The Use of the Wakamono Kotoba Egui on “Snow man”'s YouTube Channel

___________


INTRODUCTION
Edgar H. Sturtevant (1947), in the book Introduction to Linguistics by Sumon Ariyapitipun (2007), said that language is a system of vocal symbols that change from the interactions and agreements of a social group so that it can give rise to variations in language.This phenomenon of language variation is included in sociolinguistics.Namely, the science of language, which studies from the perspective of a group of people who regulate a set of norms, rules, and expectations in language use, is also called a language community (Yule, 1996;Ariyapitipun, 2007).
Several factors determine whether a person speaks, giving rise to language variations, such as age, gender, occupation, education, and situation (Ariyapitipun, 2007).In the age factor, we all realize that older people speak differently from young people, and this proves that there is a linguistic generation gap; there are three types of language variations according to age, namely children's language, teenagers' language, and parents' language (Putri & Santoso, 2016 ).Children and teenagers use simple language and slang (Ariyapitipun, 2007).According to Tanaka (1996), there are generally three styles in society: formal or polite language, everyday language, and slang.The difference in style is what a person uses when speaking, and society is already very adept at matching style to social circumstances (Stockwell, 2002).In Japanese, the language used by young people is called wakamono kotoba.
With the development of the times and young people who are pioneers, they continue to create new and popular terms called wakamono kotoba (Tanaka in Putri & Santoso, 2016).The meaning of young people who are pioneers here are men and women from junior high school to those in their 20s.They use wakomono kotoba within their circle of friends (Horio, 2015).According to Barker (2000), the characteristics of young people, such as liking things that are problematic and liking things that are only done for fun, so this is following the characteristics of wakamono kotoba where the new vocabulary and use of wakamono kotoba makes grammatical deviations and playing around from norms (Horio, 2015& Seraku, 2019).Wakamono kotoba will continue to follow developments with the times to increase its vocabulary (Horio, 2015).Examples of wakamono kotoba (Numan, 2021) are pien, which means sad, gyaru pi is an abbreviation of gyaru piisu, which means posing for a peaceful photo or fingers forming the letter V but upside down following a gal.こわい (pronounced kowai) means afraid, and so on.Apart from the examples mentioned above, there is another example of wakamono kotoba, namely yabai.
Rizky (2014) explains that the word yabai was originally used when facing a dangerous or unfavorable situation to the speaker because it violated the law or norms, so the actual meaning of the word yabai tends to be negative.However, nowadays, it has changed to be used in everyday life, and because it is widely used by young people in Japan, it is included in wakamono kotoba.
Pujiono & Handayani (2022) explained the meaning and expression of the use of the word yabai, with the results of their research showing that there were two changes in the semantic form of the meaning of the word yabai based on data, namely generalizations such as anxiety, a scary face, tired, uncomfortable, afraid, troubled, bad and spicy condition.As well as amelioration, such as disbelief and being touched.
Prawira's study (2017) also shows that the expansion of the meaning of the word yabai tends to occur due to the elevation of the meaning so that the actual meaning, which tends towards the negative, is still used with a positive meaning which is an expansion of the meaning of the word yabai.The actual meaning of the word yabai, which has a negative tendency, such as severe or dangerous, has expanded its meaning with a positive meaning, such as good, extraordinary, or cool.Sano (2005) mentioned that the word yabai, which has a negative meaning, increases with a positive meaning.The research results also show that the positive meaning of the word yabai increases due to semantic changes.In addition, the true meaning of the word yabai slowly disappeared, and the word yabai changed to the level of an adjective.Even though the word yabai has a positive or negative meaning depending on the context of the sentence, the positive meaning of the word yabai tends to change the actual meaning and the level at which it is often used.
