DYSPHEMISM USED IN SELECED EPISODES OF SOUTH PARK ANIMATED SERIES SEASON 1 (1997)
Abstract
Dysphemism is an expression that involves the deliberate selection of words or phrases that are offensive, derogatory, vulgar, aimed to emphasize negativity, showing disapproval, or simply to display intimacy, which perfectly portrayed in this animated series. South Park animated series brings the ordinary, extraordinary, and peculiar plots, ranging about daily incidents until supernatural theme. This animated series challenged mainstream media by displaying offensive and strong language used by the characters throughout the series. The purposes of this research are; First, to identify the types of dysphemism. Second, investigate the motives of dysphemism. Third, discover the most dominant type and motive of dysphemism. The researchers employed the theories from Allan and Burridge (1991) to analyze the types and motives presented in these episodes. This research was conducted in qualitative research. The researchers used technique of documentation to collect the data and employed content analysis technique to analyze the data. The results are; First, there are seven types of dysphemism identified in the selected episodes; (a) Profanity, (b) Dysphemistic epithets, (c) Euphemistic dysphemism, (d) Dysphemistic euphemism, (e) “-ist” dysphemism, (f) Dysphemism in forms of naming and addressing, (g) Verbal play. Second, there are four underlying motives of dysphemism; (a) Fear and distaste, (b) Hatred and contempt, (c) Desire to offensively demonstrate such feelings and to downgrade the denotatum, (d) Amuse an audience. Third, the most dominant type of these episodes is profanity, which identified in 40 occurrences, and the most dominant motive is the desire to offensively demonstrate such feelings and to downgrade the denotatum, identified within 84 occurrences.
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