i. Using a Mitigator
Using a mitigator is one of the strategy of doing dispreferred act on the second pair part which is commonly found in daily
conversation. When someone uses a mitigator to do dispreferred act, they will use really, mostly, sort of, kinda in their utterances. Those
indicators aim to show that the second pair part is unsure about the statement that is given by the first pair part. The example of this
linguistic phenomenon of using a mitigator to do dispreferred act on the second pair part is:
Joanne : Does he put passion above common sense?
Witty statements on the tip of his tongue? Lane
: Sort of, yeah.
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This is a conversation between Joanne and Lane. They talk about a man whom Lane has met. Joanne starts to ask and show her
assesment about that man to Lane whether he is included as Lane’s type or not. Joanne shows her assesment by asking many questions to
Lane which indicate that Joanne feels very curious to find out the truth.
However, Lane gives a brief respond and makes Joanne feels disappointed because Lane does not give a clear answer. From the
conversation above, it can be seen that Joanne wants an amazing
answer from Lane. On the other hand, Lane says. “Sort of, yeah..” It
indicates that she feels unsure about the assesment that is given by
Joanne. Here, Lane uses the strategy of using a mitigator as a mark that she is doing dispreferred act on the second pair part to respond to
Joanne’s assesment or statement.
j. Expressing Doubt
Expressing a doubt is one of the way to do dispreferred act on the second pair part in a conversation. It is used to show the defensive
act between the second pair part to the first turn. The indicator when someone expresses hisher doubt to show hisher dispreferred act is by
saying “I’m not sure”; “I don’t know.” This strategy is used to avoid giving a next respond to the interlocutor. The phenomenon of
expressing a doubt is illustrated in the following conversation. Lane
: Oh, she’s so helpful. Oh, that’s not right. Oh, that’s not right. Go back.
Go back. God You stupid thing. Come on.
Aspiring Assistant : Sshh
Lane : Well, how do I go back?
Aspiring Assistant :
You can’t. You either know this stuff or you don’t. And my guess is you
don’t. Lane
: Somebody has low blood sugar. Here, have some candy.
Aspiring Assistant : I don’t eat sugar.
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The conversation above occurs when Lane is doing a software test after she did an interview at her new company. This test aims to
decide whether Lane is qualified in her new job desk or not. Yet, Lane does not really understand about what kind of test is that, and she is