viii
ABSTRAK
Lisa, Agatha. (2015). Politeness Strategies Applied by the Characters in Having Adjacency Pairs in the Movie Sydney White. Yogyakarta: Program Studi
Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Dalam berkomunikasi, kesantunan menjadi aspek utama untuk menjaga keharmonisan dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat. Penutur harus mampu membuat lawan tutur merasa nyaman dan juga tidak menyinggung perasaannya. Namun, para pelajar Bahasa Inggris masih menemukan beberapa kesulitan untuk berbicara Bahasa Inggris secara santun dan sepantasnya. Sebagai hasilnya, mereka sering berbicara Bahasa Inggris dengan cara yang aneh. Berdasarkan fenomena yang terjadi, maka dilakukanlah sebuah studi untuk menganalisa penggunaan kesantunan. Penelitian ini menganalisa film Sydney White yang berkisah tentang seorang gadis yang berjuang untuk mendapatkan posisi yang sama di kampusnya. Sydney juga berkeinginan untuk mengikuti jejak langkah ibunya yaitu menjadi salah satu anggota di asrama putri terkenal bernama Kappa
Phi Nu. Namun di dalam perjalanannya, dia menghadapi berbagai masalah yang pada akhirnya dia mendapatkan posisi tertinggi di kampusnya. Film ini menggambarkan contoh nyata dari penggunaan kesantunan melalui ucapan para karakter. Dengan demikian, peneliti memiliki tujuan untuk menganalisa fenomena kesantunan yang terjadi dalam film Sydney White.
Pertanyaan-pertanyaan penelitian kemudian dapat dirumuskan sebagai: 1) Pasangan bersesuaian yang mana yang digunakan para karakter dalam film
Sydney White? Dan 2) Bagaimana strategi kesantunan digunakan para karakter dalam menggunakan pasangan bersesuaian?
Peneliti meenggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif melalui analisis dokumen untuk menjawab kedua rumusan masalah tersebut. Data utama penelitian ini diambil dari naskah film Sydney White dan ucapan para karakter menjadi sumber data dalam penelitian. Peneliti menganalisa ucapan para karakter untuk mengetahui jenis-jenis pasangan bersesuaian dan strategi kesantunan yang digunakan para karakter.
Hasil penelitian yang ditemukan peneliti menunjukkan bahwa yang pertama, jenis-jenis pasangan bersesuaian yang digunakan para karakter dalam film Sydney White adalah question-answer/non-answer,
request-acceptance/refusal, offer or invitation- request-acceptance/refusal, assessment-agreement/disagreement, blame-denial/admission, greeting-greeting, summons-answer, and apology-acceptance/refusal. Pasangan bersesuaian yang ditemukan tersebut berjumlah 182 pasang. Yang kedua, para karakter menggunakan empat jenis strategi kesantunan, yaitu Bald-on-record (langsung), kesopanan positif, kesopanan negatif, dan Off-record (tidak langsung). Strategi kesantunan yang digunakan para karakter tersebut berjumlah 171.
POLITENESS STRATEGIES APPLIED
BY THE CHARACTERS IN HAVING ADJACENCY PAIRS
IN THE MOVIE
SYDNEY WHITE
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Agatha Lisa
Student Number: 111214130
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
POLITENESS STRATEGIES APPLIED
BY THE CHARACTERS IN HAVING ADJACENCY PAIRS
IN THE MOVIE
SYDNEY WHITE
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Agatha Lisa
Student Number: 111214130
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
iv
“It always seems impossible until it is
done.”
(Nelson Mandela)
“Optimism is the faith that leads to
achievement. Nothing can be done without
hope and confidence.” (Helen Keller)
This research is proudly dedicated to:
1. My adored parents, Mr. Bawono and Mrs. Lis, who have given endless love, support and affection in my life.
2. My dearest brother, Fransciscus Buwana, who always motivates and accompanies me in happiness and sadness.
v
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work
or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, May 15, 2015
The Writer
vi
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Agatha Lisa
Nomor Mahasiswa : 111214130
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
POLITENESS STRATEGIES APPLIED
BY THE CHARACTERS IN HAVING ADJACENCY PAIRS
IN THE MOVIE
SYDNEY WHITE
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 15 Mei 2015
Yang menyatakan
vii
ABSTRACT
Lisa, Agatha. (2015). Politeness Strategies Applied by the Characters in Having Adjacency Pairs in the Movie Sydney White. Yogyakarta: English Language
Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
In communication, politeness becomes a major aspect to keep harmony in society. The speaker should make others feel comfortable and avoid offending others. However, English learners still find some difficulties to speak English politely and properly. As a result, they often speak English in a peculiar way. Considering that phenomena, a study of politeness strategies was conducted. This study analyzed Sydney White movie, an American teenage movie which told about
the life of the students in campus. The movie revolved around Sydney White as a struggling girl who wanted to get an equal position in campus. She wanted to follow the legacy of her mother to enter Kappa Phi Nu sorority in campus. However, in the way to get it, she faced some problems until she got position in campus as the president of student council. The movie portrays the real example of politeness among characters’ utterances. Thus, the researcher intended to analyze the phenomena found in Sydney White movie.
The research questions then were formulated as: 1) Which adjacency pairs are used by the characters in the movie Sydney White? And 2) How are politeness
strategies employed in having adjacency pairs among the characters?
The researcher used a qualitative research method by using a document analysis to answer both research questions. The primary research data were taken from Sydney White movie’s script and the characters’ utterances became the data
source of this research. The researcher analyzed the characters’ utterances in order to know which adjacency pairs were used by the characters in the movie. Then, the researcher analyzed them into four types of politeness strategies.
