CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, background of the study,
statementof the problems, objectives of
the study, scope and limitation of the study, significance of the study, and the definition of the key terms are
discussed.
1.1 Background of the Study Language is a power that is used to make one’s
statement stronger.
Someone uses language to
influence people. Moreover, it can hide the fact to avoid misunderstanding between the speaker and
the hearer or the writer and the reader.
This is the same things with euphemism thatimplying the use of polite expression.
In language use, there is common
way that is used by people to speak in polite
expression, it is usually called euphemism. Euphemistic words and expressions allow us to talk about unpleasant
things and neutralize the unpleasantness,
e.g. the subject of death and dying, unemployment, and criminality (Wardhaugh, 1986:231).
The use of euphemism is one of
the real examples ofsociolinguistics applications.
Wardhaugh (1986:231) states that euphemism is endemic in society: we are constantly renaming things and
repackaging them to make the sound ‘better’.
With euphemism we make the meaning of word to be more polite. For example in Indonesian euphemism the word
“bodoh” iseuphemized as “kurang cerdas”
and in American English euphemism, the word “stupid” is euphemized as “less thoughtful”.
Friedman (2004:01) states that
the use of euphemismwill be more interesting
when it is used for specific purpose ina certain communication. It is not only important for certain group of
people, butit also involves all levels of society to use euphemism to avoid losing face.
Euphemism is a word or phrase that is
used in a place of a disagreeable or offensive term. When a phrase becomes a euphemism, it is literal meaning is often
pushed aside. Commonly, euphemisms are
as alternative choice for expressing the speakers’ or writers’ ideas which are simply prefers not to use in given occasion
(Dianasari, 2004:02).
Referring the importance to use
euphemism in communication above, in Islamic
teaching also teach us to use euphemism. Qur’an as the main source of Islamic teaching clearly discusses the
importance to use euphemism in communication.
It is written in Surah Al-Israa’ 17:53 “And
say to My servants (that) they speak that whichis best; surely the shaitan sows
dissension among them; surely the
shaitan is an open enemy to man”.
It can be interpreted that Allah proclaims
everyone to speak in polite expression
and polite language to avoid disagreement that is made by devil because devil is the real enemy to man. It is
related with the principle of euphemism
that the dispreferred expression should be replaced by the preferred expression to execute user’s
communicative intention on a given context
and to avoid possible loss of face.
Considering the importance to use the polite
language or the polite expression
especially in Islamic teaching, the researcher is inspired to choose euphemism as the topic of her study. There are
somereasons why euphemism is studied.
First it is related to sociolinguistics aspects, many social taboo words are forbidden by a certain strata of society,
elite politicians, and executives, especially in religion and these social taboo words
should be replaced by euphemism (Mazidah,
2007:5). To sum up, euphemism is very effective in substituting words and phrases with negative connotation with
milder words and phrases.
Second, it is related to psycholinguistic;
since, it deals with language functions
such as giving a request, apologizing, denying, demanding the intended effect to do something without giving offence;
since, those functions with some euphemistic
expressions are used in directly or vaguely (Mazidah 2007:6). In addition, there is psychological need in
communicating the ideas with hearer or reader.
Third, in terms of academic
facets, euphemism is related to the use of language in semantic discourse; since, this is
related to the interpretation of the meaning
of the euphemism. For example “to kill” is replaced by the euphemism of “to hunt down”. Euphemism cannot be
contextualized because the words really depend
upon context. For example, the expression “you are bag” means (in appropriate context) “you are whore” (Chaika,
1982:149).
Forth, euphemism is the instrument of keeping
the relationship in good harmony between
the writer and the reader or the speaker and the listener (Allan and Burridge, 1991:7).
In addition, the reason in
studying euphemism is due to the persuasive use of it in the reform era. This fact made many
peoplebelieve that euphemism always
brings negative effect. Euphemism deals withtactful and polite terms to replace the unpleasant and frightening
reality. Through that statement, the researcher
wants to convince that the positive usesof euphemism provided that the expressions are properly used in the
appropriate audience.
Euphemism becomes our today’s
phenomena. It is alsooccurring in most of
our media such as television. Television is one of electronic media, which
serve information in audio and visual
form. In Indonesia there are many TV stations for example, RCTI, SCTV, TPI, METRO TV etc, which
broadcast many interesting programs such
as; news, entertainment, and lifestyle programs.
In this study, the researcher
chooses METRO TV as her object because METRO
TV bravely uses euphemism in its news. METRO TV is one of TV station which concern on the news program and
it isan Indonesian TV station which has
number one rank for its news quality. Besides, METRO TV is the first TV station which broadcasts English news
program inIndonesia, the name of the program
is “Indonesia This Morning” (http/id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro TV).
Indonesia this morningnews
program is chosen because Indonesia This Morningis the first English news program that
is broadcasted in Indonesia. This program
broadcasts news about politic, law, economy, culture, and sport, at the regional, national, and international domain
(www.metrotvnews.com). Indonesia This
Morning serves news in Standard English and tries hard for the best service to present actual news that can be accepted
very well by society.
Besides, the researcher is
interested in analyzing it because based on her preliminary observation; Indonesia This
Morningnews program especially in political
news bravely uses many types, styles, andfunctions of euphemism.
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