AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters
By
ARDITYA CANDRA PUTRA
Student Number: 054214086
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTEMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN ASKING FOR INFORMATION
AND ASKING SOMEONE TO DO SOMETHING USED BY CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters
By
ARDITYA CANDRA PUTRA
Student Number: 054214086
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTEMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Arditya Candra Putra NIM : 054214086
Demi perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma, karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul Politeness Strategies in Asking for Information and Asking Someone to Do Something Used by Customer Service Representatives beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (jika ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan ataupun mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu ijin dari saya maupun pemberian royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan yang saya buat dengan sebenar-benarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 30 Januari 2010 Yang menyatakan,
PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN KARYA
Saya menyatakan dengan sesungguhnya bahwa sekripsi yang saya tulis tidak memuat karya atau bagian yang lain kecuali yang telah disebutkan dalam kutipan dan dalam daftar pustaka sebagai mana layaknya karya ilmiah.
Yogyakarta, 30 Januari 2010
Do not ever stop dreaming
In motivating the self to get something
What I get
Is
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Finally I could end one of my journeys to get the better future in this final assignment. First of all, my highest gratitude goes to Allah SWT for allowing me to have the time in finishing the thesis.
Moreover, this hard work is successfully accomplished on support of great people. Then I have to thank Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum., as my advisor, for her guidance, patience, and her brilliant ideas during my thesis writing. I would also like to thank to Dra. B. Ria Lestari, M.S. as my co-advisor who has given several essential inputs in finishing this thesis.
My next thanks I send to my lovely family; my mother, Ibu Susiarti, my father, Alm. Bapak Suwandi, my older sisters, Rani and Indi, my younger brother, Nanda, and my naughty nephew and naughty niece, Gilang and Echa, for many things I can not mention one by one.
During the process of thesis writing I was surrounded and helped by wonderful people like Yuda who managed the schedule of the draft submission’s deadline, my very best friends, Pewe, Rere, Alfa, and Tristan, for the togetherness, Ciluk and Yessi, my new friends, who gave me an advice that thesis is a dedication of time, Norie who made a deal of working on our own thesis together, Agung who liked sharing the problems, my cousin, Dodi, for lending me his cell-phone to collect the data, Michael, Charlie, Robert-Jan, Simon, Gilliano, Wout, Archie, and Lisa who helped me in collecting the data of my thesis.
I also thank all the lectures and the staff of English Letters Department for the guidance and help during my study at Sanata Dharma University and all the students of English Letters in the academic year of 2005. I also want to give my hugs to my real friends that I found through Masdha FM. You will always be with me, wherever I am. Last but not least, I want to give the thanks for those who wish good things for everything.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITTLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL PAGE ... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iii
LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... iv
PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN KARYA ... v
1. A Study of English Language Politeness Strategies in Daily Conversation as Shown in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House ... 6
2. Impoliteness in Congreve’s The Way of The World ... 7
B. Review of Related Theories ... 7
1. Theory of Conversation Analysis ... 8
2. Theory of Politeness ... 16
A. The Utterances to Ask for Information and to Ask the Customer to Do Something ... 26
1. Conversation 1 ... 27
2. Conversation 2 ... 32
B. Politeness Strategies Used in Utterances to Ask for
Information and to Ask the Customer to Do Something ... 43
1. Bald on Record ... 43
2. Positive Politeness Strategy ... 45
3. Negative Politeness Strategy ... 46
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 51
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 53
TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS
Acc : acceptance
Ans : answer
Ass : assessment
Cl : clarification
Clo : closing
Co : confirmation
CSR : customer service representative Cust : customer
Gre : greeting
In : information
Off : offer
Que : question
Ref : refusal
Rep : reply
Repe : repetition Repo : reporting
Req : request
Sum : summons
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 : Correlations of Content and Format in Adjacency Pair Second Table 2 : The Utterances to Get Information
Table 3 : The Utterances to Get Clarification Table 4 : The Utterances to Get Confirmation
Table 5 : The Utterances to Ask Customer to Do Something Table 6 : The Use of Bald on Record
LIST OF DIAGRAM
ABSTRACT
ARDITYA CANDRA PUTRA. Politeness Strategies in Asking for Information and Asking Someone to Do Something by Customer Service Representatives. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2010.
This undergraduate thesis analyzes politeness strategies used by the customer service representatives in a cellular phone operator. In relation to politeness, the concept of face threatening act (FTA) that threatens one’s face, a self public image of someone, comes along to elaborate the need of strategy. Asking for information and asking someone to do something are two areas used to see how the customer service representatives avoid the FTAs and the five strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson become the directions in saving the face.
In the problem formulation, there are two questions to answer. The first deals with the utterances used by the customer service representatives to ask for information and to ask the customer to do something. Meanwhile, the second problem deals with politeness strategies the customer service representatives use in the utterances to ask for information and to ask the customer to do something.
Since this study describes politeness strategies the customer service representatives use, the method of the study is descriptive research, specifically a case study, in which the data are recorded conversations between the customer service representatives and the customers. Since pragmatics is the study of the relationships between linguistic form and the users of those forms, it is used as the approach to analyze the data of the study.
The analysis shows that there are eight utterances to get information, eleven utterances to get clarification, seven utterances to get confirmation, and two utterances to ask the customer to do something in the three conversations. The politeness strategies that the customer service representatives use are bald on record, positive politeness, and negative politeness. Bald on record strategy is used in nine utterances to get clarification. Here the utterances do not have any mitigating devices. Positive politeness strategy is used in three utterances to get confirmation, which is shown by mitigating devices showing friendliness. Meanwhile, negative politeness strategy is used in eight utterances to get information, two utterances to get clarification, four utterances to get confirmation, and two utterances to ask the customer to do something. The use of negative politeness strategy by the customer service representatives is shown by mitigating devices which demonstrate the distance between the customer service representatives and the customers and by avoiding intruding on the customers’ territory.
ABSTRAK
ARDITYA CANDRA PUTRA. Politeness Strategies in Asking for Information and Asking Someone to Do Something by Customer Service Representatives. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2010.
Tugas akhir ini menganalisa strategi-strategi kesopanan yang digunakan oleh customer service representatives di sebuah operator telepone seluler. Berkaitan dengan kesopanan, konsep face threatening act (FTA) yang mengancam
face seseorang, gambaran umum diri dari seseorang, muncul untuk menjelaskan kebutuhan akan strategi-strategi tersebut. Bertanya dan mengajukan permintaan adalah dua hal yang digunakan untuk melihat bagaimana customer service
representatives menghindari FTA tersebut dan lima strategi yang dirancang oleh
Brown and Levinson menjadi acuan dalam menyelamatkan face tersebut.
