AN ANALYSIS OF SWEAR WORDS USED BY THE CHARACTERS IN BLACK SUMMER MINI SERIES SEASON 1

Abstract

            Swear words serve as a means of linguistic communication that effectively conveys the emotions felt by individuals in specific circumstances. This study aims to elaborate on the types and functions of swear words by referring to Andersson and Trudgill (1990) and Ljung (2011). The research object is an American television miniseries titled Black Summer Season One. The data were obtained from the utterances of ten main characters in the miniseries, namely Rose, Patrick, William, Lance, Manny, Barbara, Ben, Carmen, Spears, and Phil. This research used a descriptive qualitative method to analyze the utterances produced by the characters. The results showed that there are 125 data containing swear words. The characters in episodes 1 to 8 uttered expletive swearing 47 times, abusive swearing 60 times, and auxiliary swearing 18 times. Thus, abusive swearing was the most dominant type, while auxiliary swearing was the least used. Furthermore, the results revealed that each type of swear word has nine functions, consisting of seven single functions and two mixed functions, namely: (1) Expletive interjections function to express intense positive or negative emotions. (2) Curses are used to curse the bad behavior of other individuals, hoping that other individuals will have bad luck. (3) Adjective intensifiers serve to strengthen emotional content through the modification of nouns or adjectives in an utterance. (4) Dislike adjectives are used to express dislike for animate or inanimate objects (5) Emphasis serves to emphasize the noun to strengthen the statement. (6) Modals highlight the statement that comes before the verb. (7) Anaphoric epithets refer to a previously mentioned individual or group. (8) Unfriendly advice and anaphoric epithets are used to convey strong anger using unfriendly advice as well as giving negative names to other characters. (9) Curses and anaphoric use of epithets serve to curse an individual's behavior as well as give the individual a bad name. The findings indicated that the ten characters in the Black Summer miniseries season one endure mental turmoil as a result of perilous and hazardous circumstances. This condition prompts individuals to utilize swear words as a method of emotional expression and efficient communication of their thoughts and feelings.