POLITENESS STRATEGIES USED BY OLIVER TWIST ON ROMAN POLANSKIÂ’S FILM OLIVER TWIST

POLITENESS STRATEGIES USED BY OLIVER TWIST ON ROMAN

POLANSKI’S FILM OLIVER TWIST

THESIS

By:

LUQMANUL HAKIM

08360114

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

POLITENESS STRATEGIES USED BY OLIVER TWIST ON ROMAN

POLANSKI’S FILM OLIVER TWIST

THESIS

By:

LUQMANUL HAKIM

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

POLITENESS STRATEGIES USED BY OLIVER TWIST ON ROMAN

POLANSKI’S FILM

OLIVER TWIST

THESIS

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve

Sarjana Degree in English Education

By:

LUQMANUL HAKIM

08360114

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

This thesis written by Luqmanul Hakim was approved on July 25, 2013.

By:

Advisor II Advisor I

This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang

and accepted as one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education

on July 25, 2013

Approved by:

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education University of Muhammadiyah Malang

Dean,

Dr. M.Syaifuddin, M.M.

Examiners: Signatures:

1. Drs. Jarum, M.Ed. 1. ………. 2. Santi Prastiyowati, S.Pd. 2. ………..

3. Dr. Sri Hartiningsih, M.M. 3. ………..

MOTTO AND DEDICATION

MOTTO

“

He is Allah besides whom there is no god; the Knower of the unseen

and the seen; He is the beneficent, the Merciful”

QS. Al Hasyr; 22

“And among men there is he who disputes about Allah without

knowledge and without guidance and without an illuminating book”

QS. Al Hajj; 8

DEDICATION:

I dedicated this thesis to:

My beloved Mother and Father,

My elder and younger sister,

All of my family members,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alamin, the researcher expresses his highest gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala for blessing, love, opportunity, health, and mercy to complete this thesis.

Shalawat is also sent to Prophet Muhammad shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam who had delivered the truth to human beings in general and Muslim in particular.

In arranging this thesis, a lot of people have provided motivation, advice, support, and even remark that had helped the researcher. In this valuable chance, the researcher aims to express his gratitude and appreciation to all of them. First, the researcher’s deepest appreciation goes to his beloved parents who always, keep supporting the researcher in any conditions to finish the thesis.

Dr. Sri Hartiningsih, M.M. and Drs. Munash Fauzie, M.M., first and second thesis advisor for their time, guidance, constructive comments, and corrections for this thesis.

My friend Yasir, for his inputs, comments, and help to correct my mistakes in writing this thesis.

The lecturers at Muhammadiyah University especially in English department for being patient in lecturing.

Finally, thanks for my friends for their supports, prayers, so Alhamdulillah my motivation was built to finish this thesis.

Malang, 25th July 2013

TABLE OF CONTENT

Page

APPROVAL ... i

LEGALIZATION ... ii

MOTTO AND DEDICATION ... iii

AKNOWLEDGMENTS ... iv

ABSTARCT ... v

TABLE OF CONTENT ... vi

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1. Background of the study ... 1

1.2. Problem of study ... 3

1.3. Significance of study ... 4

1.4. Scope and Limitation ... 5

1.5. Definition of Key Terms ... 5

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 7

2.1. Politeness in Concept ... 7

2.2. Face in Politeness Concept ... 10

2.3. Politeness Strategies on Brown & Levinson’s Theory ... 12

2.3.1. Bald On Record Strategy ... 14

2.3.2. Positive Politeness ... 15

2.3.3. Negative Politeness ... 18

2.3.4. Off Record Strategy ... 19

2.4. Factors Influencing the Choice of Politeness Strategies ... 20

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 24

3.1. Research Design ... 24

3.2. Research Object ... 25

3.3. Data Collection ... 25

3.4. Data Analysis ... 25

4.1. Finding ... 27

4.2. Discussion ... 39

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGESTION ... 42

5.1. Conclusion ... 42

5.2. Suggestion ... 43

5.2.1. For the Lecturers... 43

5.2.2. For the Students ... 44

5.2.3. For Further Researchers ... 44

REFERENCES ... 45

REFERENCES

Alwasilah, A.Chaedar.1993. Pengantar Sosiologi Bahasa. Bandung: Angkasa.

Ary, Donald, Lucy C.J, Asghar R.,& Chris S.(Eds.). 2006. Introduction to Research in Education. CA:Thomson Wadsworth.

Brown, Gillian and George Yule.1983. Discourse Analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Brown, P. & Levinson, S. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chaer, Abdul & Agustina Leoni. 1995. Sosiolinguistik. Perkenalan Awal. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

Chaika, Elanie. 1982. Language as the Social Mirror. London: Newburry House Publishers. Goffman, E.1967.’On facework: an analysis of ritual elements in social interaction’, in

Jaworski, A.,and Coupland, N. (eds.) The Discourse Reader, London: Routledge, pp. 306-321.

