CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study Idiomatic
expressions are often
used by the
people when they
are communicating. Idiomatic
expressions have existed
since the beginning
of language. An
idiom is an
expression that is
a term or
a group of
words whose meaning
cannot be deduced
from the literal
definitions. It can be a
phrase or sentence
whose meaning is
not obvious through
knowledge of the
individual meanings of
the constituent words
but must be
learned as a
whole (Hornby.
1987:177). In linguistic, an
idiom is widely assumed to be figures of speech that contradict the principle of compositionality
(Cooper, 1998).
Idiomatic expressions can also be
defined as words or expressions which are
usually used colloquially
in phrasal units
consisting of usually
at least two words as
elements in which
the meaning of
each of the
elements are different from
the meaning of
the units as
a whole (Feare,
1980:5). The Meaning
of idiomatic expression
can be defined
by two ways:
lexically and contextually (Cooper, 1998). From its lexical viewpoint,
the meaning of idiomatic expression is the
meaning that is
conventionally assigned to
the commonly used
in dictionary, for example: kick
bucket means reaching the end of one’s life, in other word it means die. But, if you try to
understand anidiomatic expression lexically, in
most cases, it
will make a
very little sense
because most of
idiom is an expression
that does not mean as lexically stated.
Hence, most of its meaning is often
quite different from the dictionary or even from its word-to-word.
1 On the other hand, the meaning of idiomatic
expression can be understood contextually because
some idioms have
various meanings depending
on the context. According to Lyons (1984:143),
contextual meaning is the meaning of a word according to the situations in which they
are used; different situation might give a
sentence in a
different meaning. In
short, it can
be said that
contextual meaning is
the meaning according
to the context.
For example: “Bill
is an old handin
the store”. This means that Bill has a lot of experience in the store. An “old hand” refers to a person with experience.
Studies on meaning and idiomatic
expressions have been carried out by a number of
researchers before. The
previous research about study
of meaning, exactly on lexical and contextual meaning that
had been conducted by Mukhlish (2004), for example, who analyzed the terms of
law used by case investigators in the court of justice in Malang. He reported that
there are many terms that are used in
the court of justice in Malang derived from foreign language, such as Dutch, English
and Latin. In
understanding the terms
used by case
investigator in the court of
justice in Malang
sometimes cause different
perception and different comprehension about the cases because of the
using a different terms of law on practices in investigating. Therefore, those
terms are described contextually based on
the case, which is aimed to avoid misinterpretations and misunderstanding.
While, the
same research also
be conducted by
Andriyani (2003). She analyzed the
contextual meaning on
Sunan Kali jaga’s Kidung
Rumekso Ing Wengi
(Javanese Dhandanggula). Andriyani
reported that the
song (Sunan Kali jaga’s Kidung
Rumekso Ing Wengi
(Javanese Dhandanggula) contain
various 1 contextual meaning. Each of them describes
people’slife as a human being at that time.
Wardhani (2003) who studied the
idiomatic expression in novel by John Steinbeck “The
Pearl” found that
the idiomatic expression
on that novel is interesting
to be learned. Then, Maulita (2005) who studied idiomatic expressions in lyrics of Norah Jones’ songs found that
there are at least 28 kinds of idiomatic expressions used in Norah Jones’ lyric songs;
for example, the break of day, all alone,
a bag of bones, etc.
From
the previous studies
above, we obtained
the difference which
is presented by this study. The
difference between this study and previous research is from the object of the study. The object
which is taken in previous studies is different from
the object of the study
in this research.
In the previous
study analyzed the term that used
by case investigators in the court of justice in Malang (Mukhlish,
2004), Andriyani (2003)
who analyzed Sunan
Kali jaga’s Kidung Rumekso Ing Wengi (Javanese Dhandanggula),
analysisthe lyric of Norah Jones’ songs
(Maulita, 2003) and novel (Wardhani, 2003). While, this study take poems written by Jalalluddin Rumiwhich applied
idiomatic expressions as the object of study.
More over, these poems as the object of study, is different from others that have
ever been discussed
in previous research.
Most of previous research
took western literary
works, such as the poems
by Shakespeare, Robert
Burns, etc.
While, this study chose
Jalalluddin Rumi’spoems that have been translated into English, because the original language of
Jalalluddin Rumi’spoems is Persian.
In this
research, poem becomes
an object of
the study. Poem
is one of literary
works which sometimes apply an idiom in it; of course, each idiom that 1 appears has
a certain meaning.
Webster (1972: 1099) stated
that poem is arrangement
of word written or spoken, traditionally rhythmical composition. It is sometimes
rhymed, expressing experiences,
ideas, or emotion in
a style more concentrated, imaginative,
and powerful than
that of ordinary
speech or prose.
Meanings in poem are significant
as Alexander (1973:15) says: “it is one thing to gain
pleasure from a
poem and quite
easy to be
able to say why
you liked it.
Before you can say
why you like a
poem, it is first necessary
to understand its meaning
well”.
From
the statement above,
it is clear
that the analysis
of meaning is indispensable
in the study of poem. This is really understandable because meaning is
the purpose of
poem. Literary works
such as a
poem is as
a means of communication
between the writer (author) and the reader (appreciator), as stated by Elliot (1960:1987), “The poem is written as
a mean of communication between the
creators, through printed matter of recited by way of words and sound pattern, and the appreciator”. Moreover, the discussion
of the poetry is very important Many
famous poets are all around the world. But Jalalluddin Rumiis one of famous Islamic
poet in this
world. Jalalluddin Rumi is
one of the
world’s most prominent
Islamic poets. Rumiis one of the
famous Islamic poets who was born inPersian Empire (1207-1273).
He was
a Persian philosopher
and mystic of
Islam. His doctrine
advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness,
charity and awareness through love. To him and his disciples, religions are truth and his
peaceful andtolerant teaching has appealed to men of all sects and creeds (http://home.pacific.net.sg/~makhdoom/rumi4.html).
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