l. Expressing Politeness
This function aims to show polite manners in conversation. Politeness shows a matter of selecting linguistic forms using appropriate communicative functions
to show status differences Holmes, 1992:285. Malinowski 1923:316 states that words of phatic communion are phrases of politeness considered as a polite talk. It
can be understood that most of the communicative functions are to show one’s
politeness in conversation. Phatic communication that shows politeness are avoiding the silence, starting
a conversation or opening a contact, making chit-chat, keeping talking, expressing solidarity, creating harmony, creating comfort, expressing empathy, expressing
friendship, and expressing respect Jumanto 2014:9. The communicative functions of politeness are all that have been mentioned previously, except
making gossip. It seems impolite to interfere or to gossip one’s private lives.
Actually, gossiping might become something usual for people having close relationship. Even gossiping is not polite talk, it is still considered as phatic talk
because the function is to establish intimacy in communication Tannen, 1990:96.
4. Women and Men’s Conversational Styles
Conversation created by male or female might show different styles. Tannen 1986:125 states that it is because of cross-cultural interaction. It is explained that
culture is a kind of habits and patterns from the past. In addition, different gender is socialized into different culture Holmes, 1995:7. Therefore, it clearly shows
that cultural differences can make women and men interact differently. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Other differences can be the variations in regional speech or matters of usage Frank and Anshen, 1983:25. The variations in regional speech show the
different sound when speaking. Women have high-pitched voices, speak rapidly, and sound emotional. Men have deep and resonant voices, and speak slowly.
Matters of usage show politeness and grammatical form in conversation. It shows that women’s speech is likely more polite and more grammatical than men’s
speech. Other styles can also be
found in women and men’s conversation. Those styles can be in a form of topic, swear word or taboo language, gossip,
interruption, and back-channel response. The description of each style can be seen in the following details.
a. Topic
This style shows that people create conversation by choosing any topic. Frank and Anshen 1983:31 states that conversation is talking about something and
needs topics to discuss. In this sense, topic deals with “the subject matter of conversation, to what the conversation
is about” Haas, 1979:619. In conversation, people might select a certain topic to introduce, develop, or
change the topic Richards, 1980:423. Men and women might also have differences in selecting topic. Coates 2004:128 explains that women and men
certainly discuss different topics. Women’s topic is about people and feeling,
while men’s topics are current issues, travel, and sport. The topics created might not always be successful to be discussed in
conversation. Fishman’s research 1983, quoted in Frank and Anshen 1983:31,
shows the failure of the topics found in conversation. She finds that women have PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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