A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN BULLY

VIDEO GAME

Arif Triwidiatmoko
1021141027

Chapter I
Introduction

Background of Study
Discourse analysis has varied definition
which sometimes caused confusion. The
word 'discourse' comes from Latin
'discursus' which denoted 'conversation,
speech'.
According to Crystal discourse: a
continuous stretch of (especially spoken)
language larger than a sentence, often
constituting a coherent unit such as a
sermon, argument, joke, or narrative
(1992:25).

One of them is Bully, also known as Canis Canem edit

(Latin for dog eat dog) for the PAL region PlayStation 2
version, is a 2006 action-adventure open world video game
released by Rockstar Vancouver for the PlayStation 2 on 17
October 2006 in North America, and 25 October 2006 in the
United Kingdom. Bully is an action-adventure open world video
game set in a school environment.

Identification of Problems
There are some discourse characteristics that can be found in
Bully video game. Those are:
First, conversational structure,
Second is cooperative principle.
Third, politeness principle
The fourth is power and control.
Last is speech act,

Limitation of Problems
From the identification above there are many discourse
characteristic found in Bully video game. In order to keep the
research focus, this research emphasizes on two points that will
be studied. Those are the conversational structure and power
control.

Formulation
Based on the limitation of the problems discussed in
this research can be formulated as follows:
What conversations structure is there found in the Bully
video game?
In what way does discourse participant have power and
control over other participants the Bully video game?

Focus of the Study

Based on the formulation, the objectives of the research
are follows:
To find out the conversation structure in Bully video
game
To identify language to convey power use found in Bully
video game

CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK
A. Literature Review
1. Discourse and context
Fairclough (1997;7) defines discourse as the use of language
seen as a form of social practice.
Cook (1985;7) classifies two different kinds of language as
potential objects of study: one is abstraction, in order to teach a
language or literary (to study how the rules of language work) and
the other which has been used to communicate something and is felt
to be coherent. This later kind of language-language in use, for
communication is called discourse, and the stretch for what it gives
discourse coherence is discourse analysis.
2. Discourse Analysis
Fairclough (1997;7) says that discourse analysis requires
attention to textual form, structure and organization at all level,
phonological, grammatical, lexical (vocabulary) and higher level of
textual organization in terms of exchange system (the distribution of
speaking turn), structures of argumentation and generic (activity
type) structure.

Context
Situational context,
Background knowledge
Reference (Exophora)

Co-text
Grammatical cohesion including: reference, substitution and
ellipsis.
Lexical
cohesion
consists
of
repetition,
synonyms,
superordinate, general words.

3. Conversational Analysis
Conversational analysis is a branch of study which sets out to
discover what method people use to participate in and make sense of
interaction it is often associated with ethnomethodology.

There are several

strategies in analyzing
a conversation
according to Cutting
(2002;29) are :
Turn Taking
Adjacency Pairs
Sequences

Interactional sociolinguistics

Interactional sociolinguistics focuses on the fact that

social groups have their own ways of expressing meaning
with their language. Gumprez on Fairclough (1989;33) says
that language relates to content through contextualization
cues. These are linguistic features that indicate the
aspects of the relevant context to the speaker means, and
that only take on their full meaning when the hearer is
familiar with the rest of the context, as he or she is a

Bully

Bully is an action-adventure open world video game

set in a school environment. The player takes control of
teenage rebel James "Jimmy" Hopkins, who from the
opening cutscene is revealed to be a difficult student
with a disruptive background. The game concerns the
events that follow Jimmy being dropped off at
Bullworth Academy, a New England boarding school.
The player is free to explore the school campus in the
beginning and, later on in the game, the town, or to
complete the main missions.

Conceptual Framework

Discourse is a wide field of study that combines

several theories to examine a language used
phenomena to reveal the message beyond.
Language is used in most aspect of life including in
the video game.
This research is aimed to analyze discourse found in
Bully video game. The discourse is analyzed using
the discourse analysis to find out the conversational
structure and power of language use between the
characters in the game.

Analytical construct of
Bully video
game

Discourse

Discourse
analysis

Conversational
Analysis

Turn Taking

Adjacency
Pairs

Interactional
sociolinguistics

Context

Co-text

Situational

Reference (endophora)

Background
knowledge

Repetition

Reference
(exophora)

Synonym
Superordinates
General Words

Sequences

Chapter III
Research Method
Research

Design
This research mainly uses qualitative descriptive analytic approach. SR
ligen and Shohamy (1898) suggest that descriptive approach involves a
collection of technique used to specify, delineate or describe naturally
occurring phenomenon without experimental manipulation. The use of
qualitative design is aimed to describe the conversational structure and
language power use in video game entitled Bully.
Research Instrument
The key instrument of this study is the researcher himself since the
study employs the descriptive qualitative study approach. Recorded
materials were reviewed by the researcher with his knowledge being the
key instrument of the analysis. Regarding the important role of the
researcher, his knowledge and experiences deeply influence the accuracy
of the data analysis.
Forms, Contexts and Source of Data
The data are in form of lingual units. It can be words, phrases, clauses,
sentences and utterances found in the Bully video game. The researcher
takes the data from the dialog which showed the features of discourse in
the script of the Bully video game. In this research, the source of data is
the script of the Bully video game.

Data collecting Technique

The data will be taken by recording the dialogue from the characters
of the video game. The researcher does the recording while playing
the whole chapters of the game. He then makes transcripts from the
records. The transcript will be checked and checked to obtain
accuracy. After that, the data taken from the transcript is analyzed.
Data Analysis
The data of the research will be analyzed inductively in accordance
with the characteristic of qualitative research. According to Bogdan
and Biklen (1982), qualitative research do not search out data or
evidence to prove or disapprove hypothesis they hold before entering
the study; rather than abstractions are built as the particular that
have been gathered or grouped together.
Trustworthiness
To gain validity, the data must be checked again. Validity is the extent
to which it gives the correct answer (Kirk and Miller, 1986:19). Validity
is reached by triangulation to enhance trustworthiness.
In this research, the researcher use a triangulation technique to gain
credibility and validity of the data by having a discussion with people
who are expert in this area.

References
Joan Cutting. 2002. Pragmatic and Discourse: A Resource Book for
Student. London and New York: Routledge.
Fairclough, Norman. 1989. Language and Power. London: Longman.
Bogdan,R.C., and Biklen S.K. 1882. Qualitative Research for
Education: An Introduction to Theory and Methods. Boston: Allyn
and Bacon Inc.
Wikipedia. Bully (video game). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_
%28video_game%29. Accessed on 19 October 2013 at 11.00 a.m.
Hillary Janks. Critical Discourse Analysis as a Research Tool.
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Yule, G. 1996. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.