TITLE PAGE
POLITENESS STRATEGIES APPLIED IN
DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS ACCORDING TO
THE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN
“THE IT CROWD: MOSS AND THE GERMAN”
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
V. NOVI CIPTANINGRUM
Student Number: 06 4214 077
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2011
APPROVAL PAGE
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
POLITENESS STRATEGIES APPLIED IN
DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS ACCORDING TO
THE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN
“THE IT CROWD: MOSS AND THE GERMAN”
POLITENESS STRATEGIES APPLIED IN
DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS ACCORDING TO
THE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN
“THE IT CROWD: MOSS AND THE GERMAN”
By By
V. NOVI CIPTANINGRUM V. NOVI CIPTANINGRUM
Student Number: 064214077 Student Number: 064214077
Approved by Approved by
Adventina Putranti S.S., M. Hum
Adventina Putranti S.S., M. Hum August 12, 2011 Advisor
Linda Valentina Budiman, S.S., M.Hum August 12, 2011 Co–Advisor
ACCEPTANCE PAGE
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
POLITENESS STRATEGIES APPLIED IN
DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS ACCORDING TO
THE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN
“THE IT CROWD: MOSS AND THE GERMAN”
POLITENESS STRATEGIES APPLIED IN
DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS ACCORDING TO
THE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN
“THE IT CROWD: MOSS AND THE GERMAN”
By
Defended before the Board of Examiners on August 22nd, 2011
and Declared Acceptable
Defended before the Board of Examiners on August 22nd, 2011
Chairman : Dr. Fr. Borgias Alip, M.Pd., M.A. _________________ Chairman : Dr. Fr. Borgias Alip, M.Pd., M.A. _________________
Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum _________________ Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum _________________
Member : Adventina Putranti S.S., M.Hum _________________ Member : Adventina Putranti S.S., M.Hum _________________
Member : Linda Valentina Budiman S.S., M.Hum _________________ Member : Linda Valentina Budiman S.S., M.Hum _________________
Member : Harris H. Setiajid S.S., M.Hum _________________ Member : Harris H. Setiajid S.S., M.Hum _________________
Yogyakarta, August 26th, 2011 Yogyakarta, August 26
Dr. I. Praptomo Baryadi, M. Hum Dr. I. Praptomo Baryadi, M. Hum
HALAMAN PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertandatangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : V. Novi Ciptaningrum NIM : 064214077
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
POLITENESS STRATEGIES APPLIED IN DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS ACCORDING TO THE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN
“THE IT CROWD: MOSS AND THE GERMAN”
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 royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenar-benarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal 26 Agustus 2011
Yang menyatakan,
V. Novi Ciptaningrum
MOTTO PAGE
ET QUOI QUE VOUS DEMANDIEZ EN PRIANT DIEU
SI VOUS CROYEZ, VOUS LE RECEVREZ
(MATTHIEU 21:22)
DEDICATION PAGE
This work is done as my gratitude dedicated to
Whom everything shall be returned to,
and
to Mommy, for an unequal exchange
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Laudate Dominum! Be my highest gratitude to my Lord, Jesus Christ for His mercy, protection and all blessings that light my steps leading to a wonderful
time during years I spent in finishing my study. I would also thank to Mother Mary for the strings of prayers and love that accompany me so far.
My deepest gratitude also goes to my parents, my daddy, Eddy and of course my mommy in particular, Martina Tri S. for her sacrifice, patience, and support in finishing my study. I owe her much for becoming the bravest woman I
have ever seen in my life.
I am more than usually grateful for the help I have received from my
advisor, Adventina Putranti S.S., M.Hum for her guidance, time, and particularly, for sharing ideas and suggestions in completing my thesis. It was
such a wonderful time to finish this final assignment with her. I would also thank
my co-advisor, Linda Valentina Budiman S.S., M.Hum for the mind-mapping and suggestions. For the help in finishing my study, my gratitude goes to all
lectures in English Letters Department, and also to The Secretariat Staffs,
especially mbak Nik who has been patient in serving and helping me with the administrative procedures and services. At the same time I would also thank
Septiandy Ateng and Putri “Ringgo” for helping me learning the Interpersonal Relationship in conducting this final assignment.
I am indebted to my sisters and brother; Bernadetta Prima, Lucia T., and
Ignasius Hans Veda for the support and contributions for my final assignment and also for encouraging me to do my best.
I would also dedicate this thesis as a gratitude to my uncle and auntie who
have been close with my family and helping us in difficulties; Yohanes Darsono, and Elizabeth Sunarsih. I thank them for assisting my mother by accommodating me a place to live during the last two years. I also thank my cousin, Yunas for sharing her bedroom and lending me her lappie.
To English Letters friends also are my thanks, especially to Anna Elfira,
Diksita, Ansdaria, Ireda, Yenny, Dewi, Agaton, and my friend in holy spaces,
Yoyo (<). I owe them a lot for they have been filling my days with joys and laughter. I also thank to my lovely student, Windi Prawesti for always pleasing me with her wonderful and inspiring stories during the last 3 years.
Last but not least, I thank my beloved Michael Anandika Nevada for the cups of coffee, and particularly for filling my days with love and affection. I am
indebted to him for always being in a rush helping me with such sophisticated
gadget stuffs during this thesis writing.
I am terribly sorry for all people who have given partial contributions for
this thesis-writing whose names cannot be mentioned in this gratitude expression
one by one. However, I cannot reach this step without them all.
