POWER DIFFERENCES IN DETERMINING POLITENESS IN
ENGLISH
A Thesis
Submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Magister Humaniora
By:
ASRIANI HASIBUAN Registration Number : 8136112004
ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY PROGRAM
POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
MEDAN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, the writer would like to thank Allah SWT, the most gracious and the most merciful for blessing him to write this thesis. This study is concerned with power differences in determining politeness in English. It is submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program of the Postgraduate School, the State University of Medan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Magister Humaniora. In particular, the writer would like to address her deep thankfulness to the Prof. T. Silvana Sinar, M.A., PhD., her first Adviser for her time spent in guiding, correcting, and supporting her to complete this thesis, Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S., her second Adviser for her super attention in giving the support, suggestions, comments and ideas from the beginning of writing of this thesis until the present. The writer also expresses her great gratitude to Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd., Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S., and Farid Ma’ruf, Head, Secretary and Staff of the English Applied Linguistics Study Program for their assistance in completing the administrative procedures. She is deeply grateful to lecturers who have given the valuable knowledge and experiences during her study in this university. Special thanks are expressed to her examiners: Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd., Prof. Dr. Sumarsih, M.Pd. and Dr. Syahron Lubis, M.A for their criticisms and suggestions in improving this thesis.
A very special gratitude is given for her beloved husband and son : Husni MB. Rambe, S.Pd and Aditya Naufal Rambe, for sincere prayers love, support, permission and chance for continuing and completing postgraduate study, her beloved parents: Aswin Hasibuan and Rita Jerni Pane, Roslina Pane, her beloved parents in law : Pasti Merdeka Rambe, B.A and Pesta Siagian, her beloved sister and brother: Benny Iswanto Hasibuan and Linda Nora Rambe, for their sincere prayers, love and support during her academic years in completing her study. May Allah SWT always bless us. Then, thanks to the principal of STKIP Tapanuli Selatan Padangsidipuan, located in Padangsidimpuan, and all participants for giving her permission and time to conduct a research in that place.
Finally, she would like to thank to head of Al- Iman foundation, all friends in English Department of STKIP Tapanuli Selatan Padangsidimpuan, classmates and those whose name can not be mentioned here for giving the valuable support in finishing this thesis.
Medan, 11 June 2015 The writer,
Asriani Hasibuan
Dedicated to
Beloved Parents Alm. Aswin hasibuan Almh. Rita Jerni Pane Almh. Roslina Pane Pasti Merdeka, B.A
Pesta Siagian
Beloved Husband and Son Husni MB. Rambe, S.Pd
Aditya Naufal Rambe
ABSTRACT
Asriani Hasibuan: Power Differences in Determining Politeness in English. A Thesis. English Applied Linguistic Study Program. Postgraduate School. State University of Medan. 2015
ABSTRAK
Asriani Hasibuan: Power Differences in Determining Politeness in English. A Thesis. English Applied Linguistic Study Program. Postgraduate School. State University of Medan. 2015
TABLE OF CONTENT
Acknowledgement ... i
Abstract ...iii
Table of Contents ... v
List of Tables ... ix
Listof Figures ... x
List of Appendices ... xi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 Background of Study ... 1
1.2 Problems of Study ... 6
1.3 The Objectives of the Study ... 6
1.4 The Scope of Study ... 6
1.5 The Significance of the Study ... 7
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 8
2.1 Politeness Strategies ... 8
2.1.1 Types of Politeness Strategies ... 11
2.1.1.1Bald on Record Strategy ... 11
2.1.1.2Positive Politeness Strategy ... 12
2.1.1.4 Off Record Strategy ... 13
2.1.2 Realization of Politeness Strategies in Language ... 13
2.1.2.1Realization of Bald on Record Strategy ... 13
2.1.2.2Realization of Positive Politeness Strategy ... 14
2.1.2.3 Realization of Negative Politeness Strategy... 20
2.1.2.4Realization of Off Record Strategy... 23
2.1.3 The Reason for Using Politeness Strategies ... 26
2.1.3.1The Reason for Using Bald on Record ... 26
2.1.3.2The Reason for Using Positive Politeness ... 27
2.1.3.3The Reason for Using Negative Politeness ... 27
2.1.3.4The Reason for using Off Record ... 27
2.2 Power ... 27
2.3 Power in Politeness ... 29
2.4Speech Act Theory ... 31
2.4.1 The Speech Act of Complaint ... 32
2.4.2The Speech Act of Refusal ... 33
2.4.3 The Speech Act of Apology ... 33
2.5Politeness Strategies in Expressive Speech Acts ... 33
2.6 Power Differences ... 35
2.6 The Relevant Studies ... 36
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 41
3.1 Location and Place ... 41
3.2The Research Design ... 41
3.3The Subject of The Study... 41
3.4 The Instrument of Data Collection ... 42
