An analysis of English Jargon used in PUBG Games

(Sociolingistic Study)

Chapter 1
A. Background of Study

Human beings as an individual and social creature are impossible to cooperate with the others
without language. Human beings need to talk to somebody else and communicate or interact
with other people. Language not only functions as communication tools, but also functions as the
special feature from the social existence. To communicate their idea, human create the
communication style which can cause the difference of language in expressing feeling and the
meaning of a word. We cannot communicate with each other, if we do not know the meaning of
a language. For those reasons, language plays a great part and an important role in our living.
Society is connected by language, because with the language we socialized. As Pit Corder (in
Alwasilah, A. Chaedar 1985:14) states that “We can communicate with people only because they
share with us a set of ‘agreed’ ways of behaving. Language in this sense is the possession of a
social group, an indispensable set of rules which permits its member to relate to each other to
interact with each other, to cooperate with each other; it is a social institution”.
Being informal speech, Jargon is the technical vocabulary of a particular profession. Moreover, it
may not be intended to exclude non group members from the conversation, but rather deals with
technical peculiarities of a given field requiring a specialized vocabulary. Jargon is used in
several fields, such as, sports, medicine, Nautical. Even the information technology and the
internet create many overlapping jargons used by computer scientists, programmers, system
architects, etc. to communicate. The proper usage of these words is a prerequisite for inclusion in
these groups.
Jargon is one of the language varieties which is commonly experienced by society. According to
Fromkin et al (2011), jargon is a slang term used in conceivable science, profession, trade and
occupation. They also add that the reason to specialized terminology is for clarity of
communication, but part is also for speakers to identify themselves with persons with whom they
share interests. In addition, Yule (2010) stats that jargon help to create and maintain connections
among people whether they are included or excluded of a group of people.
Slang contains words and phrases used in casual or informal speech often invented and spread by
close-knit social or age groups. For example “wtf” is short from “what the fuck”, “lol” is short
form “loud of laugh”, etc. Slang is a prism through which we can communicate directly with
people like ourselves-people who speak our language. Slang often appears among the youth, they
use slang words in sentences to make the sentences shorter, faster and easier to say; those words
help them identify with a group and show their identity among other social groups. The slang are
used in different meanings from the literal or dictionary meaning.
Slang is closely related with the habit of a group or individuals’s language. Originally slang is
associated with language to do crime, and are often used by lower clas of society. The paradigm ,
however, has changed, making slang being redefined. Every group has their own slang to be used
on their own occasion and is purposed in an exclusive communication. Pei dan Gaynor (1954:
199) declared that Slang is a style of language in faitly common use, produced by popular
adaptation and extension of the meaning of existing words and by coining new words with
disregard for scholastic standards and linguistics principles of the formation of words; generally
peculiar to certain classes and social or age groups. Similiarly, Hartman dan Stork Declared
Slang is a variety of speech characterized by newly coined and rapidly changing vocabulary,
used by the young or by social and professional groups for in-group communication and thus
tending to prevent understanding by the rest of the speech community (1972: 210).
Zotevska’s study (2013) about usage of slang in the TV-series Misfits explain that slang is used a
tool of accommodation by the teenagers in order to create and develop their identity and group
solidarity. Stenstrom (2002: 67) stated that slang includes words that are below the level of
stylistically neutral language, and that, in addition to being group-related, it is innovative,
playful, metaphorical and short-lived. Furthermore, usage of slang by teenagers is means to
violate social taboos, there is of course all the more reason for them to use ‘their own language’
as a means of provocation and as a means of keeping the older generation outside, while at the
same time strengthening the bonds within their own peer group.
Community is a group of individuals largely based on residence, regardless of the heterogeneity
of other communities to which these same individuals belong (Croft, 2000: 171). So, any society
is made up of multiple communities. There is a large degree of overlap in the codes used in any
society, especially so-called monolingual society.
The use of slang is a phenomenon that occurs in various events of life, or the smallest scope of a
community. In any community variant, type of slang that is used will vary, both in terms of
structures that make up a word or meaning of the word. The use of slang in this community
