Language Usage in the Comments Section of Sexual Harassment

News

Sheira Ayu Indrayani, Aceng Ruhendi Saifullah, and Dadang Sudana

Department of Linguistics, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Language Usage, Comments Section, Online Media, Appraisal System, CMDA

Abstract: Language usage flexibility is a common thing shown in the comment sections on various online media. This

phenomenon emerges in the politeness of language usage in readers’ responses. By using the Appraisal

System and CMDA (Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis), this study aims at describing the meaning of

chosen words by readers and revealing communication context in readers’ responses to the Baiq Nuril case

on Detik.com. The research data was from the top half of the readers’ which had the highest level of

popularity in the comments section. In addition, the data were taken from three popular news texts of Baiq

Nuril case; the popularity is based on the highest number of readers’ responses. As a result, this research

found two things. First, the commenters used words that tend to judge and have a negative meaning.

Second, the communication context in readers’ responses toward sexual harassment news tend to

intimidating, humiliating, and confrontational either the news’ content or among the readers' responses.

These results show that a controversial theme of a news text may lead to many negative responses.

1 INTRODUCTION

Readers started posting comments on online news

articles in 1998 (Santana, 2011) and the trend spreads

out thereafter. Comment section offers a free sharing

space for either commentators or columnists (Singer

& Ashman, 2009). Arguing, debating, agreeing, and

disagreeing to a news text can be founded easily in

the comment section of news sites. However,

commenting in online media nowadays tends to pay

less concern over using respectful language. Readers

comment based on their own perception, yet,

somehow, without thinking any further about how to

share thoughts politely.

The internet has a great potential to empower

minorities and people who feel oppressed, weak,

disadvantaged, or discriminated against (Barak,

2005). Readers of online news are increasingly

posting comments in response to news articles and

the comments of other readers (Henrich & Holmes,

2012). In addition, a hot issue or a controversial

theme becomes a way to show how internet unites

people to react, comment, and do something towards

the news (Larsson, 2018). The phenomenon shows

how readers, as time goes by, have an open access to

gather and post comments for whatever they think of

news. Therefore, to read at various types of

responses in a comment section is easy, so do

negative responses.

The case of sexual harassment to Baiq Nuril

started in 2012. Baiq Nuril recorded her conversation

with Muslim (as the principal of the school which

she used to work back then). She decided to record it

because Muslim called her several times to talk about

his sexual activities. In addition, those calls lead to

an affair rumour between them thereafter. Shortly,

Baiq Nuril has to be sentenced to go into the jail

while Muslim is free away from any sentence. The

reason is indicated because Muslim is the first one

who reported Baiq Nuril for her act to record and

spread the recording. Now, in 2019, Baiq Nuril is

wishing to the amnesty.

Any word in a language cannot be literally

defined good or bad yet, perhaps, reflects what the

value of an individual or a society is (Fromkin and

Rodman, 1988). In other words, representational

choices will always bring associations of values,

ideas, and activities (Machin & Mayr, 2012).

Appraisal analysis is a method used in the study of

languages to construe interpersonal meaning (Martin

& White, 2005). Rahimi, Fitrianti, & Sutopo (2019)

state that the appraisal system is useful for readers to

get a better understanding towards reaction and

Indrayani, S., Saifullah, A. and Sudana, D.

Language Usage in the Comments Section of Sexual Harassment News.

DOI: 10.5220/0009001004390446

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Language and Society (ICELS 2019), pages 439-446

ISBN: 978-989-758-405-3

Copyright

c

439

emotion in a story. Wigunadi (2014) emphasizes that

appraisal system makes interpersonal meanings so

that stating ideas could be easy in the social

relationship. Hence, appraisal analysis exists to

recognize and understand what is implied in a

response; how a person gives response to something.

Online interaction overwhelmingly takes place by

means of discourse (Herring, 2004). People interacts

by typing verbal languages, then reading as a text on

gadget screen. However, the fact that the text comes

from a typed verbal language is usually forgotten. It

makes participants of online interaction, somehow,

judging easily the meaning of others’ thoughts

without looking for aspects built. CMDA (Computer-

Mediated Discourse Analysis) offers categorizations

of how an online interaction occured. It helps

elaborating the construction of discourse within

online interaction. CMDA applied to four domains or

levels of language, ranging prototypically from

smallest to largest linguistic unit of analysis: 1)

structure, 2) meaning, 3) interaction, and 4) social

behavior (Herring, 2004).

Based on the previous explanation, it can be

concluded that looking for how language is used in

comments section on online news texts, at least,

concerns two things: chosen words in phrases and

communication context within comment section. To

focus the research, there are two questions as

follows:

1. What are the readers’ responses to the

news?

