CHAPTER I-V - Digilib UIN Malang

THE EXPLICATURE OF DIRECTIONAL 

AND WARNING SIGNS POSTED AT UIN MALANG 

THESIS 

By: 

RAHMATILLAH 

05320141 

ENGLISH LETTERS AND LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT 

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND CULTURE 

THE STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY 

MAULANA MALIK IBRAHIM OF MALANG 

2009

THE EXPLICATURE OF DIRECTIONAL 

AND WARNING SIGNS POSTED AT UIN MALANG 

THESIS 

Presented to 

The State Islamic University of Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang 

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra (S.S) 

By: 

Rahmatillah 

05320141 

Supervisor: 

Dra. Meinarni Susilowati. M.Ed 

NIP: 150 295 492 

ENGLISH LETTERS AND LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT 

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND CULTURE 

THE STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY 

MAULANA MALIK IBRAHIM OF MALANG 

2009

The Undersigned, 

Name : Rahmatillah 

Reg. Number : 05320141 

STATEMENT OF THE AUTHENTICITY 

Department : English Letters and Language 

Faculty : Humanities and Culture 

Declare that the thesis I wrote to accomplish the requirement for the degree of Sarjana 

Sastra (S.S) in English Language and Letters department, Humanities and Culture faculty, 

the State Islamic University of Malang entitled “The Explicature of Directional and 

Warning Signs Posted at UIN Malang” is truly my original work. It does not 

incorporate any materials previously written or published by another person except those 

indicated in quotations and bibliography. Due to this fact, I am the only person 

responsible for the thesis if there is any objection or claim from others. 

Malang, of October 2009 

The researcher, 

Rahmatillah 

05320141

APPROVAL SHEET 

This is to certify that Rahmatillah’s thesis entitled 

The Explicature of Directional and Warning Signs Posted at UIN Malang 

has been approved by the thesis advisor 

for further approval by the Board of Examiners. 

Approval by Acknowledge by 

The Advisor, The head of the English 

Language and Letters Department, 

Dra. Meinarni Susilowati. M.Ed Galuh Nur Rohmah. M.Pd, M. Ed 

NIP 150295492 NIP 150289814 

The Dean of 

The Faculty of Humanities and Culture, 

Drs. H. Chamzawi, M. Hi 

NIP 150218296

LEGITIMATION SHEET 

This is to certify that Rahmatillah’s thesis entitled 

The Explicature of Directional and Warning Signs Posted at UIN Malang 

has been approved by the Board of Examiners as the requirement 

for the degree of Sarjana Sastra. 

The Board of Examiners Signatures 

Dra. Rohmani Nur Indah M.Pd (Chair) 

NIP 150327258 

Dra. Hj. Syafiyah, M.A (Examiner) 

NIP 150246406 

Dra. Meinarni Susilowati, M. Ed (Advisor) 

NIP 150295492 

Approved by 

The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Culture 

The State Islamic University of Malang 

Drs. H. Chamzawi, M. Hi 

NIP 150 218 296

MOTTO 

“Language without meaning 

is 

Meaningless” 

(Roman Jacobson)

DEDICATION 

This thesis is dedicated to: 

My beloved Abah and Ummi 

“Achmad Zaini” & “Zainatu Arifah” 

And 

My beloved husband “Machrus Aly”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

In the name of Alloh, I’d like to send my thanks to Alloh and my beloved prophet 

‘Mohammad’ that have given me a spirit and direction by a beautiful sign to do the right 

things in the right way. 

Thanks to Prof. Dr. H Imam Suprayogo, Prof. H. Mudjia Raharjo, M.Si, Drs. H. 

Chamzawi, M. Hi, Ibu Galuh Nur Rohmah and Pak In’am for being my best motivator 

during my study time at UIN Malang. 

Thanks to Ibu Mei as my beloved supervisor, one thing that I can say is I am 

proud of being your student, having interaction with you has inspired me about 

enthusiasm in running my life. 

Thanks to Dra. Syafiyah, MA and Rohmani Nur Indah, M. Pd, as the board 

of examiners who have given me some suggestions in conducting research. 

Thanks to The lecturers of English Letters and Language Department for being so 

kind and patient in teaching me the invaluable knowledge. Especially, for Yai Marzuki as 

my Tasawuf lecturer for his guidance and advices. 

My best father in the world, Abah Ahmad Zaini, and my mother, Ummi Zainatu 

Arifah, both of you have given me endless love and prayers. 

Thanks to my beloved husband, Mahrus Ali, for your support to me during the 

beautiful and the hard time studying in Malang. Your smile and your joke have given a 

colourful atmosphere during my study time. I am sure that your decision accompanying 

me has been made as the way to build ‘keluarga sakinah mawaddah wa rohmah’. Amin… 

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family in Situbondo and 

Banyuwangi, unforgettable all my friends that I cannot write their name one by one here, 

for their love and support. 

Malang, July 27 th 2009 

The writer, 

Rahmatillah

ABSTRACT 

Rahmatillah, 2009, The Explicature of Directional and Warning Signs Posted at UIN 

Malang. Thesis, English Letters and Language Department, Humanities 

and Culture Faculty, the State Islamic University of Malang. 

Advisor : Dra. Meinarni Susilowati. M. Ed 

Key Words : Explicature, Warning and Derictional sign, Relevance theory of 

explicature. 

Every directional and warning sign posted in certain places of course have certain 

purposes, Because of that, the researcher is interested in analyzing the directional and 

warning signs using relevance theory of explicature proposed by Dan Sperber and Deidre 

Wilson. This study focuses on analyzing explicature of directional and warning signs 

posted at UIN Malang. 

The purpose of this study is to help the readers understand short written texts in 

directional and warning signs posted at UIN Malang. It is very important to investigate 

because an explicature is an enrichment of an original utterance. Generally, this research 

gives a direction in helping us to understand the explicature used in short written texts, 

especially, directional and warning signs written in English which are posted at UIN 

Malang, in order that we can get the intended meaning of the utterance (information or 

caution). Thus, the utterances are clear and avoid ambiguity by using explicature theory. 

The research is conducted by using a descriptive qualitative method based on the 

relevance theory of explicature proposed by Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson, because the 

data are in the forms of written texts in directional and warning signs posted at UIN 

Malang. The data have been selected only on nine utterances of directional and warning 

signs posted at UIN Malang based on the theory of explicature. There are some steps that 

should be taken to reach the explicature. Firstly, considering the vague terms. Secondly, 

adding some disambiguous words. Thirdly, developing the conceptual constituent. 

The findings are intended to answer the research problem “How is the explicature 

used in directional and warning signs posted at UIN Malang?” The result of this study 

shows that three ways to reach explicature; (1) Specifying the vague terms, (2) Adding 

disambiguous words and (3) developing conceptual constituents are use in reaching the 

intended meaning of directional and warning signs posted at UIN Malang. However, the 

policy makers let the readers think the information by their own perspectives in 

directional and Warning signs which are written minimally but convey message 

maximally. These findings are recommended that the lecturers use these findings as the 

teaching materials of explicature theory, and for the students of English Letters, to raise 

the pragmatic awareness in order that the students can really understand the policy 

makers’ intention. Furthermore, it is also recommended for the next researchers to 

complete the data in other areas relevant with explicature theory.

TABLE OF CONTENT 

STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY .................................................................... i 

APPROVAL SHEET ............................................................................................... ii 

LEGITIMATION SHEET ..................................................................................... iii 

MOTTO ................................................................................................................... iv 

DEDICATION.......................................................................................................... v 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................... vi 

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. vii 

TABLE OF CONTENT .......................................................................................... ix 

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 

1.1. Background of the Study .................................................................................... 1 

1.2. Statement of the Problems .................................................................................. 5 

1.3. Objectives of the Study ....................................................................................... 6 

1.4 Scope and Limitation ........................................................................................... 6 

1.5. Significance of the Study .................................................................................... 6 

1.6. Definition of Key Terms ..................................................................................... 7 

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 

2.1 Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance theory of explicature ....................................... 9 

2.2 Explicature ........................................................................................................... 14 

2.2.1 Explanation of salient meaning ........................................................... 17 

2.2.2 Specification of vague terms ............................................................... 18 

2.2.3 Addition of words sense disambiguous ............................................... 18 

2.2.4 Development of reference assignment ................................................ 19 

2.3 Implicature ........................................................................................................... 20 

2.4 Directional and Warning signs………………..……………………….....21 

2.5 Previous Studies…………………………………………………….…....23

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHOD 

3.1 Research Design ................................................................................................... 26 

3.2 Data Source .......................................................................................................... 27 

3.3 Research Instrument ............................................................................................. 27 

3.4 Data Collection .................................................................................................... 28 

3.5 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................... 29 

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 

4.1 Findings................................................................................................................ 30 

4.1.1 The Directional signs posted at UIN Malang .................................... 31 

4.1.2 The Warning Signs Posted at UIN Malang ....................................... 40 

4.2 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 53 

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 

5.1 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 58 

5.2 Suggestion ............................................................................................................ 59 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

APPENDICES 

Appendix 1: Data 

Appendix 2: Consultation Form 

Appendix 3: Curriculum Vitae

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

This chapter presents background of the study, statement of the problem, 

objective of the study, scope and limitation, significance of the study, and the 

definition of key terms. 

1.1 Background of the study 

As the students of the State Islamic University or well-known as 

Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) of Malang we know that at this moment this 

campus has some new buildings. After the big reconstruction of the most 

buildings in UIN-Malang we have found there are many directional signs and 

warning signs posted at certain places and of course they have certain purposes. 

Those directional and warning signs are usually in the forms of short written texts. 

The policy maker may consider it as a more effective and appropriate way to 

convey message than the oral one. In any cases, the effectiveness of directional 

and warning signs depends very much on several aspects such as the readers

ackground knowledge, the language used, the places where those are posted. For 

an example, a warning sign posted in my faculty, humanities and culture faculty, 

it is very familiar for us “please be quite! There is a meeting”. This is a simple 

utterance but the readers can get the point of what the maker wants, using these 

minimum words which convey a maximum message. 

