera‘ is P (polite), 5 (7%) of them stated it N (normal) and

none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be concluded that based on
the foreign and Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s
utterance Now, if you look up straight ahead, you should be able to see a
group of monkeys ‗Sekarang, jika Bapak Ibu lihat lurus di depan sana, akan
terlihat sekawanan kera‘ has polite level.
stated that the utterance Does anybody see the apes over there? On that
branch. See? used by the tour guide is P (polite), 13 (26%) of them stated
it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). On the other hand, 32
(45.71%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance ‗Apa Bapak Ibu
dapat milhat kera-kera itu? Di atas batang pohon. Kelihatan?‘ is P (polite),
perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance Does anybody see the
apes over there? On that branch. See? has polite level, but based on the
Indonesian tourists‘ perceptions, the utterance ‗Apa Bapak Ibu dapat
milhat kera-kera itu? Di atas batang pohon. Kelihatan?‘ has normal level.
Then, the questionnaire answers show that 44 (88%) foreign
tourists stated that the utterance That‟s a good question used by the tour
guide is P (polite), 6 (12%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them
stated it I (impolite). On the other hand, 59 (84.29%) Indonesian tourists
stated that the utterance ‗Pertanyaan yang bagus‘ is P (polite), 11 (15.71%)
of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it
can be concluded that based on the foreign and Indonesian tourists'
perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance That‟s a good question
‗Pertanyaan yang bagus‘ has polite level.

Budi Purnomo
tourists stated that the utterance Unless you tease them, they don‟t attack
people used by the tour guide is P (polite), 10 (20%) of them stated it N
(normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). On the other hand, 15
(21.42%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance ‗Jika Bapak Ibu tidak
mengusik mereka, mereka tidak akan menyerang pengunjung‘ is P (polite),
perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance Unless you tease them,
they don‟t attack people has polite level, but based on the Indonesian
tourists‘ perceptions, the utterance „Jika Bapak Ibu tidak mengusik mereka,
mereka tidak akan menyerang pengunjung‟ has normal level.
Data (12)
T: This hill is the highest one in this region, isn‘t it?
G: Yes, yes … err … actually the highest hill is the hill of Cedho
Temple … which we can see in around an hour ride. But this is
the highest hill for recreational purposes like trekking and
horse riding.
T: Can you accompany us to Cetho Temple?
Sukuh Temple The tour guide‘s utterance Yes, yes … err … actually the
highest hill is the hill of Cedho Temple … which we can see in around two
hours ride. But this is the highest hill for recreational purposes like
trekking and horse riding follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS6 (avoid
disagreement).
stated that the utterance Yes, yes … err … actually the highest hill is the
hill of Cedho Temple … which we can see in around two hours ride. But
this is the highest hill for recreational purposes like trekking and horse
riding used by the tour guide is P (polite), 38 (76%) of them stated it N


(74.29%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance ‗Ya, ya … ehh …
sebenarnya yang tertinggi adalah bukit Candi Cetho … yang dapat kita
lihat sekitar satu jam perjalanan. Tetapi bukit ini yang tertinggi untuk
kegiatan rekreasi dengan berjalan kaki atau menunggang kuda‘ is P
(polite), 18 (25.71%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated
it I (impolite). So, it can be concluded that based on the foreign tourists'
perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance Yes, yes … err … actually
the highest hill is the hill of Cedho Temple … which we can see in around
two hours ride. But this is the highest hill for recreational purposes like
trekking and horse riding has normal level, but based on the Indonesian
tourists‘ perception, the utterance ‗Ya, ya … ehh … sebenarnya yang
tertinggi adalah bukit Candi Cetho … yang dapat kita lihat sekitar satu jam
perjalanan. Tetapi bukit ini yang tertinggi untuk kegiatan rekreasi dengan
berjalan kaki atau menunggang kuda‘ has polite level.
Conversation on serving meals at restaurant

Data (13)
W: Selamat siang, Pak, Bu? Mangga mau pesan apa? (‗Good
afternoon, Sir, Madam? Are you ready to order?‘) (W hands
menu list to V1)
V1: Ikan guramih ada? (‗Do you have guramih fish?‘)
W : Ada, Bu. (‗Yes, we have, Madam.‘)
V1: Yang cepat digoreng apa dibakar? (‗The faster is fried or
roasted?‘)
W: Digoreng, Bu. Tapi kalau dibakar bumbunya lebih meresap
dan terasa lebih gurih. (‗Fried, Madam. But the ingredient is
more absorbed and the tasted is more delicious if it is roasted.‘)
V1: Saya digoreng aja biar cepat. (‗I want it fried for the faster.‘)
W: Ibu digoreng. Bapak digoreng juga?( ‗You are fried, Madam.
Are you fried too, Sir?‘)
V2: Saya dibakar aja. (‗I am roasted.‘)
W: Baik, segera kami siapkan. Maaf untuk minumnya mau pesan

Budi Purnomo
apa?(‘All right, I‘ll prepare them soon. And for the drinks?‘)
V1: Saya es teh. (‗Iced tea for me.‘)
W: Bapak es teh juga? (‗Are you iced tea too, Sir?‘)
V2: Saya lagi batuk. (‗I am cough.‘)
W: Minuman panas atau hangat juga ada di sini, Pak. (‗Warm or
hot drinks are also available here, Sir.‘)
V2: Ya, jeruk panas saja.( ‗Well, hot orange please.‘)
W: (leaving them to go to the kitchen)
This conversation was between a waitress (W) and visitors (V1,

V2) in Janti Fishery Court. The waitress‘s utterances Ibu digoreng. Bapak
digoreng juga? and Bapak es teh juga? follow Brown and Levinson‘s
PPS6 (avoid disagreement). Her utterance Baik, segera kami siapkan
follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS10 (offer, promise). Moreover, her
utterance Minuman panas atau hangat juga ada di sini, Pak? follows
Brown and Levinson‘s PPS15 (give gifts (sympathy) to H).
The questionnaire answers show that none of foreign tourists stated
that the utterance You are fried, Madam. Are you fried too, Sir? used by
the waitress is P (polite) and N (normal), but 50 (100%) of them stated it I
(impolite). On the other hand, 9 (18%) Indonesian tourists also stated that
the utterance ‗Ibu digoreng. Bapak digoreng juga?‘ is P (polite), 61 (82%)
of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it
can be concluded that based on the foreign tourists' perceptions, the use of
the waitress‘s utterance You are fried, Madam. Are you fried too, Sir? has
impolite level, but based on the Indonesian tourists‘ perceptions, the
utterance ‗Ibu digoreng. Bapak digoreng juga?‘ has normal level.
stated that the utterance Are you iced tea too, Sir? used by the tour guide is
P (polite), 41 (82%) of them stated it N (normal) and 6 (12%) of them
stated that the utterance ‗Bapak es teh juga?‘ is P (polite), 44 (62.86%) of

them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can
be concluded that based on the foreign and Indonesian tourists'
perceptions, the use of the waitress‘s utterance Are you iced tea too, Sir?
‗Bapak es teh juga?‘ has normal level.
Then the questionnaire answers show that 48 (96%) foreign tourists
stated that the utterance All right, I‟ll prepare them soon used by the
waitress is P (polite), 2 (4%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them
stated that the utterance ‗Baik, segera kami siapkan‘ is P (polite), 3
Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the waitress‘s utterance All
right, I‟ll prepare them soon(‗Baik, segera kami siapkan‘) has polite level.
tourists stated that the utterance Warm or hot drinks are also available
here, Sir used by the waitress is P (polite), 40 (80%) of them stated it N
(normal) and 1 (2%) of them stated it I (impolite). On the other hand, 7
(10%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance „Minuman panas atau
hangat juga ada di sini, Pak‟ is P (polite), 63 (90%) of them stated it N
the waitress‘s utterance Warm or hot drinks are also available here, Sir
‗Minuman panas atau hangat juga ada di sini, Pak‘ has normal level.
Conversation on describing processes used in making art objects (batik,

leather puppets, gamelan instruments, etc.)
Data (14)
T: Excuse me, I‘m interested to know about the batik processing.

Budi Purnomo
Can you explain it to me, please?

G: Sure. Let‘s go to that room. (G and T go to the processing
room) This is the fabric that will be processed into batik
material. First, it is colored by painting the desired patterns.
T: Yes, ....
G: Second, this special copper batik wax is dipped into melted
wax, and stamped on the fabric.
T: I see … it‘s hard work, isn‘t it? … working near the stove.
G: Yes, that‘s because the application has to use melted wax.
Besides, the worker has to take precaution to prevent the wax
from dripping.
T: I never imagine the waxing process is quite complicated.
Laweyan Batik Village. The tour guide‘s utterance Let‟s go to that room
follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS12 (include both S and H in the
activity). His utterance Yes, that‟s because the application has to use melted
wax. Besides, the worker has to take precaution to prevent the wax from
dripping follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS13 (give or ask for reasons).
The questionnaire answers show that 5 (10%) foreign tourists stated
that the utterance Let‟s go to that room used by the tour guide is P (polite),
45 (90%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I
the utterance ‗Mari kita pergi ke ruangan itu‘ is P (polite), 48 (68.57%) of
them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can
be concluded that based on the foreign and Indonesian tourists'
perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance Let‟s go to that room
‗Mari kita pergi ke ruangan itu‘ has normal level.
stated that the utterance Yes, that‟s because the application has to use
melted wax. Besides, the worker has to take precaution to prevent the wax
from dripping used by the tour guide is P (polite), 35 (70%) of them stated

it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). On the other hand, 17

(24.29%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance ‗Ya, karena
membatiknya harus menggunakan lilin yang dicairkan. Di samping itu,
pembatiknya harus mencegah agar lilinnya tidak menetes‘ is P (polite), 53
(75.71%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of them stated in I
Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance Yes,
that‟s because the application has to use melted wax. Besides, the worker
has to take precaution to prevent the wax from dripping ‗Ya, karena
membatiknya harus menggunakan lilin yang dicairkan. Di samping itu,
pembatiknya harus mencegah agar lilinnya tidak menetes‘ has normal
level.
Conversation on bargaining for souvenir prices

