Reciprocal Asymmetry Factors Underlying the Choice of the Strategies

162 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. 163 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.

f. Urgency of the Requests

The researcher agreed that urgency was one of the factor affected the choice of the request strategy. In general, urgency construes the quality or the state of requiring immediate action or attention. In other words, the urgency is recognized as the force of the request due to the state of being urgent. The situations provided in this research revealed that whenever people face urgent situations, they selected different strategy than the usual ones. The cost of the urgency, to some extents, influenced the impositive force of the requests on the hearer. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 164 356 Sorry, friend. I have something urgent to do. I must finish my tasks because the boss is waiting for the report. Can you return my computer? DM 112 357 Sorry to disturb you, but I need to finish my tasks since the boss is waiting for me. Can I use this computer now? DL 100 358 Excuse me, sir. I am sorry to disturb you. This is not what I want. But, I must say this . Could you help me to let me copy my documents first since I have to bring them to the meeting now, sir? Please. DM 201 359 Excuse me, bro. I have 15 minutes to copy these whole papers. Can I use the machine first? I am so so so sorry, but it is really important , please? DL 195 The 356 and 357 were taken from the fourth situation of DCTs. This situation indicated an urgent state where the speaker needed to finish the task soon because the boss was waiting. Thus, it fulfilled the urgency quality in which the speaker conveyed that the request was obliged to do for this context. The speaker stated supportive reasons and justifications of “I must finish my tasks because the boss is wait ing for the report” and “but I need to finish my tasks since the boss is waiting for me” indicated that the speakers willy-nilly had to make requests to the hearer. At the same time, these expressions also represented the force on the speaker side since the boss was waiting for himher for finishing the task as well. Nonetheless, before saying what they intended, the speakers apologized for the potential troubles arose because of the requests made as noted in “Sorry, friend” and “Sorry to disturb you”. Practically the same as the two preceding examples, responses of situation six in 358 and 359 were carried the same urgency state to be handled soon. In this situation, the speaker necessitated to make request since the speaker obliged to soon prepare the documents for the meeting and heshe had only limited time to do it . Thus, to start the talk, the speaker opened the request by mentioning “Excuse PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI