CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents general background of study, reasons for choosing the topic, statement of the problem, objective of the study, significance of the study and outline of the report.
1.1 General Background of the Study
The issue of the relation between linguistics and literature has caused a fierce debate between the linguists and literary critics. Fowler (in Green and LeBihan, 1996:3), a linguist, acclaims that linguistic methods and tools were necessary for the proper and detailed analysis of literary text, while F.W Bateson (in Green and LeBihan, 1996:3), a literary critic, states that literary text had an ‘ineradicable subjective core’ that is simply not amenable to linguistic analysis. In other words, there is something in literary texts that cannot be discovered objectively and cannot be described by the linguists and literary critics.
Lodge (in Green and LeBihan, 199:6) states that “the novelist’s medium is language, whatever he does, qua novelist, he does in and through language”. Lodge suggests that language is the medium in which the novelist works inasmuch as content is seen as prior to form.
Chapman (1973:4) says that literature is created from the basic material of linguistic study and is allied to it in a way that the other arts like music and painting are not. The more important consideration is that literature is the work of men who were specially sensitive to the language of their time. They use the skill of language to make it contain a unique series of experiences and interpretations.
Moreover, he says that the end-product of literature, the text, is always capable of linguistic investigation. He suggests that the kind of investigation may be helpful to both disciplines. This study will prove those presumptions by investigating conversational implicature through Delaney’s A Taste of Honey.
1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic
Conversational implicature is one of the single most important ideas in pragmatics. Pragmatics is the science of language seen in relation to its users. The importance of conversational implicature in pragmatics is supported by some reasons. The reasons are as follows.
First, implicature shows a pragmatic example of the nature and power of pragmatic explanation of linguistic phenomena. Second, implicature provides some explicit account of how it is possible to mean more than is said. Third, the notion of implicature seems likely to affect semantic description. Fourth, implicature or some related concept seems to be simply essential if various basic facts, the principles that generate implicature, have a very general explanatory power (Levinson, 1983:97).
The concept of implicature is the development of Grice’s theory. It is about how people use language. Grice suggests that there is a set of assumptions guiding conversation. Grice identifies the maxims of conversation. These maxims are: the maxim of Quantity, the maxim of Quality, the maxim of Relation/Relevance, and the maxim of Manner. The maxims are not always observed. Someone may violate a maxim if he tells a lie deliberately. A speaker can opt-out the maxims if he/she may make contribution in the conversation, but he/she decides not to divulge it. The speaker may expect the hearer to infer a clash with the maxims. This phenomenon is called the maxim clash. When the maxims are not being observed, the conversational implicature rises. Delaney uses conversational implicature to make ironical utterances in her play. Ironical utterances are used to express something in hidden intention. It forces a reader to think deeply. That is why conversational implicature is interesting to be explored.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
The problems that are going to be investigated in this study are:
(1) Are there any conversational implicatures in the play?
(2) If (1) is true, what are the causes of conversational implicatures in the play?
(3) If there are conversational implicatures in the play, how do they work?
1.4 The object of the Study
The objectives of the study are to find out:
(1) whether there are conversational implicatures in the play,
(2) what are the causes of conversational implicatures in the play,
(3) how the conversational implicatures work.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The findings of this study will make contribution for those who are interested in pragmatics. For learners, after reading the study, it is hoped that they will understand more about conversational implicature and the use of it. In general, this study will show phenomena of pragmatics. They will improve their knowledge of language, especially conversational implicature.
1.6 Outline of the Report
This final project consists of five chapters. Chapter I, introduction, consists of the general background of the study, reasons for choosing the topic, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study and outline of the report.
Chapter II presents a review of related literature which discussed the definition of pragmatics, the theory of pragmatics including speech act theory, cooperative principle, and conversational implicature.
Chapter III deals with the methods of investigation. It presents the object of the study, type of data, procedure of collecting data and technique of analyzing the data.
Chapter IV presents the data analysis. It will answer the statements of the problem: (1) are there any conversational implicatures in the play? (2) what are the causes of conversational implicatures in the play? (3) how do the conversational implicatures work?
Chapter V presents the conclusion of the study.