The phenomenon that the researcher describes above leads her attention to 

analyze the other warning and directional signs which are posted at UIN Malang. 

Direction is guidance, information or instruction about what to do, where to go, 

and how to do something while warning is caution, advice about possible risk or 

danger. 1 A sign is anything that stands for anything else or represents something 

such as an idea, an experience, an object and etc, 2 but in this study, it has 

different meanings. A sign is the part of synchronic linguistics area, because 

It is more serious in discussing the language phenomena 3 . Ferdinand de Saussure 

stated that in analyzing a language, the areas are devided into two areas 4 , those 

are: Diachronic linguistics area (it concerns with history and dynamics of 

languages), and Synchronic linguistics area (it concerns with analyzing about 

language as a system in a certain time). 

Synchronic linguistic area has four functions of language: fisrt, is Code, a 

thing that represent another thing but it is more complete, for example; 

Communicated by hand signal. Second, is Sign, a thing that represent another 

1 

Compiled team “OXFORD: advanced learner’s dictionary” Oxford: oxford university press. 2000: 

1341 

2 

Ibid, 2000: 1100 

3 

Syukur Ibrahim “Aliran-aliran linguistik” Surabaya: Usaha Nasional 1985: 55 

4 

Sakban Rosidi “Life and ideas of F. de Saussure” for school of linguistics class discussion. 2007: 1

thing but different with the reality and has single meaning, as an example; traffic 

light (red=stop, yellow=careful, green=go a head). Third, is Icon, a thing represent 

another thing but it is the same with the real (similar to the reality), for example; 

two dimensions (picture), three dimensions (miniature). Finally, is Symbol, a thing 

that represents another thing which is including (icon, sign, and code). 

Moreover, Saussure investigates language as a structured system of sign 5 . He 

explains that there is a system of sign, well-known as Signified and Signifier. A 

signifier is the linguistics value of a word (representation of sound), and a 

signified is property of studying for a concept (representation of letters). So, the 

word sign in this study is not a sign as anything that stands for anything else, but 

only a board or notice used for warning and directing somebody toward 

something. 

Directional and warning signs need to be analyzed using explicature 

because not all the readers really understand the message in short written texts or 

utterances used in directional and warning signs. 

As an example, in front of my faculty once happened some accidents, one of the 

causes is that some riders of motorcycle may not understand the warning “MAX 

10 KM”. That is the impact of not understand the warning signs.The utterances 

can be interpreted explicitly in order that utterance is clear and avoids ambiguity. 

Explicature may help the readers in understanding the uttterances used in 

directionals and warning signs which are posted at the state Islamic University 

(UIN) of Malang. This research is not only interesting but also important to do 

5 Ibid, 2007:103

ecause it has significant important impacts for the readers. But, this study does 

not concern with the impacts. But it focuses on how the explicature is used in 

directional and warning signs. Thus, it is important to reveal the meanings of 

directional and warning signs using explicature theory of Sperber and Wilson’s 

relevance theory. 

Sperber and Wilson stated that an explicature is an inference or series of 

inferences which enrich the under-determined form of the utterance to a full 

propositional form. 6 In other discussion, they also stated that an explicature is an 

enrichment of an original utterance or an explicitly communicated assumption. 7 It 

is entirely different from implicature that is implicitly communicated or inferred 

from an utterance but that is not a condition for the truth of the utterance. 8 

Explicature is explicitly communicated assumption or interpreted explicitly based 

on the original utterances. 

This present study is closely related to some previous studies. Suliha 

(2004) analyzed explicature and themes found in the food advertisements 

broadcasted by Indosiar TV. She found that the theme in the food advertisements 

belongs to explicature and high level of explicature. Yazid (2005) studied slogans 

of advertisements using theory of explicature and cooperative principle proposed 

by Grice. He found that in writing the slogan, the advertisers give certain contexts 

the readers must understand. Hidayat (2006), who analyzed the explicature used 

in the titles issued by English Tempo magazine, found the titles issued are written 

6 Grundy, peter. “Doing pragmatics-second edition”. London: Arnold-by Oxford university press. 

New York: 2000: 102&105. 

7 Ibid, 2000: 112 

8 Ibid, 2000: 112

in phrases using a simple language but closely related to high level of explecature, 

and viewed from different angle by using Carston’s theory of explicature. 

Based on the above discussion, I found the relevance between those 

previous studies with my research, in terms of discussing about how the 

explicature is used in utterances in many kinds of information’s media, starting 

from magazine, newspaper until television. The differences between previous 

studies with the present research is that the previous studies are closely related to 

high level of explicature, whereas in understanding the high level of explicature 

we must recover the propositional attitude of the speakers to their utterances 9 . 

Second, most of the previous studies determine or explain the salient meaning 

before deciding the vague terms; actually the salient meaning will rise up 

automatically when we find the explicature of the utterances. Thus, it is very 

important to conduct this research to find more empirical data of applying the 

Sperber and Wilson’s relevance theory of explicature, especially used in 

directional and warning signs posted at UIN Malang. 

1.2 Statement of the Problem 

Based on the discussion above, the problem of this study is intended to 

answer “How is the explicature used in directional and warning signs posted at the 

State Islamic University (UIN) of Malang?” 

9 Ibid, 2000: 102

1.3 Objective of the Study 

This study is aimed at describing the way to reach explicature used in 

directional and warning signs posted at the state Islamic University (UIN) of 

Malang. 

1.4 Scope and Limitation 

This study focuses only on the way in reaching the explicature used in 

directional and warning signs posted at the State Islamic University (UIN) of 


The researcher does not use all the directional and warning signs in the 

area of UIN-Malang. She limits her study on particular directional and warning 

signs written in English, though the directional and warning signs posted at the 

state Islamic University of Malang are mostly written in Indonesian. 

1.5 Significance of the Study 

follows: 

This research gives some significant contributions for several parties, as 

Firstly is for the English lecturers. The researcher expects the finding 

would be useful to enlarge the view on discourse analysis, especially, related to 

relevance theory of explicature. The data in this research are from our campus. 

Thus, the utterances are very familiar for us, in order to understand and it can 

support in giving sufficient examples for teaching and learning process related to 

discourse analysis study.

Secondly is for the English students. The researcher hopes this study will 

raise the pragmatic awareness, in order that the students not only understand 

theoretical points of view, but also can apply their knowledge of explicature 

theory in the real field. Besides, the students can really understand about what the 

policy makers want to convey (information or caution) in directional and warning 

signs and the linguistics process involved in understanding the message. 

Finally is for the next researchers, hopefully these research findings useful 

as the additional reference to analyze the explicature which are used in written 

texts. It is also suggested to conduct similar studies, which involve more complete 

data in searching other areas that relevant with explicature theory, especially Dan 

Sperber and Deidre Wilson’s relevance theory of explicature. 

1.6 Definition of Key Terms 

To avoid misunderstanding and misinterpreting of this study, some key 

words are defined as follows: 

Explicature : the result of enrichments from the original utterance in 

order to rise up the intended meaning in the directional and 

warning signs posted at the State Islamic University (UIN) 

of Malang. 

Implicature : implicitly communicated or entirely inferred, or inference 

which provides the addresses with the most relevant 

interpretation of the utterance, or anything that is inferred

from an utterance but that is not a condition for the truth of 

the utterance. 

Directional sign : word or words on a board to give notice of information or 

instructions about what to do, where to go, and how to do 

something, etc. usually, in the forms of utterances which 

are mostly embedded in front of the door or in front of the 

wall of the building of state Islamic University of Malang. 

Warning sign : word or words on a board to give notice of advice or 

caution that warn somebody about requirement or 

necessity to do something in certain areas, to avoid 

dangerous things happen inside the State Islamic 

University of Malang. Usually the warning signs have 

consequence.

CHAPTER II 

REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE 

This chapter presents the review of related literature which includes 

Sperber and Wilson’s relevance theory of explicature, explicature, explanation of 

salient meaning, specification of vague terms, and addition of words sense 

disambiguous, development of reference assignment /conceptual constituent, 

implicature, directional and warning signs, and the last review is previous study. 

2.1. Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance theory of Explicature 

Sperber and Wilson are not satisfied with the probabilistic nature of 

Gricean implicature. They want a theory which goes beyond the probabilistic and 

enables addressees to be sure that they have recovered the most relevance of a 

potentially infinite set of inferences. 10 

10 Loc.Cit, 2000: 101

Relevance Theory allows the free enrichment, relevants theorist assume 

that in enriching need the interpretation’s cognitive processes, in particular the 

reasoning the performs over the model of the speakrs’ or writers’ cognitive state. 11 

We see this as very important, because only if we restrict the theory’s use of 

biliefs, intentions, and other ‘private’features of the participantns’ cognitive state- 

such as individual memory organization or processing effort-will the theory be a 

linguistics theory with a linguistic generalisations and explanations. 

Relevance theory is to be preferred over other accounts of utterances 

understanding to the extent that it recognizes and can account for the fact that not 

all utterances are successfuly understood, and that a particular utterance may be 

understood in different ways and to different degrees by different hearers. There 

are some essential principles of relevance theory: 12 

First, every utterance comes with a guarantee of its own particular 

relevance. Thus to understand an utterance is to prove its relevance. Determining 

relevance (and not only the relevance of utterance) is our constant aim. As 

Sperber and Wilson state ’An individual’s particular cognitive goal at a given 

moment is always an instance of a more general goal; maximising the relevance 

of the information processed’ 13 

Second, because addressees cannot prove the relevance of the utterances 

they hear without taking context into account. ‘The speaker must make some 

11 Nicholas Asher,2003. ‘logic of conversation’ Cambride: univ. press; 75 

12 Ibid, 2000: 105-106 

13 Ibid, 2000; 106

assumptions about the hearer’s cognitive abilities and contextual resources. This 

will necessarily be reflected in the way she communicated, and in particular in 

what she chooses to make explicit or what she chooses to leave implicit. 14 

Third, however apparently grammaticalized linguistic structure may be, 

utterances are, as we have seen, radically under-determined. So a single semantic 

relation may represent a very wide range of logical and semantic relations. Even 

the determination of sense requires an inferential process. 15 

Fourth, once the proportional form of an utterance has been fully 

elaborated. The utterance may be regarded as a premise. Which, taken together 

with other, non-linguistic premises available to the hearer as contextual resources. 

