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AN ANALYSIS OF COMPLIMENTS AND RESPONSES TO COMPLIMENTS IN THE FILM ENTITLED THE HOLIDAY
(A Pragmatics Study)
THESIS
Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Department
Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts Sebelas Maret University
By:
IKHA OKTAVIANTI C0306034
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
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AN ANALYSIS OF COMPLIMENTS AND RESPONSES TO COMPLIMENTS IN THE FILM ENTITLED THE HOLIDAY
(A Pragmatics Study)
By
IKHA OKTAVIANTI C0306034
Has been approved by the thesis consultant:
Thesis Consultant:
Drs. Agus Hari Wibowo, M.A
NIP. 196708301993021001
The Head of English Department
Dr. Djatmika, MA
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AN ANALYSIS OF COMPLIMENTS AND RESPONSES TO COMPLIMENTS IN THE FILM ENTITLED THE HOLIDAY
(A Pragmatics Study)
By
IKHA OKTAVIANTI C0306034
Accepted and Approved by the Board of Examiners Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts Sebelas Maret University
March, 2011
Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts Sebelas Maret University
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PRONOUNCEMENT
NAME : IKHA OKTAVIANTI
NIM : C0306034
Stated whole-heartedly that the thesis entitled “An Analysis of
Compliments and Responses to Compliments in the Film Entitled The Holiday” is
originally made by the researcher. It is neither a plagiarism nor made by others.
The belongings related to other people‟s work are written in quotations and included within the bibliography.
If it is subsequently proved that the researcher cheats, the researcher is
ready to take the responsibility, including the withdrawal of my academic degree.
Surakarta, March 2011
Ikha Oktavianti
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MOTTO
Verily with every difficulty, there is a relief
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DEDICATION
I whole-heartedly dedicate this thesis to:
My beloved mom and dad
My wonderful sister
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT Alhamdulillahirobbil‟alamin,
All praises are just for the Almighty God, Allah SWT for the blessing and
the guidance and for the prophet Muhammad SAW for his great inspiration to my
ordinary life. Finally, one of my dreams comes true. It was a challenging task for
me to complete this thesis. It took a lot of time, energy, and patience. I realized
that without supports from the people surrounding me, I am sure that I am not able
to accomplish this thesis successfully. Therefore, I would like to express my
gratitude to all people as follows:
1. Drs. Sudarno, M.A as the dean of faculty of Letters and Fine Arts of
Sebelas Maret University for approving this thesis.
2. Dr. Djatmika, M.A as the head of English Department of Sebelas Maret
for providing the opportunity to write this thesis.
3. Drs. Agus Hari Wibowo, M.A as my thesis consultant for his concern,
guidance, and critical advice.
4. Drs. Riyadi Santosa, M.Ed, P.hD as my academic consultant for the advice
and guidance during my study in Sebelas Maret University.
5. All the lecturers of English Department for the valuable knowledge and
experiences which you had shared with us.
6. My beloved father and mother. I deeply give thanks and love for their
never ending love, support, prayer, and patience. I am so lucky to be
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viii
7. My lovely sister for her support and her kindness. I am happy to live this
ordinary life with you, dear.
8. My incredible man, my haniy, my motivator, my partner of life, the one
who paints my ordinary life. Thanks for your patience waiting for my
graduation, I am sorry for the missing target.
9. Mba Tina Styani, Mba Anggi, Mba Esti... I give a bunch of thanks for your
enlightenment, sorry to bother you with my questions.
10.Cynditia and Novika Trisky, my beautiful ladies, my lovely gank, thanks
for sharing everythings. I miss you both, dear.
11.My beloved ladies.. my boo‟s… Anita, Beckha, Farida, Ima, Ata, Rini, Chandra, you are all wonderful companions. Thanks for the support. I love
you, boo…
12.All my friends of English Department, thanks for the support and the
friendship for the years.
13.All people who have helped me in completing this thesis.
At last, I do realize that this thesis is far from being perfect. Therefore,
suggestion and criticism will be kindly accepted. Hopefully, this thesis
will be beneficial for English Department students and for those who are
interested in Linguistics.
Surakarta, March 2011
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE ... i
APPROVAL BY THE THESIS SUPERVISOR. ... ii
APPROVAL BY THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS. ... iii
PRONOUNCEMENT. ... iv
MOTTO. ... v
DEDICATION. ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENT. ... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ix
LIST OF TABLES. ... xii
ABSTRACT. ... xiii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Research Background... 1
B. Problem Statements... ... 5
C. Research Limitation... ... 6
D. Research Objectives. ... 6
E. Research Benefits.. ... 7
F. Research Methodology... 7
G. Thesis Organization. ... 8
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW A. Pragmatics. ... 9
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x
C. Speech Acts ... 11
D. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts ... 18
E. Ethnography of Speaking ... 20
F. Compliments ... 24
G. Kinesics ... 31
H. Theory of Film………..33
I. Synopsis of the Film “The Holiday”………...34
J. Review of Related Studies………35
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Type of Research... 37
B. Data and Source of Data ... 37
C. Sample and Sampling Technique ... 38
D. Research Procedures ... 38
E. Technique of Analyzing Data ... 39
CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION A. Data Analysis ... 41
1. Topics of Appearance………41
a. Topic of Personal Appearance………..42
b. Topic of Possession………..51
2. Topics of Ability………...57
a. Topic of General Ability……….57
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xi
B. Discussion ... …..73 1. The Topics of Compliments in the Film “The Holiday”...74
2. The Functions of each Types of the Compliments………76 3. The Responses of the Compliments from the Addressee…………..78
CHAPTER V: CONCUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusion ... …81 B. Suggestions ... 83
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xii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Topics of Compliments ... 75
Table 2 Functions of Compliments ... 77
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xiii ABSTRACT
Ikha Oktavianti. C0306034. An Analysis of Compliments and
Responses to Compliments in the Film Entitled “The Holiday”. (A Pragmatic Study). Thesis: English Department, Faculty of Letters
and Fine Arts. Sebelas Maret University. 2011
This research focuses on the compliments used by the characters in the
film entitled “The Holiday”. This research was conducted to describe the types of topics of compliment employed by the characters in the film entitled “The
Holiday”, the functions of each type of topics of compliment, and also the compliment responses expressed by the addressees in the film.
This research is a descriptive qualitative research. This research uses pragmatic approach. The technique of sampling used is total sampling. All conversations containing compliments and the compliment responses were taken as the data.
Based on the data analysis, the researcher draws conclusions as follows: There are four types of topics of compliments employed by the characters
in the film entitled “The Holiday”. They are topic of personal appearance, topic of
possession, topic of general ability, and topic of specific-act ability.
Based on Wolfson‟s classification of compliment functions, there are six functions of compliment proposed by Wolfson found in this research. They are: to affirm solidarity, to create or maintain rapport, to express admiration or approval, to encourage, to express positive evaluation, and also to strengthen or replace other speech act formulas.
In responding the compliments, most of the addressees accept the compliments. The response acceptance of the compliment includes verbal and non verbal acceptance. In verbal acceptance, the addresses deliver the word thanks to
respond to the speaker‟s compliment. Meanwhile, the addressees respond to the
compliment by smiling in the non verbal acceptance. Other upgrade, down grade, reassignment, question, and giving no acknowledgement. In the comment acceptance, the addressees accept the compliment and offer a relevant comment on the compliment. In the praise upgrade, the addressee accepts and asserts
insufficiently of the compliment‟s force. Meanwhile, in down grade, the
compliment is not worth. In response of question, the addressee questions the
sincerity or the appropriateness of the speaker‟s compliment. Finally, in No
Acknowledgment, the addressees give no indication of having heard the compliment, shift the topic, and even give no response.
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
The nature of human as a social creature requires a means to interact and
to communicate with others in their daily live. One of communication means is
language. Language is a significant medium to express what people feel and what
people think.
When someone communicates with another person, he/she can measure
the success of the communication from the response he/she gets. The
communication is considered successful, when the speaker is aware of what
he/she is doing with the language and the hearer is able to recognize the intended
meaning what the speaker means. Actually, when someone says something to
another person, he/she performs not only the certain purpose but also the act .
That is the realization of certain social communication called speech act.
There are some classifications of speech acts. Compliments and responses
to compliments are among the most investigated speech acts, along with
apologies, requests, and refusals. Holmes defines a compliment as a speech act
which either explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the
speaker. Usually, the person who is addressed for some good (possession,
character, skill, etc) and it is positively valued by both the speaker and hearer.
Furthermore, he states that the primary function of a compliment is affective and
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social rather than referential or informative. It explains that the causes of
misunderstanding and miscommunication breakdown include different norms of
complimenting and responding to compliments (Holmes, 2003:177).
In addition, Brown & Levinson also confirm that compliment is a main
example of speech acts that is frequently used to express positive politeness
strategy, which notices and attends to the hearer‟s interests, wants, needs, and goods (1987: 102). Compliments are also used to maintain the relationship in
society. It can be a teacher who gives compliment to the student on his/her good
mark. The expression of compliment such as “You‟re a smart boy” shows that the
teacher appreciates the student‟s good mark and it will encourage the student to keep on studying in order to have good mark. Buddies often exchange compliment
when they meet each other by saying “You look so fresh today” or give
compliment on their new belonging. These simple expressions of compliments
can create good feeling between them.
Compliment is formulaic in English; it represents a social strategy in that
the speaker attempts to create or maintain rapport with the addressee by
expressing admiration or approval (Wolfson & Judd, 1983). Compliments are
intended to make the addresses feel good, but it may serve other function in
different interactions. Even in some contexts, compliment may be experienced
negatively.
Since compliment has many variations, it is important for the people to
know on what cases people could deliver compliment. Wolfson (in Wolfson &
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apologize for, or compliment on, usually reflects values, because in performing
these speech acts, people are often implicitly assessing the behavior, possessions,
accomplishments, character, or appearance of others. Moreover, specific
relationship between the speaker and the addressee also affects the choice of type
of compliment considered appropriate. It can be said that there is a basis for the
people to deliver compliment, it may be based on the appearance, possessions, etc.
Film is a kind of entertainment medium. The film is considered as a
life-image that is acted by the characters on the screen. The story is often taken from
reality including the conversation. „The Holiday‟ is a film which tells about the
journey of two desperate young ladies to get their true loves. The researcher finds
many expressions of compliment used by the characters. The compliments are
applied in various ways, that is why the researcher is interested to conduct a
research on that film. To clarify the research background, the following examples
will give understanding about it.
Example 1:
Iris : Your house is lovely.
Arthur : I've lived here 47 years.
The conversation happens in front of Arthur‟s house. The participants are
Iris and Arthur. Iris Simpkins is a writer of popular wedding column for London's
Daily Telegraph, while Arthur is a noted screenwriter from Hollywood's Golden
Era. Since they are stranger to each other, they have distant relationship.
Based on the dialogue above, Iris‟s words „Your house‟ refers to the
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Entering Arthur‟s house, Iris feels amazed with the house. Spontaneously she expresses her amazement by saying that Arthur‟shouse is lovely. Iris‟s admiration toward the house is indicated as compliment toward Arthur‟s possession. In this context, Iris uses the positive adjective word „lovely‟ to show her amazement toward the house. From the explanation, it can be concluded that the compliment
has topic of appearance, especially deals with possession. Since the speaker
delivers the compliment sincerely, the compliment functions as expression of
admiration or approval.
The addressee of the compliment is Arthur. The type of his response is
mitigate. It can be seen from addressee‟s behavior which is commenting of the
history of the referent by saying „I've lived here 47 years.‟ Example 2:
Amanda : And you're funny, which is, like, a bonus.
Graham : Yeah? Never meet me when I'm sober.
The conversation happens in Rose Hill Cottage, Iris‟s home. The participants are Amanda and Graham. Amanda is a desperate young lady who was
trapped on her lonely vacation. Meanwhile, Graham is a warm-hearted guy who
suddenly became an interesting companion for Amanda. They have distant
relationship before, but after involving on a nice chit chat, then they become very
intimate to each other.
