CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the background of the study,
the statement of the problems, objectives of the study, scope and limitation of
the study, significance of the study, and the definition of key terms are
discussed.
1.1 Background of the Study The
word euphemism comes from the Greek word euphemos, meaning ³auspicious or good
or fortunate speech´which in turn is derived from the Greek root-words eu,
³good or well´+ pheme
³speech or speaking´. The euphemewas originally a word or
phrase used in place of a religious word or phrase that should not spoken aloud
(www.sil.org/Linguistic/Wikipediathe free encyclopedia/euphemisms.htm).The use of euphemism is one of
real example of sociolinguistics applications.
Sociolinguistics as the frame
works deals with the language in use and how language users interpret what
other language users intend to convey messages, then, it has essential role in
the study of language. In sociolinguistics we study society in order to find
out as much as we can about what kind of thing language is (Wardhaugh, 1986:13).
Euphemism always appears in mass
media both electronic and printed media.
In this recent time, many
interesting news show up both political and social phenomenon. mass media
served news interesting language. Mass media is try to hard for the best
service to present actual news that can be accepted very well by society.
However, so many kinds of mass
media such as Kompas, Jawa Pos, Republika, Jakarta Post, Tempo, Time and
etcetera. Furthermore, those mass media often use euphemism.
Many researchers have defined of
euphemism from various definitions (Wardaugh 1986:237, Alan and Burridge (in
Rusman 2000: 17), Barret (in Mazidah: 2007:3)). Barret (1997) defines euphemism
is an evasive tactic we resort to when we feel that literal accuracy in somehow
indelicate. One of examples is used extensively in the fields of public
relations and politics: collateral damage for ³civilian casualties´ Here, the
researcher interests to study euphemism used in political articles in reuters.com.
Because, reuters.com is one of media electronic that bravely use euphemism.
This research described the types, styles and the functions of euphemism used
in political article in reuters.com. Allan and Burridge (1991: 14) propose that
there are thirteen types of euphemism. They are: Metaphor, Idiom, Circumlation,
Acronym and Abbreviation, General-for-Specific, Hyperbole, Litotes, Technical Jargon,
Denial, Euphemistic Dysphemism, Dysphemistic Euphemism, Synecdoche, Associative
Engineering. Joss in Fishman (1972: 44) identifies five styles of euphemism.
They are Consultative, Formal, Casual, Intimate, and Frozen style. And the
functions of euphemisms are classified according to the way in which they contribute
to the content of the text. They are: to inform, to evaluates, to modalizes.
This recent time, many
interesting news show up both political and social phenomenon. Mass media
served interesting language, since, mass media is a very effective device in
creating µone dimensional behavior¶due to the fact that language using has
supported established thought against creative or critical thought, for instance
contradictive thought can be found in this utterance, ³war is peaceful, peaceful is war´. However,
this utterance can be accepted by language user without necessary aware it is
contradictive.
Moreover, there are some
researchers who research and observe this field of study. E.g. ³Political
Euphemism in News Media´, written by Rusman (2000).
Through comparative approach,
Rusman researched the associative meaning in Indonesian and American English
vocabulary. He focused on pragmatic, lexical perspective and discussed the uses
and meanings of euphemism in terms of denial, refusal, and etcetera.
The main findings of his
research, include first of all, the categories of euphemism indicate that
euphemism, which appear most frequently in news media, are hyperbole, denial,
metaphor, acronym, borrowed term, and etcetera. Another research was done by
Abidin (2003), he wrote ³Euphemistic Expression Used in Kompas During World Cup
2002´. Other research was done by Ermayani (2003), she wrote ³A Study on
Euphemism Used in Headlines of Kompas Newspaper´.
Although both works of Abidin and
Ermayani have the same topic of the study as that of the researcher, but their
emphasize differ. Abidin tried to find out the euphemism in terms of type, the
style and the function, a content analysis is adopted beside a discourse
analysis that also used in the process of finding the subjects. He found four
types euphemism, three kinds of styles and seven functions of euphemism from
the text under the title Piala Dunia; while, Ermayani differently emphasized
her study on euphemism only in terms of the type, and the function. She found
nine types of euphemism and four functions of euphemism from headlines of
Kompas Newspaper.
Another research which is also
related to euphemism was done by Mazidah (2007), she wrote ³A Study on
Euphemism Used in Newsweek Magazine´.She described and analyzed the appearance
of euphemism used in politician or news reporter in US Affairs section of
Newsweek magazine through the certain approach, including sociolinguistics and
etcetera, since; euphemism found in US section is derived from many specific
aspects. She found six types euphemism, three styles and three functions of
euphemism.
From many researchers above, it
can be concluded their research were different each other. It is due to above
consideration that the research decides to conduct ³Euphemism Used in Political Articles in
Reuters.com.´ 1.2 Statement of the Problems In line with the background of the
study described above, the researcher tries to analyze euphemism in
reuters.com. More specifically the main questions are formulated as follows: 1.2.1 What are the types of euphemism used in
political article in Reuters.com? 1.2.2
What are the styles of euphemism used in political article in Reuters.com?
1.2.3 What are the functions of
euphemism used in political article in Reuters.com? 1.3 Objectives of the
Study: Related to the previous questions, the objectives of the study are: 1.3.1 to find out the types of euphemism used in
political article in Reuters.com 1.3.2
to find out the styles of euphemism used in political article in
Reuters.com 1.3.3 to find out the
functions of euphemism used in political article in Reuters.com 1.4 The Scope
and Limitation of the Study The scope
and limitation of the research need to be clarified especially the specific
aspects discussed as the focus of this research. This research focuses on the headlines
of political articles in Reuters.com. from 1 March to 31 March 2008 in America.
The researcher is intended in analyzing reuters.com. Meanwhile, in this research
the limitations are the weaknesses of this analysis, the analysis of the researcher
in this research is not completely right or true, because it just prediction of
the researcher and it can be different with the journalist purposes.
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