Data (15)
S: Ngersake nopo, Den? (‗What do you want, Madam?‘)
T: Mau lihat-lihat batik. (‗I want to see batik.‘)
S: Mangga …. mau yang halus atau yang biasa? (‗Please … you
want the soft or the ordinary?‘)
T: Yang biasa aja, Bu.(‗The ordinary, please.‘)
S: (S hands the batik sample to T). Mangga silakan pilih. Nanti
pilihan warnanya banyak. (‗Please choose by yourself. There
are many choices.‘)
T: Kalau yang ini berapa? (‗How much is this?‘)
S: Itu untuk bukaan dhasar ya… tujuh puluh lima ribu saja. (‗For
opening … seventy five thousands rupiahs.‘)
T: Kalau empat puluh ribu gimana? (‗How about forty
thousands?‘)
S: Wah belum ikut. Kulakannya aja belum boleh. (‗Mmm no …
it‘s under the buying price.‘)
T: Kalau empat puluh lima bagaimana, Bu? (‗How about forty
five thousands?‘)
S: Ya sudah lima puluh ribu seperti harga bakul. (‗Well, fifty
thousands as the buying price.‘)

Budi Purnomo
This conversation was between a souvenir seller (S) and a tourist

(T) in Kauman Batik Village. The souvenir seller‘s utterances Itu untuk
bukaan dhasar ya… tujuh puluh lima ribu saja follows Brown and
Levinson‘s PPS13 (give or ask for reasons). Her utterance Wah belum ikut.
Kulakannya aja belum boleh is against Brown and Levinson‘s PPS6 (avoid
disagreement), but follows their PPS13 (give or ask for reasons). Besides
that, her utterance Ya sudah lima puluh ribu seperti harga bakul follows
Brown and Levinson‘s PPS6 (avoid disagreement) and their PPS13 (give
or ask for reasons).
stated that the utterance For opening … seventy five thousands rupiahs
used by the souvenir seller is P (polite), 38 (76%) of them stated it N
(12.86%) Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance „Itu untuk bukaan
dhasar ya… tujuh puluh lima ribu saja‟ is P (polite), 61 (87.14%) of them
stated it N (normal) and none of them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be
concluded that based on the foreign and Indonesian tourists' perceptions,
the use of the souvenir seller‘s utterance For opening … seventy five
thousands rupiahs (‗Itu untuk bukaan dhasar ya… tujuh puluh lima ribu
saja‘) has normal level.
stated that the utterance Mmm no … it‟s under the buying price used by the
souvenir seller is P (polite), 44 (88%) of them stated it N (normal) and 1
(2%) of them stated it I (impolite). None of Indonesian tourists stated that
the utterance „Wah belum ikut. Kulakannya aja belum boleh‟ is P (polite),
7 (10%) of them stated it N (normal) and 63 (90%) of them stated it I
perceptions, the use of the souvenir seller‘s utterance Mmm no … it‟s

under the buying price has normal level, but based on the Indonesian
tourists‘ perceptions, the utterance ‗Wah belum ikut. Kulakannya aja
belum boleh‘ has impolite level.
Then, the questionnaire answers show that 7 (14%) foreign tourists
stated that the utterance Well, fifty thousands as the buying price used by
the souvenir seller is P (polite), 43 (86%) of them stated it N (normal) and
none of them stated it I (impolite). None of Indonesian tourists stated that
the utterance ‗Ya sudah lima puluh ribu seperti harga bakul‘ is P (polite),
19 (27.14%) of them stated it N (normal) and 51 (72.86%) of them stated it
I (impolite). So, it can be concluded that based on the foreign tourists'
perceptions, the use of the souvenir seller‘s utterance Well, fifty thousands
as the buying price has normal level, but based on the Indonesian tourists‘
perceptions, the utterance ‗Ya sudah lima puluh ribu seperti harga bakul‘
has impolite level.
Conversation on describing tourist sites

Data (16)
G: Sekarang kita memasuki pelataran Candi Sukuh. Candi ini
termasuk jenis candi Hindu peninggalan Kerajaan Majapahit.
Di bawah ini simbol yoni dan lingga. (‗Now we enter the front
yard of Sukuh Temple. This temple is a kind of Hindu temple
and a heritage of Majapahit Kingdom. There are symbols of
yoni and lingga in front of the gate.‘)
T: Simbol itu maksudnya, Pak? Kok bentuknya erotis gitu? (‗What
do the symbols mean, Sir? Why the shapes are erotic?‘)
G: Yoni itu simbol Mr. P, kepunyaan laki-laki, sedangkan lingga
itu simbol Mrs. V, kepunyaan perempuan. (‗Yoni is the symbol
of Mr. P, the man‘s belongings, and lingga is the symbol of
Mrs. V, the woman‘s belongings.‘)
T: (Tourist laughs). Kesannya porno ya, Pak? (‗They look like
pornography, aren‘t they?‘)

Budi Purnomo
Sukuh Temple. The tour guide‘s utterance Yoni itu simbol Mr. P, kepunyaan
laki-laki, sedangkan lingga itu simbol Mrs. V, kepunyaan perempuan
follows Brown and Levinson‘s PPS9 (assert or presuppose knowledge of
and concern for hearer‘s wants).
stated that the utterance ‗Yoni is the symbol of Mr. P, the man‘s
belongings, and lingga is the symbol of Mrs. V, the woman‘s belongings‘
used by the tour guide is P (polite), 9 (18%) of them stated it N (normal)
and none of them stated in I (impolite). On the other hand, 63 (90%)
Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance Yoni itu simbol Mr. P,
kepunyaan laki-laki, sedangkan lingga itu simbol Mrs. V, kepunyaan
perempuan is P (polite), 7 (10%) of them stated it N (normal) and none of
them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be concluded that based on the foreign
and Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance
‗Yoni is the symbol of Mr. P, the man‘s belongings, and lingga is the
symbol of Mrs. V, the woman‘s belongings‘ Yoni itu simbol Mr. P,
kepunyaan laki-laki, sedangkan lingga itu simbol Mrs. V, kepunyaan
perempuan has polite level.
Data (17) Context
T: Pak, bisa diantar ke restoran di tengah waduk? (‗Can you
escort me to the restaurant in the middle of this dam, Sir?‘)
G: Bisa, bisa, mangga Pak. (‗Yes, yes. Come on, Sir.‘)
T: Masih jauh Pak jaraknya dari sini? (‗Is it far from here?‘)
G: Ndak, ya paling saududan. (‗No, it‘s just like ―smoking a piece
of cigarette‖.‘)
This conversation was between a tour guide (G) and a tourist (T) on
a boat sailing to floating restaurant of Gadjah Mungkur Dam. The tour
guide‘s utterance Ndak, ya paling saududan follows Brown and Levinson‘s
PPS6 (avoid disagreement).


stated that the utterance No, it‟s just “smoking a piece of cigarette” used
by the tour guide is P (polite), 24 (48%) of them stated it N (normal) and 9
(18%) of them stated it I (impolite). On the other hand, 21 (30%)
Indonesian tourists stated that the utterance „Ndak, ya paling saududan‘ is
P (polite), 38 (54.29%) of them stated it N (normal) and 11 (15.71%) of
them stated it I (impolite). So, it can be concluded that based on the foreign
and Indonesian tourists' perceptions, the use of the tour guide‘s utterance
No, it‟s just “smoking a piece of cigarette” (‗Ndak, ya paling saududan‘)
has normal level.
Conclusion
From the 17 data that represent the 13 kinds of conversational
discourse between the tourists and tourism-industry practitioners analyzed
above, it can be concluded the characteristics of politeness strategies and
levels as follows:
1. The tourism industry practitioners use various politeness strategies in
using tourism-service language to serve their guests. Some politeness
strategies appear in certain conversations, that is PPS6X and PPS15X in
receiving reservations; NPS1 in meeting tourists at the airport/railway
station; NPS8 in providing information upon arrival on the way to the
hotel; NPS1, NPS6 and NPS1X in helping tourists with their
registration; PPS6 and NPS2X in handling telephone enquiries; PPS11
in giving directions; PPS13 in giving information about art
performances and entertainment; PPS6X and PPS13X in beginning a
tour and describing the itinerary; PPS3, PPS6, PPS9, PPS11, PPS12,
PPS14 and NPS9 in describing points of interest on the tour route;
PPS6, PPS10 and PPS15 in serving meals at restaurants; PPS12 and

Budi Purnomo
PPS13 in describing processes used in making art objects (batik, leather

puppets, gamelan instruments, etc.); PPS6, PPS13 and PPS13X in
bargaining for souvenir prices and PPS6, and PPS9 in describing tourist
sites.
2. The tourism industry practitioners use various politeness levels in
tourism-service language to serve their guests. Some politeness levels
appear in certain conversations, that is N and I in receiving reservations;
P in meeting tourists at the airport/railway station; P in providing
information upon arrival on the way to the hotel; P in helping tourists
with their registration; P in handling telephone enquiries; P in giving
directions; N in giving information about art performances and
entertainment; P in beginning a tour and describing the itinerary; N in
describing points of interest on the tour route; P and N in serving meals
at restaurants; N in describing processes used in making art objects
(batik, leather puppets, gamelan instruments, etc.); N in bargaining for
souvenir prices and P and N in describing tourist sites.
This research shows that the politeness strategies in tourism-service

language as used by the tourism industry practitioners in Surakarta
Residency affect their politeness levels. The more appropriate they use the
politeness strategies, the more polite levels they get. Moreover, the more
polite their tourism-service language, the more satisfaction the tourists
obtain. Therefore, it is suggested that tourism industry practitioners should
always follow politeness strategies as well as possible when serving
tourists to ensure their satisfaction.
The research findings can be made as reference for further research
projects related to politeness strategies and levels in service language other
than in host-guest relationship (tourism), such as doctor-patient (medical),

teacher-student (education), bank teller-customer (banking), seller-buyer

(trade) relationships etc. in conversational discourse of socio-pragmatic
framework.
References
Brown, Penelope and Levinson, Stephen C. 1987. Politeness: Some
Universal in Language Use. Great Britain: Cambridge Univesity Press.
Dinas Pariwisata Kota Surakarta. Jumlah Kunjungan Wisatawan ke Solo.
http://www.visit-solo.com on 9 January 2009.
Grice, Paul H. 1975. Logic and Conversation, in Peter Cole and Jerry
Morgan (eds), Syntax and Semantics, vol.3: Speech Acts. New York:
Academic Press.
Leech, Geoffrey. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. New York: Longman
Group Limited.
Mey, Jabob L. 1993. Pragmatics: An Introduction. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers.
Nadar, F. X. 2009. Pragmatik dan Penelitian Pragmatik. Yogyakarta:
Graha Ilmu.
Rahardi, R. Kunjana. 2005. Pragmatik, Kesantunan Imperatif Bahasa
Indonesia. Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga.
Verhaar, J.W.M. 1996. Asas-Asas Linguistik Umum. Yogyakarta: Gadjah
Mada University Press.

