RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Types of Politeness Strategies by Tim and Mary
1. Bald on Record
The first type of politeness strategies is bald on record. This strategy is considered as the least polite strategy. This strategy is applied when the speaker does nothing to minimize threats to the hearer‟s face. The main reason for
applying this strategy is to do the FTA with maximum efficiency instead of satisfying the hearer`s face. As a result, speakers usually will shock or embarrass hearers. According to Brown and Levinson (1987), bald on record is the most direct, clear unambiguous way of saying things. A speaker will not attempt to minimize the threats to the hearer‟s face. Mostly, bald on record is used when the speaker and the hearer have close relationship, such as family, close friend, and colleague. It is also applied when the speaker wants to show power over the hearers. The speaker might say, “Put your bag away!” It shows an imperative utterance when he directly requests other people to perform actions without an effort to minimize the threat, thus the speaker will use Bald on Record strategy.
Table 4.2 Bald on Record by construction
Politeness Expression Construction
Table 4.2 showed that the distribution of Bald on Record by construction only occurred in clausal construction. As a result, there were 10 frequencies of Clausal Bald on Record by Tim and Mary. Table 4.2 also showed a phenomenon that the 10 frequencies of Clausal Bald on Record were in the form of imperative
sentences. The following is the explanations of Bald on Record strategy by Tim and Mary in About Time movie.
[18] Kit Kat : Is Mary here?
Tim : Yes.
Kit Kat : Where?
Tim : Downstairs. You be gentle. Be gentle! (Kit Kat leaves Tim).
Be gentle!
Tim and Kit Kat were in their house when they talked about Mary. Kit Kat had not met Mary, therefore she was interested to meet Mary. Tim realized that his sister was childish and she used to exaggerate her emotions. As a result, Tim gave a command to her sister by saying “Be gentle”. The utterance “Be gentle” in dialogue [18] was indicated as a sentence. Therefore, the classification of the utterance “Be gentle” was clausal construction. It was used as a direct command.
He used rising tone and spoke in a pedantic manner of speaking. As stated by Gimson (2001), that the use of rising tone is to soften the command. The manner of speaking was in pedantic way because he repeated the command and spoke slower than the command before. It was used to give clarity of the command.
Further, they spoke informally since the role relationship was brother and sister.
From the explanation about the context of situation and the intonation in dialogue [18], it can be considered that Tim used Bald on Record strategy with the sub strategy task-oriented. The use of this sub strategy in dialogue [18] was to give the command or the FTA with maximum efficiency. As stated by Brown and
Levinson (1987), Bald on Record is the most direct, clear and unambiguous way of saying things. As a result, Tim could give a clear command.
[19] Tim : I got given two tickets for the National Theatre tomorrow. Do you wanna come?
Mary : No, so not. I'm just gonna sleep all day.
Tim : I don't see why going to the theatre should get in the way of that.
Many of the best sleeps of my life have happened in the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Mary : No, you take someone else. I really like bed and I really hate theatre.
Tim : Quite right.
You take someone else.
Tim and Mary were in their house when Tim they talked about the weekend plan. In dialogue [19] Tim offered Mary to go to the National Theatre with him. Mary seemed not interested and she refused it because she wanted to sleep all day. She said, “No, you take someone else”. The utterance “No, you take someone else” in dialogue [19] is in the form of sentence. Therefore, the classification is clausal construction. It was used as a direct command. She used rising tone and spoke in a gentle manner of speaking. As stated by Gimson (2001), that the use of rising tone is to soften the command. Besides, the gentle manner of speaking showed that she did not want to make Tim disappointed after she refused the offer. Further, they spoke informally because the role relationship was boyfriend and girlfriend.
From the explanation about the context of situation and the intonation in dialogue [19], it can be considered that Mary used Bald on Record with sub
strategy task-oriented. The use of this sub strategy in dialogue [19] was to give the command or the FTA with maximum efficiency. As stated by Brown and Levinson (1987), Bald on Record is the most direct, clear and unambiguous way of saying things. As a result, Mary could give a clear command.
The findings showed that Tim and Mary used Bald on Record strategy in their conversation. The table 4.2 showed a phenomenon that the Bald on Record distribution by construction only occurred in clausal construction. Further, the 10 expressions of Clausal Bald on Record were imperative sentences and mostly in urgent situation. Bald on Record strategy was applied by Tim and Mary, especially Tim. He had close relationships with many characters in About Time movie. This movie often showed the interaction of Tim and his best friend, Rory.
They worked as lawyers. The close relationship allowed Tim to apply Bald on Record strategy. Besides, Tim also applied Bald on Record strategy when he spoke to Kit Kat. The use of this strategy mostly appeared to give imperative utterances.