In this dialog above, Amanda delivers compliment toward Graham by
saying that he is funny which is like a bonus on her boring holiday. Amanda says
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because of Graham. She thinks that Graham is funny guy which is like a bonus for
her holiday package.
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that the compliment has a
topic of general ability which deals with personal qualities. The speaker uses
adjective word „funny‟ to show that the speaker is interested with the addressee‟s personality. The compliment functions to create and maintain rapport.
The addressee of the compliment is Graham. The types of his response is
mitigate because the addressee shifts the compliment into a joke. The addressee
implicitly says that when he is sober, he might be not that funny.
“The Holiday” is one of the examples of movies which have real
communication in a real social context. The genre is romantic, where the language
used in the dialog has an important role in creating romantic situation. There are
many compliment expressions in the dialogue as shown in the two examples
above. Thus, the researcher intends to conduct a research entitled: An Analysis of
Compliments and Responses to Compliments in The Film Entitled “The Holiday”.
B. Problem Statements
Referring to the research background stated previously, the researcher
formulates the problem statements as follows:
1. What are the topics of compliments used in the speeches among the characters
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2. What are the functions of speech act compliments employed by the characters
of the film entitled „The Holiday‟?
3. How do the characters respond to the compliments in the film entitled „The
Holiday‟?
C. Research Limitation
There are many kinds of speech acts found in the film entitled „The
Holiday‟. However, this research is only focused on the speech act of giving and
responding to compliments. Further, this research takes the conversation
containing speech act compliments in the film as the data including verbal and
written form. The researcher identifies the topics, the functions, and also the
responses of the speech act compliments used by the characters in the film.
D. Research Objectives The objectives of this research are:
1. To reveal the topics of compliments employed by the characters in the
film entitled „The Holiday‟.
2. To reveal the functions of speech act compliments in the film entitled
„The Holiday‟.
3. To explain the responses to the compliments by the characters in the film
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E. Research Benefits
This research is expected to give contribution as follows:
1. The readers
I hope that this research will give an understanding to the readers
about the types of topics of compliments that they can use in
complimenting others. This research is also important to give
understanding about the way issuing appropriate compliment to others
because sometimes compliments may become an insult and hurt others‟ feel if it is not relevant with the certain condition.
2. Other researchers
This research is expected to be a reference for other researchers to
conduct further research about the employment of politeness strategy in
compliments.
F. Research Methodology
The type of this research is descriptive qualitative research. It is
descriptive since the researcher merely collected the data, made an analysis
afterward, and at last drew the conclusion (Moleong, 2001:6). Qualitative means
that it is not dealing with numerical measurement.
The source of the data is taken from the dialogues among the characters in
the film „The Holiday‟. The sampling technique applied in this research is total
sampling technique since the whole data collected are the conversation containing
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G. Thesis Organization
This thesis is divided into five chapters in which each chapter consists of
further division. This thesis research is arranged systematically as follows:
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. This chapter discusses Research
Background, Problem Statements, Research Limitation, Research
Objectives, Research Benefits, Research Methodology, and Thesis
Organization.
CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW. This chapter covers
theories about Pragmatics, Context, Speech Act, Ethnography of Speaking,
Compliments, Kinesics, Theory of the Film, Synopsis of the Film, and
Review of Related Study.
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. This chapter
describes Type of Research, Data and Source of Data, Sample and Sampling
Technique, Instrument of the Research, Research Procedures, Technique of
Analyzing Data.
CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS. This chapter consists of Data
Analysis and Discussion.
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION. The last
chapter consists of conclusion of the research and suggestion for other
researcher.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter II covers some theories and references which are related to
the research. The researcher takes compliment expression to carry out this
research. Thus, Pragmatics approach is needed as the way of analyzing the data.
The references related to pragmatics are necessary to guide the researcher to
interpret and to dig up the meaning of data. The references which are discussed in
this chapter are Pragmatics, Context, Speech Act (including the classification of
speech acts and each of the examples), Components of Speech, Kinesics and its
repertoire, The Act of Complimenting (including topics, functions, and responses
to compliments), Theory of Film, and Review of Related Study.
A. Pragmatics
According to Leech (1983), pragmatics can be usefully defined as the
study of how utterances have meanings in situations. It means that pragmatics is
concerned with the meaning of utterance, in which the meaning depends on the
situation where the utterance occurs.
In addition, Yule defines pragmatics as the study of contextual meaning
(1996:3). This type of study necessarily involves the interpretation of what the
speaker means in the particular context and how the context influences what is
said. It also requires a consideration of how the speaker organizes what she/he
would liketo say in accordance with to whom the speaker talks, where, when and
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under what circumstances the speech act takes place. Similarly Leech (1983),
gives a definition that pragmatics can be usefully defined as the study of how
utterances have meaning of utterance, in which the meaning depends on the
situation where the utterance occurs.
Based on definition above, it can be concluded that pragmatics is a study
that discusses a meaning of language by regarding the relation between language
and context. It means that the interactions between the context and language
become the main concern in pragmatics.
B. Context
Context plays an important role in understanding the meaning of
utterances. The importance of context in language can be seen from the opinion of
Leech. He says that context is a relevant aspect of the physical or social setting of
an utterance (1999:13). Context is a background knowledge which is shared by
the speaker and hearer in understanding their utterance.
Meanwhile, Levinson points out the importance of context which is
included in the definition of pragmatics, as the study of the ability of language
user to pair sentences with the context in which it would be appropriate (1986:24).
It means that the role of context in language is studied in pragmatics. It is
necessary to pay attention to the context that is surrounding the happening of the
conversation.
Malinowsky (in Halliday & Hasan, 1985:6) states that there are two
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situation is the situation in which the text is uttered. Meanwhile, context of culture
is the cultural background behind the participants.
From the statement above, it can be concluded that speech context of
linguistics research is a context in all physical aspects or social background
related to the speech, time, place, social environment, political condition, etc.