V. Novi Ciptaningrum
TABLE OF CONTENT
TABLE OF CONTENT
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL PAGE ... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE... iii
HALAMAN PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... iv
MOTTO PAGE ... v
B. Problem Formulation ... 7
C. Objectives of the Study... 7
D. Definition of Terms... 8
1. Politeness... 8
2. Speech Act ... 9
3. Directives ... 9
4. Interpersonal Relationship ... 10
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 11
A. Review of Related Studies ... 11
1. Politeness and Society... 11
2. Psychology and Communication... 12
B. Review of Related Theories... 13
1. Theory of Speech Acts ... 13
a. Declaration (Performatives) ... 14
b. Representatives (Assertive) ... 14
c. Commissives... 15
d. Expressives ... 15
e. Directives... 15
2. Theory of Politeness... 16
a. Face... 17
b. Politeness Strategies ... 18
i. Off Record (indirect)... 19
ii. On-record ... 19
3. Theory of Interpersonal Relationship... 20
a. Power of Relationships... 21
b. Interpersonal Relationship... 22
C. Theoretical Framework ... 25
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 27
A. The Politeness Strategies Applied in Directive Speech Acts in “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”... 31
ii. Negative Strategy... 39
B. The Use of Politeness Strategies According to the Interpersonal Relationships among the Characters in “The IT Crowd” eps. “Moss and the German”... 42
1. The Analysis of the Interpersonal Relationships... 42
2. The Analysis of the Politeness Strategies and Interpersonal Relationships ... 50
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 59
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 62
APPENDICES ... 64
APPENDIX 1: Movie Description ... 65
APPENDIX 2: The Script of Serial Comedy “The IT Crowd” – episode: “Moss and the German”... 66
APPENDIX 3: The Classification of Speech Acts... 77
LIST OF TABLE Table 1. Politeness Strategies ... 41
Table 2. Off Record Strategy... 52
Table 3. Bald On Record Strategy... 53
Table 4. Positive Strategy... 54
Table 5. Negative Strategy ... 54
LIST OF ABBREVIATION Interpersonal Relationship ... 51
ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
V. NOVI CIPTANINGRUM. Politeness Strategies Applied in Directive Speech Acts According to the Interpersonal Relationships in “The IT Crowd: Moss and the German”. Yogyakarta: English Letters Department, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University. 2011.
“The IT Crowd” is a serial comedy series of situation-comedy genre. This film is a film comedy from the UK produced by Graham Linehan. This serial comedy consists of 4 (four) seasons starting from2006 to 2010. The writer takes an episode titled “Moss and the German” as the object of the study by the reason of conformity of the object with the theme taken by the author in the context of the psycholinguistics.
The writer outlined two (2) problems in this research; (1) The politeness strategies applied in directive speech acts in “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”, (2) The use of politeness strategies in uttering directive speech acts according to the interpersonal relationships among the characters in “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”.
In analyzing the data, the writer used two theories drawn from two studies: linguistics and psychology study. The writer used the theory of Politeness Strategies under pragmatic study to find the types of Politeness Strategies used by the characters in uttering directives speech acts. Next, the writer applies the theory of Interpersonal Relationship under psychology study to find the interpersonal relationships among the characters, and the theory of Power of relationships to find the power of the interpersonal relationships among the characters.
From the data analysis, this research found out the conclusion that there are five directive speech acts found in “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”, including (1) Request, (2) Suggestion, (3) Command, (4) Prohibition, and (5) Invitation. There are also four politeness strategies included; (1) Off Record, (2) Bald On Record, (3) Positive, and (4) Negative Strategy. After the analysis of politeness strategy, the writer conducts the analysis of interpersonal relationship among the characters, and later the writer finds six types of interpersonal relationships among the characters in “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”, those are: (1) Same-Sex Friendship, (2) Cross-Sex Friendship, (3) Friendship Association, (4) Workplace Mentoring Relationship, (5) Networking Workplace Relationship, and (6) Romantic Workplace Relationship. By combining and comparing the results of both analyses, the writer concludes that there is a strong relation and influence between the use of politeness strategies and interpersonal relationship seen from the preference of using certain politeness strategy according to the interpersonal relationship between two characters.
ABSTRAK ABSTRAK
V. NOVI CIPTANINGRUM. Politeness Strategies Applied in Directive Speech Acts According to the Interpersonal Relationships in “The IT Crowd: Moss and the German”. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. 2011.
“The IT Crowd” merupakan serial komedi dengan genre komedi situasi. Film ini merupakan film komedi dari Inggris yang diproduksi oleh Graham Linehan. Serial komedi tersebut meliputi 4 (empat) sesi mulai dari tahun 2006 sampai dengan tahun 2010. Penulis mengambil salah satu episode berjudul “Moss and the German” sebagai obyek penelitian ini dengan alasan kesesuaian obyek terhadap tema yang ingin diangkat oleh penulis dalam konteks psikologi bahasa.
Penelitian ini mengangkat 2 (dua) permasalahan, yakni (1) Apa saja Strategi Kesopanan yang dipakai dalam penuturan kalimat perintah langsung oleh para karakter di film “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”, (2) Penggunaan strategi kesopanan dalam penuturan kalimat perintah langsung sesuai dengan hubungan antar persona karakter di “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”.
Dalam menganalisa data, penulis menggunakan dua teori yang diambil dari kajian bahasa dan psikologi. Penulis menggunakan teori strategi kesopanan dari kajian Pragmatik untuk menemukan jenis – jenis strategi kesopanan yang dipakai oleh para karakter dalam menuturkan kalimat perintah langsung. Berikutnya, penulis mengambil dan menerapkan teori Hubungan Antar Persona dari kajian psikologi untuk menemukan jenis – jenis hubungan antar persona parakarakter dan teori Kekuatan Hubungan untuk menemukan kekuatan hubungan dari setiap hubungan antar persona tersebut.
Dari analisis data, penelitian ini menghasilkan kesimpulan bahwa terdapat lima penuturan kalimat perintah langsung, mencakup (1) Permintaan, (2) Saran, (3) Perintah, (4) Larangan, and (5) Ajakan. Terdapat pula empat strategi kesopanan; (1) Off Record, (2) Bald On Record, (3) Positive, dan (4) Negative Strategy. Setelah analisa tersebut, penulis melakukan analisis hubungan antar persona, dan ditemukan bahwa terdapat enam macam hubungan antar persona, yakni (1) Same – Sex Friendship, (2) Cross – Sex Friendship, (3) Association Friendship, (4) Mentoring Workplace Relationship, (5) Networking Workplace Relationship, dan (6) Romantic Workplace Relationship. Dari penggabungan hasil kedua analisa, penulis menyimpulkan bahwa terdapat hubungan dan pengaruh antara penggunaan strategi kesopanan dengan hubungan antar persona yang ditunjukkan oleh kecenderungan pemakaian strategi kesopanan tertentu sesuai dengan hubungan antar persona antara dua individu.
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
As human beings, we have so many aspects involved in our daily activities,
one of them is communication. This aspect is undoubtedly a very important aspect
among ones. People share ideas, perspectives, and many things stated in their
minds with other people to get works done. To succeed a communication between
two or more people, there must be a way or method to unify their understanding
of each other. There are some ways used by people to communicate each to others
that are done in both spoken and unspoken forms. Some of them are by employing
signs, gestures, and by uttering their ideas. The last one is the most effective way
among others because it employs a tool that is a universal agreement within every
group of people. The tool of communication referred here is called by a term, that
is language. Regarding to language as our tool of communication, Wardhaugh
(1992: pp. 2-3) defines language as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for
human communication. He emphasizes language as a code that human beings
employ in their communication.
