Confessions of a Sinner

Idled around watching the TV
Keeping up with each song and movie
I kept on with each latest style
Forgetting that i will be soon on trial

I had been a good singer and a good dancer
Now Answerable, but unable to answer
Even though my Lord asked me to refrain
I did all that lead me to hell fire and pain
I see those smiling faces, their results in their right hands

Why was i following actors and stupid music bands
Why did I keep non mahrems as my friends
Why did I forget the rules and follow immodest trends
Why did I do stuff forbidden in my religion

I sadly stand now in the disbeliever's legion
Ya Allah I was a muslim yet I rarely did pray
I committed indecency and I went astray
I talked and mingled with the other sex

I lied, betrayed and made my life complex
I was a hypocrite, did good for fame
Ignored your message, when to me it came
The Holy Quran, I rarely did read

To all those warnings, I took no heed
I troubled my parents in their old age
Abused and Yelled at them in my vain rage
I lived for the worlds' luxury and its vain vanity

Late did I understand that it was pure insanity
I was given chances, which i took for granted
Now I have to reap what I have planted
I am responsible for this painful aftermath

I blindly followed on Satan's wrong path
Please don't throw me into the depths of hell
With fiery flames and each horrendous smell
Boiling water and pus to quench ones thirst

The Many Punishments, each worse then the worst
Satan mislead me to each wrongful desire
And lead me closer and closer to Hell fire
I walked on as satan misguided me and grinned

Ya Allah! I beg You for mercy as I have sinned
Forgive me for my sins and for being ungrateful
Forgive me for standing in league with the unfaithful
Forgive me and Make my soul pure and beautiful

Bestow mercy on me, You are the Most Merciful
I am Your creation, Your servant of humility
You are the Lord of the worlds, The One, The Almighty

Spoiler

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Presupposition

Presupposition is first assumption that appears in speaker's mind in conversation that the hearer can understand what the speaker is talking about.  Presupposition is assumption that the addressee is able to understand what the speaker means because the speaker's utterance has certain sign, context, and reference that is understood by interlocutor.

In addition, Palmer (1989: 181) tries to explain this by giving an example "the king of France is bald", Palmer tries to compare the notion of Russell (1905) and Strawson in which according to Russell, considered by Palmer as the first notion appeared, the sentence "the king of France is bald" indicates two things, first, the existence of king of France and the king is bald. If essentially the king of France does not exist, the sentence is judged as fake or false sentence, and conversely. The second notion comes from Strawson, he states that in sentence "the king of France is bald", the speaker supposes that the hearer is able to recognize exactly the man or thing in the sentence uttered by him exists. So that the speaker is not necessary to confirm whether the man or thing is really exist, however the speaker only makes presupposition about the existence of it. If the man or thing does not exist, so it will appear what is called 'the failure of presupposition', and the sentence is not true or false. Simpler we can say that, if sentence (a) presuppose sentence (b), the truth of the sentence (b) must follow from the truth of sentence (a), but if sentence (b) is false, then the sentence (a) will has no truth value. 

In addition presupposition is divided into two categories, they are: logic presupposition and pragmatic presupposition. Logic presupposition is presupposition which deals with the arrangement and understanding of message in which as the part of semantics has logic relationship with form of expression, both in coding and structuring of relationship. In addition, pragmatic presupposition is presupposition which deals with context, both in the relation between the users and social-situational surrounded it.

In the study of logic of language, we know about the term propositional calculus. This term basically involve two concepts, they are: calculus and proposition. Calculus is 'taking conclusion determining truth' and proposition is 'statement which suitable with abstraction in the consciousness of the user'. So that, propositional calculus deals with characteristics abstraction of reference when it is in the conceptualization of expression, taking conclusion of the characteristic of relationship of abstraction result is signed by connective sign, such as: which, that, to be, and, not, or. For instance, '"Malang is beautiful city", when the speaker abstracts Malang city for instance, he has known well about Malang city so that he is able to give earmark' beautiful'.  
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See also:

• Formal Semantics
• Analytic Sentence
• Synthetic Sentence
• Entailment
• Presupposition

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Entailment

Entailment is a relationship that applies between two sentences, where the truth of one implies the truth of the other because the meanings of the words involved. It is relation between sentences such that the truth of the second sentence necessarily follows from the truth of the first. The test of entailment can be done as follows: sentence (a) entails sentence (b) if the truth of sentence (a) insures the truth of sentence (b) and if the falsity of sentence (b) insures the falsity of sentence (a). For instance, (a) Adi is a bachelor (b) Adi has been unmarried. In this case, sentence (a) entails sentence (b) because the truth of sentence (a) insures the truth sentence (b) (if Adi is a bachelor, he is automatically unmarried), and the falsity of sentence (b) insures the falsity of sentence (a) (if Adi is married, he is not bachelor). However, the relation of entailment is unidirectional, it means the position between sentence (a) and (b) are irreplaceable. For instance, let us take the previous example and try to replace them, (b) Adi has been unmarried (a) Adi is a bachelor. In this case, sentence (b) does not entail sentence (a¬) because if Adi has been unmarried, it does not mean that he a bachelor, it is very possible that he is a widower or etc. (Kempson, 1977: 142).

