Swearnet: the movie

Movie
II.
Rationale
Culture in general is a descriptive concept means the accumulated treasury
of human creation: books, paintings, buildings and the like; the knowledge of ways
of adjusting to our surroundings, both human and physical; language, customs and
system of etiquette, ethics, religion, and morals that have been built up through
the ages (Kluckhohn and Kelly, 1945: 96). According to Hofstede (1980, pp. 21-23) in
Jalal Ali Belshek’s journal, he defines culture as “the collective programming of
the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another”, which is
passed from generation to generation. It is changing all the time because each
generation adds something of its own before passing it on. 
From the definitions above, we can see the role of language in supporting 
the continuity of human life, even in culture. There is a reciprocal relationship 
between culture and language. Culture is represented by language since is
interpreted, mediated and recorded by means of a language (Kramsch, 1995). The 
starting point is that language is inherently social by nature. Therefore, the language we 
use is affected by the social contexts in which we see, hear and experience even though 

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we do things with words. Since language we use and the social contexts in which it occurs 
are mutually related, language should be treated “not only as a mode of thinking but, 
above all, as a cultural practice, that is, as a form of action that both presupposes and at 
the same time brings about ways of being in the world” (Duranti, 1997, p.1).
Language is used to communicate between one person and another. According to 
Verderber (1999) “Language is the body of words and the system for their use in 
communicating that are common to the people of the same community or nation, the same 
geographical area or the same cultural tradition”(p.52). Language is not simply a means
of communicating information - about the weather or any other subject. It is also
a very important means of establishing and maintaining relationships with other
people. Probably the most important thing about the conversation between our two
English people is not the words they are using, but the fact that they are talking
at all. (Trudgill, 2000, p. 1)
Language and Linguistics are two different words that are used for different 
purpose. A language is a mental phenomenon and a way of expression of thought
by means of articulate sounds. On the other hand linguistics is a branch of study
that deals with languages. According to Meng (2009) early in the years of Second
World War, linguistics was recognized as an important component in language
teaching theory, but at the same time we need linguistics to make some languages.

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Lim (1975:3) defines that linguistics is the scientific study of language. 
Linguistics has also the framework or theoretical methods that could be categorized
as the scientific method; in this case scientific method for human and social studies. 
Language analysis is done systematically within the framework of some general
theory of language structure. Based on Bauer (2012:3 ), linguistics is the meaning of 
the word ‘ relating to language, as well as the word meaning ‘relating to linguistics. It has 
somemeaning that linguistics is concerned with the relation of knowledge about language 
which has important role for branches of it is own. Linguistic has some branches, they are 
phonetic, phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatic, and semantic (micro linguistics). 
Another types of linguistics is Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, Historical Linguistics, 
Ethnolinguistics, Dialectology, Computational Linguistics, Neurolinguistics.
In this research, the writer chooses sociolinguistics for the topic of this research. 
Sociolinguistics is concerned with investigating the relationships between language and 
society with the goal being a better understanding of the structure of language and of how 
languages function in communication; the equivalent goal in the sociology of language is 
trying to discover how social structure can be better understood through the study of 
language, e.g., how certain linguistic features serve to characterize particular social 
arrangements (Wardaugh, 2006).

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In sociolinguistics, there are so many types, according to Wardaugh (2006) in His 
book “An Introduction to Sociolinguistics” Fifth Edition, he write that sociolinguistics 
have 4 parts. There are Languages and Communities, Inherent Variety, Words at Work 
and Understanding and Intervening. in this research, the writer took one part of the four 
parts, namely Words at Work which contained the subtitles Words and Culture with the 
topic of Taboo and Euphemism.
Taboo is a cultural custom that does not allow people to do, use or talk 
about a particular thing as people find it as word which is offensiveand 
embarrassing, and it also refers to the words that many people consider because 
they refer to sex, body or people’s race. Wardhaugh (2006) states that taboo is 
prohibition or avoidance that cannot be used by human being in any society 
because it will hurt its members and make them feel anxious, embarrassment, or 
shame. 
Taboo words are always considered as inappropriate words to utter in daily
conversation, because these taboo words are associated to harsh meaning. For
Indonesian people taboo words are the same as reproach. Therefore the use of
taboo words is greatly avoided to be said, people who say taboo words are 
considered as people who are impolite and put aside the norms of polite behaviour
and ethic applied in Indonesia.

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However, there are still argumentations in defining the taboo words by 
human being. Some people think and believe that taboo is something that has 
negative meaning, and emotion to express the negative types of feeling towards 
the others, especially when it used in public areas or to someone who older than 
us. On the other hand, nowadays the attitude towards the function of taboo words
has already changed.
The existence of taboo words can be seen from various sources such as in
movies, song lyrics, and television shows. The existence of various taboo words in
those sources is caused by the fact that some people believe that employing taboo
words is an appropriate way to express a strong feeling and emotion, especially in
the form of swearing. Taboo words in the form of swearing are not only uttered
to express anger and emotive feeling but also uttered to express friendliness,
familiarity, or identity among communities. In the sentence “Hey you b*st*rd!” the
word b*st*rd means “friend”. It is usually uttered by American Negroes to call
their close friend or their family. Therefore, nowadays people can accept the use
of taboo words because it is considered as the best way to deliver their strongest
feeling.
There is an assumption that taboo words are mostly uttered by lower class
people with lower educational background since it is believed that educational

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background affects the way people speak. The way people speak is an indicator of 
their social background. On the other hand, the assumption is somehow not true because 
people with good educational background in some occasions still use indecent and 
offensive language in their conversation. When people utter taboo words whether they 
are educated or uneducated, there must be reason that lies behind it. Some people are not 
merely uttered taboo words because they want to do so. Sometime they speak taboo words 
for certain goal such as attracting attention from other people or to show their contempt.
Based on this consideration, the researcher is interested to analyze taboo words 
phenomenon in a movie especially on the types of taboo words used and the functions of 
taboo words uttered by the characters in the movie. In conducting the research, the 
researcher chooses a movie as the source of data rather than conducting a kind of field 
study. Moreover, since movie is the representation of human real life, the researcher 
thinks that it is acceptable to use a movie as source of data.