Communication involves people as the doers of communication. Human
beings referred here are the participants of communication. Therefore, language,
communication, and human beings are not separated within one boundary. Many
people learn language and communication under linguistic study, but mostly
ignore the essential study of human beings as the doers of communication and
what it contributes dealing with communication and language. While Wardhaugh
stands under linguistics perspective with his definition of language above, another
definition is also given by Miller (1974: pp. 4-5) along with his explanation about
how psychology and communication are closely related. He defines human
language as the most subtle and powerful technique of controlling people’s
thoughts and actions. In this context Miller gives a term for human language as
behavioural technique.
Language covers many fields which are grouped into many disciplines
learned and taught by people. Those of which are phonology, morphology,
sociolinguistics, pragmatics, stylistics and semantics. Within the scope of
linguistics, pragmatics is the study that is mostly applied in this research. Yule
(1996: pp.1-2) describes pragmatics covering four understandings. Those are (1)
Pragmatics as the study of speaker’s meaning, (2) Pragmatics as the study of
contextual meanings, (3) Pragmatics as the study of how more things get
communicated than is said, and (4) Pragmatics as the study of the expression of
relative distance. In brief, he defines pragmatics as a study of the relationship
between linguistic forms and the users of the forms. In addition, when studying
pragmatics, we study people’s intended meanings, assumptions, aims, and any
action they perform while speaking. It is clear that there is a connection between
what is said and the action performed.
Under pragmatics study, the theory of politeness becomes the writer’s focus
in this research. The writer tries to analyze the politeness strategies applied in the
However, politeness within the field of pragmatic study is not the only theory the
writer applies in conducting the research. There are two other theories included in
this research, those are the theory of directive speech act, and another one is the
theory taken from the psychology discipline, the theory of interpersonal
relationship.
In doing the research, the writer engages pragmatics with psychology study.
As the first step, the writer analyzes the script by using politeness theory under
pragmatics study. In this step, the writer attempts to reveal the conversation
patterns of each character by finding the politeness strategies used by the
characters in their directive speech acts. The next step, the writer tries to reveal
how the characters build their relationships and what kinds of relationship are
among them. In this context, the study of human relationships used in this
research, seeing from psychology study is called interpersonal relationship. Later,
this research results a discourse on human relationships and their communication
patterns. This result can be seen as a discourse in psycholinguistics where
language is associated with psychology of human relationships.
Psychology of human relationship is related to people’s environment can
also be seen as a discourse on sociolinguistic point of view. Pragmatics and
sociolinguistics are not separable. Under the scope of linguistics, they provide
politeness study within their own contexts. Meanwhile, sociolinguistics and
psychology are closely related. When language within the scope of linguistics is
associated with environment, social context and things alike, it carries an aspect of
there is communication done by the individuals within environment, and
individuals deal with different state of psychology which in turn creating various
types of human relationships. Many people have seen such view every day
without taking notice of how it has been examined within various studies that are
related one to the others.
Conducting this research is the most challenging for the writer for several
reasons. First, the writer is interested in working on linguistic study, particularly
on pragmatics. People may argue that studying pragmatics in academy is not
appealing. However, after attempting a further study on pragmatics by
self-learning, the writer is interested in the applicability of pragmatic theories in our
daily conversations, particularly speech act theories in almost all forms of spoken
communication.
Studying pragmatics is not a breeze, knowing that the writer has to find the
speaker’s intended meaning of his / her utterance. This process deals with some
supporting theories we might not obtain under the scope of pragmatics study. For
a brief example; a hearer has to find the intended meaning of a speaker’s utterance
by seeing and guessing the speaker’s gesture at the same time he/she utters
something to the hearer. Gestures to impart messages or intended meanings of
unspoken actions, commonly termed as body language, are generally given in
psychology study. However, as people understands the supporting aspects in
learning pragmatics, it will be easier to comprehend the study of pragmatics.
What makes it interesting for the writer in conducting this research is the
with psychology study, particularly interpersonal relationship study. Citing from
the previous definition of pragmatics as a study of the intended meanings of the
speaker’s utterances is the part where the writer sees the relation between
pragmatics and psychology study as mentioned above. The intended meaning
referred here is the meaning of the speaker’s utterance that is not implied through
his/her spoken utterance itself. With the help from Miller (1974: pp. 3-12) in
understanding the strong relation between psychology and communication, the
writer also tries to serve the reader an example of the case by conducting this
study.
The writer chooses the serial comedy “The IT Crowd”, episode “Moss and
the German” in reason that the writer finds it interesting that it serves pragmatic
discourse that the writer seeks to analyze. “The IT Crowd” is a serial comedy
about two IT experts working in a private corporate in England, Reynholm
Industry. Among the employees these two men are considered as nerd people.
They do not look as normal as common people, seeing from their behaviour,
attitude, and the way they communicate each other and even to other people. For
the writer this becomes the interesting object where the writer can take as a
research to give the discourse to the reader in the field of human communication.
It becomes remarkable when later the writer finds “Moss and the German”
episode, the writer notices that it serves not only pragmatic features, but also other
fields of study such as psychology and sociolinguistics. In this episode the writer
finds related studies to be taken as a new discourse. “The IT Crowd – Moss and
glances taken. Actually, most episodes contribute linguistics discourse, covering
phonology, semantics, morphology, stylistics, and pragmatics.
The main point to discuss here, in this research, is its discourse on
pragmatics. One of the courses on pragmatics to discuss mainly in this study is
politeness strategy. However, the writer underwent the research of the same
subject by taking the psychology point of view to reveal the interpersonal
interactions within the scope of psychology of interpersonal relations or closeness
states between two people involved in a conversation and its influence to the
politeness. By using the script of the film, the writer took parts of the
conversations to reveal the politeness strategies applied in the conversations. The
writer used the script by adding little changes, i.e. giving little modification by
stating the names of the speakers since the script was originally attached to the
film and including no names of the speakers. This research was done by applying
the politeness and pragmatics theories to the selected data, that is the script used
as the subject of the research.