serves as an identity that can glue the individuals who are in the community. This is particularly
true within the scope of the community of gamers (if indeed there is a possibility for it to
appear), to be able to communicate with members of the gaming community, whether in daily
life or in the virtual world (game).
A gamer is someone who is involved in interactive gaming, such as video games or board games.
The term includes those who do not necessarily consider themselves to be gamers, as well as
those who spend a notable part of their leisure time playing or learning about games. Just like
every generation, gamers community has a unique language on its own. If we look at players
chat when playing this game, they always use slang. Slang within the gamers community evolves
along the constantly growing and changing human being. Besides, there is another study that is
related to sociolinguistic especially slang words. Online game (web game) is a game that can be
run from an Internet browser and requires the I-net connection. In most cases online games are
freeware programs that can be used for an unlimited time and are available for free. Most
percentage of web games available nowadays are written in Flash, Shockwave and Java
languages. Because of that, they feature more primitive game play, than downloadable games.
Online games are often used to generate revenue from advertising or to promote the
downloadable version. Promotional web-games are normally feature-(level) limited and
developed in order to get the user buy the full version.
A battle royale game is a video game genre that blends the survival, exploration and scavenging
elements of a survival game with last-man-standing gameplay. Battle royale games challenge a
large number of players, starting with minimal equipment, to search for weapons and armor and
eliminate all other opponents while avoiding being trapped outside of a shrinking "safe area, with
the winner being the last competitor in the game. Nearly all battle royale games are
played online ranging from dozens to hundreds of other players. The name for the genre is taken
from the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, which presents a similar theme of a last-man-
standing competition in a shrinking play zone.
Battle royale games are played between a large number of individual players, pairs of two
players or a number of small squads (typically of 3-5 players). In each match, the goal is to be
the last player or team standing by eliminating all other opponents. A match starts by placing the
player-characters into a large map space, typically by having all players skydive from a large
aircraft within a brief time limit. The map may have random distribution or allow players to have
some control of where they start. All players start with minimal equipment, giving no player an
implicit advantage at the onset. Equipment, usually used for combat, survival or transport is
randomly scattered around the map, often at landmarks on the map, such as within buildings
in ghost towns. Players need to search the map for these items while avoid being killed by other
players, who cannot be visually marked or distinguishable either on-screen or on the map,
requiring the player to solely use their own eyes and ears to deduce their positions. Equipment
from eliminated players can usually be looted as well. These games often include some mechanic
to push opponents closer together as the game progresses, usually taking the form of a gradually
shrinking safe zone, with players outside of the zone eventually being killed.
Typically, battle royale contestants are only given one life to play; any players who die are not
allowed to respawn. Games with team support may allow players to enter a temporary, near-
death state once health is depleted, giving allies the opportunity to revive them before they give
out or are finished off by an opponent. The match is over when only one player or team remains,
and the game typically provides some type of reward, such as in-game currency used for
cosmetic items, to all players based on how long they survived. The random nature of starting
point, item placement, and safe area reduction enables the battle royale genre to challenge
players to think and react quickly and improve strategies throughout the match as to be the last
man/team standing. In addition to standalone games, the battle royale concept may also be
present as part of one of many game modes within a larger game, or may be applied as a user-
created mod created for another game.
The most popular game currently is PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) which has more
than 1.5 million concurrent players. The game itself is a take on the Battle Royale (or H1Z1:
King of the Kill, or The Hunger Games) concept - a number of people are released onto an
island, last person standing wins.
This research focus on what jargon used in PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds). the writer
is really interested in doing this research because the writer thinks that the jargon which is
researched is still new. Besides, the writer also thinks that the field where the researcher does has
strong relation with academic environment, where this research will be published. So that, the
researcher assumes that this research will be beneficial as it gives fresh information.

