Using Profanity in Informal language for everyday English at English

Teacher Education Department of State Islamic University of

Sunan Ampel Surabaya

By:

BAGUS TYAN ARDI

(D75215037)

ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SUNAN AMPEL

SURABAYA

2017
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

English is the important languages for all of people around the world as the international

language. And also English is important language for Indonesian students to develop all of

thing. But sometimes students in Indonesia abusing the word that sometimes is inappropriate

for spoken as everyday English, so researcher wonder about why they speak like informal

languages and profanity because in Indonesian behavior spoke like profanity it’s should be

banned and this is the bad word that forbidden to say the word.

In this case I would like to define profanity is more like vulgar, taboo and euphemism.

This word is forbidden to say, this is also happen in several country that have an eastern

culture or Islamic culture but sometimes several country is like USA that have a rules of

“FREEDOM”1 this is also happen with the rules when you speak profanity so it was free to

speak whatever the word even though Joseph Fielding Smith states said: “Profanity is

filthiness. A person is known as much by his language as he is by the company he keeps. …

Filthiness in any form is degrading and soul-destroying and should be avoided,”2 but some

American still say about it

Then informal language that researcher mean is like slang and jargon. The researchers

want to know why the Indonesian student they using informal languages for everyday

English conversation and the researchers wonder about where they find the informal language

like jargon and slang language because sometimes teachers just give the formal one for

everyday speaking. The teachers think this is taboo for giving the informal language for the

1
Puig-Lugo, H. (1991). Freedom to Speak One Language: Free Speech and the English Language Amendment.
Chicano-Latino L. Rev., 11, 35.
2
(Doctrines of Salvation, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1:13.)
student because like slang it was combining between taboo word and formal word as

researcher experience knowing then teacher think this is impolite or uncommon

inconventional material when teacher give to students because Indonesian literature is didn’t

match for this material of teaching for eastern behavior 3.

4
In latest research talking about profanity that The results of the analysis revealed that

exposure to profanity in television and video games was significantly related to beliefs about

profanity. The model also revealed that beliefs about profanity were significantly related to

profanity use. Finally, profanity use was significantly associated with both physical and

relational aggression. Preliminary analyses revealed that there was no direct relationship

between profanity in media and actual aggression ;therefore, mediation analyses were

conducted with intervening variables. Maximal likely hood boot strapping with a 95%

confidence interval30 was used to test mediating relationships. With the use of the bias-

corrected percentile method, this test revealed that all of the standardized indirect (mediated)

effects within the model were significant. Therefore, profanity use is a mediator of

physicaland relational aggression and beliefs about profanity, and beliefs about profanity

represent a mediator of profanity exposure in multiple types of media and concurrent

profanity use. So this research explain that the highest percentage of causes saying profanity

is come from television.

3
Dirckx, J. (2004). Urines are cooking: Perspectives on medical slang and jargon. E-perspectives, Modesto, EUA,
(49), 16-21.
4
Profanity in Media Associated With Attitudes and Behavior Regarding Profanity Use and Aggression ; Sarah
M. Coyne, Laura A. Stockdale, David A. Nelson and Ashley Fraser pediatricks
1.2 Statement of the Problem

1. What kind of factor that underlying Student English education of UIN SUNAN

AMPEL for using profanity and informal language as everyday English?

2. What are the students opinion about using profanity and informal language as everyday

English communication?

1.3 Objective of Study

In accordance with the statement of the problem, this study has three objectives that

can be stated as follows:

1. To distinguish what is the inappropriate one for students of ETED UINSA and what

the word that match for Indonesian students behavior

1.4 Significance of Study

For Student: improve the knowledge about profanity and know where this language use for

For Teacher: Teacher can know the behavior of students using profanity and he can redirects

to the positive side

For Reader : Reader can know the reason why students using profanity and more careful to

say to other people about profanity

1.5 Scope and Limitation

To do the research I waill make a questioner online by emailing the students or by

personal massage, so in this case the subject of research is student from Indonesia and every

province of Indonesia so I take just 3 of them then I will make conclusion for it.
1.6 Definition of Keyterms

Profanity: is socially offensive language5 which may also be called bad

language, strong language, offensive language, crude language,

coarse language, foul language, bad words, blasphemous

language, vulgar language, lewd language, choice words or

expletives. The use of such language is called swearing, cursing

or cussing.