C. Speech Act
Speech act is a part of pragmatics study. It focuses on how to do
something by saying utterances. It means that the speaker uses a language to get
the hearer to do something and expects that the hearer will understand his/her
communicative intention.
According to Searle (1976: 16), speaking a language is performing speech
acts, acts such as making statements, giving commands, asking questions, and
making promises. While, Yule (1996: 47) defines speech acts as action performed
via utterances such as apology, complaint, invitation, promise or request.
Austin (1962) divides three kinds of acts that are performed in which in
saying something someone is doing something.
a. Locutionary act is the literal meaning of the utterance. It is the basic act of
utterance.
b. Illocutionary act is the act of getting the audience to recognize the
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c. Perlocutionary act is the bringing about of effect on the audience by means
of uttering the sentence, such effect being special to the circumstances of
utterance.
In simple way, locutionary act is the act of saying something, illocutionary
act is what is done in the act of saying something, and perlocutionary act is the
effect produced by saying something. The example below will give clear
understanding of it.
A: You look beautiful tonight.
B: Thank you.
The act of saying „You look beautiful tonight‟ is the locutionary act. A
complimenting B is the illocutionary act. The acceptance of the compliment by B
is the perlocutionary act.
In attempting to further development to further analysis of speech act,
Searle in Leech (1983) provides classification of speech acts in which he calls as
five macro-classes of illucotionary acts. They are:
1. Declarations : utterances which effect immediate changes in the
institutional state of affairs and which tend to rely elaborate extra
linguistics institutions.
For example: Priest: I baptize you….
I pronounce you husband and wife.
I name this baby “David”.
2. Assertives : utterances which commit someone to the truth of the expressed
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reporting. The point is expressing a belief, making words fit the words, and
committing the speaker to the truth of what is asserted.
For example: a. The earth is flat.
b. Today is cool.
c. Sophie is a beautiful girl.
3. Expressives: utterances which express a psychological condition. It means
that the speaker expresses his feeling; it can be statements of pleasure, pain,
like and dislike. The examples of the speech act included in expressives are
compliment, congratulating, thinking, apologizing, refusing, etc.
For example: a. I really like your haircut.
b. Thank you for your help.
c. I am sorry I can‟t go with you.
4. Directives : utterances which are attempted the speaker to get the hearer to
do something. Directives cover command, order, request, suggestion, etc.
For example: a. Open the door, please!
b. Could you take me a drink, please?
c. Don‟t throw the rubbish to the river!
5. Commisives : utterances which commit the speaker to some future course of
action. Examples of speech act which are included in commisives are
promise, threat, and pledge.
For example: a. I‟ll be back.
b. I will finish my homework tomorrow.
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To give a comparation, Tsui (1994:52) defines the primary acts on the basis
of where they occur in the exchange structure. Tsui‟s classification about speech
acts are:
a)Elicitation
It is used to describe any utterances which functions to elicit an
obligatory verbal response or its non-verbal surrogate.
i)Elicit: inform.
It is a kind of elicitation which invites the addressee to supply a
piece of information. For example:
X : Where is the key?
Y : It‟s on the table. ii)Elicit: confirm
It is a kind of elicitation which invites the addressee to confirm the
speaker‟s assumption. For example:
X : Is it your book?
Y : Yes, that‟s right. iii) Elicit: agree
It is a kind of elicitation which invites the addressee to agree with
the speaker‟s assumption that the expressed preposition is self evidently true. For example:
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iv) Elicit: commit
It is a kind of elicitation which not only invites a verbal response
but also invites commitment on the part of the addressee to further
interaction. For example:
X : Can you help me, Mom?
Y : Yes, sure.
b) Requestives
It refers to the utterances which solicit non verbal actions and the
addressee is given the opinion of carrying out the solicited action.
i) An offer. For example:
A : I have a new novel, would you like to?
B : Oh, sure!
ii)A request for permission. For example:
A : do you mind if I smoke?
B : go ahead.
iii) An invitation.
For instance: Would you like to come to my wedding party?
iv) A request of action. For example:
A : I wonder if you might give me apology for that mistakes
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c) Directives
Directives are acts which prospect a non-verbal action from the addressee
without giving him or her option of non-compliance. The subclasses of
directives are:
1) Advisives are directives which direct the addressee to perform an
action for the benefit of his own. There are two kinds of advisives:
a) Advice is directives which advocates a course of action for the
benefit of the addressee, in which the consequence of compliance
is desirable. For example: “You had better do it by yourself. You will be very satisfied with your own result.”
b) Warning is directives which advocate the hearer to perform an
action for the benefit of him/herself and which either explicitly or
impliedly specifies the undesirable of non-compliance. For
example: “Do not pick up this cattle. It‟s burning hot!
2) Mandatives are directives by which the speaker attempts to get the
addressee to perform, or to refrain from performing, an action for the
benefit of the speaker him/herself. The kinds of mandatives:
a) Instruction
The speaker usually has the authority over the addressee to get the
addressee to comply. For example the customers to the waitress:
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b)Threats
It is a kind of directives that the speaker commits to perform a
future action to the detriment of the addressee. For instance: “Put
your gun or I‟ll shoot her!”
d) Informatives
Informatives cover utterances which provide report of events or states of
affair, recount, personal experiences, express belief, evaluate judgment,
feeling, and thought. The subclasses of informatives are:
1) Report gives an account of certain events, states of affairs or personal
experiences in the past, present, or future.
For example: “She is the cleverest student in the class.”
2) Assessment asserts his judgment or evaluation of certain people,
object, event, states of affair and so on. The subclasses are:
a) Compliment. It is the assessment in which the speaker evaluates
the addressee positively.
Example: “You are a very diligent student.”
b) Criticism. It is labeled for the utterance in which the speaker judges
the addressee negatively.
Example: “You are ugly with that dress”
c) Self-commendation. It is the assessment in which the speaker
evaluates himself positively.
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d) Self-denigration. It is the name of assessment when the speaker
judges himself negatively.