Enable him to deduce the relevant understanding. 16 

Fifth, the most accessible interpretation is the most relevant. This is an 

important notion because it enables us to discriminate in a principled way, i.e.: by 

taking into account the degree of processing effort, between the various inferences 

which, time allowing, we might recover. Hence there is a trade off between 

relevant and processing effort; ‘an assumption is relevant to an individual to the 

extent that the positive cognitive effect achieved when it is optimally processed 

are large (Sperber and Wilson in Grundy), (Positive cognitive effects, are changes 

in beliefs resulting from new information being added). Thus the greater the effect 

of an utterance the more relevant it is. 

14 Ibid, 2000;106 

15 Ibid, 2000;106 

16 Ibid, 2000: 106

Similarly, the effect needs to be economically achieved. An assumption is 

relevant to an individual to the extent that the effort required achieving these 

positive cognitive effects is small (Sperber and Wilson in Grundy). This means 

that the harder we have to try to understand something. The less relevance it is. 

This principle reflects the psychological reality with which we are all familiar. 

That of not being able to get the point, or at least not being able to get the point in 

the time available. Griceas’s cooperative principle lacks this psychological 

dimension. 17 

Sixth, context is not treated as given common ground, but rather a set of 

more or less accessible items of information which is stored in short term and 

encyclopedic memories or manifest in the physical environment. 18 

Thus, it can be concluded from the last principles that the meaning of 

context is not treated as given common ground, but rather than a set of more 

information, it means that actually a talk (write) is more than the words. For 

instance; if one of friends asks you to accompany him/her, but you want to refuse 

him/her invited, you don’t need to say “No, thanks because I have to…………” 

but it is enough for you only to say “I have class”, or any other utterances. 

Originally, the utterance “I have class” is related to the context. Because of that in 

the second principle of Relevance theory stated that we are as the speaker must 

make some assumptions about the hearer cognitive abilities and contextual 

resources. So, to understand an utterance is to prove its relevance. 

17 Ibid, 2000: 107 

18 Ibid, 2000: 107

Then, understanding and relevance are as a set of cognitive which is 

proved by the fifth principle of relevant theory which stated that the most 

accessible interpretation is the most relevant. It means that actually the most 

relevance is the easier to be understood. And it called by positive cognitive effect 

as the result of implementation the process of essential principles of relevance 

theory in understanding the utterance (spoken or written). 

The aim in Relevance Theory is to generate the cognititve effect of an 

utterance that are more important than enything else to which the interpreted 

could be attending to in the context. This proces is not guided by linguistic form 

but rather by what is accessible in memory and what has the most cognitive 

utility. Since this the single principle in relevance theory, an interpreter need only 

assume that the speaker believes his utterance is maximally relevant in order to 

compute its content. 19 

However, unlike Grice’s in Cooperative Principle, which speaker 

voluntarily follows or disobeys, Sperber and Wilson’s principle of relevance (the 

fact that utterances communicate a presumption of being relevant to the hearer or 

reader) is spontaneous and biologically rooted in human cognition. 

19 Op. cit. 2003: 75

2.2. Explicature 

An explicature is an enrichment of an original utterance. In written and 

spoken communication, there are explicatures; higher level explicature and 

implicature to be recovered. However, the most salient meanings are explicature. 

It means that actually to recover the salient we need to understand the explicature 

first, in order that the intended meaning can be explicated. 

An explicature is an inference or series of inferences with enrich the 

under-determined form of the utterance to a full propositional form or explicature 

preserve and elaborate the propositional form of original utterance. 20 In other 

words, explicature is explicitly communicated assumption. 

Three examples related to three kinds of categories; an explicature, a 

higher level of explicature and an implicature, the researcher takes these 

utterances below from inside campus of UIN Malang. Clearly, please attention 

the examples below; 

“Musyrifah’s Room” 

This utterance is taken from mabna Fatimah Al-Zahra (dormitory building 

special for female students). As a new comer of a certain dormitory 

building of UIN-Malang, may be we think that this utterance indicated a 

room special for someone whose name is Musyrifah, or may be this room 

20 Op.Cit, 2000: 105

is special for one of activities in dormitory named Musyrifah. In fact, we 

know that this room is a special room for counselors of dormitory in every 

floor of the building. It uses “Musyrifah” rather than “counselors” because 

it is taken from Arabic and related to Islamic atmosphere inside and 

around the dormitory building of UIN-Malang. What’s noticeable is that 

elaborating the syntactic relation of “Musyrifah Room” requires inferences 

which demand a great deal of real world knowledge about “Musyrifah” 

and what the use of Arabic words for. This result in what Sperber and 

Wilson call an explicature. 

In conclusion, in order to understand what was meant by “Musyrifah 

room”, the readers need to recover an explicature. 

“Please pay in advance your levy’s class next week”. 

The first reaction when we read this reminder we may feel that we have 

missed some payments last week. But as we reflect it more carefully, it 

seemes to us that if we missed the pay. Actually, we can determine that it 

is only a gentle reminder if we know how the attitude of the writer. The 

inference we need to make would yield what Sperber and Wilson call a 

higher level of explicature which we reveal the prepositional attitude of 

the speaker or writer to her utterance. 

Thus, in order to understand what the treasurer of class meant by this 

utterance, we need to recover the appropriate higher level explicature.

“Sorry, I have a class”. 

This utterance needs to take a lot of contexts into account in order to 

determine what the speaker means. If the speaker is your teacher who has 

many classes, it really shows you that she/he absolutely has a class. If the 

speaker is your friend you invite to accompany you to go to library, she 

indirectly refuses yours by saying “Sorry, I have a class” as a gentle 

refuse. It means “I cannot company you to go to library because I have 

any other activity or any other reasons. Is implicature, unlike an 

explicature, an implicature, because it is entirely inferentially derived, has 

a logical form different from that of the original utterance. 

So, in order to understand what someone means to when they say Sorry, I 

have a class, we need to recover an implicature. 

In all three of these instances, there are explicature, higher level 

explicature, and implicature. However, the most salient meanings are; an 

explicature in (1), a higher-level explicature (2), and an implicature(3). 

All are recovered as inferences. To put it in an other way, these inferred 

meaning are the most relevant ways of understanding what the originators of these 

messages mean by what they said (or wrote). 

Explicature, the inference that enrich the under-determined form produced 

by the speaker to a full propositional form are motivated by the indeterminacy of

language. This indeterminacy is a consequence of the economical expression 

which characterizes a natural language. It requires an inferential process, which 

provides an enriched interpretation consistent with the context of the utterance 

and speaker’s encyclopaedic knowledge. 21 

Furthermore, free enrichment is defined that the recovery of missing 

material of grammatical matter or the emptiness of syntactic categories are 

embedded to an utterance as they are considered individual knowledge 

perspective. Sperber in Nicholas stated that the relevance theory allows the free 

enrichment of compositional semantics. It provides the evidence for a process of 

free enrichment. 

In explicating an utterance, anybody should develop the utterance by 

enriching it in additional words. The additional words are not against the intended 

meaning of the utterance; moreover it helps in avoiding ambiguity. Sperber and 

Wilson stated that there are four steps for the development of the explicature, 

those are; 

2.2.1 Explanation of salient meaning 

The salient meaning is processing effort of trying to determine 

what actually the intended or important meaning of the utterance, it is 

21 Ibid, 2000: 103-104

22 Ibid, 2000: 108 

relevant or not. Even thought comes to the conclusion that the entailment 

is actually the silent meaning related to the speakers intend to convey. 22 

2.2.2 Specification of vague terms 

The word or words of utterance can be classified into vague terms 

since the disambiguation words used by the speakers or writers are not 

recovered. In this case, specify the vague terms are much needed. This 

step is conducted by determining the words in the utterance that have not 

been clearly described or expressed. For instances; in “Musyrifah’s 

room”, “Murobbiyah’s room”, etc. 

2.2.3 Addition of Word sense disambiguous 

Words sense disambiguation is conducted to develop the utterance 

by using words are not considered ambiguous in the sense of meaning. It is 

conducted by looking for the right propositions based on the context. For 

example; “Max 10 km” – “the max of speed is 10 km/hours”.

2.2.4 Development of Reference assignment/conceptual constituent 

Reference assignment is most description refers to different 

referents (persons, objects, notions) on each occasion when they are used. 

The fuction of picking out an object in the world with matches a linguistic 

description is called referring. 23 This step is conducted by looking for 

presupposition, inference, and implied meaning from the utterance. For 

example; “this room is for Murobbiyah who is the head of counselor of 

Mabna Khadijah Al-kubra”. 

In summary, by the explicature theory, utterances can be interpreted 

explicitly, because the utterance should be clear and avoid ambiguity. Explicature 

theory is used to interpret the utterance that is usually produced in communication 

by the process of specifying the vague terms, disambiguation, conceptual 

constituent and enrichment to get the truth condition. 

In discussing the explicature is inseparable with the implicature. To 

enlarge our knowledge about the implicature as the starting point or as the departs 

of relevance theory; 24 it’s also important for us to give an attention in implicature. 

23 Ibid, 2000: 275 

24 Loc, cit. 2003: 75

2.3. Implicature 

Implicature is an inferrence which provides the addresses with the most 

relevant interpretation of the utterance. Implicature is a new logical form, 25 and 

the result of addresses drawing an inductive inference as to the likeliest meaning 

in the given context. 26 Implicature is anything that is inferred from an utterance but 

that is not a condition for the truth of the utterance. In addition, implicature is an 

inductive inference drawn by the speaker which will be valid on most occasions, 

the best guess as to the meaning being conveyed. 