Apart from the word yabai, there is the word egui, which has a similar expanded meaning to the word yabai.According to the third edition of the Big Japanese Dictionary in Oba (2020), the word egui has the actual meaning: ① Aku ga tsuyokute nodo wo ira ira to shigeki suru you na aji ya kanji ga shite iru, egarappoi; ② Ki ga tsuyoi; ③ Omoiyari ga nai, reikoku da means ① Feeling a strong, piercing taste or sensation in the throat, sharp; ② Strong-willed; ③ Does not think about other people's feelings, is cruel.From the explanation of this meaning, we can understand that the actual meaning of the word egui is that it has a negative tendency.However, according to Oba (2020), the word egui has experienced an expansion of its meaning in a positive direction by young people in Japan who have become wakamono kotoba, which means 'great' or 'cool' and is close to expanding the meaning of the word yabai.Sakuma (2019) surveyed Japanese students with the survey results showing that 93% of students in Japan often use the word egui in their daily lives since they entered high school and first encountered the word egui on social media X.These students used The word egui, for example, is used to express when playing tennis and the opponent cannot return a blow or when eating very delicious food.Apart from that, Sakuma (2019) also found the word egui in the dialect dictionary in Japan, namely in the Kansai and Kumamoto dialects, where the word egui has the meaning hidoi or mugoi or shinratsu or kitanai, meaning sharp or terrible or dirty.
Oba (2020) also states that the word egui, often used in everyday conversation, is the same as yabai.Then, the word yabai, which has positive and negative meanings, in Oba's (2020) research also divided the meaning of egui into positive (kouteiteki/plus) and negative (hiteidek/minus) meanings.From research data examples, Oba (2020) explains that the positive meaning of the word egui is used in situations such as expressions towards adorable/cool idols or delicious food.So according to Oba (2020), the positive meaning of the word egui has a meaning that is close to the word sugoi, namely great, unique, or extraordinary.Meanwhile, the negative meaning of the word egui is used in emergencies that exceed the level of the word yabai, such as having difficulty recognizing fraudulent emails or a fire on a large mountain.So, according to Oba (2020), the negative meaning of the word egui is used in situations that are complicated or not quickly resolved beyond the level of the word yabai.
Then Oba (2020) also groups the word egui into four functions, namely the predicate function (jutsugodek youhou), the modifier/adverb function (shuushokugodek youhou), the function of a standalone word (interjection) (dokuritsugo (kandoushi) youhou) and other functions.The predicate function is used when the word egui has a meaning that can be seen positively and negatively, such as when surprised to see cheap souvenir prices, a high level of affection or disgust with crowds.From this predicate function, it can be understood that the word egui, which has a negative tendency, is used beyond its true meaning.Then, in the modifier function (adverb), the word egui means hadahadashii, which means more, very, or intense.This function is also the same as the previous function, namely that it can be used with a positive or negative meaning, and the word egui has a very intense impression of the word yabai.Then, positive and negative meanings are also used in the function of words that stand alone (interjections).Research data from Oba (2020) shows that the word egui is most often used to emphasize feelings of being very happy or something charming.Apart from that, it is also used when a disaster or severe event occurs.
As previously mentioned, the meaning of the word egui tends towards the negative.However, in the research by Oba (2020) on other functions, it was found that after the word egui, words were added that functioned to look cool, create addiction or express happiness.Apart from that, there are also many positive meanings, such as very beautiful.So, according to Oba (2020), even though the word egui currently has a meaning opposite to its true meaning, it all depends on the speaker's skill in expressing it.
Hidayat & Kusrini's (2021) analyzed the word egui from the meaning expansion category.The research data found that the actual meaning of the words egu or egui had a harsh or evil meaning and then expanded in meaning to become cool or surprising.The research results by Angelina and Novella (2022) found that the word egui has expanded its meaning and can be used in various situations.For example, if the word egui is combined with the word ryou (quantity), then the word egui has the meaning of a large amount.Then, if the word egui is combined with the word bijyu (visual), the word egui means great or cool.A word that initially only had one meaning is now also used with various other meanings in expanding meaning.However, Angelina & Novella's (2022) research focuses on the sound changes caused by wakamono kotoba and letters forming after sound changes in wakamono kotoba.In contrast, this research focuses directly on the meaning of the word egui in the data source.