It is interesting for the writer to find the different ways or patterns of
communication among people. Indeed, this serial comedy challenges the writer to
reveal how interpersonal relationships gives an influence to the ways people
interact with others by means of communication, in particular is the use of
B. Problem Formulation
In conducting this research, the writer formulates two main problems. Those
two main problems are outlined in two questions. The questions stated are used as
the guideline in succeeding the discourse the writer works on. The first problem is
about the strategies applied in the subject of the study, while the second problem
is the interpersonal relationship and how politeness strategies reflect the
interpersonal relationship as another study that is in relation in this discourse.
Therefore, the problems referred above are briefly stated as:
1. What politeness strategies are applied in the directive speech acts in “The IT
Crowd – Moss and the German”?
2. How are politeness strategies used in uttering directive speech acts
according to the interpersonal relationships among the characters in “The IT
Crowd –Moss and the German”?
C. Objectives of the Study
The fact that the writer has seen most studies conducted in English
Department give discourses solely to their own disciplines is interesting for the
writer. Therefore, the writer tries to work on a new field by drawing a line
between Pragmatics and Psychology. The writer finds the connection between
both disciplines and the contributions from each to another which support the
strong relation between them. This research is aimed to give a discourse on
Pragmatics, particularly is politeness strategies used in a serial comedy. In
problem formulation above. By conducting this study, the writer tries to figure out
the differences in using politeness strategies according to the interpersonal
relationships among the characters in serial comedy “The IT Crowd” episode
“Moss and the German”.
D. Definition of Terms 1. Politeness
There are many definitions of politeness given by scholars that may be in
various different contexts. They may vary from different disciplines or fields of
study, ranging from ethics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and many others. Here
are the definitions of politeness the writer proposes to the reader in order to get
well understanding about politeness discussed in this research. However, again,
the writer informs the reader that our focus in this research is politeness within
linguistics boundary.
Seeing from the field of ethics, Lakoff (1975: 64) defines politeness as
something developed by societies in order to reduce friction in personal
interaction. Something being referred here is the way, manner, or behaviour used
by people in building communication with other people within particular society.
This definition is comparable to the one proposed by Ide (1989: 22) who defines
politeness as language associated with smooth communication. Under the ethic
boundary, politeness is seen as good manner in succeeding a communication
between people. Under psychology study, the writer relates politeness to human
human interaction to consider others' feelings, establish levels of mutual comfort
and promote rapport.
In the other hand, politeness seen from pragmatic study will be well defined
as a complex system for softening face threats (Brown and Levinson, 1978: 66).
Consequently, under this linguistic field of study, the emphasis of politeness lies
on the strategies applied by people in uttering their speeches.
2. Speech Act
Speech acts, according to Austin, are the actions performed in by saying
something (1962: 3). Kent Bach (1998) in his Routledge Encyclopedia of
Philosophy states that speech acts are acts of communication. To communicate is
to express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act being performed
corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed.
3. Directives
Directives is a type of speech act where the speaker tries to make the hearer
do something, such as asking, begging, challenging, giving command, daring,
inviting, insisting, requesting (Spenader, Speech Act Theory, 2004).
Searle (1969: 344-369) refines Austins’ taxonomy of illocutionary speech
acts and defines directives are illocutionary acts with which the speaker intends to
get the hearer to do something. The speaker can be requesting or commanding or
4. Interpersonal Relationship
Interpersonal Relationship is a study given in psychology about types of
relationship between one person with another. Beebe, Susan, and Mark in their
Interpersonal Relationship (2011: 252) define interpersonal relationship as a
perception shared by two people of an ongoing interdependent connection that
results in the development of relational expectations and varies in interpersonal
intimacy. Interpersonal Relationship covers some types of relationship among
people vary by level of intimacy, origins, and management of power of people in
building the relationship. Beebe puts additional information that the relationships
can be defined by circumstance or by choice, and on the basis of the way people
share their power and decision – making responsibilities. By the definition given
above the writer finds the definition of interpersonal relationship as a relationship
between two people according to the contexts of relation and the needs they share.
By the interactions, people make themselves clear about their status and position
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
In this chapter, the writer outlines the theories and studies applied and taken
as the references in doing this research. First is the study of related studies, second
is the study of related theories, and the last is theoretical framework.
A. Review of Related Studies 1. Politeness and Society
In this research, the writer pays attention to the applicability of politeness
supported by some aspects. Generally, in academic study, politeness seen from
pragmatics, however, is not being apart from sociolinguistics. This is proven not
only by theories but also the facts that exist in reality. There is a tight connection
between politeness and society. Many scholars give their definition of politeness
under any context in which politeness is related to. Citing an excerpt by Liang and
Han (2009) in their A Contrastive Study on Disagreement Strategies for
Politeness between American English & Mandarin Chinese who state that,
the hierarchical politeness system may be widely recognized among companies, government and educational organizations, in which the speakers resort to different politeness strategies. The "higher" use involvement politeness strategies and the "lower" use independence politeness strategies.
The writer summarizes that the speakers employ politeness strategies under
certain environments they belong to. There is always distinction pattern of
uttering something within the boundary of politeness between two people. Since
environment become one of the aspects dealing with politeness, it can be seen
from our daily lives the case where the politeness is shown in different pattern, by
different people, within different societies, cultures and contexts.
The study on politeness and society is important in giving the reference to
the research done by the writer. It leads to a better understanding and steps to take
in succeeding this study. Since the focus of the study done by the writer is on the
politeness and psychology, the study of politeness and society gives an influence
in the application of the study itself in this study. In particular, it can be seen in
this study, the strong connection between politeness and the supporting aspects for
people in applying politeness strategy in their utterances to others.
2. Psychology and Communication
By giving an example of communication with a representation of the vocal
sounds made when someone speaks into a radio microphone which are closely
related to the vocal sounds produced and being heard by an audience, Miller in his
Psychology and Communication (1974: pp. 3-5) puts the definition of psychology
and communication together as below:
communication occurs when events in one place or at one time are closely related to events in another place or at another time – different events are closely related. The psychology of communication, therefore, must be concerned with relations between different mental or behavioural events.
Miller leads us into a good understanding on how psychology gives a
significant influence to communication. He states that psychology of
communication is concerned with the relations between different mental or
is. In good communication, people cannot respond their partner by saying our
utterance without being aware and realizing what they are talking about. People
need their mind to organize what to say. Even in any rude sentence, wrong
answer, or nonsense talk, people express them based on what they have in mind. It
is not true that someone can say something that is not in his / her mind if he / she
is in a good psychology. In this study, Psychology and Communication gives a
significant influence for the writer in leading a good understanding of the strong
connection between both human’s minds and communication pattern, particularly
in this study is the relationships among the characters and the politeness strategies
they apply in their conversation.
