CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Language is one of the maximum essential cultural elements among

different elements. Through language, humans can explicitly describe what

they're doing, thinking, and what they're desired. In many different

situations, language can be taken literal and non-literal depending on one's

use of language. Figurative language is a non-literal language whose use is

very important in conveying ideas contained in literary works (Santika &

Syafryadin, 2023). Figurative language is applied in many genres of literary

works, including poetry, short stories, song lyrics, and more (Purba et al.,

2021).

Many authors have used figurative language in their literary works to

create special effects by making creative comparisons and stimulating the

reader's imagination to explain the meaning of literary works. In addition,

figurative language can be used to maximize the beauty and meaning of

literary works (Taufik & Cahyati, 2022). Figurative language is expressed by

using words that cannot be understood just by hearing the original word but

must be well-researched to convey the author's intention through words

such as song lyrics (Marliana et al., 2023).

In education, figurative language can be taught through song lyrics

in high school and college. It is very helpful for students to improve their

comprehension. English teachers can use songs as media because songs

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are often used as more interesting material to make students learn English

and enjoy the lesson. In addition, using figurative language through songs

helps students understand lessons by motivating them to learn, enriching

their knowledge of language and culture, training them to think critically, and

providing feedback to improve their comprehension skills (Fatimah et al.,

2020).

A song's lyrics are a short literary work written by a writer to convey

a mood simple message to the reader (Santika & Syafryadin, 2023). Many

musicians write lyrics using figurative language to make the lyrics more

interesting, unique and aesthetic. This is when the author conveys his

emotions through figurative language in the lyrics, which can have many

different meanings depending on the audience's thoughts. They also

produced a song to illustrate and present a message about everyday living.

Music can be a part of many people’s daily life. Music can accompany

when during activities such as studying, exercising, cleaning the house, and

taking a walk. Music can make someone immersed in the lyrics, so the

listener can feel what the singer trying to say. But sometimes, the lyrics in a

song have hidden meanings and are different from what is conveyed, so it

takes understanding and knowledge to be able to know the true meaning of

the lyrics conveyed by the singer.

Based on the expression above, figurative language is important to

find out the meaning in song lyrics, so the researcher is interested in taking

this title because many people listen to songs but do not understand the

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meaning conveyed. Music is a communication medium that many people

listen to, and is a means of conveying feelings, messages, and advice to

listeners. So, the song became the material in this research, because it is

close with people.

Keenan Te is a singer from Australia who started his career in 2020.

His song Scars went viral on TikTok which made his name increasingly

recognized by many people. Keenan Te's songs are mostly aimed at young

people, it is related to young people's love stories and romance. So the song

is worth researching because it relates to life.

This research uses figurative language as a guideline because the

song of Keenan Te uses unique words to beautify the language conveyed

to listeners through song lyrics. One example is found in the lyrics "Trying

to break you like you're a bad habit" in Unlearn You song. The lyric uses

simile where the author wants to compare the words “you” and “bad habit”

by using the conjunction like. In addition to Unlearn You song, the other

seven of Keenan Te’s songs also contain unique words that can be analyzed

using figurative language.

From the reason above, figurative language has an important role in

analysis of the lyrics of songs. Because each of songs has a meaning that

the author wants to convey. Therefore, the researcher wants to analyze the

figurative language in song lyrics, especially in Keenan Te’s song.

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1.2 Statements of the Problems

Based on the introduction described above, the problems to be

discussed are:

1. What types of figurative language using in the selected song by Keenan

Te?

2. What is the meaning of figurative language using in the selected song

by Keenan Te?

1.3 Scope of the Problem

The scope of this research is to analyze the type and to explain the

meaning of figurative language used in lyrics songs by Keenan Te. This

research used theory from Leech (1969) to examine the type of figurative

language and Leech (1981) to examine the meaning. According to Leech

(1969), Figurative language acceptance can be broken down into two

phases: rejecting an orthodox interpretation that is (in this case)

unacceptable and discovering an unconventional figurative meaning. There

are eight songs used in this research, namely: Dependent, Forever with you,

Never let you go, Forgot about us, Mine, Scars, Unlearn you, and

Overthinking about you.

1.4 Objectives of the Research

In accordance of the statements of the problems, the objectives of this

research can be stated as follows:

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1. To analyze the types of figurative language used in the selected song by

Keenan Te.