Apart from that, the word egui is included in the wakamono kotoba, which, as time goes by, will continue to develop as if it has a new meaning so that it experiences an expansion of meaning like the previous word yabai (Horio, 2015).Based on this description, the author intends to explain the meaning of the word egui used by teenagers from data sources in the form of YouTube videos, group them into categories of meaning and type of function, and explain the situation or circumstances in which the word egui is used.
The problems in this research are as follows: 1. What does the word egui mean in the data source?2. What is the situation or circumstances in which the word egui is used in the data source?3. What is the trend towards the meaning of the data source?

METHOD
In this research, we use descriptive qualitative research methods.Qualitative research is research conducted to describe and explain a phenomenon that is occurring currently using scientific procedures to answer actual problems (Sutedi, 2011).The research technique used is a recording and notetaking technique, namely a data collection technique by recording language use and recording the results of listening to the data on a data card (Kesuma, 2007).So, in this research, the author will explain the meaning, situation, or use of the word egui and the categories of meaning and function contained in the YouTube video data source.
The data analysis step is to collect data on the word egui from data sources and analyze the meaning of the word egui in terms of the situation or circumstances, its use, category of meaning, and type of function.The discussion of grouping the meaning and function of the word egui into positive and negative meanings will use theory from Oba (2020) and look for the Indonesian meaning that is equivalent to the meaning of the egui through an online dictionary.The author conducted this research from December 2022 to October 2023.
For data sources, we use videos from audiovisual media, namely YouTube with the Snow Man channel, totaling 65 videos uploaded in 2021 and 2022 with an average duration of 15-20 minutes.The data in this study was collected from October 2022 to 2023.We chose this data source because young people in Japan acted in the videos and often used wakamono kotoba.Apart from that, on the internet media YouTube, these videos are popular with 2.87 million subscribers (accessed October 2023).

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Based on data sources totaling 65 videos, the following explains the meaning of the word egui based on the situation or conditions in which the word is used and the category and function of the meaning.Analysis: 'Love Me Do' is a fortune teller revealing the results of his predictions to a member of a Japanese idol group called Snow Man.The results of the prediction show a good sign.Another group member, Watanabe (the speaker), praises his friend using the word egui.So, the meaning of the word egui in this data shows meaning that is different from the actual meaning of the word egui, and shows an expansion of the meaning, which includes a positive meaning in the form of praise and can be interpreted in Indonesian as amazing, great or extraordinary.This follows Oba's (2020) theory, which states that the use of the positive meaning of the word egui has a meaning that is almost similar to the word sugoi with the function of a stand-alone word (interjection).
Fukazawa: Abe chan wa wakaru no? Abe: Wakaru Fukazawa: A, wakarunda Abe: Kore, ore daigaku de naratta Mukai: Honma ni shitteru?Abe: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, kono yonsha no ne Watanabe: Egui yotsu da ne "Fukazawa: Abe chan knows?Abe: I know Fukazawa: Oh, I did Abe: I learned about this in college Mukai: That's right, you know?Abe: There's Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, these four companies Watanabe: Four big companies huh" (Youtube video entitled Snow Man "Google nyuusha!?" GAFA no nyuusha shiken de Shoppii no Kakusei, minute 00:39) Analysis: Abe mentioned four companies, such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, that he studied while studying.Watanabe (speaker) provided comments on the four companies mentioned by Abe.In this second data, Watanabe provides a complimentary comment so that it can be included in the positive meaning category of the word egui.Then, looking at the names of the four companies (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon), they are the four most prominent companies in the world, so the meaning of the word egui in this data shows meaning that is different from the actual meaning of the word egui, and shows an expansion of the meaning that can be interpreted into Indonesian as big, great or powerful.This follows Oba's (2020) theory, which states that the word egui has a meaning that is almost similar to the word rippa with a modifier (adverb) function.Analysis: Fukazawa himself won the quiz with 15 strokes.Watanabe (speaker) praised his friend.In this third data, Watanabe gave comments of praise and admiration for the results obtained by his friend so that it could be included in the positive meaning category of the word egui and could be interpreted in Indonesian as cool or amazed.Then, if it is related to the theory from Oba (2020), then the word egui in this data has a meaning almost similar to the word kakkoii or sudek with the function of a stand-alone word (interjection).Abe: Then I answered no mark.Then go to the Ha sequence, namely heart, picture, and melon Watanabe: Eh?! Abe: Then (the winner) Date is the same!Meguro: You think yourself (the winner) huh?Watanabe: (I was) surprised!"(Youtube video entitled Snow Man "Mannaka ou ketteisen" Aidoru wa subete sentaa kara hajimaru, minute 07:32) Analysis : Abe orders words based on the order of Japanese letters.Watanabe (the speaker) reacts when the answer is mentioned last and is commented on by Meguro.In this fourth data, based on the speaker's situation or condition, the word egui can be interpreted in Indonesian as surprised, surprised or surprised because Watanabe (the speaker) thought he would win the quiz.In the meaning of the word egui, it is found in Oba (2020) that the meaning of the word egui can be seen from both sides, namely positive and negative, such as another situation, namely when you are surprised by the price of a very cheap souvenir and has a meaning that is almost similar to the word bikkuri with a predicate function.

