VARIOUS TYPES OF CONTRADICTION� IN JAVANESE CARTOON DISCOURSES
I DEWA PUTU WIJANA
FACULTY OF CULTURAL SCIENCES GADJAH MADA UNIVERSITY
PUTU.WIJANA@UGM.AC.ID
1. Introduction
Many articles have been written about humor. One among them is one written by Noerhadi (1989, 129-155) [1] which states that the comic essence of cartoon and caricature is closely related to the contradiction of idea between aggression components and apprehension components. Even though, these contradictions are not always easy to find.
This theory is actually the same as one the so-called incongruity theory which proposes that humor in-congruently combines two meanings or two different interpretations in one complex object.
According to Wilman as cited by Wilson (1970, 11) the two in-congruent ideas can be unified through similar sounds, and one of them can also be inferred from other matters, or both can be conceived can happen in reality. For example, consider the following discourses:
(1) +Taken, Pak..Jalan Alengka niku pundi nggih. ('I am asking, sir. Where is Alengka Street?)’
-Wah aku ra ngerti coba takono Pak Indrajit ning lor kono. Dheweke pasti ngerti. ('Oh, I dont know, please ask in the north there to Mr. Indrajit, he surely knows’) (Djaka Lodang, No. 29, 17-12-2022)
(2) Spesial oseng-oseng mercon. ('Special hot/spicy stir-fried vegetables’)
+Yihu karemanku ('Oh thats my favorit stuff’)
. Thor, ther, dhoor. Dhuer. 'sound of fire cracker' (Djaka Lodang, No. 30, 24-12-2022)
(3) + Kepithing goreng, mas! 'Fried crab, Mas!’
- Kepithinge telas, Pak. Mung kantun yuyu kangkang goreng kersa? ('The crab is sold out, just
fried Yuyu Kang kang I have. Do you want it?’) (Djaka Lodang, No. 47, 23-04-2022)
Discourse (1), (2), and (3) above are extracted from Javanese cartoons. All of them laid their humour on contradictions combined with word play.
Discourse (1) contradicts between “fictive” and “factive” reality based on the use of street name Alengka and personal name Indrajit. Alengka and Indrajit are names taken from “Ramayana Epic” which respectively refers to Rahwana, the giant king's palace and his son. That is why, the old man asked about the address does not know, and then asks the person asking, to ask to someone names Indrajit. If the name Indrajit is replaced by other names out of the epic, the joke will surely fail to achieve.
Different from (1), contradiction of discourse (2) is laid on the unreal metaphorical use of mercon 'fire works' attached to oseng-oseng 'stir-fried side dishes with chili peppers' for indicating its spicy taste'. While, the sound of fireworks can only happen in real world related to real fireworks.
Finally discourse (3), related to contradiction of the real matter kepithing goreng 'fried crab' commonly found as the main menu in luxurious restaurants in many places, including Indonesia. While Yuyu Kang Kang is the name of the antagonist character in Javanese oral traditional literature “Ande-ande Lumut”. Yuyu 'crab' in this case is synonymous with kepithing.
This contradiction or incongruity theory seems in a line with the semantic theory of humor proposed by Raskin (1984, 99) [3]. This theory states the following hypothesis:
A text can be characterized as a single-joke carrying context if both of the following conditions are satisfied:
A.The text is compatible, fully on in part with two different scripts.
B. The two script with which the text is compatible are opposite in special sense.
For this matter Raskin exemplifies the following discourse (4) to (6) below:
+ “My wife used to play the violin a lot but after we had kids she has not had much time for that”
- “Children are a comfort, aren't they?”
This example relies its joke on contradiction of comfort and discomfort of the presence and absence of the children.
The presence of children which is expected bringing happiness, in fact causing unhappiness because the speaker's wife can no more practise her violin playing.
Another example:
A Doctor tells a woman
+ Your husband must have absolute rest. Here is a sleeping tablet.