Sa’adi
Sa’adi
State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga
Jl. Tentara Pelajar no. 2 Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia
saadidr@yahoo.com
Abstract
‗Traditional‘ theories of learning as pratical dimensions of psychology

majorly tend to focus their interest on humans‘ inner factors that influence
the process of learning such as intelligences, motivation, interest, attitude,
concentration and aptitude. They never connect it with instruments and
technological inventions such as multimedia, cyber celluler, internet, even
social organization, cultural values, traditions etc., while these are very
influential nowdays towards the progress and behaviors of human life. As
such the application of connectivism theory of learning which connect
those dimensions of life with learning activities, is now and then insparable
from any effort to promote the quality of humans‘ learning itself, including
in teaching and learning languages.
Keywords: Connectivism, Learning, Theory And Technology
Abstrak
Teori-teori pembelajaran ‗tradisional‘ sebagai dimensi praktis psikologi

umumnya cenderung berfokus pada ketertarikan mereka terhadap faktor-
faktor kepribadian manusia yang mempengaruhi proses pembelajaran,
misalnya kecerdasan, motivasi, minat, sikap, konsentrasi, dan bakat.
Namun, mereka belum pernah menghubungkan hal tersebut dengan faktor
lain, seperti perangkat pembelajaran dan penemuan-penemuan teknologi
seperti multimedia, seluler, internet; bahkan organisasi sosial, nilai-nilai
budaya, tradisi, dan lain-lain; padahal hal-hal tersebut saat ini sangat
berpengaruh terhadap perkembangan dan tingkah laku kehidupan manusia.
Hal itu dikarenakan penerapan tori pembelajaran konektivisme yang
menghubungkan dimensi-dimensi kehidupan tersebut dengan kegiatan
pembelajaran sampai kapanpun tidak dapat dikesampingkan dari berbagai

usaha untuk meningkatkan kualitas pembelajaran manusia, termasuk dalam

proses pembelajaran bahasa.
Kata Kunci: Konektivisme, Pembelajaran, Teori dan Teknologi
Introduction
Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three broad
learning theories most often utilized in the creation of instructional
environments. These theories, however, were developed in a time when
learning was not impacted through technology. Over the last twenty years,
technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how
we learn. Learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and
processes should be reflective of underlying social environments. Vaill
(1996:42). emphasizes that ―learning must be a way of being – an ongoing
set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to
try to keep abreast o the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring
events…‖
Learners as little as forty years ago would complete the required
schooling and enter a career that would often last a lifetime. Information
development was slow. The life of knowledge was measured in decades.
Today, these foundational principles have been altered. Knowledge is
growing exponentially. In many fields the life of knowledge is now
measured in months and years. Gonzalez (2004) describes the challenges
of rapidly diminishing knowledge life:
―One of the most persuasive factors is the shrinking half-life of
knowledge. The ―half-life of knowledge‖ is the time span from
when knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete. Half of
what is known today was not known 10 years ago. The amount of
knowledge in the world has doubled in the past 10 years and is
doubling every 18 months according to the American Society of
Training and Documentation (ASTD). To combat the shrinking

Sa’adi
half-life of knowledge, organizations have been forced to develop

new methods of deploying instruction.‖
Driscoll (2000: 14-17) notes some significant trends in learning:

1. Many learners will move into a variety of different, possibly unrelated
fields over the course of their lifetime.
2. Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience.
Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning.
Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of
practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related
tasks.
3. Learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime. Learning and
work related activities are no longer separate. In many situations, they
are the same.
4. Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains. The tools we use define
and shape our thinking.
5. The organization and the individual are both learning organisms.
Increased attention to knowledge management highlights the need for
a theory that attempts to explain the link between individual and
organizational learning.
6. Many of the processes previously handled by learning theories
(especially in cognitive information processing) can now be off-loaded
to, or supported by, technology.
7. Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where
(the understanding of where to find knowledge needed).
This definition encompasses many of the attributes commonly

associated with behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism – namely,
learning as a lasting changed state (emotional, mental, physiological (i.e.

skills)) brought about as a result of experiences and interactions with

content or other people. Driscoll (2000: 14-17) explores some of the
complexities of defining learning. Debate centers on:
1. Valid sources of knowledge - Do we gain knowledge through
experiences? Is it innate (present at birth)? Do we acquire it through
thinking and reasoning?
2. Content of knowledge – Is knowledge actually knowable? Is it directly
knowable through human experience?
3. The final consideration focuses on three epistemological traditions in
relation to learning: Objectivism, Pragmatism, and Interpretivism
Objectivism (similar to behaviorism) states that reality is external and
is objective, and knowledge is gained through experiences.
Pragmatism (similar to cognitivism) states that reality is interpreted,
and knowledge is negotiated through experience and thinking.
Interpretivism (similar to constructivism) states that reality is internal,
and knowledge is constructed.
All of these learning theories hold the notion that knowledge is an

objective (or a state) that is attainable (if not already innate) through either
reasoning or experiences. Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism
(built on the epistemological traditions) attempt to address how it is that a
person learns. Behaviorism states that learning is largely unknowable, that
is, we can‘t possibly understand what goes on inside a person (the ―black
box theory‖).
Gredler (2001) expresses behaviorism as being comprised of
several theories that make three assumptions about learning:
1. Observable behaviour is more important than understanding internal
activities

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2. Behaviour should be focused on simple elements: specific stimuli and

responses
3. Learning is about behaviour change
Cognitivism (Barabási; 2002: 76) often takes a computer

information processing model. Learning is viewed as a process of inputs,
managed in short term memory, and coded for long-term recall. Cindy
Buell details this process: ―In cognitive theories, knowledge is viewed as
symbolic mental constructs in the learner's mind, and the learning process
is the means by which these symbolic representations are committed to
memory.‖
Constructivism, then, suggests that learners create knowledge as
they attempt to understand their experiences (Driscoll; 2000:376).
Behaviorism and cognitivism view knowledge as external to the learner
and the learning process as the act of internalizing knowledge.
Constructivism assumes that learners are not empty vessels to be filled
with knowledge. Instead, learners are actively attempting to create
meaning. Learners often select and pursue their own learning.
Constructivist principles acknowledge that real-life learning is messy and
complex. Classrooms which emulate the ―fuzziness‖ of this learning will
be more effective in preparing learners for life-long learning.
(Brown:2002).
The root of connectivism: limitations of behaviorism, cognitivism, and

constructivism
A central tenet of most learning theories is that learning occurs
inside a person. Even social constructivist views, which hold that learning
is a socially enacted process, promotes the principality of the individual
(and her/his physical presence – i.e. brain-based) in learning. These

theories do not address learning that occurs outside of people (i.e. learning
that is stored and manipulated by technology). They also fail to describe
how learning happens within organizations. Learning theories are
concerned with the actual process of learning, not with the value of what is
being learned.
In a networked world, the very manner of information that we
acquire is worth exploring. The need to evaluate the worthiness of learning
something is a meta-skill that is applied before learning itself begins. When
knowledge is subject to paucity, the process of assessing worthiness is
assumed to be intrinsic to learning. When knowledge is abundant, the rapid
evaluation of knowledge is important. Additional concerns arise from the
rapid increase in information. In today‘s environment, action is often
needed without personal learning – that is, we need to act by drawing
information outside of our primary knowledge. The ability to synthesize
and recognize connections and patterns is a valuable skill (Brown:2002).
Many important questions are raised when established learning
theories are seen through technology. The natural attempt of theorists is to
continue to revise and evolve theories as conditions change. At some point,
however, the underlying conditions have altered so significantly, that
further modification is no longer sensible and an entirely new approach is
needed.
Some questions to explore in relation to learning theories and the
impact of technology and new sciences (chaos and networks) on learning:
1. How are learning theories impacted when knowledge is no longer
acquired in the linear manner?
2. What adjustments need to made with learning theories when
technology performs many of the cognitive
3. Operations previously performed by learners (information storage and

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retrieval).
4. How can we continue to stay current in a rapidly evolving information
ecology?
5. How do learning theories address moments where performance is
needed in the absence of complete understanding?
6. What is the impact of networks and complexity theories on learning?
7. What is the impact of chaos as a complex pattern recognition process
on learning?
8. With increased recognition of interconnections in differing fields of
knowledge, how are systems and ecology theories perceived in light of
learning tasks?
Connectivism as an alternative theory of learning

Including technology and connection making as learning activities
begins to move learning theories into a digital age. We can no longer
personally experience and acquire learning that we need to act. We derive
our competence from forming connections. Karen Stephenson states:
―Experience has long been considered the best teacher of
knowledge. Since we cannot experience everything, other people‘s
experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for
knowledge. ‗I store my knowledge in my friends‘ is an axiom for
collecting knowledge through collecting people (undated).‖
Chaos is a new reality for knowledge workers. Science Week

(2004) quotes Nigel Calder's definition that chaos is ―a cryptic form of
order‖. Chaos is the breakdown of predictability, evidenced in complicated
arrangements that initially defy order. Unlike constructivism, which states
that learners attempt to foster understanding by meaning making tasks,
chaos states that the meaning exists – the learner's challenge is to recognize
the patterns which appear to be hidden.