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See also:

• Formal Semantics
• Analytic Sentence
• Synthetic Sentence
• Entailment
• Presupposition

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Synthetic Sentence

Sentence which might be true or false depend on the world which they refer. In contrast to analytic sentences, synthetic sentences are not true or false because of the words which comprise them; they, however, do or do not accurately describe some state of affairs in the world. For instance, the sentence, 'Adi's home is burning.' is a synthetic sentence. We cannot judge its truth or falsity by examining the words in the sentence. We must investigate the truth or falsity of this sentence empirically. 

In addition, there are certain sentences which make us confuse to determine whether it is included in analytic or synthetic sentence. For instance the sentence ' oxygen is not blue', the problem appears concerning the color of the oxygen, because we do not know the color of oxygen since we can not see it just feel it, in this case the sentence tend to be included into synthetic sentence since the definition of the two categories them selves, analytic is true by definition and synthetic is true as the result of investigating, verifying, and falsifying empirically. 

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See also:

• Formal Semantics
• Analytic Sentence
• Synthetic Sentence
• Entailment
• Presupposition

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Analytic Sentence

An analytic sentence is one that is necessarily true as a result of the words in it. For instance "bachelor is unmarried man” is true not because the world is the way it is, but because of the English is the way it is. Based on our English knowledge, the word 'bachelor' means 'unmarried man'. It is not necessary for us to check on the outside world to prove the truth of this sentence. In the other word, the sentence is obligatory true, it is not bounded the condition that follows, based on the relationships between words formed the sentence (Kempson, 1977: 26). In addition, it can be defined that analytic sentence are "true by definition". Analytic truth may be considered as linguistic truth since they are true in virtue of the language itself. Parker in Ahmadin (1998: 17).

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See also:

• Formal Semantics
• Analytic Sentence
• Synthetic Sentence
• Entailment
• Presupposition

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Formal semantics

Although the term of 'formal semantic' might be used in a very general sense to refer to a whole set of different approaches to the study of meaning, it is usually employed nowadays with particular reference to a certain version of truth conditional semantics which originated in the investigation of specially constructed formal languages by logicians and has recently been applied to the investigation of natural languages.

According to Tarski to know the meaning of certain sentence, it means to understand in what condition the sentence is true. For instance, the sentence 'snow is white', to know the meaning of that sentence we have to understand what condition existed that supports that sentence is true. There is a formula concerning this discussion:

S is true if and if only P

S refers to the sentence, and P refers to the condition which supports the S. from the preceding example we can say that snow is white is true and if only snow is white.

In addition, the study of truth condition falls into two basic categories: the study of different types included in individual sentences: analytic and syntactic; and the study of different types of truth connections that hold between sentences; entailment and presupposition. 
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See also:

• Formal Semantics
• Analytic Sentence
• Synthetic Sentence
• Entailment
• Presupposition

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The Legend Will Live

If they ever tell my story, let them say...

...I walked with giants.

Men rise and fall like the winter wheat...

...but these names will never die.

Let them say I lived

in the time of Hector...

...tamer of horses.

Let them say...

...I lived in the time of Achilles.

Jika mereka menceritakan kisahku, biarlah meraka bercerita

Aku berjalan dengan para raksasa.

Manusia bangkit dan jatuh seperti gandum di musim dingin,

tapi nama-nama ini tidak akan pernah sirna.

Biarlah mereka bercerita, Aku hidup

di masa Hector,

Sang penjinak kuda.

Biarlah mereka  bercerita, 

Aku hidup di masa Achilles

(Troy)

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Be The Best of Whatever You Are

If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill
Be a scrub in the valley–but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.

If you can’t be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway some happier make;
If you can’t be a muskie then just be a bass–
But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can’t all be captains, we’ve got to be crew,
There’s something for all of us here.
There’s big work to do and there’s lesser to do,
And the task we must do is the near.

If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can’t be the sun be a star;
It isn’t by size that you win or you fail–
Be the best of whatever you are!

by: Douglas Malloch

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Kesungguhan Seseorang...