Example: “I forget about it. I think I‟m getting old”
e) Assessing. The evaluation is directed neither speaker nor
addressee.
For example: “Suzan is a very sexy and smart girl”
3) Expressive are ritualistic which speakers express civility and goodwill
toward each other. The subclasses are:
a) Emphaty. The speaker shows concern and empathies to the
addressee.
Example: “I hope you will get better soon”
b) Debt-incured. The speaker expresses his feelings toward debt,
which he was incurred.
Example: “Sorry to trouble you”
Based on the explanation above, the researcher is interested to
conduct a research based on Tsui‟s classifications of speech act. It is speech act of
compliments.
D. Direct and Indirect Speech Act
Direct and indirect speech act are concerned with the way the speaker uses
various linguistic forms with certain functions.
a. Direct Speech Act
Direct speech act occurs when there is a direct relationship between a
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illocution of an utterance is the illocution most directly indicated by literal reading
of grammatical form and vocabulary of the sentence uttered.
Example: a) Did you eat the food? (interrogative)
b) Eat the food! (imperative)
c) You eat the food. (declarative)
In (a) the speaker asks a question to the hearer, that is, whether or not the
speaker eat the food. In (b) the speaker request the hearer to eat the food. In (c) the
speaker states that the hearer eats the food.
Thus, a declarative used to make statement, an interrogative used to make
question and an imperative used to make a command are direct speech acts.
b. Indirect Speech Act
An indirect speech act occurs when there is an indirect relationship
between a structure and a function. Thomas states that indirectness occurs when
there is a mismatch between the expressed meaning by the words and the implied
meaning (1995: 119). For instance, a declarative and an interrogative used to
make a request is an indirect speech act. In addition, Allan (1986) states that in
indirect speech acts, the speaker communicates to the hearer more than he/ she
actually says. It means that the speaker expresses his/her intonation implicitly.
Example: a) Move out the TV! (imperative)
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The sentences above have different structure (imperative, interrogative,
and declarative), but the different structure can be used to accomplish the same
basic function. Thus the function of all utterance above is a command/request,
where the speaker wants the hearer not to stand in front of the TV. Based on the
basic example above, only imperative structure in (a) represents a direct speech
act. The interrogative structure in (b) is not being used only as a question: hence it
is an indirect speech act of request. The declarative structure in (c) also represents
an indirect request.
E. Ethnography of Speaking
Ethnography of speaking or, more generally, the ethnography of
communication deals with the use of language in general related to social and
cultural values. Hymes in Fasold (1996) defines „The ethnography of speaking is
concerned with the situations and uses, the patterns and functions, of speaking as
an activity in its own right‟.
The way of speaking can vary substantially from one culture to another. In
order to study communicative behavior within a speech community – the group to which a particular ethnographic description applies – it is necessary to work with a nested hierarchy of units called the speech situation, speech event and speech
act. Speech acts are part of speech events which are, in turn, part of speech
situation. Hymes describes speech situation as situations associated with (or
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hunts. Speech situation may be composed of both communicative and other kinds
of events.
Speech events are both communicative and governed by rules for the use
of speech. A speech event is composed of one or more speech acts. The example
is joke. It might be a speech act that is part of a conversation (a speech event)
which takes place in a party (a speech situation).
Hymes in Wardhaugh (1998) proposes an ethnographic framework which
takes into account the varios factors that are involved in speaking. Hymes uses the
word SPEAKING as an acronym for the various factors he deems to be relevant:
a. Situation (S)
Situation includes the setting and the scene. The setting refers to the
concrete physical circumstances in which the speech takes place. It includes the
scene and place. Scene refers to the abstract psychological setting, or cultural
definition of the occasion. It may be formal or informal, serious or festive. For
example, the seating arrangement of a meeting room, whether it is in straight rows
or in a circle, may signal the appropriate level of formality.
b. Participant (P)
The participants include combinations of speaker-listener,
addresser-addressee, or sender-receiver. They generally fill certain specific roles. It deals
with who is speaking and who are they speaking to. Their presence in
communicative event may influence on what is said and how it is said. Each of
them has his/her own behavior toward language and language choice according to
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The description of participants includes not only their characteristics, but
also their background information such as age, gender, social class, status,
background, etc. The style of dress of participants may also be a determiner of
their communicative behavior. For example, people will talk more formally to one
wearing a formal dress than to one in a sporty dress.
c. Ends (E)
Ends of a speech event are divided into outcome and goal. Outcome refers
to the purpose of the event from a cultural point of view, e.g. trade, business,
contract, interview, etc. Meanwhile, goal refers to the purpose of the individual
participants. For example, the goal of seller in bargaining event is to maximize the
price, while the customers want to minimize it.
d. Act Sequence (A)
Act Sequence discusses the messages of an event. It comprises message
form and message content. Message form refers to how thing is said by the
participants. Meanwhile, message content deals with what participants talk about;
it is simply called as topic of a conversation.
Furthermore, the topic of a conversation can determine how close the
participants to each other. For example, individual does not normally ask strangers
their age, marital status or salary in the first meeting in America or English.
Both message form and message content involved communicative skills
that vary from one culture to another. Speakers should know how to formulate
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e. Key (K)
Key refers to the tone, manner, or spirit in which a speech act is
performed, whether it is serious, mocking, sarcastic, and so on. Key also refers to
the feeling, atmosphere, and attitude. Furthermore, the key may be marked by
non-verbal action such as wink, smile, gesture, or posture.
Key plays an important part in affecting the use of language. For example,
one might show his/her annoyance by speaking with rude words in a high tone
and bad manner.
The aspect of key is as follows:
1. Tone refers to the general spirit of the scene such as angry, afraid, brave,
etc.
2. Manner refers to the participant‟s way of behaving toward others, whether it is polite, impolite, formal, informal, serious, mocking, etc.
3. Feeling refers to emotion indicating happiness, shock, anger, anxiety, etc.
4. Atmosphere refers to the feeling that affects the mind in a place or
condition, such as good, evil, etc.