The linguistic philosopher Paul Grice drew a distinction between what he 

formed ‘generalized’ and what he formed ‘particularized’ conversational 

implicature, which arise irrespective of the context in which they occur. 

The difference between generalized and particularized implicature will 

turn out to be a very important one for this reason; if all implicature were 

particularized, one could reasonably argue that the single maxim of relation or 

relevance was sufficient to account for all implicature. The implicature would be 

what the addressee had to assume to reader the utterance maximally relevant in its 

context. But generalized conversational implicature has little or nothing to do with 

the most relevant understanding of utterance; It derives entirely from the maxims, 

typically from the maxims of quantity and manner. When the speaker uses the 

quantifier “some”, it is because they are not in apposition to use the quantifier 

25 Ibid, 2000: 105 

26 Ibid, 2000: 73

“all”, and are therefore taken to be implying “not all” the quantity maxim. More 

clearly about Grice’s theory of conversational implicature; 27 please pay attention 

to these examples below; 

1. The conveyed divided into two parts; entailed and implicated, 

2. implicated consist of conventionally and conversationally, 

3. entailed and conventionally are parts of natural meaning, 

4. conversationally consist of generalized and particularized, 

5. Generalized and particularized are parts of non-natural meaning. 28 

In short, implicature is an inductive inference drawn by the speaker which 

will be valid on most occasions, the best guess as to the meaning being conveyed. 

2.4. Directional and Warning sign 

Direction is guidance, information or instruction about what to do, where 

to go, and how to do something on a board or plate. 29 Warning is caution, advice 

or statement about possible risk or danger, etc on a board or plate, 30 a sign is 

anything that stands for anything else or represents something such as an idea, an 

experience, an object and etc. 

27 Ibid, 200; 85 

28 Ibid, 2000: 85 

29 Loc. Cit, Oxford-2000:326 

30 Ibid, 2000: 797

When we talk about sign, it has strong relation to analyze language area of 

Ferdinand de Saussure. He stated that in language areas are divided into two 

areas: 

a. Diachronic linguistics area, which concerns with history and 

dynamics of languages, 

b. Synchronic linguistics area, concerns with analyzing about language 

as a system in a certain period of time. 

Then, sign is the part of synchronic linguistics area, where the position of 

synchronic linguistics is more serious in discussing the language phenomena 31 . A 

sign has a strong relation in giving direction or warning in a real world. It is 

realized in traffic signs in which every color has different meaning. Of course, it 

becomes arbitrariness in society as a language phenomenon. 

From the explanation above, directional and warning signs are words on a 

board or plate to give notice of information, instruction and caution. 

The uniqueness of directional and warning signs is the use of the words 

minimally but convey message maximally. For instance; “NO ENGLISH, NO 

SERVICE” is uses four words but convey maximum message. 

31 Loc. Cit, 2007: 1 & 3

2.5 Previous Studies 

This study has a close relation to the previous studies, but has different 

perspectives in applying the theory of explicature. Suliha (2004) focuses her 

research on the explicatures and themes found in the food advertisement in 

Indosiar television. She found that the advertisers of the food advertisements have 

high creativity in serving advertisement in the way of promoting the products. She 

stated that the data can be called by explicature when fulfills the requirements of 

cooperative principles. Some advertisers obligated the four maxims; (the maxims 

of quantity, the maxims of quality, the maxims of relevance and the maxims of 

manner). However, she only presented the three or two maxims in producing the 

advertisements, those are; maxims of quantity, maxims of quality, and maxims of 

relevance. Moreover, she found that every sentence or utterance must bring the 

theme as a central idea. The themes found in the food advertisement on Indosiar 

television are expressed in the whole utterances of each datum followed by the 

context. Most themes represent the ideas of the advertisers as the way of 

persuading their products. They express the theme explicitly. In conclusion, she 

stated that the utterances used by the advertiser of the food advertisements in 

Indosiar television employed the explicature and high level of explicature. 

Basori (2005) focuses on analyzing the printed advertisement of “A” Mild 

cigarette which is produced by PT. Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna using the theory 

of explicature as the part of relevance theory of Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson. 

The advertisements of “A” mild as the core of information used to persuade 

public about the advantage of the cigarette products are printed in the forms of

sentences or utterances. He found that the categories of explicature were used to 

flesh out the linguistic clues of an utterance when it is implicitly stated, vague 

terms, and empty incomplete categories or words. He also found that the printed 

advertisements of “A” Mild not take any political agreement, but reach an 

intended sale by creating a brand image. In addition, he stated that Sperber and 

Wilson’s relevance theory of higher level of explicature is related to the 

contextual effect in every utterance. 

Hidayat (2006) analyzes the explicated meaning used by reporter in 

creating titles of headlines in English Tempo Magazine about Yogya earthquake 

issued by English Tempo magazine. He found the explicature in the titles are the 

interesting texts on the top of the text of news. The titles issued by the English 

Magazine are written in phrases using simple words but could be viewed from 

different angles. It is interesting to analyze the titles having metaphorical style 

because he only needed to determine the denotative and connotative meanings 

first before he analyzed the utterances using Carston’s theory of explicature. As 

the result, the propositional forms from these titles are more varied. In conclusion, 

he stated that the titles issued by English Tempo Magazine about Yogya 

earthquake can be classified into metaphoric style and need more explicit by 

explicature theory. 

Poppy (2007) focuses on analyzing the written text from Medical Update 

section of reader’s Digest Magazine by using the theory of explicature proposed 

by Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson. She stated explicature is the inferences that 

enrich the underdetermined from produced by the speakers to a full propositional

form that are motivated by the indeterminacy of language medical update section 

is a part of sections which is available in readers Digest magazine covering the 

latest advance in research; treatment, and technology and often conveyed 

explicitly. The result of her study is explicature used in Medical update section of 

reader’s Digest Magazine can be proved by the words used in Medical Health 

section are minimalist but have maximum meaning. 

In accordance with the previous studies, there are some researchers who 

have conducted the research in the same field related to explicature theory, but 

they have different subject and different proposer theory of explicature, as an 

example the theory used by Hidayat is proposed by Carston’s theory of 

explicature. However, in this research the researcher takes the short written text, 

especially written in English as the subject and analyzes the directional signs and 

warning signs are posted in UIN Malang. Therefore, the researcher wants to 

comprehend it more detailed using Sperber and Wilson’s relevance theory of 

explicature.

CHAPTER III 

RESEARCH METHOD 

This chapter discusses the method used in this research, it consist 

of research design, data source, research instrument, data collection, and 

data analysis. 

3.1 Research Design 

The research design in this study is a descriptive qualitative, 

because this intends to describe the short written texts especially the 

explicature of the directional and warning signs. It is called a qualitative 

because of three reasons. First, the data are in the forms of written texts of 

directional signs and warning signs. Second, a qualitative research is done 

in a natural setting. The data are obtained in the real field. It means that the 

data are obtained as what they are posted in the short written texts of 

direction and warnings signs posted at the State Islamic University of 

Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang. Third, the purpose of this study is to

understand and deep information on how is the explicature used in 

directional and warning signs posted at UIN Malang. 

In addition, this research uses pragmatics approach, especially 

related to explicature. This study is intended to answer “how is the 

explicature are used in direction and warning sign posted at the State 

Islamic University (UIN) of Malang?”, described based on the Sperber and 

Wilson relevance theory of explicature. 

3.2 Data source 

The data in this research are the English written texts on the 

directional and warning signs posted at the State Islamic University (UIN) 

of Malang. 

The data in this research are taken from the presidium governing 

university (rector building) until Ma’had Sunan Ampel Al’-aly. The 

researcher chooses directional and warning sign which are written in 

English. Those directional and warning signs posted at UIN Malang have 

been taken from March to June 2009. The reason of choosing written text 

in UIN-Malang because UIN has many English utterances to post in 

directional and warning signs than the other campus. Thus, UIN campus is 

the most appropriate place to obtain the data.

3.3 Research instrument 

In accordance with the research design of the study, the instrument 

of this research is the researcher herself, because it is the only instrument 

which is feasible to collect the data and to analyze the phenomena of the 

texts which are written in English of directional and warning signs. Then, 

she also classifies as well as analyzes the data in accordance with the 

Sperber and Wilson’s theory of explicature. 

3.4 Data collection 

The following steps are done by the researcher to collect the data; 

The first step is recording the data. The researcher finds out the 

data in English original utterances of UIN-Malang and takes note all 

English utterances directly. 

The second step is data reduction. It refers to process of selecting 

the obtained data. The utterances divided into two categories namely 

directional signs and warning signs. The researcher does some steps in 

data reduction. First, selecting the data based on the kind of direction and 

warning sign. Second, focusing the data based on the theory of explicature. 

In addition, those directional and warning signs posted at UIN 

Malang have been taken from March to June 2009.

3.5 Data Analysis 

To analyze the data related to the problem of the study, the 

researcher uses some following steps: 

First step, determining the vague terms that has not been clearly 

expressed, or still ambiguous. Thus, these need to be explicit by finding 

out unclear expressed of the words. 

Second step, adding some disambiguous words. Disambguous words here 

are the additional words which do not appear in the original written texts 

in direction and warning sign; it can help the utterance reasonable to be 

understood, it also not against the intended meaning of the original 

utterances. 

Third step, developing the conceptual constituents from the original 

utterances, to describe the explicature of the utterance and drawing 

conclusion. Then, the last step here is combining the result of determining 

the vague terms and adding the disambiguation words. In other words, by 

describing the original utterances in directional and warning signs by 

explicature will make the directional and warning signs to be 

understandable by the readers.

CHAPTER IV 

RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION 

In this chapter, the analysis of the data is conducted in line with the 

formulated research question. It consists of two sections namely Finding and 

Discussion. 

4.1 Research Findings 

This section presents the analysis of explicature used in directional and 

warning signs posted at UIN Malang. The data have been taken from March to 

June 2009. There are 104 data collected by researcher, but only 8 data are chosen. 

