7
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
In order to do this research, some theories are needed as a basic requirement. Therefore, in this chapter some theories related to the research topic
such as pragmatics, scopes of pragmatics, theories on politeness including the types of strategies, the realization of strategies, the sociological factors, context, a
brief summary of the chosen movie and previous studies are discussed.
A. Literature Review 1. Pragmatics
a. The Definition of Pragmatics
Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics which illuminates the meaning of speakers’ utterances. It is above the semantic field that is the study of object’s
meaning. Yule 1996: 3 simply says that pragmatics is the study of what speakers meant in hisher words. This means that pragmatics does not only cover the
meaning of the language literally but also more than that aspect. However, Ai
tchison 2003: 104 says that Yule’s definition is just the definition of pragmatics in the narrow sense. He states that in the broadest sense, it deals with
the general principles followed by people when they communicate with one another.
This is in line with Mey’s definition of pragmatics that is a study of the use of language in which the conditions of society take a big part in speaker-
hearer communication 2001: 6.
8
Communication itself is a process of the meaning transference from the speaker to the hearer or listener. In this transference, it requires the shared
knowledge between the speaker and the hearer in order to the construction meaning of the speaker and the inference meaning of the hearer to meet the case.
Additionally, both of the parties will conceive meaning regarding to some considerations to the context of the conversation. Context refers to the setting and
situation of the conversation such as place, time, and circumstance. This context more or less determines the choices of utterances, gestures or body languages
performed. Therefore, pragmatics cannot disregard the context since it involves the interpretation of what people mean in it and how it influences what people
said.
b. The Scope of Pragmatics
As emphasizing on meaning and context, pragmatics covers some areas related to these. Some of which are deixis, speech acts, politeness, presupposition,
and implicature. 1
Deixis Deixis is a form of referring which is dependent on the speaker’s context
or speaker’s circumstances Yule, 1996: 9. It involves pointing and indicating something such as people, place, and time. Therefore, he divides deixis into three
main types that are person deixis, spatial deixis, and temporal deixis. Person deixis is used to indicate person mainly by using pronouns for first person i.e. I
and we; second person i.e. you; and third person i.e. they, she, he, and it. However, if it goes further to the use of honorifics, then it belongs to social deixis. Spatial
9
deixis is to indicate location by using deictic expression such as here and there and temporal deixis is to indicate time by using deictic expression such as
tomorrow and yesterday. 2
Speech Acts Speech act is firstly developed by John Austin and then expanded by John
Searle Holgratves, 2008: 9. It is action performed in saying something Austin in Cutting, 2002: 16. When people talk with others, they solely do not use words for
no reason or intention since they perform actions as well. According to Mey 2001: 93, speech act is produced in actual situations of language use and by
people having something in their mind. Thus, speech act is an act executed via language with a certain intention. Cutting 2002: 16 adds that speech act can be
analyzed in three different levels. Three of which respectively are locutionary act, illocutionary force, and perlocutionary effect. Locutionary act is the level of act
focusing on what form of words uttered, while illocutionary force is what a speaker intends to have recognized and perlocutionary effect is the effects of
utterance on the recipient. 3
Politeness Cutting 2002: 44 states that politeness in pragmatics refers to the choices
of linguistic expression wherein people show their friendly attitude rather than the social rules of behavior. Furthermore, Holtgraves 2008: 38 gives definition that
politeness is a technical term to explain the relation between language and social context. Therefore, politeness here is not the matters of ways of people behave
10
politely, but rather act politely in various levels according to the language or particularly the utterances performed.
4 Presupposition
According to Yule 1996: 25, presupposition is speaker’s assumption about something which heshe believes to be the case prior in making utterances.
It means that heshe presupposes something before uttering. Thus, presupposition is all on the speaker and its validity can be wrong. However, according to Caffi
in Mey, 2001: 186, presupposition concerns on the common or shared knowledge about the utterance whether they are true or false. Furthermore, Yule
1996: 27-29 classifies presupposition into six which he calls as potential presupposition. First, it is presupposition of existence called as existential
presupposition. Second, it is factive presupposition which means presupposing information as a fact. Third, it is non-factive presupposition in which the
presupposition itself is assumed not to be true. Fourth, it is lexical presupposition in which the use of one form does not only have its asserted meaning but also its
non-asserted meaning. Fifth, it is structural presupposition in which part of certain sentence structure is assumed to be true. Finally, it is counterfactual
presupposition in which what is presupposed is contrary to facts. 5
Implicature According to Mey 2001: 25, implicature is actually originated from the
verb ‘to imply’. It refers to the meaning that there is something which is folded over something else. Hence, when an utterance has an implied meaning, it means
that there is folded meaning which has to be unfolded in order to be understood.
11
Furthermore, Horn 2006: 3 states that implicature means what is meant in speakers’ utterance is apart from what is actually said. He also adds that there are
two types of implicature, namely conversational implicature and conventional implicature. According to Huang 2011: 407, 412, conversational implicature is
the implied meaning which is firmly unsaid, while conventional implicature is a non-truth-conditional meaning which only attached to particular lexical items
used.
2. Theories on Politeness
Some theories on politeness have been proposed by some scholars such as Penelope Brown and Steven Levinson, Geoffrey Leech, Robin Lakoff, Shoshena
Blum Kulka, and many others. They present their own concepts and rules of politeness. Out of all, the most influential o
ne is of Brown and Levinson’s. In their theory, politeness involves how people make use of their words while
concerning to another face in Holtgraves, 2008: 38 .
In addition, they state that it is a universal characteristic that speakers should respect ot
hers’ face or self- images in Cutting, 2008: 43. Yule 1996: 60 supports the idea by stating that
politeness is a means used to show the awareness in recognizing other face, so that people try to save or threat it. As a result, it can be said that the concept of
politeness cannot be separated from the concept of face itself.
a. Face
The concept of face used by Brown and Levinson is originally based on Goffman’s notion. In his book on face-to-face behavior entitled Interaction Ritual,
Goffman 1967: 5 define s face as “a positive value a person effectively claims for
12
himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact ”. Brown
and Levinson in Goody, 1978: 61 add that the term face can be defined as something invested within human being which can be lost and maintained during
the interaction .
In maintaining this face, it needs cooperation from the two parties, the addresses and the one who is addressed.
Goffman 1967: 6 explains further that actually face or the self-image is closely attached to the feeling. Sometimes they feel good when their images are
sustained or they feel bad or hurt when their images are imposed. In politeness theory, there are two types of face, namely positive face and negative face.
Positive face is the image that people have which is expected to be appreciated, accepted and approved by others, while negative face is an image which is
expected to be respected and not to be imposed by others. In other words, positive and negative face does not refer to the good and bad, but rather to the need and
desire of people themselves regarding to their self-images or called as face wants. Since the face wants are changeable dependent on the flow of events or situation,
therefore face is a non permanent identity. In their interaction, while saying something people consciously or
unconsciously threat faces of others which is called as Face Threatening Act FTA. Alternatively, according to Yule 1996: 61, they can lessen the possible
threat by saving their face which is called as Face Saving Act FSA.
b. Politeness Strategy and the Realizations