CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study Semantics is one the branches of linguistics
studying about the meaning, and it is
considered as major branch of linguistics devoted to the study of meaning in language (Crystal, 1991:
310). According to what has long been
the most widely accepted theory of semantics, meanings are ideas or concepts that can be transferred from the
mind of the speaker to the mind of the
hearer by embodying them, as it were, in the form of one language or another.
Moreover, to understand meaning,
we need to understand how words are used
to convey meaning. The idea is when you read some texts, you can understand that text in term of meaning when
you have a generative model for how
words are put together to convey meaning. Related to this case, associative meaning is suitable to be analyzed
by the researcher on her study.
Next, the definition of associative
meaning is the sense associations that
are not part of a world’s basic meaning and have variants meaning based on individual experience or the context of
sentences, for example, birthday → presents, party etc (David Crystal, 1987).
It meansthat the meaning of the word
birthday has variant meaning, it can be presentsor party depends on the individual experience or the context of
sentences itself.
There are five types of
associative meaning that will be analyzed in this study; such as connotation meaning, what
is communicated by feature of what
language refers to, stylistic meaning, what is communicated of social circumstances of language use, affective meaning, what is communicated by feeling and attitude of the speakers or
writers,reflected meaning, what is communicated
of true association with another senseof the same expression and
collocation meaning, what is communicated through association with word which tends to occur in the environment
of another word (Geoffrey Leech,
2003:38).
In this thesis, the researcher
will present the associative meaning in headlines
of The Jakarta Post. Here, the researcherchooses The Jakarta Post as the object of her study that will be
specified on its headline section. The reason
why the researcher focuses on its headlines,first, headlines is the most important part of newspaper and denotes the
essenceof the news besides capturing the
reader’s attention in the first time,second, the size and style of a headline give readers some idea of the importance
of the topic. In addition, it often
reflects the policy of the newspaper and it almost always based on certain presuppositions. In short, the
headline must convey maximum of the information
with a minimum of language symbol.
For example, The Jakarta Post,
December 15, 2007. Even though nationalists’
emotions are runninghigh, the government is relieved at the absence Anti-Tamil backlash in responds to the
Tiger butchery. The word running is used
in the sense of moving-visible thing; but one also feels in this context, in the sense of becoming, because of
its multiple conceptual meaning.
It is a reflected meaning.
Further, the words, phrases and sentences in the meaning of which is associative in headline
newspaper are actually created by anyone
who takes part in the events that journalists reported or wrote. This case very probably occurs in the headlines of
The Jakarta Post (www.thejakartapost.com).
Besides, The Jakarta Post is the
largest English language newspaper in Indonesia
with an average circulation of around 25,000 copies. The new English daily is special, not only in its
goal, which is to improve the standard language
media in Indonesia, but also in bringing together for competing media publishers into producing a quality
newspaperwith an Indonesian perspective.
Hence, a fresh and different outlook was created in the Indonesian press in form of The Jakarta Post
(www.thejakartapost.com).
Based on the explanation above, the researcher iseager to analyze the associative meaning in the headlines of The
JakartaPost. The ultimate objectives of
this study are to find out the types of associative meaning that are used in headlines of The Jakarta Post and
to describe in what way or in what
situation the associative meaning are used in headlines of The Jakarta Post.
This study has relation to other
researches that have been done by Luluk
Sulistyowati (2004), who investigated “A Study on Associative Meaning of Words and Phrases Used in William
Wordsworth’s poems” and Fransiskus
Posenti Betu (2000), who focused on “Associative Meaning in the News of Malang Post Newspaper “.
In the holy Qur’an, this study has related to Surah (Ali-Imran: 7) “He it is who hath revealed unto thee
(Muhammad) thescripture wherein are
clear revelations. They are the substance of the Book (Muhkamaat). And others (which are)
allegorical (Mutasyaabihaat). But those in
whose hearts is doubt pursue, forsooth, that which is allegorical seeking (to cause) dissension by seeking to explain it.
None knoweth its explanation save Allah.
And those who are of sound instruction say: we believe therein; the whole is from our Lord; but only men of
understanding really heed.” According
to this surah, Allah said that He descends the Holy Qur’an with Muhkamaat Verse and Mutasyaabihaat Verse.
Muhkamaat Verse is the verse whose
meaning is clearly understood by human,whereas Mutasyaabihaat Verse is the verse whose
meaning cannot be understood except
Allah Himself. We could not interpret texts based only on their basic meaning, because it also related to the
individual experience, social phenomenon,
and the context in which they are used.It is called Associative Meaning that according to Muhkamaat Verse
whose meaning is easy to understand by
human.
1.2 Research Problems 1. What kinds of associative meanings are
found in the headlines of The Jakarta
Post? 2.How are associative meaning used
in headlines of The Jakarta Post? 1.3
Objectives of the Study The objectives
of this study is mainly connected tothe research problems above, they are: 1. To
find out the kinds of associative meaning in theheadlines of The Jakarta Post.
2. To describe associative meaning those are
used in headlines of The Jakarta Post.
1.4 Significance of the Study The researcher expects that this study will
contribute to the linguistic field, especially
in semantics, with particular reference to associative meaning (connotative meaning, stylistic meaning,
affective meaning, reflected meaning and
collocation meaning) which occurs in the headlines of newspaper.
Further, this study can be used
as a guideline for those who read The Jakarta
Post to get better understanding in interpreting the words meaning.
Finally, it would also be useful
for students who want to study about associative
meaning in particular and semantics in general.
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