A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY ON THE INSTANT MESSAGING UTTERANCES USED BY TEENAGERS ON COMMUNICATION IN THE SERIES OF BRING IT ON MOVIES

Rista Esya Kharisma Puja Nur Annisa

Abstract

Instant messaging or IM is a system on the internet that allows people to exchange written messages to other people quickly. However, IM can be used in utterances as well. One of the examples is in the Bring It On movie series. This article analyzed the use of IM terms in the form of utterances used by the teenagers characters in the Bring It On movie series. The sociolinguistic approach was used to investigate the social context happens in the films. The main goals of this study were to find what kinds of language variations IM utterances belong to and what the possible factors that motivate the teenagers to use IM terms on conversation in the films. This study used the data from the teenagers’ utterances in the films and list of register of signs in chat lingo (language in chatting) proposed by Lailiyah (2002). The data were analyzed using Biber (1988) parameters in determining register, Brown and Attardo (2000) and Mattiello’s (2008) theories in collecting the characteristics in defining slang, and slang sociological properties. The findings of this study were IM utterances regarded as slang, and the factors that motivate the teenagers to use IM terms on their conversation were group- and subject- restriction, secrecy and privacy, solidarity, economical factor, and to keep the older at a distance. The teenagers in the films not only used IM term to make the conversation efficient or save time but also related to group restriction. In other words, when a group of people start using special terms on their communication, they actually showed other people which group they belong to.

 

Keywords: instant messaging, IM, sociolinguistics, language variation, slang, Bring It On movies