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invited the hearer to interpret the intended meaning himself. By doing that, Edward could get away from the responsibility of damaging the face of Bella.
2. Sociological Variables
Brown and Levinson 1987 explain that the measurement of the seriousness of an FTA affected by three sociological variables, namely the social
distance, the relative power, and the rank of imposition. Each variables had different values that affected the measurement of the FTA and the choice of the
strategy.
a. Social Distance
Social distance between the speaker and the hearer was one factor to determine the choice of politeness strategy. Brown and Levinson 1987 defined
that social distance was a symmetric social dimension of similarity or difference within which speaker and hearer stand for the purpose of an act. This social
dimension was determined by the assessment of the frequency the interaction between the speaker and the hearer. The assessment was determined by social
attributes such as the age, sex, and socio-cultural background, which included social class and ethnic background. For example, if the speaker and the hearer
were close friend, the speaker might be used in group membership marker such as „girl‟, „bro‟, and „man‟.
Twilight movie showed how social distance between the speaker and the
hearer determined the choices of politeness strategy. Great social distance was found in the utterances between Jessica and Bella. As seen in dialogue 4, where
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Jessica called Bella “you‟re the shiny new toy” to Bella. Jessica‟s utterance surely
represented how social distance would affect the choice of politeness strategy. She said the utterances as a compliment to Bella. The addressed term was one of the
instruments to claim the in the group identity member which also meant to claim common ground. Based on the utterances, Jessica employed positive politeness
strategy. Brown and Levinson 1987 state that the least polite strategy was bald- on record, then followed by positive politeness, negative politeness and off-
record. Jessica chose the politeness strategy because Bella was her friend.
b. Relative Power
Relative power was another factor influencing choice of politeness strategy. Brown and Levinson 1987 state that relative power was the degree to
which the hearer could impose his or her own want, desire or face over the speaker‟s want. It refers the status of the hearer over the speaker which also
concerned the power of the hearer over the speaker. The power possessed by the hearer affected the choice of the strategy used by the speaker. In addition, if the
hearer possessed more power than the speaker, the speaker would use the strategy which was more polite. In contrary, if the hearer possessed less power, the speaker
would use less polite strategy. The example of this case was in the dialogue 1, between Edward and
Bella. When Bella was in the middle of the naughty boys who wanted to tease her, Edward came suddenly to save her. He employed bald-on record strategy to Bella
by saying “Get in the car”. Despite of the urgent situation to avoid Bella from the
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naughty boys. This kind of strategy was a direct threat toward the hearer face. Additionally, the conversation between Edward and Bella also indicated how
relative power would be affected the choice of politeness strategy.
c. Rank of Imposition
