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AMBIGUITY AND TREE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

IN HOME MOVIE

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Yohana Christanty Golu Ritan

Student Number: 12 12 14 093

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNVIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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AMBIGUITY AND TREE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

IN HOME MOVIE

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By


Student Number: 12 12 14 093

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNVIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018


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I was stupid and uncomprehending, a clumsy animal in your presence.

Even so, I stayed in your presence, you grasped me by the right hand;

you will guide with advice, and will draw me in the wake of your glory.

Psalm 73: 22-24


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ABSTRACT

Ritan, Yohana Christanty Golu. (2018). Ambiguity and Tree Structure of

Sentences in Home Movie. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Ambiguity and structure tree may be completely different phenomena, but

they relate to each other by their umbrella topics; semantic and syntax. Through

this research, it is expected that English language users are aware of their mistakes

which could lead to misunderstanding and grammatical errors. The movie chosen

to be analyzed in this research is Home movie. It was chosen because the alien

characters frequently produced ambiguous sentences. Therefore, the research

questions of this research are formulated as (1) “What ambiguous sentences are

identified in Home movie?” and (2) “What are the tree structure of the ambiguous

sentences in Home movie?”.

This research is a discourse analysis. The data was taken from Home

movie transcript. The ambiguous sentences were listed, and then got analyzed one

by one. The tree structure for each sentence was also provided and the diagram

may vary one with another.

To answer the first research question, the researcher found that ambiguous

sentences occur because a sentence has nonsensical meaning, or multiple

meanings from a single sentence, and sentences with contradictory facts. In

addition, lexical ambiguity is the most common mistake. To answer the second

research question, the researcher figured out that more than half of the sentences

are grammatically correct and obtain the complete tree diagram, despite of being

semantically ambiguous or having multiple meanings. The rest of the sentences

are grammatically incorrect and have diagrams with unoccupied node where the

sentence has one or more missing labels.

Keywords: ambiguity, structure tree, Home movie


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ABSTRAK

Ritan, Yohana Christanty Golu. (2018). Ambiguity and Tree Structure of

Sentences in Home Movie. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Ambiguitas (kedwiartian) dan pohon struktur adalah fenomena yang sama

sekali berbeda, tetapi mereka saling berhubungan berkat topik utama yang

memayungi mereka, yaitu semantik dan sintaksis. Melalui penelitian ini,

pengguna bahasa Inggris diharapkan sadar akan kesalahan mereka yang dapat

mengakibatkan kesalahpahaman dan kesalahan tata bahasa. Film yang akan

dianalisis adalah film Home. Film ini dipilih karena karakter aliennya yang

sering mengucapkan kalimat-kalimat ambigu. Oleh sebab itu, pertanyaan

penelitian ini dirumuskan menjadi (1) “Apa saja kalimat-kalimat ambigu yang

ditemukan dalam film Home?” dan (2) “Apa saja pohon struktur dari kalimat-

kalimat ambigu dalam film Home?”

Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan discourse analysis. Data

penelitian diambil dari transkrip film Home. Kalimat-kalimat ambigu kemudian

didaftarkan dan dianalisis satu per satu. Pohon struktur untuk masing-masing

kalimat juga disediakan dan diagramnya dapat berbeda antara satu kalimat

dengan yang lain.

Untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama, peneliti menemukan bahwa kalimat

ambigu muncul karena sebuah kalimat memiliki arti yang tidak masuk akal, atau

memiliki lebih dari satu arti, dan kalimat yang kontradiktif. Selain itu, ambiguitas

leksikal adalah kesalahan yang paling umum. Untuk menjawab rumusan masalah

yang ke-2, peneliti menemukan bahwa sebagian besar kalimat yang dianalisis

sudah mengikuti aturan tata bahasa yang benar dan memiliki pohon kalimat yang

lengkap, tanpa memperhatikan apakah kalimat-kalimat tersebut benar atau tidak

menurut sudut pandang semantik. Kalimat-kalimat yang salah memiliki diagram

dengan cabang yang tidak berlabel.

Kata kunci: ambiguity, tree structure, Home movie


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Jesus Christ

for His endless blessing upon me; for the good health and wellbeing, so I am able

to complete this thesis. I wish to express my sincere gratefulness to my advisor

Bapak Drs. Barli Bram, M.Ed., Ph.D. for his valuable guidance, immense

knowledge, and all written suggestions that are very helpful for my thesis

completion. My earnest gratefulness also addressed to Ibu Yohana Veniranda,

S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A., Ph.D. for giving me chances to finish my thesis.

I would like to express my genuine grateful feeling towards my beloved

parents, Bapa Aloysius Deka Harut Ritan and Ema Raimunda Rusmala

Sigalingging, my precious brother Dede Bie, my dearest best friends Mega

Mukin and Maris Wuwur for their countless affection, prayer, sacrifice, and

support for me. Thank you for always reminding me where home is and the place

I belong to. Likewise, I would like to thank Opung Boru and Opung Doli, Nene

Golu, Tulang Syeba and Nangtulang Syeba, Tua Eva, all of my Tante and

Uda, and all of my cousins especially Kak Eva, Bang Abet, Dek Agus, Dek

Lisa, Dek Dani, Dek Ulan, Dek Shella, and Dek Mitha for always checking my

condition and talking about graduation all the time that trigger me to work like

crazy to finish my thesis. Additionally, I am also grateful to have Opin Royal

Metrock, Mita Sitanggang, Vani Ritan, Fensi Daton, Tata Indy, and Tata

Metil for giving me the necessary direct support.


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I will never forget my college experience with the most awesome and silly

classmates, Pinguin Kejim for helping this Larantuka girl curing her homesick

and getting used to the humble Yogyakarta. I also would like to express my very

special thanks to Octa for lending me a hand since EWD until the very end and

becoming a great partner in crime, to Rere for completing the duo me and Octa

into a more colorful trio, and to Eda Tami for being the shoulder-to-cry during

the hard time. Then, I also want to express my thankfulness to Dwi, Tiara,

Shinta, and Dara for welcoming me warmly when I got nowhere to go.

Besides all people I mentioned above, I would like to give my

wholehearted thankfulness to all people whom I could not mention for their

contributions during this thesis writing process. Hopefully this thesis will be

beneficial for many people.

Last but not least, I would like to give myself a round big applause for

being persevere till the end and finishing this thesis, for winning the long

bloodless battle against the bad me. It feels so good to win a battle, but there will

always another battle to fight. Even then, hopefully the battles can be won over.

Fighting!



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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………………i

APPROVAL PAGE....…………………………………………………………….ii

MOTTO…………………………………………………………………………..iii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY……………………………….…..iv

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI……………………………….……v

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………....vi

ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………………….…..vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………..viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………….………x

LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………...……..xii

LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………..…xiv

LIST OF APPENDIX…………………………………………………………..xvii

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………….1

A. Research Background………………………………………………………......1

B. Research Questions…………………………………………………………….5

C. Problem Limitation……………………………………………………………..5

D. Research Objectives……………………………………………………………6

E. Research Benefits………………………………………………………………6

F. Definition of Terms…………………………………………………………….7

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE………………………..9

A. Theoretical Description………………………………………………………...9

1. Concept of Meaning………………………………………………………..9

2. Concept of Semantic………………………………………………………11


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3. Kinds of Ambiguity……………………………………………………….15

4. Grammar…………………………………………………………………..16

5. Syntactic Categories and Rules…………………………………………...18

B. Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………….30

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………………………33

A. Research Method……………………………………………………………...33

B. Data Source…………………………………………………………………...34

C. Research Instruments And Data Gathering Technique……………………….35

D. Data Analysis Technique……………………………………………………...38

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION………………..39

A. The Analysis of Ambiguity Occurs in Home Movie………………………….39

B. The Structure Tree of the Ambiguous Sentences……………………………..53

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND

RECOMMEDATIONS…………………………………………………………..68

A. Conclusions…………………………………………………………………...68

B. Implications…………………………………………………………………...69

C. Recommendations…………………………………………………………….70

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………..72

APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………...….73


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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

2.1 Tense differences between English Language

and Indonesian Language………...…...…………………………….....…16

3.1 The List of Some Ambiguous Sentences

Found in Home Movie………………..……………….………………….35

3.2 Without It, He was Alonely and Would

Someday be Extinctly…………………………………………………….36

3.3 I am Overheated with Shame…..………………………………………...36

4.1 Lexical Ambiguity Found in Sentence 1…………………………………40

4.2 Structural Ambiguity Found in Sentence 2………………………………40



4.5 Contradiction Found in Sentence 5………………………………………43





4.10 Lexical Ambiguity Found in Sentence 10………………………………..47



4.13 Structural Ambiguity Found in Sentence 13……………………………..49


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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

2.1 The Tree Structure of Rule S NP VP…………………………………25

2.2 The Tree Structure of Sentence I put the soap in the bathroom................25

2.3 Pattern 1………………………………………………………………….26

2.4 Pattern 2………………………………………………………………….26

2.5 Pattern 3………………………………………………………………….26

2.6 The Tree Structure of Verb Phrase cook the cake in the kitchen

dilligently…………………………………………………………………27

2.7 The Tree Structure of Prepositional Phrase from a senior in the

university…………………………………………………………………27

2.8 The Tree Structure of Sentence The runner will wear the shoes………...28

2.9 The Tree Structure of Sentence Alice and Bob will come………………..28

2.10 The Tree Structure of a Sentence without a VP………………………….29

2.11 The Tree Structure of a Sentence without a NP………………………….29

2.12 The Tree Structure of a Sentence with Incorrect NP and VP

order………………………………………………………………..……..29

2.13 The Tree Structure of a Noun Phrase with Incorrect N and DET

order………………………………………………………………………30

3.1 I am Overheated with Shame…..………………………………………...37


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3.2 Without It, He was Alonely and Would Someday be

Extinctly………………………………………………………………….37

4.1 The Structure Tree for Sentence 1……………………………………….54

4.2a The Structure Tree for the 1st Possible Meaning from Sentence 2………55

4.2b The Structure Tree for the 2nd

Possible Meaning from Sentence 2………55








4.10 The Structure Tree for Sentence 10……………………………………...61


4.12a The Structure Tree for the 1st Possible Meaning from Sentence 2………63

4.12b The Structure Tree for the 2nd

Possible Meaning from Sentence 2………63




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LIST OF APPENDIX

Page

Appendix Types of Ambiguity and Grammar Correctness Uttered by

the Alien Characters in Home Movie…………………………………………….73


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter covers six sections, namely the research background, research

problem, problem limitation, research objective, research benefit, and the

definition of the terms. Each section is presented as follows.

A. Research Background

Language is an essential aspect needed in order to avoid misunderstanding.

Human social life requires each of them to have interaction and communication,

and language is the one that make it successful. Fromkin, Blair and Collins (1991)

support that “when you know a language, you can speak and be understood by

others who know that language” (p. 3). Your knowledge of a language helps you

to understand how to interrelate a word, a phrase, or a sentence with its meaning.

Your knowledge of a language also guides you to determine whether or not a

sentence makes sense, “although you probably have not heard or read it before”

(Fromkin, Blair and Collins, 1991, p. 7).

