Social Distance Sociological Variables
64 She showed her intentions implicitly to the hearer by using the off record strategy,
so that the hearer should interpret what she really wanted. Hillary did not directly ask the hearer to vote her as a president. However, she gave the hearer freedom to
interpret what she wanted and choose what they would do. Therefore, she satisfied the
hearer‘s negative face in a higher level. However, the speaker
‘s desire to impose hearer‘s positive face was showed in Utterance 8. The Utterance 8 showed
Ellen‘s utterance that used the positive politeness strategy. Ellen made a joke for Obama in the beginning of the
show when she greeted Obama.
Utterance 8 Ellen
: Well, thank you so much for saying that. You didn‘t have to just
because I said you look good, but that was nice of you. [Audience laughing] PP
Transcript 1, p. 78
The dialogue showed that Ellen did an approach towards Obama by making a joke. She immediately said ―You didn‘t have to just because I said you
look good, but that was nice of you‖ when she was given a compliment by Obama in the beginning of the show. By saying that,
she imposed Obama‘s positive face with the joke. Furthermore, Ellen also lessened the social distance between her
and Obama. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
65