Data 5: 阿部：我々は表現者です、アーティストです。 色々なことを表現していきますよね。その中で、 渡辺さんすごいなと思いました。例えば、ちょっ と大変なことを「エグい」と言わずに、「エグエ グ」って言ったり
Abe: Ware ware wa hyougensha desu, aatisuto desu.Iro iro na koto wo hyougen shite ikimasu yo ne.Sono naka de, Watanabe san sugoi na to omoimashita.Tatoeba, chotto taihen na koto wo 'egui' to iwazuni, 'egu egu' tte ittari "Abe: We are people of expression, artists.We often express various things.One of them is that I think Watanabe is a great person.For example, when in trouble, he doesn't say 'egui (troublesome)' but says 'egu egu'" (YouTube video entitled Snow Man "Gion ou ketteisen" Wareware wa hyougensha desu!Egu egu!!, minute 00:33) Analysis: Abe (speaker) explains Watanabe's habit of changing a word into an onomatopoeia and gives an example of the word egui becoming egu egu.In this data, it has also been mentioned by the speaker that the situation or condition of the word egui is when you are in a state of difficulty, so the meaning of the word egui in this data has a meaning that is almost similar to the words taihen or komaru which, if translated into Indonesian, means troublesome, complicated or difficult.A state of confusion is included in the true meaning of the word egui, which tends toward negative with the predicate function.Analysis : Abe and Miyadate criticized the answer from Raul (speaker), who mentioned the word egg, which means egg, but Raul denied it because he mentioned a word that his friend (Shoppi) often said, namely the word egui which is used when in trouble and has a different meaning.It is almost similar to the words taihen or komaru, which becomes troublesome if translated into Indonesian.So, in this data, the word egui is also included in the actual meaning, which tends towards the negative as in the previous data (fifth data) because it is still in the same YouTube video with the predicate function.Analysis: The speakers are playing a card game requiring them to recall their created storyline.Watanabe (the speaker) guessed the storyline and was happy because his guess was correct.Watanabe (the speaker) says the word egu egu in this data.This word is a form of onomatopoeia and a play on words from egui.Then, if you look at the situation, the word egui in this data has a meaning that is almost the same as ureshii, namely happy.So, if it is included in the category of Oba's (2020) theory, it includes a positive meaning with the function of a word that stands alone (interjection).Analysis: The speakers are playing catch with a badminton shuttlecock.Previously, Watanabe failed to hit the badminton shuttlecock and was required to repeat it.Then, Fukazawa practiced a way of hitting that his partner could catch.Seeing this, the other speakers (Mukai et al.) agreed with this method and Watanabe (the speaker) was amazed to see this and gave an impression by saying the word egui.If you look at the situation, the word egui in this data has a meaning almost similar to sugoi, namely great, amazing or extraordinary.So, if it is included in the category of Oba's theory (2020), it is included in the positive meaning with the function of a word that stands alone (interjection)."Fukazawa: Please begin~ Watanabe: That's great, yeah Everyone: Eh!! Watanabe: Amazing Fukazawa: It's here, it's here Mukai: Elegant" (YouTube video entitled Snow Man "9 Nin Kyouryoku Charenji" Renzoku Seikou wo Mezase!, minute 15:52) Analysis: The speakers were playing with paper airplane throwing and were amazed because the airplane flew far to its limit.Watanabe (speaker) was amazed to see this and gave an impression by saying the word egui.If you look at the situation, the word egui in this data has a meaning almost similar to sugoi, namely great, amazing or extraordinary.So, if it is included in the category of Oba's theory (2020), it is included in the positive meaning with the function of a word that stands alone (interjection)."Fukazawa: This is the subplane section, right?Mukai: This is the subplane section Abe: My explanation is, up to this point, he brought the aircraft carrier Meguro: This exceeds the world