- When do I give it to him?, (she asks)
+ You don’t, (the doctor explains). You take it yourself.
This example relies its joke on contradiction of comfort and discomfort of the presence and absence of the children. The presence of children which is expected bringing happiness, in fact causing unhappiness because the speaker's wife can no more practise her violin playing.
According to Aubouin as cited by Raskin (1984, 42) , there are a lot of contradictions might be opposed in the creation of humor.
Those are concrete and abstract, literal and figurative, noble and trivial, decent and indecent, known and unknown, relative and absolute, absurd and logical, etc.
This complicated contradictions by Raskin can simply be classified into 3 types (actual and non-actual, normal vs abnormal, and possible and impossible), and for more concrete perception into five types (good vs bad, life vs death, obscene vs non-obscene, money vs no money, high vs low nature) (see also Attardo, 2020, 20) [4].
Contradiction as an important part of humor creation has also become attention of Bergson's theory of humor in which he suggests that there are three techniques of humor creation. Those are repetition, permutation, and resiprocal interference of series.
With regard to the third technique, the humor is created through combination of two modes of speech which are actually contradicting one with another, such as between serious and joking, educated and uneducated, bravery and cowardice, etc. (Bergson, 1983, 138-139). In the verbal forms, this technique is realized by confusing words or sentences which have totally phonetic and orthographically different meanings. Reciprocal interference of series constitute the most dominant technique among others exploited in any joking activity (Nelson, 1990 ; Wijana, 2000)
- Hakim (2009) sees humorous Indonesian comedy text of “Tawa Sutra” as deviations of cooperative principles.
- Surana (2015) which concerns about language variation found in humorous sticker discourses in Indonesian.
- Sahayu et al. (2022, 729-736) concerns about kinds of humor acquired by children as indexical of their age developments, and none of their descriptions mention about contradiction entities exploited as the source of children humors.
- Tunnisa's research is regarding with Indonesian English teachers' sense of humor which is considered very important in reducing tension, creating more comfortable class situation, evoking good interaction, encouraging student's attendance, avoding the students to feel sleepy, etc.
Finally, Mulyadi et al.'s studies (2021) is about Indonesian Stand Up Comedy discourses led by Dodit Mulyadi as the comedian, because of many parameters they have to consider, such as script opposition, logical mechanism, situation, target, narrative strategy, and language, cannot also completely describe various types of opposition possibly contradicted in humorous discourse creation.
This study:
Accordingly, this paper will try to focuses its attention on describing and analyzing various kinds of contradictions or script oppositions found in one genre of jocular discourses, i.e. Javanese cartoon.
Method
For more clearly see discourse (7) (8), and (9) below:
(7) + Huuu lagi ngimpi nemu dhuwit sepuluh ewu digugah. Kene dijoli mang ewu.
( 'I was dreaming of finding money 10.000. Why did you awake me? So, give me 5000, for its
compensation)’ (Djaka Lodang 36, 05-02-2022)
Discourse (7) plays between real and unreal matter. A child was dreaming of finding a bank note amounting of Rp. 10.000, but his mother awoke him, so he asked her to refund even though just a half for he thought that the event was real. The reality is indicated by the use of word dream and wake
- Sing pasti “sono” bakal bikin satu surprise full style “honor guyon setahun saka DL, Hah hebat! ( 'The
certain thing is, that they must make surprise...full style. The payment of this humor column for a year
from D(jaka) L(odang). Amazing!)
(Djaka Lodang, No. 49, 2-5-2020)
Discourse (8) which constitutes a monologue of a husband when he is talking to his wife. This discourse is opposing between richness and poverty. The bride's parent usually asked for their future parent in law's an expensive bride price, but what he proud of is a year payment of creating “Guyon” column which indicates that their future parent in law is not really a rich people, and the value of the column payment is very low compared to bride price used to give.