The selection of 8 utterances out of 104 utterances is due to several reasons. First, 

it has been represented by other utterances. For example; “Murobbiyah’s room” 

has been represented by “Musyrifah’s room”, “Green house” has been represented 

by “Guest houses” and any other utterances. Second, it is because the limited time 

the researcher has to finish the analysis. 

In addition, the data divided into two categories; first categories is 

Directional signs include three data, second categories is Warning signs include

five data. These data to be analyzed descriptively based on the relevance theory of 

explicature proposed by Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson. 

4.1.1 The Directional Signs Posted at UIN Malang 

The directional signs posted at UIN Malang were taken from dormitory 

building for male students and dormitory building for female students. There are 3 

(three) data which are included directional signs. The three data were chosen 

because of one utterance has been represented by other utterances. For instance; 

“Murobby’s Room” and “Musyrifah’s Room” has been represented by 

“Murobbiyah’s Room”, “Green House” has been represented by “Guest House” 

and any other utterances. 

The data that will be analyzed using explicature theory are represented in 

the following discussion. 

Data 1: “Murobbiyah’s Room” 

This utterance is taken from the second floor of Mabna Khadijah Al- 

Kubro. Precisely, it is embedded on the door of the head counselor of this 

dormitory building. Mabna is dormitory building special for new students of the 

State Islamic University (UIN) of Malang, and Khadijah Al-Kubro is the name of 

that dormitory building. Mabna Khadijah Al-Kubro is the first building between 

three other buildings in female dormitory area. The others are Mabna Fatimah Al-

Zahro, Mabna Ummu Salamah, and Mabna Asma’ binti Abu Bakar. UIN-Malang 

uses the word “Mabna” rather than the words “Dormitory building” because it 

relates to Islamic activities and Islamic atmosphere inside and around the 

dormitory. The word “Mabna” is taken from Arabic root of the word “Mabnan” 32 

which means “building”. It is chosen because Islam is commonly considered 

identical to Arabic. Thus, the word “Mabna” is appropriate to show us the exact 

atmosphere of dormitory buildings at the state Islamic University of Malang. 

Actually, the utterance “Murobbiyah’s Room” is understandable if we are as the 

readers have the real-world knowledge about the condition in UIN’s dormitory. 

This utterance can be described in four steps based on the concept of explicature: 

Firstly, the utterance “Murrobiyah’s Room” is Directional sign, because 

this utterance consists of information or instruction about where we have to go, 

especially relates to Islamic activities or Islamic teaching and learning at Khodijah 

Alkubra Dormitory. 

Secondly, explicature is developed in specification of vague terms. The 

words “Murobbiyah” is specified as vague term in this directional sign, because it 

can bring out the different interpretation from the original intended meaning of 

this directional sign. The word “Murobbiyah” can be meant the person’s name, or 

one of activities (or place for doing special activity that the name is murobbiyah). 

Usually, this case is experienced by new comers or new students of the State 

Islamic University of Malang when they come into Mabna. The word 

32 Prof. Yunus, Moh. Qomus Arobiyun-Indunisiun. Jakarta: Yayasan Terjemah and Tafsir Al-Quran 

1989: 73

“Murobbiyah” is originally from Arabic “Murobbiyan” 33 which means 

“educator”. The same reason with above explanation about the use of the term 

“Mabna”, the term “Murobbiyah” is chosen because of Islam has strong relation 

to Arabic, the Holy Qur’an uses Arabic; Islam’s prophet “Mohammad” is also 

from Arab. So, Arabic is inseparable with Islam in the entire world. Thus, the next 

step is determining the additional disambiguous words. 

Thirdly, the directional sign “Murobbiyah’s Room” can be added with 

some disambiguation words, this proceses aimed at avoiding ambiguity in 

reaching out the intended meaning of this directional sign. The utterance 

“Murobbiyah’s Room” can be added with “this room is ……or head of 

counselor’s room ”. These additional words are not contrast or against the original 

meaning of the utterance, because these additional words are elaborated from the 

original utterance and based on the reader’s background knowledge. We 

understand that explicature is enrichment from the original utterance. 34 Originally, 

murobbiyah here is an educator, as we know that educator not only shares the 

knowledge but also has responsibility in considering moral values to the students. 

But in Mabna, Murobbiyah has double functions as an educator all at one as a 

head of many counselors and students at this dormitory building. However, these 

additional words are added to explicate the salient meaning of the utterance, in 

order to help the readers easily understand the utterance. 

33 Ibid, 1989: 136 

34 Loc.Cit, 2000: 102

Finally, after considering disambiguous words, the conceptual constituent 

in two terms above is embedded into the original utterance. Thus, the explicature 

of the utterance is “this room is for Murobbiyah who is the head of counselor of 

Mabna Khadijah Al-kubra”. From this conceptual constituent we know that this 

room is the room of the head of Mabna Khadijah Al-Kubro dormitory building, is 

not the room for doing any activites or as the room of someone whose name is 

Murobbiyah. So, it is clear for us that Murobbiyah’s Room is the room of the head 

of mabna in female dormitory of the State Islamic University of Malang. 

In addition, this directional sign is relevant if the readers have background 

knowledge of the condition or policy inside dormitory of UIN-Malang. It also 

gives us a direction where we have to go if we need any information related to 

Islamic activities (such as; ta’lim, shobahul lughah, tahfid, and other activities) 

held in mabna Khadijah Al-Kubro. 

It is not necessary for the policy makers to post the complete sentence with 

additional words. They assume that the complete utterance is not effective in 

reaching out the reader’s attention. Readers are not interested if the utterances are 

complicated and they tend to discard unnecessary words. To avoid it, minimum 

words are created into the utterance in this minimum directional sign which 

convey a maximum message. 

In conclusion, the utterance can be explicitly communicated in order help 

the readers to understand the message. Thus, to understand what was meant by

policy maker of this directional sign, the readers or students and especially for 

new comers or new students of UIN-Malang need to recover an explicature. 

Data 2: “II.II 21-30 (Second floor-South wing)” 

This utterance is derived from second floor of Mabna Fatimah Al-Zahro, 

exactly it is embedded on the wall beside of stair up. Actually, in every floor there 

is this utterance, starting from ground floor “II.I 01-10 (Ground floor-South wing) 

and II.I 10-20 (Ground floor-North wing)”up to top floor “II.III 41-50 (Third 

floor-South wing)” and “II.III 51-60 (Third floor-North wing)”. It was proper that 

the students of Mabna Fatimah Al-Zahro should understand the intended meaning 

of those utterances. So, we need to enrich those utterance based on the 

development of explicature well. This utterance will be described in four steps 

based on the development of explicature. 

Firstly, the kind of utterances “II.II 21-30 (Second floor-South wing)” is 

Directional sign, because this utterance consists of information or instruction 

about where we have to go if we are looking for one of our friends or may be our 

family who live in Mabna Fatimah Al-Kubro, especially for guests or new comers 

at mabna Fatimah Al-Zahro. 

Secondly, explicature is developed in specification of vague term; it is 

aimed to find out unclear expression or word sense ambiguity. The Roman 

numeral and cardinal number “II.II. 21-30” are specified as the vague terms. It 

makes the reader difficult to understand what the intended meaning of that

number. Originally, the first Roman numeral “II” is headed on certain direction to 

the dormitory building order, such as Mabna Khadijah Al-Kubro building is 

Dormitory building A and Mabna Fatimah Al-Zahro bulding is Dormitory 

building B. It means that A or B use in the first Roman numeral (I or II) as a 

signified of dormitory building, the policy makers signify for every dormitory 

building by letters A, B, C and D outside and by Roman numeral I, II, III and IV 

inside. And, second Roman number is as a signified of the floor or stairs. For 

instance, Ground floor is marked by I, second floor is marked by II, third floor is 

marked by III, and Top floor is marked by IV. Thus, if we combine between the 

signified of Fatimah Al-Zahro Dormitory Building with the signified of the floor 

will become “II.II”. Then, the cardinal numbers “21-30” are signified of the 

room’s number. The next step, explicature is tried to add some words, which are 

not ambiguous. 

Thirdly, the disambiguous words expand the terms meaning and gain the 

original utterance “II.II 21-30” in optimal relevance. This utterance can be added 

by some disambiguation words “The rooms of Fatimah Al-Zahro…in Number …- 

… in the …… … and exactly in the… …”. These additional words do not against 

the original meaning of this directional sign. The readers can understand these 

additional words, the additional words are added in order to explicate and expand 

the implicit meaning of this directional sign which is embedded in the wall beside 

the stairs up. 

Finally, after considering the additional words, the conceptual constituent 

is embedded into the original utterance of directional sign. The explicature of the

directional above is “The rooms of Fatimah Al-Zahro (II) in Number 21-30 in the 

Second floor (II) and exactly in the South Wing”. Briefly, this complete utterance 

gives us clear information about direction where we have to go in finding the 

room that we want to visit. But, it is impossible to the policy maker posted the 

complete sentence with additional words, because they assume that the complete 

utterance is not effective in reaching out the reader’s attention. 

Dormitory’s officer to deliberate to post the minimum words is to avoid 

the complicated of the utterance in warning sign. The makers assume that the 

complete sentences in the direction will rise up the complicated of the readers. It 

does not get the reader attention to read it. Thus, the minimum words are chosen 

to convey the maximum message in this direction directional sign. 

In addition, this direction can be easily understood based on the readers 

background knowledge in realizing the context where this warning sing is posted. 

In conclusion, the utterance of this directional sign can be more explicated, and of 

course the explicature theory is very useful in understanding the utterances which 

are not only understood from the text itself but also from the context related to the 

original utterance where it is posted.

Data 3: “Guest houses” 

This utterance is taken from Male’s dormitory building. Exactly, this 

utterance is embedded in front of the wall in houses between information center of 

Moslem’s dormitory and Green House. We need to enrich those utterance based 

on the development of explicature. All students or visitors, especially for the male 

students should understand the intended meanings of this utterance. This 

utterance will be described in four steps based on the development of explicature. 