Language is usually associated with linguistic because it deals with nature

of language use and communication among human beings. Linguists examine and

analyze the structural components of a language, then manage to reveal it into a

more understandable explanation. Your knowledge of linguistic is called as your

linguistic competence. It means you know the theory about producing sentences,

including the rules to forming them and making judgments whether or not the

sentences are appropriate and making sense. On the other hand, your ability to use

the knowledge in the actual production and comprehension is considered as your


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linguistic performance (Fromkin et al., 1991, p. 9). There are some branches in

linguistics study such as phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics,

and pragmatics. This research focuses on semantic, which concerns about

sentence meaning, and syntax, which deals with sentence grammar.

When we speak we usually have a certain message to convey (Fromkin et

al., 1991, p. 10). However, the message is sometimes being misunderstood by the

listener due to different knowledge range and interpretation between the speaker

and the listener. In addition, a word or a term might represent different definition

or meaning. The phenomenon when a word, phrase, or a sentence is having more

than one meaning is called ambiguity. Widdowson (2007) states that an

ambiguous sentence is “grammatically well-formed”, but it produces “two

completely different but equally valid” meanings (p. 14). For example, the

sentence “The boy saw a man with a telescope” is ambiguous. It can both carry

out two different but make sense meanings. Hearer might catch different meaning

that the speaker intended to. The first option is that the telescope belongs to the

boy and he saw a man with it. While the other meaning option is that the telescope

belongs to the man and a boy saw the man having or using the telescope. This

kind of situation is discussed in semantic. Frawley (1992) defines linguistic

semantics as “the study of grammatical meaning – literal, decontextualized

meaning that is reflected in the syntactic structure of language” (p.15). It means

that meaning is settled by the set of fact a sentence comes with. It is determined

without considering the context or the hearer point of view. This research is

rooting on this definition. The researcher chose to have a discussion related to


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semantic theory because there are not so many researches about it. The researcher

wanted to provide more information and understanding about semantic.

Another interesting linguistic branch to be analyzed is syntax. According

to Culicover (1982), syntax is a description of the various ways in which words of

the language may be strung together to form sentences. Therefore, a sentence can

be nonsensical, but still grammatically correct. It is possible to create various

kinds and numbers of sentences as long as you follow the correct syntactic rule.

“The grammatically does not depend on the truth of the sentence, or on whether

real objects are being discussed, or on whether something is possible. Untrue

sentence can be grammatical” (Fromkin et al., 1991, p. 103). Ambiguous sentence

can be explicitly presented by applying a tree structure because tree structure

reveals the syntactic categories of a sentence. By presenting the syntactic

categories using a tree structure and analyzing the sentence with the guidance

from the structure rules, one would be able to point out the incompatible lexical or

phrase that causes the structural ambiguity.

The researcher aimed to present the analysis with an entertaining media.

Therefore, the chosen research source is a movie. Donaghy (2014) explains that

movie is an excellent teaching and learning tool because learning from movie is

motivating and enjoyable, provides authentic and varied language, gives visual

context, and brings variety and flexibility to the language class room. The

researcher selected movie as the research source because nowadays students

prefer to learn English through fun and enjoyable media. Indeed there are many


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enjoyable teaching media that a teacher can use, but movie is the best choice since

it has a storyline and, sometimes, some moral values to learn about.

The movie chosen to be analyzed was Home movie because the characters

in the movie, specifically the alien characters, speak in many illogical and

ambiguous sentences. The errors are the interesting focus which the researcher

wants to analyze from semantic and syntax viewpoints. Furthermore, the

ambiguous sentences produced by the alien characters somehow seem acceptable

and correct. The researcher means to figure out whether or not the sentences are

ambiguous both semantically and syntactically.

Home is a sci-fi animation movie which conveys a deep meaning about

family and friendship packed with comedy. The movie tells about a friendship

between a misfit alien named Oh and Tip, a nerd girl from Barbados. The movie is

suitable for people in all ages. It is interesting and fun for children, while adults

can learn and take the moral value from the movie.

Ambiguity can cause a communicational misunderstanding; therefore it

needs to be observed carefully. Related to English education, a good

understanding about ambiguity will be helpful for both parties; teachers and

students. A conducive and optimal English classroom requires teacher to be able

to deliver the learning materials to the students. On the other hand, English

learners are required to, at least, be able to express their opinions. In order to have

a well-delivered materials and opinions, both teachers and students must avoid

ambiguity, which means they would avoid misunderstanding as well.


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Analyzing semantic and syntax simultaneously would be challenging

because of their contrast focus, but the contrast also becomes their charm. The

researcher will try to analyze the logical form of a sentence from semantic point

of view, and then study its structure with syntax theory; despite from the semantic

result whether or not the sentence makes sense. The sentence or phrase structure

will be analyzed by parsing a tree structure. Fromkin et al. (1991) regarded phrase

structure rules as “tests that tree must pass to be grammatical”. The researcher

chose ambiguity and sentence tree as the research topics because researches

related to those matters are still lack as well as the ELESP students’ understanding

about them.

B. Research Questions

The research aims to analyze the ambiguous sentences used by the alien

characters from Home movie with logical approach and syntactic rules. Based on

the research background, the researcher formulates the following research

questions.

1. What ambiguous sentences are identified in Home movie?

2. What are the tree structures of the ambiguous sentences in Home

movie?

C. Problem Limitation

The research aims to answer the research questions stated in the research

problems. Then the answers will be discussed from linguistic point of view. The

research focuses on the semantic and syntax analysis of Home movie. Firstly, the

researcher analyzes the ambiguous sentences occurred in the movie. The


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researcher sees meaning as logical form, so the researcher will provide the more

logical sentence choice. Besides that, the researcher also presents the tree structure

of the sentences. The semantic analysis shows the kinds of ambiguity a sentence

has, the word or phrase which makes the sentence ambiguous, and the logical

sentence form. After that, all ambiguous sentences are parsed to prove whether or

not the sentences fulfill the grammatical rules.

The subjects discussed in the research are sentences produced in the movie

by the alien characters; Oh and Captain Smek. Then, as the research objectives,

the research exposes the ambiguous sentences and presents the further explanation

of the ambiguous sentences through the logical explanation and tree structure. The

research is done by analyzing the transcription of the movie and using document

analysis method.

D. Research Objectives

The objectives of this research are:

1. To analyze the ambiguous sentences in Home movie.

2. To present the tree structure of the ambiguous sentences in Home movie.

E. Research Benefits

The research is hopefully beneficial for English Language Education

Study Program (ELESP) students and future researchers.

1. ELESP Students

The researcher hopes this research will give contributions to Sanata

Dharma University, especially the ELESP students. The researcher hopes the

examples given in this research can help the ELESP students a better


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understanding about ambiguity phenomenon and the syntactic rules in linguistics.

Besides that, as a future English teacher, ELESP students’ are required to be able

to teach English in such a good way. It would be better if they can avoid

ambiguity when teaching English to their future students.

2. Future Researchers

Future researcher who wants to do research in the linguistics field, in

particular ambiguity in semantics and syntax analysis, can use the result of this

research as additional source. Hopefully, the result provides sufficient information

that can be useful and supportive for the future research.

F. Definition of Terms

To clarify concept and avoid misunderstanding, the researcher defines

some terms which occur in this research.

1. Ambiguity

Ambiguity is a linguistic phenomenon when a word, phrase, or sentence

can create different meanings or interpretations. Widdowson (2007) states that an

ambiguous sentence is “grammatically well-formed”, but it produces “two

completely different but equally valid” meanings. Ambiguity is possible to occur

because ambiguity mostly related to sense or interpretation rather than reference.

In this research, ambiguity refers not only to a sentence with multiple meanings

(sentential ambiguity), but also the sentences which violate the semantic rules and

reject a sentence truth such as lexical ambiguity, anomaly words, and

contradiction.


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2. Tree structure

Crystal (2008) defines tree structure of a sentence as a diagram used to

“display the internal hierarchical structure of sentences as generated by a set of

rules” (as cite in Wang, 2010). Simply said, a tree structure parses a sentence into

more detailed syntactic categories. Each syntactic category is represented by a

node. Node functions as a mark whether or not a category can substitute each

other.

3. Home Movie

Home is a comedy animation movie released in 2015. It was adapted from

a children book written by Adam Rex. Its original title was “The True Meaning of

Smekday”. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation which mostly produces

children movies. Home tells about an adventure between Tip, who is looking for

her mom, and Oh, who is helping Tip and preventing Earth from extinction. The

movie delivered a deep meaning about family and friendship with sense of

comedy.


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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter includes two sections. The first section is the theoretical

description which exposes the theories in relevance with the research being

discussed. The theories are about meaning, semantic, ambiguity, grammar,

syntactic rules, and tree structure. The second section is theoretical framework

which summarizes all major relevant theories which will help the researcher to

conduct the research to solve the research problems.

A. Theoretical Description

In this section, the researcher describes the definitions, kinds, and some

important points of meaning, semantic, ambiguity, grammar, syntactic rules, and

tree structure. Understanding the concept of meaning and grammar is basically

necessary because it is the core of the research. Besides, ambiguity is the main

reason why this research is conducted; hence understanding the theory about

ambiguity is also necessary. Semantics, syntactic rules, and tree structure are

reviewed in this section as well because they are the means to answer the research

problems.

1. Concept of Meaning

Meaning is not something magically appears when a sentence is made. It is

also not “simply – and merely – the things that it identifies” (Goddard, 2011, p.

4). Fromkin, et al. (1991) note that “meanings build on meanings”. It means as a

sentence is built from words and phrases, a sentence meaning is also built from


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the combination of words and phrases meanings (p. 166). There are seven types of

meaning according to Leech (1981).

The first type is conceptual meaning, which is the “inextricable and

essential” part of a language. Conceptual meaning comes with a set of fact that

will definitely be referred to when someone is defining the language. The second

type of meaning is connotative meaning, which is the opposite of conceptual

meaning. Conceptual meaning is uncertain because it is “vary considerably”

according to culture, historical period, or individual experience. The third type of

meaning is social meaning which “conveys the social circumstances of language

use”.

The fourth type of meaning is affective meaning. Affective meaning is

how the language affects “the personal feelings and attitudes of the

speaker/writer”. Affective meaning can be delivered explicitly through conceptual

word use, and implicitly by using polite expression and friendly tone voice. The

fifth type is reflected meaning. Reflected meaning arises when one expression is

“associated with” multiple senses. Meanwhile, collocative meaning is

“communicated through association with words which tend to occur in the

environment of another word”. Collocative meaning is the sixth type of meaning.

Connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected

meaning, and collocative meaning are included into associated meaning because

they all are “open-ended” and varied. They do not have the characteristic to be

“discrete either-this-or-that terms”. The last type of meaning is thematic meaning.


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Thematic meaning is communicated by “the way in which a speaker/writer

organizes the message in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis”.

2. Concept of Semantic

Semantic is a branch of linguistics which deals with meaning. Frawley

(1992) defines linguistic semantic is the study of grammatical meaning – literal,

decontextualized meaning that is reflected in the syntactic structure of language

(p. 15). The semantic subfield which is concerned with words meanings and their

relationship is called lexical semantics, whereas the other semantic subfield is

sentential semantics which is concerned with the meaning of phrases and

sentences (Fromkin, et al., 1991).