(9) + Hayo arep ngelencer to Pak-e Jok lali mulih nggawa oleh-oleh tongseng gelem bakmi oke ..martabak ora emoh.. ' Oh you will go out...for amusement. Do not forget bringing me lamb with cabbage, noodle is also ok, folded crepe I would not refuse'
- Aku lunga arep golek tekek. Pirang iji njaluk oleh-oleh 'I am going to look for gecko...How many do you ask for?
(Djaka Lodang 39, 27-2-2022)
Different from (7) and (8). discourse (9) opposes between something serious, that is the husband's livelihood, i.e hunting and gathering gecko and something amusing presupposed by his wife when she saw his husband is about going somewhere. Accordingly, she asked her husband to bring them food gift, such as tongseng 'lamb with cabbage', bakmi 'noodle', or martabak 'folded crepe’.
Having heard his wife request, he spontaneously responses that he will do his job to look for gecko and bring her some as the gift.
3. FINDING
After having examined all Javanese cartoon discourses used as data, it is found that there are many types of contradiction exploited by the cartoonists to create the jocular discourses:
3.1. Real and Unreal Matter
The opposition between something real and unreal seem the most common contradiction exploited by the cartoonists in creating jocular texts in their works. in the following (10) and (11) consecutively exploit between virtual and non-virtual address, and consciousness and unconsciousness role played by traditional fake horse dancer.
(10) + Ajeng taken omahe Mbah Bejo, Pak Dhe. 'I am asking Mbah Bejo's house, Uncle?'
- Lha, alamate ngendi? 'And, where is the address?'
+ Mbah Bejo@ yahoo.co.id (Djaka Lodang, No. 41, 13-3-2021)
(11) + Pari...Beling...Lha lonthong opor-e endhi Dhe (Paddy..., porcelain... But where is the rice bracket and the chiken curry, Aunty?) (Djaka Lodang, No. 48, 7-5-2022)
Something real and something unreal, with regard to law, can be related with positive law and non-positive one. The first is based on real regulations, while the later is done with social or religious belief.
There are two ways of preparing food possibly done by vendors or door to door sellers in Javanese community, and accordingly two types of cuisine, i.e. merebus 'to boiled' and menggoreng 'to fry'. As far as nasi 'rice' is concerned, these two ways can not be confused one with another. This contradictory is exploited in (13) below because nasi can only be fried or not fried. Boiled rice never exist in the reality:
3.2. Richness and Poverty
Richness opposed with poverty is the other contradiction often exploited by the cartoonist in creating their jocular discourses. Capital cities are usually associated with glamorous and luxurious life and richness. Meanwhile, life in rural areas associated with poverty. Accordingly, many people want to live in the capital cities even though they must be leading apprehensive life conditions, doing whatever jobs for living, such as describe by the following cartoon (14) which constitutes a dialog between a woman and her husband working as a scavenger in Jakarta. In cartoon (14), the richness and poverty contradiction is created by play of word borrowing word kontraktor which can mean two totally different meanings, i.e. 'some one of having job related with constructing or developing house or building' and 'someone who always rent a house because of unable to buy'. The first sense is associated with richness', while the second one with poverty.
(14) + Janjine dijak urip kepenak ning ibu kota...Nyatane kesel dijak dadi pemulung barang bekas. Enak urip nggok desa, tenang ra kemrungsung cedak sedulur ('You promise we will live comfortably in capital city....But, in fact we are very tired living as scavenger. Better living in the village, close to relatives’)
- Kita bersakit-sakit dahulu...bersenang-senang kemudian ('We suffer first, then we live happily’)
+ Gombal 'Bull shit’ (Djoko Lodang, No. 09, 27-7-2019)
(15) + Whua h..anak mantuku hebat. Dadi wong joz. Pakaryane apa? 'Oh,.my son in law is really amazing. What is your job?
