Research on English Language Education (Relation Journal) P-ISSN: 2715-1638 E-ISSN: 2828-5522

Vol. 4 No. 2 Edisi Oktober 2022 Universitas Nias Raya

AN ANALYSIS OF DENOTATIVE AND CONNOTATIVE MEANING
SELECTED JUSTIN FT KID LAROI SONGS LYRIC

Rosnita Gee1, Rebbeca E. Laiya, MRE2, Tatema Telaumbanua, M.S.3

1
Guru Bahasa Inggris di SMP Negeri 4 Fanayama Nias Selatan
2,3
Dosen Universitas Nias Raya
( rosnitagee@gmail.com, rebeccalaiya@uniraya.ac.id, 3tatematelaumbanua@gmail97.com)
1 2

Abstract
Denotative meaning is the original meaning or a true meaning possessed by a lexeme.
Connotation is related to value of the sense of people who use language, whether they fell
happy, sad, repugnant and angry. The purposes of this research were to identify the types
of connotative meaning in Kid laroi song lyrics and describe the meaning of denotative
and connotative meaning in Kid laroi song lyric. The method of the research was
qualitative descriptive method. The data was obtained from song lyrics of Kid laroy song
lyrics. The data was collected by downloading Kid laroy selected songs, listening all of Kid
laroy songs, finding the words, phrases or sentences which consists of denotative and
connotative meanings, then analyzing the words, phrases and sentences which found out.
The data was analyzed based on Miles et al theory. From the result, researcher found three
types, they are (1) Positive Connotative 8 data in ten lyrics of kid laroi song (2) negative
connotative 14 data in ten lyrics of kid laroy song. (3) Neutral connotative 1 data in ten
lyrics of kid laroi song. Based on the result, it is concluded that, the researcher got are 23
connotative meaning, and 15 dennotative meaning there could be found is Kid Laroi
album. Based on the conclusion, the researcher would give contribution for the college
students especially at English department, than, lyrics of Kid laroi can be used as a
material college students to broaden and develop their knowladge about denotative and
connotative meaning and both of the types connotative meaning in the song lyrics. And
also for the readers or the next researcher, the researcher suggested that, this research can
be used as a conception and reference in conducting research related to denotative and
connotative meaning.

Key Words: Songs lyrics; denotative meaning; connotative meaning

Abstrak
Makna denotatif adalah makna asli atau makna sejati yang dimiliki oleh leksem. Konotasi berkaitan
dengan nilai rasa orang yang menggunakan bahasa, apakah mereka jatuh bahagia, sedih,
menjijikkan dan marah. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi jenis-jenis makna
konotatif dalam lirik lagu Kid laroi dan mendeskripsikan makna makna denotatif dan konotatif
dalam lirik lagu Kid laroi. Metode penelitian adalah metode deskriptif kualitatif. Data tersebut
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Research on English Language Education (Relation Journal) P-ISSN: 2715-1638 E-ISSN: 2828-5522
Vol. 4 No. 2 Edisi Oktober 2022 Universitas Nias Raya
diperoleh dari lirik lagu lirik lagu Kid laroy. Data dikumpulkan dengan mengunduh lagu-lagu
pilihan Kid laroy, mendengarkan semua lagu Kid laroy, menemukan kata, frasa atau kalimat yang
terdiri dari makna denotatif dan konotatif, kemudian menganalisis kata, frasa dan kalimat yang
ditemukan. Data dianalisis berdasarkan teori Miles dkk. Dari hasil penelitian menemukan tiga
jenis, yaitu (1) Data Konotatif Positif 8 dalam sepuluh lirik lagu Kid Laroi (2) Data Konotatif
Negatif 14 dalam sepuluh lirik lagu Kid Laroy. (3) Konotatif netral 1 data dalam sepuluh lirik lagu
Kid Laroi. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian disimpulkan bahwa, peneliti mendapatkan 23 makna
konotatif, dan 15 makna dennotatif yang dapat ditemukan adalah album Kid Laroi. Berdasarkan
kesimpulan tersebut, peneliti akan memberikan kontribusi bagi mahasiswa khususnya di jurusan
bahasa Inggris, daripadahal, lirik Kid laroi dapat digunakan sebagai bahan mahasiswa untuk
memperluas dan mengembangkan pengetahuan mereka tentang makna denotatif dan konotatif serta
kedua jenis makna konotatif dalam lirik lagu. Dan juga untuk pembaca atau peneliti berikutnya,
peneliti menyarankan bahwa, penelitian ini dapat dijadikan konsepsi dan acuan dalam melakukan
penelitian terkait makna denotatif dan konotatif.
Kata Kunci: Lirik lagu; makna denotatif; makna konotatif