3.5The Technique of Data Collection... 42
3.6The Technique of Data Analysis ... 43
3.7 TheTrustworthiess ... 43
CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .. 45
4.1 The Data Analysis ... 45
4.1.1 Types of Politeness Strategies Used by Students ... 45
4.1.1.1 Bald on Record ... 46
4.1.1.2 Positive Politeness Strategy ... 46
4.1.1.3 Negative Politeness Strategy ... 47
4.1.1.4 Off Record ... 48
4.1.2 The Realization of Politeness Strategies in Students- Lecturers Interaction ... 49
4.1.3The Reason of Politeness Strtegies Used by Students to Male Lecturer ... 59
4.1.3.1 Reason for Using Bald on record ... 59
4.1.3.3 Reason for Using Negative Politeness ... 61
4.1.3.4 Reason for Using Off record ... 62
4.2 Findings ... 63
4.3 Discussion ... 64
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION ... 5.1 Conclusions ... 66
5.2 Suggestions... 66
i List of Tables
Table 4.1 4 The Comparison of Politeness Staretgies Used by
All participants ... 45
Table 4.2 The Occurrence of Politeness Strategies Used by Students
to Female Lecturers ... 48
Table 4.3 The Occurrence of Politeness Strategies Used by Students
to Male Lecturers ... 48
... 49
Table 4.4 The Realization of Politeness Strategies in
List of Figures
List of Appendices
Appendix 1. Politeness Strategies to Female Lecturer ... 71
Appendix 2. Politeness Strategies to Female Lecturer ... 75
Appendix 3. Politeness Strategies to Male Lecturer ... 79
Appendix 4. Interview with Students who have Different
Politeness Strategies ... 83
Appendix 5. The Data of Informants ... 87
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1The Background of the Study
Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP) is a branch of second language acquisition research. One of its aims is to study how non-native speakers perform a particular speech act in a target language. Research in interlanguage pragmatics has shown that English language learners‟ performance of speech acts is often different from that of native English speakers because the learners have limited knowledge of L2‟s pragmatic rules and transfer their native pragmatic rules into their L2 communication. Zegarac and Pennington‟s definition on pragmatic transfer is the influence of newly learned second language knowledge by the existing native language knowledge in mind. Such pragmatic transfer is shaped by culture-specific knowledge (Zegarac and Pennington, 2000). When people from different cultures communicate with each other without perceiving their different culture, miscommunication may probably happen and pragmatic transfer may probably occur.
Since Indonesian language and English language belong totwo different language systems, evidence of pragmatic transfer of Indonesia into English by Indonesian learners of English is most likely to be identified in their intercultural communication.One pragmatic transfer which can possibly occur inthe intercultural communication of Indonesian learners ofEnglish is expressing expressive speech act. Expressives are speech acts whose illocutionary content is the expression of a psychological state about oneself or the world (Searle and Vanderveken, 1985).
A refusal is a speech act by which a speaker refuses “to engage in an action proposed by the interlocutor” (Chen, Ye, & Zhang, 1995: 121). Apology has been defined as regretful acknowledgement of fault or failure.
Since Indonesian and English speakershave different perceptions of how expressive speech act should be conducted, it is more likely that pragmatic transfer of Indonesian will occur in the their intercultural communication of Indonesian learners of English. According to Brown and Levinson‟s politeness theory (1987), this speech act is regarded as a face threatening act since the speaker is insome way intruding into the hearer‟s world by performing an act that concerns what the latter should do.
Since pragmatic transfer in expressive speech act by Indonesian learners of English can cause the breakdowns in their intercultural communication, it is needed to investigate Indonesian learners‟ pragmatic transfer in expressive speech act strategies in order to know how learners‟ culture-specific backgrounds affect their pragmatic competence in English. In so doing, the pedagogical implications can be brought forth and inspire both language teachers and language learners.
One person may be said to have power over another to the degree that he or she is able to control the behaviour of the other. Power is a relationship between at least two persons, and it is nonreciprocal in the sense that both cannot have the same power in the same area of behaviour. One of the factors influencing power differences is the age differences. Conversations between people of different ages frequently show different strategy of politeness. Mizutani and Mizutani (1987:4) affirm that differences in age will influence the formality of speakers and hence the degree of politeness. It has become a rule in Japan that older people talk in a familiar way toward younger people, and younger people talk politely to older people. In contrast, people of the same age commonly use familiar speech styles in conversation.