Ada dua pertanyaan yag dikembangkan di dalam perumusahan masalah. Pertanyaan pertama berhubungan dengan tuturan-tuturan yang digunakan oleh customer service represntaives untuk bertanya dan mengajukan permintaan. Sedangkan yang kedua berhubungan dengan strategi-strategi kesopanaan yang digunakan oleh customer service represntatives di dalam tuturan-tuturan untuk bertanya dan mengajuka permintaan.
Karena penelitian ini menggambarkan strategi-strategi kesopanan yang digunakan oleh customer service representatives maka metode yang digunakan adalah penelitian deskriptif, khususnya penelitian kasus, dimana datanya adalah rekaman percakapan antara customer service represntatives dengan pelanggan. Karena pragmatik merupakan ilmu yang mempelajari hubungan antara bentuk-bentuk bahasa dengan penggunanya, maka ilmu ini digunakan sebagai pendekatan untuk menganalisa data penelitian.
Analisis menunjukkan bahwa terdapat delapan tuturan untuk menanyakan informasi, sebelas tuturan untuk menanyakan klarifikasi, tujuh tuturan untuk menanyakan konfirmasi di dalam tiga percakapan, dan dua tuturan untuk mengajukan permintaan. Untuk strategi-strategi yang digunakan oleh customer
service representatives adalah bald on recod, positive politeness, dan negative
politeness. Strategi bald on record digunakana di dalam sembilan tuturan untuk
menanyakan klarifikasi. Disini, tuturan tidak memeliki mitigating device apapun.
Positive politeness strategy digunakan di dalam tiga tuturan untuk menanyakan
konfirmasi, yang ditunjukkan oleh mitigating devices yang menunjukkan pertemanan. Sementara, negative politeness strategy digunakan di dalam delapan tuturan untuk menanyakan informasi, dua tuturan untuk menyakan klarifikasi, empat tuturan untuk menayakan konfirmasi, dan dua tuturan untuk mengajukan permintaan. Penggunaan negative politeness stategy oleh customer service
representatives ditunjukkan oleh mitigating devices yang memperlihatkan jarak
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.Background of the Study
Human beings and language can not be separated from each other. Each
plays an important role. To study how people use their language is very
interesting. It is not only a matter of grammar or how to construct the written or
the spoken language well, but it can be in bigger topics that the language has to
study. One interesting topic is about the meaning that people create when talking
to the other. Sometimes people are not aware of the language that they use. In this
case, they do not know the impact of the use of the chosen words or sentences.
They are actually dealing with the reason how the words or sentences are
appropriate to use. This has become the task of linguist to describe it. Hymes
(1971) suggests that linguists should also focus on communicative competence,
the speaker’s ability to produce appropriate utterances not grammatical sentences
(Coulthard, 1979: 30).
Getting closer to the points of the language use, this paper discusses a
pragmatic study on politeness. This study concerns about the use of politeness in
conversation. According to Wardhaugh (1986: 280), politeness is a very important
principle because one must address other’s feeling. Politeness itself in pragmatics
refers to the choices or linguistic expressions made in language use which give
people space and show a friendly attitude to them (Cutting, 2003: 45). Politeness
2
self-image of one (Cutting, 2003: 45). Every threat to the other’s face, created
when a speaker says something is called face threatening act, or FTA (Yule, 1996:
61).
When one is dealing with any other participants within a conversation, he
is supposed to apply the right strategy, related to politeness, in order that the
conversation goes well.
For example, the use of colloquial language in a public setting associated with a particular style: it is a way of communicating the message, ‘I’m just folks’, and ‘we’re all equals’. At the same time, however, such usage of in-group language in a public situation may offend some listeners, those who do not honor camaraderie as the highest goal but would appreciate distance more (Tannen, 1988: 13).
The above example gives an idea that applying politeness strategies is important,
even in a small scope. One is demanded to respect the others’ wants.
The study analyzes the types of politeness strategies that are used by
customer service representatives in a cellular phone operator when speaking to
customers. For those having interest in this study, theoretically this study will
make them not only understand about the importance of politeness strategies and
the way to apply them, but also know how to construct a conversation. Later,
practically they will know how to identify the politeness strategies and how to
treat other people well according to their wants.
The data of this study are taken from the conversations, in English,
between the customer service representatives in a cellular phone operator with
their customers. One cellular phone operator in Indonesia is used in the study
because it provides services in English for the customers. As a code of conduct the
obscured. As a result they have fictitious name; operator A for the name of the
company, and CSR 1, 2, and 3 for the name of the customer service
representatives.
To narrow down the analysis, the study focuses on utterances to ask for
information and to ask someone to do something created by the customer service
representatives. Asking for information and asking someone to do something are
classified by Levinson as directives utterances, which are attempts by the speaker
to get the addressee to do something (Levinson, 1984: 240). This automatically
means that the two types of utterance contain FTA. How the customer service
representatives deal with this FTA is the point of the study.
B.Problem Formulation
There are two problems to analyze in this paper. The two problems are in
the following
1. What utterances do the customer service representatives use to ask for
information and to ask the customer to do something?
2. What politeness strategies are used by the customer service representatives in
the utterances to ask for information and to ask the customer to do something?
C.Objectives of the Study
In relation to the problem formulation above, there are two main objectives
in this study. The first objective is to find the utterances that the customer service
4
something. The second objective of this study is to analyze what politeness
strategies are applied by the customer service representatives in the utterances to
ask for information and to ask the customer to do something.
D.Definition of Terms
Definitions of important terms are needed in order to narrow down and to
clarify ideas developed in this study
1. Utterance
The term utterance refers to any stretch of language, whether it is long or
short and whether it contains many voices or not, with a clear beginning and end,
produced by the same person(s) (Verschueren, 1998: 131).
2. Asking for Information
According to Leech (1983: 115) asking is an utterance whose intention
meaning is to get the hearer to cause the speaker to be aware of information. He
also states that asking is to do with passing information between speaker and
hearer.
This study uses the term ‘question’ for any utterances functioning to ask
for information. As a result, in its appearances the term ‘question’ refers to
utterance to ask for information.
3. Asking Someone to Something
Asking someone to do something, whether he or she is willing or able to
do it, is corresponded with request (Leech & Svartvik, 1994: 167). To differentiate
the term ‘request’ is used to name any utterances functioning to ask someone to
do something. This also means that the utterance requires an action on the hearer.
