Violations of Address Terms and Their Relationship To Politeness in Langston Hughes' Play 'Mullato A Tragedy of The Deep South.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini saya memilih sebuah drama berjudul MULLATO A

Tragedy of the Deep South, yang dikarang oleh Langston Hughes, pengarang pria

berkulit hitam, karena saya melihat banyak hal yang dapat saya analisis. Drama

ini dilatarbelakangi kehidupan seorang budak kulit hitam yang dinikahi oleh

seorang pria kulit putih yang juga mantan majikannya. Drama ini menggambarkan

situasi yang terjadi di Georgia, Amerika Selatan, di mana masih terdapat

diskriminasi antara kulit putih dan hitam. Orang-orang kulit hitam diperlakukan

seperti budak, sedangkan orang-orang kulit putih merasa diri mereka lebih tinggi

status sosialnya.

Drama ini kaya dengan pelanggaran-pelanggaran dalam sapaan dan ke

sopan santunan. Aspek linguistik yang saya gunakan adalah violation of address

terms and politeness. Aspek tersebut termasuk dalam ilmu sosiolinguistik, yaitu

ilmu yang mempelajari hubungan antara bahasa dengan masyarakat. Teori

tersebut sangat bermanfaat untuk menganalisis pelanggaran-pelanggaran yang

terjadi di drama tersebut dan faktor-faktor yang mendukung terjadinya

pelanggaran-pelanggaran tersebut. Faktor-faktor tersebut adalah partisipan, seting,

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Setelah menganalisis data-data tersebut saya berkesimpulan bahwa faktor utama

yang menyebabkan pelanggaran-pelanggaran tersebut adalah diskriminasi antara orang

kulit putih dan hitam yang masih terjadi ketika penulis mengangkat drama ini untuk

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APPENDICES

Table 1. The violation of address terms between Cora and Norwood.

No Data Violation

of address terms

Politeness Social factors related to the violations

sir (T) Negative Participants and function

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Table 2. The violation of address terms between Sallie and Colonel Norwood.

No Data Violation

of address terms

1. Sallie: I just wanted tell you goodbye Colonel Norwood, and thank you for letting me work here in the house all summer where mama is.

Sir (T) Negative Participants and function

3. Sallie: (Raising her eyes) You reckon I can, brother work in here in the house, or somewhere

Table 3. The violation of address terms between Colonel Norwood and Robert.

No Data Violation

of address terms

1. Norwood: (Springing between his son and the front door, pistol in

Table 4. The violation of address terms between Talbot and Cora.

No Data Violation

of address terms

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Table 5. The violation of address terms between Sam and Cora.

No Data Violation

of address terms

1. Sam: OH, Lawd, hab mercy on me! I prays, Lawd hab mercy! O, ma Lawd, ma Lawd! Cora, is you a fool? Is you a fool?

Cora (FN) Positive Participant and function

Table 6. The violation of address terms between Robert and Norwood.

No Data Violation of

address terms

Politeness Social factors related to the

violations 1. Robert: Oh! But I’m

not a nigger, Colonel Tom.

Colonel Tom (TNN)

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Human beings are social creatures. They need to interact with one another

through language. Language is needed in interaction; however, language is not the

only means to make good interaction. In our daily interaction, politeness is an

important thing. Sometimes, we take politeness for granted. In order to be polite, we

may think that we just need to say ‘please’ or ‘thanks’. Actually, politeness is a

complicated business in any language because if we want to be polite, we have to

know about the sociocultural aspects of the community. There are many differences

of the sociocultural aspects in each community. So, politeness is hard to learn.

(Holmes, 1994:267)

One way to show politeness is the use of address terms. Communities in

the world have different ways in addressing someone. One person usually has more

than one address term. For example, a person can be called by the first name (FN),

last name (LN), title + last name (TLN), nickname (NN) and terms of endearment,

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Through address terms, we can know about someone’s social status, the speaker’s

feeling, the relationship between the speaker and the person addressed, whether the

situation formal or informal. For example, a subordinate addresses his or her superior with

the TLN. A mother always addresses her son with the FN or nickname, but when she is

angry with him, she may address him with his full name. A student addresses his

headmaster with TLN at school, but when they have a closer relationship and they are not

in a formal setting, the student may call the headmaster with the FN.