Another aspect of power is the notion of status, which is derived from the Latin term for „standing‟ and relates simply to one‟s position in society, conferring „rights and obligations upon a person as a citizen within a political community‟ (Turner, 1988:2). According to Bonvillain (1993:145-146), status differences may be based on „combinations of income, occupation, education, and resulting differences in access to social, economic, and/or political power and this reflect inequalities among sectors of a population‟. Such aspects of power relations determine the low or high level of conversations. Brown and Levinson‟s idea in this case is that „the more powerful a person, the more influential he is in the conversations‟. His level of politeness may even decrease to less polite speech. Another factor relating to differences in communicative styles is gender, based on the idea that men and women are different in their language.One of the differences is that women are said to be more polite than men. According to Speer (2002:347), women have a higher tendency than men to apply politeness strategies in their speech such as the use of more compliments and more apologies. Hobbs (2003:243) notes that when talking with same sex peers, women will use many positive politeness strategies. On the other hand, men in similar circumstances do not show this tendency.
distance‟ and referred it as „the degree based on stable social attributes the reflex of social closeness‟. This suggests that how familiar speakers are with each other will determine how politely they behave. The closer they are, the less polite they need to be. Situation or speech situation, either formal or informal, is also an influential factor in communication. Normally, people talking in formal situations will use more polite speech whereas in informal situations, speakers tend to use a more familiar style of speech. In addition, people also change levels of speech depending on the situation, even when talking with the same person. Holmes (1995:17) refers to this as the „formality dimension‟, which concerns the situational factors that influence people to be polite or not.
Thus, from the elaboration above it can be concluded that the politeness is affected of three essential variables, namely power/ power dimension, distance/ solidarity- social distance dimension, and rank of imposition/ the formality dimension.
This study is necessary to be conducted because through this study, it can give information to the reader generally and to the students especially in order to make them know how to communicate with the lecturers well. Therefore, Students- lecturers interaction are necessary to be noticed, because in teaching and learning program, they will have interaction in expressing something, it can be requesting, refusing, complaining and so on. Researcherwas really interested to make a research in this study because in their daily language, they have different politeness strategies to different lecturers. It is proved in the preliminary data which resesarcher did, it was by administering wDCT. This example is one of their utterances which researcher found in wDCT.
Case : refusal
“You are a student who arrives half an hour late to class because you had to go to the doctor for an important health issue. The course policy states that late arrivals are not permitted, except for serious documented excuses.
The lecturer tells you that your behaviour is disruptive and asks you to
You refuse your lecturer by saying:
For female lecturer
Student: “ Sorry mam, I have to go to the hospital first because I have tocheck my health. This is not my want to come late. ( positive politeness)
For male lecturer
Student: “Sorry sir, I didn‟t intend for coming late at your class. I also didn‟t want this is happened..”( bald on record)
For female lecturer
Student: “ Sorry mam, I come late. But, I didn‟t want this is happened. Please allow me to join the class mam. For the next I will not do it anymore.” ( positive politeness)
From the examplesabove, it can be seen that students o STKIP Tapanuli Selatan Padangsidimpuan have different politeness strategies to different lecturers. They prefer to use bald on record strategy to oldermale lecturer and prefer to use positive politeness strategy to younger female lecturers. It means there is possibility that not all of four types of politeness strategies stated by Brown and Levinson occur in an interaction and not all male lecturerswill get more polite language than others.
1.2 Problems of the Study
The problems of the study are formulated as in the following.
1. What types of politeness strategies are used by the students of STKIP
Tapanuli SelatanPadangsidimpuan in class interaction with different power of lecturers in expressing complaint, refusal, and apology?
2. How are those types of politeness strategies realized by the students of
STKIP Tapanuli Selatan Padangsidimpuan in expressing complaint, refusal and apology?
3. Why are the types of politeness strategies realized the way they are?
1.3 The Objectives of the Study
In relation to the problems, the objectives of the study are :
1) to describe the types of politeness strategies used by the students of STKIP
Tapanuli Selatan Padangsidimpuan in expressing complaint, refusal and apology.
2) to explain how those types of politeness strategies are realized by students
in expressing complaint, refusal and apology by the students of STKIP Tapanuli Selatan Padangsidimpuan.
3) to find out the reason why the types of politeness strategies are realized as
the way they are.
1.4 The Scope of the Study
1.5 The Significance of the Study
This study is expected to have both theoretical and practical significance for the readers. Theoretically, the findings of this study are expected to enrich the theories of politeness strategies especially in the classroom interaction. They are also expected to give the contribution as guiding information for sociolinguistics students who are interested in the study of politeness.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5. 1
ConclusionsAfter analyzing the data in written Discourse completion Task (WDCT) which administered to the sixth semester students of STKIP Tapanuli Selatan, Some conclusions are drawn as the following:
(1) All types of politeness were applied in students-lecturers interaction,
they are bald on record,positive politeness, negative politeness and off record. (2) Negative politeness was used to female lecturers in four ways, namely be pessimistic and apology, be conventionally indirect and go on record as incurring a debt, or as not indebting H. However for male lecturer, positive politeness frequently occu in three ways, namely offer, promise, give/ ask for reason and use ingroup identity marker.
(3) Negative politeness was used because of the students really wants to
save lecturer’s face, and they also need to recognize the character of lecturer who attend their class. While positive politeness was used because of the gender and character of lecturer, if they speak with easy going and humorous lecturer. So they use this strategy when they interact with the lecturer.
5. 2Suggestions
In relation to the conclusions, suggestion are offered. They are:
(1) It is suggested to the lecturer of sociolinguistics to introduce the theory of politeness strategies in the classroom, so that it can be trigger for the students to conduct a research related to the field.
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