36 desire or face. Holmes 2001 uses the same term but it is called relative status. It
explains about the status of the hearer over the speaker which basically also concerns the power of the hearer over the speaker. The power possesses by the
hearer affects the choice of the strategy used by the speaker. If the hearer possesses greater power than the speaker, the speaker will use the strategy which
is more polite. In contrary, if the hearer possesses less power, the speaker will use less polite strategy.
3 Rank of Imposition
Brown and Levinson 1987 state that the rank of imposition is the degree of a matter that is considered as the interference to the face of the hearer. This
interference is the FTA that the speaker made. In other word, the degree of the FTA defines the rank of imposition. The rank of imposition can be identified by
two variables which are the imposition toward the positive face and negative face. For the positive face, the imposition is assessed by the amount of threat given to
hearer positive face. For negative face, there are two scales that identify the rank of the imposition namely the imposition requiring services and goods.
B. Theoretical Framework
This study aims at analyzing the use of politeness strategies done by the main characters of Yes Man. There are two research problems in this study,
namely, the kinds of politeness strategies implemented by the main characters of Yes Man
and the factors that influence the choice of politeness strategies in the conversation of the main characters of Yes Man. In order to answer the two
37 research problems, the writer applies the theories of politeness proposed by
Brown and Levinson 1987. The first research problem: “What kinds of politeness strategies are used
by the main characters of Yes Man ?” will be solved using Brown and Levinson’s
1987 politeness strategies theory. There are four strategies namely bald on- record, positive politeness, negative politeness and off-record strategy. The writer
employs the four strategies to classify the utterances done by the main characters of Yes Man to analyze the kinds of strategies used by them.
In order to find out the factors affecting the choice of the strategy, Brown an
d Levinson’s 1987 will also be used in solving the second research problem which is “What kinds of factors influence the execution of politeness strategies
done by the main character of Yes Man? ”, they state that two factors are likely to
influence the application of the politeness strategies. These two factors are the payoffs and the sociological variables. The writes analyzes the utterance done by
main characters of Yes Man in accordance with the two factors to see whether the factors what factors actually influence the choice of the strategies.
Thus, this chapter provides all of the theories needed and related to this study. One theory in particular is politeness theory by Brown and Levinson 1987.
This main theory will be used to analyze the main characters ’ utterances to
discover what politeness strategies they use in the movie Yes Man and the factors affecting the choice of the strategies.
39
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the methodology used in this study. It consists of six parts namely research method, research setting, research data source, research
instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique and research procedure. Research method describes what method is used in this study.
Research setting describes when this research is conducted. Research data source focuses on the elaboration of the research subjects and also the method of
sampling. The instruments and data gathering techniques describe the instruments used in the study. Data analysis technique describes how the data will be analyzed.
The last one, research procedure describes the summary of the steps in conducting the study.
A. Research Method
The writer’s focus in this study was the politeness strategies used by the main characters of Yes Man. More specifically, the two research problems in this
study were 1 Which politeness strategies are used by the four main characters of Yes Man?
2 What are the factors influencing the choice of the strategies done by the four main characters of Yes Man? This study concerns the way the four main
characters of Yes Man implement the politeness strategies in their conversation in the movie. Thus, this study is a study about how language is used in a social
context as depicted in the movie.