A. Introduction of human life. Human being employs

Languages is a means of communication language such as in expressing ideas or
that relates one person with others in daily throught, feelings, experiences, teaching,
activities. Language relates people in the learning, research, bussines, social,
society through the use of language in goverment, politic, etc. In conculsion,
conveying ideas. People interact from one language cannot be separated from human
to another through languages a kind of daily activity.
social activity. This is the consequence of Moreover, Kreidler (2002:19-20) stated that:
human as a social creature. Therefore A language is a system of symbols through
language is very important in human daily which people communicate. The symbols
life. maybe spoken, written, or signed with the
As a means of communication, language hands. A language is a complex system of
is conveyed both directly and indirectly. symbols, or signs, that are shared by
Conveying language directly is speaking members of a community. It will be useful
process, but conveying language indirectly to consider other signs that we know and
is realized, such as in writing process or how we react to them.
other media of language delivery such as From the definition, it is clear stated
song. Both of them are called verbal process that language has very huge impact for
of delivering language. Non verbal process human beings. It is used for
of language realized in form of such as communication, social, affairs, politic, and
symbols, sign, gesture, etc. even in building a nation. It is also stated
As one of the activity of human daily that language is a vehicle for literal
life, language touches almost all the aspect expression. It is means that language is
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Research on English Language Education (Relation Journal) P-ISSN: 2715-1638 E-ISSN: 2828-5522
Vol. 4 No. 2 Edisi Oktober 2022 Universitas Nias Raya
used to drive someone’s thoughts or namely semantics. Hence , the core of the
feelings which can be embodied through importance of the language is its ‘meaning’.
words exploitation. The use of language is The words has two main kinds of
also intended for artistic activities, such as meaning, denotation and connotation.
entertainment, poetry, song, novel, drama, Denotation is the meaning of a word, which
and so on. is primarily, refers to the real word, the
The arguments of the importance of “dictionary definition”. It is the types of
language has invited the attention of many meaning which may be described in terms
people to learn and study about language. of a set of semantic properties which serve
The study of language is callecd linguistics. to identify the particular concept associated
Linguistics is divided into two general with the word in question. According to
scopes which are called micro-linguistics barker, connotation is “the part of the
and macro-linguistics. The studies of micro meaning of a word and he says that
consist of lexicolgy, phonetic and connotative as an implicit meaning”. For
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, example: the song lyrics from Kid Laroi
pragmatic, and discourse analysis. Whereas with the title “stay”.
the studies of macro consist of I do the samething I told you that I never would
pyscholinguistic, neurolinguistic, historical I told you I’d change, even when I knew I never
linguistc, sociolinguistic, comparative could
linguistic, ethno linguistic, and I know that I can’t find nobody else as good as
dialecthology. Those studies been intended you
from generation to generation. I need you to stay, need you to stay, hey..
Semantics is one of internal elements From the example above, the singer used
of language. Hurford (2007:1) stated that denotative meaning and connotative
semantics is the study of meaning in meaning. The word “do the same” the
language. Semantics explores the meaning denotative meaning (how the dictionary
of a language scientifically. It means that defines “do the same” ) is carry out similar
the meaning that contained by language. activities , or do the same activity as before.
According to riemer (2010:3) stated that But in connotative meaning, it depends.
“meaning is the heart of language. The word “Do the same” in Kid Laroi song
Meaning, we might say, is what language is lyrics means ‘do things that make him
for: to have a language without meaning repent’. Another example is word “I told
would be like having lugs without air”. It you i’d change” in denotative meaning is
cannot be denied how important to know ‘someone will change” but in connotative
the meaning of a word. In using language, meaning “I told you i’d change” is
regardless of what purposes, meaning is ‘someone who wants to change his life into
crucially to know. A branch of linguistic a good human.
provides the discussion about meaning,

