b. Prefacing
Another way to perform the dispreferred social act by the characters in this movie is by prefacing. A preface is carried out in the initial dispreferred response
as a marker or an indication of the dispreferred social act which is going to be performed. After performing a preface, the speaker performs a disagreement or
refusal statement. Jason : How about John 15? That’s my mother’s favorite.
Sabrina: Well, it’s our wedding, so
Datum no. 13 There is an occurrence of dispreferred social act of question which leads to
an unexpected answer found in this datum. However, this dispreferred social act is not directly shown in the initial response. Instead, Sabrina uses a preface “well” in
her initial utterances. It appears as an indication that a dispreferred social act is going to be performed by her.
In this conversation, Jason and Sabrina are discussing about a verse that will be read in their wedding. Jason asks Sabrina to choose a verse that becomes
his mother’s favorite as it will make his mother happy. Unfortunately, Sabrina gives a dispreferred response by showing her disagreement. As it seems difficult
for her to say the dispreferred response, she uses a preface and does not continue her utterance to minimize the effect of the dispreferred social act which may
intrude their social relationship.
3. Expressing Doubt
Expressing doubt is one of the realizations of a dispreferred social act which is used by the characters in Jumping the Broom. In this sense, the clause “I
don’t know” is generally performed when a speaker states his or her uncertainty or lack of information related to first speaker’s question. As presented in datum 6,
it is clear that Sabrina uses an expression of doubt in her dispreferred response. Mrs. Watson
: What are they like? Sabrina
: I dont know.
Mrs. Watson : You dont know? Sabrina, your father and I have
invested over half a million dollars in your education. Datum no. 6
In answering Mrs. Watson’s question, Sabrina actually does not provide any relevant response. It appears as she had not met Jason’s family yet. The clause
“I don’t know” presented in her response is used to convey that she does not have any exact information about Jason’s family whom her mother asks in her
question. The dialogue is performed by Mrs. Watson and Sabrina when they are in
the middle of preparation for the wedding. In this scene, Mrs. Watson feels curious about Jason’s family since she has not met them yet. Therefore, she asks
Sabrina a question to get some information about them. However, Sabrina who also never meets them answers that she does not know about it either. Hearing this
unexpected answer, Mrs. Watson gets mad to Sabrina since she has invested much money for her education to teach her the value of having good communication.
4. Using Token Yes
In performing a dispreferred social act, several characters use token yes or
token acceptance. It means that they do not actually say “no” when they perform a
dispreferred social act. Token yes is usually expressed in an expression of
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