THE
ANALYSIS OF ABSTRACTION PERSONIFICATION IN SKILLET’S SELECTED SONG
Benny1,
Putu Devi Maharani2, I G. B. Wahyu Nugraha
Putra3
Faculty Of Foreign Languages, Mahasaraswati Denpasar University, Bali, Indonesia
Bennytan872@gmail.com, devmaharani86@gmail.com,
wahyunugraha1980@gmail.com
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Abstract |
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Received: |
21-02-2022 |
Introduction:
Personification abstraction is a valuable and important type of language
because it can be found in everyday life and plays a major role in human
communication. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to find and
analyze the abstraction of personification and meaning in Skillet's selected
songs. This study uses the personification theory of Zhu (1991) and the
meaning theory of Leech (1981) to identify and classify the data in the
lyrics taken from the selected songs, such as: Terrify the Dark, Vapor, and Stars.
Methods: This study uses literature and qualitative methods in
collecting and analyzing data. Results: After collecting and analyzing
the data, it was found that there were ten lyrics containing the
personification of abstraction in this study. Conclusion: this study
shows that there is a personification of abstraction based on Zhu's theory
(1991) in the selected song, but there are only four types of meaning out of
the seven types of meaning found by Leech (1981) in it, namely conceptual,
connotative, affective, and thematic. |
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Accepted: |
22-02-2022 |
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Published: |
20-03-2022 |
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Keywords: |
personification,
abstraction, song lyric, meaning |
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Corresponding Author: Benny
E-mail: Bennytan872@gmail.com
INTRODUCTION
Communication
is one of the most important elements in human social life, as from the
beginning of time, human as a social creature is being tied to necessity of
communicating with their own kind in order to express their thinking, ideas,
feeling, etc. (Maftuhah, 2018)
explain that language can be defined as a means of communication of human life.
In order to communicate, human need language as the media to transfer the
message. (Kreidler, 2013)
Justify that language is the media of transferring the message from one
individual to the others. It is very important because it can deliver the
message and expressing the feeling of the speaker at the same time. Language as
the media to deliver the message need to have meaning, (Riemer, 2010)
Justify that language need to carry through meaning in order to deliver the
message, meaning become the core of language in transferring information.
There are
many meaning inside the words from the literal to non-literal one, human use
lot of meaning beyond it is literal or logical form in order to evoke
imagination, explain complex thing, or to make the comprehension process easier
for the listener or reader, this is the definition of figurative language.
Figurative language is the use of language in order to cover the real meaning
of it by comparing it with another thing, it can simply be defined as the use
of word in order to express the meaning by using the meaning beyond its logical
explanation.
Figurative
language can be found easily in human everyday life. “Figure
of speech can evoke emotion and imaginary” (Maula, 2013). One of the most popular literature forms
that contain figurative language is song. Song is the fusion of rhyme, tone,
and lyrics that form a harmony. (Rahayu, 2018)
justify that song can become a media to transfer the thought, the feeling, or
to share what they want. Song contains figurative language because the song
writer mostly uses a poetic word that can affect the feeling of the listener
and evoke their imagination. Figurative language is hard to be understand
because it uses the meaning beyond the logical or conceptual meaning.
Understanding
figurative language is important because in human communication, it is one of
the forms that commonly be found everywhere, it also cannot be understood or
defined literally, make it harder to comprehend, but also help describing a
complex thing such as abstract object. “Communicative value an expression has
by virtue of what it refers to, over
and above its purely conceptual content” (Saeed, 2015).
The comprehension and
understanding of figurative language and the meaning conveyed inside of it can
make the transfer of message and information easier for everyone, especially
for an individual who attracted with literature. (Arifah, 2016)
explain that understanding figure of speech is important in order to avoid
misinformation and misconception in life. Ibrahim (2016) describe figurative
language as the way to transfer the speaker idea to the listener.
There are
many types of figurative language, one of them is personification. (Deyin, 2018)
justify that personification put a human characteristic or trait into something
inhuman. (Suryanto,
2018)
justify that personification focus on imaginative and creative. Personification
focuses on imagination because it can force the listener or reader to imagine
what the speaker idea.
“Personification
is a statement attributes human qualities to non-human” (Milana & Ardi,
2021). Personification
can be simply defined as implementing a human characteristic, trait,
consciousness into non-human thing such as animals, non-living thing, or
abstract object.
(Melion
& Ramakers, 2016)
describe abstraction personification as the act of giving human trait to an
abstract object, which would be useful in transfer the message and meaning to
the reader or listener. Personification can be found easily in song. “Song as
piece of music with words that are sung” (Dewi, 2020).
Song is the combination of rhythm, music, and poetic words.