B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory of Speech Acts
As defined by Austin (1962: 95), who focuses on the performative aspect of
language usage, speech acts are the actions performed in by saying something.
According to Austin’s theory, functional units of communication have
prepositional or locutionary meaning (the literal meaning of the utterance),
illocutionary meaning (the social function of the utterance), and perlocutionary
force (the effect produced by the utterance in a given context).
Related to this theory, using the previous theory of speech acts given by
Austin and Searle as the grip, Cohen (1996: pp. 383-420) identifies five categories
a. Declaration (Performatives)
Declarations change the way the world is. Declarations cannnot be true or
false, they can only be felicitous or infelicitous. Spenader (2004: 13) gives the
examples of performatives that are common in the following domains:
•Church: baptizing, confirming, marrying, funerals, pause exorcism.
Example: “I baptize thee in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”. (Oishi, 2006: 9)
•Universities: conferring degrees.
•Court: sentencing, swearing oaths to tell the truth.
Example: Jury Foreman:”We find the defendant guilty.” (Yule, 1996: 44)
•Gambling: placing a bet, raising stakes in poker.
•Sport: cautioning or sending of players, calling strikes, balls, outs.
Example: Referee: “You’re out!” (Yule, 1996: 44)
The words and expressions change the world by their utterance, such as ‘I
bet’, ‘I declare’, ‘I resign’, etc.
b. Representatives (Assertive)
These are acts which the words state what the speaker believes to be the
case, such as ‘describing’, ‘claiming’, ‘hypothesising’, ‘insisting’, and
‘predicting’. The speaker asserts a proposition to be true using verbs such as
‘affirm’, ‘believe’, ‘conclude’, ‘deny’, ‘report’. (Spenader, 2004: 18)
c. Commissives
This includes acts in which the words commit the speaker to future action,
such as ‘promising’, ‘offering’, ‘threatening’, ‘refusing’, ‘vowing’, and
‘volunteering’ (Cutting, 2003: 17). Here is an example for this type of speech act:
•Ready when you are. I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse. (Mario Puzo – The Godfather – Yule, 1996: 43)
d. Expressives
This is the last group of speech acts in which the speaker expresses an
attitude to or about a state of affairs, such as ‘apologising’, ‘praising’,
‘congratulation’, ‘deploring’, and ‘regreting’. Below are the examples (Yule,
1996: 43):
•A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. (Steinem)
•If I’d known I was gonna live this long, I’d had taken better care of myself. (Blake)
e. Directives
This category covers acts in which the words are aimed at making the hearer
do something such as ‘commanding’, ‘requesting’, ‘inviting’, ‘forbidding’,
‘suggesting’, and so on (Yule, 1996: 43). In common, the verbs used in directives
are; ‘ask’, a’beg’, ‘challenge’, ‘command’, ‘dare’, ‘invite’, ‘insist’, ‘request’
(Spenader, 2004: 18). This category is the focus in this research. The writer will
later analyze the directive speech acts and how they vary from one utterance to the
others based on interpersonal relationship boundary. The followings are the
i. Command is asking the hearer to do what the speaker orders him / her to do. Command tends to be demanding, means that the order must be fulfilled.
Example: Gimme a cup of coffee. Make it black. (Yule, 1996: 45)
ii. Request is the way of asking or ordering something from the hearer. Unlike command, request is generally less demanding.
Example: Could you lend me a pen, please? (Yule, 1996: 45)
iii. Invitation is to ask someone to be present at particular occasion or event. Example: I know you hate party, Jen, but come anyway. We’ll all be there,
and it’ll be cool seeing if Ally is with Andrea! Come on – get a life! (Yule,
1996: 52)
iv. Prohibition is to prevent the hearer from doing something. Example: Don’t touch that! (Yule, 1996: 57)
v. Suggestion is uttered to propose an act that the hearer should do.
2. Theory of Politeness
Politeness is used to refer to the strategies available to interactants to defuse
the danger and minimalise the antagonism within the communication (Kasper,
1990: 194). Politeness in linguistics is covered in two major fields of linguistic
study, those are Sociolinguistics and Pragmatics. Sociolinguistics tends to link the
politeness with social boundary. Here, politeness is seen from society and its
contextual surrounding. One example of politeness learned in sociolinguistics is
how people from lower social class talk to people from higher social class, vice
some strategies that most people usually use to indicate the closeness of
relationship between two people who are involved in a certain conversation.
a. Face
Brown and Levinson argue for pragmatics analysis of politeness to
counteract force of potential threats to the “face” of the hearer. “Face” describes
self-image that the speaker or the hearer would like to see maintained in
interaction. Face is something that is emotionally invested, “face” can be lost,
maintained or enhanced, and must be constantly attended to interaction (Brown
and Levinson, 1978:66). Face refers to a speaker's sense of linguistic and social
identity. A speech act is face threatening when it is imposing on this sense. There
are two major politeness face, positive politeness which means being
complimentary and gracious to the addressee and negative politeness which is
found in ways of mitigating the imposition. There are 5 types of negative “face”
(Yule, 1996: 51):
• Hedging
Speaker can minimise the imposition by making it seem smaller than it is.
Therefore hedges such as ‘if possible’, ‘sort of’, and ‘in a way’ are used to
mitigate the imposition.
• Pessimism
Pessimism can be seen mostly in negative sentences which seems to
anticipate a refusal. Brown and Levinson call this negative strategy as ‘be
• Indicating deference
Indicating deference signifies the speaker yielding to the hearer, generally
for the sake of the respect towards the hearer to make an option.
• Apologizing
Apology and hesitation are used by the speaker to avoid imposing by
emphasizing the importance of the other’s time and concerns, giving the
opportunity to say no.
• Impersonalizing
The speaker can emphasize the distance between interlocutors by
impersonalizing in order to state the imposition as a general rule or nominalising.
b. Politeness Strategies
Brown and Levinson sum up human politeness behaviour in four strategies:
off-record-indirect strategy, bald on record, negative politeness, and positive
politeness. The following figure is drawn to ease the reader in understanding how
politeness strategies are categorized (Yule, 1996: 59).
Off Record
Politeness Strategies On Record
Bald
Face Saving Positive Negative
i. Off Record (indirect)
It takes some of the pressure off the speaker. Take an example where the
speaker is trying to avoid the direct Face Threatening Act of asking for a beer.
