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and flirted other girl. Henry was mad and gone crazy at that time. It was because in their way to Prairie View they saw a Negro man was lynched by the white men.
The intention for Melvin visiting Henry’s house is that he wants to thank him for sending a letter to Harvard University. However, Henry does not need
Melvin’s thankfulness, he asks a favor instead. He asks Melvin to keep Samantha on the team. Then, he mentions the rough night as described in the previous
paragraph. Melvin knows what Henry is talking about, and he agrees with him. In showing the agreement, Melvin uses repetition in which he repeats partly of
Henry’s words. He says “Yes, it was” deriving from Henry’s utterance, “Mr.Tolson, it was a rough night”. This strategy shows that Melvin and Henry
have the common opinion related to the incident of that night. Therefore, Melvin can attend to Henry’s positive face or the need to be approved.
l. Presuppose or Assert Common Ground
Another strategy of positive politeness used by Melvin B. Tolson is to presuppose or assert common ground. It has the same function as in seeking
agreement that this strategy is to claim common ground between the speaker and the hearer. Different with to seek agreement in which both of parties clearly have
mutual common ground, in this strategy, the mutual common ground is only presumed by the speaker alone.
There are two utterances performed by Melvin in employing this strategy. These are addressed to his students and used for giving information. One of them
is displayed in the dialogue between Melvin and Samantha on the day of the debate team tryout below.
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Melvin B. Tolson :
You know, there’s never been a female on the debating team, ever.
Samantha Booke : Yes, sir. I know that.
Datum number 14 In the utterance performed by Melvin above, he presumes that he and
Samantha mutually have same common ground. In this case, it is the knowledge about the history of Wiley College that there has never been any female in the
debate team. He uses personal-centre switch from speaker to hearer. It means that he speaks as if Samantha’s knowledge is equal to his. To be specific, he uses
point-of-view flip which is found in the words you know. In this expression, there is possibility that Samantha does not know it. However, in her response,
Samantha says “Yes, sir. I know that.” It indicates that she takes Melvin’s presumptions for granted. As a result, it can be said that Melvin’s strategy to
presuppose or assert common ground is successful to meet Samantha’s positive
face since he merges his point of view with Samantha as the hearer.
m. Include Both Speaker and Hearer in the Activity
The last strategy of positive politeness used by Melvin B. Tolson is to include him as the speaker together with the hearer in the activity. It is to show
that the speaker tries to make andor invite cooperativeness with the hearer. It can be done by using inclusive pronoun we. The only one example of this strategy
performed by Melvin B. Tolson is in his utterance which is in the conversation with Henry Lowe below.
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Melvin B. Tolson : Mr. Lowe Tell us about your father.
Henry Lowe :
Why don’t you tell us something about your father?
Melvin B. Tolson :
We’re trying to get to know each other, Mr. Lowe.
Datum number 23 The conversation above takes place in the lecture hall where the four
debate team students are in the training under Melvin’s coaching. Each of the students has a chance to speak with Melvin in turns. Then, it comes to Henry
Lowe’s turn. Melvin asks him to tell about his father. However, Henry is being uncooperative by not answering what Melvin asked. Melvin is aware of it, so
therefore he softens his previous request by using the inclusive pronoun we in his next utterance, “We’re trying to know each other, Mr. Lowe”.
The inclusive we form used by Melvin actually only refers to the pronoun me for Melvin himself. It is because Melvin is the one who wants to know more
about Henry Lowe. In spite of this, Melvin chooses to use the inclusive pronoun we to convey that they both are cooperators involved in the same activity to get to
know each other. In short, it indicates that Melvin tries to save Henry’s positive face by claiming reflexivity in which if speaker wants something, then the hearer
wants it to, or conversely.
n. Be Conventionally Indirect