Meaning-making and forming connections between specialized

communities are important activities. Chaos, as a science, recognizes the
connection of everything to everything. Gleick (1987) states: ―In weather,
for example, this translates into what is only half-jokingly known as the
Butterfly Effect – the notion that a butterfly stirring the air today in Peking
can transform storm systems next month in New York‖ (p. 8). This
analogy highlights a real challenge: ―sensitive dependence on initial
conditions‖ profoundly impacts what we learn and how we act based on
our learning. Decision making is indicative of this. If the underlying
conditions used to make decisions change, the decision itself is no longer
as correct as it was at the time it was made. The ability to recognize and
adjust to pattern shifts is a key learning task.
Rocha (1998:3) defines self-organization as the ―spontaneous
formation of well organized structures, patterns, or behaviors, from random
initial conditions.‖ Learning, as a self-organizing process requires that the
system (personal or organizational learning systems) ―be informationally
open, that is, for it to be able to classify its own interaction with an
environment, it must be able to change its structure…‖ (p.4). Wiley and
Edwards acknowledge the importance of self-organization as a learning
process: ―Jacobs argues that communities self-organize is a manner similar
to social insects: instead of thousands of ants crossing each other‘s
pheromone trails and changing their behavior accordingly, thousands of
humans pass each other on the sidewalk and change their behavior
accordingly.‖.
Self-organization on a personal level is a micro-process of the
larger self-organizing knowledge constructs created within corporate or
institutional environments. The capacity to form connections between
sources of information, and thereby create useful information patterns, is

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required to learn in our knowledge economy.
Specific character and basic principles of connectivism

A network can simply be defined as connections between entities.
Computer networks, power grids, and social networks all function on the
simple principle that people, groups, systems, nodes, entities can be
connected to create an integrated whole. Alterations within the network
have ripple effects on the whole.
Barabási (2002: 106) states that ―nodes always compete for
connections because links represent survival in an interconnected world‖.
This competition is largely dulled within a personal learning network, but
the placing of value on certain nodes over others is a reality. Nodes that
successfully acquire greater profile will be more successful at acquiring
additional connections.
Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age linked
depends on how well it is currently linked. Nodes (can be fields, ideas,
communities) that specialize and gain recognition for their expertise have
greater chances of recognition, thus resulting in cross-pollination of
learning communities. Weak ties are links or bridges that allow short
connections between information. Our small world networks are generally
populated with people whose interests and knowledge are similar to ours.
Finding a new job, as an example, often occurs through weak ties. This
principle has great merit in the notion of serendipity, innovation, and
creativity. Connections between disparate ideas and fields can create new
innovations (Newell: 1999).
Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos,
network, and complexity and self-organization theories. Learning is a
process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements

– not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as

actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an
organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized
information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more
important than our current state of knowing (Brown; 2002:92).
Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are
based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually
being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and
unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new
information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also
critical.
Principles of connectivism (Gleick; 1987:147) are:
1. Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
2. Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information
sources.
3. Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
4. Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
5. Nurturing and maintaining connections are needed to facilitate
continual learning.
6. Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core
skill.
7. Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all
connectivist learning activities.
8. Decision-making itself is a learning process. Choosing what to learn
and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a
shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong
tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the
decision.

Sa’adi
Connectivism also addresses the challenges that many corporations

face in knowledge management activities. Knowledge that resides in a
database needs to be connected with the right people in the right context in
order to be classified as learning. Behaviorism, cognitivism, and
constructivism do not attempt to address the challenges of organizational
knowledge and transference. Information flow within an organization is an
important element in organizational effectiveness.
In a knowledge economy, the flow of information is the equivalent
of the oil pipe in an industrial economy. Creating, preserving, and utilizing
information flow should be a key organizational activity. Knowledge flow
can be likened to a river that meanders through the ecology of an
organization. In certain areas, the river pools and in other areas it ebbs. The
health of the learning ecology of the organization depends on effective
nurturing of information flow (Gredler; 2005).
Social network analysis is an additional element in understanding
learning models in a digital era. Art Kleiner (2002) explores Karen
Stephenson‘s ―quantum theory of trust‖ which ―explains not just how to
recognize the collective cognitive capability of an organization, but how to
cultivate and increase it‖. Within social networks, hubs are well connected
people who are able to foster and maintain knowledge flow. Their
interdependence results in effective knowledge flow, enabling the personal
understanding of the state of activities organizationally.
The starting point of connectivism is the individual. Personal
knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and
institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to
provide learning to individual. This cycle of knowledge development
(personal to network to organization) allows learners to remain current in
their field through the connections they have formed.

Landauer and Dumais (1997) explore the phenomenon that ―people

have much more knowledge than appears to be present in the information
to which they have been exposed‖. They provide a connectivist focus in
stating ―the simple notion that some domains of knowledge contain vast
numbers of weak interrelations that, if properly exploited, can greatly
amplify learning by a process of inference‖. The value of pattern
recognition and connecting our own ―small worlds of knowledge‖ are
apparent in the exponential impact provided to our personal learning.
Brown (2002) presents an interesting notion that the internet
leverages the small efforts of many with the large efforts of few. The
central premise is that connections created with unusual nodes supports
and intensifies existing large effort activities. Brown provides the example
of a Maricopa County Community College system project that links senior
citizens with elementary school students in a mentor program. The children
―listen to these ―grandparents‖ better than they do their own parents, the
mentoring really helps the teachers…the small efforts of the many- the
seniors – complement the large efforts of the few – the teachers.‖ This
amplification of learning, knowledge and understanding through the
extension of a personal network is the epitome of connectivism.
Implications of connectivism theory in learning practices

The notion of connectivism has implications in all aspects of life.
This paper largely focuses on its impact on learning, but the following
aspects are also impacted:
1. Management and leadership. The management and marshalling of
resources to achieve desired outcomes is a significant challenge.
Realizing that complete knowledge cannot exist in the mind of one
person requires a different approach to creating an overview of the

Sa’adi
situation. Diverse teams of varying viewpoints are a critical structure

for completely exploring ideas. Innovation is also an additional
challenge. Most of the revolutionary ideas of today at one time existed
as a fringe element. An organizations ability to foster, nurture, and
synthesize the impacts of varying views of information is critical to
knowledge economy survival. Speed of ―idea to implementation‖ is
also improved in a systems view of learning.
2. Media, news, information. This trend is well under way. Mainstream
media organizations are being challenged by the open, real-time, two-
way information flow of blogging.
3. Personal knowledge management in relation to organizational
knowledge management
4. Design of learning environment involvement that includes thought,
emotion, motivations, persons around, media, sources, etc.
Closure
Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the
tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal,
individualistic activity. How people work and function is altered when new
tools are utilized. The field of education has been slow to recognize both
the impact of new learning tools and the environmental changes in what it
means to learn.
Connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed
for learners to flourish in a digital era. This gives great contribution in
language teaching and learning.
Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important
than what we know today. A real challenge for any learning theory is to
actuate known knowledge at the point of application. When knowledge,

however, is needed, but not known, the ability to plug into sources to meet
the requirements becomes a vital skill. As knowledge continues to grow
and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the
learner currently possesses.
In case of language teaching, cognitivism as a paradigm of learning
is rich of horizons, strategies, methods and techniques such as the
application of multimedia, digital library, etc.
References
Barabási, A. L. 2002. Linked: The New Science of Networks. Cambridge:
MA, Perseus Publishing.
Buell, C. undated. Cognitivism. Cambridge: MA: Harvard University
Press.
Brown, J. S. 200. Growing Up Digital: How the Web Changes Work,
Education, and the Ways People Learn. New York: Penguin
Books.
Dromi, E. (Ed.).1993. Language and Cognition: A Developmental
Perspective. Norword, NJ: Ablex.
Driscoll, M. 2000. Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Needham
Heights: MA, Allyn & Bacon.
Gardner, H. 1985. The Mind's New Science: A History of the Cognitive
Revolution. New York, NY: Basic books.
Gleick, J. 1987. Chaos: The Making of a New Science. New York: Penguin
Books.
Gonzalez, C. 2004. The Role of Blended Learning in the World of
Technology. Stanford, Ca: Stanford University Press.
Gredler, M. E. 2005. Learning and Instruction: Theory into Practice – 5th
Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Newell, A. 1999. Unified Theories of Cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.