Instead, he would rather it be offered to him once his hearer sees that he wants
one. By using Off Record Strategy, a speaker does not utter his/her need to hearer
directly in a whole clear sentence. For a better understanding, the writer proposed
an example of Off Record Strategy as following:
•You’re standing in front of the TV. (Yule, 1996: 46)
(a request to the addressee not to stand in front of the TV.)
ii. On-record (a) Bald
This strategy shows that the speaker does nothing to minimize threats to the
hearer's “face”. The speaker tends to speak explicitly, getting to his intended
meaning of what he says. Bald on record strategy is used utterly and often
unconditionally.
•Mark, tell me the address for that website they were talking about this morning. (Yule, 1996: 51)
(b) Face Saving (i) Positive
It shows that the speaker recognizes that the hearer has a desire to be
respected. By using positive strategy the speaker tends to show his/her want to be
responded in an affirmative as what he/she intended as in the following example:
(ii) Negative
Negative politeness also recognizes the hearer's face. But it also recognizes
that the speaker is in some way imposing on them. Some other examples would be
to say, “I don't want to bother you but...” or “I was wondering if...” and any other
similar phrase in which the speaker express his / her uncertainty of his/her request
or command to be fulfilled.
3. Theory of Interpersonal Relationship
In conducting this research, Interpersonal Relationship is another study the
writer involves in. Since language and society are dealing to one another, society
and psychology are either related.
Interpersonal relationship is a theory taken from psychology study. It is a
study about types of human relationships. Interpersonal relationship is a
perception shared by two people of an ongoing, interdependent connection
resulting in the development of relational expectations and varying in
interpersonal intimacy (Beebe et al, 2011: 252). This theory is taken to ease the
reader in comprehending the analysis in this study. Since the focus of this study is
different politeness strategies used by the speakers, the theory of interpersonal
relationship is needed to reveal how and why the speakers use the different
politeness strategies when they speak to different persons. As the writer shows in
the previous chapter that under linguistic study, other than being studied
pragmatically, politeness is also covered by Sociolinguistics which involves
separated from the individuals as the ‘drivers’ of the society and the relationships
they build within the society itself. Thus, the theory of interpersonal relationship
is used as a step leading to the analysis. Steve Beebe et al (2011: pp.252-363)
focus their subject on interpersonal relationship, particularly friendship, love,
family, and workplace relationships. Before getting to the interpersonal
relationships, the writer focuses on different characters of interpersonal
relationships which signify the types of interpersonal relationships.
a. Power of Relationships
Based on how people share power in their relationship, the interpersonal
relationships are categorized as in the following (Beebe et al, 2011: pp.255-256):
vi. Complementary occurs if one partner dominates his/her power while another one is submitting.
vii. Symmetrical is when both partners behave towards power in the same way, either wanting or avoiding the power. There are two kinds of Symmetrical,
first is Competitive and another is Submissive. Competitive exists when both people vie for power and control of the decision making while
Submissive occurs when both people feels uncomfortable imposing his/her will on the other, and besides, both partners often flounder or unable to
make a decision or to act.
viii. Parallel involves a shifting back and forth of the power between partners depending on the situation. Parallel Relationship often involves continual
b. Interpersonal Relationship i. Friendship
Friendship is relationship of choice that exists over time between people
who share a common history. A friend is someone we like and who like us.
(Beebe et al, 2011: pp.312-320). Here are some types of friendship:
(a) Friendships of Stages in Life cover four types of friendship representing the
stages the friendships are build. The four types are Childhood Friendship, Adolescent Friendship, Adult Friendship, and Late Adult Friendship. (b) Sex – Based Friendship cover two types of friendships. The first is Same –
Sex Friendship, a relationship built by women and men with people of the same sex. The difference between men and women in building this type of
relationship is the way they view their relationships to signify their
intimacy. Women tend to spend their time with the same – sex friends for
talking while men are reported to engage more in most of their activities
with their same – sex friends. The second one is Cross – Sex Friendship
which is built by at least one female and one male. In cross – sex friendship,
men seem to get more from women than women do from men by sharing
their thoughts and opinions. This type of friendship is generally nonsexual
but some include sexual activity, as in friends in benefit though it is rarely
happens.
(c) Diverse Friendship is a friendship viewed from the difference between people building this type of relationship. Two people engaged in Diverse
This type of friendship requires a special sensitivity to how the differences
affect each partner and the relationship.
(d) Association Friendship is a friendship exists during a particular activity. This kind of friendship only is temporary as the activity involving both
partners is over. Association friendship is a transitory friendship where both
partners usually act in a friendly manner.
ii. Love
Love is a feeling that may be characterized by passion and caring and by
intimacy, passion, and commitment. Love is categorized into some types (Beebe
et al, 2011: pp.322-324):
(a) Eros focuses on beauty and sexuality, sometimes to the exclusion of other qualities.
(b) Ludis is seen as a game and focuses on entertainment and excitement. (c) Storge is a kind of companionship, peaceful and slow.
(d) Pragma is practical and traditional. This type of relationship works because of the partners’ individual requirements, personalities, backgrounds, likes
and dislikes are compatible.
(e) Mania is obsessive and possessive, characterized by elation and depression. (f) Agape is compassionate and selfless, characterized as self-giving and
altruistic.
iii. Family
Families in common have defined roles, where the members understand the
responsibilities to the relationship. Every family members share history and future
which means that they have an interactional past and an anticipated future
together. Generally, the relationship is rule governed, rather than random or
unpredictable. Below are the types of family suggested by Beebe et al (2011:
345-346):
(a) Nuclear Family: consists of a mother, a father and (a) biological child(ren). (b) Extended Family: includes additional relatives – aunts, uncles, cousins
and/or grandparents as part of the family unit living in the same house.
(c) Family of Origin: refers to the (other) family in which someone is raised, no matter what type it is.
(d) Blended Family: consists of two adults and (a) child(ren) who come together as a result of divorce, separation, death, or adoption.
(e) Single – Parent Family: consist of one parent and at least one child. Single parent is resulted from divorce, unmarried parenthood, separation, and
death.
iv. Workplace Relationship
It is common for us to define workplace relationship as a relationship which
takes place at workplace with necessity of business. In fact, workplace
relationships are defined not only as the relationships occur at workplace but also
relationships which are started from occupation and sometimes to be continuous at
any other contexts (Beebe et al, 2011:361). Here are the types of workplace
(a) Romantic relationships in the workplace, although having a variety of benefits, are often frowned upon and often entail a variety of problems that
would not arise in other contexts.