4. Politeness Strategies
Politeness strategies are strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson,
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A.Review of Related Studies
Some studies on politeness have been done before, but they have different
focuses, purposes, objects, and etc. There are two previous studies showing that
this study is different from the other studies.
1. A Study of English Language Politeness Strategies in Daily Conversation as
Shown in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, a Thesis Written by Dalmatius
Jati Pangarsa
In his thesis Pangarsa uses a play for the object of the study as a reflection
of daily conversation and he explains how politeness strategies are applied by the
characters in some certain situations in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. He
analyzes how social distance and power influence the application of politeness
strategies in conversations. Although he does not mention certain words used as
the face saving acts, Pangarsa in his thesis (2007:51) concludes that the use of
compliments, jokes, and phatic utterances during the conversations, in the play,
can reduce the threat of unavoidable face threatening acts, which are expressed
2. Impoliteness in Congreve's The Way of The World, a Thesis Written by
Antonius Adhi Irianto
Another study related to politeness strategies is also done by an English
Letters Department student. The study analyzes the impoliteness used by the
upper class people in a play through particular speech acts. He chooses blaming
and accusing speech act as the main data to analyze. The reason why he uses play
as the object of the study is because there, in the play, he can find where
face-to-face interactions happen. Irianto in his thesis, Impoliteness in Congreve's The
Way of The World, states
The objectives of this study are to identify all impolite blaming and accusing speech act and to find out what are the politeness strategies violated in the impolite blaming and accusing speech act. (Irianto, 2006: x)
In the analysis Irianto uses the reply of the addressee to indicate the use of
impoliteness. Since most of the impolite blaming and accusing speech acts are
performed by using bold on record, it is concluded that the impoliteness is
delivered directly.
B.Review of Related Theories
This part explains the theories that are going to be used in the analysis. All
these following theories are leading this study to find out the answers of the
8
1. Theory of Conversation Analysis
Conversation analysis is the study of talk in interaction. Here, the analysis
attempts to describe and to explain how a conversation works. Conversational
analysis significantly contributes to the understanding of utterances meaning
(Levinson, 1984: 364). Conversation analysis is about studying the way that what
speakers say dictates the type of answer expected, and that speakers take turns
when they interact (Cutting, 2003: 24). It is also an approach which demonstrates
a systematic structure of conversation by taking the data first and then examines
the language. (Cutting, 2003: 28). The patterns of systematic structure of
conversation are turn-taking, adjacency pairs, overall organization, preference
structure, and pre-sequence.
a. Turn-taking
Conversation is characterized by some basic findings. One of them is
turn-taking: one participant, A, talks, stops; another, B, starts, talks, stops; and then the
pattern becomes an A-B-A-B-A-B distribution of talk across two participants
(Levinson, 1984: 296). Each participant has the floor, the right to speak, and
having control of it is called a turn (Yule, 1996: 72). A point when turn is possible
to change is called transition relevance place or TRP (Cutting, 2003: 29).
There are rules to operate on the turn units. The rules are slightly
simplified from Sacks, Schegloff & Jeffeerson (1978), where C is current speaker,
N is next speaker.
Rule 1 – applies initially at the first TRP of any turn.
(a) If C select N in current turn, then C must stop speaking, and N must speak
(b) If C does not select N, then any (other) party may self-select, first speaker gaining rights to the next turn.
(c) If C has not selected N, and no other party self-selects under option (b), the C
may (but need not) continue (i.e. claim rights to a further turn-constructional unit).
Rule 2 – applies at all subsequent TRPs.
When Rule 1 (c) has been applied by C, then at the next TRP Rule 1 (a)-(c) apply, and recursively at the next TRP, until speaker change is effected.
(Levinson, 1984: 298)
During the conversation, overlap, pause, and backchannels have the
possibility to occur. These elements are significant in connection with the analysis
to know what is more being communicated than what is said.
i. Pause
Pause which is marked with brackets ( ) can be short and long. The short
one can be a simply hesitation, while the longer one becomes a gap, a lapse, or an
attributable silence. A gap occurs before a subsequent application of Rules 1 (b)
or (c), a lapse occurs on the non-application of Rules 1 (a), (b), and (c), while
attributable silence occurs after the application of Rule 1 (a) (Levinson, 1983:
299). “If one speaker actually turns over the floor to another and the other does
not speak, then the silence is attributed to the second speaker and becomes
significant.” (Yule, 1996: 73).
ii. Overlap
Overlap which occurs when both speakers try to speak at the same time
before the TRP is marked by a double slash (//). Overlap can be interpreted as a
difficulty in having conversation with an unfamiliar person, as an expression of
solidarity or closeness, and as an interruption etc (Yule, 1996: 72-74).
10
(Coulthard, 1979: 56). According to Levinson (1984: 299) there are two
possibilities for overlap to occur. They will occur as competing first starts, as
allowed by Rule 1 (b) or occurs where TRPs have been misprojected for
systematic reasons, e.g. where a tag or address term has been appended.
When an overlap occurs, usually the speakers will cooperatively do
resolution. ”In accordance with the local management system, one speaker will
stop speaking to allow the other to have the floor”. (Yule, 1996: 73). When one
speaker stops speaking first, if only by a syllable, he takes the next turn
(Coulthard, 1979: 56). Levinson (1984: 300-301) also explains how to remedy
overlaps. For the first, one speaker generally drops out rapidly. Therefore, to make
it clear he typically recycles the part of the turn obscured by the overlap. Finally if
one speaker does not immediately stop speaking, one of the speakers will win the
floor in competitive system by increasing amplitude, showing tempo, lengthening
vowels and other features.
iii.Backchannel
Another thing examined, to address the issue of attention in a
conversation, is backchannel. Actually there are some ways to indicate the
attention in a conversation such as; head nods, smiles, and other facial expression
and gestures, but backchannel signals become the most common vocal
indications. The signals such as ‘uh-uh’, ‘yeah’, ‘mmm’ that usually occur in
extended talk signify attention, interest, and understanding and mean that the
Speakers can also use ‘um’ or ‘uh’, but not as backchannel, inside of
syntactic units to avoid providing TRP, so they can still hold the floor
(Yule, 1996: 74-75).
b. Adjacency Pairs
Another local management organization in conversation is adjacency
pairs. This is pairs of utterances in the structure of conversation, creating
automatic patterns such as question-answer, greeting-greeting, offer-acceptance.
