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Caroline Lane also delivers an expressive utterance which employs approbation maxim by saying, “You’re such a doll” to Marissa. Actually, it does
not really mean that Marissa like a doll, but it means that Marissa is a kind woman.
R. Data 5 App S: Marissa Ventura A: Ty
Ventura Marissa
: “You know, I am really sorry about all this.” Ty
: “It’s not your fault.” Marissa
: “See you later. Thank you.” Ty
: “Sure.” Relevance of context situation
The context of situation was that Ty felt sad since his father could not come when he got a speech at his school. He hoped his parent would come in the speech
contest at Ty’s school like the other children. In fact, there was only his mother, so he was not happy with that situation. It made him not focus in his speech. He
lost his words and then he ran from the stage before finishing the speech. Marissa actually had contacted Ty’s father to come, but she was unsuccessful in
persuading him. It made her son so sad and didn’t want speak anything. It was therefore, she brought him to Baresford hotel, but in the hotel, he still kept silent
until Marissa said sorry to him.
Data Interpretation
Marissa delivers her regret to Ty by saying the utterance, “You know, I am really sorry about all this.” She realizes that all happened because of her fault.
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Her efforts to persuade Ty’s father get unsuccessfulness and makes her son is being sad. She really regrets about it. Ty gives his response by saying, “It’s not
your fault.” In this case, Ty employs approbation maxim in his utterance since he
minimizes dispraise to Marissa. In his deep heart, indeed, he is disappointed with her mother because of her unsuccessfulness in persuading his father to come in his
speech. However, he says her mother that is not her fault. He does not blame his mother because he avoids hurting her mother’s feeling. Consequently, his
utterance still implicates the politeness principle. It shows the respectful children in keeping the atmosphere in relative harmony with the mother.
S. Data 6 Tact App S: Caroline Lane A: Marissa
Ventura Caroline
: “ Oh, sorry. Aren’t you the maid I had yesterday?” Marissa
: “Yes, ma’am.” Caroline
:“Oh, fantastic. I need another favor. I’m late for lunch, otherwise I’d do it. Would you run down to the boutique and
return the outfits in the closet?”
Marissa : “Sure, I’ll take care of it.”
Caroline : “Thank you. You’re the best.”
Relevance of context situation
Caroline was in a hurry situation since she had late for lunch. Otherwise, she had to return the outfits to the boutique before having lunch. Just by a chance, she
met Marissa with her friend, Stephanie. She felt very lucky to meet Marissa in an exact time. Actually, Caroline still recognized Marissa, but she convinced herself
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by asking whether she was really the maid whom she had met the day before. She expressed her gladness by saying “fantastic”. Afterward, she delivered a
command to Marissa to return the outfits to the boutique.
Data Interpretation
In delivering a command to Marissa, Caroline is being tactful by asking, “Would you run down to the boutique and return the outfits in the closet?” It
certainly shows that in using the language, she employs tact maxim since she minimizes cost of Marissa by giving her the option to choose the response.
Consequently, her requesting is more polite considering with the aspects below. The first aspect correlates with the social status scale of the participants. In
any particular case, when the participants have very different social status, then the person with the higher status has the right to order a command, and she
usually uses an imperative form. In this case, however, Caroline exploits the precious word “would” to deliver a command to a maid. It shows that Caroline is
a polite person since her utterance seems to be less of condescension.
The second aspect correlates with the degree of indirectness the speaker used in delivering a command. Caroline increases the degree of politeness. She
uses the word “would” to begin her question. The question with the beginning of “would you” is polite to ask about hearer’s willingness or ability to perform an
action. The question about the hearer’s ability to do something avoids the impoliteness because it clearly gives option to the addressee to choose the
response whether she will do it or not.
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T. U.
