and understandable expression. The most important thing in this maxim, however, is the sub maxim “be orderly”.
For example: John stole the money and went to the bank.
Adapted from Gazdar 1979: 45 The sentence above obeys maxim of manner. The sentence is arranged
orderly. There are two events arranged in a sequence order.
E. Request
According to Oxford learner’s pocket Dictionary 1995:352 request is act of politely asking for something. In fact, some linguists may have different
identifications of request. Trosborg defines request as an illocutionary act whereby a speaker requester conveys to a hearer requestee that heshe wants
the requestee to perform an act which is for the benefit of the speaker 1995: 187. Whereas according to Tsui 1994:91 request subsumes utterances which have
been referred to, in literature, as request, invite, ask for permission, and offer. In short, request is characterized as the speaker’s desires for the hearer to bring about
the state of affair expressed in the proposition. Searle 1969 suggests that an order differs from a request in that the
former has the additional preparatory condition that the speaker must be in a position of authority over the addressee. Others suggest that the difference
between an order and a request is one of politeness and deference. The crucial difference is that a request gives the addressee the options of
complying or not complying, whereas an order does not. In other words, in a
request, the speaker acknowledges the addressee’s right to withhold compliance. An order assumes that the addressee will cooperate, whereas a request does not.
For example: -
A teacher to his pupils. Teacher : “ Now compile your work on my desk, please”
Pupils : “Yes, Sir”. The example above is an ORDER.
- A girlfriend to her boyfriend.
Girlfriend : “ Could you get me the moon?”
Boyfriend : “I wish I could do that”.
The example above is a REQUEST. There are two kinds of request, namely direct and indirect request. In
direct request the speaker expresses his intention explicitly, while in indirect request the speaker expresses his intention implicitly.
Searle states that the essential condition of requests is an attempt on the part of S to get H to do but which nevertheless omit mention or specification of
the desired act and avoid mentioning the hearer as the intended agent 1969: 66. Such requests are indirect realizations of the speaker’s intention to make the
hearer perform.
F. Request Strategies