Firstly, the category of utterance “Guest Houses” is directional sign, 

because this utterance consists of information or instruction about where we have 

to go as a guest. Explicature is developed in specification of vague terms. The 

words “Guest” is specified as vague term in this directional sign, because it can 

bring out the different interpretation from the original intended meaning of this 

directional sign. The word “Guest” here can be meant as the guest of students or 

student’s parents or student’s family or may be this guest houses rent for public, 

so whoever can live there. There are so many questions are rise up from this 

directional sign “Guest Houses” at male’s dormitory. Originally, these Guest 

Houses are provided special for the guest of dewan kiyai (religion’s lecturers’ 

council) and the guests of rector (such as some lecturers from Sudan and Australia 

had been living there). The student’s family has been provided the place, which is 

in Mabna Al-Farabi. Thus, to help the readers in understanding this directional 

well, we have to determine the additional disambiguous words.

Secondly, the directional sign “Guest House” can be added with some 

disambiguation words. This process is aimed at avoiding ambiguity in reaching 

out the intended meaning of this directional sign. The utterance “Guest House” 

can be added by “this……is special for guests of dewan kiyai and guests of rector, 

not for public”. These additional words are not in contrast or against the original 


original utterance and based on the reader’s background knowledge, as we 

understand that explicature is enrichment from the original utterance. 35 However, 

these additional words are added to explicate the salient meaning of the utterance, 

in order to help the readers easily understand the utterances. 

Finally, after considering disembogues words, the conceptual constituent 

above is embedded into the original utterance. Thus, the explicature of the 

utterance is ”these Guest Houses is special for guests of dewan kiyai and guests of 

rector, not to open for public”. From this conceptual constituent, we know that 

this Guest house is not open for public. Moreover, for student’s family who has 

been provided a place in Al-Farabi dormitory building. So, it is clear for us that 

“Guest houses” is the house which is used specially for VIP’s guests of the State 

Islamic University of Malang. 

In addition, this directional sign is automatically relevant if the readers 

have background knowledge of the condition or policy inside dormitory of UIN- 

35 Loc.Cit, 2000: 102

Malang. It also gives us a direction where we have to go if we need any 

information related to the exact place for the Guests. 

It is impossible for the policy maker to post the complete sentence with 

additional words. They do not do this, because they assume that the complete 

utterance is not effective in reaching out the reader’s attention. Readers are not 

interested if the utterances are complicated and they tend to discard unnecessary 

words. To avoid it, minimum words are created in the utterance in this minimum 

directional sign which conveys a maximum message. 

In conclusion, by explicature theory, the utterance can be explicitly 

communicated in order to help the readers to manageable understand. Thus, to 

understand what was meant by policy maker of this directional sign, the readers or 

students and especially for new comers or new students of UIN-Malang need to 

recover an explicature. 

4.1.2 The Warning Signs Posted at UIN Malang 

The data of warning signs posted at UIN Malang have been taken from 

March to June 2009. There are 5 (five) data which are include warning signs. 

Those warning signs were taken from the presidium governing university (rector 

building) until Ma’had Sunan Ampel Al-Aly (dormitory building).The data that 

will be analyzed using explicature theory are represented in the following 

discussion.

Data 4: “Muslimah area, No veil? STOP HERE!” 

This utterance is taken from main entrance of Mabna Khodijah Al-kubra, 

exactly it is embedded on the entrance door of that building. Mabna is dormitory 

building special for new students of the State Islamic University (UIN) of Malang, 

and Khodijah al Kubro is the name of that dormitory building. Mabna khodijah al- 

Kubro building is the first building in female dormitories special for female 

students at the first year they study in UIN Malang. This utterance is expected to 

be understood by the readers and gaining its relevance, but we need more real- 

world knowledge about the context. This utterance is described into four steps 

based on the development of explicature; 

Firstly, the kind of this utterance is warning, because it directly uses 

exclamation point and gives statement to warn anybody about something to do in 

certain areas of UIN-Malang. Then, there is a consequence for anybody who 

breaks the law of the warning sign. 


words “muslimah area” is specified as vague term in this warning sign, why? it is 

not clear expression for non-Moslem’s reader, the word “Muslimah” is taken from 

the root of Arabic “Muslimatan” 36 meaning is a woman whose religion is Islam. 

The word “Muslimah” in this context has stronger sense and effect rather the use 

of “female”. It is said because “female area” can indicates all women whether 

they are Moslem or Non-Moslem. Generally, muslimah is required to uses a veil, 

36 Op.Cit, 1989: 188

as we know that mabna has strong sense of Islamic activities and Islamic 

atmosphere which are inseparable with Arabic. So, in this context the diction of 

“Muslimah area” is appropriate rather than “female area” because the word 

“Muslimah” is actually related to the next utterance “No veil? STOP HERE!”. 

Thus, The Explicture is tried to add some words, which are not ambiguous. The 

additional words expand the term meaning and reach out them in optimal 

relevance. 

Thirdly, the utterance can be added with some disambiguation words, 

actually this warning sign is enough to understand, but it is more relevant to the 

context with the place where it is posted if the words “muslimah area” are added 

by “Khodijah Al-kubra is dormitory special for……, ……? ……!”. These 

additional words are not against the original meaning of the utterance. This 

additional words directly show us about the salient meaning of this warning sign 

that khodijah Al-Kubro building is muslimah area only. 

Finally, embedding the conceptual constituent of the terms “Khodijah Al- 

kubro is dormitory special for” into the original utterance. After we determine the 

conceptual constituent of the original utterance, we can also determine the 

explicature of the utterance that is “Khodijah Al-kubro is dormitory special for 

muslimah, No veil? STOP HERE!”. From this conceptual constituents the fact 

that this building is special for muslimah. Generally muslimah wears a veil. Thus, 

this building is forbidden area for female which does not wears veil. Moreover, it 

is clear that women who want to enter the dormitory area must wear the veil, and 

if they do not wear the veil so they must stop and cannot enter the dormitory area.

Deliberateness of policy maker to post the minimum words is to avoid the 

complication of the utterance in warning sign. The makers assume that the 

complete sentences in the direction will rise up the complication of the readers, in 

order to not get the reader attention to read it. Thus, the minimum words are 

chosen to convey the maximum message in the direction. This direction can be 

easily understood based on the readers background knowledge in realizing the 

context where this warning sing is posted. 

In conclusion, the utterance of this warning sign can be more explicated by 

the explicature theory, and of course the explicature theory is very useful in 

understanding the utterances, not only from the text itself but also from the 

context related to the original utterance where it is posted. 

Data 5: “MAX 10 KM” 

This utterance is taken from right side of administration building (rector 

building), exactly in front of guess parking and the north gate of UIN-Malang. 

The right side of rector building is appropriate place to post this warning sign, 

because this road is one of the most crowded roads in the campus. It can be 

classified into explicature. This utterance can be described into four steps based 

on the development of explicature , explain as follows; 

Firstly, the categorizing of this utterance is warning sign, because it 

indirectly uses order sentence. This utterance warns us to keep the speed of the 

motorcycle or car when passing the road inside campus of UIN Malang.

Secondly, explicature is developed in specification of vague term; the 

vague term in this warning sign is word “max”, because the word “max” here, has 

important impact to the readers whether they are as motor riders or not. The 

impact for motorist is to hold the reins of motor’s speed, and for non-motorist is to 

be careful when she/he walk on the road, but in fact not all the readers really 

understand well with the word “MAX” aims, especially for non-motorist. 

Actually, most of us know those motorists are being advised that there is a rule for 

the maximum of speed on the road inside campus. It means that we need more 

background knowledge about the condition inside campus. 

Thirdly, this utterance can be added by some disambiguation words, after 

the word “max” can be added with “speed is” and after the word “10 km” can be 

added by “/hour”. These additional words are not contrast or against the original 


original utterance and based on the reader’s background knowledge, as we 

understand that explicature is enrichment from the original utterance. 37 However, 

these additional words are added to explicate the salient meaning of the utterance, 

in order to help the readers easily understand the utterance. 


in two terms above is embedded into the original utterance. Thus, the explicature 

of the utterance is “the maximum of speed is 10 km/hour”. The policy makers 

want to give a caution or advice or remind all people (including; passing motorist 

37 Loc.Cit, 2000; 102

and guests) especially to the students, lecturers, and any staffs of UIN Malang to 

keep the speed of their motorcycle or car in that way or in the road inside campus 

of UIN-Malang. 

In addition, this warning sign is relevant if the readers can understand the 

utterances firstly explicated utterance, because this warning sign indirectly gives 

us caution or advice about the maximum of speed. It is impossible for the security 

officer to post the complete sentence with additional words. They do not do this 

because they assume that the complete utterance is not effective in reaching out 

the reader’s attention. Readers are not interested if the utterances are complicated 

and they tend to discard unnecessary words. To avoid this, the minimum words 

are created into the utterances in warning sign which convey a maximum 

message. 

In other words, the utterance can be explicitly communicated in order to 

help the readers to manageable understand. Thus, to understand what was meant 

by policy maker of this warning sign, passing motorist and especially for non- 

motorist needed to recover an explicature 

Data 6: “No entry! Before knocking and greeting” 

This utterance is taken from Mabna Khadijah Al-Kubro. This utterance is 

embedded on the door of Murobbiyah’s room (I.II.32). This utterance is expected 

to be understood by the readers and gain its relevance. We need more real-world

knowledge about the context. This utterance will be described into four steps 

based on the development of explicature; 

Firstly, this utterance can be classified into warning sign, because it 

directly use exclamation mark and gives us statement about the requirement in 

doing something at certain areas of the State Islamic University, as we are still 

remembering that warning has an important impact to those who break the rule in 

Warning sign, especially for the readers and people who has necessity, the impact 

can make them difficult in finding problem solving. 


words “Greeting” is specified as vague term in this warning sign, because the 

atmosphere of Mabna or Dormitory building of UIN-Malang is Islamic 

atmosphere. As a Moslem, we know that Islam has own greeting which is used 

by all Moslems in the whole of the world, the Islamic greeting has the same 

function with say Hello. Islamic greeting has deeper meaning more than say hello. 

