English movies have become a medium for the global spread of English swear words. However, not all people from non-English speaking countries know and understand the literal meanings of these words. This qualitative research aims to figure out the semantic referents of swear words in the film Bad Boys II. Content analysis was employed as its method. The results of this study show that nine semantic referents of swear words were used in the movie, namely sexual references, profane or blasphemous, scatological and disgusting objects, animal names, ethnic-racial-gender slurs, psychological-physical-social deviations, ancestral allusions, substandard vulgar terms, and offensive slang. Thus, Bad Boys II has a vast variety of swear words.DOI: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210208

The structure of a sentence might be influenced by how information is intended to be delivered. In legal texts, how words are arranged is a crucial factor as it might affect how readers understand the messages in the texts. This study investigates the information structure of a prepositional phrase (PP) namely by + V-ing in social media’s legal texts. The data sources of this study were nine legal texts from five social media, namely Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and TikTok. The analysis process resulted in the findings that 43 % of the phrases were preposed and 57 % were in postverbal position. The study also found that every placement of the PP is able to present both given or new information, with introduction of new information dominates the use of the PP. Further, the research also observed several contexts in which the PP is employed. From the research, it is expected that the results could help readers in understanding information delivered in legal texts.

<p>The use of personal and social deixis often has a crucial role in political speeches. This study investigated how personal deixis was used as a strategy to get other people’s support in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign speech. The object of the study was Trump’s speech in his presidential rally on October 10, 2020, and the data were the personal and social deixis in the speech. The occurrences of deixis were counted to reveal the parties to whom Trump gave his attention, and an analysis of the words used was conducted to see Trump’s attitudes toward the parties addressed by the deixis. The study revealed that Trump used personal deixis more than social deixis. There were five big parties to which he gave his attention using the deixis: the audience, Trump himself, the USA and its people, his opponents, and his party and government. Using the deixis, Trump also showed a positive attitude to his side and a negative attitude to the opponents. His use of personal and social deixis was also used as a campaign strategy. The deixis created inclusiveness, positioned Trump in different roles, showed support from several American communities, and influenced the audience’s attitude toward Trump’s opponents.</p>