THESIS

An Analysis of Figurative Language in Westlife’s Selected Song

P R E S E N T E D B Y:

SITI LUTFIAH
190511100099

HONORABLE ADVISOR

PROF. DR. MASDUKI, M.PD

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of study

1. Language

2. Semantic

3. Figurative Language

4 . Song
1.2 Research Question
WESTLIFE
• What are the types of figurative language are used
in the Westlife's selected song?
• What are the meanings of each lyrics in Westlife’s
selected song?

1.3 Objective of the Study

• To find out and identify the types of figurative
language that is being used in Westlife's selected
song
• To describe and classify the meaning of each lyrics
in Westlife’s selected song

WESTLIFE
 WESTLIFE
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Writer focuses on analyzing figurative language including
metaphor, simile, hyperbole ect, and also focuses on
• THEORITICAL analyzing the meaning of each lyrics of Westlife's selected
song. For the limitation ,writer's investigation is limited to
• PRACTICAL the word. sentence, and phrase found in the lyrics of
Westlife's song.
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 THEORETICAL FREAMWORK

01 SEMANTICS 02 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Semantics is one of branches of
linguistics concerned with the study
of meaning in language
Crystal (1991:310)
Figurative language is language that used
figure of speech which contain words or
phrases in an unconventional manner to
convey a more complex or clear meaning.
According Leech(1974) and Reaske
(1996) he said that there are several types
of figurative language such as: metaphor,
allusion, hyperbole, antithesis, paradox,
metonymy, oxymoron, personification,
allegory, irony, parallelism, symbol,
simile, synecdoche, and euphemism
 TYPES OF MEANING
Leech (1974,p.10), he divided meaning into three categories: conceptual
meaning, thematic meaning and associative meaning (connotative
meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflective meaning and
collective meaning).

• Types of meaning
• Conceptual meaning
• Thematic meaning
• Associative meaning ( Connotative meaning, Social
and Affective meaning, Reflected and collocative
meaning.)

WESTLIFE
 PREVIOUS STUDY
E N Y A N AWAT Y TA U F I K I S M A I L , S Y I FA
NURAENI AND EVIE
K A R E V I AT I
An analysis of figurative language used in
selected poem of Emily Dickinson (2010)
The Analysis of Figurative Language Used
in the Lyrics of Awken by Maher Zain
(2020)

AMELIA YULI AND WIDIA

ASTUTI

The Analysis of Figurative Language in

Coldplay's Parachutes Album (2020)

WESTLIFE
 METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Descriptive Qualitative Method
WESTLIFE
Qualitative research is study to investigate and
understand the meaning individuals or groups assume
to be a social or human problem (Crewell, 2012)

3.2 SOURCE OF DATA AND DATA

Westlife's song is the source of data in this study, and
the data of this study are the lyrics of Westlife's song in
the form of words, sentences, and phrase which are
focuse of this study.
3.3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
the writer herself
The reason why qualitative research
uses humans as an instrument is
because all of the senses of the
writer are directly needed to
observe the data (Mukhtar, 2013).
3.4 DATA COLLECTION
WESTLIFE
The writer collects the data by using content
analysis in the form of words and utterances in
the lyrics of Westlife’s selected song
• The writer listen the song and reads the
lyrics to collect general information from
the data.
• The writer tries to understand the context
of the source of data to find the figurative
language that appear in the context of the
song.
• The writer chooses appropriate data
which is related to the focus of the
study.
 3.5 DATA ANALYSIS
We define analysis as consisting of three con-current current flows of activity: data reduction, data display, and
conclusion drawing/verification

(Miles & Huberman, 1994)

Data Reduction Data Display Conclusion:

drawing/verification

My Love
Westlife
4.1 FINDINGS

WESTLIFE
 4.2 DISCUSSION
001/Westlife/S/Line 01

“if only you could see the tears”

The data above includes the types of figurative language named symbols.
The proof of symbol can be seen in the word “the tears”. It refers to an
expression of heart break that cannot be expressed directly.

The meaning of the lyrics itself is this lyric tells about a person who has
lost someone they love and wishes they could see them again to heal their
heart. The lyrics also express the pain and longing the person feels for
their lost love. As a result the lyrics express the feeling of sadness
5.1 CONCLUSION

53 data are found in seven of Westlife’s songs:

• Soledad, there are 4 personifications, 2 hyperboles, 2 metonymy, 1 repetition, 1 metaphor and 1
symbol.
• You Raise Me Up there are 3 hyperboleand 2 simile.
• I Lay My Love on You there are 4 personifications and 3 hyperbole.
• I’m Already There, there are 4 hyperbole and 1 personification.
• Fragile Heart there are 4 personification 1 simile, 1 metaphor and 1 paradox.
• Nothing’s Going to Change My Love for You there are 6 hyperboles, 1 metaphor 1 simile and 1
personification.
• My Love there are 2 symbols, 4 hyperboles, 1 personification and 1 repetition.

5.2 SUGGESTION

Through this study, the writer suggests to the next writer that must have the bravery to challenge
yourself in analysing their study. one song brings different phenomena from other song, so it is needed
to find your analysis based on your own understanding.
The writer also suggests to the next writer can apply the same source of data with different theories or
apply the same theories with different source of data.
THANK YOU