GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EXPRESSING POLITENESS IN ENGLISH.
ABSTRACT
Tanjung, Srimaharani. Gender Differences in Expressing Politeness in
English. A Thesis. English Applied Linguistics Study Program.
Postgraduate SchooL State University ofMedan. 2010.
This study presents a research conducted on gender differences in
expressing politeness in English. The main objective was to describe female and
male which have some different strategies in expressing politeness. It was
ronducted by using descriptive research. The sources ofdata were taken from the
students' questionnaires and interviewing. 46 students of the English Department
ofUNIMED were taken as the sample.
The findings indicated that female and male have some different strategies
in expressing politeness because they have difference reasons. For female, they
always expressed politeness by saying some reasons to avoid their responsibility.
That is why they always chose off record strategy in expressing politeness. While
for male, they always expressed politeness by giving appreciation of one's wants
in general or to the expression of similarity between ego's and one's wants.
Therefore, they were dominant to choose positive politeness strategy. In this case,
male and female also showed their different strategies in expressing politeness in
different ways. For female, they dominantly used directive, commissive, and
expressive as their way to express politeness. It described that female always
expressed politeness by requesting, offering, and apolozing to attract their
listener. Meanwhile, for male, they used -commissive and expressive as their way
to express politeness because they always had a commitment to be more polite by
giving promising, offering, thanking, apolozing, and condoling to make their
listeners thought they were responsible when expressing politeness. It was aimed
to protect their face, tried to achieve high social status, and showed modeling
correct behavior.
.ffi
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Background of the Study
Interaction among members of society is done by the use of a language. It
..
means that language as a communication is central to all human existence and
social process. To make the interaction fruitful, a medium of communication is
obviously necessary because communication has an important role to express
some ideas, feelings, thoughts, and intentions. Therefore, it seems impossible to
(io some interaction without using communication.
As time passes, and the world is developing, people tend to commu
with others of different languages, cultural backgrounds and gender. Genoer ana
language are very interesting to be talked because male and female are sometimes
-
claimed as having two different "cultures", "power'' and "status". Basow and
Rubenfeld (2003:34) state that male and female exist in different cultural wor-lds,
which means that male and female belong to different culture of communic tion.
Tannen (1990:12) writes that gender plays important role to be discussed
because it consists of trouble talk, intimacy and emotion as a mechanism for
getting things done, accomplishing instrument tasks, conveying information,
maintaining status and politeness between male and female. It means that gender
difference ca make different mode of communication,
2
Politeness is a way to show the respectful. One will try to be polite with
other people to attract their attention. It means that politeness is very important
rules in communicating, especially to know the position of the speaker. Nasution
(1999:12) states that the level of politeness is fixed by the level of age. Even
wer relation and occupation between the speaker 'and the
...
listener, poUteness relates to community or culture.
Brown and Levinson (1987:101) states that there ar
two types of
politeness namely positive and negative politeness. Positive politeness is the
sphere of redress which is widened to the appreciation of one's wants in general or
to the expression of similarity between ego's and one's wants.
ile, negative
politeness is redressive action addressed to the addressee's negative face; his want
to have his freedom of action unhindered and his attention unimpeded.
Yule (1996:2) states that it is possible to treat politeness as a fiXed
-
concept, as in the idea of polite social behavior or etiquette, within a culture. It
means that it is also possible to specify a number of different general principles
for being polite in social interaction within a particular culture. Some oti
might include being tactful, generous, modest, and sympathetic toward others.
Therefore, it can be assumed that politeness is related to such norms and
principles exist in the society at large. Gender differences in expressing 1>91iteness
has great role in making interaction runs successful. Most of female can deceive
other an expressi_on for respects person when they want to describe in terms of
respects or dcl:erence. For example, when a female is criticized about something
3
community. It means that when criticism is addressed to a woman, she will give
some reasons which sometimes the reasons are uttered impolitely such as, it's not
your business. This utterance is sounded by the female to protect her face.
Therefore, it can raise a conflict over the meanings of politeness itself. In short,
..
politeness must involve a sense of what is said in an interaction to make the
communication run well between male and female. Therefore, this study is very
interesting to discuss because it can help the male and female to make good
communication in the society.
1.2 Tbe Problems of the Study
The problems of the study are formulated as in the following:
1). Why male and female have some different strategies in expressing politeness?
2). In what ways do the male and female show their different strategies in
expressing politeness?
