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6 Strategy 6: Apologize; admit the impingement, indicate reluctance, give overwhelming reasons, beg forgiveness.
By apologizing for doing an FTA, the speaker can indicate his or her reluctance to impinge on hearer’s negative face and thereby redress that
impingement. Example:
“I’m sorry to bother you . . .” The speaker begged forgiveness to hearer in the beginning of his or her utterances.
It implied that the speaker wanted to respect the hearer. Also, it was also to prevent conflict after the speaker statement that might be regarded as offensive
words toward the hearer.
7 Strategy 7: Impersonalize speaker and hearer; per-formatives, impersonal verbs, address terms as ‘you’ avoidance.
Other way of indicating that speaker does not want to impinge on hearer is to phrase the FTA as if the agent were other than speaker, or not speaker alone at
least, and the addressee were other than hearer, or only inclusive of hearer. The example is
“It looks to me like. . . .”
8 Strategy 8: State the FTA as a general rule
One way of dissociating speaker and hearer from particular imposition in the FTA is to state the FTA as an instance of some general social rule, regulation,
or obligation. The example is “Passenger will please refrain from flushing toilets
on the train. ”
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9 Strategy 9: Nominalize to distance the actor and add formality
The more nouns are used in an expression, the more removed an actor from doing or being something and the less dangerous an FTA seems to be.
Example: “An urgent request is made for your cooperation” is better than “We
urgently request your cooperation. ”
10 Strategy 10: Go on record as incurring a debt, or as not indebting hearer.
This strategy is done by claiming speaker’s indebtedness to hearer or by disclaiming any indebtedness of hearer, so that speaker can redress an FTA.
Example: “I’ve come if I may too difficult-speak to you.”
The example above implied the speaker asked the hearer a favor. He or she would do a kind of action for the hearer. In that case, the speaker had to come if he or
she might too difficult –speak to the hearer.
d. Off-record
Off-record is a FTAs Face Threatening Acts is avoided by not literally making a request at all but an indirect statement that must be inferred to be a
request by the hearer. Off record is likely to call as indirect strategy. Brown and Levinson 1987, p. 211 said that off-record or indirect strategy is done to let the
speakers attribute unclear communication intention. It indicates that if the speakers want to avoid their responsibility of doing FTAs, they can employ the
strategy and let the addressees interpret and the intended message. For instance, “that door is not open” which mean the speaker wants the addressee to open the
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door. There are fifteen strategies of Off Record Brown Levinson, 1987, pp. 211-227:
1 Strategy 1: Give hints
The speaker says something that is not explicitly relevant, heshe invites hearer to search for an interpretation of the possible relevance.
Example: “It’s cold in here.”
The speaker said to the hearer that it was cold in that place. She or he gave a hint which asked the hearer to shut the window.
2 Strategy 2: Give association clues
The speaker gives a related a kind of implicature triggered by relevance violations that is provided by mentioning something associated with the act
required of hearer, either by precedent in speaker- hearer’s experience or by
mutual knowledge irrespective of their interactional experience. The example is “My house isn’t very far away . . . There’s the path that leads to my house”
Please come visit me
3 Strategy 3: Presuppose
By implicating something, speaker forces hearer to search for the relevance of the presupposed prior event. The example is
“I washed the car again today.
”
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4 Strategy 4: Understate
The speaker understates what heshe actually wants to say. In the case of criticism, speaker avoids the lower points of scale, and in the case of compliment,
or admission, speaker avoids the upper points. Example: A:
“What do you think of Harry?” B:
“Nothing wrong with him.” The speaker asked what the hearer thought about Harry. As the response, the
hearer answered that nothing wrong with Harry. In fact, the hearer understated what actually she or he wanted to say. The hearer actually thought that Harry was
very good. It implied that the speaker avoided the upper points.
5 Strategy 5: Overstate
The speaker exaggerates or chooses a point on a scale which is higher than the actual state of affairs. The example is
“You never do the washing up.”
6 Strategy 6: Use tautologies
By uttering a tautology, speaker encourages hearer to look for an informative interpretation of the non-informative utterance. The example is
“America is exactly America”, “War is War”, “Boys will be boys.”
7 Strategy 7: Use contradictions
By stating two things that contradict each other, speaker makes it appear that heshe cannot be telling the truth. The example is
“Well, John is here and he isn’t here.”