Lexical semantics is familiar with componential analysis. When someone

tries to look at the meaning of words specifically, he will do the componential

analysis by dividing the meaning of a word into semantic components based on

the real world concepts, such as human/live/dead/animal/plant/thing. The

researcher is going to give the componential analysis of the words father, mother,

son, and daughter. The word father consists of the components male/parents, as

opposed with mother which consists of female/parents. The word son consists of

male/child; meanwhile daughter consists of female/child. However, Aitchison

(2004) argues that nowadays people tend to talk of words having semantic

properties, instead of component or componential analysis. Moreover, this kind of

analysis would be problematic and complicated to be done because the complexity

of semantic analysis for each word.


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The second range of semantics analysis is sentential meaning. The

capability to understand lexical meaning can be very helpful to understand

sentential meaning since sentence is some words grouped together by following

the correct grammatical order to create meaning. Someone can reject the truth of a

sentence by understanding the word meaning and make the logical thinking. For

example, the sentence my mother is a bachelor is false. Because if the sentence is

changed into with it semantic properties, it will be my married female parents is

an unmarried male. The analysis shows that the sentence is ambiguous because

the words built the sentence do not agree with each other.

Each word, phrase, and sentence has their own sense and reference. Sense,

is the same with the truth condition of the sentence, is the declarative sentence that

helps people to know under what circumstances that the sentence is true.

However, sense is not the same with actual facts; although you can learn the

actual facts by knowing the truth condition. Furthermore, by knowing the sense of

a sentence, people can determine its reference as well. The reference points the

truth value either the declarative sentence is true or false in the real world. When

two sentences have the same truth condition, they can be paraphrase for each

other. Sometimes, the truth of a sentence entails the truth of another sentence. In

contrast, if the entailment implies negative sense or falseness of another sentence,

the relationship is called contradiction.

There are also some cases when the semantic rules are violated. The first

case is when a sentence is not making any sense. A sentence like my brother is the

only child does not make sense, although it obeys the syntactic rules. Sentences


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like the example above are called anomalous sentences. Anomalous occurs when

words with contradiction value exist in one sentence. The other semantic rules

breaking case is metaphor. Poets and people who work in literature must be

familiar with metaphor. Sometimes, metaphor is ambiguous and quite similar with

anomalous sentence.

Nonetheless, metaphor actually has meaning – nonliteral meaning. Unlike

anomalous sentence, metaphor can be interpreted. For instance, there is a proverb

saying time is money which means that someone should not waste his time

because he could be using it to earn money (“Time is money”). To understand this

metaphor, people need to “understand both literal meaning and facts about the

world” (Fromkin, et al., 1991, p. 180). There is a similar case with metaphor

which breaks the semantic rules, yet it creates meaning in unusual way. It is called

idiom. In this case, “the usual semantic rules for combining meanings do not

apply” (Fromkin, et al., 1991, p. 180). Idiom sometimes has peculiar word

combination which creates completely different meaning. For example, the idiom

break a leg does not literary mean to break someone’s leg. Its meaning is to wish

you a good luck and to have a successful result.

Fromkin, et al. (1991) outlines some semantic relationships as follow.

a. Homonyms: words with same pronunciation, but their meanings

are unlike. There are two kinds of homonym namely homophone

and homograph. Homophones are different words with same

pronunciation like the words bye, buy, and by. On the other hand,

homographs are different words with same spelling and


14

pronunciation like the word bank, which might mean a riverside or

a financial institution. Homonyms often create ambiguity.

b. Polysemous: a word with multiple meanings. For example, the

word man has few meanings. It may be an adult human male, or a

male member of a workforce, team, etc., or a husband or lover, or a

person, or human beings in general, or the human race (“Man”).

c. Synonyms: words with same or nearly same meaning. The words

sofa and couch is one example of synonym. Synonyms often used

for paraphrasing a sentence.

d. Antonyms: the oppositeness of words. Fast is the opposite of Slow.

Some kinds of antonym are complementary pairs (e.g.:

awake/asleep), gradable pairs (e.g.: big/small), and relational

opposites (e.g.: give/receive). Some antonyms can be formed by

adding the prefix un- (fortunate/unfortunate), or non-

(academic/nonacademic), or in- (tolerant/intolerant).

e. Hyponyms: set membership of words. Couch, wardrobe, table,

bed, and washstand are the hyponym of furniture.

f. Metonyms: words that is used to substitute another word to express

the same meaning. The pen is mightier than the sword is one well-

known example of metonymy. The use of the pen refers to the

written words; meanwhile the sword refers to the military force).


15

3. Kinds of Ambiguity

A word, phrase, or sentence is ambiguous if it has more than one meaning.

Chierchia and McConnell (1990) explain that “ambiguity arises when a single

word or string of words is associated in the language system with more than one

meaning”. It creates confusion about what is conveyed, since the current context

may lead to different interpretations of meaning. Ambiguous sentence is

grammatically entirely well-formed. Nevertheless, it is possible to be decoded in

two completely different but equally valid ways (Widdowson, 2007).

Here are some types of ambiguity according to Hurford and Heasley

(1983) as cited from Nordquist (2016).

a. Lexical ambiguity

This type of ambiguity, in written text, results from multiple

meanings of a word, and in spoken language, results from different word

forms of the same sounds. Ignoring the context of the sentence, lexical

ambiguity can arise from homograph, in written text, and homophone, in

spoken language. For example, the word bank can refer to riverside or a

financial institution.

b. Structural ambiguity

Structural ambiguity occurs because a sentence is form by similar

phrases. The sentence actually carries out a clear meaning, but the

combination can be interpreted more than one meaning. For example, in

the sentence the burglar threatened the student with a knife. The phrase

with a knife in this sentence is ambiguous, because it can be related to the


16

burglar and the student. The reader or listener may interpret that the

burglar who has the knife and threatens the student without a knife. They

can also think that it is the student who holds the knife, and the burglar

threatens him. Structural ambiguity happens if there is a sentence which is

ambiguous because its words relate each other in different ways, even

though none words are ambiguous.

Ambiguity also occurs because a word in a sentence is not compatible with

other words in the sentence. This situation is called anomaly. Anomaly is contrast

with lexical ambiguity. Lexical ambiguity occurs because a word has more than

one meaning that makes the sentence is interpreted differently. On the other hand,

anomaly occurs because a word “conforms to all the grammatical rules of the

language, but it is strange because it represents contradiction” (Fromkin, et al.,

2004).

4. Grammar

For each human language, the linguists try to discover the precise

description of its property. The description is called grammar. Grammar does not

refer to the property which a language should have. It refers to the language

property it does have (Culicover, 1982, p.2). Consider the example in table 2.1:

Table 2.1. Tenses Differences between English Language and Indonesian Language

Period of time No. English language Indonesian language

Present a. I eat meat (every day). Saya makan daging setiap hari.

Past b. I ate meat (yesterday). Saya makan daging kemarin.

English language has tenses as one of its properties. Tenses usage specifies

when the action takes place. Besides the tenses usage, the use of adverb of time in


17

the sentence is helpful; however, its usage is optional. In English sentence (a.),

people can still understand that the action of eating takes place in the present time

although the adverb of time, every day, is omitted. Also, people can still know

that the action of eating in English sentence (b.) happens at the past, even without

the use of adverb of time. Tenses affect the verb of the sentence in such way, so

people can understand a sentence even if the sentence does not an adverb of time.

As a comparison, Indonesian language does not have tenses. There is no

difference between the verbs in the two sentences even though the action of eating

happens at two different times. The verb of the sentences does not undergo an

extreme change. Therefore, the only property which can specify the time when the

action takes place is the adverb of time.

This comparison is only one tiny problem among the problems which the

linguists faced when they try to discover the precise grammar of a language.

Because of the debate among the linguists related to the precise grammar of all

languages possess, they achieve a considerable agreement that the correct theory

of grammar must have a lexicon, phonology, syntax, and semantics as its

components. When a native speaker of a language learned his first language, he

did not establish the language rule by himself. The other native speakers implicitly

taught him the rules. However, it is not possible to ask the native speakers to

explain the rules. Therefore, it becomes the job of linguists to define the rule by

considering the judgment of the native speakers about the sentence grammar.


18

Intuitively, a sentence in any languages is considered grammatically

correct when the sentence sounds good to the native speaker. Formally, they are

the strings of words that can be formed by the rules of the syntactic components.

For example, consider the following sentences:

(1.1) a. My younger brother married a nun.

b. Married my younger brother a nun.

Sentence (1.1a) is grammatically correct, although it is not possible to marry a nun

because nuns have made a vow of celibacy. Nevertheless, English speakers still

can recognize that sentence (1.1a) is an English sentence and sentence (1.1b) is

not. Common English speakers have the knowledge of sentence structure, while

linguists aim to discover the syntactic component of a language. So, learning a

language can be more convenient and easy. Syntactic component of a language is

a set of rule by which words and groups of words may be strung together to form

grammatical sentences of the language (Culicover, 1982 p. 4). This means that the

sentence must be true, logical, and make sense.

5. Syntactic Categories and Rules

English sentence is unlimited. Anyone can make a sentence a long as they

want. For example, Mega thinks that Maris knows that Tino thinks that Elva

believes that aliens are real. Even one can make the sentence longer. The linguists

made various possible hypotheses to figure out the acceptable sentence structure

by interchanging the position of any words in a sentence. They found out that a

word category affected the interchanging process and grammar. They finally

concluded that categories are groups of words of a language that can substitute for


19

one another without affecting grammatically. The category is called syntactic

category. The grouping system is involving sentence, noun, noun phrase, verb,

verb phrase, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, prepositional phrase,

conjunction, and determiner.

a. Noun (N)

Generally noun is a category for person, place, animal, thing, and

idea. Noun is divided into proper noun and common noun. Proper noun is

a group of noun which is capitalized, even if it occurs in the middle or end

of the sentence. It is used to indicate specific and particular things such as

person, days of the week, months of the year, towns, cities, streets,

countries, brands, and names. On the other hand, common noun is not

capitalized, except when it occurs in the beginning of the sentence. For

example, I know that Elsa is a diligent girl. The word I and Elsa are proper

noun because they indicate a person and specific person’s name.

Therefore, the word Elsa is capitalized although it is in the middle of the

sentence. Meanwhile, the word girl is a common noun, so it is not

capitalized.

b. Noun Phrase (NP)

Noun phrase is a group of words with noun or pronoun as its head

(Nordquist, 2016). Modifier and determiner can tag along the head of noun

phrase e.g. the book, a man, her dress. Noun phrases can be the subject or

object of the sentence. Inserting a noun or a phrase into “who


20

discovered…………?” and “…………was seen by everyone.” can test

whether or not a word or phrase is a noun phrase.

c. Verb (V)

Verb is a part of speech for group of words which show visualized

action such as read, walk, sing, play, and many more. Besides describing

an action, there is also a kind of verb such as am, is, are, was, and were.