This
analysis is being influenced by three previous study that also deal with a
similar topic or data. The first study is An Analysis of Personification Found
in John Meyer’s Selected Song Lyric by (Wedayanti, 2021).
The focus of this study is to find out the types of personification in
figurative language and the meaning of the lyric in the song created by John
Meyer. The data source for this study is John Meyer song, it uses qualitative
descriptive analysis in analysing the data. The
result of this study is there are five total of personification and five
connotative meaning in the data selected. The second study is Examining
personification in songs as one of the English teaching materials by (Fata & Aprilya,
2021). This study focuses on
analysing the types of personification in Michael
Jackson Thriller and Invincible album. This study uses descriptive qualitative
analysis with documentation analysis as methods in collecting the data. The
result of the analysis found that there are sixty-five personification
expression in the data and there are 4 types of personification in it. The
third study that influence this analysis is The Analysis of Figurative
Languages used in some of One Direction’s Songs’ Lyrics by (Khairunnisa,
2016). This
study used qualitative method in analysing the types
and meaning of the figurative languages found inside the lyrics. The result of
this study found out that there are twenty expressions from four types of
figures of speech present in the song. This study also found out the meaning
inside the lyrics or the data taken for this study.
The
similarities between this study and the three previous study stated before is
the topic, which is figurative language and the data source also collected from
the song as the primary data in analysis. There are also some differences
between this study and the three previous one. The difference between this
study and the first previous study is this study focuses on analysing
the abstraction personification based on the theory of personification from (Melion
& Ramakers, 2016), meanwhile the previous study focuses on analysing the personification in general. The differences
between this study and the second study lies on the theory used, this study
uses three types of personification as the base in analysing
the data, meanwhile the second previous study uses four types. The differences
between this study and the third study are on the topic selected, even though
both of the study focus on figurative language, but this study analysing the personification specifically rather than all
of the types of figurative language like the third previous study.
This study
focuses on analysing the abstraction personification
and the meaning of the selected song created by Skillet. This study uses the
theory of meaning taken from the book Semantic: The Study of Meaning (Saeed,
2015) and the Types of Personification taken
from the theory of personification from (Melion
& Ramakers, 2016) from book entitled On the Manifestation
Means Formation and Appreciation of English Personification that cited from CS Canada
Journal by (Deyin,
2018) entitled Meaning Construction of
Personification in Discourse Based on Conceptual Integration Theory. The lyric
selected based on the presence of the abstraction personification in it as
abstraction personification is used to convey the real meaning and comparing
the things with the others. This study is interesting because lyric as the
media in delivering the feeling and the message from the song writer, can also
affect the feeling of anyone who listen to the song, song can be used to
encourage someone or evoke imagination of the listener. This analysis is going
to be useful for anyone who loves song and want to comprehend the meaning in
it, especially for anyone who loves the song from Skillet. The benefit of this
research is to find out new information and contribute to the topic, support
previous theories, and become reference for future research.
METHODS
This study
uses library research in collecting the data. The data taken from selected song
created by Skillet, such as: Terrify the Dark, Stars, and Vapor. In Analysing the data, there are several steps need to be
taken, first the lyric of the song will be collected from
https://www.azlyrics.com in order to find out the lyrics that belong to the
abstraction personification based on the theory of personification by (Melion
& Ramakers, 2016). After that the data are being analysed to find out the meaning inside it. Qualitative
methods are going to be applied as the method in analysing
the data. Qualitative method is the method of collection non-numerical data in
order to find out the idea or understand the description. Qualitative method is
relevant for this study because the data are being collected and analysed in the form of words, it can also be used to analyse the data accurately. The data are being analysed using the theory of meaning from (Saeed,
2015) and the theory of personification by (Melion
& Ramakers, 2016).
RESULT
AND DISCUSSION
This
chapter contain the result of the analysis, it also contains the explanation
and the table of classification of the data. The table shows the lyrics or the
data that belong to abstraction personification and the types of meaning inside
it collected from selected song created by Skillet, there are ten lyrics that
contain abstraction personification found inside, four of them were being
presented here for discussion.
Tabel
I. Types of Meaning Found Inside the Selected Song by Skillet
|
NO. |
LYRIC |
SONG TITLE |
MEANING |
|
1 |
My doubt will answer to your scars |
Terrify the Dark |
Thematic |
|
2 |
No power in hell can steal my peace |
Terrify the Dark |
Connotative |
|
3 |
Your love has called my name |
Stars |
Affective |
|
4 |
Future’s robbing my soul |
Vapor |
Connotative |
|
TOTAL |
4 |
|
|
The table
shows that there are four lyrics that belong to an abstraction personification
with variation of meaning collected from selected song created by Skillet, such
as: Terrify the Dark, Stars, and Vapor. The data collected by using the theory
of personification from (Melion
& Ramakers, 2016). There are also types of meaning that
appear in the data, conceptual meaning is not included here simply because
every word has conceptual meaning that act as the core of the word, beside
conceptual meaning, the analysis also found another type of meaning, they are:
thematic, connotative and affective meaning.
