An analysis of apology as a politeness strategy expressed by the characters in the film entitled “ chasing liberty ” (a socio-pragmatics approach)

Oleh :
Ruth Soesilowati - C1305533 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

ABSTRAK The writer chooses this title because she is interested in analyzing apology as a politeness strategy conveyed by the speakers following an offence they have done toward the addressee. The writer chooses “Chasing Liberty” film as the source of data because she finds out that there are many apology expressed differently by the characters. This research was conducted to classify the kinds of offences that motivate the characters in the film “Chasing Liberty” to deliver their apology, to describe the way the characters express their apology, and to explain the reasons of why the characters employ such way to express their apology as politeness strategy. This research applied a socio-pragmatics approach since it deals with various social factors and their mutual interaction with languages, and it emphasizes on the relation between language meaning and context. Its scope of analysis is apology speech act. It is a descriptive qualitative research. It is a descriptive qualitative research since the data are in the form of sentences containing apology expressed by the characters in the film “Chasing Liberty”, and the researcher uses the technique of collecting the data, analyzing them, and drawing the conclusion in conducting this research. This research uses Trosborg’s apology strategies, Holmes’ social dimensions of communication and kinds of offences finding, Hymes’ ethnography of communication with SPEAKING formula, and also Brown and Levinson’s theories of politeness as guiding theories. The result of this research are as follows: The kinds of offenses that motivate the characters in the film “Chasing Liberty” to deliver their apologies are infringement on space, infringement on talk, infringement on time, infringement on possession, social behavior offence, and instance of inconvenience. The characters in the film “Chasing Liberty” express their apologies with the simple and complex form of apology strategies. A simple form of apology strategy is the employing of one apology strategy, while a complex form of apology strategy is the employing of more than one apology strategy in apologizing. In apologizing, the characters employ direct and indirect form of apology strategies. The characters deliver their apologies in high tone and low tone. They also show non-verbal expressions in apologizing The employing of a simple or a complex form of apology strategy is influenced by the degree of severity of the offence and the response given by the addressee. The higher degree of severity of the offence and the more negative response given by the addressee, the more complex form of apology strategy will be applied by the speaker in apologizing. The employing of apology strategy in apologizing is influenced by the social distance, the formality of the situation, and the social status of the participants. The more formal situation and the more distant relationship will make the speaker have to be more careful in applying the apology strategy. The employing of the intonation shows the way the speakers consider their offending act toward the addressee. The non-verbal expressions are applied by the characters to calm down the hearer, and to strengthen their verbal apology expressions.