Informal communication: is communication that takes place outside the formal, Some

people refer to informal communication as the ‘grapevine.’

informal communication can occur in the same setting as

formal communication, such as in a private meeting room

during the appraisal process. A manager may conduct the

appraisal process and then upon its conclusion tell the

employer something about their personal life that is not meant

for general workplace consumption or to be recorded formally

and gossip.

Informal language: Informal language is not a devolved version of formal

language6. It has rules that formal language doesn’t (e.g.,

choosing whether to use a contraction), and is in general more

natural and readable than formal language. Informal language

also includes taboo vocabulary, often labelled as vulgar slang in

dictionaries or thesauruses7. This typically refers to sex or

5
"Definition of Profanity", Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, retrieved on 2014-08-31.
6
Gabe Doyle
7
Oxford dictionaries
bodily functions and, since many people are likely to find such

terms offensive or shocking, they should generally be avoided.

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW RELATED LITERATURE

The literature in this chapter gives a brief explanation about some theories that

support this study. it deals with the theory related to the content of profanity and The

previous studies that have relation with this research are also mentioned in this chapter

A. Review of Related Literature

Profanity is socially offensive language8 which may also be called bad language, strong

language, offensive language, crude language, coarse language, foul language, bad words,

blasphemous language, vulgar language, lewd language, choice words or expletives. The use

of such language is called swearing, cursing or cussing. Used in this sense, profanity is a

subset of a language's lexicon that is generally considered to be strongly impolite, rude or

offensive. It can show a debasement of someone or something, or show intense emotion.

Linguistically, profanity takes the form of words or verbal expressions that fall into the

category of formulaic language. In its older, more literal sense, "profanity" refers to a lack of

respect for things that are held to be sacred, which implies anything inspiring deserving of

reverence, as well as behaviour showing similar disrespect or causing religious offense9.

The term "profane" originates from classical Latin "profanus", literally "before

(outside) the temple". It carried the meaning of either "desecrating what is holy" or "with a

secular purpose" as early as the 1450s CE.10 Profanity represented secular indifference to

religion or religious figures, while blasphemy was a more offensive attack on religion and

religious figures, considered sinful, and a direct violation of The Ten Commandments.

8
"Definition of Profanity", Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
9
"Definition of profanity". Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
10
Harper, Douglas. "profane". Online Etymology Dictionary.
Moreover, many Book of religion verses speak against swearing. Profanities, in the original

meaning of blasphemous profanity, are part of the ancient tradition of the comic cults which

laughed and scoffed at the deity or deities. An example from Gargantua and Pantagruel is

"Christ, look ye, its Mere de ... merde ... shit, Mother of God11

1. Blasphemy (Greek blaptein, "to injure", and pheme, "reputation") signifies

etymologically gross irreverence towards any person or thing worthy of exalted

esteem. While etymologically blasphemy may denote the derogation of the honour

due to a creature as well as of that belonging to God, in its strict acceptation it is used

only in the latter sense. Hence it has been defined by Francisco Suárez as "any word

of malediction, reproach, or contumely pronounced against God”.

