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F. Definition of Terms
In order to avoid misinterpretation of some words and the concept that used in this research, the researcher presents the definition of terms. The terms
which are going to be described are the adjacency pair, politeness strategy, and character.
1. Adjacency Pair
Levinson 1983, p. 303 gives brief explanation about adjacency pair. He sees it as prototypical paired utterances with a basic form in conversational
organization. Schegloff and Sacks in Stephen C. Levinson 1983 state: … the adjacency pair: a sequence of two utterances, which are adjacent,
produced by different speakers, ordered as a first part and a second part, typed, so that a particular requires a particular second or range of second
parts – e.g. offer require acceptances or rejections, greetings require
greetings. p. 303.
In this research, the researcher will present the conversation types among the characters in Sydney White movie in a form of adjacency pair during a
conversational exchange. The adjacency pair types will be used to figure out the politeness strategy which is uttered by the characters.
2. Politeness Strategy
Politeness is an expression of concern for the feelings of others. In discussing politeness, people deal with ‘face’ which means public self-image of a
person. It refers to the emotional and social sense of self that every person has and expects everyone to recognize Yule, 1996, p. 60. There are four types of
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politeness strategies, described by Brown and Levinson 1987, p. 92 to face “threatening face”. They are Bald-On Record, Negative Politeness, Positive
Politeness, and Off-record. Those types of politeness are develop in order to save
the hearer’s face. The main concern in this research is the characters’ utterances
described as a part of politeness strategies. This research will present the speaking
politeness of the characters of Sydney White movie. 3.
Character
A character is described by Abrams 1999, p. 32 as the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as
being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it
—the dialogue and from what they do
—the action. The term character in this research refers to individual who describes her or his
own behavior’s qualities, traits, and motivations.