2. To explain the meaning using in selected song by Keenan Te.

1.5 Significances of the Study

1. Theoretical Significances

For researchers who want to make further research on figurative

language in songs, hopefully this research can be an additional material and

can look for research updates on figurative language for future research.

2. Practical Significances

This research is expected to provide knowledge for readers, such as

students who want to learn about figurative language, especially in songs.

Songs can help someone who wants to learn English, so this research can

be useful for teachers to teach the students and make the class atmosphere

more interesting.

1.6 Review of Related Literature

Muzzaqi (2020) conducted an analysis with the title “An Analysis on

Figurative Language in Shawn Mendes Selected Songs”. The collected data

was analyzed by using descriptive qualitative methods. This study aimed to

identify types of figurative language in Shawn Mendes’s lyrics song and the

messages. In a final result, this study found the dominant type of figurative

language was hyperbole. The similarity with this study is both looking for

lyric songs, and the difference is the data in this research was taken from

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lyrics songs by Keenan Te selected song. The theory used is also different,

in Muzzaqi’s research he used theory from Rozakis, whereas in this study

used theory from Leech (1969).

Mahendra et al. (2023) conducted an analysis with the title “The

Analysis of Figurative Language Used in The Song Lyrics of Adele's Album

“30”. This study aims to identify types of figurative language used in the

song lyrics of Adele's album "30" and meaning of figurative language found

in the song lyrics of Adele's album “30”. The result of their study shows that

there are seven types of figurative language found in song lyrics. They were

simile, personification, metaphor, synecdoche, hyperbola, irony and

paradox. Most of the figurative expressions found in those songs were

hyperbola. Five types of meaning used in those lyrics to understand the

figurative meaning in the song lyrics were connotative meaning, stylistic

meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, and thematic meaning. The

relevance of this study is both looking to analyze the types and the

meanings of figurative language in song lyrics, but the data used is different.

The research by Mahendra et al. (2023) used data from Adele’s song,

whereas this research used data from Keenan Te’s song. The theory used

is also different, where the research conducted by Mahendra et, al used

theory from Knickerbocker and Reninger (1974), meanwhile this study used

theory from Leech.

Aziza (2022) conducted an analysis with the title “An Analysis of

Figurative Language in The Album of Made in The A.M. by One Direction”.

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Her study has two aims, namely to describe the types of figurative language

and frequency of each type of figurative language used in the album of Made

in the A.M. by One Direction. Her study used a descriptive qualitative

method to classify and analyze the data based on the theory of figurative

language proposed by Keraf (2010). The total types of figurative language

that she found in her study were 23 of alliteration (6 lyrics), allusion (2 lyrics),

anastrophe (1 lyric), apophasis (2 lyrics), assonance (3 lyrics), asyndeton

(2 lyrics), euphemism (1 lyric), hypallage (1 lyric), hyperbole (13 lyrics),

hysteron (1 lyric), litotes (2 lyrics), metaphor (2 lyrics), metonymy (1 lyric),

oxymoron (3 lyrics), paradox (4 lyrics), periphrasis (1 lyric), personification

(3 lyrics), polysyndeton (6 lyrics), pun (2 lyrics), rhetoric (10 lyrics), simile (3

lyrics), synecdoche (4 lyrics), and tautology (1 lyric). The dominant type of

figurative language that is used in One Direction’s songs in the album Made

in the A.M. is hyperbola. The similarity with this research is that the

researcher used song lyrics as data, and equally research the types of

figurative language. The difference is that the research conducted by Aziza

is also focused on describing the frequency of the lyric song, whereas this

research is also focused on the meaning of lyrics songs by Keenan Te. The

theory that used is also different, Aziza’s research used theory from Keraf

(2010), while this research uses theory from Leech.

Ersyadi (2023) conducted an analysis with the title “An Analysis of

Figurative Languages Used in Novel John Green “The Fault in Our Stars”.

In his study, he focused on describing the types of figurative language and

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identify the contextual meaning of figurative language in John Green’s Novel

“The Fault in our Star”. He used theory from Leech (1969), and descriptive

qualitative as a method in his research. In the result, he found 7 kinds of

figurative language used in “The Fault in Our Stars” novel, there are

hyperbole, irony, litotes, metaphor, metonymy, personification, and simile.

The most dominant figurative language found is Simile as many as 17. The

relevance of this research is in the theory and the focus of research, the

difference is the data used, Ersyadi used the novel as data whereas this

research used lyrics songs as data.