2. What is the communication context occured

in the comments section?

2 METHODOLOGY

This study used a qualitative descriptive method by

analyzing readers’ responses in the comments section

of three news texts. This study aims at describing the

meaning of chosen words made by readers and

revealing communication context in readers’

responses to the Baiq Nuril case on Detik.com. The

readers’ responses, as the data, were taken from three

popular news texts of Baiq Nuril case (T1:

Perekaman Perilaku Mesum: Nuril Dibui 6 Bulan,

Kepsek Naik Jabatan; T2: Vonis Mengejutkan MA

yang Penjarakan Perekam Perilaku Mesum Kepsek;

T3: MA Jatuhkan Vonis 6 Bulan Bui: Nuril Bikin

Keluarga Kepsek Malu). The popularity of the

chosen news texts is based on the highest number of

readers’ responses. Therefore, the readers’ responses

were the only data to discover how the meaning of

words and what the communication context actually

occurred there. The research data was from the top

half of the readers’ which had the highest level of

popularity in the comments section; there are 69

comments. In detail, 257 clauses were analyzed in

this study (Text 1: 88 clauses, Text 2: 82 clauses;

Text 3: 87 clauses).

There are two focuses on this study: how

readers response the news and what the

communication context happens in readers’

responses. To know the response, the meaning of

chosen words were analyzed by using appraisal

system (Martin and White, 2005). Appraisal system

is used to analyze semantically an interpersonal

meaning. By using appraisal system, each response

was divided into clause. Then, it was categorized into

attitude, graduation, and engagement. At the end,

clauses were classified into positive and negative

meaning based on the chosen words’ meaning of

each clause. Then, to know the communication

context, the readers’ responses were analyzed by

using CMDA (Computer-Mediated Discourse

Analysis) from Herring (2004). The communication

context in CMDA means the reflection of situational

factors in online communication which concern

about the levels of formality. By using CMDA, the

communication context was described by looking

into five categories to the responses: personal or

general, the participant characteristics, the aim,

theme/topic, and tone (activity, norm, and language

form).

3 ANALYSIS

3.1 The Readers’ Responses

Table 1: The attitude’s number in texts.

Attitude

Affect

Judgement

Appreciation

T1

C

19

46

23

P

21,59%

52,27%

26,14%

T2

C

23

48

11

P

28,05%

58,54%

13,41%

T3

C

11

66

10

p

12,64%

75,86%

11,50%

Σ

53

160

44

Notes:

T1: Text 1; T2: Text 2; T3: Text 3

C: Clauses; P:Percentages; Σ: Summary

Table 1 shows the number of attitudes found in the

three news texts (T1, T2, and T3). The result shows

that readers’ responses in comment section tend to be

ICELS 2019 - International Conference on Education, Language, and Society

440

more judgemental than affective or appreciative. The

judgemental clauses are founded for 46 clauses or

52,27% (T1), 48 clauses or 58,54% (T2), and 66 or

75,86% clauses (T3). In summary, the judgement, the

highest, is founded 160 clauses. The second is affect

(53 clauses) while appreciation are the least of all

(44 clauses).

As it can be seen that the judgemental clauses are

the most dominant type of clauses occurs in the news

text, it shows how readers responses’ attitude toward

sexual harassment case of Baiq Nuril. The judgement

can be divided into social sanction and social esteem.

The illustration can be seen as below:

Clause 10

Baiq Nuril

memang salah

secara ITE.

Baiq Nuril indeed wrong based on Information

and Electronic Transaction regulation

Judgement

propriety [ethics]

Clause 94

Secara moral sih

kepseknya

salah.

The Principal is morally wrong

Judgement

propriety

[ethics]

Clause 174

Hakimnya

kok

aneh.

The judge seems weird

Judgement capacity

Note: The judge is strange.

The word ‘salah’ (wrong) (clause 10 and clause

94) shows that social sanction in the comment

section truly happens. Judgements of sanction have

to do with ‘veracity’ (how truthful someone is) and

‘propriety’ (how ethical someone is). (Martin and

White, 2005). Then, the word ‘aneh’ (weird) at

clause 174 indicates that social esteem happens in the

comment section. Martin and White (2005) states

that judgements of esteem have to do with

‘normality’ (how unusual someone is), ‘capacity’

(how capable they are) and ‘tenacity’ (how resolute

they are). In detail, clause 174 describes a thought

that the judge’s decision for Baiq Nuril tends to harm

and defend her. Therefore, the commenter evaluates

the judge’s work.