Schegloff and Sacks propose the characterization of adjacency pairs as
sequences of two utterances. They are
(a) adjacent,
(b) produced by different speakers,
(c) ordered as a first part and a second part,
(d) typed, so that particular first part requires a particular second (or range of
second parts) – e.g. offers require acceptances or rejections, greetings require greetings, and so on.
(Levinson, 1984: 303)
The first part is not always followed by the second part because sometimes
another sequence exists within a sequence, which is called insertion sequence.
Yule (1996: 78) says that an insertion sequence is one adjacency pair within
another. Normally the pattern of one question-answer pair is Q1-A2, but as there is
an existence of insertion sequence the pattern can be Q1-Q2-A2-A1. The below
example describes how an insertion sequence occur within an adjacency pair.
Agent : Do you want the early flight? (=Q1)
Client : What time does it arrive? (=Q2)
Agent : Nine forty-five (=A2)
Client : Yeah-that’s great (=A1)
12
Adjacency pairs do not always follow the pattern of question-answer,
request-acceptance or refusal etc, but it could be a first part followed by any
notions showing the relevance for the second part.
There is a conditional relevance which allows an adjacency pair has the second part just relevance and expectable. ….. What binds the part of adjacency pairs together is not a formation rule of the sort that would specify that a question must receive an answer if it is to count as well-formed discourse, but the setting up of specific expectation of the first part which have to be attended to (Levinson, 1984: 306).
The below example shows how an explanation in turn 14 functions as a
conditional relevance for an answer of a question in turn 3.
T1 B : I ordered some paint from you uh a couple of weeks
tone)) e:h just-justa think, that’s what three nineteen
That’s for large tube isn’t it ((Q4))
T13 A : Well yeah it’s the thirty seven c.c.s ((A4))
T14 B : Er, hh I’ll tell you what I’ll just eh eh ring you back ((CONDITIONAL
I have to work out how many I’ll need. Sorry I did- RELEVANCE
wasn’t sure of the price you see FOR A1))
T15 A : Okay
c. Overall Organization
Overall organizations organize the totality of the exchanges within some
specific kind of conversation. Telephone call is one kind of conversation with a
recognizable overall organization (Levinson, 1984: 308-309). The overall
organization consists of opening section, the first topic slot, and closing section.
i. Opening Section
Apart from adjacency pairs, a summons-answer sequence may start the
beginning of the conversation. A summons-answer sequence dissolves the puzzle
about why the receiver who is the person with the least information about the
identity and the purpose of the other talk first (Levinson, 1984: 309). The below
example describes a summons-answer sequence in conversation.
T1 A : John? ((SUMMONS))
T2 B : Yeah? ((ANSWER))
T3 A : Pass the water wouldja? ((REASON FOR SUMMONS))
(Levinson, 1983: 310)
A summons-answer sequence, especially in the telephone conversation, mostly
precedes greetings-greetings adjacency pair. This is shown by the following
example.
C : ((rings)) ((SUMMONS))
T1 R : Hello ((ANSWER)) + ((DISPLAY FOR RECOGNITION))
T2 C : Hi ((GREETINGS 1ST PART))
((CLAIM THAT C HAS RECOGNIZED R)) ((CLAIM THAT R CAN RECOGNIZE C))
T3 R : Oh hi :: ((GREETINGS 2ND PART))
((CLAIM THAT R HAS RECOGNIZED C))
(Levinson, 1984: 312)
Usually the opening section of conversation is described by a summon-answer
14
ii. The First Topic Slot
The following part after the opening section of a telephone call is
mentioned as first topic slot. First topic slot is announced by the caller for the
reason of the call (Levinson, 1984: 311). After this part, a conversation may have
a new and different topic. Topic can be characterized in terms of reference that A
and B are talking about the same topic if they are talking about the same things or
sets of referents or alternatively talking about the same or linked concept
(Levinson, 1984: 312-313).
iii.Closing Section
Finally the overall organization of the telephone call comes to the last part,
that is closing section. Levinson in Pragmatics (1984: 317) represents one very
general schema of closing sections as
(a) a closing down of some topic, typically a closing implicative topic; where
closing implicative topics include the making of arrangements, the first topic in monotopical calls, the giving of regards to the other’s family members, etc,
(b) one or more pairs of passing turns with pre-closing items, like Okay, All right,
So : :, etc,
(c) if appropriate, a typing of the call as e.g. a favour requested and done (hence
Thank you), or as a checking up on recipient’s state of health (Well I just
wanted to know how you were), etc., followed by a further exchange of
pre-closing items,
(d) a final exchange of terminal elements: Bye, Righteo, Cheers, etc.
d. Preference Structure
In the adjacency pairs, the first part creates an expectation of a particular
second part. This ordered structure is called preference in which each first part has
a preferred and a dispreferred response where the dispreferred responses tend to
the expected next act and the disprefereed is the unexpected next act (Yule, 1996:
79). The characteristic of dispreferred seconds are
(a) delays: (i) by pause before delivery, (ii) by the use of a preface (see (b)), (iii)
by displacement over a number of turns via use of repair initiators or
insertion sequences,
(b) prefaces: (i) the use of markers or announcers of dispreferreds like Uh and
Well, (ii) the production of token agreements before disagreements, (iii) the
use of appreciations if relevant (for offers, invitations, suggestions, advice), (iv) the use of apologies if relevant (for requests, invitations, etc), (v) the use
of qualifiers (e.g. I don’t know for sure, but …), (vi) hesitation in various
forms, including self-editing,
(c) accounts: carefully formulated explanations for why the (dispreferred) act is
being done,
(d) declination component: of a form suited to the nature of the first part of the
pair, but characteristically indirect or mitigated.
(Levinson, 1984: 317)
Since there is a structural characterization of preferred and dispreferred
turns, the content and the sequential position can be related to the tendency to
produce them in a preferred or dispreferred format. There is a consistent match
between format and content found across a number of adjacency pair seconds as
shown by table 1.
Table 1. Correlations of Content and Format in Adjacency Pair Second
FIRST PARTS:
request offer/ invite assesment question blame
SECOND PARTS: Preferred:
acceptance acceptance agreement expected answer denial
Dispreferred:
refusal refusal disagreement unexpected answer admission
or non-answer
(Levinson, 1984: 336)
e. Pre-sequence
Pre-sequence refers to a certain kind of turn built to prefigure the specific
16
potential initiations of closings (Levinson, 1984: 345-346). There are some kinds
of pre-sequence, such as pre-invitation, pre-request, pre-announcement.
f. Transcription Conventions
In structuring the recorded conversations, transcription symbols are needed
in order to have the common way to understand the conversation. Apart of the
symbols of overlap and pause, there are still other symbols used in the analysis.