In analysing and discussing the
data in this study, it uses the theory of meaning taken from the book Semantic: The Study of Meaning (Saeed, 2015) that classified the meaning into seven types, which are
conceptual, connotative, affective, associative, reflected, social, and
thematic meaning, meanwhile
the theory of abstraction is being taken from the theory of personification
from (Melion & Ramakers, 2016)
from book entitled On the Manifestation
Means Formation and Appreciation of English Personification that cited from
CSCanada Journal by (Deyin, 2018)
entitled Meaning Construction of
Personification in Discourse Based on Conceptual Integration Theory. (Melion &
Ramakers, 2016) justify that abstraction personification is the
act of giving a human trait, consciousness, or characteristic to an abstract
object, abstract object is a real thing but do not tie to any concrete object
in the real world such as opinion, idea, war, etc. There are ten lyric that
contain abstraction personification found inside the song selected, four of
them were taken for discussion and analysis.
Data 1:
My
doubt will answer to your scars
(Line 1, Terrify the Dark)
This data is being categorized as an abstraction
personification because it personifies an abstract object by giving it a human
trait. (Melion & Ramakers, 2016)
justify that abstraction personification is the form of personification where
it personifies an abstract object by implementing a human characteristic into
them. Abstract object is anything real but do not have a concrete form in the
real world, such as: idea and opinion. This song is telling about the belief of
someone towards his or her creator and how they keep their religions in their
heart to fight evil aspect in his or her life, the evil aspect in human life
can be bad habit, negative thinking, unhealthy relationship, or others. The
data focused on how the character doubt and decrease his or her belief. The
data My doubt belong to an abstract object category because the
conceptual meaning of doubt is the feeling of uncertain or lack of
conviction, it’s a real thing but do not have any concrete form in the real
world, hence it is an abstract object. The abstract object is being given a
human quality, which is will answer, answer is the verb that describe a
human action of saying or responding to something or someone. In literal
meaning, it would be impossible to give a human-like reaction such as answering
to something abstract that did not have concrete form such as doubt. Based
on the lyric before it, the word your
in the data refers to God, the lyric that appear before it that strengthen this
statement is Your light will
terrify the dark and no
power in Hell Is
gonna steal my peace, based on
those lyrics, the context is about hell and heaven and related to God, hence
the data can be described as how someone lost their belief. in the end
the song shows that the lack of conviction to the creator are going to make
someone stray away from their belief and morale.
This data has thematic meaning, the data is being
categorized as thematic meaning because it reveals the point of focus that
emphasize the focus point to the readers. (Saeed, 2015) justify that thematic
meaning refers to how the speakers deliver the word; it is usually focused on
the stress of words, emphasize and focus of the data. The emphasize of the
sentences can be seen from the subject of the sentences. From the thematic
meaning of the data, it can be described that the scars are the affect or the
cause of the doubt. The focus point also made the readers imagine what happened
and how the scars are being connected with the doubt. The real meaning of this
data is the feeling of guilty after hurting and not believing someone that in
the end have bring disaster and disappointment to the other person.
Data
2:
No
power in hell can steal my peace
(Line 1, Terrify the Dark)
This data belongs to abstraction personification.
“Personification transfer human attributes to abstract objects such as time and
opinion” (Deyin, 2018). This song is about someone who doubt his or her own belief
but in the end realized that it is important in order to fight the negative
aspect in human life, the negative aspect can be in the form of bad influence,
negative relationship, bad idea or negative way of thinking, etc. The subject
of this data is an abstract object because the
conceptual meaning of power is the ability to do something, power is an
abstract object because it is real but do not have any concrete form in the
real world. The abstract object is being described as human-like by giving it
an ability to steal something. Steal is a verb that can be
defined as a human action of taking something that do not belong to them
without permission from the real owner. In literal speaking, it would be
impossible for an abstract object that do not have any concrete form to take or
steal something. The author of this lyric trying to evoke the imagination of
the listener or reader by showing how the negative aspect in human life that
being represented as power in hell can bring damage and negativity in
your life that being represented as steal my peace, but the individuals
in the song will not let that happen.
This data has connotative meaning, (Saeed, 2015) justify that connotative meaning is the meaning beyond it is
literal for, it focus on what It refers to rather than the logical
conceptual meaning of it. The data No power in hell can steal my peace do
not mean that the power from hell can take your peace literally, but instead it
means that the negative aspect in human life can bring damage to human life.