Moh. Masrukhi
Javanese Phrase Construction in Classical Books

Translation
Moh. Masrukhi
Faculty of Cultural Sciences,
Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta
Nusantara Street no.1 Bulaksumur,
Yogyakarta INDONESIA 55281
moh_masruhi@yahoo.com
Abstract
When the system or structure of language is used and influenced by other

languages, it is called interference, and it may ruin the concept of
structures. This research is about Arabic phrase construction that
influenced Javanese phrase construction in classical books translation
(TKK). This involvement appears when the concept of Arabic‘s
construction is translated literally into Javanese. The research was carried
out by applying theories of interference and translation. It‘s analysis
approach with contrastive analysis which is allegedly enabled errors to be
predicted from a comparison between Arabic‘s and Javanese‘s phrase
construction. The data were found and collected from several classical
books in Arabic language (KKbA) translated by different writers. The
results show that Javanese phrase construction (as the target language),
particularly, with noun phrases, with adjectival phrases, with numeral
phrases, and with prepositional phrases was influenced by Arabic‘s
murakkab or Arabic phrase construction (as the source language). Arabic
has its own concept of phrase construction. The phrase construction cannot
be translated into Javanese directly through word-for-word translation or
literal translation. Thus, Javanese in TKK became inconvenient and
ungrammatical. Arabic phrase construction is flipped around (with noun
phrases and adjectival phrases) and prepositions are used and translated
improperly or in the wrong position (with prepositional phrases). This
research has many implications for further use, such as: for the
identification and description of the deviation of Javanese phrase
construction which has been affected by direct translation from the Arabic
language, and furthermore, to increase the knowledge of those who are
learning by increasing the realization and awareness in writing and
translating (especially from Arabic to Javanese) about the fact that Arabic
and Javanese have their own regulations or patterns which are different

then the other language.
Keywords: Influence, Literal Translation, And Phrase Construction or

Murakkab
Abstrak
Ketika sebuah sistem atau struktur bahasa yang digunakan dipengaruhi

oleh bahasa lain, maka hal ini disebut interferens atau gangguan bahasa,
yang kemungkinan dapat pula merusak konsep struktur bahasa yang asli.
Dalam penelitian ini, penulis meneliti tentang pengaruh susunan frase
bahasa Arab terhadap susunan frase dalam bahasa Jawa dalam buku-buku
terjemah kitab kuning (TKK). Pengaruh tersebut nampak ketika konsep
susunan bahasa Arab diterjemahkan secara harfiah kedalam bahasa Jawa.
Penelitian ini disusun dengan menerapkan teori interferens (gangguan
bahasa) dan teori penerjemahan. Melalui pendekatan analisis dengan
analisis perbandingan antara bahasa Arab dan bahasa Jawa, diharapkan
penelitian ini dapat memprediksi kesalahan-kesalahan dalam penyusunan
kata-kata yang digunakan. Data-data penelitian didapatkan penulis dari
beberapa beberapa kitab kuning berbahasa Arab (KkbA) yang
ditrjemahkan oleh beberapa penulis. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan
bahwa susunan kebahasaan bahasa Jawa (sebagai bahasa target) terutama
pada frase kata benda, frase kata sifat, dan frase angka serta frase preposisi
telah dipengaruhi oleh susunan frase bahasa Arab (sebagai bahasa sumber)
atau yang biasa disebut murakkab. Padahal bahasa Arab mempunyai
konsep susunan bahasa sendiri yang berbeda dengan bahasa lain termasuk
bahasa Jawa. Oleh karena itu, susunan kata-kata dalam bahasa Arab tidak
dapat diterjemahkan secara langsung kata demi kata atau yang sering
disebut dengan istilah terjemah harfiah. Itulah yang menjadi penyebab
mengapa pada TKK yang sudah diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Jawa,
bahasanya menjadi tidak terstruktur sesuai tata bahasa Jawa pada
umumnya. Dalam penerjemahan kitab-kitab tersebut, susunan bahasa Arab
banyak yang terbalik-balik (jika disesuaikan dengan susunan frase kata
benda dan frase kata sifat) dan preposisi atau kata depan dan awalan yang
digunakan pun diterjemahkan secara tidak tepat atau pada posisi yang salah
(sesuai kaidah pembentukan frase preposisi). Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini
mempunyai banyak kegunaan, seperti halnya dalam mengidentifikasi dan
mendeskripsikan penyimpangan susunan bahasa Jawa yang dipengaruhi
oleh penerjemahan secara langsung dari bahasa Arab, dan untuk
meningkatkan pengetahuan orang-orang yang sedang mempelajari hal ini

Moh. Masrukhi
agar dapat meningkatkan kesadaran dan kewaspadaan mereka dalam

menulis dan menerjemahkan (terutama dari bahasa Arab ke bahasa Jawa)
karena pada kenyataannya masing-masing antara bahasa Arab dan bahasa
Jawa mempunyai aturan dan pola-pola kebahasaan tersendiri yang berbeda
dari bahasa-bahasa yang lain.
Kata Kunci: Pengaruh, Terjemah Literal, dan Konstruksi Frase atau

Murakkab
Introduction
―Pesantren‖ (Islamic boarding schools) regarded as having a
noble or ‗Great tradition‟, even though still in traditional way, have been
participating or involving in educating the nation through education in
Islamic boarding schools Since a long time ago until at present in
Indonesia. They are generally located in the village area or far from the
city. One of the objectives of that educational institution is to transmit the
teaching of Islam. The transmission of religious teachings is generally
done in traditional way and based on classic books (Al-Kutubul-
Mu‟tabarah) written in Arabic (KKbA), such as nachwu, Sharaf
(Linguistics), hadith, fiqh, ushul fiqh, tafsir (the knowledge of syari‘ah),
Tauchid (Sufism), and so forth.
Along with the fast growth of the religion of Islam in this country,
many people began to study Arabic (bA) and also the books that were
written in bA. Therefore in later centuries, bA becomes an important
device for the writing of religious books by the Indonesian clerics. The
results of their works were written in bA, Malay language (BM), and even
some people use Javanese language (BJ). The large number of this KKbA
was followed by the effort of translating it into BM or BJ. Van Ronkel
(1896) found a variety of Malay and Javanese manuscript as the translation
of between lines translation, such as Talkhis al-Minhaj (the excerpt of

Minhâjul-Àbidin (written by al-Ghazali), at-Tamchid fi Bayânit-fi Tauchid

by Abu al-Kasyi as-Salimi which are very popular and widely read in India
(the book became a collection of Indian libraries.) Another Javanese
Islamic Book is for instance Syarch fid-Daqâ'iq (the book which elaborate
cosmology and eschatology Daqâ'iqul-Akhbar) (Van Bruinessen, 1999:27-
28).
The translation of KKbA into BJ was intended to spread the
teachings of Islam to the public especially for those who did not
understand bA. However, as a result of that translation of KKbA emerged
interference or influence which can not be denied, namely the symptoms of
Arabic‘s syntactic influence on those translations (Van Ronkel, in Baroroh-
Baried, 1977:6-7). That influence was caused by the translation of KKbA
which was done literally and faithfully applying grammatical and the form
of bA.
According to researcher‘s observation, the influence of bA which
occurred on BJ in the translation of classical books can be seen on their
phrase construction. The BJ phrase in this TKK is considered to be
influenced greatly since the translation is still 'faithfully' following the
murakkab or the 'construction' of bA (mbA). The constructions of the
phrases are (i) the construction of nominal phrase, (ii) the construction of
adjectival phrase, (iii) the construction of numeral phrases, and (iv) the
construction of prepositional phrases. On the other hand, the construction
of the verbal phrases is not available in bA since basically every verb of
bA has been attached the 'pronouns' and' its ‗tenses‘ so that the
construction can not be said as a phrase, but clausal construction.
Interference, according to Poedjosoedarmo (1977), happens in all
linguistic aspects, including the aspects of phonological, morphological,
syntactical, lexical, and even the use of speech levels. In addition,

Moh. Masrukhi
according to Suwito (1983) interference also occurs in semantics.

From the above description, it is known that in fact the problems
related with interference are so broad or unlimited. Therefore, in this
research the discussion will be limited to grammatical interference,
especially the interference which occurs at the level of phrases.
In accordance with the focus of research above, theory that will be
used as the basis of this research is grounded theory related to the phrase
and its structure, the theory of inference and the theory of translation.
The theories of phrases had been argued by Verhaar (2001), Chaer
(1994), Ramlan (2001), and Asmah (1980). From their opinions, it can be
concluded that phrase is a grammatical unit consisting of two or more
words, but not exceed the limits of functions and can take part in one of the
syntactical function in sentence.
The theory of interference, among others, as proposed by
Weinreich (1970:1) can be noted as two or more languages will be said to
be in contact if they are used alternately by the same persons. The practice
of alternately using two languages is called bilingualism, whereas the doer
is called bilingual. At this point Emeneau (1980:38) calls it as "native-like
control of two languages" or the equally-good-mastery of two languages.
However, in reality, the equal mastery (equivalent competence or balanced
bilinguality) of two languages can not be regarded that someone is capable
of using both languages at once in line with the function and its domain,
because each individual has their own capabilities (Hamers, 1989:8). Thus,
two languages which is used interchangeably by bilingual are likely to
cause the influence or interference one another. The coverage of the
problem of interference ranges from how someone can keep those
languages remain separate, how he can mix up and understand the
influence of one language on the use of other languages.

The definition of translation is the shift of a set of information or

messages from the first language or source language into a second
language or target language. Benjamin Jowett (in Suhendra, 1994:7) says:
All translation is compromise: the effort to be the literal and the effort to be
idiomatic. Every translation result is the combination of transferring
writing and getting the equivalent in another language. Nida and Taber
(1969) consider such translation as the dynamic equivalent translation.
They say that:
"Dynamic equivalence is therefore to be defined in terms of the
degree to which the receptors of the message in the receptor
language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the
receptors in the source language."
Another opinion is also expressed by Kridalaksana (1985,

1993:162) who said that translation is the transfer of a mandate from
source language into target language which focus on the peculiarities
inherently lies on the target language. This means that the first and the
main problem in the translation effort is how the translator can find an
equivalent translation of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and the
elements of source language in the target language. If that so, it can be
found the result of good translation which is informative and it will not
cause any improper influence on the target language.
In the practice of translation according to Nababan (1999), there are
some types of translation. Some of them are: word-for-word translation,
free translation, literal translation, dynamic translation, faithful translation,
and so forth. According to Newmark (1981) (in Nababan, 1999:40) the
main function of translation is a tool to deliver ideas or feelings to others.
Therefore, the translation should not only have the form and meaning, but
also has function.

