18 record strategy is where the speaker minimizes face threats by implication. Direct
imperatives are the clear example of bald on record usage where the utterances are stated clearly and directly to the hearer Brown Levinson, 1987. The example
of direct imperative is “Lend me a hand here.”
b. Positive Politeness
Brown and Levinson 1987 state that “Positive politeness is a redress
directed to the addressee‟s positive face, his her perennial desire that he she wants
– or the actions, acquisitions, values resulting from them – should be thought as of desirable
” p. 101. If a speaker applies positive politeness into hisher utterances, it indicates that the speaker wants to get closer with the hearers.
The speaker will produce utterances which are aimed to attract the he arer‟s
interest in order to satisfy the hearer‟s positive face by sharing wants and knowledge. Brown and Levinson 1987 state that the only thing that makes
positive politeness is different with other strategies is the element of exaggeration. The speaker will use the element of exaggeration in their utterance in order to
satisfy the hearer‟s positive face such as, “He built the house terrifyingly” Brown Levinson, 1987. When the speaker performs positive politeness strategy, it
means that the speaker is maintaining a closer relationship with the hearer. The speaker will do so through the utterances which contain the elements of
exaggeration.
c. Negative Politeness
According to Brown and Levinson 1987 “Negative politeness is
redressive action addressed to the addressee‟s negative face: his want to have his PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
19 freedom of action unhinder
ed and his attention unimpeded” p. 129. The speaker in this strategy tends to produce the utterances which are aimed to increase the
social distance. However, this strategy seems to be more polite rather than positive
politeness since this strategy is addressed to the hearer‟s negative face. Brown and Levinson 1987 state that the utterances produced in negative
politeness are performed due to the function of minimizing the imposition to the hearer. It means that the speaker wants the hearer to fulfill hisher wants by
satisfying the hearer‟s negative face. Therefore, this strategy is the heart of respect
behavior because there is FTA redress which is done by the speaker in order to give chance for the hearer to perform the negative face. The example of this
strategy is as can be seen in the utterance “Can you pass the salt?” which can
only be an indirect request and that is not really a question to ask about somebody‟s ability.
d. Off – Record
Brown and Levinson 1987 state that “A communicative act is done
through off record strategy if it is done in such a way that it is not possible to attribute only one clear communicative intention to the act” p. 211. The
utterances which are performed through off record mostly contain more than one possible intention and mostly are about critics or satire. Since off record is mostly
used for indirect usage of language, the speakers will let the hearer to decide the possible intention of the utterances through the speaker‟s FTA if it is performed.
Furthermore, off record is an ineffective way of saying things because the speaker may have another meaning from the utterances which are expressed. The example