They are called linking verb. Linking verb is used to show a state of being

and identity. Verb is possible to undergo a change regarding to the tense

applied for it within the sentence. For instance, the basic verb run can

change into ran when it is used in past tense. In addition, the pluralism of

the noun/subject in a sentence can also influence the verb to change; like

the addition of –s ending if the noun/subject of the sentence is a singular

noun.

d. Verb Phrase (VP)

Verb phrase always contains verb which may be followed by other

categories such as noun phrase or prepositional phrase (Fromkin et al.,

1991, p. 108).

e. Adjective (ADJ)

Adjective word modifies the noun of the sentence and provides the

information about it. It usually is placed before the noun or pronoun it

described, and it is possible for a sentence to use multiple adjective words

to give a description about a particular noun. For example, Gabriel is a

tall, handsome boy with black hair. The words tall and handsome are the


21

adjective words which describe Gabriel, and black is the adjective word

which modifies the hair. As cited from EF Education First Online English

Course (2017), adjective has the function to describe feelings or qualities,

give nationality or origin, tell more about a thing’s characteristics, tell us

about age, tell us about size and measurement, tell us about color, tell us

about what something is made of, tell us about shape, and express a

judgment or a value. Adjectives can make a sentence become more

specific and interesting.

f. Adverb (ADV)

Adverb modifies verb, adjective, and sometimes, other adverbs. It

gives information about frequency, manner, place, time, and degree. Here

are some examples related to the function of adverb.

1.1 Mino walks home quickly. (Adverb quickly modifies the

verb walks).

1.2 Mino is very hungry. (Adverb very modifies the adjective

hungry).

1.3 Mino rather easily gets hungry in the morning. (Adverb

rather modifies another adverb in the sentence, easily).

1.4 Jinu often cooks the meal for the family member. (The

adverb often indicates frequency).

1.5 Jinu cuts the onions carefully. (The adverb carefully

indicates manner).


22

1.6 Jinu’s house is near a traditional market, so he buys

vegetables there. (The adverb there indicates place).

1.7 Jinu forgot to buy the vegetables yesterday. (The adverb

yesterday indicates time).

1.8 Jinu is very happy seeing his family enjoys the meal he

cooked. (The adverb very indicates degree).

g. Pronoun (PN)

Pronoun is a word used to replace a noun. Henry buys a lot of

cookies, but he does not feel like eating them all at once is a case in point.

The words he and them are the pronouns which can substitute the nouns,

instead of repeating Henry and cookies in the sub clause. However, it is

important to notice that pronoun should be used after a noun is mentioned,

and it must be clear which noun it refers to.

h. Preposition (P)

A preposition can show the relationship between a noun or pronoun

and some other word in the sentence. The relationships shown can be

agency, e.g., the letter was delivered here by the postman; comparison,

e.g., you are beautiful like a rainbow, she is as beautiful as a red rose;

direction, e.g., we go to school together, the cows run toward the river in a

hurry, people must walk through the forest if they want to reach the private

beach; place, e.g., the book is on the table at my bedroom by the window;

possession, e.g., the magic wand you found is the property of Hermione

Gringer; purpose, e.g., Ronald learns English for his work; source, e.g., the


23

water leaks from the roof, nobody can have milk out of a chicken; and

time, e.g., the dinner will be ready at 7, I must arrive at the cafe before

noon, The school will start on Monday.

i. Prepositional Phrase (PP)

Prepositional phrase contains prepositional which may be followed

by other categories such as noun phrase.

j. Conjunction (C)

Conjunction is used to link words, phrases, or parts of sentence

together. Two sentences can be joined together by employing conjunction.

There are three types of conjunction. The first type is coordinating

conjunction. This type of conjunction connects two words, two phrases,

two independent clauses, or two dependent clauses which have similar

grammatical structure. There are only seven coordinating conjunctions in

English language which are for, and, nor, both, or, yet, and so. The second

type of conjunction is subordinating conjunction. Subordinating

conjunction joins a dependent sentence, as the subordinate clause, with

independent sentence, as the main clause. The subordinate clause is

marked with the subordinating conjunction as its start. The words such as

after, as, although, because, before, even though, if, once, rather than,

since, that, though, unless, until, when, whenever, whereas, and while are

the common subordinating conjunctions. Lastly, correlative conjunction is

a kind of conjunction connecting two words or phrases which have

reciprocal or complementary relationship. Group of words like


24

either…or…, neither…nor…, whether…or…, both…and…, and not

only…but also….

k. Determiner (DET)

Nordquist (2017) stated that determiner is a word or a group of

words that specifies, identifies, or quantifies the noun or noun phrase that

follows it. Determiner is including article (a, an, the), demonstrative (this,

that, these, those), quantifier (many, few, enough, little, much, most, any,

some), interrogative (what, which, whose), and possessive (my, her, his,

our, their, your). This kind of categorization is helpful for the further

discussion because it is handier to analyze the sentence by employing the

abbreviation of each category.

The name of the syntactic category of each word grouping is called

syntactic label. Tree diagram is a convenient way to conduct a syntax analysis. A

tree diagram with syntactic category information provided is called a phrase tree

structure (Fromkin et al., 1991, p.109). Phrase tree structure (PST) allows us to

explicitly reveal a sentence property or its syntactic category. After defining and

grouping the syntactic categories, the linguists observed a list of English

sentences, and deduced that the sentences they examined show a similar pattern

ART, N, V, ART, N. Nonetheless, the infinity of English sentence would cause a

long pattern. Thus, the linguists decided to make a sort of rule or condition which

can be used as a reference or consideration.

The first syntax rule is general rule which covers the form for the

sentence making. Later on, the rules will become more specific for noun phrase,


25

adjective phrase, and prepositional phrase. The rule for a simple sentence pattern

is:

S NP VP

The formula means that a sentence is made of a noun phrase (NP) and

followed by a verb phrase (VP), where the structure of NP and VP must be

independently specified. This formula is the final formula which made as the

conclusion from various hypothesis proposed by the linguists. The tree structure

for this general rule is drawn below.

Figure 2.1. The Tree Structure of Rule S NP VP

The more complex sentence might include prepositional phrase (PP), but

PP is frequently join in NP or VP.

Figure 2.2. The Tree Structure of Sentence I put the soap in the bathroom


26

The diagram above shows a clear example of PP which included into NP.

The bigger branch still consists of NP and VP. The linguists also create a formula

for the noun phrase. They made noun phrases as much as possible and came down

into a conclusion.

E e.g. a beautiful dress

e.g. the flower

e.g. you

Those formulas and phrases can be drawn into the following tree

structures.

Figure 2.3. Pattern 1 Figure 2.4. Pattern 2 Figure 2.5. Pattern 3

The first formula is the longest pattern for making a simple noun phrase;

meanwhile the second formula is the shorter version of the first pattern because of

the omission of adjective words. Pronoun is actually a part of noun, so the

linguists agreed that the formula can be simplified into a single formula such the

following formula.

NP (DET) (ADJ) N

The second rule is for the verb phrase. Verb phrase is a group of words

which may consist of main verb and noun phrase, or else main verb and

prepositional phrase. Verb phrase may also consist of the man verb alone. The

rule is simply:

VP V (NP) (PP) (ADV)

DET ADJ N

NP DET N

PN


27

For example the sentence I cook the cake in the kitchen diligently. The VP

is cook the cake in the kitchen dilligently and it consists of NP, PP, and ADV.

Nevertheless, the other phrases are optional. Here is the tree structure for the

example.

Figure 2.6. The Tree Structure of Verb Phrase cook the cake in the kitchen dilligently

The third rule is for prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrase is usually

a group of words which consists of preposition and NP, but it may consist of the

preposition itself. The formula is:

PP P (NP)

The example of sentence which has prepositional phrase is I get a letter

from a senior in the university. The tree structure is below.

Figure 2.7. The Tree Structure of Prepositional Phrase from a senior in the university


28

Besides the phrase rules and their tree structures, there are some additional

rules and tree structures. The additional rules are applied for special occasions

such as the appearance of auxiliary verb and conjunction word. Auxiliary verb

(AUX) cannot be included into VP. The formula for AUX is:

S NP (AUX) VP

Like the example shown below.

Figure 2.8. The Tree Structure of Sentence The runner will wear the shoes

The auxiliary verb is independent. It does not belong to VP, and so does the

conjunction. The conjunction syntax rule can be applied for NP conjunct NP, VP

conjunct VP, or S conjunct S.

Figure 2.9. The Tree Structure of Sentence Alice and Bob will come

Phrase structural rules can be regarded as a test that tree must pass to be

grammatical. There are some cases when the phrase tree structure “does not


29

grow”. This case usually occurs if a sentence is lack of NP, or lack of VP, or the

order of NP and VP is incorrect, or the order of syntactic categories of a phrase is

wrong. The diagram below will show a case when the sentence is lack of VP.

Figure 2.10. The Tree Structure of a Sentence without a VP

The diagram below will show a case when the sentence does not have NP.

Figure 2.11. The Tree Structure of a Sentence without a NP

The diagram below will show a case when the order of NP and VP in a sentence is

incorrect.

Figure 2.12. The Tree Structure of a Sentence with Incorrect NP and VP Order


30

The diagram below will show a case when a NP is not valid because the wrong

order of the noun and determiner.

Figure 2.13. The Tree Structure of a Noun Phrase with Incorrect N and DET Order

B. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This section summarizes all major relevant theories which will help the

researcher to conduct the research and answer the research questions. The main

theories used in this research are related to anomaly, ambiguity, and tree structure.

The researcher intended to study the two objectives of the research which are the

ambiguous words, phrases, sentences and their tree structures.

To answer the first research question, the researcher used the theory from

Hurford and Heasley (1983) as cited from Nordquist (2016) who categorized

ambiguity into two types, they are:

a. Lexical ambiguity occurs when a word is homophone or homograph with

other words.

b. Structural ambiguity occurs when a sentence can create two different

possible meanings.

Besides the lexical and structural ambiguities, the researcher also answers

the first research questions by using the theory from Fromkin et al. (2004) about


31

anomalous sentences. Anomalous sentences are the sentences which contain one

or more than one incompatible words. Anomaly also occurs because a sentence

violates semantic rules. Some anomalies are including contradiction, metaphor,

and diction. These kinds of anomaly, at least, create meanings. However,

anomalous sentences that occurred because of incompatible word either do not

have meaning at all or do not make sense.Then, to answer the second research

question, the researcher would depend on the theory from Fromkin et al. (1991)

about syntactic rules. The rules are:

a. Rule 1: S NP VP: This is the fundamental rule that a sentence must

acquire. A sentence must consist of noun phrase and verb phrase. The

sequence must be VP is following the NP.

b. Rule 2: S NP (AUX) VP: This rule is the extension of Rule 1. This rule

means that if a sentence contains an auxiliary verb, the auxiliary verb must

be drawn in different node. Auxiliary verbs cannot be included into the VP

node.

c. Rule 3: NP (DET) (ADJ) N: This rule means that a noun phrase may

consist of determiner-adjective-noun, determiner-noun, adjective-noun, or

only noun.

d. Rule 4: NP That S: This rule means that all sentences that is following

the word that is included into NP node.

e. Rule 5: NP Pronoun: This rule means that a pronoun is included into

NP node.


32

f. Rule 6: VP V (NP) (PP) (ADV): This rule means that verb phrase may

be a combination of verb-noun phrase-prepostional phrase-adverb, verb-

noun phrase-prepositional phrase, verb-noun phrase, or verb only.

g. Rule 7: PP P (NP): This rule means that a prepositional phrase may be

a combination of preposition word and noun phrase, or a prepositional

only.