Seberapa parah semua kebiasaan burukmu...

Seberapa sulit cara untuk mengerti dirimu...

Seberapa hina akan masa lalumu...
Seberapa banyak akan kekuranganmu...

Seberapa tinggi akan keegoisanmu...

Seberapa besar akan obsesimu...

Ia tetap menginginkanmu dalam hidupnya...

Memperhatikanmu dalam segalanya...

Karena memang dia mencintaimu apa adanya...

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Mythological and Archetypal Approach to Analyze Literature

According to the common misconception and misuse of the term, myths are merely primitive fictions, illusions, or opinions based upon false reasoning. Actually, mythology encompasses more than grade school stories about the Greek and Roman deities or clever fables invented for the amusement of children (or the harassment of students in college literature courses). It may be true that myths do not meet our current standards of factual reality, but then neither does any great literature. Instead, they both reflect a more profound reality. Myth is fundamental, the dramatic representation of our deepest instinctual life, of a primary awareness of man in the universe, capable of many configurations, upon which all particular opinions and attitudes depend (Guerin, 2005). Myth is to be defined as a complex of stories-some no doubt fact, and some fantasy-which, for various reasons, human beings regard as demonstrations of the inner meaning of the universe and of human life. Myths are by nature collective and communal; they bind a tribe or a nation together in common psychological and spiritual activities.

This approach emphasizes “the recurrent universal patterns underlying most literary works.” Combining the insights from anthropology, psychology, history, and comparative religion, mythological criticism “explores the artist’s common humanity by tracing how the individual imagination uses myths and symbols common to different cultures and epochs.” One key concept in mythological criticism is the archetype, “a symbol, character, situation, or image that evokes a deep universal response,” which entered literary criticism from Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, all individuals share a “‘collective unconscious,’ a set of primal memories common to the human race, existing below each person’s conscious mind”, often deriving from primordial phenomena such as the sun, moon, fire, night, and blood, archetypes according to Jung “trigger the collective unconscious”.

To see the example how to utilize this approach follow this link.
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See also:

• Critical Approaches to Study Literature
• Objective Approach
• Subjective Approach
• Historical Approach
• Biographical Approach
• Psychological Approach
• Mythological and Archetypal Approach
• The Formalist Approach

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Psychological Approach to Analyze Literature

The aim of psychological study folds in three natures. Foremost, the objective of understanding behavior, that is by defining factors that combine the development and expression of behavior. Secondly, the psychologist striving to develop procedure for the accurate prediction of behavior. Thirdly, psychology aims at developing techniques that will permit the control of behavior that is, way of “ shaping”  or course of psychological development through manipulating those basic factors to the growth and the expression of behavior.

The psychological approach leads most directly to a substantial amplification of the meaning of a literary work. When we discuss psychology and its place in a literary work, we are primarily studying the author’s imagination. As all literary works are based on some kind of experience, and as all authors are human, we are necessarily caught up in the wide spectrum of emotional problems (caused by experience). Not all recourse of psychology in the analysis of literary work is undertaken to arrive at the understanding of the literary work, to a certain extent, we must be willing to use psychology to discuss probability.

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See also:

• Critical Approaches to Study Literature
• Objective Approach
• Subjective Approach
• Historical Approach
• Biographical Approach
• Psychological Approach
• Mythological and Archetypal Approach 
• The Formalist Approach

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Biographical Approach to Analyze Literature

According to Reaske (1966), Biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts (education, work, relationships, and death), biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents the subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.

Biographical approach examines the literary work  in relation to the author’s life. And often a particular poem or song is subject to this kind of analysis simply by nature of its material in relation to the background of the author's personal experience. Or simply we can say, Biographical approach is an approach used to understand and comprehend a literary work by studying deeper about the life of the author. 

The good example of analysis by using this approach is the study of Emily's Chariot, since almost the whole contents of the poem tell about Emily's personal life.

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See also:

• Critical Approaches to Study Literature
• Objective Approach
• Subjective Approach
• Historical Approach
• Biographical Approach
• Psychological Approach
• Mythological and Archetypal Approach
• The Formalist Approach

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Historical Approach to Analyze Literature

One of the most basic approach used in the analysis of literary work refers to the historical method of literary criticism. In line with this, (Russell 1966: 52) assures that the critic interprets the poem within the history, or contemporary frame of reference, behind the poem. In other words, Historical approach is one of the method to analysis literary work in which the author and the reader comprehend the message of the literary work by remembering the moment/historic moment a long with the literary work written.

