CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Pragmatics

Pragmatics studies how people comprehend and produce a communicative act

or speech act in a concrete speech situation. It distinguishes two intents or

meanings in each utterance or communicative act of verbal communication. One

is the informative intent or the sentence meaning, and the other is the

communicative intent or speaker meaning (Leech, 1983; Sperber and Wilson,

1986). Further, Yule (1996) states that pragmatics is concerned with the study of

meaning as communicated by a speaker and interpreted by a listener. According to

Yule (1996), pragmatics concerns in four areas. First, pragmatics is “study of

speaker meaning.” It means that pragmatics concerns with the meaning of the

speaker’s utterance. Second, pragmatics is “study of contextual meaning.” It

means that the meaning of the utterance is influenced by the context of

background. Third pragmatics is “the study of how more gets communicated than

is said.” It means that there is hidden meaning in pragmatics. Lastly, pragmatics is

“the study of expression of relative distance.” It means that the meaning of the

utterance is influenced by the relation of the speaker and the hearer.

Furthermore, Thomas (1995) defines pragmatics as meaning in use or

meaning in context. Pragmatics uses context to determine the speech act. The

meaning of a sentence depends on the context. The context involves time, place,

and situation. Therefore, context plays an important role in pragmatics. It is used

to avoid misinterpretation.

Context is considered as the background knowledge of the speaker and the

hearer. According to Halliday and Hasan (1985), there are two kinds of context.

They are context of situation and context of culture. Context of situation means

the situation when the speech is uttered. It refers to participants, time, place, social

environment, etc. Meanwhile context of culture means the background or history

behind the participants. It refers to norms, belief, rules, tradition, etc.

The meaning of pragmatics involves the interaction between an expression of

the speaker and the interpretation of the hearer. Therefore, pragmatics is defined

as the relation of sign to their users and interpreters. The production of utterances

is called speech acts. These speech acts play a role in revealing the main character

of the speaker. The speaker uses these speech acts in political text. Political texts

are realized by the utilization of the different syntactic structures (imperative,

interrogative and declarative) to express the different classes of speech acts. The

meaning of the political texts reflects the context background. It expresses the

metaphorical meaning rather than literal meaning.

To sum up, pragmatics is one of linguistic branches which relates the

meaning and the context. Therefore, the meaning of each utterance depends on the

context background. Pragmatics is always related to the context. If the meaning of

the utterance is not related to the context, it cannot be called as pragmatics.

Example:

It is very hot.

The utterance was uttered by a teacher in a classroom when he taught his

students. At that day, the weather was very hot. The electricity was off, so they

could not turn on the Air Conditioner. Moreover, the window was closed. The

utterance has two meanings: sentence meaning and speaker meaning. The

sentence meaning is that the weather is very hot. While, the speaker meaning is

that teacher commands the student to open the window.

There are some scopes of pragmatics. They are deixis, presupposition,

implicature, cooperative principle, speech acts, and conversational structure.

1. Deixis

According to Levinson (1983), deixis concerns with the way in which

language encodes features of the context utterance and the way in which

interpretation of utterance depends on the analysis of the context of the utterance.

Deixis is divided into five categories. They are person, place, time, discourse and

social deixis. Person deixis concerns with the encoding of role of the participants

in the speech event i.e. they, we, I, you, etc. Moreover, place deixis concerns with

the encoding of the spatial location relative of participants in the speech event i.e.

there, here, this etc. Furthermore, time deixis concerns with the encoding of

temporal points of the speech event, such as morning, night, etc. Meanwhile,

discourse deixis concerns with the use of linguistic expression within the some

utterances to point to the current, preceding or following utterances in the same

spoken or written discourse. Finally, social discourse concerns with the

codification of the social status of the speaker and the hearer. The context

background of the utterance includes who is speaking, the time or place of

speaking, the gestures of the speaker and the current location in the discourse.

Example:

She will go to school.

The utterance belongs to person deixis because the pronoun “she” encodes

the role of the participants in the speech event.

I enjoy living in this country.

