b. Conventionally Indirect Level
6. Suggestory formulae utterances which have a suggestion to do something
Example: How about cleaning up?
Why don’t you come and clean up the mess you made last night?
7. Query prepatory utterances containing reference to prepatory conditions
such as abilitywillingness as conventionalized any specific language Example:
Would you mind moving your car? Could you clean up the kitchen?
c. Non-conventionally Indirect Level
8. Strong hints utterances containing partial reference to object or element
model for implementation of the act Example:
The game is boring. You have left the kitchen in a right mess.
9. Mild hints utterances that make no reference to the request proper but are
interpretable as request by context Example:
I’m a nun. We have been playing this game for over an hour now.
This theory is used for qualifying and identifying the request strategies that are made by students of English Department, Jember University academic year
20122013.
2.2.3. Face Threatening Act FTA
Politeness theory that is proposed by Brown and Levinson 1987:65 indicates that requests convey Face Threatening Act FTA because of the imposition
of willing given by the speaker toward the hearer. When dealing with request, the speaker will use utterances that may influence the hearer
’s face as stated by Brown
and Levinson 1987:65, request is included in kinds of face threatened that will influence the hearer’s negative-face want because the speaker “put on some pressures
on the hearer to do the speaker’s want.” Furthermore, according to Brown and
Levinson 1987:77-78 the seriousness of the request can be identified based on three circumstances.
a. Degree of imposition.
It detemines the hearer’s self-determination and approval toward the speaker’s want. The impositions given create negative face. There
are two ranks of negative face imposition: i.
Rank order of impositions requiring services indicating lessen imposition is affected by the obligation of the hearer to
do to the speaker’s want. ii.
Rank order of impositions requiring goods showing the increase of the impositions is affected by “the reason why the hearer should not do them
and could not do them”.
b. The relative power. Power between the speaker and hearer affects the hearer
’s face toward the way the speaker conveys his want.
c. The social distance between the speaker and hearer. It shows how close the
relationship between the speaker and the hearer. It determines the speaker and hearer
’s face. Holmes 2013:279-281 also states that people who are closed with their
friends use imperative more often as superiors also use imperative to subordinates. However, declarative and interrogative are usually used by people who are not
familiar to each other. Request also deals with positive and negative politeness showed when saving
face act is employed. Saving face is applied to avoid the FTA Yule, 1996:64. A positive politeness is given for a common goal and it can gain a friendship. However,
using positive politeness has a possibility to be refused Yule, 1996:64. Yule also states that negative politeness is more commonly used in a saving face act which is
usually performed in questions and it has less possibility to be refused because the hearer concerns with the speaker
’s effort of being polite Yule, 1996:65.
Based on this theory, the data compiled will illustrate the politeness of the participants toward the situations that are given in the scenario for role play. The
scenario for role play is designed using this theory as the situation for making a request.
2.2.4. Gender and Politeness
