Code choices by the two main characters in the movie entitled “rush hour 2“ (based on socio-pragmatics approach)

Oleh :
Winda Istrina - C0305060 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

ABSTRACT Winda Istrina. C0305060. 2010. Code Choices by the Two Main Characters in the Movie Entitled “RushHour2” (Based on Socio-Pragmatics Approach). Thesis: English Department. Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts. Sebelas Maret University. Surakarta The research focused on the code choices by the two main characters in the movie entitled “Rush Hour 2”. It was conducted to find out the code choices by the two main characters in “Rush Hour 2” and reveal the reasons in choosing the codes which relate to the social meanings. The research was a case study of sociolinguistics-pragmatics which employed descriptive qualitative method. In taking the data, the researcher used total sampling technique. The researcher took the whole part of dialogue containing codes used by the main characters in the movie entitled “Rush Hour 2”. The researcher found two results in this research. The first result is that there are four codes used by the main characters in “Rush Hour 2”. The first code is English which is classified into three, Formal English used in formal situation, Colloquial English used in informal situation, and Black English used by a Black American people. The second code is Chinese. The researcher found Chinese Hanyu (Hanyu Sa) used in formal situation. The third code is Switching between codes which consists of two, namely Switching from English into Chinese and Switching from Chinese into English. The last code is Mixing between codes, i.e. Mixing between English and Chinese The second result is the social meanings in choosing the codes employed by the two main characters in the movie entitled “Rush Hour 2”. Formal English has one social meaning, namely to show respect. Colloquial English interprets two social meanings, i.e. to show intimacy and avoid misunderstanding. There are three social meanings which are involved in Black English; they are to show intimacy, anger, and surprise. Chinese describes three social meanings, namely: to show respect, solidarity, and avoid misunderstanding. Switching between codes has three meanings, i.e. to show respect, emphasize the message, and avoid misunderstanding. Mixing between codes reveals two social meanings, namely to show joke and incompetence.