2. Swear word is a word or phrase that's generally considered blasphemous, obscene,

vulgar, or otherwise offensive. Also known as swearing, bad word, obscene word,

dirty word, and four-letter word."Swear words serve many different functions in

different social contexts," notes Janet Holmes. "They may express annoyance,

aggression and insult, for instance, or they may express solidarity and friendliness" 12

3. Taboo language is an English word coming from the Tongan word Tabu, Oxford

dictionary of English defines taboo as “a social or religious custom prohibiting or

restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person,

place, or thing”13. Captain James Cook (Fairman, 2009; Allan and Burridge, 2006)

explored the Pacific Islands in the 1970s and observed the 6 Polynesian peoples’

behavior. Captain Cook, along with his fellow shipmen, recorded the word taboo in

the Polynesian peoples’ journals as a significant local word standing for forbidden

11
François Rabelais, Gargantua book, chap. XVII; in French the words mère de (meaning "mother
of") sound like merde, which means "shit".
12
An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 2013
13
Oxford Online Dictionary
 such when a thing is not allowed to be eaten, touched or entered. Taboo is perhaps

because of this origins easily associated with primitive cultures. This is a mistake

according to the researchers where they believe that taboo exists in primitive societies

as well as western contemporary ones (Fairman, 2009; Allan and Burridge, 2006)14.

B. Review of Previous Studies

1. First thesis entitled “The Effects of Profanity in Violent Video Games on Players’

Hostile Expectations, Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings, and Other Responses” By

Adrienne Holz Ivory and Christine E. Kaestle This study was conducted to

answercalls (Bushman & Cantor, 2003; Coyne et al., 2011; Ivory et al., 2009) for an

experiment investigating the effects of profanity in video games. As such, it examined

potential effects of profanity on several measures, most of them related to aggression,

to ascertain what potential effects might merit further inquiry and what effects are

unlikely. The study explored effects of profanity in a violent game to examine

whether profanity had unique effects on aggressive responses beyond the already-

studied effects of violent content, and it compared effects for protagonist and

antagonist characters to examine whether effects of profanity might depend on the

type of character using it15

2. Second thesis entitled “Mapping the scale of lexemes from colloquialism up to

vulgarism (expletives, swear words) in everyday English” by Katedra anglistiky, is

focused on dangerous words in everyday English. Among such words belong a wide

range of expressions from informal, colloquial language, slang, jargon, euphemism,

double-meaning words as well as dysphemisms, vulgarisms and taboo words. In the

theoretical part, it is dealt with the definition of the individual categories on this scale.

14
Habibovic Asima, Swedish teenagers’ understanding of and attitudes to English taboo language
15
Adrienne Holz Ivory and Christine E. Kaestle, The Effects of Profanity in Violent Video Games on
Players’ Hostile Expectations, Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings, and Other Responses
 A historical perspective on swearing is examined and contrasted with the

contemporary attitudes. A suggestion of how to treat swearing in education is given in

this part, too. The practical part focuses on examining written and spoken excerpts

from various points of view, i.e. from the perspective of frequency of the occurrence.

The corpora of the written samples were collected from books of literature

recommended for high schools, and one book of author’s choice; the spoken samples

come from TV series, and one movie - all of them freely available to the public.16

3. Third research entitled “The Effects of Verbal Profanity on the Gameplay Experience

in First-Person Shooters” Will F. Deloney, JoAnna Lio, Adam J. Thompson that

investigates the effects of verbal profanity or lack thereof on the valence, arousal,

dominance, and presence of players in the genre of first-person shooter (FPS) games.

While graphic violence in console and computer games has been studied extensively,

the increasing inclusion of profanity has been largely overlooked by researchers.