- Oh, namung kontraktor, [Apusi wae]. 'Oh just a “contractor”. [I deceive you]’
= Kontraktor saben tahun pindah kontrak ( 'A contractor means every year move to a new rent house’ ) (Djaka Lodang, No. 17, 22-9-2018)
Different from (14) and (15) the joke is created through implication of what should be commonly done by the rich and the poor. Gossiping is
Gossiping is suitably done by rich people who have enough wealth and do not have to work hard to fulfill their daily need. And the poor people who still found it difficult to meet the need of their daily life are not appropriate to do so. The creator of (16) is jokingly criticize the cassava cake peddler who waste her time gossiping, while forgetting her job going around to peddle her merchandise.
(16) + Ngrumpa-ngrumpa, ngrumpi-ngrumpi. Nengkana ngrumpi, neng kene ngrumpi. Thuk- gethuk. Nganti lali yen kudu ider tawa gethuk. Gethuk .... ('Gossiping-gossiping. There gossiping. Here also gossiping. Forgetting that I must go around to offer my cassava cake....By my cassava cake’). (Djaka Lodang, No. 25, 19-11-2022).
In many cases, the poverty is implicated by the cartoonist. For example, in cartoon (17) below the richness and poverty are implicated by the kinds animal want to buy by the cartoon character. Buying crickets in animal market is associated with poverty, but buying animal like cow, buffalo, goat, etc , is done with wealth and richness.
(17) + Mumpung paing..menyang pasar kewan. ('It is “paing” now, go to live stock market’)
-Arep tuku sapi. Mundhut kebo. Apa mborong wedhus mbah? 'Are you going to buy a cow, a buffalo, or buy up goats, Grand pa?'
+ Tuku jangkrik 'to buy crickets’ (Djaka Lodang, No. 03, 09-06-2021)
Sometime the cartoonist creates this type contradiction through modifying the general meaning of the word by adding certain attribute, so its meaning meaning becoming more specific, even contrasted with the head being modified. In (18) the word warisan 'inheritance' tend to bring positive nuance if it stands alone. However, after having been modified with utang 'debt', the meaning warisan hutang 'debt inheritance' is totally changed to become something related with hopelessness and poverty. In (19) the benefit to get a relative is contradicted with his economic condition.
(18) +Kueh Sempe dicampur lapis, dadi kere ra wis-wis ('Sempe cakes mixed with layer cakes, becoming beggar never ended )'
- Entuk warisan akeh kok dadi edan ngono? ('Getting inheritance a lot becoming mad like that?)
= Heeh, warisan utang sakbajeg, dadi ya kenthir, gitu lho Mas ('Oh, getting loan inheritance a lot, and that caused him mad, that was the story, my darling’) (Djaka Lodang, No. 05, 26-6-2019)
3. Obscene and Non-obscene Matter
In creating jocular texts, cartoonists often play on likely obscene matters which are really not so, such as discourse (20) below that concerns about inserting shirt button but it is easily associated with inserting penis in sexual intercourse activity.
(20) + Aneh tapi nyata..dileboake kok malah metu..Kiramu apa iku( 'Believe it not...inserted...but it is coming out. Guess what?)
- Eeah ngeres..luwih jos maca rubrik guyon timbang nyaru ('Eah..it's dirty..It is much better reading “joke column” than discussing something dirty)
+ That is button ...coming out when it is inserted’ .(Djaka Lodang, No. 19, 6 October 2018)
Different from (20) the obscene and non-obscene matter in (21) is raised by the broad meaning use of word pasien 'patient'. Patient without modifier can or tend to refer to human, and the use of other word as its context will arise obscene associations, and the sudden presence of word hewan for its modifier will abruptly vanish them, and the comic effect is expectedly able to evoke.
(21) + Jeng, pasiene Pak Gandhi kabare pada wuda nglegana..apa ora cemburu? ('Sister, Said that Mr. Gandhi's patients are barely naked..Don't you feel jealous?)
