Reciprocal Asymmetry Factors Underlying the Choice of the Strategies
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other person is felt to be impolite. However, different factors might contribute to this different way of behavior. Some matters which possibly triggered the reciprocal
asymmetry found in this research were sex and different field background of the speaker.
352 M Can we substitute our shift, please? I have something to do,
urgent. DM 004
353 F Hi friend, so sorry to disturb your time. I would like to exchange shift with you because tomorrow I have important
family business
. How? Can I exchange shift with you? Thank you.
DM 009
354 F Sorry, can you replace me in the morning shift? I just got the call from the hospital that my roommate had an accident last night
. DL 028
355 M Please replace my morning shift, can you? DL 029
It has already been investigated for long time and this was not something new that male and female used the language differently. Corresponding to the other
primary researches, in this research the researcher discovered that sex was the potential factor which affected the selecting of the requests strategies. The
preceding examples labelled by M indicated that speakers were male, while, F indicated the speakers were female. At glance, it was observed that female
employed longer form of request acts. Seen from 352 and 356, male speakers favored to be frankly stated their aims. On the other hand, 353 and 354 were the
female speakers whom preferred less straightforward in conveying their goals. Precisely, to mark the politeness, male speakers solely attached
“please” as seen in “Can we substitute our shift, please?” and “Please replace my morning shift”
to which they concerned have been fulfilled “to be polite” notion. Meanwhile, female speakers might regard that there
was higher consideration on “to be polite” way in making requests. Thus, they selected more various strategy to be employed.
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For instance, speaker in 353 stated the openers “Hi, friend” as neutral openers
since there was no power, distance, and rank of imposition settled in this situation. Besides, saying apology emphasized the cost to be polite by opting “so sorry to
disturb your time”, and, to end the statement, the supportive gratitude “thank you” was stated. To create less impositive force, the choosi
ng of “I would like to” rather than “I want to” by female speaker heightened the politeness level which
accompanied by sympathetic reason of “because tomorrow I have important family
business”.
In the same purpose, the female speaker in 354 also employed more of request strategies than male speaker 355. Started with the openers which also
worked as statements of apology, the speaker mentioned “sorry” for the trouble might cause and as the hearer’s alert. Further, female speaker tended to give more
supportive reasons of doing request in state of urgency that her roommate had an accident the night before and she had to rush to the hospital.