33

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methodology of the research and analysis. It

covers five sections. The first section is the description of the research method.

The second section is the research setting. The third section is the description of

the research subject. The fourth section is the explanation related to the

instruments used during the research and how the researcher collected the data.

The last section is the data analysis technique.

A. Research Method

This research is included into a qualitative research. Qualitative research is

not a numeric-based research. Its strength is being an explanatory research. This

way, a research with qualitative method has a benefit “to provide further

understanding of a subject and its contextual setting” (Wahyuni, 2005, p. 2).

Qualitative research in this research is used to gain deeper insight into the research

subject’s way of talking.

There are some methods which can be used to conduct a qualitative

research, and the researcher used discourse analysis. Wood and Kroger (2000)

noted that discourse analysis involves ways of thinking and treating discourse as

data. Discourse, as Widdowson (2007) says, is what a text means by both the

producer and the receiver. It covers all written and spoken form of language use in

the daily setting. The researcher chose discourse analysis because the researcher


34

believed that this method was suitable to analyze the ambiguous words, phrases,

and sentences that were found in the transcription of Home movie.

B. Data Source

The data source of this research was the transcription of Home movie. The

transcription was downloaded from subscene.com, a site which provides subtitle

for foreign movie. There were many ambiguous words, phrases, and sentences

produced by the alien characters which became the reason why the researcher

analyzed the movie. The researcher watched the movie and checked whether or

not the transcription was in accordance with the movie. After the researcher

matched the transcription with the movie, the researcher inserted the name of each

alien character to their dialogues because the transcription did not add the

characters’ name according to their dialogue order.

The researcher conducted this research from March 2017 until February

2018. Firstly, the researcher looked for the research data on March 2017. The

researcher chose the movie entitled Home to be data source and took the movie

transcription to be the major analysis data. The movie transcription was not made

or created or written by the researcher, but it was downloaded from the internet.

After that, the researcher gathered the necessary theories to answer the research

questions by obtaining some books from the library. Then, the researcher started

to gather the data from the transcription June 2017 while the data analysis was

conducted from August 2017 to February 2018.

This research was conducted where the access to literatures and linguistics

are available. The setting was chosen to make it easier for the researcher to


35

immediately reach the needed source of theories and information. The places to

conduct this research were various such as library or anywhere as long as it was

connected to the internet and books.

C. Research Instruments And Data Gathering Technique

The documents of this research were movie as visual document and the

transcription of English subtitle as the written document. The researcher gathered

the data by watching the movie and observing the ambiguous sentences spoken by

the alien characters. The subtitle was the major instrument used in this research. It

was downloaded from subscene.com site. Since the site provides the subtitle, the

researcher downloads the English as well.

In gathering the data, there were some steps conducted. The first was

collected the data. The researcher marked every ambiguous word, phrase or

sentence found in the Home movie by using the transcription. After listing the

ambiguous words, phrase, or sentences, the researcher cut down the list by

choosing only the ambiguous words, phrase, or sentences produced by the alien

characters. Then, each ambiguous sentence was recorded in a table as shown

below.

Table 3.1. The List of Some Ambiguous Sentences Found in Home Movie

No. Code Ambiguous Sentence

in English

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

1.

LA/01:2

1:11,450

--

>01:21:1

6,042

He was alonely and

would someday be

extinctly.

Alonely

Extinctly

He was lonely and

someday would be

extinct.

2. SA/00:3 I am overheated with Overheated I am very ashamed.


36

5:24,789

-->

00:35:26,

416

shame. with shame.

Table 3.1 is going to be used to record the ambiguous sentences produced

by the aliens. After listing the sentences, the researcher is also going to explain the

incompatibility of each sentence. In the chapter IV, the table will be separated for

each sentence to make a detail exposure. Below are some examples of tables

which are going to be used in the discussion section.

Table 3.2. Without It, He was Alonely and Would Someday be Extinctly


in English

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

1.

LA/01:2

1:11,450

--

>01:21:1

6,042

He was alonely and

would someday be

extinctly.

Alonely

Extinctly

He was lonely and

someday would be

extinct.

Before presenting the table, the researcher will give a little description

about the sentence; who uttered the sentence and in what situation was the

sentence uttered. Then, after presenting the table, the researcher will give the

explanation about the sentence’s ambiguity.

Table 3.3. I am Overheated with Shame


in English

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

2.

SA/00:3

5:24,789

-->

00:35:26,

416

I am overheated with

shame.

Overheated

with shame. I am very ashamed.

Legends:

01:21:11,450 Hour: 01; Minute: 21; Second: 11,450


37

LA : Lexical Ambiguity

SA : Structural Ambiguity

After that, the researcher also makes the structure tree of each ambiguous

sentence. From the structure tree, the researcher would decide whether the

sentence is syntactically makes sense or not. The structure tree will be shown as

the figure below.

Figure 3.1: I am Overheated with Shame

Figures would show the tree diagram for each ambiguous sentence,

whether it makes sense or not. The tree diagram would only show whether a

sentence was grammatically correct or not. There is another example of tree

diagram which would show a sentence that is ungrammatical.

Figure 3.2: Without It, He was Alonely and Would Someday be Extinctly


38

Legends:

S : Sentence NP : Noun Phrase

PN : Pronoun VP : Verb Phrase

LV : Linking Verb V : Verb

PP : Prepositional Phrase P : Preposition

N : Noun AUX : Auxiliary Verb

C : Conjugation CL : Clause

ADV : Adverb - : unidentified category.

D. Data Analysis Technique

Data analysis technique is a process in which the data gathered from the

research is analyzed using several techniques. There were several steps conducted

in analyzing the data in this research. Firstly, the researcher watched Home movie

while checking the printed transcription. Secondly, the researcher listed the

ambiguous words, phrases, and sentences. Thirdly, the ambiguous words, phrases,

and sentences produced by the alien characters were marked. Fourthly, in order to

answer the research questions, the researcher looked for the theories related to the

discussed topics. Lastly, the researcher analyzed the data and made conclusion.


39

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results of the research and it will be divided into

two sections. The first section answers the first research problem by explaining

the incompatible words that may be the trigger of the semantic rules violation

phenomena; ambiguity and anomaly. Then, the second research problem will be

the presentation of structure tree of each sentence discussed in the first section.

The second section is the answer of the second research problem.

C. The Analysis of Ambiguity Occurs in Home Movie

This section discusses the analysis results and the explanations of

ambiguous sentences found in the movie. The focus is ambiguous sentences

produced by the alien characters in the movie; Oh and Captain Smek. The

ambiguous sentences will be presented and the researcher would provide the

logical version of each sentence. Besides that, the researcher would also mention

which incompatible words or phrases that make the sentence becoming

ambiguous. The sentences would be discussed and explained one by one.

1. Sentence 1

Sentence 1 was uttered by Oh when he was about to aboard the space ship

and go to Earth with his clan members. He was so enthusiast because he would be

able to have a new life in a new place.


40

Table 4.1. Lexical Ambiguity Found in Sentence 1

Code Ambiguous Sentence

from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

LA/00:0

1:30,299

-->

00:01:33

,849

I am very excitement to

make a new fresh start. Excitement

I am very excited to make

a new fresh start.

Sentence 1 is not only ambiguous, but also anomalous because of the word

excitement. Excitement is actually not a term used in order to show someone’s

feeling. Excitement is the state of feeling excited (“Excitement”). To show a

subject’s happiness and enthusiasm towards something, the adjective word excited

would make the sentence be more logical.

2. Sentence 2

Sentence 2 was uttered by Oh when he and his clan members were inside

the space ship, on the way to Earth. Oh was giving a narration about the Boov, the

reason why they moved away, and the destination they went to.

Table 4.2. Structural Ambiguity Found in Sentence 2


from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

SA/00:0

1:34,011

-->

00:01:38

,312

We are all moving to best

planet ever for to hiding. For to hiding

We are all moving to the

best planet ever for

hiding.

We are all moving to the

best planet ever to hide.

Sentence 2 can be ambiguous both lexical and structural. First of all,

sentence 2 is lexically ambiguous because of the repetitive usage of the

preposition for and to. Both words have similar function in some contexts, but

still, there is a basic contrast between them. Sentence 2 implied the reason why


41

the Boov moved to Earth. To state a reason, preposition for is followed by noun;

while preposition to is followed by verb. Secondly, sentence 2 can be create two

sentences with different meanings, yet the same purpose to state a reason.

Therefore, it has structural ambiguity as well.

The first possible meaning is that the Boov are moving to Earth, the best

planet ever for hiding. It means that Earth is basically as common as other planets

in the solar system, but it is particularly the best place for any species, aliens or

humans, to hide. Meanwhile, another meaning that sentence 2 might have is that

the Boov are moving to Earth, the best planet ever, in order to hide. It means,

Earth is best at everything as one planet among other space things and the Boov

are going to Earth to hide.

3. Sentence 3

Sentence 3 was uttered by Captain Smek, the leader of Boov clan. He was

so full of himself and proud to be a coward leader. The Boov had a principle that

the more coward the better. They tend to run away from danger or their enemy.



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

LA/00:0

2:20,557

-->

00:02:25

,570

Thanks to my leadership

skills; cowering, running

and pulling a skedaddle.

Pulling a

skedaddle


skills; cowering, running

and skedaddling.

The verb pull, the base form of pulling, describes an action to hold

something and move it to a particular direction (“Pull”). Meanwhile, skedaddle

describes an action when someone is moving away especially to avoid something


42

(“Skedaddle”). These two words’ incompatibility were very obvious because pull

is both transitive and intransitive verb which means that pull must be followed by

a noun as object, not another verb. Or otherwise, it is not be followed by the

object at all. Besides that, the use of verb skedaddle alone is enough to express the

idea of doing a movement to avoid something or someone. The verb skedaddle is

change into skedaddling to make it equals with other –ing verbs in the sentence.

4. Sentence 4

Sentence 4 was uttered by Captain Smek while the Boov were looking at a

comprehensive pamphlet given to them. The pamphlet contained the information

which the Boov needed to know about humans. The native savages were referred

to humans, the Earth inhabitants.



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

LA/00:0

3:18,865

-->

00:03:22

,290

The native savages are so

simple ad backwards.

Native

savages The natives are savages.

Savage, the root word of savages, has different meaning depending on its

class of function. As an adjective, savage means aggressive and violent, brutal,

and primitive. Then, as a noun, savage is a word used to offend somebody who

belongs to people that is simple and less developed. Meanwhile, as a verb, savage

means to attack somebody or cause serious injury (“Savage”). In sentence 4,

savage is a noun and it becomes the subject altogether with the noun native.


43

The adjectives simple and backwards are used as the complementary to

describe the subject. These adjectives are considered redundant because savage

itself already had the quality of being simple and backward/less developed.

Therefore, to avoid ambiguity, the phrase simple and backwards is omitted, and

then the word savages becomes the complementary instead.

5. Sentence 5

Sentence 5 was uttered by Oh when he saw a picture of a human baby

from the comprehensive pamphlet given to him. He looked at the picture so

adorably and thought that humans were ugly and cute at the same time.