- Wis jarke bae, pancen njarag pamer awak. Rasah dipikir berat...slow ('Alright, it was just intentionally done. Do not think it seriously..take it easy).
+ Pak Gandi dokter hewan...mosok pasiene dikongkon klamben karo kathokan (\)'Mr gandhi is a veterinerian, how can his patients be asked to wear shirt and pants' (Djaka Lodang, No. 35, 26 Januari 2019)
3.4. Comfort and Discomfort
Like discourse (4) has been exemplified above, the presence of several grand children of the cartoon character in (22) which is hopefully bringing him happiness in fact cause him fall in desperate situation. All of his grand children asked him presents (shoes, fire crackers, shirts, etc.) for the new year celebration. As result, the coming new year gave him sadness instead of happiness.
(22) + Mbah pundutke kembang api! ('Grand Pa, buy fire cracker for me!”)
- Mbah, tumbaske klambi ro spatu! ('Grand Pa, buy shirt and shoes for me!)
= WaahTahon baru malah tekor kih. Rasido seneng-seneng kih...('Oh, new year make me deficit. I cannot enjoy the happines’) Toko 'shop’ (Djaka Lodang, No. 33. 14-1-2023)
The other example is cartoon discourse (22) below in which a grand pa is flowed together by his grand children when he wanted to take his pension salary.
(23) + Wara-wara si Mbah arep mundhut pensiun ('Announcement, Grand Pa will take pension salary’)
- Aku tukoke bakpao, mbah, aku bakmi goreng, aku gadho-gadho, aku nyuwun angpao. Aku tumbaske sepatu kets. Aku tumbaske sepatu Rodha, Mbah. ( 'Buy meat bun for me, I am fried noodle, grand pa, I am mixed vegetable, I am gift of money, buy canvas shoes for me, I am skates, Grand pa’) (Djaka Lodang, No. 22, 29-10-2022)
3.5. Ease and Difficulty
Something that someone is asking for is actually cheap and trivial, but very difficult to realize. Black and white color television might be cheap, and affordable. However, if its screen size is 50 inch, the speaker's grand pa request is difficult to realize because no black and white of that size ever made by the producer. Likewise, the husband's (-) suggestion to allow his wife's brother in law to marry a woman names Marni is trivial but difficult to realize by her or her sister in law because no wife will permit her husband to marry another woman even though the marriage cause the husband recovery.
(24) + Mbahmu kae mung njaluk tivi ora mbok turut? 'Your grand pa just asking for tivi, but you do not realize it yet?
- Sing dijaluk tivi hitam putih 50 inci. Piye jal? 'He asks for black fifty inch black and white tivi. How can I realize?(Djaka Lodang, No. 24, 13-12-2021).
(25) +Pak entuk kabar Mas Manan mlebu Icu...Gawat... Duwe saran Pak? 'Darling, I got a news, Brother Manan in ICU, he is in critical condition. Do you have suggestions?
- Heh..Mbakyumu kasi ijin ...masmu ngrabi Marni...mesti mari ('Oh.. your older sister should allow him to marry Marni. He will surely be recover soon).
+ Oh 'oh' (Djaka Lodang, No. 24, 9-11-2019)
3.6. Common and uncommon Matter
Male and female live in quite different world. Accordingly, there are activities which are only common done by woman and not common done by the opposite sex. Gossiping is commonly done by women, while playing soccer by men. In discourse (26), the contradictory facts happen. Tasting soy bean before buying will commonly be allowed only one, and not more, such as shown by cartoon (27):
(26) + Wolak-waliking zaman. Simbokku seneng main bal-balan. Bapakku hobine ngrumpi. (Djaka Lodang, No. 26, 26-11-2022)
(27)+ Pe...tempe.tempene Mbok Karmin enak-legit-gurih-empuk-ngangeni.. 'Soybean cake......Mbok Karmin's soy bean cake delicious-sticky-crunchy-soft-and yearning'
- Aku pengin nyicipi ' I want to taste, Aunty?