The research results showed that first, the adjacency pairs used by the characters in the movie Sydney White were question-answer/non-answer,
request-acceptance/refusal, offer or invitation- request-acceptance/refusal, assessment-agreement/disagreement, blame-denial/admission, greeting-greeting, summons-answer, and apology-acceptance/refusal. The total number of the adjacency pairs were 182 pairs. Second, the characters in the movie employed the types of adjacency pairs by using four types of politeness strategies, namely Bald-on-record (direct), Positive politeness, Negative politeness, and Off-Bald-on-record (indirect). The researcher found 171 utterances in having adjacency pairs which applied four politeness strategies in the movie.
viii
ABSTRAK
Lisa, Agatha. (2015). Politeness Strategies Applied by the Characters in Having Adjacency Pairs in the Movie Sydney White. Yogyakarta: Program Studi
Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Dalam berkomunikasi, kesantunan menjadi aspek utama untuk menjaga keharmonisan dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat. Penutur harus mampu membuat lawan tutur merasa nyaman dan juga tidak menyinggung perasaannya. Namun, para pelajar Bahasa Inggris masih menemukan beberapa kesulitan untuk berbicara Bahasa Inggris secara santun dan sepantasnya. Sebagai hasilnya, mereka sering berbicara Bahasa Inggris dengan cara yang aneh. Berdasarkan fenomena yang terjadi, maka dilakukanlah sebuah studi untuk menganalisa penggunaan kesantunan. Penelitian ini menganalisa film Sydney White yang berkisah tentang seorang gadis yang berjuang untuk mendapatkan posisi yang sama di kampusnya. Sydney juga berkeinginan untuk mengikuti jejak langkah ibunya yaitu menjadi salah satu anggota di asrama putri terkenal bernama Kappa
Phi Nu. Namun di dalam perjalanannya, dia menghadapi berbagai masalah yang pada akhirnya dia mendapatkan posisi tertinggi di kampusnya. Film ini menggambarkan contoh nyata dari penggunaan kesantunan melalui ucapan para karakter. Dengan demikian, peneliti memiliki tujuan untuk menganalisa fenomena kesantunan yang terjadi dalam film Sydney White.
Pertanyaan-pertanyaan penelitian kemudian dapat dirumuskan sebagai: 1) Pasangan bersesuaian yang mana yang digunakan para karakter dalam film
Sydney White? Dan 2) Bagaimana strategi kesantunan digunakan para karakter dalam menggunakan pasangan bersesuaian?
Peneliti meenggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif melalui analisis dokumen untuk menjawab kedua rumusan masalah tersebut. Data utama penelitian ini diambil dari naskah film Sydney White dan ucapan para karakter menjadi sumber data dalam penelitian. Peneliti menganalisa ucapan para karakter untuk mengetahui jenis-jenis pasangan bersesuaian dan strategi kesantunan yang digunakan para karakter.
Hasil penelitian yang ditemukan peneliti menunjukkan bahwa yang pertama, jenis-jenis pasangan bersesuaian yang digunakan para karakter dalam film Sydney White adalah question-answer/non-answer,
request-acceptance/refusal, offer or invitation- request-acceptance/refusal, assessment-agreement/disagreement, blame-denial/admission, greeting-greeting, summons-answer, and apology-acceptance/refusal. Pasangan bersesuaian yang ditemukan tersebut berjumlah 182 pasang. Yang kedua, para karakter menggunakan empat jenis strategi kesantunan, yaitu Bald-on-record (langsung), kesopanan positif, kesopanan negatif, dan Off-record (tidak langsung). Strategi kesantunan yang digunakan para karakter tersebut berjumlah 171.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Foremost, all praises are forwarded to Jesus Christ and Mary, the most
Gracious and the most Merciful who have given me inspiration, strength, blessing, spirit, hopes and guidance in accomplishing this thesis.
First of all, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude and appreciation to the best advisor Bapak Drs. Barli Bram, M.Ed,. Ph.D. His guidance,
suggestions, corrections, comments, and criticism can become the improvement of
this research. Moreover, his support and inspiration make me struggle with all the obstacles during the completion. I would also like to thank Bapak Paulus
Kuswandono, Ph.D., for being the best chairperson of ELESP, and Ibu Yuseva Ariyani Iswandari, S.Pd., M.Ed., for being the best academic advisor of my
class C batch 2011 in ELESP, and Ibu Laurentia Sumarni, S.Pd., M.Trans.St.,
for kindly giving me ideas and some references to support my thesis.
For everything, I thank Babe Drs. Al. Wahyu Bawono, B.Sc., mami MM.
Listiyani Darmayanti, S.Pd., and kakak Fransciscus Buwana. As my family,
they have done their best to me. They always support me emotionally and
materially with effort, prayer, love, and patience.
For every support, I would like to thank Vitha Ama Matuate and
Josephine Fanny Damayanti for the thesis discussion, precious time spent
together in everywhere (library, café, restaurant), and help in understanding theories. I also thank Stevan Arta Risajaya as my special friend who always
x
who has helped to check the grammatical mistakes and the technical of writing. I also thank Katharina Vika, Sonia Alexandra Pereira, Nurita Sekar Asri,
Priska Tyas Ayu Wardhani, Nadia Gitya, Tusita Maina Dewi, Arum Galih
Rahayu, and all my friends of PBI batch 2011 for all the fun we had in the last
four years. For every support and togetherness, I thank all my best friends in
Kelompok 3 MESTAKUNG – Candi I KKN XLIX.
Finally, I would like to thank all people whom I could not mention for
their unforgotten contribution during the thesis writing process. Hopefully this thesis will be beneficial for everyone.
xi
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY v
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI vi
ABSTRACT vii
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 12
xii
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 50
A.Research Method 50
B.Research Setting 51
C.Research Subjects 52
D.Instrument and Data Gathering Technique 52
E.Data Analysis Technique 54
F. Research Procedure 54
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 58
A. Adjacency Pairs in Sydney White 58
B. Politeness Strategies in Sydney White 77
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS 96
A.Conclusions 96
B.Implications 98
C. Recommendations 101
REFERENCES 103
xiii
LIST OF TABLES
Table
1.0 Correlation of content and format in adjacency pairs …...…………. 25 2.0 The Example List of Adjacency Pairs Produced by the Characters
of Sydney White Movie ………. 56
3.0 The Example List of Politeness Strategy Produced by the Characters
of Sydney White Movie ………. 57
4.0 The form of Data Sheet for Adjacency Pairs by the Characters
in the Movie Sydney White. ………. 76
5.0 The form of Data Sheet for Politeness Strategies in Having
Adjacency Pairs Found in the Data by the Characters
xiv
LIST OF FIGURE
Figure
1.0. Super-strategies of politeness ordered against estimated
xv
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A Types of Adjacency Pairs Found in the Data
by the Characters in the Movie Sydney White ……… 106
APPENDIX B Types of Politeness Strategies in Having Adjacency Pairs
Found in the Data by the Characters
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents and discusses the introduction of the research. It consists of 6 sections. The first section is the Research Background. It provides
background information related to the issues and concerns, which trigger the researcher to explore, develop, design, analyze or improve the subject matter. In
the second section is the Research Problem. It contains questions to be answered in this research. The third section is the Problem limitation which limits the scope and the focus of the research. The fourth is the Research Objectives, which
presents the expected outcomes of the research. The fifth is the Research Benefits which contains the advantages of this research. The sixth section is the Definition
of Terms. It explains the terms used in this research to avoid misinterpretation. Each section is presented as follows.
A. Research Background
Everyone has various activities every day. One of them is communication.
People communicate to build a good relationship with others. However, communication will not run well without any media. One of communication
Besides, it is used as a tool for human to express the idea in people’s mind. People need a language to convey their messages to others and figure out what is inside
the conversation. Without a language, they will find some difficulties when they do their activities towards the others such as expressing their ideas, thoughts, and
wishes. Chaer and Agustina (1995, p. 19) say that without language, it is impossible for people to communicate with others in daily life because language can express people’s feeling, willing, thinking, and soon. There are three basic types of communication: verbal, non-verbal, and written. People usually use language in two forms. The first form is spoken form and the second form is
written form. People usually use spoken form while doing the conversation and people usually use written form while writing a letter or making a research report.
Each person has his or her own language style to express their thought. In this research, the researcher only focuses on the verbal language.
There are many factors influencing people while communicating with
others. One of them is social factors. Social factors will lead them not to speak in the same way for all of the time. Holmes (1995, p. 12) mentions that there are four
components of social factor that influence a communication process, i.e. participants, setting or social context of the interaction, topic, and function of the speaking. It means that people will speak differently in different social contexts.
In addition, Holmes also discusses the social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning. Social meaning can be interpreted in many
deliver a message during a conversational exchange in the form of adjacency pairs and the exchanges are built in the presence of adjacent utterances (Holtgraves,
2002, p. 92). As said that message is delivered to the addressee, it is unavoidable that responses appear to reply the message.
There are many kinds of responses which may occur based on how the addressee understands and interprets the meaning of the delivered message. The stated message which is posted by the addresser to the addressee is called a
statement, whereas the reply which is posted by the addressee to the addresser is called a response. A statement which is responded with a response and a response
which appears after a statement are called adjacency pairs. Adjacency pairs is a pragmatic approach to analyze the two related utterances by the two different
speakers, in this case the speakers are the addresser who delivers a statement and the addressee who respond the statement.
Moreover, although an adjacency pair is the smallest structural unit in a
conversation, it cannot be underestimated since it is a fundamental structure in forming a conversation. Every part in an adjacency pair usually relates one to
another. Coulthard (2002) gives the simplest and the most common pair which can be found in a daily conversation, greeting-greeting pair. The example is when A greets B by saying “Hi”, there then B will greet A too by saying “Hello”. The preceding example is an example of the adjacency pair when people greet their neighbor, just say hello to others, or meet their friends.
(the idea of polite social behavior or etiquette, within a culture). People use it in order to get their conversation run well and go smoothly. As stated by Brown and
Levinson (1987), politeness is defined as the strategies to save the hearers’ “face”
employed by the speakers to achieve a variety of goals, such as promoting or
maintaining harmonious relationship. Face refers to the respect that an individual has for himself or herself, and maintaining that “self-esteem” in public or in
private situations. The speakers need to consider their speaking politeness to avoid
offending others, embarrassing the other person, or making others feel uncomfortable.
When people study other languages, as an example is English, they also must study about its culture because language cannot be separated from society.
They must learn and understand first about the culture in order to avoid some misunderstanding when they talk to foreign people. Indonesians as EFL learners often speak in a peculiar ways which is uncommon in English society and is
considered such an impolite response. They are still influenced by their first language. For instance, when a native speaker gives compliment and say, “You are a beautiful girl”, Indonesians will likely show their denial and answer “No, I am not.” By considering that phenomena, as a polite person, the speaker should be able to produce the appropriate politeness strategies in her or his society. On the
other hand, as an English teacher in the future, applying the concept of politeness in the target language is important besides speaking English fluently.
Sydney White movie encompasses aspects belonging to politeness.
strategies in society; they are Bald-On record, Positive Politeness, Negative Politeness, and Off-record/Indirect Politeness. Rachel asks Sydney, for instance,
to answer her question about the colors of Kappa Phi Nu sorority’s house. Rachel says, “Sydney, the Kappa Phi Nu colors?” This utterance refers to Negative
Politeness because the speaker use an address term as ‘you’ avoidance.
The researcher chooses the Sydney White movie in reason that it serves a
great deal of politeness phenomena among the characters which the researcher
seeks to analyze. Also, the movie has various utterance which can be the main source and object to be analyzed. The researcher focuses on the characters’
utterances in the forms of social behavior involving language. It is interesting to
find and reveal the different ways among the characters’ interaction by means of
communication, in particular is the use of politeness strategies in having adjacency pairs.
Politeness in English society can also be used in Indonesian society
although it is different as the Indonesian language politeness. However, people can learn from the English society about how one’s attitude in uttering his or her speaking, respect the other person by keeping the eye contact, distance-spoken, and sincere smile without coercion. The researcher analyzes the use of politeness applied by the characters in having adjacency pairs of Sydney White movie
because movie can ultimately be a good mediator to study other language even culture. The actors and actresses show their habits and cultures of the places and
study sociolinguistics, especially politeness because language cannot be separated from society.
Based on the explanation above, the researcher finds out that adjacency pair and politeness are very interesting and important to be explored. In this
research, the researcher decides to analyze the types of adjacency pairs and politeness strategies in the movie entitled Sydney White.
This research focuses on a movie entitled Sydney White. Sydney White is
an American teenage movie which tells about the life of the students in campus. The movie revolved around Sydney White as a struggling girl to get equal
position in campus. She wants to follow the legacy of her mother to enter Kappa Phi Nu sorority in campus. However, in the way to get it, she got some problems
until finally she gets position in campus as the president of student council (Missiles, S. 2007. New day’s dawning. Retrieved on Monday, August 26, 2014 at
4.48 P.M., from http://www.veryabc.cn/movie/uploads/script/sydneywhite.txt.)
Within this movie, the researcher found some types of adjacency pairs which are realized by politeness strategies of Brown and Levinson (1987). The following
example may be useful to clarify the background of the research.
