SWEARING IN STILLER’S TROPIC THUNDER: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Abstract

This  research  investigates  the  use  of  swearing  in  Stiller’s  Tropic  Thunder  using  a  sociolinguistic approach. This research aims at identifying the types and revealing the motivating factors  of swearing.The principles  of sociolinguistics,  especially on swearing  theories,  Anderson and Trudgill (2010) and Stapleton (2003) provide the theoretical foundation of the research. This research employed qualitative method to analyze the data which were taken from Tropic Thunder. The data were the main characters’ utterances, while the contexts of the data were monologues and dialogues. The data were analyzed based on Anderson’s and Trudgill’s theory for types of swearing and Stapleton’s for motivating factors of swearing. In addition, to make the research trustworthy, the researcher employed investigator triangulation to gain trustworthiness in checking the data and findings. The results of this research suggest that four types of swearing are found in Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, they are expletive swearing, abusive swearing, humorous swearing and auxiliary swearing. In addition, there are seven out of nine motivating factors that are found in this research, i.e. humor/story-telling, emphasis, anger/tension-release, intimacy, vulnerability, part of personality and a way to shock. Habit is not found because there is no swearing uttered by the main characters in every time and everywhere without any reason as their daily life interaction. Normality does not take place because there is no indication of speaker to swear that is expected by his group or environment.

Keywords: swearing, Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, sociolinguistics