Conceptually, Hell is an abstract place that also become the abode of devil,
devil is the symbolism of negativity and evil, hence turning hell as the source
of evil. Steal my peace means affecting and damaging aspect in human
life because peace is the symbol of tranquilities and freedom from disturbance.
This real meaning of this lyric is about someone who tried to fight and to
avoid the negative influences around them by keep holding on something they
belief in, which is their religion and the law of God.
Data
3:
Your
love has called my name
(Line 27, Stars)
This data is categorized as an abstraction personification. (Melion & Ramakers, 2016)
justify that abstraction personification personifies an abstract object by
giving it a human-like trait, consciousness, or qualities. This song is telling
about the affection and love between the human and his or her creator, the
creator that loves everything he created. Your love is an abstract
object because it does not tie to any concrete object. The conceptual meaning
of love is a deep and intense affection toward something. The abstract object
is being given a human attribute or ability, which is has called, which
is in literal speaking would be impossible for an abstract object that do not
have a concrete form to do. The song writer used this personification in order
to explain and describe the affection that being given to someone easier.
This data has affective meaning because it affects and
deliver the feelings through the lyric. (Saeed, 2015) justify that affective meaning is how the feeling are being
communicated through the language. The data Your love has called my
name delivering the feeling of affection, joyful, and great
interest, it can be seen from the subject your love, love as a symbolism
of intense feeling of deep affection, it being followed by the line has
called my name that shows the connection and affection. The real meaning in
this lyric is the feeling of deep affection toward someone, or in this case
toward the creator.
Data
4:
Future’s
robbing my soul
(Line 1, Vapor)
The data Future’s robbing my soul is an abstraction
personification. (Melion & Ramakers, 2016)
justify that abstraction personification is an act of giving human trait,
consciousness, or characteristic to something inhuman, or in this case an
abstract object. Abstract object is an object that do not have concrete form,
such as time, opinion, or idea. This song is telling about the helplessness of
someone toward his or her life and the future. The subject in this data is Future,
future is an abstract object because it is real but do not tie any concrete
object, the conceptual meaning of it is the time progression after the present
time. The abstract object is being given a human trait, which is an ability to robbing,
robbing is a human action that can be defined as an act of taking or
stealing an object that do not belong to them, usually with evil intention. In
literal speaking it would be impossible for an abstract object to steal other’s
people properties. The writer trying to use this personification to evoke the
imagination and describing how the time or the progression of present to the
future can sometimes not only give positive impact, but also a negative one
that eventually can cause anxiety and paranoid to the present self.
This data has connotative meaning, (Saeed, 2015) justify that connotative meaning is the meaning of the word
beyond or above its purely conceptual definition. This data is impossible to be
described or explained by using a conceptual meaning because it uses the
meaning above it is literal one. Connotatively Future is a
representation of what will happen or have not happen yet, meanwhile robbing
my soul is the representation of the anticipating for something that not
yet to come. The real meaning of this data is the feeling of how someone let
himself or his thinking full of negativity by something that has not even come
yet.
CONCLUSION
The
abstraction personification data taken from the selected Skillet’s song, which
are: Vapor, Stars, and Terrify the Dark. This study found out that all of the
three songs selected contains an abstraction personification based on the
theory of personification by (Melion
& Ramakers, 2016), but only found four types of meaning from
seven types of meaning by (Saeed,
2015), they are: conceptual meaning, connotative
meaning, affective meaning and thematic meaning, the data had found ten lyrics
that contain abstraction personification, but only four were taken for
analysis. The analysis has found that abstraction personification is very
useful if being used to explain something that need deeper imagination and
comprehension, as the nature of abstract thing is something real but do not tie
to any concrete object in real life, it would be hard to evoke the listener
imagination and give comprehension toward the topic if there are figure of
speech being used. Abstraction personification play an important part in
attracting the listener because it can evoke an imagination and eventually
affect the feeling of the listener.
The data
shows that there are four types of meaning based on the classification of
meaning by (Saeed,
2015), such as connotative, affective,
conceptual and thematic meaning. All of them play an important part in
conveying the meaning in the data and help the reader to imagine and understand
an abstract thing, because abstract thing does not have a concrete form, it
usually would be harder to be understand or comprehend. The personification
implemented in the song lyric helps giving description and evoke imagination of
the reader or listener and brings the value and meaning inside the words. Connotative
become the most dominant type of meaning that appeared in the analysis because
all of the lyric contain connotative meaning even though that is not the focus
that the song writer trying to show to the listener, connotative meaning is
very important caused by two factors, first is how it act as the imaginary
evoker and useful in explaining a complex thing, the other factor is the nature
of connotative itself as people tend to implement the attributes of one thing,
to the others in order to make a comparable and increase comprehension process
easier.
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