B. Statement of Problems :

Based on the background of the study, the research problems are formulated as follows:
1. What jargons are found in PUBG gamers?
2. What are the associative meanings of jargons found in PUBG gamers?

C. Limitation of the problem

The limitation of this study is jargon used in PUBG game and only focusing on the
analysis of jargon, and the meaning. the theory of meaning used in this study is
associative as the gamers tend to use the words (jargons) in different function with the
standard form of words.

D. The purpose of the Study

Based on the problems above, the purpose of the study are:

1. To find the jargons used in PUBG games.

2. To know the associative meanings of jargons found in games.

E. Significant of the Study

It is expected that the finding of this study gives contributions for the students of English
department and the readers to know theoretically about sociolinguistics and jargon,
especially jargon used by gamers community. Besides, the writer is also expected that the
reader can applied the jargons offers in this research, especially for the students who like
to play the game. The writer hopes that after reading this research, they can practice the
jargon while knowing and understanding the theory. The last, the writer also hopes that
this study would be useful for the next researcher who is interested in doing similar
research.
 Chapter 2
Literature Review
This chapter explores the literature review containing several theories that are used to guide the
process of this research .
A. Relevance of study

They are several previus studies abaut this theme.

1. The Use of Slang Words by Gamers in the Game Online (Galih Yoga Suryanto; 2014)

The aims of this study are to: (1) identify the types of slang used by gamers in the online
gaming community, (2) understand the context of the use of slang words by gamers, (3)
uncovering the reason for the use of slang words by gamers, (4) analyze the impact of the use
of slang words against other gamers. The concept used in this study is slang diversity and
uniqueness by Zotevska, which is supported by the concept of social context and variation of
language. This study used qualitative methods, and subject of this study are the members of
the community "Clash World" in the game Clash of Clans. Data was collected by online
observation. The researchers joined the community in question, as well as interviewed
gamers. The results of this study showed that the use of slang words in the online gaming
community Clash of Clans had several variants, among others: blending, acronyms,
abbreviation, misspelling, swearing words. Furthermore, online gaming is a “secondary
home" for gamers, in which they get a new identity. This study concluded that various
symbolic capital to be gained from online games (avatar, character names, style of speech),
supporting gamers to embrace and form a new identity. The use of slang in the online gaming
community was a variety of language that come from a group. Slang as a language that is
different from the conventional order of language, was only understood by members of the
"Clash of Clans" community.

2. An Analysis of Jargon Used in “World of Tanks” Online Games. A Thesis. (Fakhri, Naufal.
2017).
The objectives of this research are 1. to find out and identify jargons used by World of Tanks
gamers, 2. analyze the word-formation processes, interpret their definitions that are involved
in creating those jargons, 3. find the purpose of using jargon in online forum.The subject of
this research is World of Tanks forum in North America server and the data were taken from
discussion forum, then. The data were transcribed and sorted to be material for questionnaire.
15 gamers participated in this research. All of them are World of Tanks players. Participant
observation was used as technique for data collection. The observation were done from 21
october 2016 to 30 october 2016. the postings were transcribed, sorted, and assembled to
make them organized well. Open-ended questionnaire was used in order to know the meaning
and purpose of using jargon. The result presented in this research show that the online gamers
of World of Tanks are often using jargon in communication. In world of tanks’s forum found
53 jargons that used word-formation processesby Yule’s theory, there are 9 acronyms, 32
abbreviations, 10 clippings, and 2 multiple-processes. The purposes of using jargon in World
of Tanks online forum are mostly to shorten words in order to save their keystroke when do
chat and just to make fun of someone or something.
 B. Relevance of theory

1. Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the study of language occured in society. it refers to an idea from Hudson
(1980) “sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society”.
Sociolinguistics is one of the branches of linguistics as defined by Aitchison (2003). It is about
the study language and society. There is a relationship between language and society. A
language used in certain society may be different with a language used in other society.
According to Wardaugh (2006), he defined that sociolinguistics refers to the correlation
between language and society having purpose to get a better understanding in structure of
language and of how languages in communication.