Each symbol has its own interpretation.
Symbol Interpretation
// point in which the overlap occurs
(0.0) a timed pause (gap/ lapse/ attributable silence)
(.) a short, untimed pause, 0.5-0.9 seconds
:: lengthened syllables
- a sound cut off
? high rising intonation
. low falling intonation
, intermediate intonation contour; level, slight rise, slight fall
( ) uncertain passages of transcript
(Levinson, 1984: 369-370)
2. Theory of Politeness
The word ‘politeness’ is very familiar with social rules of behavior that
work in society. In this study, related to pragmatics, politeness is seen in different
way which “refers to the choices that are made in language use, the linguistic
expressions that give people space and show a friendly attitude to them.” (Cutting,
2003: 45). Politeness, in this case, is used by people when they make an
interaction via language. Yule explains that
a. Face
In relation to politeness, a concept of face proposed by Brown and
Levinson comes along. Face is the public self image of a person which refers to
that emotional and social sense of self to recognize by the others (Yule, 1996: 60).
One’s face consists of negative face and also positive face. Negative face lets
someone free to do any actions without any impositions by others, while positive
face lets someone being comfortable among the others. Yule states that
A person’s negative face is the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and to be imposed on by other. The word ‘negative’ here doesn’t mean ‘bad’, it’s just the opposite pole from ‘positive’. A person’s positive face is the need to be accepted, even liked, by others, to be treated as a member of the same group, and to know that his or her wants are shared by others (Yule, 1996: 61-62).
One’s expectations concerning their public self-image, or their face wants,
should be respected. Any act which threats another individual’s expectations
regarding the self-image is called a face threatening act, or FTA, while the act to
lessen the threat is called as a face saving act (Yule, 1996: 61).
b. Politeness Strategies
There are five politeness strategies, described by Brown and Levinson,
where a speaker can choose one of them before performing an FTA. They are bald
on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, off record, and say nothing.
These following strategies explain how to save someone’s face.
i. Bald On record
By on record, the intention of the speaker is directly addressed and clear.
Doing the strategy baldly involves doing it in the most direct, clear, and
18
device, which give the hearers little option but do as they are told or be seen
uncooperative (Cutting, 2003: 46). This strategy simply provides no effort to
minimize threats to the face.
ii. Positive Politeness
Positive politeness is a face saving act which is concerned with person
positive face (Yule, 1996: 62). According to Cutting, to save positive can be done
by
1) demonstrating closeness and solidarity, in which solidarity might contain
personal information, use of nicknames, shared dialect and slang expression,
and gossip,
2) appealing to friendship,
3) making other people feel good,
4) emphasizing that both speakers have a common goal. Here the speaker can
claim common ground by attending to the hearer’s interests, wants, and needs,
5) seeking agreement and avoiding disagreement.
(Cutting, 2003: 48)
Positive politeness is a communicative way of building solidarity, showing
the other is liked and seen as desirable.
iii.Negative Politeness
Negative politeness is a face saving act which is oriented to the person’s
negative face (Yule, 1996: 62). Based on Cutting’s explanation, paying attention
to save negative face can be done by
2) avoiding intruding on each other’s territory; these two ways are used to give
the hearer option in which can be done by emphasizing the importance of the
other’s time and concerns, using apology and hesitation, or question giving
them the opportunity to say no.
(Cutting, 2003: 46-47)
Yule (1996: 65) notes that sometimes negative politeness can be heard in
extended talk and typically expressed via questions, even question that seems to
ask for permission to ask a question. Yule (1996: 66) also adds that the tendency
to use negative politeness can be seen as a deference strategy, which is also called
formal politeness. In a context of distance this can be marked by the use of
address form that includes a title and the last name (Yule, 1996: 59). In English it
is present with honorific ‘sir’ and ‘madam’ (Cutting, 2003: 52).
iv.Off Record
By off record, the message is addressed indirectly to the other because the
speaker assumes that the hearers understand his need or what the speaker means
by the utterances. This strategy may or may not succeed (Yule, 1996: 63). There
are some ways to be polite in say something-off record.
A speaker can also be polite off record by flouting the cooperative maxim of quality and pretending to ask a question, as in ‘Why does no one ever throw out the rubbish in this house?’, or flouting the maxim of manner by being obscure and ambiguous, as in ‘Look like someone had a good time last night.’ (Cutting, 2003: 46).
v. Say Nothing
Say nothing means to have certain purpose to tell to the others without
20
needs are not expressed in language. “When those needs are recognized, then
clearly more has been communicated that was said.” (Yule, 1996: 62).
c. Scale of Politeness
According to Brown and Levinson, there are three factors that influence
the measurement of the degree of politeness. They are the size of imposition, the
social distance, and the relative power between speakers.
The size of imposition determines the way to use the language regarding to
politeness. If the imposition is greater, then the language is more indirect (Cutting,
2003: 52). Variables such as degree of familiarity, differences of status, role,
gender, education, class, occupation, and ethnicity determine the social distance
and the relative power between speakers.
When there is social distance, politeness is encoded and there is more indirectness; where there is less social distance, there is less negative politeness. (Cutting: 2003: 52-53).
People in the lower status use more indirectness negative politeness than those in
higher power.
This following diagram, Brown and Levinson’s how to get a pen from
someone else in Yule’s Pragmatics, shows how an interaction is created by
How to get a pen from someone else
do FTA do not do FTA
say something say nothing
(but search in bag)
on record off record
(‘I forgot my pen’)
face saving act bald on record
(‘Give me a pen’)
positive politeness negative politeness
(‘How about letting me use your pen?’) (‘Could you lend me a pen?’)
(Yule, 1996: 66)
Diagram 1. The Application of Politeness Strategies
C. Theoretical Framework
The theory of conversation analysis will be used to transcribe the recorded
conversations to get the customer service representatives’ utterances to make
requests and to ask questions. Meanwhile, the theory of politeness will be used to
describe what politeness strategies the costumer service officers use in utterances
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The kind of data used in the analysis is discourse data. ‘Discourse’ itself
refers to language that has been put to use in communication” and it could be a
single word, a single sentence, more than one sentence, or a clause complex
(Allison, 2003: 94).