Dinky : Yeah, you know what. Why don’t you wear something of
mine to the first rush party?
Sydney : Oh, ok yeah. That might be best.
character “Why don’t you just wear something of mine to the first rush party?”
showed that Dinky uttered an offering expression. In addition, Dinky asked
Sydney to accept something, to wear one of her dresses. In expressing the offer, Dinky employed positive politeness particularly applied the strategy of attending
the hearer’s need. According to the context, Dinky understood that Sydney actually needed a feminine dress for attending the party while she did not have the dress.
Based on the example above, the researcher is interested to study and analyze the types of adjacency pairs and also the politeness strategies in having
adjacency pairs. For the benefit of this research, it can help English learners especially as the English Department students who study sociolinguistics and
pragmatics. This research tries to help them to get further understanding in the study of adjacency pairs and politeness strategies. Moreover, by acquiring the concept of politeness, this research can be a benefit for English language learners
in order to speak politely and appropriately in different social context. In this way, they can avoid a peculiar English language which might lead to misunderstanding
conversation.
B. Research Problems
Based on the research background, the problems of this research are formulated as follows.
2. How are politeness strategies employed in having adjacency pairs among the characters?
C. Problem Limitation
The research is only limited to the use of adjacency pairs and also the politeness strategies of the adjacency pairs by Sydney White movie’s eighteen
characters, namely Sydney white, Tyler, Rachel, Dinky, Sydney’s friends in the
Vortex (Gurkin, Spanky, Jeremy, Terrence, Lenny, Embele, and George),
Sydney’s father, Katy, Christy, Alicia, Moose, Big Ron, Professor Carlton, and Alicia. It is chosen because they play the important roles in the movie. Also, the characters chosen experienced more frequent appear than others main characters
and others character dealing with adjacency pairs and politeness through their remarks. The first research problem: “Which adjacency pairs are used by the characters in the movie Sydney White?” deals with adjacency pair theory of
Levinson (1983). The second research problem: “How are politeness strategies employed in having adjacency pairs among the characters?” deals with politeness strategies, in which Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory is applied to analyze the data.
D. Research Objectives
The objectives of this research are:
1. To find out the adjacency pairs which are used by the characters in the movie
2. To know how politeness strategies are employed in having adjacency pairs among the characters.
E. Research Benefits
The researcher believes that the research gives benefits that will be useful for:
1. English Learners
It can help English learners especially the English Department students who study sociolinguistics and pragmatics. This research tries to help them to get
further understanding in the study of adjacency pairs and politeness strategies.
2. Readers
The readers of this research may get more understanding about adjacency pairs dealing with politeness strategies in the field of socio-pragmatics study. This research will also help English learners to be able to apply English expressions in
the form of conversations appropriately and politely.
3. Future Researchers
F. Definition of Terms
In order to avoid misinterpretation of some words and the concept that
used in this research, the researcher presents the definition of terms. The terms which are going to be described are the adjacency pair, politeness strategy, and
character.
1. Adjacency Pair
Levinson (1983, p. 303) gives brief explanation about adjacency pair. He
sees it as prototypical paired utterances with a basic form in conversational organization. Schegloff and Sacks in Stephen C. Levinson (1983) state:
… the adjacency pair: a sequence of two utterances, which are adjacent, produced by different speakers, ordered as a first part and a second part,
typed, so that a particular requires a particular second or range of second parts – e.g. offer require acceptances or rejections, greetings require greetings. (p. 303).
In this research, the researcher will present the conversation types among the characters in Sydney White movie in a form of adjacency pair during a
conversational exchange. The adjacency pair types will be used to figure out the
politeness strategy which is uttered by the characters.
2. Politeness Strategy
Politeness is an expression of concern for the feelings of others. In
politeness strategies, described by Brown and Levinson (1987, p. 92) to face
“threatening face”. They are Bald-On Record, Negative Politeness, Positive Politeness, and Off-record. Those types of politeness are develop in order to save
the hearer’s face. The main concern in this research is the characters’ utterances
described as a part of politeness strategies. This research will present the speaking politeness of the characters of Sydney White movie.
3. Character
A character is described by Abrams (1999, p. 32) as the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as
being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it—the dialogue and from what they do—the action. The term character in this research
refers to individual who describes her or his own behavior’s qualities, traits, and
12
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The researcher provides two parts in this section. The first part is the theoretical description. The second part is the theoretical framework. Some
theories are needed as a basic requirement to solve the problem statements of the research. The theories discussed in this chapter are sociolinguistics, pragmatics,
conversational analysis (CA), speech acts, context, adjacency pair, and politeness strategy. In the first part, the research will discuss all the theories. Then, in the second part, the theoretical framework is used by the researcher to synthesize all
the theories elaborated in the theoretical description in order to correlate the theories to the current research.
A. Theoretical Description
The researcher presents seven parts, namely are sociolinguistics,
pragmatics, conversational analysis (CA), speech acts, context, adjacency pair, and politeness strategy. Sociolinguistics is presented to make a clear
understanding of the topic discussed. Pragmatics is necessary because it is related to the relation between language and context. So, it will deal with the utterance of
Sydney White movie’s characters. Conversational analysis is important since it is a
conversation that is produced by Sydney White movie’s characters. Speech acts as
the part of pragmatics focus on language as a tool for communication. Context is
necessary included the situation which a conversation happens. Adjacency pair and politeness strategy theories are used as the basic theories of the research.
1. Sociolinguistics
Much of the fields of sociolinguist has been concerned with the relationship between social and linguistic variables, or more formally, the study of
language in relation to society (Hudson, 1996, p. 1). Holmes (2000, p. 1) tells that sociolinguistics study about the relationship between language and society. By
studying sociolinguistics people can see clearly that language cannot be separated from social interaction. Moreover, the study is interested in explaining why we
speak differently in different social contexts, and they are concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning. There are social contexts which exist in people’s interaction, for
example, it can be found when people speak differently with others, either in their own groups or in other groups. Sociolinguistics also help to identify that language
has social functions and how it carries messages and delivers different meaning of social messages that are brought by the speakers.