2. Jargon used in PUBG

1. General Gaming terms

Grinding: Playing for an insane amount of time in a game to earn reputation for ones avatar. It is
mostly found in weaker games where player have to spend too much time to increase their
strength or power.
Easter eggs: They are these awesome irrelevant features hidden by developers for the players to
unlock. Most of the time they are totally unnecessary for the gameplay, but gamers do get an ego
boost in finding them.
Boss: he is the ultimate bad guy of the game. Must kill the boss before can progress in the game.
This term is widely used in real work life scenarios for describing malicious employees in the
work place.
Glitches: Bugs found in the gameplay are slanged as glitches. Like if you get struck on a wall, it
is referred as a glitch. This popular term is often used as the shortfalls encountered while doing a
work.
Farming: you are gathering supplies for your game
AAA: An “AAA” title is a big title in gaming usually backed by huge companies and heavy
marketing budgets.
2. Legendary Acronyms
AFK: Away From Keyboard. To suggest you are not playing the game for time being. Though
massively used now to mean you are currently not working.
GLHF: Good luck Have Fun. To congratulate a fellow player
NPC: Non player Character. This is the game controlled character, not controlled by a real player
MOB: Monster or Beast. Mob must be killed to progress in the game.
PvP: Player vs. Player. A game where you have to face off against another human player as
oppose to a game controlled character.
DLC: Downloadable Content. All the content which can be purchased like power-ups, costumes,
new levels, characters etc. Loads of money is spend on DLC
RTS: Real Time Strategy. It’s a game where everything from strategizing an attack or defend
happens in real time or in the moment.
GTG: Good to go. I am all set.
DPS: Damage per Second. This is how much you can literally damage someone else in a game
per second.
FFA: Free For all. All the stuff is up for grabs for free for the member in your group.
BRB: Be right back. You will be coming soon.
PUG: Pick up group. It’s the act of picking up people to make yourself a group .It’s Not
necessarily you know these people.
TLDR: Too long, didn’t read. Rather clear right? Never post a TLDR messages on your forum.
OOC: Out of character.it describes that you are not using your online game avatar to chat. For a
change this is real you who is chatting.
IGM: In-game name. A fake name used to name your online Avatar.
3. Online Rambles
N00B: Newbie. It refers to a person who is new to online gaming, or perhaps to a veteran player
who is just bad at playing. So if you are called a Noob, it’s time to upgrade your playing skills.
Owned: Used when you get badly beaten up in a game
Ghosting: is used when you are watching another player to get an advantage by overseeing the
player’s moves.
Grrr: is used to depict sheer anger over the game
FTW: For the Win. It means whatever you are uttering about is simply awesome.
Rez: Resurrection. You died and you need a fellow player to give you a life.
Woot! : This means you are unending happy about something.
Sux : Sucks. Self-explanatory, inorite?
Flagged: to show your character is no longer safe.
Camper: Players who just rove in the game, without playing any real move. Camping is frowned
upon, so be sure the last thing you do in a game.
Spammer: a Person who is continuously pulling the trigger of the gun. Any killings made by
them are more of a result of luck than any hardcore skills.
Trolling: it’s the act of posting offensive statements to get someone’s instant reaction. Trolling is
more often criticized by the gaming community.
Mats: Materials you need to build something.one night when I was heading out from work, I
mentioned to my friend I need mats for dinner, meaning cheese and bread.
 Chapter 3
RESEARCH METHOD

A. Research Design
This research conducted a descriptive qualitative method to search jargons meaning. According to
Flick (2009), qualitative research is mainly concerned with the production and analysis of texts,
such as transcripts of interviews or field notes and other analytic materials. The researcher used the
qualitative research that uses non numeral data that were obtained from the conversation, utterance,
and also read the article that connected with this research.

B. Method of Collecting Data

In order to get enough data, the researcher did observation and used questionnaire. Observation is
the technique of gathering data where the researcher learns about behavior or the meaning attach
to those behaviors (Sugiyono, 2012 ;203). There are four kinds of observation. They are participant
observation, overt observation and covert observation, and unstructured observation as stated by
Faisal (1990) in Sugiyono (2012;310). In this research, the researcher used participant observation
as his technique for collecting data, and did this participant observation. Also, the researcher used
an open-ended questionnaire in order to know the meaning of new words created by the gamers. It
is important to help the researcher in analyzing the data. The questionnaire is a technique of data
collection by giving some questions to the participant to answer (Sugiyono, 2012;199). A
questionnaire uses to get useful information to support theories and concepts in the literature. The
questionnaire consisted of a list of new words found by the researcher. The questionnaire were
given and answered by World of Tanks Indonesia’s members.

C. Data Analysis Method

The reseacher used several steps. There are :

(1) classifying the data based on the types and the functions words meaning.
(2) analyzing the data based on the;
(3) discussing the finding.
D. Presenting Data

This research describes how the data are presented in this study. After the data were
selected, they were tabulated and clasiication into some categories.