record.He flew far away, is that okay?Raul: Do you want to try measuring it first?Mukai: Let's measure it" (YouTube video entitled Snow Man "9 Nin Kyouryoku Charenji" Renzoku Seikou wo Mezase!, minute 19:13) Analysis: The speakers were discussing Abe's breakaway paper plane, but it flew far beyond the winner of the paper plane toss at the time.Meguro (speaker) commented on this and gave an impression by saying the word egui.If you look at the situation, the word egui in this data has a meaning almost the same as tooi, namely far away but at a more than usual level.So, it is included in the category of Oba's (2020) theory.In that case, the word egui in this data can be included in positive and negative meanings with the function of modifier/adverb.Analysis: Sakuma is acting like a ruthless kidnapper, but it turns out his position is a subordinate.Meguro (the speaker) was amazed by Sakuma's acting skills and made an impression by saying the word egui.In this situation, the word egui has a meaning almost similar to the level form, namely totemo or hijouni, which has a very different meaning.So, if it is included in the category of Oba's theory (2020), the word egui can be included in positive and negative meanings with a modifier (adverb) function.
From all the collected data above, it can be concluded that there is a true meaning of the word egui and an extension of the true meaning from Oba (2020).From the meaning of this expansion, it is included in wakamono kotoba.This research also proves Oba's theory, which states that the word egui has almost the same usage as the word yabai, but the word egui has a deeper meaning or more significant impact than the word yabai.
Researchers also found positive and negative meanings of the word egui, as in the theory of Oba (2020).The positive meaning of the word egui is found in data 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, and 11, namely in the form of praise such as amazing, incredible, or extraordinary.This includes the function of a word that stands alone (interjection); seen from circumstances such as big, great, or powerful, this includes the function of a modifier (adverb); expressions of admiration such as cool or astonished include the function of words that stand alone (interjections); This happy expression includes the function of a word that stands alone (interjection).This follows research from Oba (2020), which states that the word egui has a positive meaning in situations such as expressing the state of a cute or cool idol figure or expressing delicious food.
Then, data 5, 6, and 12 are the negative meaning of the word egui, namely when in a situation of difficulty such as troublesome, difficult, or in a state of chaos.This includes the predicate function; when you feel threatened, such as severe, threatened, dangerous, worrying or a difficult situation, this includes the function of a stand-alone word (interjection).In research from Oba (2020), the negative meaning of the word egui is a situation that is difficult to resolve and has a worse level than yabai, for example, in not knowingly responding to an email from a fraud or in the event of a big fire.
Apart from that, in this research, the author also found the word egui, whose meaning can be seen from both sides, namely positive and negative, found in data 4, which can be interpreted in Indonesian as surprised, surprised, or surprised, this includes the function of the predicate.This is also found in Oba's (2020) research, where the meaning of the word egui can be seen as having positive and negative meanings, for example, when you are surprised to see the low price of goods, feeling disgusted when surrounded by a large crowd of people.Then, data 10, which can be interpreted into Indonesian to a much higher level, includes the modifier function (adverb).Then, data 13, which can be interpreted in Indonesian as running out or using too much, includes the modifier function (adverb).Finally, data 14 can be interpreted in Indonesian as a level like very, including the modifier function (adverb).

