THE USE OF SWEAR WORDS IN TWO MOVIES: PUNK IN LOVE AND THE WEDDING SINGER (A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY)

Abstract

Swear words are impolite words and usually used to express strong emotion (Hudson, 1996:13-14). Most people consider them as rude words and forbidden to be uttered in any place and condition. That opinion is probably wrong because swear words may also be regarded as something positive based on when, where, and what are those swear words uttered for. Therefore, they cannot be translated literally. This research is conducted to describe the use of swear words in two movies Punk in Love and The Wedding Singer. The goals of this research are (a) to describe the swear words themes which are employed by the characters in Punk in Love and The Wedding Singer movie; (b) to find out the swear words which are most dominantly uttered by the characters in Punk in Love and The Wedding Singer movie; and (c) to explain what motives through identifying function of swearing in Punk in Love and The Wedding Singer movie. This research applies both qualitative and quantitative methods. To analyze the data, the writer uses Ljung‟s theory (2011) to categorize the themes of swear words. As the result of this research, there are 27 swear words in Punk in Love. Those words are grouped into five themes (religious theme, scatological theme, sexual activities theme, mother theme, and animals theme) and four new themes (kinds of fruit, unpleasant conditions, parts of human body, and places). Meanwhile, in The Wedding Singer there are 18 swear words. Those words are categorized into four themes based on Ljung‟s theory (the religious theme, the scatological theme, the sexual activities theme, and animals theme) and one new theme (unpleasant condition). From all swear words used by the characters, the most dominant swear word(s) uttered by the characters in Punk in Love is cuk while in The Wedding Singer are „God and shit‟. The swear words uttered have functions based on its context. People swearing have particular motives to express their feelings. In Punk in Love, there are five functions which are grouped into psychological motives. They are expressing anger, irritability, shock, surprise, and pain. Besides, six functions are grouped into social motives. They are expressing humiliation, intimacy, decrying, wonder, disagreement, and gripe. Meanwhile, in The Wedding Singer, there are seven functions which are categorized into psychological motives. They are expressing anger, irritability, regret, disappointment, amazement, surprise, and hate. For social motives, there are five functions, namely expressing humiliation, intimacy, decrying, wonder, and gripe. In this movie, swear words which function as an epithet to substitute somebody and as a substitution of something are categorized into linguistic motive.