The utterance belongs to place deixis because the word “this” encodes the

spatial location of participants in the speech event.

2. Presupposition

Presupposition is defined as something the speaker assumes to be the case

prior to make an utterance (Yule, 1996). It means that the thing is assumed to be

true before it is proven by the participants of speech event.

Example:

Raditya Dika no longer writes novel.

Presupposition: Raditya Dika once wrote novel.

Have you stopped eating ice?

Presupposition: You had once eaten ice.

3. Implicature

Implicature is a proposition referring to the meaning implied in the utterance

instead of meaning what is said (Mey, 1993). According to Levinson (1983), there

are two types of implicature:

a. Conventional implicature

Conventional implicature works with specific words and results in additional

conveyed meanings when those words are used (Yule, 1996). It is not related with

cooperative principle and not tied to the context in which they occur for the

interpretation. According to Grice (1975), the use of conventional meaning will

help to determine what is implicated and what is said.

Example:

George is poor but happy.

The sentence implies poverty and happiness are not compatible. The

conventional interpretation of the word “but” will always create the implicature of

a sense of contrast. Therefore, George is poor but happy implies “Surprisingly

George is happy in spite of being poor.”

b. Conversational implicature

According to Brown and Levinson (1987) and Yule (1996), conversational

implicature is derived from a general principle of conversation plus a number of

maxims which speaker normally obeys. Conversation implicature is the basic

assumption in conversation. It is divided into two:

Generalized conversational implicature

Generalized conversational implicatures occurs without reference to any

particular features of the context (Levinson, 1983).

Example:

Cery thinks there is a party tonight.

Implicature: Cery does not know for sure that there is a meeting tonight.

My parents have 2 children.

Implicature: My parents do not have more than 2 children.

Particularized conversational implicature

Particularized conversational implicature is strongly tied to the particular

features of the context. In this specific context, locally recognized inferences are

assumed (Yule, 1996).

Example:

Thomas : Hey, coming to the party tonight?

George : My parents are visiting.

George’s answer has implied meaning that he cannot come to

Thomas’s party. The particular context is that George cannot come to the

party because his parents are visiting.

4. Cooperative principle

Grice (1975) proposes that participants in a conversation obey Cooperative

Principle. The participants must utter the required answer. Implicatures can be

established by considering the four conversational rules or ‘Maxims’ comprised

by the Cooperative Principle. They are maxim of quality, maxim of quantity,

maxim of relevant and maxim of manner.

a. Maxim of quantity

The speech participants are expected to make their contributions as

informative as required. They are not expected to provide more informative than

is required.

Example:

John : Where are you going?

Marry : Paris.

Marry obeys the demand of maxim of quantity by giving required

information. She does not provide more information that is not required.

b. Maxim of quality

The speech participants are expected to say truly. Therefore, their statements

should be supported by the evidence.

Example:

Libarian : I saw it all. I have worked here from the morning. It was not this girl

who steals the book.

The librarian obeys the demand of maxim of quality by giving supporting

evidence. What is said by the librarian is true because he says I saw it all. It means

that he is the eye witness of the event.

c. Maxim of relevance

The speech participants are expected to give a relevant contribution about the

conversation problem.

Example:

Franklin : Can I help you, sir?

Mr. Thomas : I am looking for my glasses.

Mr. Thomas obeys the demand of maxim of relevance by giving relevant

information about Franklin question. It is relevant because Franklin is offering

help and then Mr. Thomas accepts Franklin’s help.

d. Maxim of manner

The speech participants are expected to be brief and orderly in order to avoid

ambiguity (Levinson, 1983).

Mr. Thomas : How old are you, Franklin?

Franklin : Eleven, sir.

Franklin obeys the demand of maxim of manner by saying what he meant

straight to the point to avoid ambiguity.

5. Speech acts

Speech acts is defined as actions performed via utterance. People may express

utterance which has intended meaning (Yule, 1996). It covers request, command,

advice, etc. The meaning of the utterance can be seen from the context

background.