Table 2: The graduation’s number in texts.

Graduation

Force

Focus

T1

C

67

21

P

76,14%

23,86%

T2

C

69

13

P

84,15%

15,85%

T3

C

58

29

p

66,67%

33,33%

Σ

194

63

T1: Text 1; T2: Text 2; T3: Text 3

C: Clauses; P:Percentages; Σ: Summary

Table 2 describes the number of graduation

found in the three news texts (T1, T2, and T3). For

force, there are 67 clauses (76,14%) founded in T1,

69 clauses (84,15%) in T2, and 58 clauses (66,67%)

in T3. For focus, there are 21 clauses (23,86%)

founded in T1, 13 clauses (15,85%) in T2, and 29

clauses (33,33%) in T3. The result shows that readers

prefer forcing to focusing in using language. In total,

the form of force is founded in 194 clauses while the

form of focus is founded only in 63 clauses. The

number of force appearance in this study indicates

that the commenters want to either intensify or

quantify their point of view. Yet, there is only

quantify in this study. The illustration can be seen as

below:

Clause 28

Detik juga kadang kalau buat judul

begitu

sih

Detik sometimes make that kind of title

Force:

intensify

Clause 109

Hebat

benar

keadilan di negeri ini

The justice in this country is so great

Force:

intensify

Clause 184

Sudah

jelas-jelas

yang buka aib si kepsek

sendiri kok malah korban

pelecehan yang dihukum

It has already been clear that the principal

disgraced himself, how could the victim of abuse

who got punished

Force:

intensify

The word ‘sih’ in clause 28 based on KBBI

(Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia) – Indonesian

Dictionary is used to emphasize. In this clause, the

Language Usage in the Comments Section of Sexual Harassment News

441

placement of this word wants to emphasize the

reader’s disagreement of the news’ title which is

leading to controversy (Perekaman Perilaku Mesum:

Nuril Dibui 6 Bulan, Kepsek Naik Jabatan;

Recording The Perverted Action: Nuril was

Sentenced to 6 Months, The Principal Got

Promotion). Clause 109 and clause 184 show an

intension of readers to judge the law. The word

‘benar’ (so; truly) in clause 109 wants to intensify

the word ‘hebat’ (great) that heads for ‘keadilan di

negeri ini’ (the justice in this country). While the

word ‘jelas-jelas’ (clear) point out the word ‘sudah’

(already) which is intended to make clear ‘yang buka

aib si kepsek sendiri kok malah korban pelecehan

yang dihukum’ (the principal disgraced himself, how

could the victim of abuse who got punished). As can

be seen from these three illustrations, most people

prefer using, at least, a forcing word than a focusing

word to show a point of view in order to clear their

position in a comment or a statement.

Focus is used to make a scalable phenomena

that cannot be clearly bounded in experiential

perspective; either more or less precisely determined

by experiential taxonomies based on some

combination of sufficient and necessary conditions

(Martin and White, 2005). Focus tends to make a

statement more straight to the point; either right or

wrong, yes or no, etc. The illustrations of focus in

this study can be seen as follow:

Clause 12

Jadi

kesimpulannya

pejabat yang

menaikkan

pangkat

Tidak ada

Etikanya.

So, the conclusion is that the official who gives

the promotion has no ethics

Focus: sharpen

Clause 102

Supaya

jangan cepat

menyebarkan

hal-hal yang

berpotensi

melanggar

hukum.

That do not quickly spread things that have the

potential to break the law

Focus: soften

Clause 177

Kalau

((Muslim)) tidak

genit

kan masalah ini

tidak terjadi

If (Muslim is) not flirty, this problem doesn't

occur

Focus: sharpen

The word ‘tidak’ (no; not) as a denial form in

clause 12 is intended to show straightly forward to

the focus in etikanya’ or ‘ethics’ (clause 12). In

addition, the word ‘tidak’ (no; not) in clause 177

sharply shows a dislike form to ‘kan masalah ini

tidak terjadi’ or ‘this problem does not occur’. The

word ‘berpotensi’ or ‘potential’ in clause 101 is used

to show the intention of the reader who makes this

comment, that is the act of Baiq Nuril that records

and tells the recording to her friend is potentially

break the law and it is potentially not a right thing to

do.

Table 3: The engagement’s number in texts.