Table 4.5. Contradiction Found in Sentence 5


from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

SA/00:0

3:25,789

-->

00:03:28

,087

They are so ugly, they

are cute. contradiction

They are so pretty, they

are cute.

However, sentence 5 is considered as a contradiction because the word

cute is used when someone tries to describe a thing is pretty and attractive

(“Cute”). Nonetheless, contradiction is also a part of ambiguity phenomenon.

6. Sentence 6

Sentence 6 was uttered by Captain Smek because he wanted to warn

humans beforehand that they are going to experience something unusual; soaring

all over the place. Captain Smek wanted to evacuate humans all over the planet to

a place he prepared for them, so the rest of the planet could be occupied by the

Boov.


44



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

SA/00:0

3:54,818

-->

00:03:57

,446

Now we are turning off

your gravity temporarily.

Turning off

your gravity

temporarily

-

There is no logical sentence that can be provided to replace sentence 6.

Gravity is an exact thing that exists in each object in space. It is a fact that gravity

is not possible to be turned off. It cannot be turned off as easy as turning off a

light switch. Gravity is the force on Earth that pulls things on Earth towards the

center of the planet, so that things fall to the ground when they are dropped

(“Gravity”).

7. Sentence 7

Sentence 7 was uttered by Captain Smek when humans were in the middle

of evacuation process.



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

SA/00:0

4:24,931

-->

00:04:27

,901

Enjoy you the frozen,

sweetened bovine

secretion.

Enjoy you

The frozen

sweetened

bovine

secretion

Enjoy the ice cream.

There are two phrases which make sentence 7 ambiguous. First of all, the

verb phrase enjoy you should omit the word you and let it only use the verb enjoy

because the situation was that all Earth citizens got pleasure from ice cream given


45

to them. The second anomalous, yet ambiguous part is the noun phrase the frozen,

sweetened bovine secretion. Bovine is an adjective which technically connected

with cows (“Bovine”), and secretion is a process by which liquid substances are

produced by part of the body, plants, or animals (“Secretion”). Instead of using

the technical phrase bovine secretion and creating confusion, Captain Smek could

just say ice cream to deliver a simpler and clearer idea. In addition, the words

frozen and sweetened obviously related to ice cream, despite the fact that all

citizens got ice creams for themselves in the movie.

8. Sentence 8

Sentence 8 was uttered by Oh as a part of his narration about the

evacuation process. He thought that humans are going to be happy and enjoy their

lives in their new place named Happy Humanstown.



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/Sent

ence

Logical Sentence

LA/00:0

4:55,086

-->

00:05:00

,013

Humanspersons are

happiness and joy

forever in Happy

Humanstown.

Humanspersons

Happiness

Joy

Humans are happy

and joyful forever in

Happy Humanstown.

Humans are

happiness and joy

forever in Happy

Humanstown.

The term Humanspersons does not even exist in human language, but it

was funny since the speaker was an alien character. The option to make a more

logical word choice would be either humans or persons, which both refer to the

same meaning as a living creature. It is better to choose one of them to be used.

Since the speaker is an alien character, the word humans is more proper to show


46

that those two creatures, human and alien, are different. Besides the term

humanspersons, the use of words happiness and joy is also anomalous. To show

the subject’s feeling, the sentence must use the adjective form, not the noun form.

Therefore, happiness should be happy, while joyful should be joy.

Besides the lexical ambiguities, sentence 8 also creates sentential

ambiguity. It may have the meaning that humanspersons/humans were going to be

happy and joyful living in Happy Humanstown that Captain Smek had provided

for them. Humans are the subject of the sentence. Meanwhile, the second meaning

is that humanspersons/humans are objects that will become the source of

happiness and joy in Happy Humanstown.

9. Sentence 9

Sentence 9 was uttered by Oh when he wanted Tip to allow him entering

the car in order to hide from the patrol Boov. He was so urged to get in the car.



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

LA/0

00:23:26

,030 -->

00:23:28

,283

Now let me to inside! Let me to

inside Now let me enter!

The verb let describes an action to allow someone to do something or

something to happen without trying to stop it (“Let”). By that definition, the verb

let needs another verb appears in the sentence that would refer to the activity that

the subject allows to happen. Sentence 9 is incomplete because it is still unclear

what kind of action of activity that the subject wants to get allowed to. Hence, the


47

researcher believed that adding the verb enter is the best choice to make sentence

9 be more sensible.

10. Sentence 10

Sentence 10 was uttered by Oh was inside Tip’s car, and then he saw Tip’s

pet, a cat.



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

LA/00:2

4:50,698

-->

00:24:52

,371

Your vehicle is infested! infested -

Sentence 10 is not only ambiguous, but also kind of a exaggerating. Oh

said the sentence when Tip’s pet showed up. Tip’s pet is only one cat. Hence, the

word infested is not really appropriate to be used in that situation because infest,

the root word for infested, is a situation when an certain kind of organism exists in

large numbers in a particular place and typically causing a damage or disease

(“Infest”).

11. Sentence 11

Sentence 11 was uttered by Oh when Tip suggested going to Paris in order

to find Tip’s mother. Her mother was one among other humans who got

evacuated. Since the center of all Boov activity was in Paris, Tip wanted to go

there, so Oh can afford finding the information her mother whereabouts.


48



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

LA/00:3

3:25,462

-->

00:33:27

,590

Paris is danger for both

of us. Danger

Paris is dangerous for

both of us.

Sentence 11 implied the effect that Paris might give to Oh and Tip. The

word danger is a noun and it does not imply a harmful effect. On the other hand,

it is the word dangerous that shows the effect.

12. Sentence 12

Sentence 12 was uttered by Oh when Tip insisted him to go to Paris with

her. Tip wanted to find her mother; so, as the center of all Boov activity, Paris was

the place they must go. However, Oh, who became a fugitive Boov, refused to go

to Paris because he wanted to avoid any Boov. Oh uttered sentence 12 in order to

make Tip, who hated Boov, felt scared.



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

SA/00:3

3:27,756

-->

00:33:29

,804

It crawls with Boov. Crawls It is full of Boov.

Sentence 12 can create two different meanings because of the word crawls.

First of all, the sentence can bring out the literal meaning that Paris is moving

around while the Boov occupying the city. However, a city cannot move from one

place to another place.


49

The second possible meaning is that the city is fully covered or occupied

by the Boov. The researcher considered the second possible meaning was more

logical than the first one, so the researcher chose it.

13. Sentence 13

Sentence 13 was uttered by Oh when he realized that he was dancing

following the human song which Tip played on the audio device. Boov were not a

kind of alien who had fun or danced, so Oh felt embarrassed when he instinctively

danced according to the song.



from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

SA/00:3

5:24,789

-->

00:35:26

,416

I am overheated with

shame.

Overheated

with shame I am very ashamed.

The words in the sentence 13 do not support each other set of fact, so it

becomes ambiguous. The word overheated is a measurement used for heat. It

means that something becomes too hot. Shame is not related to hot at all. It is the

feeling of sadness, embarrassment, and guilt when someone knows that he has

done something wrong or stupid (“Shame”).

14. Sentence 14

Sentence 14 was uttered by Oh because he felt embarrassed. He wanted to

soothe himself and stop feeling the embarrassment. When the Boov get

embarrassed, they would turn burn-red. Therefore Oh chose to plop down into the

water to assuage his embarrassment and neutralize his body color back to normal.


50


Code Sentence from the Movie

Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

SA/00:3

5:26,583

-->

00:35:28

,381

I must cool my core. Cool my core I must refresh myself.

Core is not a reasonable word used in sentence 14 because the word core

is a noun that represents the hard central part of a fruit or an object (“Core”). Even

though Oh was not a human being, he was definitely not a fruit or plant either.

There is a more sensible replacement sentence which is more appropriate to the

situation.

15. Sentence 15

Sentence 15 was uttered by Oh after he left Tip in order to refresh himself.

He did not feel embarrassed anymore, so he joyfully came back to the car and he

was ready to continue the trip to Paris.



Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

LA/00:3

6:05,121

-->

00:36:06

,964

My temperature is back

to happiness.

Temperature

Happiness I am happy again.

The words temperature and happiness do not related to each other.

Temperature is a degree to measure heat; meanwhile, happiness is related to

pleasure and satisfaction. Instead of having the incompatible words within the

sentence, it is better to simply said that he is happy again.


51

16. Sentence 16

Sentence 16 was uttered by Oh. He and Tip were talking about each other

childhood.



Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

SA/00:3

6:55,547

-->

00:36:58

,050

When Boov are young,

we are kept in the

warming oven.

Kept in the

warming

oven.

-

Sentence 16 is ambiguous because the use of oven to keep baby Boov.

Oven is a cooking utility used to cook of heat meals, not to keep a living creature.

If sentence 16 is analyzed with an approach that considers meaning as a logical

form, sentence 16 is rather creepy. However, if it is analyzed by considering the

situation that Boov are aliens, it may seem okay.

17. Sentence 17

Sentence 17 was uttered by Captain Smek after he got the news that Oh

was still nowhere to be found and his invitation was still reaching to their enemy

who was getting nearer to Earth. The Boov wanted to discuss the bad news with

Captain Smek, so he came to the gathering by riding a vacuum cleaner.



Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

LA/00:3

9:03,466

-->

I vacuumed here as soon

as I could. vacuumed

I came here as soon as I

could.


52

00:39:05

,309

Vacuum, the base word of vacuumed, is a space that entirely devoid of

matter (“Vacuum”). However, the word vacummed in sentence 18 was changed by

Captain Smek from the noun form of the word vacuum into verb. To analyze

sentence 17 objectively, it means that Captain Smek is doing something by using

a vacuum cleaner to create an empty space. In the movie, it was true that Captain

Smek was using a vacuum cleaner. However, he did not use it to clean a place. He

rode the vacuum cleaner to come to the Boov gathering. On the other words, he

used vacuum cleaner as a vehicle. The meaning of sentence 17 is completely

different from its conceptual meaning.

18. Sentence 18

Sentence 18 was uttered by Oh after he communicated with the Gorg and

understood the reason why the Gorg were chasing after the Boov.



Incompatible

Word/Phrase/

Sentence

Logical Sentence

LA/01:2

1:11,450

-->

01:21:16

,042

He was alonely and

would someday be

extinctly.

Alonely

Extinctly

He was lonely and would

someday be extinct.

The word Alonely does not exist. It may be a combination of words alone

and lonely which have similar meaning. Being lonely actually covers the situation

of being alone, and in addition, feeling sad because of it. On the other hand, being

alone means that someone or something is separated from others, but it does not


53

mean that person is unhappy or lonely. The researcher chose the word lonely to

make sentence 18 more sensible because the subject he that refers to the Gorg was

described being sad and angry because he was alone. Beside the word alonely, the

word extinctly in sentence 18 do not exist either. Extinct means that a species is no

longer in existence. If that word is given suffix –ly, it does not convey the

meaning of being extinct at all.

D. The Structure Tree of the Ambiguous Sentences

As the first section discussed the ambiguous sentences and their logical

forms, which answered the first research problem, this section is the answer for

the second research problem. This section will provide the structure tree of the

ambiguous sentences that was discussed in the previous section. The researcher

will provide some explanation for each structure tree.

