CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
The first chapter is the introduction. In introduction, the researcher
discusses the basic of the research,
including the background of the study, problems of the study, objectives of the study, significance
of the study, scope and limitation of the study, and definition of the key terms.
1.1 Background of the Study Linguists
agree that question is an important part of human communication.
All languages have special
structural types of sentences for asking questions. This fact demonstrates how central the activity of
questioning is to human communicatio n.
People use questions and other
kinds of utterances in their conversation. When people communicate, they speak, make their point
understood by others, present facts, and wait for their partners to respond. Questions
ensure the talk exchange runs well.
Questions are used to encourage
the hearer to give a reply. Theoretically, people use questions to elicit new information. To get
information, A needs to ask B to tell what A does not know. Moreover, questions function
to stimulate a verbal reply. In questioning
how are you?, A tends to expect B to give a verbal reply, whether B is fine or not. The speaker can know the audience
condition by only seeing his/her appearance.
However,
question has many other functions. Question can be used as a direct and indirect request. C may ask D to do
something for C by asking whether D is able to do that. A question can also be used as
command. It is generally used by person who
has bigger authority. A question may serve for asking clarification. Sometimes,
a speaker uses question to clarify
points stated by the audience using question. Carter (2006:717) states that knowledge or
information can be put on public display using question. This function especially aims to
display question. In using display questions,
the questioner follows up the answer by stating whether it is the desired answer or not.Stenstrom (1994) states that
question and answer constitute the backbone of conversation. Questions can be used to start
conversation and can be used repeatedly to
keep the conversation going when it is on the point of fading out. In every conversation, it is impossible for speakers
not to use questions as a communicative tool.
Without questioning, speaker cannot get information from a conversation because there is no talk exchange. By asking
for a response, speakers tend to be communicative.
Questions enable human to create two way communications.
Erickson (2007) writes that the
art of asking questions is one of the basic skills of good communication. Socrates (in Wilson, 1997)
believes that knowledge and awareness
are an intrinsic part of each speaker and hearer. In exercising the ability of speaking, a speaker must be able to give good
question.
In fact, all of us use question
in our conversations, but few of us know well how to use questions appropriately according
to their functions. A conversation will be
monotonous if speakers only use either declaratives or interrogatives in their
talk exchange. In fact, people ask,
demand, reject, and affirm other speakers‟ opinion.
People may know which question is
suitable to use in certain situation, but some others do not. Giving question makes the
conversation runs dynamically. Otherwise, using questions all the time is bad.
Misunderstanding the use of question often bothers the flow of conversation. To create a
convenient situation, one needs to utilize questions, avoiding monotonous, and
understanding the function of question. Hence, to know the use of questions exactly, one
needs to know question classification and function.
There are three steps to make a
good question. First, the speaker should know the type of question which appropriates with
his/her intention. Different question type may serve different structure and function.
Second, the speaker should know the function
of utterances. Different utterances have different functions; declarative functions to give information, negative
functions to negate or refute, interrogative functions to request for information, and
imperative functions to give command. Each utterance has phonological and morphological
features. However, these functions may
also change. In some cases, people use declarative as interrogative to request
for information using final stress. Third, the speaker should combine the type of
question and the function of quest ion.
This research attempts to analyze
deeply the function of question in talk show.
This study also aims to investigate the relation between
question type and question function
comprehensively and qualitatively. To conduct the research, the researcher chooses Larry King Live talk show, aired daily
in CNN, because Larry King has unique
manner of speaking and language that contribute significantly to his role as talk show host. Manner of speaking refers to
how the speaker uses his/her language to influence the hearer. Larry King has good
ability to create influential questions and dig complete information from the guests.
Furthermore, he is skillful in maintaining his language structure to achieve
the goal intended. In his show, Larry King pictures himself as smart, polite, humble, and noble
person. Eventhough he knows better about
the topic of conversation than his guests, he acts to understand nothing about the topic and put them as the source of
information. Another reason is because language
used in Larry King Live talk show is
similar with language in daily conversation. Investigating language and
question used in that show is very beneficial to be an approach in understanding the
function of question in daily communication.
There are several non-linguist ic
uniqueness to consider. First, Larry King Live is the most popular talk shows aired in CNN.
It is aired almost every day. It talks mainly
about a broad range of topics put forth by the talk show host, mainly about social, politic, and economy. Larry King
Live features a guest or guests who are learned or who have great experience in
relation to whatever issue is being discussed on the show for that episode. Second, Larry
King and his show have received many awards.
King won the Peabody Award in 1982 and
1992 for his excellence in broadcasting
for radio and television shows. He has also won 10 CableACE awards
for Best Interviewer and for Best Talk Show Series. In 2002, the
magazine Talkers named King the
fourth-greatest radio talk show host of all time and the top television talk show host of all time. King
also received the Arizona State University Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence
in 2007 as well.
This research relates to studies
done by previous researchers. Anttila (1994) studies question functions and question
strategies among 1st year high school students.
In his research he aims to take advantages of questions strategically and to understand pupils‟ ability in
using questions. The data are six records conversations.
The data are transcribed and are
analyzed using Stenstrom's model of discourse analysis. The result of the study shows that
there is no relation between question form and question function. A statement can
function as a question whereas a question can function as an indirect request.
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