(b) Mentoring relationships help people learn the ropes of the organization through the experience and knowledge of someone who has gone through
the processes they will be going through.
(c) Networking relationships enables people to expand their area of expertise and enables them to secure information bearing on a wide variety of
problems they want to solve and questions they want to answer.
In this research, two types of them will be useful to apply in analyzing the
data; those are friendship and workplace relationships. Later, this analysis will
result a discourse on interpersonal communication which is, of course, a verbal
interaction pattern shaped within the relationship.
C. Theoretical Framework
The objective of this study is to reveal how politeness shows its relationship
with society, particularly with human-being relationship. Therefore, politeness
under the scope of Pragmatics study is taken to analyze the strategies employed
within the conversation done by the speakers. This will show the pattern of style
of uttering each speaker’s directives individually. Each character will show
significant difference in using strategies of politeness.
Within the context of politeness, the writer tries to analyze the relationship
his / her sentences, particularly directive speeches. Therefore, interpersonal
relationship, the study of human relationship under the scope of psychology study,
was taken to succeed the analysis.
By combining those theories, it is hoped that the reader will be able to
follow this research, later to understand how politeness shows interpersonal
relationship, vice versa, and the usage of politeness not being apart from the
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the study
The object of the research is the serial comedy “The IT Crowd – Moss and
the German”. This object of the study is one of the 16 episodes of the serial “The
IT Crowd” (2007). This serial comedy was both written, produced and directed by
Graham Linehan, starring two actors and an actress as three main characters; Roy
(Chris O’Dowd), Moss (Richard Ayoade), and Jen (Katherine Parkinson). “The IT
Crowd” was popular in England and became one of the most watched TV
programme in England from its first broadcast to the latest episode of the serial
(2006-2010).
B. Approach of the Study
In conducting this study, the writer used Pragmatic approach. Pragmatics is
the approach to succeed the analysis of the data, which are directive speech acts.
Pragmatics as defined by Yule (1996: 2-3) emphasizes on the study of spoken
communication beyond what is said. In this context, we focus on the intended
meaning of a spoken utterance. Pragmatics is also said as the context – based –
study (Carter et al, 1990: 9) unlike any other fields of linguistic study. The theory
of pragmatics is applicable to be applied as the approach to this research.
The approach used in this study is supported by the study of Psychology,
particularly the theory of Interpersonal Relationships. It is remarkable that
pragmatics and psychology are closely related. Since pragmatics is a context–
based–study, individuals as the participants of speech event, dealing with different
psychology are one of the aspects playing role in giving influence to pragmatic
study. By applying both of above approaches, the writer attempted to give a
discourse on psycholinguistics by finding the relationships between the use of
politeness strategies and the interpersonal relationships.
C. Method of the Study
This research was done by doing some steps to lead the readers to get easy
to follow the analysis. In the first step, the writer decided the object of the
research. As mentioned above, the subject of the research is serial comedy “The
IT Crowd–Moss and the German”. After that, the writer selected the parts of
conversations on the script to reveal the conversations which apply the politeness
strategies. Moving to the next step, the writer sought for the types of interpersonal
relationship among the characters. To conduct the analysis of the interpersonal
relationships, the writer dealt with the learning of interpersonal relationship under
psychology study. In order to get trusted references, the writer conducted
interviews with people working on psychology. Besides, the writer conducted a
library research for a good comprehension of the study of interpersonal
relationships. After revealing the types of the interpersonal relationship, in the
following step the writer tried to compare the conversations between characters
with different types of interpersonal relationship to reveal the use of the politeness
involved within the conversations. In the last step, the writer drew a conclusion
from the analysis of the research.
Here the writer explains the methods used in this research including data
collection and data analysis.
1. Kind of Data
The data used in this research to analyze is the directive speech acts spoken
by the characters in serial comedy “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”. The
directive speech acts are taken from the script compressed from the subtitle of the
film “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”.
2. Data Collection
The object of this study is the usage of politeness strategies by people in
their conversations under the states of their relationship. The case taken for the
analysis is a serial comedy “The IT Crowd – Episode: Moss and the German”.
As the first step, the writer watched the film to make sure that the movie is
the most suitable and appropriate subject to succeed the research. After doing this
step, the writer captured the movie script by pasting it from the film. The writer
then divided the script in the same way a play is divided into acts and scenes. The
writer also put additional information related to the actions performed in the film
3. Data Analysis
The analysis was done by applying theories mentioned in chapter II. There
are two major things as the focus of the research. First is the use of politeness
strategy and second is the interpersonal relationship. Therefore, the writer had to
undergo two main steps leading to the analysis.
First step, the writer selected the directive speech acts in the script and
categorized them according to the politeness strategies applied in the speeches.
After succeeding this step, the writer made the descriptions for the selected
speeches and explained why the speeches were classified into particular politeness
strategies. Then, the writer grouped the result of the analysis into a table which
can be seen in a brief conclusion in chapter IV (table 4.1).
After succeeding the analysis of the politeness strategies, the writer tried to
find the interpersonal relationships among the characters. In the later step, the
writer combined both of the result in order to show how they differ in uttering
directive speeches by applying politeness strategies. This step was done to show
how both results are related. After combining the results of both analyses, the
writer draw a table showing the overall result which can be seen in the Appendix
3 (c.f. Classification of Speech Acts). This step was done systematically to lead
the analysis into a better understanding and to ease the reader in studying this
research.
By doing those steps, the writer tends to provide the answers to the
problems aroused in the problem formulation stated in Chapter I, besides, to give
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
Leaving the previous chapter, the next chapter is chapter IV, where the data
are processed. In this chapter the writer tries to give the answer to the problems
stated in the problem formulation stated in Chapter I.
A. The Politeness Strategies Applied in Directive Speech Acts in “The IT Crowd – Moss and the German”
In answering the first problem, the writer conducts data processing as the
first step. This step is done by applying the theory of politeness strategies. Before
conducting data processing, the writer selects the directive speech acts in the
whole script, then the writer numbers those directive speech acts in the right order
starting from the beginning to the end of the film. The conversations are labelled
in random numbers according to the types of the directive speech act they are
classified, and are represented by the number in the bracket similar to the
conversation defined as directive speech acts in The Classification of Speech Acts
table (c.f. Appendix 3). Only some conversations representing other similar
conversations having the same type of directive speech acts, politeness strategy,
and/or context are explained in this data analysis. This is aimed to avoid the
repeating explanation of similar conversations. Therefore, if there are some other
conversations being unexplained in this chapter, please see Appendix 3 to find the
similar conversation with the same description of the conversation.