The names of the subjects and the institution where the data are taken from
are made into anonymous, concerning to the privacy of the institution.
Privacy issues encompass three primary considerations. The first is the manner in which data are collected. The second is the content of the data. The third is the control of the information or data after it has been assembled (Stempel & Westley, 1981: 268)
The requirements mentioned above take account for the use of anonymous
data in this study. The first is about how to collect the data. Considering the
naturalness of the data, the participants are not told that they are being observed.
The second reason is concerned with the extent of the institution’s right of
privacy about the data, and the attitudinal and behavioral facts of the participants.
The third consideration is on storing the data in public space. This is for
anticipation that other researchers might use the data for different purposes.
The data are recorded conversations which later are transcribed into texts.
There are three conversations of three different customer service representatives
in a cellular phone operator with their customers. In this case the situation of the
the customer ask and as what they are supposed to do in giving service to the
customers. Furthermore, the customer service representatives’ utterances to ask
for information and to ask the customer to do something become the main object
of the study.
B. Approach of the Study
Pragmatics is the approach used to analyze the data. “Pragmatics is the
study of the relationships between linguistic forms and the users of those forms.”
(Yule, 1996: 4). For the purposes of linguistics, Leech (1983: 6 & 13-14) also
defines pragmatics as the study of meaning in relation to speech situations which
include addressers or addressees, the context and the goal of utterance, and the
verbal act. What is being analyzed in this study is the use of language to see what
get more communicated than what is said. It is not only about grammar and its
form, but also what is behind the use of the language. By pragmatics perspective,
the analysis describes what and how the customer service representatives in a
cellular phone operator use certain words, sentences or, maybe, technique which
actually can represent the image of the institution.
C. Method of the Study
The study is categorized as a descriptive research since it describes what
politeness strategies are used by the customer service representatives in a cellular
phone operator when speaking to the customers. The primary purpose of the
24
The type of this descriptive research is the case study, which analyze a
single case on politeness strategies. “Doing case study research means identifying
a topic that lends itself to in-depth analysis in a natural context using multiple
source of information.” (Hancock & Algozzine, 2006: 16). Hancock and
Algozzine (2006: 15) state that case study analyze phenomenon in its natural
context which is bounded by space and time. Like in this study, the context is
clear analyzing the use of politeness strategies in a particular cellular phone
operator and in a specific situation, giving information to the customer.
1. Data Collection
The data in this study are transcribed conversations of the customer service
representatives in a cellular phone operator with their customers. Participants
becoming the customers are an English speaker and two people coming from
countries where English is also mostly used in daily life. The data are obtained by
recording the conversations on the cellular phone, and then transcribed into texts
based on what the speakers say on the conversations. Three conversations of
different customer service representatives with different customers are used in this
analysis.
2. Data Analysis
There are two main steps to conduct in finding the answers of the
problems. Here, the analysis comes from a wider scope to the narrow one.
For the first problem, in order to get the customer service representatives’
utterances to ask for information and to ask the customer to do something
analysis is the appropriate tool to use in structuring the pattern of the
conversations, how the turn-taking are made by the speakers, what adjacency pairs
or sequences are used, and so on.
The second problem is obtained by using the theory of politeness
strategies. This theory goes in analyzing the strategies applied in the utterances to
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter is about the analysis based on the two problems in chapter
two. The first sub-chapter deals with the utterances used by the customer service
representatives to ask for information and to ask the customer to do something in
the structure of the conversations. Meanwhile, the second sub-chapter deals with
politeness strategies used by the customer service representatives in the utterances
to ask for information and to ask the customer to do something.
A.The Utterances to Ask for Information and to Ask the Customer to Do
Something
In the analysis, each conversation is divided into three parts; opening
which consists of greeting part, topic which covers the first topic and the other
topics, and closing which concerns the closing section of the conversation.
According to Levinson (1984: 308), these divisions also go along with the overall
organization of telephone conversation, the totality of the exchanges.
Based on the analysis, the utterances to ask for information are divided
into three types. They are to get information, to get clarification, and to get
confirmation. Clarification is used to make something clearer or easier to
understand (Hornby, 2000: 213). Confirmation always refers to the previous talks
(Rani, Arifin, and Martutik, 2006: 236) and is used to show that something is true,
confirmation it means that there is information already gained in the previous talk.
As a result, clarification is used to make the information clearer or easier to
understand, while confirmation is used to make sure that the information is true or
correct.
1. Conversation 1
Conversation 1 involves the first customer service representative, simply
CSR 1, and a customer. This conversation approximately takes two minutes and
fifty six seconds.
a. Opening
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
Cust : ((rings)) ((Sum))
1 CSR 1 : Operator A good evening with CSR 1 speaking here.
May I help you? ((Ans))
In the opening of conversation 1 a summons-answer sequence opens the
conversation. The rings are considered as the summons, and the first utterance of
CSR 1 is the answer.
Since the opening part only consists of a summons-answer sequence, there
is not any utterance used by the CSR 1 to ask for information and to ask the
customer to do something.
b. Topic
In conversation 1 there are three topics found. The first topic is about how
to make an international call. This first topic is found directly after the
summons-answer sequence. According to Levinson (1984: 312), this first topic is also
28
price to make the international call. Meanwhile, the last topic talks about the price
to send an international text.
i. Topic 1: How to Make an International Call
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
2 Cust : Hello, yes. M: I’m a new customer.
E:: could you tell me how can, ((Req1))
how can I make e: an international call please? 3 CSR 1 : Sorry sir,
In the topic 1, there are eleven utterances used by CSR 1 to ask for
utterances left are to get clarification. As seen in the structure of the conversation,
all these questions are located as insertion sequences before CSR 1 gives the
answer for the customer’s request.
The first utterance to get information is in turn 3. This utterance ‘Sorry sir,
first of all may I know your name please?’is directly followed by an answer from
the customer. In the following turns 5 and 7, CSR 1 uses the utterances ‘Mister
Char?’ and ‘Chall?’ to get clarification for the name of the customer because he
seems fail to receive the answer clearly.
The utterance in turn 9, ‘So so How, how do I call you sir?’, is also used to
get information about the name of the customer. This question is answered in turn
10, but it still does not satisfy CSR 1 to get the name of the customer. As a result
CSR 1 uses his two following turns, 11 and 13, to get clarification by the
utterances ‘Mr. Charter?’ and ‘Charterland?’.
