Based on this theory, the data compiled will illustrate the politeness of the participants toward the situations that are given in the scenario for role play. The
scenario for role play is designed using this theory as the situation for making a request.
2.2.4. Gender and Politeness
Politeness also has a relationship with gender. According to McConnel-Ginnet 2003:
10, gender is “the social elaboration of biological sex”. It means that gender is constructed beyond biological sex but it is defined by the social life that human has.
Different gender will indicate different levels of politeness. Lakoff 2004:49-51 states that women have more polite attitude rather than men, especially in request.
Women tend to utilize compound request in which accompanied with tag question or tag orders, such as please, will you, could you, etc. This kind of women behaviour is
employed because they give the hearer open-decision. It may sound like a command; however they want to demonstrate the suggestion to do some help for them.
Moreover, it is more interesting for women for discussing interpersonal subject rather than external issue that is usually discussed by men.
Lakoff 2004:78-79 also states that women tend to hedge because they do not know the certainty of
their speech. “I think..”, “I guess..”, “well”, “kinda” are the examples of hedging that are usually used by women. Those terms are showing
inaccuracy and uncertainty of their speech and they areproduced to avoid the hearer from the lack of self-confidence. Furthermore, McConnell-Ginnet 2003:158 also
states women tend to speak indirectly, for instance when they do a request, they will say it indirectly and implicitly.
Regarding with gender, there are 3 rules of politeness that are stated by Lakoff 2004. The first rule is formality in which a distance occurs when the communication
happens between the speaker and the hearer. Therefore, it can be seen whether the communication is formal or informal. The second rule is deference which means the
hearer has a choice to do what is said by the speaker. The speaker realizes that the hearer
’s superiority is beyond the speaker. Hedging, question intonation, and tag questioning are applicable in this rule. It is because the speaker is not really sure
about the assertion of the speech he produces and he leaves the hearer with open decision. The last rule is camaraderie. It is used to show sympathy. This rule applies
to get a close distance between the speaker and the hearer. Unlike the first rule, camaraderie shows friendliness and makes the hearer feel comfortable to talk with the
speaker Lakoff, 2004:88-90. Holmes 2013:281 also states that men are likely to utilize direct form and it
sounds less polite rather women who tend to occupy direct form lesser in order to get some favour.
By the statements of the experts, gender can show politeness in case of request. The result will provide the differentstrategies of request produced by male
and female participants and further explain the influence of gender in making utterances, in this case request strategies.
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CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
