CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents background of the study,
problem of the study, objective of the
study, scope and limitation of thestudy, significance of the study, and definition of the key terms.
1.1 Background of the Study In order that a conversation runs well, people
use some strategies, such as making
polite conversation (Brown & Levinson, 1987:146). Brown and Levinson propose politeness theory in which they state
that it is important not only speaking in
fine linguistics but also considering other's feeling in verbal exchange, e.g.
requesting, offering,
complaining, criticizing, etc. Lakoff in Ellen (2001:2) states that politeness as a system of interpersonal
relation is designed to facilitate interaction
by minimizing the potential for conflict and confrontation inherent in human interchange.
Normally, in conversation people
use opening and closing utterances.
Stenstrom (in Mariana, 2006:8)
states that people usually produce opening utterances to indicate that they are ready to
make a conversation with others or to show
their intention and to maintain the stability of society. When they want to open the conversation they say “Hey”, “Hello”
or “Good morning”. It means that people
need some words to open it by using questions, greetings, offers, etc. They hope they will get a reply from the person
they addressee (Coulhard in Mariana, 1 2006:2). On the other hand, conversation is
not only to be opened but it is also to be
closed or ended. Schegloff and Sacks (in Coppock, 2005:1) point out, a conversation does not just end; rather they
must beclosed.
In short, people do not just stop
talking and turn away from one another without
explanation or just leave the conversation but they have to say something indicating they are going to end the
conversation.
Moving to end a conversation may
be interpreted to mean that one does not
wish for the conversation to continue. It implies that the company of the other
is not being enjoyed, which then could
imply that the interlocutor is boring, for example, or annoying. Concomitantly, moving to
end a conversation constitutes a risk to
one’s own (positive) face because one mightthereby be considered rude (Coppock, 2005:2).
Not all conversations proceed
smoothly and cooperatively especially in closing conversation because it is not a
simple matter of saying or uttering goodbye
(Hatch, 1992:48). People should use some strategies to end it because considering other’s feeling is very important
in verbal exchange. Coppock (2005) recognized
the strategies of politeness in conversation closing as a cooperation that should be done in closing conversation to
avoid miscommunication in ending conversation.
She believes that these strategies are designed to combat the positive face threat, and to save face.
Based on
the consideration above,
the researcher thinks
that using strategies of closing conversation are very
important. To conduct this research, the researcher
chooses The Pursuit
of Happyness Movie as
the object of
the study 2 because
of several reasons. First, the word
Happynesson the title of this movie does not spell right, so it interests the
researcher to know why its title is written in “y”letter not
“i”. This word should be written
Happiness not Happyness (noun).
Second, the
main character of
this movie uses
the word “Thank
you” to end conversation,
for example, “Thank
you very much.
I need to
go. I’ll bring
this back. Thank you.” This
utterance is said
when Chris Gardner
as the main character ends
his conversation with
the office man in
Dean Witter office.
Besides, the language that he
uses is also easy to understand. Third, the utterances that
are used by the
main character of this movie
show the use of
strategies of closing conversation.
Researchers have
conducted a research
on closing conversation.
For example, Sambo
(2005) studied the
closing utterances in
conversation that are suggested by
Button used by the young
people in Rantepao,
Tana Toraja. She found
that the young people in that place tend to use closing utterances consisting of
sequence expression to
initiate a movement
out of closing
and closing components
to end the
conversation. The other
previous researcher is
Mariana (2006) who
studied about adjacency
pairs in opening and
closing conversation among
Petra Christian University
students based on
Sack’s and Schegloff’s theory.
She found that
the students of
that university use
question-answer pairs instead of greeting-greeting pairs in opening
the conversation and a closing pair that composed
of goodbye-goodbye pairs
to close the conversation. From these
results,
the researcher find
other area to
be researched that
relates between politeness strategies that are recognized by
Brown and Levinson and the way how 3 people close their conversation
considering the other’s feeling
that is called the strategies
of closing conversation
based on Coppock’s (2005)
theory that is not researched yet. Coppock classified politeness
strategies into some strategies which are used
in conversation closings:
Positive Face-Saving Strategies,
Combined Positive and
Negative Politeness, and
Solidarity Strategies. By
these classifications, the
researcher tries to analyze the utterances used by the object to end the conversation.
In line with the explanation
above, the researcher is particularly interested in examining“The Strategies of Closing
Conversation Used by the Main Character
of The Pursuit of Happyness Movie”.
1.2 Statement of the Problem Based on the background of the study above,
the researcher formulates the question:
how the strategies of closing conversation are used by the main character of The Pursuit of Happynessmovie.
1.3 Objective of the Study Related to the problem above, the objectives
of thestudy are aimed to give detailed
explanation about the way of the strategies of closing conversation are used by the main character of The Pursuit of
Happynessmovie.
4 1.4
Significance of the Study First,
the results of this study will be useful forthe researcher. She can get additional knowledge about politeness
strategies inclosing conversation and apply
it in daily conversation or apply it in writing.
It is also useful for pragmatics
lecturer who concern with linguistics. They can get more information and additional
knowledge about politeness strategies in closing conversation especially based on
Coppock’s theory. As practical contribution,
the lecturer can apply the result of this study as an example of how the strategies of closing conversation are
applied in conversation.
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