Example:

It is very hot. (Command)

The utterance was uttered by a teacher in a classroom when he taught his

students. At that day, the weather was very hot. The electricity was off, so they

could not turn on the Air Conditioner. Moreover, the window was closed. The

utterance has two meanings: sentence meaning and speaker meaning. The

sentence meaning is that the weather is very hot. While, the speaker meaning is

that teacher commands the student to open the window. Therefore, the utterance

belongs to command speech act.

6. Conversational Structure

Conversational structure concerns with the organization of conversation

(Levinson, 1983). It has three basic aspects:

a. Turn Taking

In turn taking, participants have to understand and appreciate each other in

taking their turn in speaking.

Example:

Roger : She is my sister.

Diana : Diana.

Rossi : I am Rossi.

There were three participants: Roger, Diana and Rossi. Based on the

context, Diana was Roger’s sister. Meanwhile Rossi was Roger’s friend. Roger

wanted to introduce Diana to Rossi. The conversation belongs to turn taking since

the next speakers take their turn in speaking. Diana and Rossi understand well

when they have opportunity to speak without any interruptions.

b. Adjacency Pairs

It is a kind of pair utterances, such as question-answer, offer-acceptance,

greeting-greeting, assessment-agreement, etc.

Example:

John : Are you tired?

Franklin : No.

The conversation belongs to adjacency pair. When John asked a question

which needed the answer “yes” or “no”, then Franklin answered what John wanted

by saying “no.”

c. Overall Organization

It is the order of organization in conversation. One example of overall

organization is telephone call.

Example:

John : (Ring)

Marry : Hello.

John : Hi.

Marry : Oh, hi. (Levinson, 1983)

The conversation belongs to overall organization. Ring is a signal for

summon, then hello is the answer. Hi is the first part of greeting and Oh, hi also

means greeting.

B. Speech Act

Speech act is defined as the actions performed in saying something (Austin,

1962). It is an action performed via utterance. According to Searle’s speech act

theory, whenever a speaker utters a sentence in an appropriate context with certain

intentions, he performs one or more illocutionary acts. Austin (1975) classifies

speech act into three, namely locutionary acts, illocutionary acts and

perlocutionary acts.

1) Locutionary act

According to Austin, locutionary act is the acts of speaking. The acts involve

in the construction of the speech. The speaker can utter certain sounds, make

certain marks, or use particular words. He uses them with grammatical rules of a

particular language. Locutionary acts can be defined as the real form of what

utterance is uttered by speaker. The meaning is directly derived from the

utterance. It is also defined as the actual/literal meaning of the utterance.

Example:

What time is it young man?

The utterance was uttered by a speaker in the bus. The utterance belongs to

locutionary act. Based on the context, the utterance has actual meaning. The

speaker asked the time to the young man. Therefore, the meaning of the utterance

is only asking time.

2) Illocutionary act

Illocutionary act deals with deeper meaning of utterance. It focuses more on

the intention of speaker by saying the utterance. Illocution is also defined as the

meaning intended by the speaker. The illocutionary act is analyzed based on

context. It is about what is going in behind the text. Context is the background

knowledge assumed to be shared by speaker and hearer. It contributes to hearer’s

interpretation (Leech, 1983). The meaning must be related to the context. It is

used to find the illocutionary act.

Example:

What time is it young man?

The utterance was uttered by a girl’s father in his house when there was a

boy visiting his girlfriend at 9 p.m. The utterance belongs to illocutionary act.

There is intended meaning of the speaker toward the hearer. Based on the context,

the father did not really ask time to the young man. The real intention of the father

is command. The illocutionary act is that the father commands the young man to

go home because it was time to sleep.

3) Perlocutionary act

Perlocutionary act is the actual result acted by the hearer from the utterance

spoken by the speaker. Perlocution can be defined as hearer’s reaction. It is the

effect of the utterance on the hearer.

Example:

What time is it young man?

The utterance was uttered by a girl’s father in his house when there was a

boy visiting his girlfriend at 9 p.m. The utterance belongs to illocutionary act.