Moh. Masrukhi
It is quite different to the tradition of translation in pesantren

(Islamic boarding school) which is generally done by combining literal
translation and the faithful translation as stated by Machali (2000:51),
when the translator tried to reproduce the contextual meaning of the source
language, but still keeping its purpose, goal and the grammatical
construction. However, the results of the translation sometimes are still
considered inconvenient and ungrammatical and therefore, they are
difficult to understand. Therefore, this type of translation is considered can
not provide the right and appropriate information. For example the
following sentence in bA.
(1) Maka andadeake Allah marang wong iku saking saben saben
Ja'alal-lahu lahu min kulli
V N Pre+ Pr Pre Pre
Karupekan ing panggonane metu saking karupekan (I: 252)
dayyiqin makhraja
N Kt
―Allah (God) will surely give a way out of any difficulties
(Faced) by the person ―
The above sentence translation is difficult to understand for the

readers because the translator used the faithful literal translation. It means
that, when the translator tries to translate the above sentence he shifted a
train of words within the text into BJ and did not give the content or the
deep structure of the text. The result is just the unclear or obscure sentence
meaning. The Readers who do not understand bA are impossible to check
the original texts for various reasons, like they do not understand the
grammar of Arabic or they do not know the meaning of its words. As the
effect, the reader will find it difficult to understand the sentence:
Maka andadeake Allah marang wong iku saben-saben karupekan
ing panggonan metu saking karupekan
'Creating Allah (God) to that person from every trouble in a place
to go out from trouble'

By translating like that the meaning of the above sentence is on the

contrary, it means ―Allah makes difficulties for someone who will come
out of his difficulty or problem'. In fact, the mandate or information of the
text in bA is not the same with the writer‘s aimed mandate, that is Allah
will surely provide a solution to every difficulty (faced by the servant of
Allah)'.
The translation which is considered natural or reasonable is the
dynamic translation or communicative translation which can be defined an
effort of delivering the mandate contained in the source language by the
use of commonly used expression. To achieve such type of translation
there are three can be done: (1) an understanding of ideas in the source
language, (2) finding equality or similarity of ideas that fit in the target
language, and (3) producing versions in accordance with the norms or the
rules that exist in target language. Therefore, the bA sentence above (1)
above if it makes use or utilize the dynamic and communicative translation
will produce translations of bI as follows.
(1a). Maka Allah bakal maringi dalan (metu) marang karupekane
wong iku
'Then Allah will give a way (out) or solution of any
difficulties underwent or experienced by the servants of
Allah‘
Research methods
The data research was obtained from the various title and the author
of KKbA which have been translated into bJ, they are:
1. The translated book of Durratu an-Nâsihîn (the writing of Usman ibn
Hasan ibn Ahmad ash-Shakir and translated in bJ by KH Asrori). The
translated book contains 289 pages was printed by the Raja Murah
Publishers, Pekalongan, in the year of 1400 Hijriyyah (Islamic calendar) or

Moh. Masrukhi
1979. In this book describes about the 11th chapters about virtues in Islam,
such as the excellence of the month of Ramadan, the virtue of fasting, the
virtue of studying religion, and so forth. In this TKK data analysis then it
is given a code of (I).
2. The translated book of Bulûghu al-Marâm min Adillati al-Ahkam
(written by Ibn Hajar al-Àsqalani and translated by KH. Ahmad Subki
Masyhudi). The Book containing 545 pages was printed by the Raja Murah
Publishers, without mentioning the year of publication. The contents of this
book are the traditions is associated with the problems of fiqh (Islamic
law), such as the law of purification (Iistinja‘), the law of fasting, the law
of zakat (law of charity), and so forth. In this TKK data analysis then it is
given a code of (II).
3. The translated book the exegesis of Yaa sin (written by Ash-Sheikh
Hamami and translated into bJ by KH. Misbachul Mustafa). The translated
book contains 336 pages was printed by the Al-Hidayah Publishers,
Surabaya, without mentioning the year of publication. This book
explaining the various excellence and messages within surah Yaa sin (the
36th chapter of Al-Qur‘an). In this TKK data analysis then it is given a
code of (III).
4. The translated book of Duraru al-Bayan (the translated book of Syu
àbul Iman written by Ash-sheikh Zainuddin bin Ali bin Ahmad al-
Malibary (872 M). that book of Syuàbul-Iman originally written in a form
of the poetry verses then translated and explained (syarah) into the bJ by
KH Bisyri Mustafa. The book containing 70 pages of translation was
printed by the Menara Kudus Printing, the 1st print in 1967. The book
contains about issues related to faith or tauchid (Islamic theology). This
TKK data analysis was further given a code of (IV).
All of the above books consist of Matan (contents) with bA which

has given ―makna gandhul‖ (word-for-word translation attached to each

word on the text) and Syarah or explanation with BJ.
The Data taken from these KKbA were in a form of speeches that
contains a phrasal forms, i.e. the nominal phrase, adjectival phrase,
numeral phrase, and prepositional phrases. The obtained data was observed
and selected of the speech which reflects the use of language that is
considered non-standard. Furthermore, the collected data inventoried and
recorded in the data card. After data have been collected, it is conducted
the data selection and classification. The selection of data is done to select
the data that is considered to represent the intended forms. Classification of
data is done to choose the form that has similar elements. Furthermore,
steps to determine why a particular form (in bJ construction in TKK) is
considered non-standard and how the standard form should be performed.
Therefore, since this study involves two different language structures, the
method of data analysis that will be used is the contrastive method.
Dealing with the name of this method Sudaryanto (1993) it is called the
equivalent translational method and distributional method.
Contrastive method is an approach that assumes that the first
language will affect the use of the second language or vice versa. The
equivalent translational method is a method which is used to determine the
degree of equivalencies of the research object by the used of standardizing
device that has been determined. While the distributional method is a
method to analyze what are the elements which had formed the phrases,
how do they are distributed, and how do the relations between these
elements. To describe the equivalent method and the distributional method
for each of them there are two techniques, namely the basic techniques and
advanced techniques.
The basic techniques on the equivalent method are technique of

Moh. Masrukhi
classifying the determiner‘s elements. After that, it is used the continuation

technique, that is comparing and describing the differences construction of
bA and bJ phrases synchronically. The basic techniques of distributional
method it called technique the technique of direct distribution of the
element. The preliminary work of this technique of analysis is to identify
and divide the elements that make up a phrase. After that, the continuation
technique is used, that is the deletion technique, the subtitution technique,
and permutation technique (Sudaryanto, 1993:31-39).
The results and discussion

From the observation it can be found that the influence of mbA in
the construction of fbJ in TKK occurred in the construction of the
following phrases.
Nominal phrase
Nominal phrase of Javanese language (FNbJ) is formed from the
noun as a core element and followed by other elements as modificators or
attributes. However, in TKK, the construction of FNbJ is not like that, but
on the contrary, the core is located behind its modificators. Thus, the
construction is like the construction of an mbA. The reversal or
permutation of the constituent place or the filler elements of FNbJ occurred
in the following construction.
Deictic nominal phrase

The deictic FN (FND) is a phrase which its constituents consist of a
noun as the core, followed by demonstrative pronouns (PrD) as a
modificator. For example:
(2) calon lurah iki 'the candidate of the head of this village'
Meanwhile, like the above bA construction its sequence or order is

demonstrative pronouns (PrD) or ism-isyarah (IsI) and followed by ism

(N). For example:
(3) hâdzal-baitul - Wasi ù
PrD N A
Iki omah (sing) amba 'this wide or vast house'
From the above two examples it can be compared that they have a
different construction. On the example (2) its core constituents occupied
by the noun of calon lurah followed by the PrD ―iki‖ as its modificator¸
while on the example (3) its core constituencies would be preceded by the
IsI Hadza 'Iki / iku' (modificator), followed by a noun +A ―al-Baitul-
Wasiù‖ 'Omah amba' ( the core). Thus, the construction pattern of the
deictic nominal phrases of the bJ construction is N+PrD, while in bA is
PrD+N. In the data of TKK data it can be found which used the form of
PrD+N.
For instance:
(4) Dadi tambahan rong dirham ingdalem iki sorah ora jeneng
riba (I:176)
waz-ziyâdatu aidhan fî hâdzihish-shûrati laisat bi riban
N Ad Pre PrD N Neg Pre N
―The addition of two dirhams (like that) is not a form of riba‖
(5)..... lan aja janabat adus wong iku mahu ing dalem banyu (II: 14)
fi- dzalikal ma‘i
Pre PrD N
'... And don‘t do janabat shower using that water'
The construction of ―Iki sorah‖ and ―iku banyu‖ on the above

instances clearly a direct translation of the bA construction ―hâdzihish-
shûrati‖ and ―dzâlikal-mâ'i‖. Actually such construction can be interpreted
naturally and in accordance with the rules of the construction in FND bJ,
that is ―sorah Iki‖ this depiction or illustration' and ―banyu iku‖ 'this water'.

Moh. Masrukhi
Nominal quantitative phrase

The quantitative of FN (FNK) is the nominal phrase which its
modificatiors stating the quantity of its noun as its core of the construction.
For instance:
(6) kembang kanthil saler 'a kantil‘s flower'
The Modificators on FNK can be the numeralia stating the

uncontable number, like ―akeh‖, the number of one quantity, like
―sakampung‖ means ―one village‖, the value of ordering (ordinal value) ,
such as ―pasa kasepuluh‖ the 10th fasting day; the noun classifier words,
such as ―Gedhang satundhun‖ ―bunch of bananas‖. However, the data
which is found in the TKK construction of FNKbJ is precisely inverted or
permutated in its arrangement. The following examples are the
construction ofFNK bJ which its translation refers to the mBA.
(7) ... mangka anjupuka sira ing papat saking Manuk (I: 103)
... Fa khudz- arba àtan minath thuyûr
V+ Pr Num Pre N
'So Please, take four birds'
(8) Kula lajeng nyiduk sak gelas saking toyanipun telaga (I: 142)
Akhadztu ka'san minhu
V+Pr N+Num Pre+Pr
'Then I took a glass of the lake‘s water‘
(9) ... nuli anjupuk rong gelintir saking lempung (III: 48)
... Fa- akhadza bundûqataini minath-thin.
V+Pr N+Num Pre N
'Then (he) took two lumps of clay'
The construction of the phrase of papat saking manuk, sak gelas
saking toyanipun telaga, and rong gelintir saking lempung can not be
found in bJ. Such phrase construction is not in accordance with the rules of
bJ. The thing that can be found in the construction of bJ is the nominal
construction which the noun core is followed by numeralia as its
modificators such as manuk papat, toya telaga sagelas, and lempung rong
gelintir.

