A SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF GOSSIP AMONG FEMALE CHARACTERS IN GOSSIP GIRL SEASON 1

Abstract

This study is a sociolinguistic study. The aim of this study is to analyze gossip among female characters in a TV Series entitled Gossip Girl Season 1. This research applied the descriptive qualitative method. This study reveals three findings. First, there are four types of gossip occur among female characters in Gossip Girl Season 1. Those are house talk, scandal, bitching and chatting. The first rank is chatting since female characters have mutual relationship and close friendship among them. They rarely use scandal because they do not like to judge other women’s behavior. Second, there are four speech features of gossip used among female characters inGossip Girl Season 1. They are meaningless particles, neutral words, tag questions, and requests. The female characters mostly apply neutral words as they have many important things that they want to talk about with other women and to continue explaining what happens in the gossip. Meanwhile, they do not use requisite information because they use tag questions when they feel hesitant. Third, there are five functions of gossip among female characters in Gossip Girl Season 1. They are to provide information, to give entertainment, to enhance friendship, to influence others, and to make social comparison. Dealing with functions of gossip, on the highest rank is to provide information as the basic purpose in gossiping is to deliver information to other women. The most rarely found is to make social comparison. This suggests that the female characters inGossip Girl Season 1 are confident with their personality and identity.

Kata Kunci
sociolinguistics, gossip, Gossip Girl Season 1