Now, it is clear that the word”Greeting” in this warning sign is 

“Assalamu’alaikum”, the utterance “Assalamu’alaikum” is taken from Arabic, the 

meaning is peace be upon you. Saying “Assalamu’alaikum” has a stronger sense 

and effect rather than saying “Hello, any body home?” because 

“Assalamu’alaikum” indicates that the one who said is a Moslem. Generally, all 

Moslems use Assalamu’alaikum to greet their fellow Moslem, whenever and 

wherever Moslem live. As we know that mabna has a strong sense of Islamic 

activities and Islamic atmosphere which are inseparable with Arabic. So, in this 

context, the diction of “Assalamu’alaikum” is more appropriate rather than

“Hello” because the utterance “Assalamu’alaikum” is actually related to the 

preceding utterance “No Entry!”. The additional words expand the term meaning 

and reach out their optimal relevance. 

Thirdly, the disambiguation words deliberate the terms meaning and gain 

the original utterance “Greeting” in optimal relevance. The word “knocking” can 

be added by “...the door”, and the word “greeting” can be added by some 

disambiguation words “saying Islamic…”. These additional words do not against 

the original meaning of this directional sign. The readers can understand these 

additional words, which are added in order to explicate and expand the implicit 

meaning of this directional sign which is embedded on the door of the room in 

number 32, exactly on the second floor of mabna Khadijah Al-Kubro . 


is embedded into the original utterance of directional sign. The explicature of the 

directional above is “No entry! Before knocking the door and saying Islamic 

greeting”. Briefly, this complete utterance gives us the clear warning about 

necessity of something saying related to certain areas of UIN Malang. But, it is 

impossible for the policy maker to post the complete sentence with additional 

words, because they assume that the complete utterance is not effective in 

reaching out the reader’s attention. 

Dormitory’s officer is deliberated to post the minimum words and to avoid 

the complicated of the utterance in warning sign. The policy makers assume that 

the complete sentences in the direction rise up the complication, in order not to

get the reader’s attention to read it. Thus, the minimum words are chosen to 

convey the maximum message in this warning sign. 

In addition, this warning sign can be easily understood based on the 

reader’s background knowledge in realizing the context where this warning sign is 

posted. 



understanding the utterances which are not only from the text itself but also from 

the context related to the original utterance where it is posted. 

Data 7: “NO English or Arabic, NO service” 

This utterance is derived from Mabna Ibnu Sina. To be exact, this 

utterance is posted in front of the door of murobby’s room at Mabna Ibnu Sina 

dormitory building. As we know the reason of these utterances are posted, 

because the State Islamic University of Malang has a bilingual program which is 

being run in dormitory building. We need more real-world knowledge about the 

context. This utterance will be described in four steps based on the development 

of explicature; 

Firstly, the category of this utterance is warning, because it consists of 

statement that gives us warning about what we have to do in certain areas in 

Mabna Ibnu Sina, especially if we want to enter to the murobby’s room. This

utterance also has a consequence. If we do not obey the rule (not use English or 

Arabic). It means that there is no service for us. 


words “service” is specified as vague term in this warning sign, because the word 

“service” can be meant as service for all students of dormitory building and 

service of all problems. Actually, the meaning of “service” here is the service 

especially for the students of Mabna Ibnu Sina and service especially for the 

problem related to Islamic teaching and learning at Mabna Ibnu Sina. The service 

here is appropriate for Murobby’s function as educator and counselor of all 

Musyrif and students of Ibnu Sina dormitory building. 

Thirdly, after determining the category of utterance and considering the 

vague terms, the next step is determining additional words or disambiguation 

words of this warning sign. The utterance “No Service” can be added by some 

disambiguation words “…………, ……for students of Mabna Ibnu Sina”. The 

additional disambiguation words directly help the readers in understanding the 

intended meaning of this warning. The additional words are added in order to 

explicate and expand the implicit meaning of this directional sign. Of course, the 

additional words do not against the original meaning of original utterance in 

warning signs. 

Finally, after considering the additional of disambiguation words, the 

constituent conceptual is embedded into the original utterance of this warning sign 

“No English or Arabic, No service for students of mabna Ibnu Sina”. By

explicature, the utterance can be explicated, in order to be easy for us as the 

readers understand that actually the service special for the students of Mabna Ibnu 

Sina and if the students do not use English or Arabic the consequence is no 

service for them. 

Mabna Ibnu Kholdun’s officer is deliberate to post the minimum words in 

order to avoid the complication of the utterance in warning sign. The policy 

makers assume that the complete sentences in the direction rise up the 

complication, in order not to get the reader attention to read it. Thus, the minimum 

words are chosen to convey the maximum message in this warning sign. This 

direction can be easily understood based on the reader’s background knowledge in 

realizing the context where this warning sign is posted. 



understanding the utterances, not only from the text itself but also from the 

context related to the original utterance where it is posted. 

Data 8: “Don’t be noisy during the pray!!!” 

This utterance is taken from Khodijah Al-Kubro dormitory building, 

exactly embedded on the two main pillars on the second floor. These pillars are 

located between north and south wing. The location where these pillars are 

implanted is such as an auditorium. This place is used for sholat jama’ah or 

praying. To reach the intended meaning of this utterance, we need more

ackground knowledge. This utterance will be described in four steps based on 

the development of explicature. 

Firstly, the categories of this utterance is warning sign, because it 

indirectly uses exclamation mark and these utterances consist of statement that 

remind us to be quite while praying (Subuh, Duhur, Asar, Maghrib, and Isya’) are 

being run. The important consequence of this warning sign is not in the form of 

physical punishment but in the form of non-physical or unpleasant feeling. 

Secondly, explicature is developed in specification of the vague term. The 

vague term in this warning sign is the word “noises” because the word “noises” 

here has some interpretations. It can be meant as a noise of HP’s ring tone, or 

speaking, or joking, or shouting and others. Actually, most of the students in 

khodijah Al-Kubro dormitory building understood, but same sometimes ignore 

this warning sign. Moreover, some of them bring their hand phone when they are 

going to pray. There are some reliable sources (Musyrifahs of language division) 

who explained to the researcher that this warning sign should be completed by 

appropriate words in order that this warning sign can be implemented. Thus, the 

words are not ambiguous. The additional words expand the term meaning and 

reach out their optimal relevance. 

Thirdly, the warning sign “Don’t be noisy during the pray!” can be added 

with some disambiguation words. This process not only aimed to avoid 

ambiguity in reaching out the intended meaning, but also to reaffirm the salient 

meaning of warning sign. The utterance “don’t make noises during praying!” can

e added by “… make any noise (such as; HP’s ring tone, speaking, joking and 

shouting)……that will disturb praying”. These additional words are not contrast 

or against the original meaning of the utterance, because these additional words 

are elaborated from the original utterance and based on the reader’s background 

knowledge, as we understand that explicature is enrichment from the original 

utterance. 38 Originally, this warning sign is really understood by the readers. In 

fact, the most of the readers of this warning sign ignore. However, these 

additional words are added to explicate the intended meaning of the utterance, in 

order to help the readers to have awareness that this minor violation has serious 

impact in saving our good morality. 

Finally, after considering disambiguous words, the conceptual constituent 

above is embedded into the original utterance. Thus, the explicature of the 

utterance is “Don’t make any noises (such as; speaking, joking, shouting and 

HP’s ring tone) during praying, that will disturb praying”. This conceptual 

constituent shows us clearly, that we have to really save our polite attitude when 

the praying is being run. 

In addition, this warning sign is automatically relevant if the readers have 

background knowledge of the condition or policy inside dormitory of UIN- 


It is impossible for the policy maker to post the complete sentence with 

additional words. They do not do this, because they assume that the complete 

38 Loc.Cit, 2000: 102

utterance is not effective in reaching out the reader’s attention. Readers are not 

interested if the utterances are complicated and they tend to discard unnecessary 

words. To avoid it, minimum words are created into the utterance in this 

minimum warning sign which conveys a maximum message. 

In conclusion, by explicature theory, the utterance can be explicitly 

communicated in order to help the readers to obtain manageable understanding. 

Thus, to understand what was meant by policy maker of this warning sign, the 

readers or students and especially for new comers or new students of UIN-Malang 

need to recover an explicature. 

4.2 Discussion 

After analyzing the data based on the theory of explicature. Especially, 

proposed by Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson’s relevance theory of explicature. 

The researcher discussed of the whole data to answer the research problem in 

preceding chapter that is “How is the explicature used in the directional and 

warning signs posted at UIN Malang?”. The utterance in directional and warning 

signs has certain purposes why it must be posted in the form of short written text. 

It means that by minimum words which are convey maximum message. Thus, 

from this point of view the readers lead to explicate the utterances in directional 

and warning signs. 

There are new phenomena about the combining between Arabic and 

English. For example “Murobbiyah’s Room”, “Muslimah Area”, “Musyrif’s

oom” and others. There are two reasons of using the Arabic and English words. 

First, the reason in using the Arabic words; It is chosen because of Islam is 

commonly considered identical to Arabic. Thus, the words “Arabic” is the 

appropriate words to show us the exact atmosphere of dormitory building at the 

State Islamic University of Malang. Second, the reason in using the English 

words. It is chosen because of English close related to the science. Thus, the 

reason in using the Arabic and English is intended to balance between science and 

religion in order to apply the bilingual program. 

The researcher concludes that there are three ways to reach explicature. 

Before I present the three ways to reach explicature, it is better for us to 

understand the categories of utterances well. From the research findings there are 

three utterances those can be classified into directional signs; (“Murobbiyah’s 

room”, “II.II.21-30 (second floor-south wing)”, and “Guest houses”). There are 

six utterances which are included into warning signs; (“Muslimah area, No veil? 

