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between the participants with equal status. The example from The Day After Tomorrow is as follows:
Tom Gomez : Jack? I know you have a good at rubbing people the
wrong way ... but why, why would you aggravate the vice president?
Jack Hall : Because my 17-year-old kid knows more science than
he does. In the conversation above, Tom gives a warning to Jack directly. Since
Tom is superior to Jack, he delivers his warning to Jack in a direct way. From that example, it can be concluded that someone who has a higher status will
deliver his or her negative utterances directly dealing with the mistake done by his or her addressee, who has less power than he does.
3. The Formality Scale Relating to the Setting or Type of Interaction
The formality scale is as follows: Formal
High formality
Informal Low
formality Holmes, 2001: 9
This scale accounts for speech variation in different setting or contexts. Thus, this scale is useful in assessing the influence of the social setting or type of
interaction on language choice. This scale describes that the language use is influenced by the formality or informality of the setting. It is often that the degrees
of formality are largely determined by solidarity and status relationships.
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For example from The Day After Tomorrow shows that the official languages used by the United Nations delegates in global warming conference
are the appropriate varieties for formal situation in such of occasions.
4. Two Functional Scales Relating to the Purposes or the Topic of Interaction
The referential and affective function scales are as follows: Referential
High Low
Information Information
Content Content
Affective Low
High Affective
Affective Content
Content Holmes, 2001: 10
The function of interaction is also an important influence on the linguistic form. The linguistic features in some interactions are strongly influenced by the
kind of information they need to convey. The basic functions of language in all communities are referential and affective or social meaning. The referential
function serves that language can convey objective information of a referential kind. The affective function refers to language as a means of expressing how
someone is feeling. Basically, the more referentially oriented an interaction is, the less it tends to express the feelings of the speaker. The example from The Day
After Tomorrow is as follows:
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Jack Hall : Mankind survived the last ice age. Were certainly
capable of surviving this one. All depends on whether or not we are able to learn from our mistakes. I sure as hell
would like a chance to learn from mine. Jason Evans
: You did everything you could. Jack Hall
: I was thinking about Sam. Jack Hall and Jason Evans are in the journey to save Sam while the world
at that time hangs in its balance as global warming brings on a world natural disaster. What said by Jack “I was thinking about Sam” serves as affective
function since it has affective content. Thus, his utterances convey an affective in function rather than the important new information due to the content of that
utterance which tells about what father feels about his son. These four social dimensions are useful in analyzing the sociolinguistics
variation in many different types of speech communities and in different contexts. Hence, in this research this four dimensions are going to be used as element to
know how and why the speaker use certain types of elicitation with respect to the participants’ statuses and roles in the film entitled The Day After Tomorrow.
D.
Domains of Language Use
In a larger speech community, there may occur some different dialects or styles used in some specific settings, topics, and by certain participants. The
variety chosen, generally, is used in conveying certain social meaning, and in the relation to social dimensions of communication. It is used to conduct an
appropriate social interaction. Fishman in Holmes 2001: 21 states that there are many typical interactions that are relevant in describing patterns of code
choice in many speech communities. Fishman in Fasold proposed that there are
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certain institutional contexts called domains, in which one language variety is more likely to be appropriate than other. Holmes 1992: 26 defines domain as a
very general concept, which draws on three important social factors in code choice, namely participants, setting, and topic. The study of domain has proved
very useful in describing language choice in typical interactions in large speech communities.
From the definition of domain above, Fishman in Holmes, 2001: 21 illustrates five domains, which can be identified in many communities. They are
family, friendship, religion, employment and education. The following example taken from The Day After Tomorrow may help to deepen understanding of
domains: Frank Harris
: Were at 26 feet. Jack Hall
: You let Jason operate the drill?
Frank Harris : Yeah, he can handle it.
Although Jack and Frank are officially superior and subordinate, they are also friends. Since they work in the field there is no need to act formally therefore
they speak as friends. The setting of this conversation, itself, is in Larsen B Ice self, Antarctica where they do a research. In this conversation, Frank Harris uses
less formal language and speaks in a very relax manner to Jack. Here, Jack tries to confirm whether Frank lets Jason to operate the drill. Meanwhile, Jason, their
subordinate, can be said still new in handling that machine. That is why, Jack tries to make sure that Frank already consider about this matter by eliciting a
confirmation to him. It is clear that this conversation happens in an employment domain.
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E. Pragmatics