Another sociolinguist who attempts to find the relationship between
language and society is Wardaugh. He investigates the relationships between language and society to create a better understanding of the structure of language
different terms, Spolsky (1998, p. 3) says that sociolinguistics is the field that studies the relation between language and society, between the uses of language
and the social structures in which the users of language live. In other words sociolinguistics is the study of the ways people use language in social interactions.
From the definitions of sociolinguistics above, the researcher can conclude that sociolinguistics deals with the study of language in society. It shows the people speak differently in different social context. It discusses the social
functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning. All of the topics provide a lot of information about the language works, as well as about
social relationship in a community and the way people signal the aspects of their identity through their language. We should consider to the sociolinguistics rules
who speaks to whom, in what situation, when, and where the conversation happens.
2. Pragmatics
Levinson (1983, p. 24) states that “pragmatics is the study of the ability of language users to pair sentences with contexts in which they would be appropriate.” It implies that pragmatics cannot be separated from context and
principles of language usage. In the different terms, Cruse (2006, p. 136) says that pragmatics deals with non-truth conditional aspects. Pragmatics deals with aspects
where context must be taken into account. Context is understood here in a broad sense that includes previous utterances (discourse context), participants in the
physical setting of the speech event. Also, pragmatics deals with aspects of meaning that are not ‘looked up’ but which are ‘worked out’ on particular
occasions of use. Pragmatics deals with the uses made of the description of meanings.
According to Cutting (2002, p. 3), pragmatics is the study of language which focuses in interactional sociolinguistics, which combines the conversation analysis approach. In that, it studies the structural patterns of conversation, with a
pragmatic approach, study socio interaction and giving importance to context, function and social norms, conventions and principles.
From some definitions of pragmatics above proposed by some linguists, the researcher can conclude that pragmatics is a subfield of sociolinguistic
concerned with speech acts, and how communication is achieved in a given instance of language use. There are also about the study on how the transmission of meaning not only depends on the sociolinguistic knowledge (grammar and
lexicon) of the speaker and listener, but also on the context of the utterance, knowledge about the status of those involved, the inferred intent of the speaker,
and so on. In this respect, pragmatic is the study of how the meaning of sentence (or other linguistic unit) changes depending on how and where it is expressed or on the structural ambiguity in language.
3. Speech Acts
Speech acts cannot be separated from the speakers’ intention to utter
communication cannot be successful when hearers recognize the linguistic meaning of the utterance, but when they infer the speaker’s meaning. Jerrold
Shock describes that speech acts is acts done in the process of speaking. It is concerned with acts that are not completely covered under one or more of the
major divisions of grammar (as cited in Laurence R. H., & Gregory W., 2006, p. 76). It implies that speech acts is not completely described in grammar such as phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, or semantics also some formal
features of the utterance. Furthermore, people do not only produce utterance containing grammatical structures and word when they communicate with others,
but they also performs actions. Yule (1996b, p. 47) states that actions performed via utterances are generally called speech acts.
A speech act is the idea that ‘words’ have meaning. The theory was first proposed by a philosopher Jane Austin in 1962 and further developed by Searle in 1981. It means every words that we produce always have meaning, so speech act
is very important to be learnt by us. Meanwhile, Cohen says that Searle (1962) gives brief theory about utterance which have three kinds of meaning:
a. Propositional meaning (Locutionary meaning): The basic literal meaning of the utterance.
b. Illocutionary meaning (Illocutionary force): The social function of the utterance.
Yule (1998, p. 25) describes speech act is the basic unit of linguistic communication and an action performed by the use of an utterance to
communicate (as cited in Nhan, 2012, p. 2). When people try to express themselves, they do not only produce utterances containing grammatical
structures and words, but also perform actions via those utterances such as inviting, leave taking and accusing. For instance, the utterance “Would you like a cup of coffee?” performs an act of inviting.
Hurford and Heasley (2003) state that on any occasion the action performed by producing an utterance is composed of three related acts: the
locutionary act, the perlocutionary act (the perlocution), and the illocutionary act (the illocution) (as cited in Nhan, 2012, p. 2). The perlocution of an utterance is
often quite different from its illocution. Generally, the illocution performed by means of an utterance is intended by the speaker and under his control, while the perlocution is not always intended by the speaker and is not under his full control.
For instance, a speaker may intend or try to carry out an illocutionary act of inviting by making an utterance, but the perlocution may be out of this speaker’s
control because the invitee can refuse the invitation instead of accepting it.
Searle (1987, p. 23) mentions that locutionary act contains the way people produce an utterance and mean they say literally. The utterance, “The weather is
too hot” could be perceived as its literal meaning that the weather or the
temperature is really hot. In the contrary, Cruse (2000, p. 332) states that
from the utterance they produce in such a way that the addresses understand the meaning. Act of stating, promising, apologizing, threatening, predicting,
complaining, ordering, refusing, and requesting are included in illocutionary act. If speaker says, “The room is too dark” that means he wants the addressee to turn
on the light.
A speech act is a sentence or utterance which has both propositional meaning and illocutionary meaning. A speech act which is performed indirectly is
sometimes known as an indirect speech act, such as the speech act of requesting, which is something felt more polite. Searle (1979) classifies five kinds of speech
act, namely commisive, declarative, directive, expressive, and assertive. The descriptions are as follow.
a. Commisive
A commisive allows the speakers to do a certain act in the future. Language is used to contract an obligation on the part of the speaker to act in a
certain way in the future such as warning, promising, threatening, guaranteeing, intending, vowing or an offering. Its function is less competitive because it
focuses on the interest of the addressee. The speaker of a commissive is attempting to alter the world in some way; commissive thus reflect a world-to-words fit. Unlike directives, however, it is the speaker’s (rather than the hearer’s)
subsequent actions that will alter the world.