There is intended meaning of the speaker toward the hearer. Based on the context,

the father did not really ask time to the young man. The real intention of the father

is command. The illocutionary act is that the father commands the young man to

go home because it was time to sleep. Then the perlocution is that the young man

gives response to the girl’s father by asking permission to go home.

Searle (1975) proposes taxonomy of speech acts that one can perform in

speaking. They are declarative, assertive, expressive, commisive and directive.

a) Declarative

This kind of speech act changes the world via the utterance. The speaker

should have institutional role in community and the utterance should be delivered

in specific context. The speech acts of this category are excommunicating,

christening, declaring, giving bequeath one’s possessions, marrying, nominating,

and dubbing.

Example:

President : I hereby declare a war with Malaysia. (Declaring)

Priest : I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. (Marrying)

b) Assertive

This kind of speech act states what the speaker believes to be true or false.

The speech acts of this category are asserting, characterizing, diagnosing,

complaining, concluding, deducing, predicting, describing, telling, announcing,

identifying and giving information.

Example:

The restaurant has been booked. (Giving information)

The name of the President of Indonesia is Joko Widodo. (Asserting)

She is beautiful. (Describing)

c) Directive

This kind of speech act is used to get someone to do something. Directives

are not true or false like assertives, but they are obeyed or disobeyed. The speech

acts of this category are invitation, advice, command, request, asking, begging,

pleading, praying, permit, and prohibiting.

Example:

Go to your room. (Command)

Why don’t you come earlier? (Advice)

Could you make me a cup of tea? (Request)

d) Expressive

This kind of speech act expresses the speaker’s psychological state (feeling

and attitude). The speech acts of this category are apologizing, congratulating,

condoling, deploring, and greeting.

Example:

Congratulations on winning the competition. (Congratulating)

I apologize for stepping on your face. (Apologizing)

e) Commisive

This kind of speech acts is used to commit themselves to some future actions.

The speaker indicates that the hearer will do something in the future. The speech

acts of this category are promise, threat, vow, refuse, and swearing.

Example:

I promise to exercise every day. (Promise)

I solemnly swear to tell the truth. (Swearing)

C. Directive Speech Act

Directive is defined as speech acts which are attempted by the speaker to get

the hearer to do something (Levinson, 1983). According to Tsui (1994), directive

is an act which directs the hearer to do a non-verbal action without giving options

for him. It can give benefit for the speaker, such as in request, command, order,

etc. Besides, it can give benefit for the hearer, such as in advice, giving

recommendation, etc. Then, Searle defines directive as a kind of speech act to get

the hearer to do something. In this case, the speaker conveys advice, commanding,

order, asking, and request. To sum up, directive is attempting the hearer to do

something.

The speaker must understand the context in performing an utterance. It will

influence the hearer’s understanding of the utterance. The speaker must consider

the way of delivering his utterance to make the hearer understand the meaning of

the utterance. The strategy used by the speaker in delivering the utterance

influences the action performed by the hearer. It includes the status of the speaker

towards the hearer, the context background and direct or indirect speech used by

the speaker. Directive speech act can be done by using verbal and non verbal

strategies. Verbal means direct or indirect speech act, explicit or implicit and high

or low intonation. Meanwhile non verbal strategies means facial expression, body

movement, gesture and eyes gaze. As stated above, directive is differentiated into

some types: Advice, Request, Command, and Question.

1. Advice

Advice advocates a course of action for the benefit of the hearer. Therefore the

consequence is desirable (Tsui, 1994).

Example:

Why don’t you come earlier?

2. Request

Request provides options to the hearer to do the action or not (Tsui, 1994). A

request consists of an illocutionary act in which the speaker asks the hearer to

perform an action. It is for the benefit of the speaker (Trosborg 1995; Sifianou

1999).

Example:

Would you like to turn on the lamp?

3. Command

Command is speaker’s intention to make the hearer do something (Schiffer,

1972). It is expressed by using imperative (Hare, 1952).

Example:

Teacher: Do your homework!

4. Question

Question is used to seek information (Tsui, 1994). In addition, Hornby (1974)

states that question is a sentence which is constructed by word order, interrogative

word, intonation, request, information, and answer.