People respond to media not as means of presenting reality, but as if the portrayals

themselves are real (Reeves & Nass, 1996). Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that

players' responses to verbal profanity in console and computer games should be

similar to their responses to real people using profanity. By studying the responses of

test subjects, this research intends to garner insight into perceptions of verbal

profanity in console and computer games.17

4. Fourth research entitled “A Case for Profanity Education and a Collection of

Strategies used by sign language interpreters” by Kelly Murphy this research is about

profanity Sign language interpreters, are language professionals who experience all

aspects of life, from birth to death, of their consumers. They work with the most

16
Katedra anglistiky, Mapping the scale of lexemes from colloquialism up to vulgarism (expletives,
swear words) in everyday English
17
Will F. Deloney, JoAnna Lio, Adam J. Thompson, The Effects of Verbal Profanity on the
Gameplay Experience in First-Person Shooters
 formal to the very intimate of registers and everything in between. One particular

aspect of language that deserves further scrutiny is profanity. It is by its very nature

extremely powerful, commonly misunderstood, and interpreters do not have the

luxury of ignoring this class of words. It is to an interpreter’s benefit to understand

this aspect of language and class of words on a more conscious level, be able to

analyze his/her own filters and biases, have access to strategies for managing

utterances that contain profanity, and be aware that cultural differences do exist.

Interpreters from across the United States and Canada were given a common

education and then put their learning into practice. The data from these shareshops

indicate by providing profanity education to sign language interpreters, there is

potential for improvement in service delivery. So this research not all talk about

profanity but how to make translator not having a problem with profanity when he

translate the word18

5. Fifth research have tittle “Effects of Counselor's Profanity and Subject's Religiosity

on Content Acquisition of a Counseling Lecture and Behavioral Compliance” by lois

sazer and howard kassinove talk about Effects of counselor's profanity and subject's

religiosity on acquisition of lecture content and behavioral compliance were

investigated. 40 male and 80 female undergraduate students volunteered to attend a

lecture about “coping with problems of daily living.” They were divided into low,

medium, or high religiosity groups based upon scores on Rohrbough and Jessor's

Religiosity Scale. Each subject listened to a 15-min. videotaped rational-emotive

mental health presentation which included a recommendation that they pick up a card

(initial compliance) and send for a free book (delayed compliance) expanding upon

the principles discussed in the tape. Half listened to a tape containing 16 profane

18
Murphy Kelly, A Case for Profanity Education and a Collection of Strategies used by sign language
interpreters
 words and half watched a nonprofane tape. At the end of the tape subjects were given

a test on content. Analysis showed that profanity had a negative effect on acquisition

of content and on initial compliance. Religiosity had no effect on any of the

dependent variables. In contrast to the behavior modeled by some senior clinical

practitioners, it was concluded that counselors be wary of using profanity in an initial

session. Also, in keeping with the 1989 recommendations of Heppner and Claiborn,

the importance of studying behavioral measures in influence studies was stressed.19

19
Sazer Louis and Kazzinove Howard, Effects of Counselor's Profanity and Subject's Religiosity on
Content Acquisition of a Counseling Lecture and Behavioral Compliance
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter is dealing with the procedures for doing the research. It covers research

design, research subject, data collection technique, instrument and data analysis procedures.

The more detail explanation below:

A.RESEARCH DESIGN

The researcher is deciding to use survey method to conduct the research, The essence

of survey method can be explained as “questioning individuals on a topic or topics and then

describing their responses” (Jackson, 2011, p.17)20 Survey method usually used In business

studies, survey method of primary data collection in this case is used in order to test concepts,

reflect attitude of people, establish the level of customer satisfaction, conduct segmentation

research and a set of other purposes.

Survey method has two main purposes which is Describing certain aspects or

characteristics of population or Testing hypotheses about nature of relationships within a

population. The researchers can choose one of sub-method that researchers want such as mail

survey, telephone survey or personal interview. According to Neuman (2005)21 from the

viewpoint of practicality the most popular variations of surveys include questionnaires,

interviews and documentation review.

In this case the researchers want to make the questionnaire that content of statement

of the problem and spread it the questionnaire into student English education of UIN SUNAN

20
Jackson, SL, 2011, Research Methods and Statistics: A Critical Approach, 4th edition, Cengage
Learning
21
Denscombe, M, 2004, The Good Research Guide for small-scale social research, 2nd edition, Open
University Press
AMPEL. So the researcher can get more info about factors that underlying the students using

profanity and informal languages for everyday communication, checking the how often they

say the word and also the dominate profanity and informal word that student say in everyday

English.