After recognizing the identity of the customer, in turn 15 CSR 1 asks to get
confirmation for the request that the customer makes, ‘All right sir, e: you would
like to know how to make an international call?’. This question receives its
second part in turn 16. And then in turns 17 and 19 CSR 1 asks to get information
about the type of the card that the customer uses and about the country destination
that the customer is going to make the call with questions ‘E you are, you are
using kartu Card A or you are using kartu Card B sir?’ and ‘Card A. And you
would like to make a phone call to what country?’. The question in turn 19
receives an answer as its second part in turn 20, but this answer seems unclear for
30
country destination for two times in turns 21 and 23 by the utterances ‘UK?’ and
‘United Kingdom?’.
ii. Topic 2: The price to Make an International Call
TurnSpeaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
30 Cust : Ok, fantastic. seven am until eleven pm you will be charged
38 Cust : uh-uh ((Backchannel))
As seen in the structure of the conversation for the topic 2, there are three
utterances used by CSR to ask for information and to ask the customer to do
something. One of the utterance functions as a request, while the two others
function as questions which ask to get clarification and to get confirmation. As
shown by the order of the adjacency pairs, the first question, asking to get
clarification, and the request are located as insertion sequences within a
request-answer sequence. Meanwhile, the question to ask customer’s confirmation is only
To tell the customer about the price to make the international call, CSR 1
needs to know the exact destination country the customer wants to make the call
and must leave the customer for a while to find the information about the tariff in
his own database. As a result, the utterance in urn 31 ‘The tariff, the tariff from
Card A to UK?’ is used to ask to get clarification and the utterance in turn 33 ‘All
right. I’m looking for the information, while please hold.‘ is used to ask the
customer to do something.
After the request already receives its second part, a transition comes out
before the topic changes into the new one. This transition is in the form of
question to get confirmation, “All right, are they clear?” by CSR 1 in turn 45. The
answer in turn 46 for that question, the preferred second part, ends the topic 2.
iii.Topic 3: The Price to Send an International Text
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
46 Cust : E:: could you also tell me how much
you would cost to send a:: a text message. ((Req 4))
47 CSR 1 : (.) The sms you meant? ((Que for Cl 8))
48 Cust : Yes. ((Ans for Cl 8))
49 CSR 1 : From your Card A you will be charged ((Ans for Req 4))
one thousand every message you send.
50 Cust : (.) To the UK? ((Q for Cl 9))
51 CSR 1 : (.) Ya, e to all, all over of all country. ((Ans for Cl 9))
52 Cust : Ok. One thousand rupiahs per // message. ((Repet 1))
53 CSR 1 : // one thousand. ((Agr 1))
That’s right Mr. Caterland
54 Cust : Ok. Thank you very much. ((Th 1))
55 CSR 1 : You’re welcome. ((Rep for Th 1))
In the topic 3, there is only one utteranc CSR 1 uses to ask for information.
32
Before telling about the price to send an international text as the answer of
the customer’s request, CSR 1 asks to get clarification for the customer’s previous
request first in turn 47 with a question ‘The sms you meant?’.
c. Closing
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
55 CSR 1 : Anything else sir? ((Off 1))
Based on the overall organization, explained by Levinson (1984: 317), the
closing section of conversation 1 is indicated by ‘thank you’ as a typing of the call
after the requests done, the use ‘all right’of pre-closing, and the final exchange of
terminal elements ‘good evening sir’ and ‘good night’ that close down the
conversation.
In the closing section there are not any utterances that CSR 1 uses to ask
for information and to ask the customer to do something. CSR 1 just gives an
offer which receives its dipreferred second part, particularly a refusal.
2. Conversation 2
The conversation lasts in five minutes. The conversation involves another
customer service representative, simply CSR 2, and a different customer of the
cellular phone operator.
a. Opening
Turn SpeakerUtterance Adjacency Pairs
Cust : ((rings)) ((Sum))
good afternoon with CSR 2 speaking can I help you?
2 Cust : Hello, e:: you are speaking with Mr. Gilliano. ((Self-introduction))
3 CSR 2 : Hello, with whom I am speaking? ((Que for In 1))
4 Cust : Mr. Gilliano. ((Ans for In 1))
A summons-answer sequence opens the conversation 2. This pair is
followed by a self-introduction by the customer. But since there seems to be a
noise on the CSR 2 side to receive it, a new adjacency pair, question-answer
sequence, comes out to repair the unidentified self-introduction.
There is one utterance found in the opening part of conversation 2 that
CSR 2 uses to ask to get information. The utterance in turn 3 ‘Hello, with whom I
am speaking?’ is used by the CSR 2 to identify the name of the customer.
b. Topic
In the conversation 2, there are three divisions for the topics discussed.
The first topic is about how to make an international call to the Netherland. The
second one is about the tariff to make the phone call. The last topic is about the
tariff to send an international text.
i. Topic 1: How to Make an International Call to the Netherland
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
34
In the first topic, CSR 2 uses his two utterances to ask for information.
One is to get information. The other question which is inserted in a
request-answer sequence is used to get clarification.
To begin with, CSR 2 identifies the need of the customer with a question
in turn 5; “Ok Mr. Gilliano, what is your question?”. This question is answered by
the customer in the next turn. The answer, at the same time, is also identified as a
request which receives an answer as the conditional relevance for the acceptance
in turn 9. Before answering this request, in turn 7 CSR 2 asks to get confirmation
of what the customer means with a question; “International call to Belanda ya?”.
ii. Topic 2: The Tariff to Make an International to Netherland
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
16 Cust : Ok and m:: how much is the tariff ((Q for In 3))
26 Cust : yes ((Backchannel))
27 CSR 2 : Ok e: the tariff is (2.5) six thousand and fifty rupiahs per minute sir.
Basically the topic 2 is constructed by a question-answer sequence in turns
16 and 25, but it is developed by four insertion sequences embedded within that
parts are used by CSR 2 to ask for information and to ask the customer to do
something.
After the customer asks to get the information about the tariff to make a
phone call to the Netherland, CSR 2 utters ‘The tariff to Belanda ya?’ in turn 17
to get confirmation from the customer. In the following turn, the CSR 2 makes a
request to the customer with an utterance in turn 19 ‘Ok. Mr. Gilliano please wait
for a moment. We will find first in our system about the: data ya’ because he
needs to find the information about the tariff to make an international call to the
Netherland in his own data.
iii.Topic 3: The Tariff to Send an International Text
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
28 Cust : Ok. And do you also know the tariff of
In the topic 3, there is only one utterance used by CSR 2 to ask for
information, which is inserted by another insertion sequence in a question-answer
sequence.