+ Ngicipi, kok telung iji, Gek ben esuk..kui jenenge ngajak kukut. Oh you taste 3 slices and it is every morning. This mean you make me broke. (Djaka Lodang, No. 52, 28 Mei 2022)
3.7. Frightening and Not-frightening Matter
Fighting for maintaining prestige and dignity is still often been found or practised in many societies. In Maduranese society, this fighting is famously called “carok”. The fight is carried out using traditional weapon called clurit 'Maduranese sickle'. In normal occasions clurit can be used as a house hold instrument to cut grass, bamboo, etc. This different use of clurit as weapon and daily instrument is contradicted in cartoon discourse (28) below.
(28) + Sakdurunge kedhisikan kudune aku mendahului. Yok opo rek. 'Before being surpased, I must do it first. How come.
- Lho, cacake meh carok. Nggawa clurit bahasa. Long Tolong. 'Oh, he must be fighting with someone. Bringing sickle, it is really dangerous. Help...
+ Wah..meh babad pring petung nggo merbaiki dapur dikira meh carok. Dhoremak cak? 'Oh... I just want to cut bamboos to mend the kitchen. How can you thing that I want to fight. Oh dear' (Djaka Lodang, no. 03, 16-06-2018)
3.8. Honesty and Immorality
In many cases it is found that the humors of cartoon are played by contradicting something look honest but actually immoral. The cartoon character (+) in (29) seems like an honest person, eager to borrow a flat tired cycle. However, beyond his honesty, he is hiding immoral and cunning character because he want to pawn that vehicle.
(29) + Ngampil sepedhane nggih, Dhet( 'I 'll borrow your bicycle, Aunty’)
- Ya, kono, tapi Bane kempes, Je. ('Ok, but the tire is flat’).
+ Mboten napa-napa, Dhe..wong mung ajeng kula gadhekke’ ('Oh, it is no problem, I just want to pawn it.’) (Djaka Lodang, No. 45, 2021)
3.9. Determining and not determining matter
Everything well done is often not determining. So, no matter how good it is, it is not important in the match. In football or soccer match, the most important to do is kicking the ball on target to the opponent goal. The victory cannot be gained if the team is always missed in creating a goal, such as shown by cartoon discourse (30) below:
(30) + Tendhangan sikil kiwane maut. Serangan balike mantap. Nanging nek nendhang bal tumuju gawang lawan...Ora-tau ora mlenceng.( 'His left kick is tremendous..The counter=attack is also unwavering...But, when kicking ball to the opponent goal is always missed’ ) (Djaka Lodang, No. 27, 03-12-2022)
3.10. Beauty and Ugliness
The Javanese word ayu 'beautiful' in its metaphorical use can be applied to attribute dawet 'a cold drink made of arrowroot flour' based on appearance of the traditional drink. As a name, it is not always analogical with the dawet seller. This fact is exploited in cartoon (29) in which the drink is sold by an old woman seller.
(31) Dawet Ayu ' Lit. Beautiful cold drink made of arrowroot flour’
+ Jebul wis simbah-simbah ('In fact, the seller is an old woman as old as grinny)’ (Djaka Lodang, No. 43, 26-3-2022)
3.11. Legality and illegality
Selling food and drink while demonstration happens is considered common and legal, but selling something, such as rotten eggs, Molotov bombs, etc. to help the demonstrators doing their action is not allowed and proper to arrest. Cartoon (32) below based its joke on legal and illegal contradiction.
(32) Lokasi Demo Besar-besaran 'Big Demo Location'
+ Kesempatan dodol barang-barang keperluan demo. Watu....ndog bosok...bom molotov...sinten tumbas 9'A chance to sell demonstration merchandise. Stone, rotten egg, and molotov bomb). (Djaka Lodang, No. 38, 20-2-2021)
4. Closing Notes