1. Off Record
[1] Participants : Moss, Roy
Setting : Roy’s flat
Theme : The proper distance between the couch and TV set.
Moss : I think we’re sitting too close to the screen. The floor’s sticky over here.
Roy : Alright, let’s move back then.
This conversation is a request applying off record strategy. In this context,
Moss and Roy are about to watch a film and they argue about their convenience
by making a good distance between the couch and the TV set. In this conversation
instead of asking Roy to move the couch a bit farther from the TV set directly,
Moss states his reason by explaining why they have to move the couch, that is
because of the sticky floor that makes him uncomfortable with the surrounding.
[3] Participants : Jeff, Roy
Setting : Roy’s flat (phone conversation)
Theme : Jeff’s new nickname
Roy : Hello, Jeff
Jeff : No, Roy, you know I changed my name by deed poll.
This conversation is a bit interesting. The utterance Jeff says to Roy is
considered as request applying off record strategy. When Roy calls Jeff by his real
name, Jeff wishes not to be called so. He tells Roy his request to be called by the
new nickname by reminding Roy that he has got the new nickname from the deed
poll (an internet site) that Roy should get used to it from now on. This way of
uttering the request is considered as applying off record strategy in which Jeff
says his request indirectly. Although Jeff uses off record strategy, the intention of
[8] Participants : Roy, Jen
Setting : IT department office
Theme : Prohibition for Jen not to smoke in the office.
Roy : We don’t have ventilation here.
Jen : I’ll stand over here.
Roy here tries to explain to Jen about the physical condition of their office
which does not have ventilation. This explanation is not just a declarative sentence
in which the purpose is only to inform Jen that they do not have ventilation and
there is nothing to do about it. By using off record strategy, Roy hopes Jen to
understand his request that she should not smoke in the room because the air of
the room will be polluted and causes him uneasy to breath. By the refusal given as
the response to Roy’s request, it does not mean that the request is not clearly
understood by Jen. The answer only shows that Jen tries to convince Roy that the
effect of the smoke will not as bad as he predicts.
[16] Participants : Roy, Jen
Setting : IT department office
Theme : Riding helicopter with Douglas.
Jen : To be honest with you, he’s been making advances. You know, little things like asking me if I wanna go for a ride in his helicopter.
Roy : Ah, I'd like to go for a ride in a helicopter.
In the previous session, Jen tells Roy about her story that their Boss asks her
to go with him riding his helicopter. Knowing this, Roy wishes Jen to take him
with her in their plan to ride the helicopter. Instead of saying “Please take me with
you”, Roy tells Jen about his interest to ride a helicopter without mentioning that
he wants them to invite him too. Roy does not say the helicopter to be Douglas’s
demands her to consider his request. It can be said as giving a hint to know why
Jen should take Roy with her to enjoy a ride in Douglas’s helicopter.
2. On Record a. Bald
[5] Participants : Moss, Roy
Setting : Roy’s flat.
Theme : The twist of the film.
Moss : Just try and forget there’s a twist.
Roy : How can you forget there’s a twist?
This conversation is a suggestion applying on record strategy. When Moss
knows that Roy is annoyed by Jeff because of the twist told to him, Moss tries to
calm him down by telling him a suggestion to forget the twist and keep on
enjoying the film. This suggestion is spoken with bald on record strategy to ease
Roy as the hearer in getting the message implied in Moss’s utterance. By the
utterance, Moss shows no hesitation in telling his suggestion to Roy by stating a
brief command in his suggestion.
[9] Participants : Moss, Roy
Setting : IT department office
Theme : Prohibition for Jen not to smoke in the office.
Roy : I don’t care. No!
Jen : I don’t wanna go out on the street. It’s too Soviet out there.
This conversation will be difficult to understand without reading the
previous or the whole context of the conversation. In the previous part of the
no.8) Roy asks Jen not to smoke in the room by saying his request in an implicit
way, but since Jen does not take it seriously, Roy demands her not to smoke in the
room in an anger. His anger is shown by saying “No” briefly. This makes the
prohibition defined as applying bald on record strategy because it is said directly.
[10] Participants : Roy, Jen
Setting : IT department office
Theme : Picking up the phone.
Roy : Don’t answer that!
Jen : Why not?
As Yule (1996: 57) argues, emergency situation may cause the use of bald
on record strategy where the utterance is spoken briefly and directly. In this part
of conversation, Roy does not allow Jen to pick up the phone because he is afraid
that someone on the phone is Jeff, the person he currently avoids. The fear that
Jeff will tell Roy about the twist of the film becomes a threat for Roy which then
prompts the use of the expression in form of prohibition using bald on record
strategy.
[19] Participants : Douglas, Roy
Setting : IT department office
Theme : Making an appointment to watch film together in Douglas’
flat.
Douglas : Watch this, it looks good.
Roy : I’ve actually been looking forward to seeing this.
There are two participants involved in this conversation; the speaker is of a
higher position than the hearer is. Douglas as the boss nearly never utters things to
the employee directly. The directive speech act above is considered as a
watch the film by saying the film is good to see. He tends to say his suggestion
right to the point and directly to his intention. By doing this he shows his
suggestion in this part of the conversation as Bald on record strategy.
b. Face Saving i. Positive Strategy
[20] Participants : Douglas, Roy
Setting : IT department office
Theme : Making an appointment to watch film together in Douglas’
flat.
Douglas : You wanna come round to mine? We can watch it there. I gotta pretty nifty home cinema system.
Roy : Mine is broken but I think that maybe I'll just watch it...
In this part of the conversation, it is obvious that Douglas shows positive
strategy in his utterance. There are three sentences there. Those are supporting
each other in making sense of its being applying positive strategy. The writer
analyzes one by one. First is “You wanna come round to mine?” This sentence is
considered as an invitation where Douglas is sure that the answer will be
affirmative. In this reason it is referred as positive strategy.
Second, “We can watch it there”. This is the first supporting sentence to the
first sentence implying positive strategy. The word can emphasize the positivity
that the hearer will approve the idea.
The last one is “I gotta pretty nifty home cinema system.” This is the second
supporting sentence for the main utterance (i.e. the first utterance). Arranged into