Example:

Grace : Where are you going, Tom?

Tom : I will go to the library.

D. Request Speech Act

Request involves as a directive speech act. Therefore it attempts to get the

hearer to do something. Request provides options to the hearer to do the action or

not (Tsui, 1994). In giving request, the speaker wants the hearer to perform a

nonverbal response.

Request is different from command although both of them get the hearer to

perform a nonverbal action. Request refers to asking, while command refers to

order. According to Tsui (1992), the difference of request and command is that the

speaker must have authority over the hearer in expressing command, but the

speaker must not have authority in expressing request. The other difference is that

request has option to comply the action or not, but command does not have

option. Therefore, request is delivered in interrogative form, but command is

delivered in imperative or declarative. In expressing command, the speaker

assumes the hearer will perform the nonverbal action delivered by the speaker

because the hearer is obliged to do it.

Example:

a. Request

Pop : Can you make me a cup of coffee?

Simon : I am sorry, Pop. I do not have coffee.

The speaker did not assume that the hearer was able to carry out the requested

action. In this case, Simon had an opportunity to refuse Pop’s request.

b. Command

Teacher : Clean the blackboard, boy!

Student : Yes, sir.

The hearer was cooperative by doing the demanded action expressed by the

speaker. The hearer did not have an opportunity to refuse it. The speaker had

authority to get the hearer to do it. His position was higher than the hearer.

Request can be classified into five types. They are request for action,

permission, proposal, offer and invitation (Tsui, 1994).

1. Request for action

Request for action is a request that commits the hearer to do nonverbal action.

It is for the benefit of the speaker. It can be realized by can/could and will/would.

Example:

Jane : Will you pick me up?

Jerry : Sure, honey.

Jane asked Jerry to pick her up by saying will you pick me up. Jerry answered

the request by saying sure, honey (verbal) and performing action by picking her

up (nonverbal).

2. Request for permission

Request for permission is a request that asks permission to the hearer to do

something. It is also for the benefit of the speaker. The speaker will perform

nonverbal action if the hearer gives positive response. It can be realized by

“may.”

Example:

Selena : May I go to the Super Junior concert?

Father : Sure, girl.

Selena asked his father permission to go to Super Junior concert by saying

May I go to the Super Junior concert. His father gave positive response by saying

sure, girl. Then Selena performed nonverbal action by going to Super Junior

concert.

3. Request for proposal

Request for proposal is a request that suggest something to the hearer. It is for

the benefit of the speaker and the hearer, therefore the nonverbal action is

performed by the speaker and the hearer.

Example:

Frizzy : Why don’t we refresh our mind by going to the beach?

Leo : It’s a good idea.

Frizzy suggested Leo to go to the beach. It was for the benefit of both of them.

The nonverbal action was performed by both of them by going to the beach

together.

4. Request for offer

Request for offer is a request that is used by the speaker to offer something to

the hearer. It is for the benefit of the hearer because the speaker requests to accept

his offer. When the response is positive, the hearer will say thanks to appreciate

the offer. Then the speaker will perform action to what he offers.

Example:

Berta : I think the bag is very heavy. Do you want me to help you?

Chelsea : Thank you, Berta. You’re my best friend.

Berta offered a help to Chelsea by saying do you want me to help you and

Chelsea appreciated her offer by saying thanks. Then Berta performed nonverbal

action by helping Chelsea to bring the bag.

5. Request for invitation

Request for invitation is a request that is used by the speaker to invite the

hearer to go or come to somewhere. It is for the benefit of the hearer. If the hearer

gives positive response, he will perform nonverbal action. The hearer has an

opportunity to accept or refuse the request.

Glen : Tonight will be held Mask Festival. Do you want to come?

Sophie : Sure.

Glen invited Sophie to come to Mask Festival by saying do you want to come?

Sophie gave positive response by saying sure. Then Sophie performed nonverbal

action by coming to the Mask Festival.

E. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts

1. Direct

The direct speech acts perform their functions in a direct and literal manner

(McManis, et.al, 1987). They also state that the direct speech acts can be

performed by making a direct, literal utterance, or by using a performative verb

that names the speech act. The speakers express their intention explicitly by using

imperative sentences. There are some types of sentences that provide a structural

distinction in English grammar. First is structural form, such as declarative,

imperative and interrogative. Second is general communicative function, such as

statement, question, command and request. Imperative is used to give command,

order and request. Meanwhile, declarative is used to make a statement and

interrogative is used to make a question.

Example:

a. You buy a piece of paper. (Declarative)

b. Do you buy a piece of paper? (Interrogative)

c. Buy a piece of paper! (Imperative)

In (a), the speaker makes a statement that the hearer buys a piece of paper. In

(b), the speaker asks question to the hearer whether he buys a piece of paper or

not. In (c), the speaker commands the hearer to buy a piece of paper.

2. Indirect

‘Indirectness’ is perceived as being ‘implicit’ in a verbal context (Sew, 1997).

Sew (1997) also states that indirectness is a form of politeness where a speaker

avoids expressing himself explicitly either in conversation or writing. It is

understood as a style of formulating speech acts. Indirect speech acts are

illocutionary acts which are performed indirectly by way of performing another

(Searle, 1975).

According to Brown and Levinson, the degree of indirectness depends

predominantly on the following variables: relative power of the speaker, social

distance (between the interlocutors), and rank (degree of imposition). Power

involves legitimate, reference and expertise. Power means the relative power of

the speaker over the hearer. If the power of the speaker is higher than the hearer,

the utterance will be more direct. However, sometimes when the power of the

speaker is higher, he keeps using indirect speech because of certain reason. For

example, he wants the hearer to do an action, but he wants to be more polite and

avoid negative consequence.

Besides, the use of indirectness will make the speaker influence the hearer

easily. As a result, the hearer will understand the speaker’s intention and do the

action maximally. Therefore, in some cases, people who have higher power keep

using indirect speech. Meanwhile social distance means the social distance

between the speaker and the hearer. If there is a distance between the speaker and

the hearer, the utterance will be more indirect to avoid hurting someone. Lastly,

size of imposition means the degree which X is rated an imposition in culture Y.

Therefore, before we utter something to other people, we should consider the

force of our imposition for the hearer.

Finegan, Besnier, Blair and Collins (1992) summarize four characteristics of

indirect speech acts as follows:

1. Indirect speech acts violate at least one maxim of the cooperative principle.

2. Literal meaning of the locution of an indirect speech differs from its intended

meanings.

3. Hearers and readers identify indirect speech acts by noticing that an utterance

has characteristic and by assuming that the interlocutor is following the

cooperative principle.

4. As soon as they have identified an indirect speech act, hearers and readers

identify its intended meaning with the help of context background.

Linguists such as Leech (1983) or Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) argue

for a strong link between indirectness and politeness. Leech (1983) claims that the

use of more indirect illocutions will give generally result in more politeness. One

reason for this is the increase of optionality given to the hearer. The other reason

is that the more indirect an illocution is the more diminished and tentative its force

tends to be (Leech, 1983). For example, the illocution Do an action is perceived to

be less polite than It’s time to act. Because Do an action is more direct and gives

less optionality to the hearer (Leech, 1983), meanwhile It’s time to act, the hearer

is given more optionality and consequently, the utterance is perceived to be more

polite. People also use indirect strategies when they want to make their speech

more interesting when they want to reach goals (Thomas, 1995). The motivation

of indirectness includes:

The desire to make one’s language more/ less interesting.

To decrease the force of one’s message.

Competing goals.

Politeness (Thomas, 1995)

According to Searle (1975), conventional indirectness refers to the sentences

that may be “standardly” used to make indirect requests. These utterances in

certain grammatical forms are conventionally employed to perform the function of

getting the hearer to do something. For instance, the interrogative sentence is a

conventionalized grammatical form employed to perform the function of making

requests. Another type of indirectness is non-conventional indirectness or “hints”.

This refers to the utterances which are ambiguous in either prepositional content

or illocutionary force or both (Weizman, 1989).