In (a) the speaker promises to the hearer if the hearer keeps screaming, the speaker will hit her or him. In (b) the speaker asks for offering to the hearer
whether the hearer will come to the speaker’s birthday or not.
b. Declarative
A declarative is a speech act which changes the state of affairs in the world such as decrees or declarations. The acts include passing sentence, blessing, firing, bidding, and excommunicating. The relationship between the world and a speaker’s words is bidirectional; declaratives have a double direction of fit (both
words-to-world and world-to-words). For example, during the wedding ceremony
or in the court the act of marriage or sentence are performed:
e.g : (a) “Now I pronounce you husband and wife” (Declarative) (b) “The court decide you guilty” (Declarative)
In (a) the speaker states that he or she pronounces the hearers are a husband and a wife. In (b) the speaker states that the court decides the hearer’s guilty. After the
utterances are produced, the status of the audience (the world) is changed.
c. Directive
A directive counts as an attempt to get the hearer to perform some future action. Directive is a speech that has the function of getting the listener to do
something, such as ordering, suggesting, requesting, challenging, defying or commanding. This act focuses on the speaker’s behavior. A speaker is attempting
e.g : (a) “Why don’t you do the task?” (Suggestion) (b) “May I borrow your pencil?” (Request)
(c) “Come here!” (Command)
In (a) the speaker asks for reason in form of giving suggestion to the hearer why
he or she does not do the task. In (b) the speaker asks for request to the hearer whether the speaker may borrow the hearer’s pencil or not. In (c) the speaker
commands the hearer to come there.
d. Expressive
An expressive counts as an attempt to express a psychological state. An
expressive is a speech act in which the speaker expresses feeling and attitudes about something, such as thanking, appreciating, complaining, greeting,
apologizing, and congratulating. For expressive, there is no fit between words and the world. Instead, the point of an expressive is simply to express the speaker’s
inner psychological state or to express a particular attitude that is represented by the propositional content of the utterance.
e.g : (a) “Thank you!” (Thank) (b) “The food is delicious!” (Appreciate)
In (a) the speaker thanks to the hearer. In (b) the speaker appreciates the speaker
that the food is delicious.
e. Assertive
An assertive counts as an attempt to represent an actual state of affairs, to commit the speaker to something being the case. With assertive a speaker is
concluding, informing, predicting, and reporting. Assertive represent a words-to-world fit.
e.g : (a) “Yamaha is made in Japan” (Information) “This is a Japanese motorcycle” (Information)
In (a) the speaker gives an information to the hearer that Yamaha is made in Japan. In (b) the speaker also gives an information to the hearer about the
Japanese motorcycle.
In Speech acts and second language learning, Schmidt and Richards (1980, p. 156) conclude that speech acts are not comparable across cultures‖ and each
culture defined a certain conventionalized norm for interpreting each speech act. From theory above the researcher can conclude that speech act is a sentence or
utterance which has both propositional meaning and illocutionary force. To have a brief way of distinguishing what a speaker means by uttering words, sentences,
and expressions, on the one hand, and what the words, sentences, and expressions mean.
4. Conversational analysis (CA)
Conversational analysis is a part of sociolinguistic which studies conversation. The first linguist who develops this notion are Sacks, Schegloff,
Jefferson, Pomerants, and Levinson. In their opinion, conversational analysis is an empirical approach which demands a thorough analysis and it studies the
Levinson adds the most common pairs in conversational analysis based on his investigation. They are turn-taking, adjacency pair, and repair (1983, p. 296).
Conversational analysis is interested to explore in the sociological aspects of a language rather than its linguistic features. It also analyzes the basic aspects of the
way people communicate and interact in the society.
5. Context
Context is considered as the relevant aspects of physical or social setting
utterances (Leech, 1983, p. 13). There are seven criteria of context proposed by Hymes (1972a, pp. 58-71) of setting, participants, purpose, key, channels,
message content and message form as cited in
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-artslaw/cels/essays/csdp/geoff-sinha-spoken-discourse.pdf.
a. Participant
Participant refers to those who participate in communication. The
participant are classified into three roles; addressor, addressee, and audience. The addressor or role is as the producer of the massage, addressee role is as the
receiver of the message, and the audience contributes to the specification of the speech event (Halliday & Hasan, 1983, pp. 38-39).
b. Message content
Message content refers to ‘topic and…change of topic’ (Gumperz & Hymes, 1972, p. 60). Topics refers to what being talked about in the conversation.
c. Key
Key connotes the atmosphere of a speech event, which can be realized by
verbal and non-verbal cues, or possibly by combinations of these (Coulthard, 1985, pp. 48-49). In the different term, Halliday and Hasan (1983, pp. 38-39)
explains that key or a tone in which a communicative act is done refers to the mood feeling, condition, and attitude of the communicator in conversation. Key affects and produces the meaning of massage.
d. Purpose
Purpose refers to the final outcome of a lesson, or ‘speech event’, which is achieved through the completion of smaller individual goals, termed ‘speech acts’
(Brazil, 1995, p. 120; Gumperz & Hymes, 1972, p. 61).
e. Setting
Setting is defined as ‘the time and place of a speech event and, in general, to the physical circumstances’ (Gumperz & Hymes, 1972a, p. 60).
f. Channel
Hymes (1972a, p. 63) defines channel as the ‘choice of oral, written, telegraphic, semaphore, or other medium of transmission of speech’.
g. Message form
self-image that every member wants to claim for himself or herself (Brown & Levinson, 1987, p. 61).
6. Adjacency Pair
Adjacency pair is two successive utterances by different speakers, where
the second is of a type required or expected by the first (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, 1997). The example is a question followed by an answer; a greeting followed by a greeting in return.
Adjacency pair is a part of conversational analysis. It refers to “conversational sequences” in which an utterance by one speaker depends upon
an utterance made by another speaker. It is a sequence of two related utterances by two different speakers. The second utterance is always response to the first.
While Cook (1997, p. 1) said adjacency pair is a pair of discourse moves that often go together, e.g. question and answer. According to Pridharm (2001, p. 26) the definition of adjacency pair is pairs of utterances that usually occur together.
Schegloff and Sacks in Stephen C. Levinson (1983) have described about adjacency pair:
… the adjacency pair: a sequence of two utterances, which are adjacent, produced by different speakers, ordered as a first part and a second part,
typed, so that a particular requires a particular second or range of second parts – e.g. question-answer, offer require acceptances or rejections, greetings require greetings, summons leads to answer (p. 303).
sequence of two utterances is very near or next to. The second is about the speakers. Then the last is an adjacency pair has two parts. It is namely first part
and second part. The first part of the adjacency pair will get the response from the second part. The following Table 1.0 shows the correlation of content and format
in adjacency pair described by Levinson (1983, p. 336).