The subject of my research is the play MULLATO A Tragedy of the Deep South.

This play is an interesting story with the background of slavery in the South America in

1930s. In this story there are many violations in using address terms. It tells about a rich

man, Colonel Thomas Norwood, in Georgia in 1930s. He is a white plantation owner who

has many black slaves. One of his slaves becomes his mistress after his wife dies. The

mistress gives him four children. This is the root of all the complicated problems in the

play, which is clearly reflected in the address terms used.

There were enormous farms or plantations in South America, and Georgia was

one of them. Commonly, the owners of the plantations were white people while the black

people worked to grow cotton in Georgia. Black people were still regarded as slaves in

Georgia although legally they had gained their freedom after the Civil War in 1861 to 1865.

In Georgia, there was a strong racial discrimination between the black and white people. In

1954 until 1968, there was an African-American civil rights movement which aimed to

eliminate racial discrimination and got the equality status particularly in the South such as

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(http://encarta.msn.com/text 7615716090/ Georgia (state). Html African-American Civil

Rights Movement (1955-1968)

I notice that there are violations in terms of address terms used in this play and

these violations reflect the situation and condition of slavery in America at that time. That

is why I am personally interested in discussing further the violations of address terms in

Langston Hughes’ play MULATTO A Tragedy of the Deep South for my thesis. In my

opinion the use of address terms in this play is very significant as it can reflect the social

condition of America during the slavery period. I would like to explain the violations in

terms of the social factors related to them.

The linguistic area of my topic is Sociolinguistics, which studies the relationship

between language and society”. (Holmes, 1994:1) I believe it is a suitable theory to explain

the violations that occur in this play because the violation of address terms has a close

relationship with social factors, such as participants, setting, topic and purpose; moreover, I

would like to make people more aware of the use of address terms. They need to know first

the social factors before selecting the address terms to use. Otherwise, it will be difficult for

them to make good interactions with one another.

Statement of the Problem

In this thesis, I would like to make a research on:

1. What are the violations of address terms used in Langston Hughes’ play

MULATTO A Tragedy of the Deep South?

2. How are the violations related to politeness strategy?

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Purpose of the Study

By doing the research, I intend:

1. To know the violations of address terms used in Langston Hughes’ play

MULATTO A Tragedy of the Deep South.

2. To know the violations related to politeness strategy.

3. To know the social factors that is related to each violation of address terms.

Methods of Research

First, I read the play and collect all the address terms used. Second, I select the

data, which have violated of the address term used. Third, I classify the data based on the

factors related to the violations. Finally, I analyze the data and write a research report.

Organization of the Thesis

My thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which

contains the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study,

Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is Theoretical

Framework, which deals with the explanation of the linguistic area and the approaches used

in my thesis. Chapter Three presents the discussion on the violations of address terms in

Langston Hughes’ play MULLATO A Tragedy of the Deep South. And the last chapter,

Chapter Four, is the Conclusion, in which I write my personal comments and opinions of

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the data in the play, Mulatto A Tragedy of the Deep

South by Langston Hughes, with regard to the violations in address terms and

politeness, I arrive at the following conclusion.

First, in this play I find a lot of violations both in address terms and

politeness. From my analysis, I discover that address terms and politeness are

closely related. They have a relationship that positive politeness is used by people

to show their solidarity or minimize their status difference; therefore, people

address each other by using first name (FN), nick name (NN). While negative

politeness is used to make a distance between their relationships or respect the

others; as a result, they address the others by using title (T). People may use

different address terms for different purposes or functions.