Afifah & Irawan (2022) conducted an analysis with the title “Figurative

Language Analysis Used in Political Discussion at Prime Time News Metro

TV”. This research focuses on describes types and meanings/messages of

figurative language used in several political discussions that were presented

in Prime Time News Metro TV on YouTube Channel. This research used a

descriptive qualitative method. The theory from Keraf (2009) is used in this

research. The similarity with this research is the focus and method. The

difference with this study is the data and theory used in the research.

1.7 Theoretical Bases

This chapter explain about figurative language, types of figurative

language, types of meaning and song.

a. Figurative Language

Figurative language is a language that uses words or expressions

that have meanings other than the literal interpretation. Figurative language

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is rarely used in our everyday conversations. Figurative language is often

found in literary works such as articles, advertisements, novels, poems,

song lyrics, etc. When a writer uses literal language, they are simply stating

the facts as they are. In contrast, figurative language uses exaggeration or

modification to create a specific linguistic point of view. Figurative language

acceptance can be broken down into two phases: rejecting an orthodox

interpretation that is (in this case) unacceptable and discovering an

unconventional figurative meaning (Leech, 1969).

Figurative language is used by writers with expressions and

language that are different from what they want to convey so that it has an

effect on the reader (Rohani et al, 2018). According to Keraf (2009),

figurative language is a way of expressing thoughts through language. It

often shows the author's thoughts and personality. The use of figurative

language in a sentence often has a certain impact. But most importantly,

figurative language affects the meaning you want to convey.

Figurative language is words and groups of words that have the effect

of exaggerating or modifying the usual meaning of the verbal form of the

word components. It can be said that rhetoric can occur whenever a speaker

or writer, for the sake of novelty or emphasis, deviates from the usual

denotations of words (Kennedy, 1983). Beckson & Gans (1975) stated that

figurative language is a language that makes us use certain tools called

“morphemes of speech,” mostly techniques used to compare words with

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different audiences, aiming to achieve effects beyond the scope of literal

language.

Figurative meaning and semantics also have a great relationship,

because if one does not clearly understand the meaning of words, even the

connotation, it is difficult to understand figurative meaning. Sometimes

people read newspapers, magazines or novels and ignore them, take things

that are not literal expressions and read them literally. The meaning of the

expression becomes strange or confusing. Figurative language thus

becomes essential in learning vocabulary. While vocabulary learning

supports semantic learning (Tarigan, 1995).

b. Types of figurative language

According to Leech (1969), there are 8 types of figurative language

that researcher use to analyze Keenan Te Lyrics song, namely:

personification, pleonasm, paradox, rhetorical question, hyperbole, simile,

metaphor, and metonymy.

1) Personification

Personification is a figurative language style that describes inanimate

objects as though they were people. Personification is a figurative

representation of an abstraction as a human, and truly integrates the three

concepts of concretive, animistic, and humanizing because those three

categories are overlap (Leech, 1969). For example: “Authority forgets a

dying king”. That makes authority can forget something as a human being.

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 2) Pleonasm

Pleonasm is considered a stylistic error in a situation involving

functional communication, more so than other types of semantic repetition.

Pleonasm is a phrase that is semantically redundant since it just restates

the idea of what comes before or after it (Leech, 1969). For example: “My

female grandmother”. The word grandmother restates by the word female

because we know that grandmother is a female.

3) Rhetorical Question

In general, a typical question is one that does not anticipate a

response; this is known as a rhetorical inquiry (Leech, 1969). For example:

“Who cares?”, “Aren’t they wonderful dresses?”, and “Do you call that

music?”. There are contains rhetorical questions because those questions

do not need a response.

4) Hyperbole

Like the other figures, hyperbole often deals with sentimentality and

personal values. In other words, it makes subjective assertions that,

although they may seem exaggerated, we are unable to independently

verify unless we could somehow enter the person’s head (Leech, 1969). For

example: “He’s got acres and acres of garden”, is exaggerated if we are

aware that the plot described is no larger than one acre.

5) Simile

Simile is an expression or meaning in which two different things are

then compared to another thing by using a function word, such as like or as.

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According to Leech (1969), for each metaphor, we can construct

approximately equivalent similes by writing down the tenor and vehicle side

by side and indicating the similarity between them (by like or some other

formal indicator). For example: “The sky looks bright at dawn, like someone

rejoicing in a birth”, that used conjunction like.