1. Sentence 1

Semantically, sentence 1 was anomalous because of the word excitement

which was not suitable to convey the enthusiast and excited feelings. It turns out

that the word excitement makes the structure tree for sentence 1 is imbalance as

well.


54

Figure 4.1. The Structure Tree for Sentence 1

The composition of sentence 1 generally meets the requirement to build a

sentence that is grammatically correct. It has a NP and then a VP that follows after

the NP. However, the deeper nodes show an imbalance condition. The anomaly

occurs within the VP node; between the word very and excitement. Adverb can be

formulated into an ADV.P when it is paired with adjectives, adverbs, and

determiners to emphasize the high degree or superlative adjective. However, since

the word excitement is a noun, the ADV.P cannot be formed. The absence of an

ADV.P node makes the structure tree unbalance.

2. Sentence 2

Sentence 2 could create two different meanings, as it was discussed in

section A of this chapter. Some sentences have the condition where they may

semantically create two or more different meanings, but syntactically they only

produce one structure tree. Apparently, the structure tree for sentence 2 is possible

to be made into two different diagrams in accordance with its two different

meanings.


55

Figure 4.2a. The Structure Tree for the 1st Possible Meaning from Sentence 2

Figure 4.2a shows the structure tree for the first possible meaning; the

Boov were moving to Earth which, compare to other planets in the whole

universe, was the best planet for hiding. The original phrase for to hiding is

modified into its correct form which is for hiding. The phrase is included under

the domination of PP node.

Figure 4.2b. The Structure Tree for the 2nd

Possible Meaning from Sentence 2


56

On the other hand, figure 4.2b is the structure tree for the second possible

meaning from sentence 2. Sentence 2 points out the meaning that the Boov were

moving to Earth, a planet which was best at everything, in order to hide.

Therefore, the phrase for hiding has its own node. It has the equal position with

the other first subordinate nodes.

3. Sentence 3

Sentence 3 was incorrect because the word skedaddle could be as equal as

the other verbs without having the verb pulling before it.


Sentence 3 follows the syntactical rules, apart from its ambiguity and

anomaly. It is constructed by two clauses; a clause that has a NP and another

clause that contains a set of VPs that is bonded by a conjunction. Syntactically,

the sentence is correct, although the VP pulling a skedaddle does not make sense.


57

4. Sentence 4

Sentence 4 was semantically ambiguous because the word savages

represents both the condition of being simple and backwards. However, the

syntax construction of sentence 4 is acceptable because syntax ignores the

requirement whether or not a sentence makes sense.


Sentence 4 consists of a NP and followed by a VP with the correct

composition of each subordinate node. This construction meets the basic

requirement to construct a sentence that is grammatically correct.

5. Sentence 5

Sentence 5 was a contradiction if it is analyzed from semantic point of

view. When something is praised because it is a cute thing, it must be because its

good quality or its attractiveness. However, sentence 5 shows that something is

praised being a cute thing because of its ugliness. The two clauses do not support

each other facts. Therefore, it is considered contradictive in semantic theory.


58


Even though the clauses in sentence 5 were semantically contradictive

with each other, they are completely fine syntactically. Each clause has complete

property compositions and then becomes a sentence that is grammatically correct.

6. Sentence 6

Sentence 6 did not make sense because gravity cannot be turned off as

easy as turning off a lamp. It is an exact thing that all space things have. That fact

is a common sense of all humans; therefore sentence 6 is not only semantically

ambiguous, but is also wrong.



59

Since syntactic analysis is not based on logic, it is possible to construct a

sentence tree diagram for sentence 6. From the structure tree, it is clear that

sentence 6 is grammatically correct and following the syntactic rules.

7. Sentence 7

Sentence 7 is not a good sentence from semantic point of view because it

is created by odd expression and ambiguous sentence.


From syntax point of view, sentence 7 actually does not fulfill the

requirement to construct a good sentence; one NP and one VP. Instead of being a

sentence, it is more like a VP because it starts with a verb. Moreover, there is no

NP before the VP.

8. Sentence 8

Considering the movie storyline, sentence 8 created two different

meanings when it was analyzed with semantic theory. However, the syntactic

analysis only results one structure tree. The results from semantic and syntactic

analysis are different due to the different approach used in the analysis.


60

The semantic analysis was done while trying to figure out the logical form

of sentence 8. On the other hand, the syntactic analysis is done with the provided

sentence. Sentence 8 does not undergo any changes in order to find its logical

form for syntactic analysis because logic and sense are not the important factors

for syntax.


The subject of sentence 8 actually does not have an identified label since it

is not a valid word in the dictionary. Nonetheless, the word humanspersons might

be possible to be put under NP node since all subjects are noun. In addition, the

phrase Happy Humanstown is labeled as a noun because it is following the

preposition in, so it is considered as a place.

9. Sentence 9

Sentence 9 implies the request to be allowed to do something. However,

the sentence only contains one verb, let, that signals the request. It does not have

another verb that must be in the sentence. That other verb will be the signal of


61

what action that the subject wants to be allowed to. The missing verb causes

sentence 9 becoming incorrect, both semantically and grammatically.


Figure 4.9 clearly shows one missing dominate label. The verb let is not

complete without having another verb representing the action that need to be

allowed to get done. In addition, sentence 9 is, syntactically, only a verb phrase. It

does not have a NP before the VP.

10. Sentence 10

Sentence 10 was semantically ambiguous because the sentence was not in

accordance with the situation in the movie. The speaker said the vehicle was

infested, but it turned out that there was only one cat that existed inside the

vehicle.



62

Syntax ignores the condition whether or not the sentence makes sense,

whether or not the sentence is correlated with the situation or fact. Therefore,

sentence 10 is grammatically correct. It fulfills the requirements of syntactic rules;

a sentence consists of a NP, and then followed by a VP.

11. Sentence 11

Sentence 11 was illogical when it was analyzed with semantic theory

because the word danger did not convey the proper meaning of the risk or harmful

feeling. It was changed into its adjective form, dangerous.

Figure 4.11. The Structure Tree For Sentence 11

However, the word danger does not need to be changed into its adjective

form because the sentence is still grammatically correct with that noun form.

Sentence 11 fulfills the syntactic rules for making a VP and a sentence. A verb

phrase may consist of a verb, a noun or noun phrase, and a prepositional phrase

altogether.


63

12. Sentence 12

Sentence 12 semantically created two different meanings. The phrase

crawls with was the cause of the ambiguity in the semantic analysis. It also

becomes the cause of the syntactic analysis results. The preposition with causes

the syntactic analysis gives out two different tree diagrams.

Figure 4.12a. The Structure Tree for the 1st Possible Meaning from Sentence 12

Figure 4.12a shows that the preposition with is a part of the verb crawls.

The VP crawls with means that the NP it, which refers to Paris, is fully occupied

with the Boov.

Figure 4.12b. The Structure Tree for the 2nd

Possible Meaning from Sentence 12

Figure 4.12b shows a slightly different tree diagram from the figure 4.12a.

Previously in figure 4.12a, the word with was under the VP node. Meanwhile, in

figure 4.12b, the word with is in a separated node; it becomes a PP. Figure 4.12b

presents the meaning that the NP is moving around together with Boov.


64

13. Sentence 13

Sentence 13 was semantically incorrect because the word overheated was

not a degree used to measure someone’s embarrassment level. It is used to

measure heat. Therefore, sentence 13 was given another sentence as the

replacement in order to make it more logical.


Sentence 13 consists of the correct composition of NP and VP. The phrase

order is also correct. Hence, although the sentence implies an ambiguous

meaning, the sentence is not wrong or ambiguous from syntactic analysis.

14. Sentence 14

Sentence 14 was incorrect because the word core was a part of a fruit or

plant; meanwhile, the Boov were not the plant-kind alien.

Figure 4.14. The Structure Ttree for Sentence 14


65

However, sentence 14 is syntactically possible to be parsed. As long as the

words in a sentence have their own syntactic labels, the tree diagram can be made.

Sentence 14 has an auxiliary verb in it, and following the syntactic rule, auxiliary

verb is not one of VP’s subordinate nodes. It is parsed in its own node.

15. Sentence 15

The ambiguity of sentence 15 came from the word temperature and the

word happiness which did not support each other set of facts.


Despite of the anomaly and ambiguity occurs in sentence 15, it is

grammatically correct.

16. Sentence 16

Sentence 16 was semantically incorrect and also rather creepy. Oven is not

a utility to keep a living creature warm; it is a cooking utility to prepare a meal.

Therefore, there was no replacement sentence could be produced to make

sentence 16 becoming logical.


66

Figure 4.16: The Structure Tree for Sentence 16

Sentence 16 consists of two clauses. It is a complex sentence with one

dependent clause and one independent clause. The composition of each clause is

complete and in the right order, so the structure tree of sentence 16 is correct.

17. Sentence 17

The word vacuum was the cause of ambiguity, specifically, lexical

ambiguity. The conceptual meaning of the word vacuum is doing a cleaning

activity or making a space cleaner. On the other hand, doing an action while using

a vacuum cleaner, like the situation in the movie, could also convey a meaningful

sentence.

Figure 4.17: The Structure Tree for Sentence 17


67

The tree diagram of sentence 17 is correctly constructed. The sentence

consists of one NP and followed by one VP.

18. Sentence 18

Sentence 18 was semantically ambiguous because the words alonely and

extinctly do not exist. The researcher proposed a replacement for the word alonely

because it turned out that alonely was possible to become alone or lonely.

Meanwhile, to replace the word extinctly, the researcher simply omitted the suffix

–ly.


Figure 4.18 presents the tree diagram for sentence 18. Sentence 18 is

included into a compound sentence. It consists of one independent clause and two

dependent clauses.


68

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents three sections i.e. conclusions, implications, and

recommendation. The major findings of the research are summarized in the first

section; conclusions. Then, the implications of the research for language

teaching/learning are presented in the second section, implications. The last

section contains of some recommendations from the researcher for the readers and

future researcher.

A. Conclusions

Based on the analysis in chapter IV, the researcher is able to answer the

research questions presented in chapter I. The research questions number one is

“What are the ambiguous sentences in Home movie?” Based on the analysis in

chapter IV, there are two major kinds of ambiguity. The sentences are either

lexically ambiguous or structural ambiguous. Precisely, the ambiguous sentences

in Home movie are sentences which have nonsensical meanings, multiple

meanings from a single sentence, ungrammatical sentence structure, and sentences

with contradictory facts within a single sentence. From the findings in chapter IV,

the researcher figures out that lexical ambiguity is the most common ambiguity

type found in Home movie. This kind of ambiguity usually occurs because of

wrong word choice or incoherent words within one sentence. Meanwhile, the

sentences with structural ambiguity are less likely to be found in Home movie.


69

Nevertheless, these sentences usually occur because of the inappropriate word

choice which then leads to the multiple meaning productions.

The findings in chapter IV also helps the researcher to answer the research

question number two which is “What are the structure trees of the ambiguous

sentences in Home movie?” Based on the analysis in chapter IV, there are three

types of diagram which represent the structure trees of the ambiguous sentences in

Home movie. The first type is the complete diagram where the sentence fulfills

the grammatical rules, despite of having nonsensical meaning. The second

diagram type is a diagram with unoccupied node where the sentence has one or

more missing label, which makes the diagram becoming unbalance. Lastly, there

is a diagram that represents two different meanings which possibly occur from a

sentence.