STOP HERE!”, “MAX 10 KM”, “No entry, before knocking and greeting!”, 

“Don’t make noises during praying!”, “No English or Arabic, NO service”, and 

“Don’t get newspapers away or read it in the room!”). 

Firstly, the researcher specifies the vague terms from the utterances in 

directional and warning signs posted at UIN Malang. The vague terms in 

directional signs, are explained as follows; data 1; “Murobbiyah”, data 2; “II.II. 

21-30”, data 3 ;”Guest”. The warning signs are explained as follows; data 1; 

“Muslimah area”, data 2 ; “Max”, data 3; “knocking” and “Greeting”, data 4; 

“Newspaper”, data 5; “Service” and data 6; “Noises”. Researcher specifies the

vague terms which can be added by the new words that not against the original 

meaning of the utterances in directional and warning signs posted at UIN Malang. 

Secondly, by using additional words (disambiguous words) and use it as 

the conceptual constituent into the original utterances. As have explained in the 

preceding explanations. For directional signs: data 1; “this room is ……or head of 

counselor’s room”, data 2; “The rooms of Fatimah Al-Zahro…in Number …-… in 

the ……and exactly in the… …”, and data 3; “these……is special for guests of 

dewan kiyai and guests of rector, not open for public”. Then, for warning signs, 

those are: in data 1; “Khodijah Al-kubra is dormitory special for……, ……?... ...!”, 

data 2; “… … speed is……”- “……/hour”, data 3; “... ... !... … the door”- 

“…saying Islamic…”, data 4; “…of Mabna Ibnu Kholdun”, data 5; “…………, 

……for students of Mabna Ibnu Sina”, and data 6; “… make any noise (such as; 

HP’s ring tone, speaking, joking and shouting)……it will disturb praying”. The 

aim of these additional words is to avoid ambiguity from the short utterance in 

directional and warning signs. Thus, in selecting the words we must be careful in 

order the additional words not against the original meanings. 

Finally, the explicature is developed in conceptual constituent of the 

utterances. The conceptual constituent conducted by the researcher is compatible 

with the context of the utterance which is posted. Conceptual constituent is 

needed to explicate the vague terms. It is important to pay attention the review in 

preceding explanations about the conceptual constituent. In the directional signs 

of (data 1); “this room is for Murobbiyah who is the head of counselor of Mabna 

Khadijah Al-Kubra”, “The rooms of Fatimah Al-Zahro (II) in Number 21-30 in

the Second floor (II) and exactly in the South Wing”(data 2), and ;”this Guest 

House is special for guests of dewan kiyai and guests of rector not open for 

public”(data 3). Then, in the warning signs of (data 4); “Khodijah Al-kubro is 

dormitory special for muslimah ”, (data 5); “the maximum of speed is 10 

km/hour”, (data 6); “No entry! Before knocking the door and saying Islamic 

greeting”, (data 7); “Don’t get newspaper of mabna ibnu kholdun away or read it 

in the room”, (data 8); “Don’t make noises (such as; speaking, joking, shouting 

and HP’s ring tone) during praying, that will disturb praying”, and data 6; “No 

English or Arabic, No service for students of mabna Ibnu Sina”. In conclusion, 

the additional “disambiguation” words and the conceptual constituent have 

significant contributions in helping the readers to really understand the intended 

message in the directional and warning signs. 

After doing the observation in getting the data of directional and warning 

signs the researcher concludes that there are several characteristics of directional 

and warning sign, as follows: 

a. Using the simple words, 

b. Using the words which contain of information or caution, 

c. Directional and warning sign have full meaning. 

d. Directional and warning signs are posted in appropriate places that 

suitable for appropriate context of situation in supporting 

effectiveness.

There are some important points are found besides three ways that are 

mentioned above. First, in understanding explicature we have to pay attention to 

our background knowledge or encyclopedic knowledge, secondly, we have to 

really understand about the real-words, or how the language is used. And the last, 

we have to realize about the context. It means that we are as the readers not only 

understand about the text, but also about the context related to the utterances in 

directional and warning signs are posted, especially, the directional and warning 

signs posted at the State Islamic University Maulana Malik Ibrahin of Malang 

which are mostly closely related to Islamic atmosphere and bilingual program.

CHAPTER V 

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 

After analyzing the research findings and the discussion in the preceding 

chapter, conclusion and some suggestion are taken. The conclusion is drawn 

based on the formulated research question, while suggestion is intended to give 

information to the next researchers who are interested in doing further researches 

in this area. 

5.1 Conclusion 

In line with the previous chapter, the conclusion of this research can be 

formulated based on the proposed research question. 

Based on the data analysis, it shows that the explicature included in 

directional and warning signs can be gotten from the context and three processes, 

namely specifying the vague terms, adding disambiguous words, and developing 

the conceptual constituents. The words used in directional and warning signs 

posted at UIN-Malang are written minimally but convey message maximally.

Beside three ways above, there an important thing that is the choice of Arabic 

words in directional and warning signs. It intends to reinforce Islamic atmosphere 

as the result of Islamic teaching and learning in those dormitories buildings and to 

show the bilingual program of the State Islamic University of Malang. 

5.2 Suggestions 

In accordance with the findings of this research described previously, 

there are several points that could be recommended. For the policy makers in 

writing a directional sign or warning sign, they should consider the words and the 

utterances that are presented in the directional signs and warning signs posted in 

UIN-Malang in order the message or inference being conveyed is easily 

understood by the readers. It also recommends the readers to know the context of 

the directional signs or warning signs which are posted in order they can arrive at 

the intended message by policy makers want. Moreover, for the students of UIN- 

Malang, it is really important to get the point of directional signs and warning 

signs wherever they are posted, especially the directional signs and warning signs 

posted in UIN-Malang. They have purposes in showing the Islamic atmosphere 

and the bilingual program in the campus of the State Islamic University of 


After doing this research, the researcher admits that there are some 

weaknesses and limitation of this study because these directional and warning 

signs were analyzed without finding out the supplying empty categories with

content. It is recommended to the next researchers to analyze the supplying empty 

categories with content deeply by using the Carston’s theory of explicature, 

because this theory gives the up to date improvement on analyzing the explicature 

by giving the five ways in analyzing explicature. So, by using this theory, the next 

researcher is expected to make a better analysis.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

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Basori, M Adam. 2005. Explicature in the Printed Advertisement of “A” MILD 

Cigarette. Unphublished thesis; English department of UIN- 


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Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University press. 

Grundy, P. 2000. Doing Pragmatic-second edition.London: Arnold-by Oxford 

university press inc, New York. 

http://www. Phon ucl. Ac. Uk. Pdf-online; yahoo.com “Limguistics Pragmatics: 

Implicatures or Explicatures?” (july, 2009). 

http://www. Pdf-with GO2DF-for free “Relevance and Relevance Theory” (July, 

2009). 

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principle of relevance ”(July. 2009). 

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English Tempo Magazine. Unpublished thesis; English department 

of UIN Malang.

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New York: Oxford University Press. 

Kumar-Ranjid. 1993. Writing A Research Proposal: some Guidelines for 

beginners. Perth: Curtin University of technology. 

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Edinburgh University Press. 

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Cambridge University press. 

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APPENDIX 3: 

CURRICULUM VITAE 

Name : Rahmatillah 

Gender : Female 

Age : 23 years 

Place and Date of Birth : Situbondo, 14 th May 1986 

Address : Jl.KH.Moh.Rois Pon-Pes.Nurul-Hikam 

Kes.Rampak-Kapongan- Situbondo, East Java 

E-mail : rahmatillah-14@yahoo.com 

Phone : Home: Cell-phone: 

Religion : Islam 

Nationality : Indonesia 

FORMAL EDUCATION 

• 1991 -1993 RA Nurul-Hikam Kindergarten, Situbondo 

• 1993 -1999 MI Nurul-Hikam Elementary School, Situbondo 

• 1999 -2002 SMPN 02 Panji Junior High School, Situbondo 

• 2002 -2005 SMAN 01 Kraksaan Senior High School, Probolinggo 

• 2005-2009 English Department Student of the State Islamic University (UIN) 

Malang.

INFORMAL EDUCATION 

• Arabic intensive course program of State Islamic University (UIN)-Malang 

(2005-2006).(Certified) 

• Arabic day and English Day Program at Ma’had Sunan Ampel Al-Ali,State 

Islamic University of Malang (2005-2006).(Certified) 

• Workshop on Puscom-Pusat Computer and Internet (Certified) 

• English Course at FEE-Future English Education, Pare - Kediri (Certified) 

• Temple Tour and Table Manner Program at Merdeka University Malang 

(Certified) 

• On Te Job Training Teaching English at SMA 2 BATU (26 july 2008-6 

september 2008) 

FORMAL & INFORMAL EXPERIENCES 

• Writing Championship of Elementary School at Situbondo Region 1997 

(BUPATI-Cup). 

• Ketua PRAJEKA “Pramuka Jelajah Kampung” at MI Nurul-Hikam 1997 

(certified). 

• Ketua seksi bid. Keagamaan&ketaqwaan of SMPN 2 panji-Situbondo 1999- 

2000(certified) 

• OSIS’s secretary of SMPN 2 Panji-Situbondo 2000-2001 (Certified) 

• Wakil Ketua Seksi Bidang Pendidikan Organisasi dan kerumahtanggaan OSIS 

of SMAN 1 Kraksaan-Probolinggo 2002-2003 (Certified). 

• Join with FLP (Forum Lingkar Pena) komisariat UIN Malang (certified). 

• Join with IPNU-IPPNU of UIN-Maliki Malang (Certified). 

• Wakil ketua seksi bidang pengembangan wacana of IPNU-IPPNU 2006-2007 

(certified) 

• SC “Steering Committee” in LAKMUD “Latihan Kader Muda” pimpinan 

komisariat PT IPNU_IPPNU UIN Malang.

CHAPTER I-V - Digilib UIN Malang

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