6) Metaphor

A metaphor is a kind of analogy to compare two different

things/objects directly in a short form without using the conjunction like or

as. Metaphors are generally more concise and immediate than their literal

counterparts. This is because tenor and medium overlap in the same

language (Leech, 1969). For example: “The ship ploughs the waves”,

contains a metaphor because compares the words ship and waves.

7) Metonymy

A metonymy is a figure of speech that consists of using the name of

one thing as the name of another thing with which it is associated (Leech,

1969). For example: “Ogling the heavily mascaraed skirt at the next table.

The metonymy in this phrase is skirt, and a skirt is an item that is used by

the person.

8) Litotes

The term litotes is sometimes used for a specific type of

understatement in which a speaker uses a negative expression where

positive expression would be more forceful and direct. The impact of litotes

therefore depends largely on what we know about the situation (Leech,

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1969). For example: “It’s not bad”. It containes litotes because have a

positive statement by using a negative expression, it is an opposite

expression.

c. Types of Meaning

There are several kinds of meanings according to Leech (1981), that

are used in this research, namely:

1) Conceptual Meaning

Leech (1981) defined conceptual meaning as the same as what other

academics refer to as "denotative", "designative", "cognitive", or

"descriptive" meaning. Furthermore, it is believed that this meaning is

essential to language communication. Unlike other forms of meaning, it is a

vital component of a language's fundamental function. Because conceptual

meaning is similar to the syntactical and phonological levels of language in

terms of organization and structure, many view it as primary. Conceptual

meaning, which is acknowledged as a fundamental facet of grammatical

competency, is the logical comprehension of speech (Leech, 1981).

2) Connotative Meaning

According to Leech (1981), connotative meaning is an expression's

communication significance that goes beyond its purely conceptual

substance, depending on what it alludes to. It is easy to draw comparisons

between the conceptual meaning of language and the connotative meaning

of the "real world" when examining the link between conceptual and

connotative meaning. Comparing connotative meaning to conceptual

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meaning, it is possible to view connotative meaning as an unstable and

open category (Leech, 1981).

3) Affective Meaning

Affective meaning is associated with the sentiments or attitudes of the

speaker. The emotive meaning is only tangentially connected to conceptual

representation, much like social meaning. The conceptual or connotative

meaning of words is frequently employed to express affective meaning in

an explicit manner (Leech, 1981).

d. Song

Song is the art of melodies or sounds following sequences, blends,

and temporal relationships often accompanied by musical instruments to

create music with lyrical rhythm. Songs are used to awaken one's spirit or

passion (Antika et al., 2020). So that people who listen to songs will be

carried away by the atmosphere conveyed by the singer through the lyrics.

Songs are part of literary works that writers use to convey and

express their thoughts, ideas and feelings through words called lyrics

(Mahendra et al., 2023). Songs can be a mood or a situation that the author

is experiencing or has experienced. It is conveyed in such a way through

lyrics that are written implicitly and explicitly. Songs can be a means to

interact between one individual and another (Muhammad et al., 2021)

Lyrics are a part of the song that contains a word. Lyrics are defined

as a group of verses and choruses that together form a full song or a brief,

non-narrative poem (Aziza, 2022). In a lyric, a single speaker expresses

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feelings or ideas that are unique to them. It's easy to set poetry to music,

and lyrical poems are popular because of their pleasing rhythm and musical

quality.

The Greek word "lyre," which refers to an instrument the Grecians

played when reading poetry, is where the word "lyric" first appeared. Lyrical

poets use words to convey particular feelings and moods (Muzzaqi, 2020).

Such moods convey a variety of feelings about life, love, death, or other life

experiences, ranging in intensity from extreme to nebulous. Continue

reading to discover more about literary lyrics.