Goody, Esthern.1996. Question and Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Grundy, Peter. 2002. Doing Pragmatic. New York: Oxford University.

Hofmann, R. 1993. Realms of Meaning. New York: Longman.

Mills. Sara. 2003. Gender and politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rahmawati, Anita. 2008. Politeness Strategies Used by The Main Character (Marcus) in

“Get Rich or Die Trying” movie. Malang: Unpublished thesis, the State Islamic

University of Malang.

Renkema, Jan.1993. Discourse Studies: An Introductory Text Book. Philadelphia/ Amsterdam: John Benjamin’s publishing Company.

Stubbs, Michael.1993. Discourse Analysis. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Wardhaugh, Ronald. 1977. Introduction to Linguistics. New York: Mc Graw- Hill Book Company.

Carvalho, Claudio. 2005. Plot Summary for Oliver Twist.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380599/plotsummary/ retrieved on September 22th, 2013 at 1 p.m.

Polanski, Roman. 2005. http://www.ec.it-hiroshima.ac.jp/sakemi/movies/Oliver.pdf retrieved on April 15th, 2013 at 10 p.m.

Polanski, Roman. 2005. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380599/synopsis/ retrieved on April 15th, 2013 at 9 p.m.

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1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Politeness is the expression of the speakers’ intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward another (Mills, 2003: 6). Being polite therefore consists of attempting to save face for another. First formulated in 1987 by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson, politeness theory has since expanded academia’s perception of politeness (Mills, 2003). This text has influenced almost all of the theoretical and analytical work in this field. Politeness principles have been considered to have wide descriptive power in respect of language use (Lakoff, 1972, 1973), and to have universal status (Brown & Levinson, 1978, 1987). A politeness phenomenon is one of manifestations of the wider concept or etiquette, or appropriate behaviors (Grundy, 2000:145-146).

Language has a social function as a tool to make connection between human beings. Without language, it seems impossible for people to interact with other in daily life because it can express people’s feeling, willing, option, etc. (Chaer and Agustina, 1995:19). In short, language is the oral symbols that represent meaning as they are related to real life situation.

In case of communication, the speaker will choose the solutions to have polite conversation. People use politeness strategies in order to get their conversation run well and go smoothly. Brown and Levinson (1978) state that recognizes what people are doing in verbal exchange (e.g. requesting, offering,

2

criticizing, complaining, etc.) not so much by what they overtly claim to be doing as in the fine linguistics details of utterances. It means that not only speaking in fine linguistics but also considering other’s feeling are important. In other word, speaking politeness involves taking account of the other’s feeling and being polite person means that he should make others feel comfortable.

Politeness strategies are developed in order to save the hearers’ “face.” Face refers to the respect that an individual has for him or herself, and maintaining that “self-esteem” in public or in private situations (Brown & Levinson, 1978, 1987). Usually someone tries to avoid embarrassing the other person, or making them feel uncomfortable. Politeness strategies are developed for the main purpose of dealing with these FTA’s. Politeness consists of attempting to save face for another.

Face needs are thought of as the desire to be appreciated and protected. Face is further broken down into two different categories: positive face and negative face. Positive face is the desire to be liked and appreciated. Positive politeness is designed to meet the face needs by performing an action like complimenting or showing concern for another person. Negative face is the desire to be autonomous and not to infringe on the other person. Negative politeness is designed to protect the other person when negative face needs are threatened. Thus there are different strategies to handle face threatening acts and these strategies are put into a hierarchy of effectiveness. Brown and Levinson said that face comes in two varieties, positives face and negative face. Positive face is a person’s wish to be well thought of. Its manifestation may include the desire admired by others.

3

Negative face is our wish not to be imposed on by others and to be allowed to go about our business unimpeded.

The study of Politeness was conducted by Ayu (2010) entitled “Politeness principles used in “Spartacus” movie”. This research focuses on the concepts of pragmatics and politeness. This study is designed to find out the kinds of politeness strategies used by Spartacus and David and to find out the functions of using those kinds of politeness strategies in their conversation.

There are four politeness strategies, namely bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off record. The research about Oliver Twist’s film that contains a lot of moral values is important, because politeness is a communication strategy that people use to maintain and develop relationship. This study investigates politeness expression used by Oliver Twist as the main character; he’s an orphan who becomes a slave in the age 9 year-old. The researcher takes this film because this film is about British people’s life that identically with nobles that in daily activities using language, dress, and etiquette politely. Yet will be compared with a slave’s world that is experienced by Oliver Twist.

1.2 Problem of Study

This research analyzes language used in “Oliver Twist” Film, especially the politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist. This research intends to answer the following questions.

