An analysis on dictions and messages in song lyrics of Charmbracelet by Mariah Carey

ABSTRACT

Literature is a body of written (or oral) works, such as novels, poetry, or drama that use words to stimulate the imagination and confront the reader with a unique vision of life. When we start to read literature, we have to make an effort to accommodate to the writer's use of language, and to appreciate the ideas he is offering. Critics can help us make that transition, and can help fill out our understanding by telling us something about the social climate in which a work was written, or about the personal circumstances of the author while he was writing it

There are some advantages that can be taken by the writer in choosing this topic. By reading poems we may acquire knowledge about how to appreciate literature, know the background of the poem and messages included in the poems. Therefore, she was interested in analyzing the dictions and messages in Mariah Carey’s songs since she know that there are arresting dictions which are used in her lyrics and there are educational messages conveyed in them. The writer decided to give the title of this thesis “ An Analysis on Dictions and Messages in Song Lyrics of Charmbracelet by Mariah Carey”. The problems investigated in this study are; (1) what are the dictions used in Mariah Careys lyrics? and (2) what are the messages of Mariah Carey’s lyrics.

The objectives of this study are intended to find out the diction used in Mariah Carey’s lyrics and to analyze the messages of Mariah Carey’s lyrics. And here, she only limits her study on 12 lyrics, which has a theme that is nature.

On the basis of the research problems, the approach employed in this study is rhetorical criticism. While all the data analyzed in this study are the lyrics produced by the songwriter which are taken from her album Charmbracelet. She observes all of the data by reading the whole of lyrics, then select several of them that contain of dictions. Besides that, for collecting the valid data, the writer also accesses them from Internet.

After the data have been collected, they are analyzed in the following steps; categorizing the data into 12 categories in accordance with the number of the lyrics analyzed, presenting and discussing the lyrics, identifying the dictions and messages of each lyric and drawing conclusion, making final conclusion after presenting and discussing the whole lyrics.

In advance, the writer also presents the data obtain from the data sources. The data presentation is divided into 12 as the following: Through The Rain, Clown, I Only Wanted, My Saving Grace, You Had Your Chance, Lullaby, Subtle Invitation, Bringin’ On The Heartbreak, Sunflowers For Alfred Roy, Boy, You Got Me Yours.

The last, the writer makes conclusions and suggestions. She concludes that most dictions used in the lyrics of Mariah Carey are informal. Whether it is the use of colloquial language, idiomatic expression, slang, common words, contractions, vulgarity or even addressing readers by using first or second pronoun. In other hand, the lyrics of Mariah Carey also often contain of romantic languages and connotation of words. And most of her songs are talking about love and togetherness. The readers of Mariah Careys lyrics are suggested to know that life will never be able to be separated from love whether it is love among people or love for God. Finally, The writer hopes that other researchers can analyze the other parts of elements of literature.