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Research on English Language Education (Relation Journal) P-ISSN: 2715-1638 E-ISSN: 2828-5522
Vol. 4 No. 2 Edisi Oktober 2022 Universitas Nias Raya
Some of the people interpret as a teasing This research used design descriptive
allusion to the official and the other one method. According to Ary et al (2014:697),
view as a description about social condition Descriptive research is a research that asks
or social reality. Therefore, it is interesting questions about the nature, incidence, or
to investigate the types of connotative, distribution of variables; it involves
denotative meaning and connotative describing but not manipulating variables.
meaning found in the lyrics of the Kid Laroi The data of research consisted of two
songs. kinds, namely primary and secondary data.
The researcher chose Justin Ft Kid Laroi Kothari (2004:95) stated that the primary
album songs in this analysis because song is data are those which are collected and for
one of medium of expressing thought and the first time, and thus happen to be
feelings by using language, which are original in character. It means that the data
associated with tones. Through songs, a is gained by the researcher from the major
composer convey what he/she is thinking source. For example, when the researcher
about, or what or how he/she feeling about needs the data of test, so the primary data
something or somebody. These songs are of the test can be obtained by doing the test
selected to be the object of this research, to the examine by himself of herself.
since the songs are popular among people, Whereas if the researcher wants to get the
such youngsters, students, adults, and even secondary data. So he/she can get the result
the others. As the researcher experienced, of previous test which has been conducted
these songs are liked and listened and even by other people (as the major source). The
sung by many people, particularly students, secondary data, on the other hand, are
commonly, the students who are learning those which have already been collected by
English like to listen to these songs, and someone else and which have already been
even try to understand the meaning of the passed through the statistical process. It
songs. However, the listeners of these songs means that the data is not obtained directly
find difficulty to understand the meaning from the major source, but it has been
of the lyric because it is found some words produced by other people or instances.
which have denotative and connotative The data of this research is the
meaning. secondary data, because the song lyrics of
B. Research Method Kid Laroi are not gained directly from the
song writers but they have been published
This research was conducted by using
or recorded by certain publishers. The
the qualitative approach. “Qualitative
source of the data is documentation in the
research is a form of inquiry that explores
from of selected songs lyric of Kid Laroi ft
phenomena in their natural settings and
Justin Bieber which consist of ten songs
uses multi-methods to interpret,
entitle: Stay, situation, attention, best for
understand, explain and bring meaning to
me, I don’t know, don’t leave me, bad
them” (Arsenault and Anderson, 2005:126).
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Research on English Language Education (Relation Journal) P-ISSN: 2715-1638 E-ISSN: 2828-5522
Vol. 4 No. 2 Edisi Oktober 2022 Universitas Nias Raya
news, feel something, without you, and Choosing song lyrics that really
about you. contain elements of dennotative and
C. Research Finding and Discussion connotative meaning.
Data collection and analysis case study 4. Classifying the data
research typically includes multiple data After find the word that have
collection and data are collected from denotative and connotative meaning,
multiple sources. According to Arikunto the researcher classifying the data
(2014:21-22), in order the research be a based on denotative and connotative
quality, the collected data should be meaning.
complete by using two categories terms D. Closing
such as primary data and secondary data. Based on the research, the researcher
Primary data is the data that obtain concluded that, in general, every song lyric
directly in the field through interviewing, always contains denotative meaning and
observation and etc. But here the connotative meaning. The denotative
researcher use secondary data which meaning are often found in song tell about
means a method that is uses to find some the original meaning or true meaning from
notes, transcripts, books, newspapers, the lyric of the song. And in the song lyric,
magazines and others. the connotative meaning consists of three
The researcher is the key instrument to types, namely, the positive connotative,
collect the data. In collecting the data, the negative connotative, and neutral
documentation technique is applied to get connotative. The positive connotative
whole data needed. By having technique in meaning is often found in song that tell
collecting the data, the researcher will get about, happiness, joy, and romance.
the complete data in structural way. The Negative connotative meaning are often
researcher uses documentation technique found in lyrics that tell about sadness, and
collecting the data in this research. The dissapointment. While neutral connotation
steps are: is the meaning that gives a meaning that is
1. Download the script of song neither positive nor negative.
The writer downloaded the songs The research conducted analysis of
lyrics from internet and youtube. connotative meanings in selected song
2. Listening and read the song lyrics lyrics of Kid laroi using semantics
Kid Laroy Song. approach. Based on the conclusions, the
The writer read repeteadly to make researcher hopes that this thesis will be
sure that contains denotative and useful to know about semantics especially
connotative meaning. the types of connotative meaning.
3. Selected the word that have In addition, the researcher suggested
expression denotative and the college students that, lyrics of Kid laroi
connotative can be used as a material college students to

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Research on English Language Education (Relation Journal) P-ISSN: 2715-1638 E-ISSN: 2828-5522
Vol. 4 No. 2 Edisi Oktober 2022 Universitas Nias Raya
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