4

1. What politeness strategies are used by Oliver in “Oliver Twist” film? 2. What are the meanings of politeness strategies used by Oliver in

“Oliver Twist” film?

3. Which politeness strategies are mostly used by Oliver in “Oliver Twist” film?

a. Objective of the Study

In line with the problems mentioned above, this study intends:

1. To analyze what politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist in “Oliver Twist” film.

2. To elaborate the meaning of politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist in “Oliver Twist” film.

3. To investigate which politeness strategies are mostly used by Oliver in “Oliver Twist” film.

1.3. Significance of Study

This study is to give the contribution on the area of sociolinguistic particularly on politeness theory, the results of this study are hoped to give contributions to students on linguistics, especially for the students of English department. This study helps the students to deepen their understanding on politeness especially on Brown and Levinson’s theory by giving examples. Moreover, this study gives linguistics lectures data on politeness. For future researches, this gives useful reference to carry out their studies.

5

1.4. Scope and Limitation

This study is focused on analyzing politeness strategies in the “Oliver Twist” film. This study analyzes the utterances which contain politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist to Fagin as person he cares about and it happens in the same way, based on Brown and Levinson theory of politeness. The limitation is the use of politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist in “Oliver Twist” film.

1.5 Definition of Key Terms

To make the study clear to the readers and to avoid ambiguity and misinterpretation concerning the terms used in this study, the writer needs to provide definitions of the key terms referring to the title politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist in “Oliver Twist” film that is follows:

1. Politeness is the expression of the speakers’ intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward another (Mills, 2003:6).

2. Bald on Record Strategy is the strategy that provides no effort by someone to reduce the impact of the FTA’s. Someone will most likely shock the person to whom he’s speaking to, embarrass them, or make them feel a bit uncomfortable.

3. Positive Politeness Strategy is the strategy usually seen in groups of friends, or where people in the given social situation know each other fairly well. It usually tries to minimize the distance between them by

6

expressing friendliness and solid interest in the hearer’s need to be respected (minimize the FTA).

4. Negative Politeness Strategy has the main focus for using this strategy is to assume that someone may be imposing on the hearer, and intruding on their space. Therefore, these automatically assume that there might be some social distance or awkwardness in the situation.

5. Off Record Strategy has the main purpose of taking some pressure off of the hearer. In this case, the speaker performs an act in vague manner that could be interpreted by hearer as some other acts. Someone is removing himself from any imposition whatsoever.

6. Positive face is the need to be appreciated. 7. Negative face is the need not to be disturbed.

8. Politeness strategies are used to formulate messages in order to save the hearer’s face when face-threatening acts are inevitable or desired. 9. Film is a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a

sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement.

10. Oliver Twist is about an orphan boy who runs away from a workhouse and meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. Oliver is taken in by the pickpocket and he joins a household of young boys who are trained to steal for their master. Then he meets Mr. Brownlow who teaches him politeness, how to be noble, and asks him to write the books. Previously, when his parents passed away and definitely become an orphan, on the workhouse he is made to be slave who serve the country.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Politeness is the expression of the speakers’ intention to mitigate face threats

carried by certain face threatening acts toward another (Mills, 2003: 6). Being polite therefore consists of attempting to save face for another. First formulated in 1987 by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson, politeness theory has since

expanded academia’s perception of politeness (Mills, 2003). This text has influenced almost all of the theoretical and analytical work in this field. Politeness principles have been considered to have wide descriptive power in respect of language use (Lakoff, 1972, 1973), and to have universal status (Brown & Levinson, 1978, 1987). A politeness phenomenon is one of manifestations of the wider concept or etiquette, or appropriate behaviors (Grundy, 2000:145-146).

Language has a social function as a tool to make connection between human beings. Without language, it seems impossible for people to interact with other in daily life because it can express people’s feeling, willing, option, etc. (Chaer and Agustina, 1995:19). In short, language is the oral symbols that represent meaning as they are related to real life situation.

In case of communication, the speaker will choose the solutions to have polite conversation. People use politeness strategies in order to get their conversation run well and go smoothly. Brown and Levinson (1978) state that recognizes what people are doing in verbal exchange (e.g. requesting, offering,

criticizing, complaining, etc.) not so much by what they overtly claim to be doing as in the fine linguistics details of utterances. It means that not only speaking in fine linguistics but also considering other’s feeling are important. In other word,

speaking politeness involves taking account of the other’s feeling and being polite

person means that he should make others feel comfortable.

Politeness strategies are developed in order to save the hearers’ “face.” Face refers to the respect that an individual has for him or herself, and maintaining that

“self-esteem” in public or in private situations (Brown & Levinson, 1978, 1987). Usually someone tries to avoid embarrassing the other person, or making them feel uncomfortable. Politeness strategies are developed for the main purpose of

dealing with these FTA’s. Politeness consists of attempting to save face for another.