Possessive Nominal Phrases

The Possessive nominal phrases (FNP) are the phrase construction
in which the core element serves as 'the possessed' and the modificator‘s
element as the 'the possessor or the owner'. In the construction of FNP BJ's
the core relation and its modificators stated by the use of –e, ne, -ing, or –
ipun which are attached to the core of phrase construction, such as:
(10) jarane Muhammad ' the horse (owned by) Muhammad'
In the bA, such construction is called murakkab idhâfiy (MI), that

is the construction in which the two filler elements contains “Charf Jar‖
(‗min‟ means 'from' or „li ‗ means 'the property or possession') which are
hidden on the construction . Basically, the positions of the elements of of
this MI are the same to FNPbJ (the possessed and the possessor or the
owners). Consider the following example and translation‘s construction.
(11) Chishânu Muhammadin
Jarane Muhammad 'horse (owned by) Muhammad'
However, the data found in TTK, the construction of FNP like this
was enormous in number have been translated similar to the original text
and they are not like as mentioned above so that it becomes the unusual or
weird FNP construction. For instance:
(12) kubur punika ... utawi dados luwangan saking neraka (I: 119)
Aw- chufratan min chufarin nairani
N Pre N N+Num
―The cemetery .... or become a the hole of hell ―
(13) Kutha kang kebak saking anak turun Adam (III: 110)
madînatan mamlû'atan min bani Adama
N A Prep N N
'The town is full of the descent or generation of Adam‘
(14) Tegese ngreksa bekakas keduwe lanang utawa wadon (IV: 29)
wachfazha farjaka

Moh. Masrukhi
V +Pr N+ Pr
'It means keeping his genitalia‘
From the examples above it can be observed that the construction

of the phrase luwangan saking neraka is the literal translation of chufarin -
nairâni '(12), anak turun Adam (13), and bekakas keduwe lanang utawa
wadon from farjaka (14).
In essence, the phrase construction should be translated the same as
FNP bJ construction, namely luwangane neraka, anak turune Nabi Adam,
and bekakase wong lanang utawa wadon ‗the genitals of men or women'.
Adjectival phrases
Adjectival Phrases (FA) is a phrase construction which consists of
adjectival phrases as the core and followed by other elements as
modificators. The characteristics of adjectives generally can be seen if that
word can accompany nouns, and it can be attached to Javanese adverbs
like rada, luwih, banget, etc. the presence of these adverbs complements
form the construction like rada putih, luwih ayu, manis banget, ora ayu
etc.
However, the above definition is quite different from the adjectival
construction in bA. In bA, the adjektival construction is a construction
which is composed of the maushuf 'the characterized' as the core (in a form
of a noun) and followed by shifat 'the things which is describe or elaborate'
as a modifier (adjective form). The filler element of Washfiy murakkab
may consist of nouns + adjectives, adjectives, adjective + adverbs, or
nouns + nominal phrase. For example:
(15) sayyâratun jadîdatun
N A
The new car
(16) charâratun syadîdatun
A Ad

Hot very ―very hot‖
It should be elaborated that in the adverbs of bA it can not be found

the synonym of ‗banget‘ which means ‗very‘ (superlative form) . However,
to produce a meaning which is equivalent it can be obtained through the
formation of Shighah mubâlaghah (SM), that is Ism Fa‘il ‗the doer as noun
' which is formed by the pattern of fa` il, such as Àzhim, syadîd, and so
forth. In bJ, the word is translated as an example of (16).
In addition, Murakkab Washfiy as in example of (16) can be
changed on reverse order that is the emphasis on the element of its
modificator (topicalization) which is placed before the core of the phrase.
Such topicalization can be formed with Murakkab Idhafi (MI) or a
possessive phrase. However, the translation into bJ should be kept like the
adjectival phrase of (example 15) because if it is translated as the usual or
common translation of MI it becomes the unacceptable phrase
construction. For example:
(17) syadîdatul-harârati
Ad A
Very hot
In TKK the founded data the translation is as common as the
translation of how to translate MI exactly similar like the above example.
For instance:
(18) ... jalaran bangete panas iku saking umube Jahanam (II: 131)
... Fa'inna syiddatal-charri min faichi Jahannam
Ad A Pre N N
'... That intense heat is caused by the outburst of Hell‘
(19) Daging iku padha meretheli saking bangete panase banyu

(III: 290)
waqa àt min syiddati -charârati
dzâlikal-mâ'i
V+ Pr Pre Ad A
PrD N

Moh. Masrukhi
'The flesh was falling due to the intense heat of water'
The phrase of bangete panas in the example of (18) and (19)

above is clearly the result of the direct translation of the construction of
syiddatal-charri which consists of syiddatun and chârrun for expressing
the sense of 'ownership', as an example (16), namely the existence of
additional -e or ne on the element 'the posessed', as an example (11).
Numeral phrase
Numeral Phrases (FNum) or in bA called `murakkab „adadiy
basically has the same definition, namely the phrase construction which
consists of numeralia as the first constituent which is called ―adad‖ or 'the
counter' and the other one in a form of noun which is called “ma‟dud‖
which means ―the counted‖ or ―the calculated'.
The interference of numeral phrase construction in TKK is assumed
to occur because of the habit of translating the typical bJ on pesantren
(Islamic boarding school) on plural nouns, i.e. pira-pira which means
'some or several'. For example:
20) / tumla'u / kang di kebaki apa kutha/ min niàmil-lahi/saking
pira-pira nikmati Allah/ (I: 31)
Kutha kang dikebaki saking pira-pira nikmate Allah
'A town which full of various grace of Allah'
The construction of pira-pira nikmat ―beberapa nikmat‖ is the

translation result of plural noun of bA ni‟amun from ni'matun. Pira-pira is
the main re-shaped or re-constructed uncountable which is the form
variation of the form pirang-pirang, but each of them has different
meanings. The difference of meaning of those two numeralia can be seen
in the following phrase.
(21) bojone pirang-pirang 'he has so many wife'
(22) dhuwit pira-pira entek 'No matter how much money he has it

always runs out'

(23) * pira-pira dhuwit
If we consider the above examples, it can be proved that pira-pira

has different meaning compared to pirang-pirang. While the form of pira-
pira if its construction is modified or changed it become unacceptable one
(Example of 23). Similarly, the phrase construction of pira-pira nikmat, if
the intended meaning is ‗some or several' is considered as an unacceptable
construction. In bJ, in expressing the uncountable amount which have the
meaning of 'some or meaning' is sawetara (Sudaryanto, 1991:106,
Wedhawati et al., 2001:279).
In TKK the form of such translation can be found as follows:
(24)... Siji masjid saking pira-pira masjide Allah (I: 32)
... Fi masjidin min masjidil-Lahi
Pre N.t Pre N.j N
'... One of the mosques of Allah'
(25) Para ulama‘ iku anduweni pira-pira drajat kang

ngungkuli.......... (I: 66)
lil-ùlamâ'i darajâtun fauqa
Pre N. j N. j
'Those clerics/islamic sholars have the degree above the
Believers'
If it is observed of the above example, it can be seen that the phrase

of pira-pira masjide Allah and pira-pira drajat is actually a numeral phrase.
However, the translation was influenced by the habitual ways of translating
the plural noun of bA into bJ of the typical pesantren, that is by adding the
word pira-pira over the noun which ―can be counted'. According to the
rules of acceptable shape of the numeral phrase bJ is:
(24a) masjid-masjide Allah
'Some or several of the mosques of Allah'
(25a) sawetara drajat
'Few degrees or position'

Moh. Masrukhi
Prepositional phrase
Prepositional phrase (FP) is a prepositional phrase which its
constituents has the stringing up or c combining function and the other
constituents following them serves as the axis or centre, such as saka
Ngajogjakarta which 'from Jogjakarta'. However, the finding data TKK‘s
construction has the prepositional phrases which imitate dan make the
direct translation from the original text so it is very often the form of the
translation does not fit or match to the context, it is not in the right place,
and even more, there are the excessive use of words. For example:
(27) Kanjeng Nabi iku siram saking patang perkara
(II: 92) 4x
Kana Rasulullah yaghtasilu min „arba‟in”
V N V Pre Num
'The Messenger of Allah takes a bath or shower because of four
matters'
(28) ... andadekna sira- ing atase saben-saben gunung

saking manuk papat ing sak perangan (I:102)
“tsummaj àl ` ala kulli jabalin minhunna juz‟an
V +Pr Pre Pre N Pre+ Pr N (Num)
'Then put the parts (of those birds) in each mountain in its place.
If we observe it partially the phrase of saking patang perkara and

saking manuk papat from the above example, it is true that it is the FP
(prepositional phrase) construction, but if the FP is put as the part of the
function of the sentence it becomes unacceptable. That unacceptance is
caused by the existence of prepositions that is not in line and gives
influence to the contextual meaning of the phrase. To achieve the
accordance over the context, the used preposition should be replaced in the
form of conjunctions like kerana (example of 27).
The example phrase of (28) saking manuk papat ing sak perangan
is the result of a confusing translation. It happened when the translator only

shifted or transferred the original text into bJ. The real idea contained in
the source language is in fact that Allah (God) commanded the people to
cut up those four birds. Then each piece was placed in four directions of
(the mountain). Thus, the use of preposition in the phrase of saking in that
phrase is not precise or accurate. The true form should be the noun of
perangane should become the core or main phrase. In the dynamic
translation, a translator is not necessarily to be faithful to the source
language texts so that the result of the sentence would be easily to
understand and comprehend by the reader. The above sentence should be
translated as follows.
(27a) Kanjeng Nabi iku siram kerana patang perkara
'The Prophet is commanded to take shower because of four
matters'
(28a) Ing-saben saben gunung selehana perangane manuk papat
mahu
or
perangane manuk papat mahu selehna ing saben-saben
gunung
'Put the parts of those four dead bird in every direction of
the mountain'
In the preposition of bA the word min can be used to express

various meanings, as in the use in bJ, among others bayaniah 'the
explanation' or 'made of /made of the material', ibtida‟iyah ' the beginning'
(of place or time), zharfiyah 'place', sababiyah / ta `lil ' causation or
purpose' and so on (al-Ghalayayniy, 1986, III: 173-175, al-Hasyimi,
1345:277-278).
The bJ preposition which in its use also gets the influence of bA is
the preposition of àn. The preposition of àn usually translated into
saking, although such preposition can be used to show the other meaning,
such as amarga and ngenani. However, the TKK preposition it is only
translated saking therefore the construction form is uncommon in bJ. For