It means that if one takes historical approach, he/she have to be willing to do the basic exclusion of all other approaches or at least he must not use any of the other approaches until this historical approach has exhausted.While those using the historical approach admit that a poem can mean something different to the readers of a later century, he still maintains that the original meaning is the only true one, and that it can be discovered only through historical analysis. Put simply, this approach sees a literary work chiefly, if not exclusively, as a reflection of its author's life and times or the life and times of the characters in the work.

Interesting fact can be spelled out through a literary work. The literary work which fits best using this approach in the attempt to gain better and deeper understanding of the content is that the song 'Wind of Change' by Scorpion which presents the history of the Cold War's ending. You'll never know the meaning of this song without knowing the history of Cold War.

Therefore, there are at least four steps in utilizing this approach:

1. Discovering the time when the poem was made, what happened to the author in that time, or is there any special moment in that time which is recorded by historian.

2. Analyzing at glance whether it is connected or not between the content of the literary work and the certain historical moments after finding out the basic information of it concerning the "when".

3. Finding the clues left by the author, usually in the forms of special terms, symbols, or figurative language which are strongly related to the moment of the past which become the inspiration of the literary work was being made. Take the example of the song 'Wind of Change' by Scorpion, terms like, Moskva, Gorky Park, August summer night, balalaika, freedom bell, and etc. Through those terms the readers are given clues of what the song tells about.

4. Interpreting the literary work based on the moment underlying the creation of it by comprehending and analyzing the content related to its historical moment.
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See also:

• Critical Approaches to Study Literature
• Objective Approach
• Subjective Approach
• Historical Approach
• Biographical Approach
• Psychological Approach
• Mythological and Archetypal Approach 
• The Formalist Approach

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Subjective Approach to Analyze Literature

The subjective approach to a literary work begins with personal interest in it. That is, when one has read a literary work he has encountered the statement of a certain experience. Then he wants to respond to that experience through a consideration of his own experience.

In the Frost poem, for example, one might, for subjective reasons, concludes that the speaker is an tired old man or a young man who feels tired when he considers how many years remained for him. A girl might, for subjective reasons, feels enough kinship to the speaker to decide it is a woman, rather than a man. Therefore,  subjective approach in a literary work is an approach to analyze a literary work from the point of view of the reader. So the interpretation is based on what is in reader’s mind or according to the experience felt by the reader.
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See also:

• Critical Approaches to Study Literature
• Objective Approach
• Subjective Approach
• Historical Approach
• Biographical Approach
• Psychological Approach
• Mythological and Archetypal Approach 
• The Formalist Approach

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Critical Approaches to Study Literature

The study of literature, nowadays, has shifted the focus, from the elements terms to the criticism. The study of literary works is no longer only focused on the analysis of plot, setting, character, or symbolism but has been broader to the area of criticism. Criticism does not mean "finding fault with". In this study, literary criticism as an academic activity should be viewed as the expression of the writer's point of view of what is happening to the text. Here are some approaches used to study literature:

• Objective Approach
• Subjective Approach
• Historical Approach
• Biographical Approach
• Psychological Approach
• Mythological and Archetypal Approach
• The Formalist Approach  

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Chomsky's Generative Linguistics: An Introduction

Perspective Border
Q:        Why is it called 'generative'?

A:      'generative'- to generate = (1) to produce, (2) to specify the rules

(1)  owing to our mental grammar, when we speak / write we produce new grammatical sentences.

(2)  Generative Grammar describes our mental grammar by specifying the rules / making the hidden linguistic rules in our head explicit. It has two ways:

(a) by drawing a tree structure (Tree diagrams);

(b) by stating the Phrase Structure (PS) Rules in the form of “re-write” rules: X à X  Z 

(e.g., S à NP  VP)

Three important linguistic principles
Q:      What makes us able to distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences?

A:      The “mental grammar” or the “linguistic competence” in our mind does.

The first principle proposed by Chomsky is (1) Language is a mental fact.

How many sentences do you think you can arrange from these words?

"saw – tigers – Wilson"

(1)        *Saw tigers Wilson (ill-formed)

(2)        *Saw Wilson tigers (ill-formed)

(3)        Tigers saw Wilson (unusual meaning)

(4)        *Tigers Wilson saw (ill-formed)

(5)        Wilson saw tigers (well-formed)

(6)        *Wilson tigers saw (ill-formed)

Q:        Can language imitated and produced by parrot be called a language?

A:        (2) Language is innate in the sense that every human child is endowed with the LAD (language acquisition device).  It is this LAD that makes  language  acquisition possible.  Note that the LAD is species-specific, that is, only humans—but not animals—have the LAD.  Therefore, only humans—but not animals—can acquire human language.

Q:        Can you produce an English sentence/ utterance that never be used by any other human in this surface of the earth?