B. Implications

The researcher understands that this study is made to fulfill the final

requirement to graduate from the university. Nevertheless, the researcher hopes

that this research will be helpful for the language teaching/learning.

1. For language teaching

Language teaching is one essential matter because language delivers one’s

intention through a communication and bridges the differences. The researcher

hopes that this study will help English language teachers to be more aware of the

importance of avoiding ambiguity. The research shows that even a single word

can deliver different meaning if it is employed inappropriately. The research also

shows that syntax and semantic have interesting relationships and the researcher


70

hopes that the English language teacher can show it to the students. Furthermore,

the researcher thinks that drawing a structure tree is not very complicated as long

as we are careful. The researcher hopes that language teachers can assist the

students well.

2. For language learning

The researcher believes that language learning unconsciously happens

continuously in the daily life, even when one does not attend a language learning

class. The researcher hopes that the result of this research can contribute good

implications for those who learn English language. This research shows how easy

a sentence becomes ambiguous. The researcher hopes that English language

learners will be more careful when they communicate with each other. The

research also shows some structure trees in hope that the diagram will help the

learners to have a better understanding about syntax, structure tree in particular.

As a learner, the researcher used to think that semantic and syntax are such

difficult subjects. However, those two subjects are very interesting to be learnt or

analyzed because the relations between them are unique. The researcher hopes

that English language learner would be more excited to learn semantic and syntax.

C. Recommendations

The researcher of this study acknowledges that this research is still

incomplete. Therefore, the researcher proposes some recommendations for the

readers who are the students of English Language Education Study Program and

the future researcher.


71

1. For students of English Language Education Study Program (ELESP)

Some of the ELESP students may think that learning linguistics is hard

and troublesome. In fact, linguistics is one important aspect in order to master

English. Unlike structure tree, ambiguity is not specifically learnt in the

classroom. Studying structure tree which is derived from an ambiguous sentence

will be interesting because it will be a new concept of learning. It will enrich

students’ competence in drawing structure tree. They can also learn to avoid

ambiguous sentences.

2. For future researchers

This researcher only focuses on the ambiguous sentences and the structure

trees of the sentences produced by the alien characters in Home movie. There are

actually other characters exist in the movie, but the researcher chose to focus on

some of the alien characters. The researcher suggests the future researchers to

conduct the similar research with novel, newspaper, short film script, or movie as

the research source. Besides that, the researcher also recommends the future

researchers to analyze other various subjects. They could analyze the whole

characters, or comparing the female and male characters, or the educated and

uneducated characters. This study could be an additional reference and support for

those who want to do research on ambiguity and structure trees.


72

REFERENCES

Aitchison, J. (2004). Teach yourself lingustics. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.

Culicover, P. W. (1982). Syntax (2nd

ed.). New York: Academic Press.

Donaghy, K. (2014). How can film help you teach or learn english? Retrieved

June 26, 2017, from British Council:

https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-can-film-help-you-

teach-or-learn-english

Education First. Retrieved October 7, 2017, from http://www.ef.com/english-

resources/english-grammar/functions-adjectives/

Frawley, W. (1992). Linguistics semantics. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates.

Fromkin, V., Blair, D., & Collins, P. (1991). An introduction to language (4th

ed.).

Sydney: Harcourt.

Goddard, C (2011). Semantic analysis: a practical introduction (2nd

ed.). Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

Leech, G. (1981). Semantics: the study of meaning (2nd

ed.). Middlesex: Penguin

Books.

Nordquist, R. (2016). Ambiguity: language. Retrieved September 15, 2017, from

https://www.thoughtco.com/ambiguity-language-1692388

Wahyuni, S. (2015). Qualitative research method: theory and practice (2nd

ed.).

Jakarta Selatan: Penerbit Salemba Empat.

Wang, Qiang. (2010). Drawing tree diagrams: problems and suggestions. Journal

of Language Teaching and Research, 1, 926-934.

Widdowson, H.G. (2007). Discourse analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wood, L. A. & Kroger, R. O. (2000). Doing discourse analysis: methods for

studying action in talk and text. California: Sage Publications, Inc.


https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-can-film-help-you-teach-or-learn-english

https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-can-film-help-you-teach-or-learn-english

http://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/functions-adjectives/

http://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/functions-adjectives/

https://www.thoughtco.com/ambiguity-language-1692388

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APPENDIX

Types of Ambiguity and Grammar Correctness Uttered by the Alien Characters in Home Movie

Legends:

LA : Lexical Ambiguity

SA : Structural Ambiguity

C : Correct

I : Incorrect

Types of Ambiguity : in which type is the ambiguous sentence is categorized to.

Grammar correctness : whether or not the sentence is correct according to its tree structure.

This appendix simply presents a simpler conclusion of the research results.

No. Code Utterance

Types of

Ambiguity

Grammar

Correctness Explanation

LA SA C I

1.

LA-I/

00:01:30,299 -->

00:01:33,849

Oh:

I am very excitement to make a

new fresh start!

From the semantic viewpoints, this

sentence is lexically ambiguous, and the

tree structure of the sentence shows that

the sentence is grammatically incorrect.


74

2. SA-C/

00:01:34,011 -->

00:01:38,312

Oh:

We are all moving to the best

planet ever for to hiding.

This sentence is categorized as structural

ambiguity because the repeated use of

prepositions for and to can result to

multiple meanings production. On the

other hand, it also has two grammatically

correct tree diagrams due to separated

use of the two prepositions.

3. LA-C/

00:02:20,557 -->

00:02: 25,570

Captain Smek:


skill… cowering, running, and

pulling a skedaddle.

The lexical ambiguity occurs because of

the wrong lexical choice. Nevertheless,

the same mistake does not give the same

effect to the tree structure. The sentence

is grammatically correct because each

word has its own syntactic category in

the correct order.

4. LA-C/

00:03:18,865 -->

00:03:22,290

Captain Smek:

The native savages are simple

and backwards.

This sentence is included to lexical

ambiguity because of the meaningless

word repetition; as the term savages

possesses the truth value of being simple

and backwards. Even so, the tree

diagram shows that the sentence

correctly follows the syntactic rule. It

means, the sentence is grammatically

correct although it is semantically

ambiguous.

5. SA-C/

00:03:25,789 -->

00:03:28,087

Oh:

They are so ugly, they are cute!

This sentence is a contradiction, which is

one of semantic rules violations, and

causing the sentence structurally

ambiguous. However, it is grammatically


75

correct regarding to the completion of its

tree structure.

6.

SA-C/

00:03:54,818 -->

00:03:57,446

Captain Smek:

Now we are turning off your

gravity temporarily.

This sentence is a structural ambiguity

because it rejects the truth that gravity on

Earth cannot be deactivated. Despite its

nonsensical, the sentence is

grammatically correct according to its

tree structure.

7. SA-I/

00:04:24,931 -->

00:04:27,901

Captain Smek:

Enjoy you the frozen,

sweetened bovine secretion.

There are more than two words which

are ambiguous in this sentence and they

are the cause of the structural ambiguity.

On the other hand, it is actually not a

sentence because it does not fulfill the

syntactic rule of a sentence forming. It is

categorized as a verb phrase, but still, the

tree structure is wrong. So it is

grammatically incorrect.

8. LA-C/

00:04:55,086 -->

00:05:00,013

Oh:

Humanspersons are happiness

and joy forever in Happy

Humanstown.

The anomalies occur in this sentence

causing the sentence to be ambiguous.

The non-existed words and wrong

lexical choice are the exact reasons why

the sentence is included to lexical

ambiguity type. However, the tree

structure is correct and the sentence is

also grammatically correct because it

follows the syntactic rule.

9. LA-I/ 00:23:26,030 -->

Oh:

Now let me to inside!

This sentence is incomplete because it is

unclear what kind of action of activity


76

00:23:28,283 that the subject wants to get allowed to.

The missing verb that makes the

sentence unclear/ambiguous affects the

tree structure as well because there is

one missing node which causes the

diagram becoming unbalance.

10. LA-C/

00:24:50,698 -->

00:24:52,371

Oh:

Your vehicle is infested!

The word infested causes the sentence

being ambiguous. Originally, it means an

epidemic or damage occurs because of a

large number of an organism existed in

one particular place. It turns out, there

was only one animal appeared in the

situation. Although the sentence is

semantically ambiguous, it is

syntactically correct because it has

correct tree diagram with complete

nodes.

11. LA-C/

00:33:25,462 -->

00:33:27,590

Oh:

Paris is danger for both of us.

Although the word danger affects the

sentence to be ambiguous from semantic

viewpoints, it does not affect the tree

structure to be incorrect. Its syntactic

label is located in the correct node and

order.

12. SA-C/

00:33:27,756 -->

00:33:29,804

Oh:

It crawls with Boov.

This sentence is categorized as structural

ambiguity because it has more than one

meaning. Nevertheless, the tree diagram

shows that this ambiguous sentence is

grammatically correct.


77

13. SA-C/

00:35:24,789 -->

00:35:26,416

Oh:

I am overheated with shame.

As overheated is a measurement used for

heat, while shame is not related to

temperature, the sentence becomes

ambiguous because the words within the

sentence itself reject each other set of

truth. Despite that, the sentence grammar

is correct.

14. SA-C/

00:35:26,583 -->

00:35:28,381

Oh:

I must cool my core.

Even though the alien characters were

not human beings, they were definitely

not included to plant nor fruit race.

Hence, the lexical choice core is not

reasonable and causing the ambiguity.

Even so, the tree structure is correct

because syntactic analysis pays more

attention to syntactic rules and label

order.

15. LA-C/

00:36:05,121 -->

00:36:06,964

Oh:

My temperature is back to

happiness.

The word temperature and happiness

does not support each other set of facts,

and it results to the sentence ambiguity.

Notwithstanding, the sentence has a

completely correct tree structure that

follows the syntactic rules, which means

it is grammatically correct.

16. SA-C/

00:36:55,547 -->

00:36:58,050

Oh:

When Boov are young, we are

kept in the warming oven.

The sentence is structurally ambiguous

because it is nonsensical. Although the

context is related to the Boov whom

aliens, sentences in this research are

analyzed from their conceptual meaning


78

as a logical form. So, the sentence is

considered ambiguous. Meanwhile, the

sentence is grammatically correct with a

complete diagram despite of its

nonsensical meaning.

17. LA-C/

00:39:03,466 -->

00:39:05,309

Captain Smek:

I vacuumed here as fast as I

could.

The word vacuumed in the sentence has

different meaning between its conceptual

meaning and situation happened in the

movie. It results to lexical ambiguity.

Nevertheless, the sentence is

grammatically correct in regard with its

tree structure.

18. LA-I/

01:21:11,450 -->

01:21:16,042

Oh:

He was alonely and would

someday be extinctly.

The words alonely and extinctly in the

sentence are the cause of ambiguity and

unbalance tree structure. The sentence

becomes ambiguous from semantic

viewpoints and incorrect from syntax

viewpoints as well.


ambiguity and tree structure of sentences in ...sentences occur because a sentence has nonsensical...

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