When Darius says “Remember Dr. Lynch, focus on what’s important”, it is not only a reminder but it is also a command. In this conversation,
relative power becomes the most important factor. Darius is the boss of Department of Humanity and James is one of the scientist who works for
Department of Humanity. Moreover, only relation that they have is working relationship and the topic of the conversation is related to
James’s jobs. Thus, when Darius performs a command by bald on record with non minimization,
he is not afraid of non cooperative actions from James.
c. Ranking of Imposition
Ranking of imposition is the least factor which influences the speakers with only 2 data. Basically, the ranking of imposition for every command is
high. However, there are two circumstances in the first season of The Lottery TV Series which make the degree of imposition higher than the other
circumstances. The first condition is faced by Vanessa when she has to ask George to find more information about Conner before the abductions. In this
situation, George is not Vanessa’s employee, so she has to perform a command by negative politeness strategy to lessen the degree of imposition.
The second condition is faced by Darius when he asks the chairman of the joint chiefs to persuade the president to drop the lottery. In this context,
Darius has no real power over the adressee, thus, he also tries to lessen the imposition by seeking for the common ground among the participants. Two
examples are also provided in this sub chapter to add more explanations.
The first example is the conversation between Darius and the chairman of the joint chiefs. In this conversation, Darius indirectly asks his friend to
help him persuading the president to cancel the program of the lottery. In his utterance, Darius performs positive politeness strategy by claiming for
common ground since he knows that his friend does not agree with the lottery.
Darius Hayes : I think he needs to hear a new
perspective, from a leader he trusts, like
the Chairman of the joint chiefs. Chairman of the joint chiefs
: I’m certainly willing to discuss the issue with him.
Darius Hayes : So, I can Count on you?
08_2PPCGR
The most influential factor influencing the choice of the strategy is the degree of imposition. In term of working relationship, Darius has no power
over the chairman of the joint chiefs. Moreover, Darius is not socially close with him although they have already known each other for a long time. Based
on the situation, it can be concluded that degree of imposition becomes the most influential factor which influences Darius to perform positive politeness
strategy. The second example is the conversation between Vanessa and one of
the FBI agents, George. In this meeting, Vanessa asks George to help her find out certain information. Vanessa wants to get more information about Conner
before he died since he does not believe the government’s report.
Vanessa Keller : Do me a favour, George. See if you can figure
out where he was the night before the abduction. Credit card receipts, surveillance
footage
and don’t tell anyone about this.
George Keller :
Right
27_5NPBDR
Vanessa and George have already known each other for a long time and they are socially close. Although they have intimate relationship, it seems that
the degree of imposition influences him to choose the strategy greater than the other two factors. In this context, Vanessa does not act as the
representative of the president or the country but she represents herself. Moreover, the issue that they are disscussing is not only their personal
problems, but also about their doubt on the government. Thus, it can be concluded that degree of imposition is the factor which influences her to
perform negative politeness strategy. In conclusion, both Vanessa and Darius perform a certain politeness
strategy based on their situation and their specific needs. Vanesessa mostly commands by using bald on record with non minimization politeness
strategy. More importantly, she uses this strategy for three purposes. First, it is used to warn the hearer. Second, it is used to threat the hearer. The last
purpose is to avoid ambiguity. On the other hand, Darius mostly performs his commands by using positive politeness strategy in the form of claiming for
common ground. He uses this strategy in order to convince the hearer that they belong to the same group and they have the same goal. Thus, by
performing negative politeness to claim for common ground, Darius gets less complaint from his addressees.