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1.8 Conceptual Framework

Analysis of Figurative Descriptive

Language in Song Lyrics by Qualitative analysis
Keenan Te Selected Song

Types of Figurative Meaning of Figurative

Language Language
− Personification − Conceptual
− Pleonasm Meaning
− Rhetorical Question − Connotative
− Hyperbole Meaning
− Simile − Affective Meaning
− Metaphor
− Metonymy
− Litotes

SEMANTIC APPROACH

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1.9 Method and Technique

1) Research Design

This research uses a descriptive qualitative method, that makes

something systematic, factual and accurate about facts and connections of

characteristics or other areas (Suryabrata, 2003). According to Creswell

(2009), exploring and comprehending the meaning that individuals or

groups assign to a social or human situation can be done through qualitative

research. Emerging questions and processes, data acquired in the

participant’s context, inductive data analysis leading from specifics to broad

themes, and the researcher’s interpretation of the data’s meaning are all

part of the research process. The analysis of qualitative research is focused

on understanding the results of the data found, rather than calculating the

results of the data found (Ersyadi, 2023).

The descriptive method is used to explain and clarify the problem to

provide the most valid answer for each given problem so that conclusions

can be drawn later (Aryawan et al., 2019). Descriptive qualitative methods

use techniques to search, collect, and analyze data (Ersyadi, 2023). To

obtain all of the information, the writer identifies the word, phrase, or

sentence in every line of the song's lyrics.

This research is library research, which is a collection of tasks

involving the reading, recording, processing, and data collection from

libraries (Muzzaqi, 2020). The purpose of this research is to examine texts

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that are related to the primary issue, which is the use of figurative language

in Keenan Te's song lyrics.

2) Data Sources

This research uses two data sources, there are primary data and

secondary data.

1. Primary Data

In this research, the researcher used lyrics song by Keenan Te as an

object and primary data to analyze. There are eight songs that the

researcher chose, namely: Dependent, Forever with you, Never let you go,

Forgot about us, Mine, Scars, Unlearn you, and Overthinking about you.

2. Secondary Data

The secondary data used in this research is some books, journals,

scripts, and some information on the internet that helps this research.

3) Collecting Data

Data collection techniques include observation of events of interest

and examination of documents (Pribadi, 2019). The researcher employ data

collection techniques as means of gathering data. The process of gathering

data involves documenting things, events, information, or features of some

or all of the data components needed to support the study. In this study,

documentation is the method used to collect data.

The documentation method searches books, journals, articles, notes,

and other materials for information about variables or objects. This indicates

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that all available data sources, including official websites and helpful

information, were used to compile the data.

Using this technique, information regarding the lyrics to Keenan Te’s

songs from YouTube and Spotify can be obtained. Some of the methods

used to gather the data are as follows:

a. Browsing Keenan Te’s song in YouTube and Spotify.

b. Collecting Keenan Te’s song. In this step, researcher chooses and

selects the popular songs by Keenan Te that have more than 1 million

viewers. After that, the researcher found 8 songs, namely:

Dependent, Forever with you, Never let you go, Forgot about us,

Mine, Scars, Unlearn you, and Overthinking about you.

c. Typing and printing the lyrics song by Keenan Te. To get the lyrics,

the researcher took from Keenan Te’s YouTube.

d. Reading and noting. In this step, the researcher carefully read the

lyrics. Afterward, the researcher noting every word, phrase and

sentence that contains figurative language according to Leech

(1969).

4) Analyzing Data

The researcher outlined the procedures for data analysis in this

subsection. The data analysis process involved three steps, there are

identification, classification, and interpretation were these processes.

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 a. Identification

The figurative language used in the lyrics of a few of Keenan Te’s songs

was identified by the researcher. In this stage, the researcher applied

Leech’s (1969) theories to identify the traits of figurative languages and

Leech’s (1981) to identify the meaning. Every figurative language that the

researcher found was recorded on an observation field note.

b. Classification

At this stage, the researcher will classify the data that has been

identified into figurative language categories. The classification is done to

find out what types of figurative language are found in Keenan Te’s songs

by using the theory of Leech (1969). According to Leech (1969), there are

10 types of figurative language that the researcher used in this research,

namely: personification, pleonasm, rhetorical question, hyperbole, simile,

metaphor, metonymy and litotes.

c. Interpretation

The researcher conducted interpretation in order to describe the

contextual meaning of figurative language. The researcher used some

theories and earlier research as a basis for interpretation. Subsequently, the

researcher provided a detailed explanation of the interpretation.

5) Data Presentation

In presenting the data, the researcher will use tables to present the

data that has been obtained from the lyrics of Keenan Te's songs. The table

will be made as many as 4 columns to make it easier to understand the

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data, where the first column will be filled with numbers, then the second

column with song titles, the third column is song lyrics, and the last is

meaning.

No. Song Lyric Meaning Song Title

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