F. Politeness

Politeness is interpreted as a good manner. It is used to facilitate human

interaction by minimizing conflict in human interchange (Yule, 1996). It means

that politeness uses appropriate linguistic choice based on the context to make

other feel comfortable. According to Brown and Levinson (1987), politeness is

defined as the strategies to achieve goals, such as promoting or maintaining

relationship. Yule (1996) states that when we talk about politeness, we deal with

“face.” It is emotional and social sense of self that every person has and expects

everyone else to recognize. In other word, face is image of a person. According to

Brown and Levinson (1987), face has two aspects. They are positive face and

negative face.

1. Positive face

Positive face is the need to be liked, appreciated, and respected by other

people. It is associated with one’s desire for approval.

2. Negative face

Negative face is the desire to have freedom of action, freedom of imposition

and not to be impeded by others.

Certain speech act can damage the person’s face. In reducing the possibility

of damaging the person’s face, there are some strategies proposed by Brown and

Levinson (1987):

1. Bald on record strategy

This strategy is the most direct way in communicative acts. It does not

mitigate the hearer’s face risk because there is certain factor which influences the

speaker to speak very directly, for example if there is an emergency.

Example:

Police : Call the ambulance!

The speaker employed his command since he wanted the hearer to call the

ambulance because there was person who has accident. The speaker delivered his

command directly. It means that he does not attempt to mitigate the hearer’s face

risk because he has a higher authority than other people in that place.

2. Positive politeness

Positive politeness is used to enhance the positive face of the hearer. It

recognizes that the hearer has a face to be respected. This strategy uses

compliment and informal language includes slang, jokes, endearment and

nicknames. It is appropriate for those who knows each other well.

Example:

Is it okay for me to have a glass of juice?

The speaker employed his request since he wanted the hearer to give him a

glass of juice. The speaker used informal language because he attempted to

enhance the positive face of the hearer.

3. Negative politeness

Negative politeness considers the negative face of the hearer. The speaker

uses some way in imposing the hearer. For example the speaker may say I don’t

want to bother you but or I was wondering if.

Example:

I don’t want to bother you but would it be possible for me to have a glass of juice?

The speaker employed his request since he wanted the hearer to give him a

glass of juice. The speaker said I don’t want to bother you but as a strategy in

imposing the hearer. It means that he considers the negative face of the hearer.

4. Off-record strategy

This strategy is the most indirect way in communicative acts. It uses

declarative form. It is used to make the request not accountable as communicative

intent. It looks like only a statement. Therefore, it has high possibility of

deniability. The speaker attempts not to impose the hearer.

Example:

The weather today is very hot. It makes me feel thirsty.

The speaker employed his request since he wanted the hearer to give him a

glass of juice. The speaker delivered his request so indirectly by using declarative

in order not to impose the hearer.

G. Component of Speech

There are eight components of speech known as “SPEAKING” formula. They

are situation, participants, ends, act sequence, key, instrumentalities, norms and

genre (Hymes, 1974).

1. Situation

Situation consists of setting and scene that describes the conversation which

occurs. Setting refers to time and place or concrete physical situation when the

speech occurs. Meanwhile scene refers to psychological setting or cultural

definition of an occasion whether formal or informal.

2. Participants

Participants are person involved in the speech event. It consists of speaker

and hearer. Speaker means a person who delivers a message and hearer means a

person to whom the message is delivered.

3. End

End is purpose of the speech event. It is divided into outcomes and goals.

Outcomes mean purposes of speech based on the cultural point of view.

Meanwhile goals mean purposes of speech of each participant during

communication.

4. Act sequence

Act sequence consists of message form and message content. The message

form refers to how something is said and the message content means what is said.

5. Key

Key refers to tone, manner, feeling, atmosphere and attitude in which a

speech is carried out. Tone means general spirit of the scene, such as brave, fear,

etc. Manner means participant’s behavior towards other, whether polite, impolite,

formal, informal, relax, or serious. Feeling means the emotion indicating

happiness, anxiety, frustration, anger, etc. Meanwhile attitude means participant’s

way of thinking and behaving towards a situation, whether sympathetic,

optimistic, etc.

