Bahasa Manipulatif dalam Memoar Broken Strings Kepingan Masa Muda yang Patah Karya Aurelie Moeremans: Norman Fairclough

Abstract

This study is motivated by the limited number of Critical Discourse Analysis studies within the personal realm specifically regarding memoirs meaning that manipulative language in interpersonal relationships has not yet been extensively explored from a linguistic perspective. The study aims to describe forms of manipulative language based on the textual dimension and to explain the power relations constructed through such language, drawing on the dimensions of discursive practice and sociocultural practice as found in the memoir Broken Strings: Kepingan Masa Muda yang Patah by Aurelie Moeremans. A qualitative descriptive method was employed, utilizing Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis framework, which encompasses the dimensions of text, discursive practice, and sociocultural practice. Data were collected using the "listen-and-note" technique and analyzed through data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results reveal three forms of manipulative language gaslighting, guilt-tripping, and love-bombing with gaslighting being the most dominant. Additionally, five forms of power relations constructed through manipulative language were identified: emotional, psychological, communicative, interpersonal, and ideological power; these forms complement one another to establish the perpetrator's dominance in a multi-layered manner. Thus, manipulative language serves as a linguistic vehicle for enacting power relations in interpersonal relationships, while also demonstrating that psychological abuse can occur subtly through seemingly innocuous word choices.