1979:13-14. Similar to command, request and suggestion has the same function which is to make the hearer do something for the speaker, but they
have less power to force the hearer compared to a command. When the hearer gets a request or a suggestion, he has more power to obey or reject it.
However, when it comes to the act of command, the hearer has a less chance or even he has no chance to reject it. It is because the speaker who has power
to give a command must be more powerful than the addressee. For example, the president of an organization has a full authority to give a command to his
staff. In contrast, a staff has no power at all to force his boss to do something for him. Thus, politeness strategy of command is an interesting linguistic
phenomenon to be studied further since it can be used to soften or even damage the addressee’s public self image. In this research, the first season of
The Lottery TV Series was taken as the object of the analysis for two reasons. First, after watching all the episodes, the researcher found some
linguistic phenomena in The Lottery TV Series related to the study of pragmatics and sociolinguistics. Second, reason is that the prominent
characters in The Lottery TV Series season 1 have significant political positions which make them have power to perform the speech act of
commands. The researcher limits the investigation on the two most prominent
characters of The Lottery TV Series, Vanessa Keller and Darius Hayes. There are three prominent characters in this TV series, Vanessa Keller as the Chief
of Staff in White House, Darius Hayes as the Director of the U.S. Fertility
Commission, and Dr. Allison Lennon a scientist who becomes the head of the Department of Humanity DOH. As a scientist, Dr. Lennon has less power
compared to Vanessa Keller and Darius Hayes who are officers of the government. That is the reason why the researcher decides to choose Vanessa
Keller and Darius Hayes.
B. Research Focus
There are two types of communication: verbal and non-verbal communication. Both are found in The Lottery TV Series season 1. The verbal
communication can be seen through the dialogues or conversation among the characters in order to deliver their intentions, while non-verbal
communications can be found in the form of written language which functions to provide additional information to the audience. Related to both
types of communication, there are some linguistic phenomena found in The Lottery TV Series season 1.
The first problem is related to speech act phenomenon. There are many utterances expressed by the characters to convey their intentions such as
thoughts and feelings. In order to achieve the purpose of communication, they perform various types of speech act. According to Yule 1996:53, there are
five types of speech act: declarations, representatives, expressives, directives and commissives. Speech acts which are performed by the characters are in
the form of apology, complaint, compliment, promise, invitation or command.
The second phenomenon is politeness strategies. It is a strategy of communication which is usually used by a speaker in order to soften the
damage to the hearer’s public self image although it can also be used to intentionally damage the public image of the hearer. The speaker has a full
control to do any communication strategies including politeness to convey their feeling and thoughts.
The third problem is politeness principles. According to Leech 1983:132, there are six types of politeness principles: tact maxim,
generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim, and sympathy maxim. In communication, participants tend to follow certain
maxims in politeness principles in order to get more advantages. For example, a speaker follows the maxim of agreement, therefore, he will seek
agreement and tries to avoid disagreement with the addressee in the process of communication. In the first season of The Lottery TV Series politeness
principles can be investigated through the utterances of the characters. The last problem is the use of taboo words. Taboo is anything which
people usually avoid in a society because it can cause anxiety, embarrassment, or shame the members of the society. Thus, the performance
of taboo words can be considered as an impolite behavior. In The Lottery TV Series season 1, some characters utter taboo words in certain conditions and
purposes, such as to show dislike toward others or to emphasize something. Since there are many linguistic phenomena found in the first season of
The Lottery TV series, it is impossible for the researcher to investigate all the
problems in a single work. Thus, in this study, the researcher focuses on investigating two main issues only. These issues are politeness strategies and
directive speech act of command. The researcher limits the discussion into three points. First, it focuses on investigating the types of politeness strategies
of speech act of commands performed by both Vanessa Keller and Darius Hayes. Second, it focuses on describing the way politeness strategies are used
by Vanessa Keller and Darius Hayes to perform speech act of command. The last focus is on revealing the possible factors which influence the speakers to
perform certain politeness strategies in expressing speech acts of commands. Based on the limitation of problems, the researcher formulates the
problems as follows. 1.
What are the types of politeness strategies of commands performed by Vanessa Keller and Darius Hayes in the first season of The Lottery TV
Series? 2.
How are politeness strategies realized in Vanessa Keller and Darius Hayes
’s speech acts of command in the first season of The Lottery TV Series?
3. What are the factors which influence Vanessa Keller and Darius Hayes to
choose certain types of politeness strategies to perform speech acts of commands in the first season of The Lottery TV Series?
