4.1.1.8 Complaint-rejection
Complaint in TBL is used to convey negative feelings, emotions or attitudes such as discomfort, dissatisfaction, frustration, disapproval, anxiety, etc. It can be
concerned with the complainee’s behaviour as it fails to meet the speaker expectation, or it can deal with the speaker’s behaviour. The complainee’s behaviour can be directly
addressed to the hearer about his or her behaviour, or indirectly to the hearer about other’s and about the speaker.
The first pair part FPP containing complaint has no stereotypical corresponding second pair part SPP. The SPP can be realized in rejection,
justification or remedy. In TBL complaints are inherently negative, and damaging the complainee’s positive face because they can be understood that the speaker’s wishes do
not correspond to those of the hearer, especially direct complaints addressed to hearers. Excerpt 37 and 38 below deal with complaints.
Excerpt 37 1 A : gabe sega sude dibaenho.
gabe sega sude dibaekko so broken all made you
‘you broke everything’
2 B : dang pola bohai. dak pola boha i
not just matter it ‘it does not matter’
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Excerpt 38 1 A : bohado, marsak au dang adong hepekku bah.
boha do, marsak au dang adong hepeng hu bah how T, sorrow I not any money my PR
‘ I feel unhappy, I do not have any money’ 3 B : hoen namarhaleti do antongho.
hoen na marhalet i do attokko only T to date PR T just you
‘ ‘you just keep dating’
In line 1 excerpt 37, A directly addresses his complaint to B. The condition is that B has done something wrong that caused A discomfort. A,s complaint is rejected
by B in the SPP, even B makes justification of his behaviour. A,s expression is common in showing complaint, and there is so much dissappointed on what has been
done wrong to the complainnee. Such kind of complaint looks as if the complainee had destroyed everything. In fact the complaint of the speaker refers to only one behaviour
of B. However, B considers his behaviour is still tolerated and appropriate. The complainer in exerpt 37 above evaluates or judges the past action or event by the
complainee, and makes it retrospective. The complainer here does not intend to influence the complainee,s subsequent behaviour.
In excerpt 38, the speaker in line 1 complains about his own state of affair of being having no money. Here he just let the hearer know his complaint hoping that
there would be solution to the speaker’s problem. But the hearer’s response comes in a dispreferred one that the remedy the speaker expects is in reverse not given by the
hearer. The SPP here functions as recomplaining the speaker’s negative behaviour as
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the cause of his problem. As a matter of fact, the hearer has reprimanded the retrospective behaviour of the speakers that makes it as counter-complaint. So, the
complaint in FPP is responded by complaint in SPP. The speaker of the above conversation actually disagrees with the hearer’s
rejection, as he feels that he did not do anything wrong. There is no such behaviour that really causing him in the state of problem, and he is a student who has not earned any
money. In complaining directly to the second party about his or her retrospective
behaviour or indirectly about his or her present condition, the dispreferred response can be realised in counter-complaint. It is direct when the complaint is made against the
hearer, for it is the hearer that can be attributed with the responsibility of the perceived offence, as shown in excerpt 37. It is indirect when it is not the hearer or the second
party that takes the responsibility excerpt 38. In the following example, the complaint is launched by a tricycle-driver to another tricycle-driver. What he complained is that
there was no any passanger during the day he was riding eventhough he has ridden all around the city. Another tricycle-driver rejected the complaint by giving a dispreferred
respond, that is, a disbelief of what the complainer’s saying no passanger for the whole day riding. The conversation comes as follows.
Excerpt 39 1 A : dang adong sewa sa dari on bah.
not any passanger one day this PR ‘there is no any passanger today’
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2 B : tu dia lao sude sewa i to where go all passanger that
‘ Where are all the passangers
The SPP in line 2 is functioning to reject the complaint constructed in FPP. Here again the speaker does not evaluate the hearer’s behaviour, and it is not the hearer
who takes the responsibility of such condition, but he makes a justification of what he has responded.
A complaint can be indirect if made against the third party and expresses the speaker’s lamentation about such third party’s conduct in a critical way. This can be
shown in excerpt 40 below.
Excerpt 40 1 A : boa do bupati on, dalan pe holan na mar lubang-lubang.
how T regent this, streets T only T Poss holes ‘what about the regent, the streets are full of holes’
2 B : so niboto bupation songon dia. so ni boto bupati on songod dia
not I know regent this like what ‘I do not know why the hell did the regent make this damned streets
The utterance of A in line 1 refers to the fact or event with which both the speaker and hearer are acquainted. In other words, that is an indirect complaint that
makes manifest assumption that is already manifest to each in their cognitive environment. So the FPP of indirect complaint. It also expresses approval and interest
in the hearer that the utterance in the SPP tends to also approve or causes preferred
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response to the speaker’s complaint in FPP. It is shown by the SPP in excerpt 40 that indirect complaint against the third party is not responded the same way as the SPP in
direct and indirect complaint against the second party which commits dipreferred response to complaint speaker, but responded in preferred one. However retrospective
facts or events in indirect or direct complaint against the scond party may lead to prospective events which are expected by both speaker and hearer of indirect complaint
against the third party. Like the condition shown in excerpt 40, the holly streets which create frustration to public are of course to be repaired by the government. So in the
utterance embedded such a prospective manifestation. Without being influenced by the complainer, the subsequent behaviour of the government, there is such an obliged
responsibility of the government which has been stated in the constitution. In the direct complaint against the second party, events can be prospective if the speaker influences
the hearer’s subsequent behaviour. There is a direct complaint which is responded in disafiliation, as seen in the
extract of excerpt 43 below. 9 A : jadi bohado? toria ah, ah. 2.6 so hea tombus
jadi boha do? toria ah, ah. so hea tobbus so how PR? then ah, ah. No ever win
so how? I never win 10 B : Naga nga dia Sinaga i?
Naga past where Sinaga that? Naga where is Sinaga?
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B in line 10 does not affiliate with A, in other words, B does not care with A’s complaint.
4.1.2 Turn-Taking In TB Conversation
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