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2. Minimal Response
From the data, the examples of „minimal response‟ found are in the following three figures:
Figure 4. Example 1 of Minimal Response
Figure 5. Example 2 of Minimal Response
18 Figure 6. Example 3 of Minimal Response
The responses given such as „
well said
’, ‘
so funny
’, and ‘
agree 100
’ were considered as minimal response because they did not give their opinions towards the topic discussed in the
forum. These three expressions also shows how the participants were not interested in what the previous speakers said, either the participants were not interested to response and discuss the
topic further. Karlsson, 2007 Minimal response is a characteristic of male register which is sometimes used by the
speaker alongside with the previous characteristic, the strategy to control the conversation. Minimal responses can be divided into two groups in terms of function. One is to show the
listener‟s agreement and support, encouraging the current speaker to go on. And the other is to interrupt the current speaker and to be dominant in talking Hing, 2009. The using of minimal
response by male speaker is also meant to let the female speaker know that he is not interested in what she has to say Karlsson, 2007. However, from the findings, the using of minimal response
by female speakers also could be found, even the using by female speakers are almost equal as men speaker did. Minimal responses given in forum discussion were mostly to show the
speakers‟ agreement towards the opinion and suggestions proposed by other member of the forum. Hence, minimal response could be concluded as characteristic which could be used by
19
both male and female, as it is a response to show agreement, and the aim of forum discussion is to find an agreement between all members of the forum.
3. Commands
The examples of commands used in conversations can be seen in the following excerpts.
Figure 7. Example 1 of Command
Figure 8. Example 2 of Command
20 Figure 9. Example 3 of Command
Figure 10. Example 4 of Command
The statement in figure 6 was considered as a command because the participant wanted the forum to read the article that supported his opinion. Moreover, the last statement in figure
7could also be considered as a command as the participant asked the previous speaker to try something else, as the previous speaker tried to change the topic of the discussion. On the other
hand, the „command‟ used in figure 8 was when he asked the previous speaker not to give a right-wing opinion. Lastly, the statement given in figure 9 is considered as a command as he
wanted the previous speaker to explain or tell something he did not know. In real society life, men are considered to hold a higher social status than women do
Lakoff, 1975. Along with language as a part of culture and society life, commanding believed usually used by male speaker in a conversation. Moreover, Karlsson 2007 proposes this term as
one of the characteristics in male register. The using of commands in forum discussion usually used by the speakers in asking for opinions and suggestion from the members of the forum, and
sometimes they were used to challenge the members in arguing about the opinions. Based on Lakoff 1975 theory that men have higher status in real social life so they usually use
„command‟ in their language, it is not as it seemed in forum discussion. In this forum discussion,
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the occurrence of „commands‟ usually used by the speakers when the speakers were asking for the
opposition‟s arguments. Thus, the using of this characteristic is in forum discussion is not based on gender, but on who has the role as a leader whether it is male or female.
4. Questions asked
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