Face needs are thought of as the desire to be appreciated and protected. Face is further broken down into two different categories: positive face and negative face. Positive face is the desire to be liked and appreciated. Positive politeness is designed to meet the face needs by performing an action like complimenting or showing concern for another person. Negative face is the desire to be autonomous and not to infringe on the other person. Negative politeness is designed to protect the other person when negative face needs are threatened. Thus there are different strategies to handle face threatening acts and these strategies are put into a hierarchy of effectiveness. Brown and Levinson said that face comes in two

varieties, positives face and negative face. Positive face is a person’s wish to be

Negative face is our wish not to be imposed on by others and to be allowed to go about our business unimpeded.

The study of Politeness was conducted by Ayu (2010) entitled “Politeness

principles used in “Spartacus” movie”. This research focuses on the concepts of pragmatics and politeness. This study is designed to find out the kinds of politeness strategies used by Spartacus and David and to find out the functions of using those kinds of politeness strategies in their conversation.

There are four politeness strategies, namely bald on record, positive

politeness, negative politeness, and off record. The research about Oliver Twist’s

film that contains a lot of moral values is important, because politeness is a communication strategy that people use to maintain and develop relationship. This study investigates politeness expression used by Oliver Twist as the main

character; he’s an orphan who becomes a slave in the age 9 year-old. The researcher takes this film because this film is about British people’s life that identically with nobles that in daily activities using language, dress, and etiquette

politely. Yet will be compared with a slave’s world that is experienced by Oliver

Twist.

1.2 Problem of Study

This research analyzes language used in “Oliver Twist” Film, especially the politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist. This research intends to answer the following questions.

1. What politeness strategies are used by Oliver in “Oliver Twist” film? 2. What are the meanings of politeness strategies used by Oliver in

“Oliver Twist” film?

3. Which politeness strategies are mostly used by Oliver in “Oliver

Twist” film?

a. Objective of the Study

In line with the problems mentioned above, this study intends:

1. To analyze what politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist in “Oliver

Twist” film.

2. To elaborate the meaning of politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist

in “Oliver Twist” film.

3. To investigate which politeness strategies are mostly used by Oliver in

“Oliver Twist” film.

1.3. Significance of Study

This study is to give the contribution on the area of sociolinguistic particularly on politeness theory, the results of this study are hoped to give contributions to students on linguistics, especially for the students of English department. This study helps the students to deepen their understanding on

politeness especially on Brown and Levinson’s theory by giving examples.

Moreover, this study gives linguistics lectures data on politeness. For future researches, this gives useful reference to carry out their studies.

1.4. Scope and Limitation

This study is focused on analyzing politeness strategies in the “Oliver Twist” film. This study analyzes the utterances which contain politeness strategies

used by Oliver Twist to Fagin as person he cares about and it happens in the same way, based on Brown and Levinson theory of politeness. The limitation is the use

of politeness strategies used by Oliver Twist in “Oliver Twist” film.

1.5 Definition of Key Terms

To make the study clear to the readers and to avoid ambiguity and misinterpretation concerning the terms used in this study, the writer needs to provide definitions of the key terms referring to the title politeness strategies used

by Oliver Twist in “Oliver Twist” film that is follows:

1. Politeness is the expression of the speakers’ intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward another (Mills, 2003:6).

2. Bald on Record Strategy is the strategy that provides no effort by someone to reduce the impact of the FTA’s. Someone will most likely shock the

person to whom he’s speaking to, embarrass them, or make them feel a bit

uncomfortable.

3. Positive Politeness Strategy is the strategy usually seen in groups of friends, or where people in the given social situation know each other fairly well. It usually tries to minimize the distance between them by

expressing friendliness and solid interest in the hearer’s need to be respected (minimize the FTA).

4. Negative Politeness Strategy has the main focus for using this strategy is to assume that someone may be imposing on the hearer, and intruding on their space. Therefore, these automatically assume that there might be some social distance or awkwardness in the situation.

5. Off Record Strategy has the main purpose of taking some pressure off of the hearer. In this case, the speaker performs an act in vague manner that could be interpreted by hearer as some other acts. Someone is removing himself from any imposition whatsoever.

6. Positive face is the need to be appreciated. 7. Negative face is the need not to be disturbed.

8. Politeness strategies are used to formulate messages in order to save the

hearer’s face when face-threatening acts are inevitable or desired. 9. Film is a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a

sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement.

10. Oliver Twist is about an orphan boy who runs away from a workhouse and meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. Oliver is taken in by the pickpocket and he joins a household of young boys who are trained to steal for their master. Then he meets Mr. Brownlow who teaches him politeness, how to be noble, and asks him to write the books. Previously, when his parents passed away and definitely become an orphan, on the workhouse he is made to be slave who serve the country.