Connotative Meaning of Bon Jovi’s Selected Song Lyrics

This thesis discuss connotative meanings and messages that are contained within Bon Jovi’s song lyrics. The aims of this research are (1) to find out what the connotative meanings delivered by the songwriter are (2) to find out what messages are obtained from the connotative meaning that was delivered by the songwriter. This research used the theory of Abdul Chaer, which states that connotative meaning can be divided into two kinds, namely positive connotative (purr word) and negative connotative (snarl word). Besides the positive and negative connotative meaning, there is neutral that is mostly jargon language. H. Hafied Cangara stated that a message, in communication process, is something that is delivered by the sender to the recipient. The message can be delivered via face-to-face or through media of communication. Its contents can be science, entertainment, information, advice, or propaganda. Messages are essentially abstract. To create a message so that it can be sent and received by the message recipient, a man with his mind create many symbols of communication in the form of sound, mimic, gestures, spoken language, and the language of writing for messages. The method used in analyzing this research is descriptive qualitative method. In Bon Jovi’s song lyric, firstly, the writer found two types of connotative meanings they are positive and negative connotative meaning. Within the song lyrics six positive connotative and eight negative connotative meanings were found. Secondly, the writer found the messages contained in the connotative meaning are namely you don’t have to be afraid to be different, you are free to choose, hide your pain away, do not get overly attached to someone, failures are part of relationship, find a better future, do not let your desire control you, be careful of dangerous people