In turn 28 the customer asks CSR 2 about the tariff to send an international
text. This question is not quite clear for CSR 2. As a result, in turn 29 CSR 2
makes a question ‘The text message for: e A card or B card sir?’ to make the
36
c. Closing
Turn SpeakerUtterance Adjacency Pairs
35 CSR 2 : Ok. // (Is it clear) information Mr. Gilliano? ((Que for Co 3))
// thank you for calling Telkomsel // Good evening Mr. Gilliano. 41 Cust : // Thank you very much // you’re welcome
42 Cust : Ok sami-sami. ((Clo))
Before closing down the conversation, CSR 2 ask to get confirmation by
the utterance in turn 35: ‘Ok. (Is it clear) information Mr. Gilliano?’. After that,
both CSR 2 and the customer agree to end the conversation by the closing
sequence.
3. Conversation 3
The duration of conversation 3 is two minutes and thirty five seconds. The
conversation itself involves the other customer service representative, simply CSR
3, and a different customer.
a. Opening
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
Cust : ((rings)) ((Sum))
In the opening section, there seems to be a technical problem in receiving
distribution of the adjacency pairs does not work properly for the next three turns.
After that, a new adjacency pair, question-answer sequence, starts the
conversation again.
There is one utterance used by CSR 3 to ask to get information about the
name of the customer. This utterance ‘Hello may I know with whom I am
speaking?’ locates in turn 5.
b. Topic
Compared to the other conversations, the conversation 3 has more topics to
discuss. There are five topics. They are about how to make an international call,
how to make a phone call in the cheapest way, the price to make a phone call to
the Netherland, how to send an international text, and the tariff to send that text.
i. Topic 1: How to Make an International Call
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
7 CSR 3 : Ok. How may I help you miss? ((Que for In 2)) 8 Cust : E I want to know how I can make ((Acc for Que2 /
e international call. Req 1))
9 CSR 3 : Ok you want to know about how to make ((Que for In 3)) an international call. // Sorry, to which country miss?
10 Cust : // Ya
In the topic 1, there are two utterances used by CSR 3 to ask for
information. The first question in turn 7 is about the need of the customer and the
second one in turn 9 is related to the customer’s previous request, about the
38
In turn 7 CSR 3 asks to get information about the reason of the customer
for the call with a question: “Ok. How may I help you miss?”. This question is
answered in turn 8. The answer in turn 8 can also be read as a request, which then
does receive the acceptance but in the form of answer in turn 12. In turn 9 CSR 3
asks to get information about the country that the customer wants to make the call
by a question: ‘Ok you want to know about how to make an international call.
Sorry, to which country miss?’.
ii. Topic 2: How to Make a Phone Call in the Cheapest Way
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
17 Cust : (.) Ok, is it, is that the cheapest way? ((Que for Cl 1))
In the topic two, there are not any utterances used by the CSR 3 to make
requests or questions. It is the customer that asks CSR 3 in turn 17, which then is
followed by an answer from CSR 3. The other pair found in this topic is
iii.Topic 3: The Price to Make a Phone Call to Netherland
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
32 CSR 3 : Ok Sorry Have you already known the price? ((Q for In 4))
will resist from July first until September thirty two thousand and nine,
37 Cust : Yes. ((Backchannel))
38 CSR 3 : For Simpati card the cost is two thousand four hundred rupiahs
39 Cust : Two thousand four hundred (.) // Ok ((Repe 1))
40 CSR 3 : // Ya for each minute miss. ((Agr for
Repe 1))
The analysis on the adjacency pairs in the topic 3 shows that there are only
three pairs; question-answer, report-acceptance and repetition-agreements pairs.
CSR 3 only uses one of her utterances to make a question.
The utterance in turn 32 is used by CSR 3 to ask to get information about
whether the customer has already known the price to make the phone call or not:
“Ok Sorry Have you already known the price?”.
iv.Topic 4: The Way to Send an International Text
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
40
In the topic 4, the CSR 3 does not use her turns to produce any utterances
indicating request or question. The only adjacency pair is question-answer
sequence in which it is the customer asking the CSR 3. This pair is in turns 41 and
43.
v. Topic 5: The Tariff to Send an International Text
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pair
53 Cust : Yak // ok. And how much that would be? ((Que for In 6))
When the customer asks CSR 3 about the tariff to send the international
text in turn 53, CSR 3 does not reply it directly. She asks to get clarification for
the customer’s question first in turn 55; “For A card miss?”. She wants to make
sure that the tariff is for the A card.
c. Closing
Turn Speaker Utterance Adjacency Pairs
61 Cust : (1)// Ok In closing section, it is seen that before closing down the conversation the
CSR 3 asks to get confirmation for the clearness to the customer by a question in
turn 62; “Is my information clear enough miss. Lisa?”. This is the only utterance
found in the closing section that SCR 3 uses to make a question. After receiving
The following tables are the summary of the findings for the utterances the
customer service representatives use to ask the customer to do something and to
ask for information.
Table 2. The Utterances to Get Information
No Turn Utterance Conversation
1 3 Sorry sir, first of all may I know your name
please?
1
2 17 E you are, you are using kartu Card A or you are using kartu Card B sir?
1
international call. Sorry, to which country miss?
3
As seen in the table above, there are eight utterances to ask get information
from the three conversations. The questions are formed in interrogative sentences
using w-h questions as the basic. These utterances are used to gain any
information the customer service representatives need to know.
Table 3. The Utterances to Get Clarification
No Turn Utterance Conversation
42
10 29 The text message for: e A card or B card sir? 2
11 55 For A card miss? 3
There are eleven utterances found to get clarification. The typical
utterances used to get clarification are formed in phrases. These phrases are
related to the customers’ previous utterances, which are short repetitions of what
the customers say in the previous turn. These utterances are used to make what the
customers say clearer.
Table 4. The Utterances to Get Confirmation
No Turn Utterance Conversation
1 15 All right sir, e: you would like to know how to
There are seven utterances found in the conversations the customer service
representatives use to get confirmation. Utterance in number 3 and 4 are made in
phrases, while the others are formed in interrogative sentences using yes-no
question. The utterances are used to seek an agreement.
Table 5. The Utterances to Ask the Customer to Do Something
No Turn Utterance Conversation
1 33 All right. I’m looking for the information, while please hold.
1
2 19 Ok. Mr. Gilliano please wait for a moment. We will find first in our system about the: data ya.
2
Table 5 shows that there are two utterances to ask the customer to do