5. Attitude refers to the participants‟ ways of thinking and behaving toward a situation whether it is sympathetic, pessimistic, etc.
f. Instrumentalities (I)
Instrumentalities refer to channel and form of speech. Channel means the
way a message travels from one person to another whether by oral or written.
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signal, or drumming. Meanwhile, the form of speech refers to language and their
subdivision, dialect, codes, varieties, and register.
g. Norms (N)
Norms include norms of interaction and norms of interpretation. Norms of
interaction refer to non-linguistic rules of when, how, and how often speech
occurs in the community. Norms of interpretation are determined by the culture of
the community. Norms of interaction involves trying to implicate the belief
system of a community. Interpretation involves trying to understand what is being
conveyed beyond what is in the actual words used.
h. Genre (G)
Genre refers the type of communicative event such as poems, myths,
jokes, lectures, sermons, editorials, etc. Genre is performed for specific purposes
in specific places with particular participants. For example, the lecture as a genre
is typically identified with a certain place in a course. The lecturers and the
students as the participants may be involved in serious or humorous effect in other
situation.
F. Compliment 1. Definition of Compliment
In most speech communities, the speech act of complimenting is intended
to make others feel good. A compliment is a speech act which explicitly or
implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker, usually the person
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positively valued by the speaker and the hearer (Holmes, 2003). Moreover,
Wolfson (in Wolfson & Judd, 1983) states that in general; a compliment requires
adjectives to express the speaker‟s positive evaluation. Adjective is the frequently used in the compliment. Meanwhile, in a few compliments which do not make use
of an adjective or verb, positive evaluations are carried by nouns (e.g. genius,
angel, etc) or adverb well.
2. Types of Topics of Compliment
Wolfson ( in Wolfson & Judd, 1983:90) divides the topics of compliment
into two major categories, namely appearance and ability.
a. Topic of Appearance. The topic of compliments is divided into two types: 1. Personal appearance
The type of topic compliment on personal appearance usually deals with
apparel
Example: That‟s a very elegant dress. Did you just get it? I love that blouse.
There is also expression on other aspects of personal appearance other
than apparel.
2. Possession
The type of compliment on possession usually deals with material
possession.
Example: The living room looks good. I haven‟t seen it this way.
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There are also favorable comments on something that appear to parallel
comments concerning possession.
Example: Your baby is adorable.
Your husband is such a nice guy.
b. Topic of Ability. Compliments concerning on ability are divided into two broad types: those, which are general, and those which refer to a specific act well
done.
1. General ability
The general ability includes categorical reference to skill, talent, personal
qualities, and taste.
Example: You‟re so honest and you explain things so beautifully You do this kind of writing so well.
You have good taste.
2. Specific- act ability
Specific-act ability contains all compliments which are specific-act.
Example: You‟re being so nice about this.
You are really did a good job. This is really nice.
3. The Function of Compliment
Noriko Ishihara sums up a variety of reasons of using compliments in
American English:
To express admiration or approval of someone‟s work/appearance/taste
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To establish/confirm/maintain solidarity (Manes & Wolfson, 1981; Wolfson,
1989).
To replace greetings/gratitude/apologies/congratulations (Wolfson, 1983,
1989).
To soften face-threatening acts such as apologies, requests and criticism
(Brown & Levinson, 1987; Wolfson, 1983).
To open and sustain conversation (conversation strategy) (Wolfson, 1983;
Billmyer, 1990; Dunham, 1992).
To reinforce desired behavior (Manes, 1983).
(http://www.carla.umn.edu/cgi-bin/carla/anchor.pl?/speechacts/compliments/ref.)
While, Wolfson (in Wolfson & Judd, 1983) defines several functions of
compliment because compliments may play different roles on different occasion
in the interaction. The speaker from higher status tends to make a compliment
concerning some activities or piece of works of others who are in the lower
positions. It frequently functions as encouragements. Moreover, the person of
upper status commonly gives a compliment commenting on the quality of
something produced through addressee‟s ability to an addressee of lower status. The compliment may also function to express a positive evaluation to the
addressee. The addresser frequently uses the adjective nice and good to express a
positive evaluation. However, the use of the compliment functioning to encourage
other is not limited to the interlocutors having unequal status. Teammates and the
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addressee as well as to let them know that they are appreciated and they should
keep up good works.
Compliments are kinds of flattery given in all attempts to gain some
advantages for the speakers. In this case, the statuses of the participants are
unequal. The person of lower status tends to make use of a compliment for the
purpose of manipulating the addresses. However, the great majority of
compliments which occur in interaction between unequal statuses are given by the
person in higher position. For example, the boss gives a compliment on his
employee‟s ability in order to encourage them to keep the good work. This type of topics of compliment is used to make the addressee in workplace. Meanwhile, a
true compliment generally has a great deal with apparel or appearance. In this
case, women are far more likely to be the recipients of compliments than men. For
example, the speaker gives a compliment on the addressee‟s appearance when the
addressee wears an elegant dress.
In interaction between sexes where the setting is the workplace, women
are most likely to be inferior in status to the men with whom they interact. The
compliment from person of upper to those who are in some sense their inferiors
tends to be related to ability or performance more often than to appearance. For
example, a boss gives a compliment on his employee‟s good work when the addressee does his/ her job well.
The major function of compliment is to create or to maintain solidarity
between interlocutors. Compliment generally serves a powerful device for mutual
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relationship and hence solidarity and sympathy among people in a wide range of
situations. The objects or actions complimented must be one which any member
of the speech community will recognize as positive.
In particular occasion, a compliment may have social function to replace
or to strengthen other speech act formulas, for instance, apologies, thanks,
greetings, etc. They are often accompanied by a compliment. For examples:
1. “Thanks for the flowers. We really like them.”
2. “Great dinner. Thanks for having us.”
It can be seen as parts of expression gratitude.
Compliment can also be a means to soften criticism, particularly when the
participants are in the relationship still want to continue and to maintain a social
harmony. This compliment is usually combined with but or though. This
compliment such as “You‟re doing good job, but you put much time on it.” In this
case, the criticism is uttered in polite manner, since it is combined with the
compliment. It indicates that the speaker wants to minimize the irritating effect of
the speaker‟s criticism.