CONCLUSION
Based on research results from YouTube video data sources, we found the use of the word egui with its true and expanded meaning.The data most often found is the positive meaning of the word egui, namely in the form of praise such as amazing, great, or extraordinary; seen from circumstances such as big, great, or powerful; a manifestation of awe such as coolness or astonishment; like.Then there is also the negative meaning or actual meaning of the word egui, namely when you are in a difficult situation, such as being troublesome, in trouble or a state of confusion; when you feel threatened, such as an emergency, threatened, dangerous, worrying or difficult situation.Apart from that, there is the word egui, whose meaning can be seen from both sides, namely positive and negative, which can be interpreted in Indonesian as surprised, surprised, or surprised; adjective substitute; level word.
There is a meaning that is opposite to the original meaning of the word egui but is used in the same situation, so the meaning of the word egui is used to express the opposite situation of the speaker.Therefore, using the word egui in the future can express feelings that cannot be expressed in words.
Then, as time goes by and the word egui is included in wakamono kotoba, its meaning will continue to expand, and in the field of research, it will continue because there still needs to be more research on the word egui.Apart from that, the data source in this research is only based on audio-visual media, which is YouTube in the form of spoken language.Therefore, we should compare egui words from written or spoken language for further research.We should also compare the meaning of yabai and egui as wakamono kotoba with egui in Indonesian as a slang expression.
entitled Snow Man "Mannaka ou ketteisen" Aidoru wa subete sentaa kara hajimaru at minute 06:11) hai hai Sakuma: Kore itta wa Raul: Kore wa mou kono mama Watanabe: Kore egui wa "Fukazawa: I'm starting~ Mukai: Ok ok ok Sakuma: This can be solved Raul: It should be kept like this Watanabe: This is great" (YouTube video entitled Snow Man "9 Nin Kyouryoku Charenji" Renzoku Seikou wo Mezase!, minute 10:28) tte koki jya nai?Mukai: Kore ga koki Abe: Ore no setsumei dewa, kono hen made, aitsu ga bokan na no Meguro: Sekai kiroku nami ni tonderu kedo.Egui tonderu kedo daijoubu?Raul: Ichiou hakattoku?Mukai: Are hakaro In the seventh data, the speakers are playing a game of Jenga (a wooden block game to maintain balance).Miyadate took the bottom wooden block, and the bottom wooden block was quite hollow Raul (the speaker) was amazed and praised Miyadate's action by saying the word egui.So the meaning of the word egui in the seventh data, when viewed from the speaker's point of view and the circumstances, has a meaning that is almost similar to sugoi, which, if translated into Indonesian correctly, is excellent, extraordinary, or impressive and has a tendency towards a positive meaning with the function of the word which stands alone (interjection).
Oba's (2020)e speakers are praising Sakuma's acting while playing table tennis.Meguro (speaker) also commented on this and gave an impression by saying the word egui.If you look at the situation, the word egui in this data has a meaning almost similar to sugoi, namely great, amazing, or extraordinary.So, if it is included in the category of Oba's theory (2020), it is included in the positive meaning with the function of a word that stands alone (interjection).Analysis : Mukai (the speaker) must replace his table tennis racket by drawing from a lottery, and he gets a pot lid.Mukai (the speaker) felt he would need help pronouncing the word egui.If you look at the situation, the word egui in this data means almost the same as taihen or komaru, namely tricky, troublesome, and troublesome.So, if it is included in the category ofOba's (2020)theory, it is included in the negative meaning with the function of a word that stands alone (interjection).Analysis : Raul (speaker) feels sorry for his friend, who looks tired and wants to help lighten his friend's burden, so Raul makes an impression by saying the word egui.If you look at the situation, the word egui in the sentence from this data means a lot of energy is used so that you are tired or run out of energy.So, if you put it into Oba's theory (2020) categories, it includes positive and negative meanings with a modifier function (adverb).