1.3 The Scope of the Problem
In this study, the discussion focus on gender differences in expressing
politeness. Gender plays important roles in some speech acts of human
communication. Therefore, this study is
male and female in expressing politeness.
1.4 The Objectives oftbe Studyj
4
I). to describe the reasons why male and female have some different strategies in
expressing politeness.
2). to find out the ways of the male and female show their different strategies in
expressing politeness .
..
A study on gender differences in expressing P,Oiiteness is very interesting
and challenging especially in the process of studying a language A study on the
politeness will provide a better understanding on how male and emale differences
in expressing politeness. There are some reasons to these differences which guide
the readers to enlarge the knowledge about sociolinguistics.
Ill
>
-
%.
?
93
CHAPTERV
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
.
5.1 Conclusions
After analyzing gender differences in expressing politeness in English, it
can be concluded that:
I) Male and female have some different strategies in expressing politeness
for have difference reasons. For male, they always express
liteness by
giving appreciation of one's wants in general or to the expression of
similarity between ego's and one's wants. Therefore, they are dominant to
choose positive politeness strategy. While For female, they always express
politenesses by saying some reasons to avoid their responsibility.
why they always choose off record in expressing politeness.
2) Male and female show their different strategies in expressing politeness in
different ways. For male, they use commissive and expressive as their way
to express politeness because they always have a commitment to be more
polite by giving promising, offering, thanking, apolozing, and condoling to
make their listeners think they have responsibility in expressing
Meanwhile, for female they are dominant used directive, commissive, and
expressive as their way to express politeness.
..
..
It describes
t female
always express politeness by requesting, offering, and apolozin to attract
their lis ner. It is aimed to I>rotect their face, tty to achieve high social
66
67
5.2 Suggestions
Based on the results of the study, the writer presents the following
suggestions:
1. Students should express politeness strategies when they want to speak to
other people. Due to the fact there are many students who differ in age,
•
culture, religion, etc.
2. Parents shouW give the attention and always express polite language to
their children, because they are the real model of good education.
3. Teachers in schools should be able to teach their students to use polite
language in order to make the politeness become a habitual action.
z
?
93
•
..
REFERENCES
Bailey, K, 1982. Methods of Social REse.arch. London: Macmillan.
..
Basow, S.A and Rubenfeld, K. 2003. Troubles Talk: Efficts of Gender and
Gender. Typing. Sex Roles: a Journal of Research.
..
Borg, W, and M. Gall. 1983. Education Research, New York: Longman:
Brown, P and Levinson, S. 1978. Universal in Language
Phenomena. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Cronbach, K.1954. New Generalisations and Explanations in Language and
Gender REsearch. Pp. 185-203, In Language In Society, 28/2
Ellis, M 1993. An
University.
Oxford
Fasold, B. 1990. Women in Speech their Speech Communication. London:
Longman
Gay, L. 1987. Educational REsearch
Application. Ohio: Merril.
Goffman, E. 1971. Interaction Ritual :Essay on Face to Face Behavior. New
York: Garden City.
Hartman, R. 1972. Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. London : Applied
Science.
Hickerson. 1980. Foundation of Sociolinguistics. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania.
Holmes, J. 1992. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London : Longman.
m
•
Janet, F. 1978. Essentially Speaking: Feminism Nature andDijforence. London:
Routtedge.
Lakoff, R.I973. Language and Women's Place. New York: Harper and Row .
Mackay,
nd Horberger, N. 1996. Sociolinguistics and Language Learning.
,
Cambriqge: Cambridge Univers~
68
69
Merry, V. 2000. An Introduction to Language. New York: Harcourt Brace
College.
Martin, J.R., 1992. English Text: System and Structure. Philadelphia: John
Benjamins.
Nasution, B. 1985. Morfologi Bahasa. Jakarta : P danK
.
Richard, Jack et.al.l985. Dictionary
Linguistics. London: Longman.
Teaching and Applied
Searle, J. 1969. Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge Universit);.
Tannen, D. 1990. You Just Don't Understand:
Conversation. New York: William Morrow.
Men in
Trudgill, P. 1983. Sex, Covert Prestige and Linguistics Change in the
London: Longman.
Yule, G. 1996. The Pragmatics of Politeness in Scientific Articles in "Applied
Linguistics.. New York: Oxford University.
Wardhaugh, C. 1986. Women In Their Speech Communities. London: Longt!lan.
-z
?
Weatherall, A. 2002. Gender, language, Discourse. New York : Routledge.
West, C and Zimmerman, D. 1987. Doing Gender: Gender and Society. 125-151
In Journal of Pragmatics.
m
Tanjung, Srimaharani. Gender Differences in Expressing Politeness in
English. A Thesis. English Applied Linguistics Study Program.
Postgraduate SchooL State University ofMedan. 2010.
This study presents a research conducted on gender differences in
expressing politeness in English. The main objective was to describe female and
male which have some different strategies in expressing politeness. It was
ronducted by using descriptive research. The sources ofdata were taken from the
students' questionnaires and interviewing. 46 students of the English Department
ofUNIMED were taken as the sample.
The findings indicated that female and male have some different strategies
in expressing politeness because they have difference reasons. For female, they
always expressed politeness by saying some reasons to avoid their responsibility.
That is why they always chose off record strategy in expressing politeness. While
for male, they always expressed politeness by giving appreciation of one's wants
in general or to the expression of similarity between ego's and one's wants.
Therefore, they were dominant to choose positive politeness strategy. In this case,
male and female also showed their different strategies in expressing politeness in
different ways. For female, they dominantly used directive, commissive, and
expressive as their way to express politeness. It described that female always
expressed politeness by requesting, offering, and apolozing to attract their
listener. Meanwhile, for male, they used -commissive and expressive as their way
to express politeness because they always had a commitment to be more polite by
giving promising, offering, thanking, apolozing, and condoling to make their
listeners thought they were responsible when expressing politeness. It was aimed
to protect their face, tried to achieve high social status, and showed modeling
correct behavior.
.ffi
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Background of the Study
Interaction among members of society is done by the use of a language. It
..
means that language as a communication is central to all human existence and
social process. To make the interaction fruitful, a medium of communication is
obviously necessary because communication has an important role to express
some ideas, feelings, thoughts, and intentions. Therefore, it seems impossible to
(io some interaction without using communication.
As time passes, and the world is developing, people tend to commu
with others of different languages, cultural backgrounds and gender. Genoer ana
language are very interesting to be talked because male and female are sometimes
-
claimed as having two different "cultures", "power'' and "status". Basow and
Rubenfeld (2003:34) state that male and female exist in different cultural wor-lds,
which means that male and female belong to different culture of communic tion.
Tannen (1990:12) writes that gender plays important role to be discussed
because it consists of trouble talk, intimacy and emotion as a mechanism for
getting things done, accomplishing instrument tasks, conveying information,
maintaining status and politeness between male and female. It means that gender
difference ca make different mode of communication,
2
Politeness is a way to show the respectful. One will try to be polite with
other people to attract their attention. It means that politeness is very important
rules in communicating, especially to know the position of the speaker. Nasution
(1999:12) states that the level of politeness is fixed by the level of age. Even
wer relation and occupation between the speaker 'and the
...
listener, poUteness relates to community or culture.
Brown and Levinson (1987:101) states that there ar
two types of
politeness namely positive and negative politeness. Positive politeness is the
sphere of redress which is widened to the appreciation of one's wants in general or
to the expression of similarity between ego's and one's wants.
ile, negative
politeness is redressive action addressed to the addressee's negative face; his want
to have his freedom of action unhindered and his attention unimpeded.
Yule (1996:2) states that it is possible to treat politeness as a fiXed
-
concept, as in the idea of polite social behavior or etiquette, within a culture. It
means that it is also possible to specify a number of different general principles
for being polite in social interaction within a particular culture. Some oti
might include being tactful, generous, modest, and sympathetic toward others.
Therefore, it can be assumed that politeness is related to such norms and
principles exist in the society at large. Gender differences in expressing 1>91iteness
has great role in making interaction runs successful. Most of female can deceive
other an expressi_on for respects person when they want to describe in terms of
respects or dcl:erence. For example, when a female is criticized about something
3
community. It means that when criticism is addressed to a woman, she will give
some reasons which sometimes the reasons are uttered impolitely such as, it's not
your business. This utterance is sounded by the female to protect her face.
Therefore, it can raise a conflict over the meanings of politeness itself. In short,
..
politeness must involve a sense of what is said in an interaction to make the
communication run well between male and female. Therefore, this study is very
interesting to discuss because it can help the male and female to make good
communication in the society.
1.2 Tbe Problems of the Study
The problems of the study are formulated as in the following:
1). Why male and female have some different strategies in expressing politeness?
2). In what ways do the male and female show their different strategies in
expressing politeness?
1.3 The Scope of the Problem
In this study, the discussion focus on gender differences in expressing
politeness. Gender plays important roles in some speech acts of human
communication. Therefore, this study is
male and female in expressing politeness.
1.4 The Objectives oftbe Studyj
4
I). to describe the reasons why male and female have some different strategies in
expressing politeness.
2). to find out the ways of the male and female show their different strategies in
expressing politeness .
..
A study on gender differences in expressing P,Oiiteness is very interesting
and challenging especially in the process of studying a language A study on the
politeness will provide a better understanding on how male and emale differences
in expressing politeness. There are some reasons to these differences which guide
the readers to enlarge the knowledge about sociolinguistics.
Ill
>
-
%.
?
93
CHAPTERV
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
.
5.1 Conclusions
After analyzing gender differences in expressing politeness in English, it
can be concluded that:
I) Male and female have some different strategies in expressing politeness
for have difference reasons. For male, they always express
liteness by
giving appreciation of one's wants in general or to the expression of
similarity between ego's and one's wants. Therefore, they are dominant to
choose positive politeness strategy. While For female, they always express
politenesses by saying some reasons to avoid their responsibility.
why they always choose off record in expressing politeness.
2) Male and female show their different strategies in expressing politeness in
different ways. For male, they use commissive and expressive as their way
to express politeness because they always have a commitment to be more
polite by giving promising, offering, thanking, apolozing, and condoling to
make their listeners think they have responsibility in expressing
Meanwhile, for female they are dominant used directive, commissive, and
expressive as their way to express politeness.
..
..
It describes
t female
always express politeness by requesting, offering, and apolozin to attract
their lis ner. It is aimed to I>rotect their face, tty to achieve high social
66
67
5.2 Suggestions
Based on the results of the study, the writer presents the following
suggestions:
1. Students should express politeness strategies when they want to speak to
other people. Due to the fact there are many students who differ in age,
•
culture, religion, etc.
2. Parents shouW give the attention and always express polite language to
their children, because they are the real model of good education.
3. Teachers in schools should be able to teach their students to use polite
language in order to make the politeness become a habitual action.
z
?
93
•
..
REFERENCES
Bailey, K, 1982. Methods of Social REse.arch. London: Macmillan.
..
Basow, S.A and Rubenfeld, K. 2003. Troubles Talk: Efficts of Gender and
Gender. Typing. Sex Roles: a Journal of Research.
..
Borg, W, and M. Gall. 1983. Education Research, New York: Longman:
Brown, P and Levinson, S. 1978. Universal in Language
Phenomena. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Cronbach, K.1954. New Generalisations and Explanations in Language and
Gender REsearch. Pp. 185-203, In Language In Society, 28/2
Ellis, M 1993. An
University.
Oxford
Fasold, B. 1990. Women in Speech their Speech Communication. London:
Longman
Gay, L. 1987. Educational REsearch
Application. Ohio: Merril.
Goffman, E. 1971. Interaction Ritual :Essay on Face to Face Behavior. New
York: Garden City.
Hartman, R. 1972. Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. London : Applied
Science.
Hickerson. 1980. Foundation of Sociolinguistics. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania.
Holmes, J. 1992. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London : Longman.
m
•
Janet, F. 1978. Essentially Speaking: Feminism Nature andDijforence. London:
Routtedge.
Lakoff, R.I973. Language and Women's Place. New York: Harper and Row .
Mackay,
nd Horberger, N. 1996. Sociolinguistics and Language Learning.
,
Cambriqge: Cambridge Univers~
68
69
Merry, V. 2000. An Introduction to Language. New York: Harcourt Brace
College.
Martin, J.R., 1992. English Text: System and Structure. Philadelphia: John
Benjamins.
Nasution, B. 1985. Morfologi Bahasa. Jakarta : P danK
.
Richard, Jack et.al.l985. Dictionary
Linguistics. London: Longman.
Teaching and Applied
Searle, J. 1969. Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge Universit);.
Tannen, D. 1990. You Just Don't Understand:
Conversation. New York: William Morrow.
Men in
Trudgill, P. 1983. Sex, Covert Prestige and Linguistics Change in the
London: Longman.
Yule, G. 1996. The Pragmatics of Politeness in Scientific Articles in "Applied
Linguistics.. New York: Oxford University.
Wardhaugh, C. 1986. Women In Their Speech Communities. London: Longt!lan.
-z
?
Weatherall, A. 2002. Gender, language, Discourse. New York : Routledge.
West, C and Zimmerman, D. 1987. Doing Gender: Gender and Society. 125-151
In Journal of Pragmatics.
m