A pragmatic study on deixis used in the headlines of Jawa Pos/Radar Malang

ABSTRACT

This study is focused on analyzing the headlines of Jawa Pos/Radar Malang using theory of Karl Buhler. Deixis is a part of discourse analysis study and concerned with meaning that is inferred from an utterance or sentence but that is not condition for the truth of that utterance/sentence. The headlines as the core of information in the newspaper written in the forms of sentence and messages are often conveyed implicitly. Based on that background, the research on deixis used in the headlines of Jawa Pos/Radar Malang was conducted with the following problems; (I) what kinds of deixis are used in the headlines of Jawa Pos/Radar Malang, (2) how are the meanings of deixis expressed in the headlines of Jawa Pos/Radar Malang.

This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative method based on Karl Buhler’s theory of deixis. The data were in the forms of utterances or words in the headlines of Radar Malang. The data were selected from the headlines of Radar Malang from May 1 to June 30, 2003.

Data analysis revealed some findings covering the formulated research questions. First, the deixis used in the headlines of Radar Malang could be person deixis, place deixis, time and space deixis. Person deixis was used when the journalist did not mention his name and showed another third singular person. In addition, place deixis was used when the journalist wants to show the time where the utterance occurred.

Based on those findings, it is recommended for the journalist to comprehend and consider the deixis particularly the deixis types when they write the headlines. In addition, it is also recommended for the researchers to conduct research on the daily conversations occurred naturally in certain society. Furthermore, Fillmore’s deixis theory is also suggested to be used in conducting the research on the same area.