Engagement

Monogloss

heterogloss

T1

C

88

-

P

100%

-

T2

C

80

2

P

97,56%

2,44%

T3

C

85

2

p

97,70%

2,30%

Σ

253

4

Notes:

T1: Text 1; T2: Text 2; T3: Text 3

C: Clauses; P:Percentages; Σ: Summary

Table 3 gives information about the number of

graduation found in the three news texts (T1, T2, and

T3). For monogloss, there are founded 88 clauses

(100%) for T1, 80 clauses (97,56%) for T2, and 85

clauses (97,70%) for T3. Heterogloss only found in

T2 (2 clauses or 2,44%) and T3 (2 clauses or 2,30%).

The result shows that the commenters prefer

monogloss style to heterogloss style in delivering

their responses. It means that the commenters stated

their opinions about the news based on what they

thought without referring anyone else’s statement. In

total, the form of monogloss is founded in 253

clauses while the form of heterogloss is founded in

only 4 clauses. The illustration of both monogloss

and heterogloss can be seen below:

Clause 43

Sepertinya

kepseknya punya kerabat yg kuat di

pemerintahan.

It seems like the principal has strong relatives in

the government

Monogloss

Clause 100

Saya

turut prihatin bu.

I do sorry, Madam

Monogloss

ICELS 2019 - International Conference on Education, Language, and Society

442

Clause 184

Karena ((Nuril)) diisukan selingkuh

Because ((Nuril)) is rumored to cheat

Heterogloss

Clause 185

Dia

merekam untuk jawab isu

selingkuh tidak benar

She did recording to prove that the cheating is not

true

Heterogloss

The word ‘sepertinya’ or ‘it seems that’ (clause

43) and the word ‘saya’ or ‘I’ (clause 100) are clearly

showing the clauses truly come from the readers

themselves and without referring other’s point of

view as can be seen in clause 185 by stating its

pronoun (Dia: She). Clause 184 is not stating

explicitly the reference, yet the meaning of this

clause shows it. This clause seems like has zero

pronoun, yet the pronoun ‘Nuril’ is actually

eliminated. Based on what the news talk about, it can

be concluded that this statement (clause 184) is for

Baiq Nuril.

3.1.1 The Positive and Negative Clauses

Table 4: The positive and negative clauses’ classfications.

Attitude

Affect

Judgement

Appreciation

+

-

+

-

+

-

T1

5

12

8

39

12

T2

8

16

14

34

4

6

T3

1

10

3

63

5

Σ

14

38

25

136

21

23

Notes:

T1: Text 1; T2: Text 2; T3: Text 3

Σ: Summary

Table 4 gives an account of the classification of

positive and negative comments in the three news

texts (T1, T2, and T3). In total, the positive affect

comments are 14 clauses while the negative affect

comments are 38 clauses. Then, the positive

judgement clauses are 25 clauses and the negative

judgement clauses are 136 clauses. The last, the

positive appreciation clauses are 21 clauses while the

negative appreciation clauses are 23 clauses. The

result shows that readers’ responses mostly state

negative comments. For those three texts, the highest

number found is using negative judgemental clauses

for commenting the news text. These are the

examples:

Clause 101 – positive affect

Tapi ini juga untuk

Pembelajaran

But this is also for learning

Positive; affect

Clause 18 – negative affect

Sayang

jaman JKW hukumnya sangat

parah sampai ke titik nadir

It's a shame that the JKW’s era is so bad that it

reached its lowest point

Negative;

affect

Clause 130 – positive judgement

Kepseknya

juga harus dihukum biar adil

The principal must also be punished to be fair

Positive; judgement

Clause 86 – negative judgement

Sesama

penjahat

saling melindungi

Fellow criminals protect each other

negative;

judgement

Clause 180 – positive appreciation

Allah SWT

Maha Adil

Allah the Almighty is the Righteous

Positive; appreciation

Clause 251 – negative appreciation

Semoga bapak/ibu

hakim

mendapatkan keadilan

dari Sang Maha Adil.

May the judge gets justice from the Righteous one

Negative; appreciation

The word ‘pembelajaran’ in clause 101 means

that the sentence made to Baiq Nuril can be

considered to be a learning for everyone either the

recording act by Baiq Nuril, the sexual harassment

content talked by Muslim, or the sentence made by

judges. By showing the positive feeling toward the

situation that happened to Baiq Nuril, hence, this

clause is determined to positive affect. Then, the

word ‘sayang’ in clause 18 is used as both a regret

form and a disappointment form to the government.

