CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study Communication is the most important aspect in
human being’s life.
Through communication people can
interact with eachother. To do this, people need a code which is called language to
communicate. Wardhaugh (1977:7) has said
that language allows people to say things to each other and express their communicative needs. It means that language is
the primary medium of communication.
People use language to express theirfeelings and to convey information. They can exchange the ideas and
knowledge among each other.
Besides, language can also be
used to maintain the social relationship and personal behaviors.
In oral communication process, two people try
to communicate efficiently and
accurately. At the same time, they also try to cooperate with one another.
Brown and Yule (1986:32) said
that people cooperateon simple mechanics of speech. In one hand, the speaker tries to use
the language that can be understood easily
by the listener. On the other hand, the listener tries to understand well what is said and expressed by the speaker. It means
thatthe speaker tries to be informative
and the listener tries to be cooperative. To reach this aim, a general rule or principle is needed in order the
communication which involves both the speaker
and the hearer can run well. Therefore, thespeaker will participate in the topic discussed in conversation, and then it
is followed by the involvement of the hearer.
Renkema (1993:8) has stated that to make aconversation run smoothly, it needs a strategy which is called politeness.
This term is not strange in scientific study
and casual terminology which are often used by the people in a society. In scientific field, there are experts who have
studied politeness phenomena in order to
know the characteristics of polite language in asociety. Meanwhile, politeness may be associated with the terms, like
“respectful,considerate and courteous” by the people in daily conversation.
Brown and Levinson (in Mills,
2003:60) stated that politeness is essentially
a matter of avoiding Face Threatening Acts (FTAs), that is any kinds of act that can threat potentially
interlocutor’s face. Face refers to the sense of linguistic and social identity. It can be
lost, maintained, or improved in social interaction.
Then, it is needed a strategy to save people’s face. The strategies which are developed by Brown and Levinson are
for the aim of dealing with the FTAs. In
this case, the speaker or hearer makes himself or herself polite in front of the interlocutor by saving his or her face.
They also argued that in human communication
people tend to maintain other people’s face continuously. It is done for creating a good communication and
buildinga harmonious relationship.
Furthermore, Holmes (1992:296)
explained that politeness is an activity which involves taking account of the feelings
of others. A polite person makes others
feel comfortable. Being polite also involves speaking to people appropriately. The appropriate utterances are
usually used to make a harmonious interaction.
While, inappropriate linguistic choices may be considered rude, cringing, and pusillanimous. Moreover, what is
considered polite or not in community
also involves the social relationship, distance, solidarity, and status.
Scollon
and Scollon (1995:36) suggest a definitionrelated to the term of politeness. In this politeness strategy,
people arethe individuals in which they want
and need to be realized in two different ways.In one side, they are independent persons who wish to keep their
privacy.In an other side, they also want
to contribute to the social world in their surroundings, as participating member. Politeness is involvement and having
independent between the speaker and the
hearer in a communication. This involvementcan be shown by paying attention to others, showing a strong interest
in the topic discussed, or pointing out in
group membership. It means that either the speaker or the hearer needs to be involved in a conversation. Meanwhile,
independent can be shown by giving freedom
to others to communicate.
Scollon and Scollon (1992: 42)
added that there arethree factors which influence
this politeness system, those are power, distance, and weight of the imposition. Power may refer to the social
position in a community, such as educational
background, profession, and social status. Then, distance may be related to the relationship among the speaker
and hearer, addresser and addressee.
Meanwhile, the weight of
imposition could be dealt with degree of kinship among participants. These aspects cannot be avoided
from the use of language because they
will influence the people of community when they have conversation.
In addition, Holmes (1992: 297)
argued that making decisions about what is
likely to be considered polite in any community involves social aspects, distance and status. Therefore, intimacy,
solidarity, and close relationship in a community
also influence the politeness system which will take place. That is why, using politeness strategy should pay
attentionto the social factors of the society.
Politeness is used by people to
make a smooth communication and to build equilibrium of relationship in a society.
Watts (2003:53) states that politeness instructs
the interactants to produce a harmonious interaction socially. If someone wants to make a good conversation, he or she
shouldpay attention to the strategy of
politeness.
Because of it, either the speaker
or hearer will feel respected and appreciated.
There are kinds of media that can be used as a means of communication. One of them is film since it
contains lot conversations that provide
valuable information and messages to the audiences. Film is an audiovisual
media where situation and setting of the conversation reflect the real of social life. The social values may be given by
the film with certain modification since
it is made by a director of the film. It is also quite possible that the phenomena of politeness will appear in the
film because it reflects the real situation
of the society.
One of example of film is
Princess Diaries. It is categorized as comedydrama film, sometimes known as
dramedy that is a style of film in which there is an
equal or nearly
equal balance of
humor and serious content.
This film is directed by
Garry Marshall telling
about a princess.
Her name is
Amelia Thermopolis Renaldi who
just graduated from collegeand returned to Genovia to prepare
for her coronation
as the time
approaches for her
grandmother, Queen Rinaldi, to hand down the throne.
It is an interesting film because it contains
entertaining aspects like jokes.
Besides, it becomes a good film
because it includesmany teachable aspects like women in authority, consequences of one’s
actions, and solidarity. In this film, the characters try making the appropriate
utterances when they are speaking to the interlocutors. It is because of its line of
the story tells about the differences of social status in a community. Though the story
sometimes takes place in informal places,
the speaker and the hearer use the languagebased on the consideration of their position in social status of the
community. However, the primary reasons why
the researcher has chosen this film is because of its language, such as the dictions, satirical language, and some
utterances which give more data in analyzing
the phenomena of politeness strategies. Moreover, the researcher believes that there are many phenomena of
politeness strategies that can be found in
the film like Princess Diaries where the social factors influence the choice of
the utterances. We will realize how
important studying politeness strategies to achieve a harmonious and equilibrium
interpersonal relationship. As Ohoiwutun (2002:88) has said that each language contains
system of politeness. It means, any languages
have the system of politeness. So, it is quite needed by anyone to study polite language to balance the relationship
and solidarity in society through a good communication. Watts (2003:9) states that
politeness is not something we are born with,
but something we have to learn and be socialized into. From this definition, politeness has the worth aspects which should
be learnt by anyone.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar