Request Strategies Request and Request Strategies

37 1 Openers Openers function to alert hearer’s attention to ensure a speech act. Most of the openers are realized as terms of address. Table 1. Openers in Requests Openers Strategies Description and example Upgrading function Enhancing respectfulness and formality: ‘General Manager Wang, surname + title. Downgrading function Downgrading the hearer: ‘Hey, son’ Neutral ‘Hey’ 2 Head acts main request acts Head acts are classified into three main levels in relation to the degree of directness, they are: a direct head acts comprise mood derivable, performatives, obligation statements, and want statements; b conventionally indirect head acts are made up of suggestory formula and the query preparatory; and c non- conventionally indirect head acts consist of strong hints and mild hints. The details of the head acts modifications are discussed in table 2 along with the samples of the utterances. Table 2. Head Acts in Requests Directness levels Strategies Description and example Level 1 Direct Head Acts impositives Mood derivable The grammatical mood imperative used in this form is conventionally regarded as a request. For example: ‘Don’t tell him’ and ‘Leave your contact details.’ Performatives The speaker conveys the illocutionary intent by using a relevant illocutionary verb, making the utterance an order, a plea or begging. For example: ‘I order you to set out at once’ and ‘I beg you to give it back to me.’ Obligation statement The speaker conveys the illocutionary intent by stating moral obligation directly. For example: ‘You should come back earlier’ and You must submit it tomorrow.’ 38 Want statement The speaker conveys the illocutionary intent by asserting a particular want, desire, or wish. For example: ‘I want to borrow money from you’ and ‘I want to know Tahay’s contact details. Level 2 Conventionally Indirect Head Acts Suggestory formulae The speaker conveys the illocutionary intent expressed as a suggestion. For example: ‘How about not going today?’ and ‘How about postponing your holiday?’ Query preparatory The utterances contains a preparatory question referring to the feasibility of the request, including asking the hearer’s ability, willingness, permission, possibility or convenience to perform the act. For example: ‘Can you lend your mobile phone?’ and ‘Can you record that right now?’ Level 3 Non- conventionally Indirect Head Acts Hints Strong hints While the illocutionary intent is not expressed overtly, the speaker provides strong clues for the hearer to construe the request. For example: ‘This room is very hot’ intent: asking the addressee to turn the air conditioner or to open the window and ‘Why do you touch my things?’ intent: asking the addressee not to take his books Mild hints The speaker conveys the illocutionary intent by providing less strong clues, but it is still interpretable as a request with the help context. Greater inferencing is required on the part of the hearer. For example: ‘Are you busy?’ intent: asking the addressee to turn on the air conditioner or to open the window and ‘The one we usually use was here’ intent: asking the addressee to return the stamp to him 3 Internal modifications The internal modification is a part of head act, and plays a role in minimizing or intensifying the illocutionary force of a request act, as a downgrader or upgrader. Here, the internal modifications are subcategorized into syntacticlexical downgraders and lexical upgraders. a Lexical modifications Lexical modifications are used to minimize or maximize the impositive force of a request by modifying the head act internally using various lexical items which are divided into lexical downgraders and upgraders. The details are discussed in table 3. 39 Table 3. Lexical Modifications in Requests Lexical modifications Strategies Description and example Lexical downgraders Politeness marker Polite and respectful expressions are needed for request to seek cooperation from the hearer. For example: ‘excuse me’, ‘please’. Meanwhile, terms of address as politeness markers are also used like ‘Sir’ or ‘Miss’. Downtoner Particles are used at the end of a sentence to minimize the impact of the request. For example: ‘well……you know, but…. …then’. Subjectivizer The speaker states explicitly that what shehe says as their subjective opinion, to diminish the assertive tone of the request. For example: ‘I think… I feel… I believe…’ Understater Adverbial modifiers are used to under-represent the state of affairs of the request. For example: ‘a little’ and ‘some’ Appealer This is used to appeal to hearer’s understanding and to elicit a response. It is used at the end of the sentence, often in the form of tag question. For example: ‘……., OK?’ Honorific Respectful terms are used to express deference and politeness which classified into honorific device e.g. Mr.Mr. Ms. and honorific addressee speech level formal or informal Hesitation marker Insertions are used to reduce the compelling tone by delaying voicing a request like ‘well…. uh….’ Delimiter It is used to under-represent the state of affairs conveyed in request like ‘only only once’ Hedge Vague expressions are used to tone down and avoid potential provocation request. For example: ‘possiblyprobably’, ‘perhaps’, ‘seem’, ‘just’, etc. Lexical upgdraders Commitment indicator Sentence modifiers are used to heighten the degree of speaker’s commitment regarding the state of affairs conveyed in the request. For example: ‘definitely’, ‘surely’, etc. Repetition of request An expression is repeated literally or by paraphrasing to emphasize the importance of carrying out the request. For example: ‘Come here Come here quickly’ Time intensifier Time phrases are used to stress the urgency of the request. For example: ‘right now’, ‘hurriedly’, ‘quickly’, etc. b Syntactic downgraders Syntactic downgraders are chosen to modify head acts internally by diminishing the impositive force of a request using various syntactical forms. Table 4. Syntactical Modifications in Requests Syntactical modifications Strategies Description and example Conditional The using of conditional sentence, like: ‘if…..’ Reduplication of verb Some verbs are reduplicated, like: ‘chit-chat’, etc. Interogative The using of ‘?’ as question mark. 40 4 External Modifications Supportive Moves The external modifications are not the part of head acts, but often precede or follow a head act. They are used to mitigate or aggravate speech act. The types of the external modifications of requests are displayed in the following table. Table 5. External Modifications in Requests External modifications Strategies Description and example Downgrading external modifications Preparator Prior to making a request, the speaker prepares by asking hisher potential availability or permission for carrying out the request. For example: ‘I have something to say to you’ and ‘May I ask you something?’ Grounder The speaker gives reasons, explanations, and justification for the request. For example: ‘I lost my wallet, can you lend me some money?’ and ‘There is a wedding at 3 o’clock, so come by 11 o’clock’. Cost minimizer The speaker attempts to reduce the burden of the request on the hearer. For example: ‘I will return it to you tomorrow’ and ‘It won’t take long’. Promise of reward The speaker promises a reward in a bid to get the hearer’s compliance with the request. For example: ‘Do me a favor this time’, ‘allow me to treat you’ and ‘I will treat you’. Apology The speaker apologizes for the trouble that the potential request may cause. For example: ‘Sorry’ and ‘I am sorry, but…’ Humbling oneself The speaker blames and lowers himherself to elicit the hearer’s sympathy. For example: ‘I can’t handle this well, can you help me?’ and ‘I think I’m not capable of doing this task… Self introduction By introducing oneself, the request can be done. For example: ‘I am a student of Beijing University’ and ‘I am from the Management Department’ Gratitude The speaker expresses gratitude to the hearer for the expected compliance with the request. For example: ‘Thank you for your cooperation’ and ‘I’d appreciate it if you could help me’. Begging for help The speaker tries to elicit the hearer’s compliance with the request by expressing obvious appeal. For example: ‘I beg you’ Sweetener The speaker compliments the hearer’s ability regarding the potential request. For example: ‘I know you are very good at making money’ and ‘No one can do this work as well as you’ Disarmer The speaker attempts to eliminate any possible refusal to the potential request from the hearer. For example: I know you don’t have time, but…’ and ‘I know it is very difficult, but…’ 41 External modifications Strategies Description and example Downgrading external modifications Asking the hearer’s opinion To make request more acceptable, the speaker elicits the hearer’s opinion. For example: ‘How about it?’, ‘Is that OK to you?’, and ‘What do you think?’ Joking A joke is used to reduce the tension, attempting to make the request more acceptable. For example: ‘I don’t want to let you move…’ Note: the boss said the sentence tongue in cheek Upgrading external modifications Reprimanding The speaker uses criticizing statements to increase the impositive force of the request. For example: ‘Why can only you do these?’ and ‘This one is wrong. Don’t you know?’ Confirmation of request In order to obtain compliance from the hearer, the speaker highlights the request by checking if the hearer understand it. For example: ‘Confirm that document again. Are you clear about what I said?’ and ‘You should hand it by tomorrow. When can you do it?’ Moralizing By citing general moral maxims, the speaker attempts to get the hearer to agree to the request. For example: ‘Is your behavior appropriate?’ and ‘This is good for everyone, so…’

B. REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES

The employment of the request acts as the fashion as well as strategies in making requests sometimes are practiced differently by the EFL learners. Moreover, investigations on non-English learners are still overlooked, thus, pointing a different view on miscellaneous fields of life, it is challenged for the researcher to embrace a new dimension of request acts studies especially at different areas or fields of study of the EFL speakers, precisely Medical and Law students, to be examined. Beside the two related studies stated in the background of study, the researcher also provides seven prior studies on the request act strategies discussed in this review of related study section. These interrelated requests studies benefit the researcher as the supporting theories to be referred for the analysis and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 42 discussion of this thesis. The seven related studies discussed in this research are 1 Hassall 2003 on the request strategies performed by Australian English speaker learners of Indonesian, 2 Kobayashi and Rinnert 2003 on requests done by Japanese EFL learners, 3 Salvesen 2015 on the comparison of the Norwegian speakers of English and native speaker of English in making requests, 4 Han 2013 on the requests and politeness employed by Chinese learners, 5 Felix- Brasdefer 2005 focused on indirectness and politeness in request, as well as the degree of formality and deference 6 Salgado 2011 on the requests and apologies strategies used by Mexican college students, and, finally, 7 Rue Zhang 2008 summarized these theories on their study of request strategies used by Mandarin Chinese and Korean focusing on four sequences of requests modifications. These related studies help the researcher as references and guidelines for conducting the research on request acts realizations of Medical and Law students in Batam University as the non-English learners. To begin, Hassall 2003 focused on examining the request strategies and modifications employed by Indonesian learners for Australian English speakers. He found that learners’ linguistics proficiency level influenced students in acquiring pragmatic competence. Here the students whom have increased their L2 grammatical features tended to use more complex linguistic forms to express their intentions in different social situations. This was shown by the using of the ‘want’ and ‘hint’ statements to diminish the force of the request acts to the hearer. The same idea also stated by Kobayashi and Rinnert 2003 that there was a positive correlation between second language proficiency level and L1 pragmatic