Regarding to this form, clause 18 is classified into

negative affect. Next, the word ‘adil’ in clause 130 is

used to emphasize that Muslim as the principal also

needs to be sentenced in order to give justice for both

part (Baiq Nuril and Muslim). The meaning of ‘adil’

(justice) that finally makes this clause categorized

into positive judgement. Move to clause 86 that is

Language Usage in the Comments Section of Sexual Harassment News

443

grouped to negative judgement because of the word

‘penjahat’ that similar to ‘a criminal’. In clause 180,

the word ‘Maha Adil’ (infinite justice) which refers

to ‘Allah SWT’ (The God) as the actor makes this

clause is classified into positive appreciation. It is

considered as a belief to God’s existence. The last,

the word ‘keadilan’ (justice) in clause 251 has a

similar function to clause 180 that to show a belief to

God’s existence. Yet, the clause 251 has more

intention to not appreciate the sentence made by

judges so that the clause seems like a pray for judges

to have a justice from God. Hence, this clause is

grouped to negative appreciation.

Table 5: The Ratio of positive and negative clauses.

Clauses

+

-

T1

25

63

T2

26

56

T3

9

78

Σ

60

197

P

23,35%

76,65%

Notes:

T1: Text 1; T2: Text 2; T3: Text 3

C: Clauses; P:Percentages; Σ: Summary

Table 5 gives the numbers of positive and

negative clauses’ ratio occur in each text. In total,

positive clauses in T1, T2, and T3 are 60 clauses

(23,35%). The positive clauses in this study are the

clauses which present no judging, no intimidating,

and any harassing words. The clauses are in a form

of respect and appreciation. Besides, negative clauses

are founded in 197 clauses (76,65%). The negative

clauses in this study are the clauses which present

judging, intimidating, and harassing words. In some

clauses, they tend to blame. Hence, based on the

result shows in Table 5, it can be clearly seen that the

number of negative comments is higher than positive

comments. It indicates that people tend to comment

negatively in a news about sexual harassment text

than positive ones. The object of the comments could

be the online media or the actors in the case as can

been as follow:

Clause 36 – commenting the media

Detik

ngapain juga bahas kenaikan

pangkat kepala sekolah.

Detik, why are you also bringing up the

promotion of the principal?

Actor; the media

Clause 178 – commenting the judges’ work in giving

sentence

Hakimnya

buta mata hatinya.

The judge is blind-hearted.

Actor;

judges

Clause 92 – commenting Baiq Nuril’s act to record

her conversation with Muslim

Lantas apa

tujuan

dia

merekam

pembicaraan

dengan

kepseknya?

So what was her purpose to record the

conversation with her principal?

Actor; Baiq Nuril

Clause 206 – commenting Muslim’s sexual

harassment talk to Baiq Nuril

Lha

kepseknya

gak tau malu.

The principal has no shame.

Actor; Muslim

(principal)

Clause 36 tends to blame the media about

releasing the news of Muslim’s promotion in his

work while Baiq Nuril’s case is going on at the

supreme court. Then, clause 178 points out the

judges’ work that lack of conscience in giving the

sentence. Next, clause 92 underlines the act of Baiq

Nuril who records her conversation with Muslim.

The clause is stated to question the reason of Nuril’s

act. The last, clause 206 states a blame to Muslim

that do something embarrassing. These illustrations

lead to a conclusion that each person has different

point of view to a sexual harassment news, in this

case Baiq Nuril. In addition, eventhough the ratio of

negative comments is higher than positive comments,

it still has different focus to be commented.

The readers’ responses to the news texts about

Baiq Nuril case are diversed actually. Instead of what

the true story behind the case is, the readers have

their own perception to it. It is proved by the result of

engagement at table 3 which shows the number of

monogloss statements founded is higher than

heterogloss ones. In addition, the varied statements

are also presented at table 1 (the number of attitude

found in news texts). However, stating a comment

cannot be separated to how the message delivers. In

this case, the graduation found in clauses for each

comment has shown that the readers’ responses

ICELS 2019 - International Conference on Education, Language, and Society

444

toward the news texts are mostly using force

language than focus language. In other words, the

readers delivers their statements by affirming.

In summary, these all explanations bring to a

conclusion that participants in this study clearly show

their tendencies in commenting the news events of

Baiq Nuril case. The tendencies are supporting Baiq

Nuril or blaming her. The chosen words in stating

their thoughts can be proves that every participant

has his or her own thought toward the case –either

positive or negative. Hence, appraisal system proves

that emotions are elicited by evaluations of events

and situations (Roseman & Smith, 2001). In addition,

Weber (2013) found in his study that the higher

frequency (clearly determinable beginning and end)

the news events is, the lesser relevant might be the

knowledge stated is. So that, the understanding of an

event is influenced because it provides a personal

point of view and hence letss more users to

demonstrate their views - regardless of actual

knowledge levels. Therefore, the diversity in the

readers’ responses to the news is a natural thing.

3.2 The Communication Context

Table 6: The Communication Context.

Code