Table 1.0. Correlation of content and format in adjacency pair seconds
First part Request Offer Invitation Assessment Question Blame Second part
Preferred Acceptance Acceptance Acceptance Agreement Expected answer Denial
Dispreferred Rejection Refusal Refusal Disagreement Unexpected answer or
non-answer Admittance
Table 1.0 shows the correlation of content and format in adjacency pair seconds. There are two parts, namely first part of adjacency pair and second part of adjacency pair. The first part of the adjacency pair will get the response from
the second part. For the second part as the response, it is divided into two types of responses which are preferred response and dispreferred response. For the first
part, the types of adjacency pair are request, offer, invitation, assessment, question, and blame. For the preferred responses, they are acceptance, agreement, expected answer, and denial. While for the dispreferred responses, it is rejection,
refusal, disagreement, unexpected answer, and admittance.
According to Tracy (2002, p. 114) there are many kinds of adjacency
Below are two examples of common adjacency pairs in English taken from Tracy (2002, p. 114). These adjacency pairs involve different acts. Example
(1) accepts an invitation, and example (2) refuses an invitation.
1. Taryn : How about some lunch? Invitation
Jjay 1 : Sound good. (stand up) Acceptance
2. Taryn : How aout some lunch ? Invitation
Jay : (pause) Uhh, better bot. Refusal
I’ve got to get this done by 2:00. Thanks though. How’s tomorrow?
In offer, invitation or request, accepts are conversationally preferred to refusals.
So, acceptances is a preferred action, and refusal in a dispreferred action.
Talking about adjacency pair, it cannot be separated from the first part and the second part of a conversation. The first part is deal with the utterances from
the speaker intended to the hearer while the second part is deal with the response from the hearer to response the speaker’s utterances. A response has two
possibilies. They are preferred and dispreferred response. Ronald Wardhaugh
(2002) states that certain kinds of adjacency pairs are marked by a preference for a particular type of second part. For example, requests, questions and invitations
have preferred and dispreferred answer. Compare the following interactions, in which (1) has a preferred (positive) second part and (2) has a dispreffered (negative) second part:
(1) Speaker 1 : I really enjoyed the movie last night. Did you? Speaker 2 : Yeah. I thought it was pretty good.
(2) Speaker A : I really enjoyed the movie last night. Did you? Speaker B : No. I thought it was pretty crummy, though I can
In (1) the speaker 1 assessed about the movie which was watch by the speaker 2 in the previous night. In order to get the response, the speaker 1 asked a question to
the speaker 2 whether she or he agreed or not. As the response, the speaker 2 showed her or his agreement that she or he really enjoyed the movie in the
previous night. While in (2) with the same example of assessment, the speaker B as the response showed his or her disagreement. The speaker B thought that the movie was pretty crummy and he or she could see how the speaker A could have
liked certain parts of it. To an assessment also, the preferred second part is agreement:
(1) Speaker 1 : I think Ralp’s a pretty good writer. Speaker 2 : Yeah. I think so too.
(2) Speaker A : I think Ralp’s a pretty good writer.
Speaker B : Well, I can see how you’d find his imagery interesting, but apart from that I don’t really think he writes well at all.
In (1) the speaker 1 assessed that Ralp was a pretty good writer. As the response, the speaker 2 showed her or his agreement by saying yeah. The word yeah had the
same meaning with the word yes which expressed an agreement. In contrast, in (2)
the speaker B showed her or his disagreement about the speaker A’s assessment.
The speaker 2 thought that Ralp did not write well at all.
Dispreferred second parts tend to be preceded by a pause and to begin with a hesitation particle such as well or uh. Preferred second parts tend to follow the
first part without a pause and to consist of structurally simple utterances.
(1) Speaker 1 : Would you like to meet for lunch tomorrow? Speaker 2 : Sure!
Speaker B : Well, hmm. Let’s see…. Tomorrow’s Tuesday, right? I told Harry I’d have lunch with him. And I told him so long ago that I’d feel bad canceling. May be another time, okay?
In (1) the speaker 1 requested the speaker 2 to meet him or her for lunch
tomorrow in politely way. As the response, the speaker 2 showed the acceptance by saying sure. It indicated that the speaker 2 without any doubt would meet the
speaker 1 for lunch on the day after that day. While in (2) the speaker B showed her or his rejection to the speaker A’s request. It is showed that the speaker B
paused and to begin with a hesitation particle such as well, hmmm.
In addition, dispreferred second parts often begin with a token agreement or acceptance, or with an expression of appreciation or apology, and usually include an explanation. The example of the explanation is below:
Speaker 1 : Can I use your phone?
Speaker 2 : Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m expecting an important long-distance call any minute. Could you wait ten minutes?
The speaker 1 asked for permission to use the speaker 2’s phone. However, as the
response, the speaker 2 could not give her or his phone because she or he would
use it anytime to receive an important long-distance call. However, the speaker 2 showed her or his apology first before rejecting the speaker 1’s request. The speaker 2 used the words I’m sorry.
7. Politeness strategy
The essence of politeness contrasting human-human communication with
sensitivity; they do not take offense if ordered to do something or if the user yells at it for some perceived misdeed. But humans do have sensitivities and feelings
and might indeed by offended if commanded to do something (negative face is threatened) or if criticized for some failing (positive face is threated). Politeness
allows people to perform many interpersonally sensitive actions in a nonthreatening or less threatening manner. Politeness strategy is one of communication strategy which emphasizes the polite words and actions. There are
four types of politeness strategy, described by Brown and Levinson (1987) that sum up human “politeness” behavior, namely Bald On-record, Negative
Politeness, Positive Politeness, and Off-record. The following figure 1.0 is representing the circumstance in determining the choice of strategy by Brown and
Levinson. It is the super-strategies of politeness ordered against estimated risk of face loss (Brown & Levinson, 1987, p. 60).
