Abstrak
An analysis of positive politeness strategy in the film entitled “in good company” (a pragmatics study)
Oleh :
Ani Septyaningsih - C1304002 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa
ABSTRACT
The research studies the use of positive politeness strategy in the film entitled “In Good Company”. It is conducted to find out the kinds of the positive politeness strategies employed by the characters and the factors influencing the characters to employ those strategies in relation to Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategy.
This research deals with Pragmatics approach. It is a descriptive qualitative study, and it employs purposive sampling as the sampling technique. The data are all the dialogs containing positive politeness strategy which have significant relationship with the problem statements. There are 29 data found in the film. The data are then identified by using Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategy to answer the kinds of positive politeness strategy employed by the character. The researcher uses Brown and Levinson’s politeness scale to find out the factors influencing the characters to employ those strategies.
The result of the analysis shows that there are 15 strategies of positive politeness employed by the characters in the dialogs of film entitled “In Good Company”. Among them are notice, attend to the hearer (4 data), exaggerate (1 datum), intensify interest to the hearer (1 datum), use in-group identity markers (4 data), seek agreement (1 datum), avoid disagreement (5 data), presuppose / raise / assert common ground (2 data), joke (4 data), assert or presuppose the speaker’s knowledge and concern for the hearer’s wants (1 datum), offer / promise (1 datum), be optimistic (1datum), includes both the speaker and the hearer (1 datum), give (or ask for) reasons (2 data), assume or assert reciprocity (1data) and give gifts to the hearer (1datum). Thus, all kinds of positive politeness strategies are employed by the characters.
There are two factors influencing the characters when they employ this strategy, namely payoff and relevant circumstances. Concern with payoff, when the speaker employs positive politeness strategy, he can get any advantages. He can minimize the FTA by assuring the hearer that he considers himself to be the same kind, that he likes the hearer and wants to fulfil the hearer’s wants. This is found in the entire of the data. Meanwhile, the circumstances includes three factors, among them are social distance (D), power rating (P) and the size of imposition (R). Most of the data are found when the participants have known each other well so it shows that they have close relationship. However, there are some data (data 7 and 12) found between participants who have not known each other well or between strangers. Likewise, power rating is not only found when the speaker has power lower than the hearer but also found when the speaker has power higher than the hearer. It is because positive politeness strategy is not only used as a FTA redress but also as the social accelerator which indicates that the speaker wants to get closer to the hearer. Concern with the size of imposition, it depends on the situation that potentially lead to the threat of the hearer’s positive face and the second factors above. It can be seen in datum 16.
In conclusion, it is expected that this research will be useful for future researchers who are interested in studying more about politeness based on Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategy, especially positive politeness strategy. It is suggested that other researchers not only take a look at the use of the strategy from a different kind of angle e.g. bald on record, negative politeness, and bald off record, but also pay intention in combining politeness strategy with other issues, for example the use of positive politeness strategy by children. Finally, the employment of positive politeness strategy by people in daily conversations will make the conversations between them run smoothly. Therefore, a harmonious relationship between one to another will be created in the society.