6. Instrumentalities

Instrumentalities consist of channel and form of speech. According to Hymes

(1974), channel refers to the way in which the message travels from one person to

another. Meanwhile form of speech refers to language and their subdivision such

as dialect, register, etc.

7. Norms

Norms refers to rules used in conversation. There are two kinds of norms.

They are norms of interaction and norms of interpretation. Norms of interaction

refers to rules which govern when, how and how often speech occurs. Meanwhile

norms of interpretation refer to rules which govern the understanding of the hearer

about the speech. Both of them are influenced by the cultural aspects of certain

community.

8. Genre

Genre refers to the categories of speech, such as myth, tale, proverb, editorial,

etc.

H. Classification of request on scales of indirectness

The typology of request patterns has been listed by Soshana Blum-Kulka

(Blum-Kulka, 1987). The scale is based on degrees of illocutionary. In other

words, the more ‘indirect’ the utterances are the more diminished and tentative its

force tends to be. In the case of requests, it is possible to use indirectness.

Table 2.1. Classification of request on scale of indirectness (Blum-Kulka, 1987 &

Li Cheng, 2009)

Strategy types Definitions and examples Indirectness

Scales

1. Mood derivable Utterances in which the grammatical mood Least

of the verb signals illocutionary force. indirect

- Leave me alone.

- Clean up that mess.

2. Performatives Utterances in which the illocutionary force is

explicitly named.

- I am asking you to clean up the mess.

- I am asking you to close the door.

3. Hedge performatives Utterances in which the naming of

the illocutionary force is modified

by hedging expressions

- I would like to ask you to

cut the paper.

- I would like to ask you to

clean the bathroom.

4. Obligation statements Utterances in which state the obligation

of the hearer to carry out the act.

- You will have to move that car.

- You must bring the book.

5. Want statement Utterances in which state the speaker’s desire

that the hearer carries out the act.

- I really wish you’d stop bothering me.

- I would like you to clean the kitchen.”

- I want you to move your car.

- Let’s clean.

6. Suggestory formulae Utterances which contain a suggestion

to do something.

- How about cleaning up?

- Why don’t you come?

- It’s time to move.

7. Query preparatory Utterances containing reference to

preparatory conditions (ability, willingness)

as conventionalized in any specific language.

- Would you clear up the kitchen, please?

- Could you mind moving your car?

8. Strong hints Utterances containing partial reference

to object or element needed for

the implementation of the act.

- You have left the kitchen in a right mess.

9. Mild hints Utterances that make no reference Most

to the request proper (or any of its elements) indirect

but are interpretable as requests by context.

- I cannot find a parking area.

- We don’t want any crowding.

I. Related Study

Indirectness of request in speech is one of the interesting topics to be

investigated and there are many researchers who focus the studies to analyze

indirectness in general. It shows that this topic can be developed more by using

indirectness in specific speech act. Therefore, previous research is helpful for this

research in analyzing the data. One of the researches is the research entitled: “The

Modal Verbs: A Speech Act of Request in the Speech of the President of the

United States Barak Obama” by Khalid Wahaab Jabber and Zhang Jinquan

(2013).

Khalid and Zhang analyzed a speech act of request in Barrack Obama’s

speech entitled US/China Strategic and Economy. This research analyzed this

request by using Searle’s speech act theory (1969). There were 17 utterances of

request speech act. The request speech act mostly appeared in indirect way.

Unlike the previous research, this study will analyze the indirectness of

request without focusing on the modal verbs. This research will analyze the

indirectness of request in Barrack Obama’s Speeches entitled “Oil and Alternative

Fuels, Education and Universal Healthcare Issues.” This research will not analyze

the request related to the modal verb “can”, “will” and “must” employed in the

speech, but this research will determine the types of request on scales of

indirectness by using Blum Kulka theory (1987). Moreover, this research will

analyze the context to make the reader understand the condition in America when

Barrack Obama delivers those speeches and analyze the request of Barrack

Obama which will help the reader in catching the indirect meaning.