MEANING BEYOND THE WORDS: SHOWING FELICITY CONDITIONS OF SOME IDIOMATIC BANJARESE AND ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS

Abstract

English has expression like “window-shopping” which does not mean that the window is not shopping or we are not shopping the window. The extra meaning is that when one day one is strolling down department stores without buying anything, she or he can call herself or himself window-shopping. This example is a part of pragmatics which is defined as a way of investigating how sense can be made of certain texts even when, from a semantic viewpoint, the text seems to be either incomplete or to have a different meaning to what is really intended (Crystal in Moore 2001). How about other English expressions like “The sky's the limit”? Does it mean that the sky is becoming the limit of something? It might mean a different thing that there is no limit to the possibility of success or progress for someone or something. In similar case, Bahasa Banjar or Banjarese, is also having expressions like “balang kambingan.” Literally “balang” means “stripe” and “kambingan” is mostly related to an animal named “goat” However the idiomatic meaning of “balang kambingan” is similar to “irregularity”. This study analyzes if some Banjarese expressions taken from http://banuahujungtanah.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/ungkapan-tradisional-orang-banjar/ have their equal or similar meaning of expressions in English. It further discusses the felicity conditions of the expressions. In pragmatics, felicity conditions are of three categories. Those are preparatory conditions, conditions for execution and sincerity conditions.