CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1         Title of the Research

       The title of this research is the analysis of continuity adjunct in the conversation of British Council Elementary Podcast Series 01 Episode 01.

1.2         Field of study

       The field of study in this research is discourse analysis mainly on the usage of continuity adjunct.

1.3         Background of the study

       In social life, people always communicate with each other by using language. Language is one of means of communication. Communication and language can not be separated each other. It happens when people interact each other. The function of communication is to share information, idea, expression, and feeling. There are two kinds of communications, spoken and written. Spoken communication uses verbal language as it main tool, while written one employs written language as it instrument.

       In conducting communication people use words and utterances to express what they have in mind toward the listener. They often have a casual conversation to make them easier in delivering the information.  In expressing sentences, people often add words like well, ehm, hmm, in the beginning of their utterances. These kind of word are also called as continuity adjunct. Suzanne (2004:164) states that continuity adjunct category includes the continuative and continuity items, particularly frequent in casual talk, such as well, yea, oh, emm, hmm, where these items occur to introduce a clause, and signal that a response to prior talk to is about to be provide. The researcher wants to analyze about continuity adjunct in the conversation of British Council Elementary Podcast.

       British council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations registered in England as a charity. this organization provide some media related to learning English especially for the beginners like podcast, on line quiz, mp3, and its transcript, and some tips about learning English and United Kingdom.

       A podcast is a type of digital media format consisting of an episodic series of files (either audio or video) subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication. It is free to listen and create content, which departs from the traditional model of 'gate-kept' media and production tools (Wikipedia).

       In the podcast we find many continuity adjuncts like well, erm, hmm, ok, oh, and so on. Here are the conversations taken from the conversation of British Council Elementary Podcast. Ravi and Gordon are having a short conversation before continue the next section. Gordon wants to tell a joke story, but before he tells the story he asks about the time limitation and then he says:

Gordon: How long have I got?

Ravi: One minute – at the most.

Gordon: OK then. Erm, right. A chicken walks into

a library…

       Gordon starts his story by saying erm, before deliver his joke story. He uses a continuity adjunct before continuing what he intends to say. It is different from the next conversation between Ravi and Tess. Ravi and Tess are the presenters. After having some sort conversation they say:

       Ravi: I’ll tell you what Tess, why don’t you call your cat Didier?

That’s a great name for a cat.

       Tess: Hmm.

       In this conversation, Tess uses word Hmm to answer Ravi’s question. She states the continuity adjunct without any further explanation about what they are talking about. It is different with the statement of Suzanne (2004:164) that state that continuity adjuncts occur to introduce a clause, and signal that a response to prior talk to is about to be provide. Tess does not continue or introduce a clause after saying the continuity adjunct.

       From explanations and the examples above especially the second one, it is interesting to analyze the continuity adjuncts which occur in different context from what it usually does and what are the factors influencing this phenomenon that can be found in the conversation of the British Council elementary podcast series 01 episode 01.

1.4         State of  the Problems

       In this study, the researcher presents the problems, those are:

1.      What are the continuity adjuncts found in the conversation of British Council Podcast Series 01 Episode 01?

2.      What are the factors that influence the occurring of continuity adjunct in the conversation of British Council Podcast Series 01 Episode 01?

1.5         Purpose of the Research

       In this study, the researcher also presents the purpose, those are:

1.      To find out the kind of continuity adjuncts that includes in the conversation of British Council Elementary Podcast Series 01 Episode 01?

2.      To find out other factors that influence the occurrence of continuity adjuncts in the conversation of British Council Elementary Podcast Series 01 Episode 01

1.6         Object of the Research

       This study focuses on the analysis of continuity adjunct as a function of textual meaning in the British council elementary podcast series 1 episode 1.

1.7         Significance of the Research

       From the result of this research, the researcher expects many advantages for the reader as follow:

1.      This study may give contribution to the understanding of the use of continuity adjunct in a conversation.

2.      This study can also be useful for people in understanding the language used by the speaker in the conversation of British Council Elementary podcast series 01 episode 01.