Second, I notice that the violations occur between a husband and a wife,

a father and a daughter, a father and a son. Although they are members of a

family, they have a difference in status. The father is white but their children are

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feels that he is superior to his children and wife; as a result, he demands that they

should respect him by addressing him with title.

As a daughter from a white father, Sallie is aware that she has the same

status as her mother’s. Black people have a lower status than white; therefore, she

is obliged to respect Colonel Norwood by addressing him with title although,

actually, she is Norwood’s daughter and has very light skin that can pass for white

people.

Robert, who is the younger brother of Sallie, refuses to be regarded as

subordinate by Colonel Norwood because he knows and feels that he is the son of

Colonel Norwood, the owner of the biggest plantation in Georgia, South America.

He rebels and fights against the Colonel to get his status as Colonel Norwood’s

son. So, through address terms we can know about the relationship between their

families. They have known each other for a long time, yet there is still a distance

between them.

In addition, violations occur outside the family. I notice that there are

two cases of violation, namely between Talbot and Cora and the second is Sam

and Cora. They have a difference in status, superior and subordinate. From those

two cases, I notice that the violations occur because of the slavery, which causes

racial discrimination in Georgia, South America. Although Cora is superior to

Talbot in Norwood’s plantation, Talbot does not respect Cora because she is a

black woman while Talbot is a white man. The same thing happens to the

Undertaker’s helper, who is a white man, while Robert is the black man. Again

racial discrimination becomes the core of the violations in address terms. On the

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status in Norwood’s plantation. Actually, Sam should respect Cora. Yet, due to

the social distance scale Sam addresses Cora only with her first name. He wants to

show to Cora about his social background. In fact, he has the same social

background with Cora as a slave in the plantation. I can see that in this case the

social distance scale is more emphasized than the status scale; on the other hand,

the solidarity dimension is given greater weight.

From my analysis, I find out that there are four social factors that

contribute to the violations. They are the participants, setting, topic and function.

In addition, the setting of place, Georgia, South America where discrimination

still prevails, the white people demand that the black people address them with

titles because they feel superior to the black. On the other hand, in this play we

can see that the racial discrimination can influence the way people address each

other. Besides that, we can reveal someone’s status by address terms. Commonly,

we address our superiors with their titles or occupations and address our

subordinate only with their first names. In this play, Robert, Sallie, and Cora are

considered to have a lower status than colonel Norwood, who is a white man.

Therefore, they have to respect the Colonel by addressing him with title.

Third, I get to know that someone expresses their feelings through

address terms and politeness. Furthermore, people do the violations in addressing

another by using swear words to express a message. For example, there are some

data in table 3 and 4 which contain swear words, like ‘you black bastard’, you

black bitch. They not only want to show their anger but also show their power and

superiority. Therefore, people often call the others by a variety of names

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In this play, the use of address terms and politeness are often violated

because of slavery. The difference of skin colours can cause a different status,

which results in the racial discrimination. Although in some cases the violations

occur in the Colonel Norwood plantation, the social distance scale is more

emphasized than the status scale. Through address terms, we can know the

condition of Georgia, South America, which is greatly influenced by racial

discrimination between black and white people.

Finally, I get some advantages from doing my research on address terms

and politeness. The linguistic theories, especially politeness and address terms in

Sociolinguistics have given me deeper insight that politeness and address terms

can reflect the relationship between the occupation, participant, setting, topic, and

function. So, I become more aware of addressing another to make a relationship

either closer or to make a distance. I also realize that people can express their

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Holmes, Janet. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Essex: Longman Group UK

Limited, 1994.

Wolfson, Nesa . PERSPECTIVE: Sociolinguistics and TESOL. Newbury House,

1989.

Encarta Online. 2006. African-American Civil Rights Movement (1995-1968).

12 October 2006

<http://www.encarta.msn.com/>

Primary Text

Hughes, Langston. MULATTO A Tragedy of the Deep South. Indiana University

Violations of Address Terms and Their Relationship To Politeness in Langston Hughes' Play 'Mullato A Tragedy of The Deep South.

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPENDICES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY