15 [6]
In Bex’s room 00:54:42
– 00:55:08 Bex
:
looking at the dress
It’s perfect. All I have to do now is buy a new bag.
Suze : Oh my God.
walking
to Bex’s closet Bex, there has to be a bag somewhere in this room.
Bex : Suze, do not open that closet
but Suze opens that closet and makes the clothes scattered around her
Suze
Bex saving Suze from the pile of clothes
Suze Suze Suze, are you th
ere? Oh, oh… Oh my God. Suze
:
You didn’t throw anything away, բdid you?
Bex :
I’m sorry. In this case the writer believed that the tag
did you
was used as a facilitative tag. The falling intonation applied to the tag also indicated that Suze was
“reasonably sure that her utterance was correct
” since she found there were still so many clothes kept in Bex’s closet Allen, 1954, p. 103. It also indicated Suze “merely
expected agreement ” from Bex Thomson Martinet, 1986, p. 114. It was
proved from the response given by Bex “I’m sorry”. This response showed Bex
admitted her guilt and indirectly said “Yes” to Suze’s utterance which also meant
that she agreed that she did not throw her clothes away. On the other hand, Bex’s
response was also proof that the tag was a facilitative or politeness device since it “provided an easy entrée into the conversation” Holmes, 2001, pp. 288-289.
c. Tag Question Used as a Softening Tag
The last function of tag question found in the movie was as a softening tag.
The example is in dialogue [7].
[7] In a restroom of Suze’s office
00:03:54 – 00:04:12
Suze : Why can’t you get changed in your own office?
Bex : And let everyone at Gardening Today know I secretly
16 arranged an interview at Alette magazine? Did I mention I
have an interview at Alette magazine?
smiling happily
Suze : Only about a billion times. OK. Bex, it’s kinda leap,
բisn’t it? You know, gardening to fashion. Mean, not that
I meant you couldn’t do it. Dialogue [7] tells that Suze did not agree with Bex
’s plan to move to Alette the fashion magazine. For Suze, Alette and Gardening Today were quite distinct from
each other. Therefore, Suze said “it’s kinda leap” which was a criticism for Bex.
In this case, the writer believed that Suze did not want to upset Bex by saying the criticism so that she used a tag question with a falling intonation. The tag question
used by Suze was to soften her criticism. As said by Holmes 1995 that “a
softening tag attenuates or mitigates the potential negative impact of the criticism”
as cited in Eckert Ginet, 2003, p. 168. Therefore, by using this tag Suze was able to produce more acceptable criticism. The writer also found that the use of
tag question by Suze showed that she cared about Bex’s feelings. It is in line with
Holmes 2001 who says “a softening tag functions to reflect concern for
someone’s feelings” p. 289. Thus, it is clear that in this case the tag question was used as a softening tag.
2. The Use of Rising Intonation on Declaratives Uptalk by the Two
Female Main Characters in
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Movie
Rising intonation on declarative is the use of a high-rising tone at the end of a sentence Eckert Ginet, 2003, p. 173. When a high-rising tone is applied to
a sentence which is a declarative answer, the declarative answer becomes a question Lakoff, 2004, p. 77. From these explanations, it can be concluded that
rising intonation on declarative is turning a declarative answer into a question by PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