Moh. Masrukhi
instance:
(29) Kanjeng Nabi iku ditakoni saking tentang aling-alinge
salat (II: 180)
su'ila rasulul-Lahi „an sutratil-mushalli
V N prep N N
'The Prophet was asked about the borderline of shalat (Prayer)'
On above example actually the case of that phrase construction it

should be translated as ngenani or bab aling-alinge salat ―it is about the
borderline of salat (prayer)'. The other use of preposition in bJ which is
influenced by the use of the particle of bA is ing dalem which means ―di
dalam‖. That preposition is the typical translation of pesantren in
translating fi in bJ. Because of that the word fi is always translated as ing
dalem, although for the purpose of translating ―ing to be only said as ―in‖y,
then on that arranged constituents meaning becomes unclear in meanings.
For instance:
(30) Ing dalem tentang sifat hajine Kanjeng Nabi (II: 46)
Fi- shifati hajjin-nabiy SAW
Prep N N N
'it is about the nature of the pilgrimage of the Prophet SAW'
The use of the preposition Ing dalem in above sentence is not

appropriate because the prepositions of ing dalem usually used to express
the meaning of ‗place‘. Meanwhile, tentang is not the preposition of BJ.
Therefore, the unfit or unmatch elements should be deleted (ing dalem) or
replaced (tentang) with the correct preposition, namely ngenani, ngingingi
or bab for the misuse of tentang. Thus, it is not all the existing particles in
the text should be translated, particularly if the translation in the target
language becomes the unacceptably and uncommonly used construction.

Conclusions and Suggestions

From the result of the above data analysis, it can be seen that the
construction of fbJ in TKK have been greatly influenced or interfered by
the construction of mbA so that the translation result of fbJ construction
becomes uncommon or unusual. The peculiarity of the use of that
construction is generally caused by the frequent use of the mbA
construction, particularly the nominal phrases and the prepositional
phrases. A translator is very often just seeking for and presenting the
equivalent of the words (they do not present the content within the phrase)
into bJ, while its construction is still faithful or in line with the construction
of mbA.
From the above elaboration, it can be concluded that the translator
of TKK can be described as follows.
1. The translators have been affected by the habit of translating KKbA at
the pesantren (Islamic boarding school).
2. The translators tend to use the methods of literal translation rather than
the method of dynamic translation or the natural, flexible and
communicative.
3. Translators give more emphasis or faithful to the form or the grammar
of source language rather than the grammar of target language.
4. The competence of the translator towards the grammar of bJ or the
other linguistic problems is weak, so the result of the translation is
very often look inflexible, difficult to understand, and deviant from the
grammar of bJ.
From the above explanation, then there are some questions arise.
One of them is the question whether the interpreter is greatly influenced by
the previous translator or they do not understand or they never fully study

Moh. Masrukhi
the grammar of bJ through formal education, such as schools. If this is the

case, presumably it can be understood that there is no balance between
level of mastery of grammar B1 (Javanese language) and their mastery of
grammar B2 (Arabic).
There are some suggestions as the consideration for further
improvement as follows.
1. There should be a training and workshop for translators, especially the
Arab-Java translator by the department concerned with this group.
2. The translator should carefully accurately the best he can do in shifting
or transferring the author‘s mandate or meaning from source language
to target language in the hope that the result of his translation can be
easily understood and comprehended by the public.
3. It is no need for the translator to be faithful to use the language
construction of the source language if in the target language has its
own language construction.
4. The translator can choose the appropriate translation method, such as
the dynamic translation methods so that the author‘s mandate or
meaning can be translated naturally to the target language. All the rare
or foreign entities or less natural as far as possible can be avoided.
Furthermore, for the researchers who have an interested in the field

of language research (especially the interference of bA in bJ or bI) there is
a widely open opportunity to investigate this problem since the research
materials in the form of manuscripts, both in bJ and the Malay language is
still abundant which has not been investigated and studied. For this
purpose, it should be conducted the more complete research which cover
other level areas for the opportunity for other researchers.

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INDEX
A J
Adjectival phrases, 229 Javanese Phrase Construction, 215
Analisis Pragmatik, 128
K
B Konektivisme, 202
Bahasa Dalam Pelayanan Konstruksi Frase, 217
Pariwisata, 164
Budi Purnomo, 163 L
Lacan, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112,
C 114, 116, 117, 118, 120, 122,
Cermin Panggung, 108 124, 125
Chillingworth, 119, 121 Lacanian Reading, 107
Classical Books Translation, 215 Learning, 201, 202, 203, 205, 206,
Cognitive linguistics, 132, 134 208, 209, 210, 214
Comedy TV. See humor learning practices, 212
Connectivism, 201, 207, 209, 210, Literal Translation, 216
211, 213
Conversation, 150, 161, 174, 176, M
177, 178, 180, 181, 182, 183, Marjan Yazdanpanahi, 107
185, 186, 190, 192, 194, 196, 200 Maxim of manner. See maxim
Conversational maxims, 150 Maxim of quality. See maxim
Cooperative principle, 150 Maxim of quantity, 151, See maxim
Maxim of relevance. See maxim
D Maxims, 145, 161
Demo Sabun, 145, 149, 157 Membaca Ala Lacania, 108
Moh. Masrukhi, 215
G Murakkab, 216
Good Earth, 127, 128, 129, 130,
131, 132, 134, 135, 143 N
Nama-Sang-Ayah, Dan Hasrat, 108
H Nominal phrase, 225
Humor, 145, 146, 149, 153, 162 Numeral phrase, 231
I P
Influence, 216, 239 Pearl S Buck, 127, 130, 131
Pelanggaran, 146

Pembelajaran, 202 T
Pengaruh, 217 Terjemah Literal, 217
Perspektif Sosiologi, 128 The Mirror Stage, 107
Politeness Levels, 163 The-Name-Of-The-Father And
Politeness Strategies, 163 Desire, 107
pragmatic analysis, 127, 143 Theory And Technology, 201
Prepositional phrase, 233 Theory of Learning. See
Psychoanalytic, 108 connectivism
Tingkat Kesopanan, 164
R
Tourism-Service Language, 163
Robert Wringhim, 108
Rochmat Budi Santosa, 127 V
Violation, 145, 153
S
Sa‘adi, 201 W
Setia Rini, 145 Wang Lung, 127, 129, 130, 131,
sociological perspective, 127 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138,
Strategi-Strategi Kesopanan, 164 139, 140, 141, 142

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Wilis, J. 1996. A Framework for Task- Based Learning. Longman:
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Carr, Kathryn S. 1990. How Can We Teach Critical Thinking?
Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9218/critical.htm
Stadler, Stefanie. 2011. Intercultural communication and East Asian
politeness. In Kadar, Daniel Z. and Sara Mills (eds). Politeness
in East Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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REGISTER published by English Department of Educational Faculty,
State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN) of Salatiga, Jl. Tentara Pelajar No.
2 Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia, 57012.
Website: journalregister.stainsalatiga.ac.id
e-mail: jurnalregister@yahoo.com

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REGISTER

Language and Language Yeaching Journals

Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 ISSN 1979-8903

The first issuance

Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 ISSN 1979-8903

A Pragmatic Analysis and Sociological Perspective on Pearl S Buck‘s

Violating the Maxims of Quality and Quantity on the ‗Demo Sabun‘

Politeness Strategies and Levels

Introduction to Views of Connectivism Theory of Learning

Javanese Phrase Construction in Classical Books Translation

Submission Guidelines .........................................................................245

A Lacanian Reading of the Two Novels The Scarlet Letter

Keywords: Lacanian Reading, The Mirror Stage, The-Name-Of-The-

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 107

Kata Kunci: Membaca Ala Lacania, Cermin Panggung, Nama-Sang-

108 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 109

Therefore, Robert is attracted to the Devil who is like his own

110 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

That I was a great, a transcendent sinner, I confess. But still I had

This suggests that Robert is not really sure about himself. He

If we look at the exact definition of the mirror stage in An

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 111

112 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

That‘s when he sees himself separate and different from others.

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 113

of flowers and wreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualized

That autonomy of the child becomes more obvious when Hester

114 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

Therefore, we can see that he is not sure whether it is him

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 115

116 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

He calls Wringhim his father. Throughout the novel it is suggested

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 117

118 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 119

120 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

love should remain unfulfilled for ‗desire‘ to form.

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 121

122 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

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124 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

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126 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

A Pragmatic Analysis and Sociological Perspective on

Rochmat Budi Santosa

Key words: pragmatic analysis, sociological perspective, Good Earth.

Penelitian ini memaparkan perjuangan hidup para penduduk di Asia Timur

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 127

adalah untuk menemukan aspek-aspek pragmatik dan sosiologis dari novel

Kata Kunci: Analisis Pragmatik, Perspektif Sosiologi, Good Earth

128 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 129

Thus it is understood that the environment influences an individual and

Pearl S Buck and Her Novel

130 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 131

hiding before being rescued by Americans gunboats (http://nobelprizes.

132 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

Escandell-Vidal proposes that ―social aspects of communication

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 133

Cognitive linguistics is a theoretical framework that derives from

134 REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010

REGISTER, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 2010 135