Compliment may be used to modify the behavior of another has to do with
sarcasm. In this case, a comment structured in the form of a compliment may
quite easily be turned into a reprimand or even an insult. This kind of compliment
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The other function of compliment is as a spontaneous expression of
admiration and/ or approval. The spontaneity and the newness are usually linked
with the originality of expression.
Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that a compliment
may serve more than one function. It depends on many aspects. The types of
compliments, status, age, sex of the participants, and the context or setting are
some factors influencing the interpretation of compliments function. For example,
the utterance “You are so wonderful”, this compliment may be interpreted as admiration and as an expression of gratitude of the speaker.
4. Compliment Response Strategies
Noriko Ishihara also sums up several types of compliment responses
according to Nelson, Al-Batal, & Echols (1996) and Herbert, (1990). The
explanations are as follows:
A. Accept
o Appreciation Token (Thanks/Thank you)
o Comment Acceptance (Yeah, it‟s my favorite, too)
o Praise Upgrade (Really brings out the blue in my eyes, doesn‟t it?)
B. Mitigate
o Comment History (I bought it for the trip to Arizona)
o Shift credit (My brother gave it to me/It really knitted itself)
o Questioning or Request Reassurance/Repetition (Do you really like
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o Return (So‟s yours)
o Scale Down/Downgrade (It‟s really quite old)
C. Reject
o Disagreeing Utterance (A: You look good and healthy. B: I feel fat)
D. No Response
E. Request Interpretation
o Addressee interprets the compliment as a request: (You wanna
borrow this one too?)
(http://www.carla.umn.edu/cgi-bin/carla/anchor.pl?/speechacts/compliments/ref.)
G. Kinesics
Kinesics is the study of body motion. It is the technical term for all aspects
of the silent language. All matters of interaction which are not carried out by
actual words are under the study of kinesics.
Kinesics is the most obvious non-verbal communication form. The basic
repertoires of kinesics are body motion, eye contact, facial expressions, smile,
touching, and proxemics. Although humans share the same kinesics, each social
group may have different rules in using its kinesics. It means that kinesics
conveys specific meanings and many interpretations. They depend on its culture
of each society. Different interpretations on the same repertoire of kinesics may
cause misunderstanding and cross-cultural difficulties (Chaika, 1994: 123).
Some kinesics repertoires are as follows :
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Communication is not achieved by voice alone. In fact, it is difficult to talk
without using body motion and expression. One example is the brief raising of
eyebrows. It may have different emotional meaning to particular cultures. It may
mean yes, indicate recognition, or express flirting. Eyebrows flirting also mean the
disapproval of a particular behavior.
b. Smiles
The basic human repertoire for expression may be the same, but there is plenty
of evidence showing that each culture modifies that repertoire. Smiling is one of
the examples. There are many kinds of smiles in different ways for different
purposes. There are friendly smiles, sly smiles, skeptical smiles, derisive,
threatening, sick smiles, and grins. Some cultures demand a wide smile, teeth
showing for greeting. Others greet people with close-mouthed or only narrowly
open-lipped smiles. The situations that emerge smile and its kinds of smile are
various from one culture to other.
c. Proxemics
Proxemics is the study of humankind‟s perception and use of space. In a
conversation, people have to know the correct patterns for their society by
learning how near or far to stand from those with whom they are conversing.
Normal distance between speakers varies from culture to culture and between
subcultures of the same society. The amount of space one take gives messages
about dominances.
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Within cultures, there are differences in eye contact between sexes, different
age group, and status. In a common interaction, the subordinate person looks at
the superior more than the superior looks at the subordinate. Looking to the
superior is a way of getting approval, of gauging the effect they are having on the
one whom they wish to please.
H. Theory of Film
Film is a kind of entertainment medium. The story of the film is a social
phenomenon. The film is like a life-image acted by the characters on the screen.
Allen and Gomery state that the movies somehow reflect the desires,
needs, fears and aspirations of a society at a given time (1993: 154). Movies are
social representations. They derive their images and sounds, themes and stories
ultimately from their social environment (1993: 158).
There is a close relationship between film and society. Allen and Gomery
explain that the making of films has a social dimension for several reasons.
Filmmakers are members of society, and are not less subject to social pressures
and norms than anyone else. Furthermore, all filmmaking occurs within some
social context (Allen & Gomery, 1993: 154). It is concluded that film is made by
the society; it figures the life story of the society with the aim of entertaining and
conveying messages to the society. In short, film production is a reflection of
social phenomena.
As social representations, in fictional films, characters are given attitudes,
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on social roles and on general notions about how policeman, factory worker,
debundante, mother, or husband is „supposed‟ to act (Allen & Gomery:1993:158). Related to the above explanation, any kinds of films are the reflection of
social life since they represent the norms, believes, values, and phenomena of the
life. Life is depicted through the story, the characters, the setting, etc. What is on
the film is something we face in the real life; therefore we understand that film
reflects the aspects and ideology in the society.
I. Synopsis of the Film ‘The Holiday’
Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz), the owner of a prospering advertising
firm that creates movie trailers, lives in Southern California. Iris Simpkins (Kate
Winslet) writes the popular wedding column for London's Daily Telegraph and
resides in a charming cottage in the English countryside. Though Iris and Amanda
live 6,000 miles apart, they are in exactly the same place: Just before Christmas,
Iris and Amanda decide to take a needed break from the men in their lives (played
by Edward Burns and Rufus Sewell) — and neither is much in the mood for a nostalgic chorus of "Auld Lang Syne." Amanda, wanting to get out of town for
the holidays, stumbles onto an internet site that specializes in home exchanges,
and finds Iris' English cottage to be the perfect antidote to her troubles. On
impulse, Amanda and Iris agree to crisscross continents and move into each
other's homes for two weeks. Iris lands in Los Angeles on a spectacularly clear
day warmed by the gusts of the seasonal Santa Ana winds. Not long after she
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a noted screenwriter from Hollywood's Golden Era, and Miles (Jack Black), a film
composer who works with Amanda's ex-boyfriend. In England, where it is
anything but balmy, Amanda is just settling into the cozy solitude of the
snow-covered Rose Hill Cottage, when Iris' handsome brother Graham (Jude Law)
comes knocking at the cottage door. In an unexpected turn of events, both women
discover that the best trips are the ones where you leave your baggage behind.
Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures Present in association with Relativity
Media, A Waverly Films Production, The Holiday starring Cameron Diaz, Kate
Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Eli Wallach, Edward Burns and Rufus Sewell.
The film is written and directed by Nancy Meyers. The producers are Nancy
Meyers and Bruce A. Block and the executive producer is Suzanne Farwell. The
director of photography is Dean Cundey ASC. The Holiday was released by
Columbia Pictures on December 8, 2006.
J. Review of Related Study
A study about compliment has been done by previous researcher. This has
been done by Nurharjanti (2005) in her thesis entitled The Use of Compliments as
Positive Politeness Strategy in Speeches of Men and Women Characters in the
Film “Notting Hill”. This research is intended to describe the compliments of
women and men, to show the topics of compliments expression and to describe
the function of compliments as positive politeness strategy.
The result of the study covered by the findings that women receive more
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Therefore, women are linguistically more polite than men. There are three topics
of compliments; appearances/ possession, performance/ skill/ abilities, and
personality traits/ friendliness topics. The functions of the compliments are to
increase and consolidate solidarity between interlocutors, to ease communication,
to express positive evaluation/ admiration and to replace other speech act
formulas.
A study about compliment has also been done by Sularsih (2005) in her
thesis entitled “The Analysis of Compliments and Their Responses in the Film
Entitled Never Been Kissed”. It describes the topics of the compliment used by the speaker through the dialog of the sequence and also describes the functions of
each topic of the compliments in the film and figures out the responses launched
by the addressees.
The results of the study show that there are two topics of the compliments
namely the topic of appearance and the topic of ability. Each topic is divided into
two types. Therefore, there are four topics of compliments, namely personal
appearance, possession, general ability, and specific act ability. Furthermore, there
are eight types of compliment functions: as social lubricant to create or maintain
the rapport, as spontaneous expressions of admiration and or approval, as
encouragement, to express the positive evaluation, to strengthen or even to replace
other speech act formulas, to soften criticism, to modify the sarcasm. In her
research, Sularsih applied eight of 12 types of compliment responses proposed by
Herbert, namely: Appreciation token, Comment Acceptance-single, return, Scale
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the researcher will present the research methodology.
Research methodology deals with the method used in reaching the goals of the
research. The goals of this research are to analyze the compliments expression in
the dialog of the characters in the movie and the way the addressees respond to the
compliments.
A. Type of Research
This research belongs to a descriptive qualitative method, since this
research is objected to collect the data, to analyze the data and to draw conclusion.
Surakhmad (1994:147) states that a descriptive method is a kind of research
method using technique of searching, collecting, classifying, analyzing the data,
interpreting them, and finally drawing conclusion.
Moreover, it is a qualitative research because this research aims at
describing a non-statistical or descriptive data. Sutopo (2002: 35) states that in
qualitative method, data were collected in the forms of words, sentences or
pictures in which the meaning is more significant than numbers.
B. Data and Source of Data
Source of data refers to the subject from which the data are obtained
(Arikunto, 2002:107). Data themselves may appear in the form of discourse,
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sentences, clauses, phrases or words which can be obtained from magazines,
newspaper, books, etc (Subroto, 1992: 7).
In this research, the researcher employs the film entitled The Holiday as
source of data. Meanwhile, the data in this research are the conversation
containing speech act compliments employed by the characters in the film entitled
The Holiday including oral and written form. The film is chosen since the
characters in the film frequently employ speech act compliments.
C. Sample and Sampling Technique
In qualitative research, samples are not taken from the population since the
selection is the intended to take the generalization of the population but to gain the
depth of information of the field of study. According to Sutrisno Hadi, sample is a
part of representation of the data being observed (1983: 112), whereas, sampling
technique is the way used by the researcher to select the samples of the data
(Hadi, 1983: 75).
A total sampling technique was employed to get the samples of data.
Therefore, the researcher takes all the conversations containing compliments in
the film entitled “The Holliday”
D. Research Procedures
The research procedure functions to set up the direction in conducting the
research. It contains a list of description of each steps conducted in the research.
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1. Replaying the VCD of the film entitled The Holliday several times. This
step is conducted firstly to understand the whole story of the film.
2. Finding the subtitles of the film from the internet. (www.AllSubs.org). This
step is conducted to make a transcript of film.
3. Identifying the speech act of giving and responding to compliments in the
dialogues by giving marks.
4. Classifying the data to find the topics, the functions, and the responses to
compliments.
5. Classifying the data of speech act compliments
6. Giving a code on each classified data.
7. Analyzing and interpreting data to answer the problem statements.
8. Drawing conclusion from the result of the analysis.
E. Technique of Analyzing Data
The collected data were analyzed by conducting the following steps:
1. Classifying the topics of compliments employed by the characters in the
conversation of the film entitled The Holiday.
2. Describing the situational context of the speech act giving and responding to
compliments.
3. Analyzing and interpreting the function of each compliment.
4. Analyzing the compliment responses
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CHAPTER IV
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
In the first chapter, it is clearly stated that the objectives of this research
are to find out the topics, the functions, and responses to compliments in the
speeches among characters in the film entitled The Holiday.
The most important part of the research is data analysis. The analysis is
conducted in two subchapters. They are data analysis and discussion.
1. Data analysis is arranged as follows:
a. Description of context. It describes the context of situation and the
participants of the dialog.
b. Analysis of compliment. It describes the topic of the compliment and
the function of the compliment.
c. Analysis of compliment response. It describes the response to the
compliment by the addressee.
2. Discussion. It discusses the result of the data analysis.
By considering the steps above, the researcher answers the problem
statements of the research. The answers found in the analysis are drawn
into the conclusion of the research.