To get the opinion problem the researcher using the features of survey method, it is an

interview the students what actually the opinion about profanity and informal language when

they used for everyday communication and also the researcher can assume the positive or

negative side.

B.SETTING OF THE STUDY

1. Research Subject

The research subject of this research is students of English teaching education

department of UINSA. The researcher plan to spread the questionnaire for every

generation just 15 students, so in English teaching education department of UINSA

have four generation it means the researcher only needs 60 students, and for interview

the students take 8 students

2. Place

The place when the researcher conduct the research is in Islamic university of sunan

ampel Surabaya at English education department. The researcher chosen these

department because the researcher ever heard students of English department uinsa

using profanity and informal language for communication to each other or maybe to

react some problem.

C.DATA AND SOURCE OF DATA

There are two of data in this research first data from questionnaire and the second is

the data from interview. All the data that researcher need is come from English education

Department of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

D.RESEARCH PROCEDURE

The researcher plan to make a questionnaire paper and interview session with students

of English department UINSA. First the researcher make a questionnaire consist of: the

dominant word, how often word saying and how they know about it. When first step is done

the researcher spread the paper to English teaching department of uinsa and the researcher are

trying to explain to the student because this is the contra material that researcher want to

conduct.

The researcher also interviewed the students to answer the question number two and get the

opinion about profanity and informal word so the researcher wants to know the students

response the positive one or negative.

E.RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

Instruments that the researcher applied in this research are:

1. Questionnaire

The researcher uses documentation method in order to collect the data from some

documentation which related with the research. Documentation in this research is from

students Questionnaire. By collecting the result of questionnaire the researcher know the

factor that can underlying the student to using profanity and informal word, here the brief of

theory that used for supporting questionnaire :

 Sources Indicators Journal

The factor that underlying people who speak

SarahM. “A Helluva Read”: Profanity in
kind of profanity is from media or television
Coyne, PhD, Adolescent Literature
programs

SarahM. The Effects of Profanity in

Coyne, PhD, Violent Video Games on

and Adrienne Video games is one of factor of using Players’ Hostile

Holz Ivory, profanity Expectations, Aggressive

Christine E. Thoughts and Feelings, and

Kaestle Other Responses

The factor that influence the student positive

Gardner 1995
attitudes or negative is the parents

MICHAEL The culture and environtment is one of factor Teaching “Bad” American

ADAMS that can be causes of using profanity English

Judd Antin,

Elizabeth F.
Social media or online communities is causes Profanity Use in Online
Churchill and
of profanity Communities
Sara Owsley

Sood

Effects of Profanity, Touch,

HEPPNER
and Subject’s Religiosity on
AND Profanity coming in herself
Perceptions of a Psychologist
CLAIBORN
and Behavioral Complianm
 2. Interview

The researcher wants to get the opinion of ETED Students about why he use profanity or the

reason then tell the factors that influences students using profanity. The researcher also wants

to know what a word that usually he say it and condition when they say it, the reasearcher

gave the same question of questionnaire but with the reason and opinion

F.DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUE

The questionnaire, the researcher takes the data based on survey research by fill the paper that

the researcher given. This research look at the factors which underlying students for using

profanity and informal word for communication. This questionnaire focused on student’s

factors why they used it.

The interview had been given for two English students department of each generation

in UINSA, the researcher came to those class or direct massage them to interview the

students. The purposes of interview are: to ask the student opinion about there have positive

side or negative of profanity and informal , the researcher also interview to the students and

takes some documentation

G.DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE

If the questionnaire and interview has done to conduct by researcher then the

researcher can assume from the form consist of the dominant word, how often word saying

and how the students know about the word. From the result of survey the researcher can

answer the research problem.