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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter presents the theories related to the study. Hence, the writer divides this chapter into two parts, namely the theoretical description and the
theoretical framework. The first part includes the discussion of sociolinguistics and politeness theory. The second part summarizes and synthesizes all major
relevant theories in order to relate the study to the theories.
A. Theoretical Description
The writer presents two major parts namely, sociolinguistics and politeness. Sociolinguistics is presented in order to figure out the topic discussed.
Moreover, politeness, as the basis theory, is used to discuss the Bride Wars movie script.
1. Sociolinguistics
Spolsky 2004 defines sociolinguistics as “a field that studies the relation between language and society p. 3.” It provides evidence and researches about
various human languages in the society. It also explains why speakers say the same thing in different ways. Holmes 2001 emphasizes “language provides a
variety ways of saying the same thing p. 3.” Varieties may occur due to various PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
13 factors, such as age, gender, relation, social class, ethnicity, and context. In brief,
sociolinguistics primarily focuses on the study of language use. Holmes 2001 states “sociolinguistics is also concerned with identifying
the social functions of language and the way it is used to convey social meaning p. 1.” Utterances do not only provide information as the literal meanings, but
also clues to nonlinguistic information. An utterance, for instance, can indicate the society or community in which a speaker coming from. Thus, in order to convey
meaning successfully, the speaker of a language should be able to apply the sociolinguistics competence to produce appropriate language.
2. Politeness
Leech 1980 as cited in Konrad, Sachiko, and Watts 2005: xv mentions politeness as “strategic conflict avoidance” p. 19. Based on Leech’s point of
view, politeness may function as a way of controlling potential threats between speakers and hearers. It is even more similar to politeness definition proposed by
Brown and Levinson 1987 in Konrad, Sachiko, and Watts 2005. “Politeness is rational behavior aimed at the strategic softening or mitigation of face-
threatening acts p. xv.” Besides, Hill, Ide, and Ikuta 1986 as cited Konrad, Sachiko, and Watts 2005 define politeness as “one of the constraints on human
interaction, whose purpose is to consider others’ feelings, to establish levels of mutual comfort, and to promote rapport p. xv.” Politeness, however, has little to
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