66
Table 11. Coding of Lexical Modifications in Requests Lexical
modifications Strategies
Description and example
Lexical downgraders
LD Politeness marker
Polm
‘Excuse me’, ‘please’, ‘Sir’ or ‘Miss’. Downtoner
Down
‘Well……you know, but…. …then’. Subjectivizer
Subj
‘I think… I feel… I believe…’ Understater
Unds
‘a little’ and ‘some’ Appealer
Appl
: ‘……., OK?’ Honorific
Hon honorific device e.g. Mr.Mr. Ms.
honorific addressee speech level formal or informal Hesitation marker
Hesm
‘well…. uh….’ Delimiter
Delm
‘only only once’
Hedge Hedg
‘possiblyprobably’, ‘perhaps’, ‘seem’, ‘just’, etc. Lexical
Upgdraders LU
Commitment indicator Comm
‘definitely’, ‘surely’, etc. Repetition of
request Rept
‘Come here Come here quickly’ Time intensifier
Time
‘right now’, ‘hurriedly’, ‘quickly’, etc.
Meanwhile, syntactic downgraders were related to the using of three syntactical modifications of requests. The codings are presented in table 12 below.
Table 12. Coding of Syntactical Modifications in Requests
Syntactic downgraders
SD
Strategies Description and example
Conditional Cond
‘if…….’ Reduplication of
verb Redp
‘chit-chat’ Interrogative
Intrg
Using a ‘?’ as question mark
d. External modifications supportive moves
The last strategy were external modifications. The external modifications consisted of downgrading external modifications i.e., preparatory, grounder, cost
minimizer, promise of reward, apology, humbling oneself, self-introduction, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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gratitude, begging for help, sweetener, disarmer, asking hearer’s opinion, and joking and upgrading external modifications i.e., reprimanding, confirmation of
request, and moralizing. The coding of the external modifications are displayed in table 13.
Table 13. Coding of External Modifications in Requests External modifications
Strategies Description and example
Downgrading external modifications
DEM Preparator
Prep
‘I have something to say to you’ or ‘May I ask you something?’
Grounder Grnd
‘I lost my wallet, can you lend me some money?’ or ‘There is a wedding at 3 o’clock,
so come by 11 o’clock’. Cost minimizer
Cost
‘I will return it to you tomorrow’ and ‘It won’t take long’.
Promise of reward Prom
‘Do me a favor this time’, ‘allow me to treat you’ and ‘I will treat you’.
Apology Apol
‘Sorry’ and ‘I am sorry, but…’ Humbling oneself
Humb
‘I think I’m not capable of .....’ Self-introduction
Intrd
‘I am a student of Beijing University’ and ‘I am from the Management Department’
Gratitude Grat
‘Thank you for your cooperation’ and ‘I’d appreciate it if you could help me’.
Begging for help Beg
‘I beg you’ Sweetener
Sweet
‘I know you are very good at making money’ and ‘No one can do this work as well as you’
Disarmer Disa
‘I know you don’t have time, but…’ and ‘I know it is very difficult, but…’
Asking the hearer’s opinion Askop
‘How about it?’, ‘Is that OK to you?’, and ‘What do you think?’
Joking Joke
‘I don’t want to let you move…’ Note: the boss said the sentence tongue in cheek
Upgrading external modifications
UEM Reprimanding
Repr
‘Why can only you do these?’ and ‘This one is wrong. Don’t you know?’
Confirmation of request
Conf
‘Confirm that document again. Are you clear about what I said?’ and ‘You should hand it
by tomorrow. When can you do it?’ Moralizing
Moral
‘Is your behavior appropriate?’ and ‘This is good for everyone, so…’