A:        (3) Language is creative.  “linguistic creativity” = crossing the borders / limits of linguistic rules,e.g., That’s very you; kopi banget; benci à membencikan; to slipper the cockroach; Is this a knock-knock bird?

This can be explained in two different ways.  First, as noted above, “linguistic

creativity” means crossing the borders/limits of the existing linguistic rules.  In

addition to the examples given above, some poets are fond of “violating” linguistic

rules, since they are entitled to “poetic license” = lisensia puitika

            Anyone lived in a pretty how town

            With up so floating many bells down

            Spring summer autumn winter

            He sang his didn’t, he danced his did.

                                                (E. E. Cummings)

Secondly, “creativity” refers to our every use of our language.  Every time we speak / write, we “create” new utterances/sentences. 

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See also:

Chomsky's Generative Linguistics: An Introduction

Linguistic Competence and Linguistic Performance

Deep Structure vs. Surface Structure

5 Definitions of Deep Structure

Phrase Structure Rules

Transformation Rules

Tree Diagram

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Alphabetic Writing

• A set of written symbols which each represent a single type of sound;
• The origins of the writing systems of Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew;
• largely consist of consonant symbols;
• Early Greeks took the alphabetizing process a stage further by also using separate symbols to represent the vowel sounds as distinct entities.

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See also:

• Symbols
• Pictograms
• Logograms
• Syllabic Writing
• Alphabetic Writing 

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Trying to be Somebody

T hough tears almost dry,

R adiance alters to cry,

Y ield's only dropping by,

I nsanity teases with shy,

N ightmare deprives calmness,

G naws conscience leaves mindless,

T ime shows the tamer of horses, Hector,

O r Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior.

B eing remembered for the brave behavior.  

E xemplary figures that never fade forever. 

S uccess doesn't come freely,

O bstacles will stop your odyssey,

M ourning star covers how far you see,

E nemies' envy will kill you slowly.

B ut always be the best you can be,

O ptimistic and think positively,

D o not surrender your dignity,

Y ou’ll soon be somebody.

                                                                                                                            

                                            Malang, 11 March 2012

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Life is Life

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. 
Life is beauty, admire it. 
Life is bliss, taste it. 
Life is a dream, realize it. 
Life is a challenge, meet it. 
Life is a duty, complete it. 
Life is a game, play it. 
Life is a promise, fulfill it. 
Life is sorrow, overcome it. 
Life is a song, sing it. 
Life is a struggle, accept it. 
Life is a tragedy, confront it. 
Life is an adventure, dare it. 
Life is luck, make it. 
Life is too precious, do not destroy it. 
Life is life, fight for it.

Hidup itu kesempatan, manfaatkanlah.

Hidup itu indah, kagumilah.

Hidup itu nikmat, rasakanlah.

Hidup itu mimpi, jadikanlah nyata.

Hidup itu tantangan, hadapilah.

Hidup itu tugas, selesaikanlah.

Hidup itu permainan, mainkanlah.

Hidup itu janji, penuhilah.

Hidup itu duka, atasilah.

Hidup itu nyanyian, nyanyikanlah.

Hidup itu perjuangan, sambutlah.

Hidup itu tragedi, hadapilah.

Hidup itu petualangan, beranilah.

Hidup itu keberuntungan, buatlah.

Hidup itu terlalu berharga, jangan dirusak.

Hidup itu hidup, bejuanglah.

(Mother Teresa)
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Syllabic Writing

 When a writing system employs a set of symbols which represent the pronunciations of syllables;
 The symbols do not correspond to single consonants or vowels, but to syllables. Below are the examples of syllabic writing taken from Javanese language (Ha Na Ca Ra Ka):

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See also:

• Symbols
• Pictograms
• Logograms
• Syllabic Writing
• Alphabetic Writing 

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Logograms

The symbols really give no clue to what type of entity is being referred to;

— The relationship between the written form and the object it represents has become arbitrary;

— Cuneiform (wedge-shaped)writing, equipped by Sumerians (The earliest known writing system);

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See also:

• Symbols
• Pictograms
• Logograms
• Syllabic Writing
• Alphabetic Writing 

Read more »

Pictograms

In the history of human kind, we know symbol was first introduced by Ancient Egyptian. They used hieroglyphs as their written language which were in the form of symbols
“Picture” that represents particular images in a consistent way (picture-writing);
—Everyone should use similar forms to convey roughly similar meaning;
—A conventional relationship must exist between the symbols and its interpretations.

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See also:

• Symbols
• Pictograms
• Logograms
• Syllabic Writing
• Alphabetic Writing 

Read more »