Figure 1.0. Super-strategies of politeness ordered against estimated risk of face loss (Brown & Levinson, 1987, p. 60)
Figure 1.0 shows the circumstance in determining the choice of strategy. The speaker goes on record in doing the FTA if it is clear to the hearers what
Strategy
Do the FTA
Don’t do the FTA
On record
Off record
Without redressive action, baldly
With redressive
action
Positive politeness
communicative lead the speaker to do the FTA. In contrast, if the speaker goes off
record in doing the FTA, then there is more than one ambiguously attributable
intention so that the speaker cannot be held to have committed himself or herself to one particular intent. Doing an act baldly, without redressive action, involves
doing it in the most direct, clear, unambiguous and concise way possible. By
redressive action means an action which ‘give face’ to the hearers, that is, that
attempts to counteract the potential face damage of the FTA. Redressive action
has two forms; positive politeness and negative politeness. Positive politeness is
oriented toward the positive face of the hearer, the positive self-image that he or
she claims for himself or herself. Negative politeness, on the other hand, is
oriented mainly toward partially satisfying (redressing) the hearer’s negative face,
his or her basic want to maintain claims of territory and self-determination.
a. Bald on Record
Bald-on-record strategy is employed as an attempt to minimize the efficiency of speaking. Brown and Levinson (1987, p. 95) state Bald On-record is
used in different situations since speakers can have different motives in doing Face Threatening Acts (FTAs). Face is essentially our self-esteem in social interactions with others. By trying to preserve face (instead of threatening it), we
show our solidarity and our respect to our communicative partners. Bald On-record represents adherence to Grice’s maxims and hence is maximally efficient
disagreement would involve a bald assertion, for example “You’re completely
wrong about this. Further, Brown and Levinson (1987, pp. 94-101) outline various
cases, in which one might use the bald-on-record strategy, including: Instance in which threat minimizing does not occur. This strategy is used by the speaker when
maximum efficiency is more important and usually is known by both speaker and the hearer. As the result, using this strategy will shock, embarrass, and make the hearer feels a bit uncomfortable. Therefore, it mostly used in situation where the
speaker has close relationship with the hearer, such as family or close friends.
1) Great Urgency or Desperation
This strategy is used when the speaker is needing attention very soon, especially before anything else, because important. In cases of great urgency or
desperation, redress would actually decrease the communicated urgency. For example:
(1) “Help!”
(2) “Watch out!”
The example above if compare with the non-urgent is ‘Please help me, if you
would be so kind’). The word help with an exclamation point showed that there
was no other choice in that situation. The speaker needed a help to the hearer. In (2) the speaker used the expression to warn the hearer of danger or an accident
2) Speaking as if great efficiency is necessary in attention-getters
This strategy is used where the speaker speaks as if maximum efficiency
were very important, he or she provides metaphorical urgency for emphasis. For example:
(1) Look, the point is this: . . .
(2) Listen, I’ve got an idea.
The speaker in (1) and (2) used them in order to get the attention from the hearer.
In (1) the word look is a verb which used by the speaker to direct the hearer’s eyes
in order to see. In (2) the word listen is a verb which used to give attention to the
hearer in order to hear the speaker.
3) Task-oriented/ Paradigmatic Form of Instruction
This strategy is used the speaker gives a task to the hearer in order to get the desire results. Face redness may be felt to irrelevant when the focus interaction is task-oriented (Brown & Levinson, 1987, p. 97). The example of this strategy is
Give me the nails. The speaker gave the hearer a task to give the nails to him or
her.
4) Sympathetic Advice or Warnings
Brown and Levinson states (1987, p. 98) states “in doing FTA, the speaker conveys that he or she does care about the hearer (and therefore about the hearer’s
positive face), so that no redress is required.” Sympathetic advice or warning may
(1) Careful! He’s a dangerous man. (2)Your slip is showing!
In (1) the speaker warned the hearer to be careful because he was a dangerous
man. The word careful was used to give an attention to what the hearer was doing
so that he or she did not have a damage from the dangerous man. In (2) the speaker gave sympathetic expression that the hearer’s slip was showing.
5) Granting Permission for Something
This strategy is used when the speaker gives or allows the hearer to do
something so that the hearer is allowed to do it. The example of granting for something is Yes, you may go. It indicated that the speaker allowed the hearer to
move to another place.
6) Invitations
This strategy is used when the speaker requested the hearer to do something. For example: Come in, Enter. It implied that the speaker asked the
hearer to move towards the speaker in a room or building.
7) Welcoming
Welcoming (or post-greeting) is used when the speaker insists that the
hearer may impose on his or her negative face (Brown & Levinson, 1987, p. 99).
8) Greetings and Farewells
The greeting strategy is used when the speaker welcomes the hearer to
when the speaker says goodbye or takes his or her leave to the hearer. The example of this strategy are Come, Go, Sit down, Pass.
b. Positive Politeness
Positive politeness strategy provides an attempt to minimize the damage to the hearer’s face. They are used to make the hearer feel good about himself and
his possessions. This strategy commonly used in situations where the speaker and the hearer know each other fairly well such as a group of friends. This strategy is
used as a kind of social accelerator, where the speaker wants to be closer to the hearer. The following fifteen strategies are addressed to positive face and thus
examples of positive politeness (Brown & Levinson, 1987, pp. 103-129):
1) Strategy 1: Notice, attend to hearer (her/his interest, wants, needs, goods)
The strategy suggests that the speaker should take notice of aspects of hearer’s condition (anything which looks as though hearer would want speaker to
notice and approve of it).
Example: “You must be hungry, it’s a long time since breakfast. How about some lunch?”
The example above showed that the speaker paid attention to the hearer’s need.
The speaker assumed that the hearer had to be hungry because it was a long time since breakfast. As the action of attending the hearer’s need, she or he offered to
2) Strategy 2: Exaggerate (interest, approval, sympathy with hearer)
This strategy is often done with exaggerated intonation, stress, and other
aspects of prosodic, as well as intensifying modifiers. Below is the example when someone admires somebody’s garden.
Example: “What a fantastic garden you have!”
In the example above, the speaker exaggerated her or his compliment about the hearer’s garden. The word fantastic implied extremely good.
3) Strategy 3: Intensify interest to hearer; making good story, draw hearer as
a participant into the conversation.
Another way for speaker to communicate to hearer that he or she shares his or her wants is to intensify the interest of speaker’s own contributions to the
conversation by ‘making good story’.
Example: “I come down to the stairs, and what do you think I see?–a huge mess all over the place, the phone’s off the hook and clothes are
scattered all over…”
4) Strategy 4: (Use in-group identity markers); address form, in-group
language or dialect, jargon or slang, contraction and ellipsis.
This strategy is done by using innumerable address forms to indicate that speaker and hearer belong to some set of persons who share specific wants. The
example is below.
