A study of students` ways in addressing their lecturers in Sanata Dharma University - USD Repository

  A STUDY OF STUDENTS’ WAYS IN ADDRESSING THEIR LECTURERS IN SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letter

  By

  Gisela Rachel Student number: 06 4214 070 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF ENGLISH LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

  A STUDY OF STUDENTS’ WAYS IN ADDRESSING THEIR LECTURERS IN SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letter

  By

  Gisela Rachel Student number: 06 4214 070 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF ENGLISH LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Gisela Rachel Nomer Mahasiswa : 064214070 Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah yang berjudul:

  

A STUDY OF STUDENTS’ WAYS IN ADDRESSING THEIR

LECTURERS IN SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

  Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Ssnata Dharma hak untuk meyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 16 November 2010 Yang Menyatakan (Gisela Rachel)

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

  I declare that the thesis I have written does not contain any works or parts of the works of other people, except those cited in the quotations as any academic paper should.

  Yogyakarta, 16 November 2010

  Gisela Rachel

  

I PRAISE YOU BECAUSE I AM FEARFULLY

AND WONDERFULLY MADE; YOUR WORKS

ARE WONDERFUL, I KNOW THAT FULL

WELL.

  

PSALM 139:14

  I dedicated this thesis to

• Jesus Christ • My great family
• My beloved boyfriend

   

  

ABSTRACT

  GISELA RACHEL. A Study of Students’ Ways in Addressing Their Lecturers

  

in Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters,

Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2010.

  When we communicate with other people, we must address them with the right way but sometime we make some mistakes. The usage of addressing word is simple but it is important because from the way we address someone, it shows our respect to other. The addressing words have important role in English language so that the writer thinks that this phenomenon is important to be analyzed. The study had two objectives: to find out how the students of English Letters in Sanata Dharma University address their teachers, and find out how these ways of . addressing are seen from the politeness principles

  As the writer deals with people’s live experience, the writer did this research by using humanistic interaction in the setting where the participants possessed the phenomenon. In this study, a survey method was applied. The method is the most appropriate type of research to obtain information from samples. The method is relevant and the best method because of its simplicity. It also has an undeniable value as a means of gathering the data. The sample of this analysis was cluster sampling in which the writer asked 30 students to fill questions about how to address their lecturer in English’s way. The respondents are students which start their study in 2006-2008. In collecting the data, the study applied a questionnaire which consisted of the students’ background information, the students’ perceptions toward the address terms. The secondary data are taken from books, dictionary and other written resources. Since this study concerned with sociolinguistics, the method will help us in adding our knowledge of language variation and language use in society, especially in term of addressing words.

  From the first questions about the students’ knowledge of English, most of the students are good in English, the correspondents are 73,33% of the whole data, while the students whose English are very good just has 26,66%. No respondents whose English are bad. In the analysis, the writer explains the norms of politeness that consist of three rules. There are rules of formality, rules of hesitancy and rules of equality. The addressing words of the students never broke those three rules. Therefore, the addressing words of Sanata Dharma’s students are considered to be polite.

  The suggestions proposed in this study are directed to the English lecturers and English learners. Those suggestions also remind us that politeness and address terms are very important in our daily lives. By considering the politeness and the appropriate address terms, we show honor and respect to each other.

  

ABSTRAK

  GISELA RACHEL. A Study of Students’ Ways in Addressing Their Lecturers

  

in Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas

Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2010.

  Saat kita berkomunikasi dengan orang lain, kita harus menyapa mereka dengan cara yang tepat, tetapi terkadang kita membuat kesalahan. Penggunaan kata sapaan adalah sangat sederhana tapi penting karena dari cara kita menyapa seseorang, itu menunjukkan rasa hormat kita kepada yang lain. Kata-kata sapaan memiliki peranan yang penting dalam Bahasa Indonesia, oleh karena itu penulis berpikir bahwa fenomena ini penting untung dianalisis. Studi ini memiliki dua tujuan yaitu untuk menemukan bagaimana cara mahasiswa-mahasiswa Sastra Inggris Sanata Dharma menyapa dosen-dosen mereka, dan kemudian bagaimana cara penyapaan ini dilihat dari prinsip kesopanan.

  Karena penulis mengkaitkan ini dengan pengalaman hidup orang lain, penulis melakukan penelitian ini dengna menggunakan interaksi kemanusiaan dalam situasi di mana orang yang bersangkutan mengalami fenomena tersebut. Dalam studi ini, metode penelitian digunakan. Metode ini adalah tipe metode penelitian yang paling baik untuk memperoleh informasi dari sampel. Metode ini sesuai dan merupakan metode terbaik karena kesederhanaanya. Metode ini juga memiliki nilai yang tak diragukan karena memperoleh data dari hasil pengumpulan data. Sampel dari analisis ini adalah cluster sampling dimana penulis menanyai 30 mahasiswa untuk mengisi pertanyaan-pertanyaan mengenai bagaimana menyapa dosen mereka dalam bahasa Inggris. Responden terdiri dari mahasiswa yang memulai studi mereka pada tahun 2006-2008. Dalam pengumpulan data, studi ini menggunakan kuesioner yang terdiri dari latar belakang para mahasiswa dan pandangan para mahasiswa mengenai istilah sapaan. Data kedua didapatkan dari buku, kamus dan data tertulis lainnya. Karena studi ini berkatian dengan ilmu sosiolinguistik, metode yang digunakan akan menolong kita untuk menambah pengetaguan kita tentang keragama bahasa dan penggunaan bahasa dalam masyarakat, terutama dalam istilah kata sapaan.

  Dari pertanyaan pertama mengenai pengetahuan mahasiswa akan bahasa Inggris, kebanyakan mahasiswa baik dalam bahasa Inggris, jumlah dari mereka adalah 73,33% dari keseluruhan data, sementara mahasiswa yang sangat baik dalam bahasa Inggris ada 26,66%. Tidak ada mahasiswa yang bahasa Inggrisnya buruk. Dalam analisis, penulis menjelaskan tentang standarisasi kesopanan yang terdiri dari tiga aturan yaitu aturan formalitas, aturan keseganan, dan aturan kesetaraan. Kata-kata sapaan dari mahasiswa tidak pernah melanggar ketiga aturan tersebut. Oleh karena itu, penggunaan kata sapaan di Universitas Sanata Dharma tergolong sopan.

  Saran dalam penulisan ini ditujukan untuk para dosen dan para mahasiswa. Saran-saran tersebut juga mengingatkan kita bahwa norma kesopanan dan kata sapaan sangat penting di dalam kehidupan kita sehari-hari. Dengan

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE …..…………………………………………………………… i

APPROVAL PAGE …………………………………………………………. ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……………………………………………………… iii

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN ………………………………………… iv

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ……………………………………… v

MOTTO PAGE …………………………………………………………… vi

DEDICATION PAGE …………………………………………………… vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………….. viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………… x

LIST OF TABLE ………………………………………………………… xii

ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………….. xiii

ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………… xiv

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………… 1 A. Background of the Study …………………………………………… 1 B. Problem Formulation …………………………………………….. 5 C. Objectives of the Study …………………………………………… 5 D. Definition of Terms ……………………………………………….. 5 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ……………………………… 6 A. Review of Related Studies …………………………………………… 6 B. Review of Related Theories …………………………………………. 8 1. Theory of Politeness …………………………………………… 8 2. Politeness Principles …………………………………………… 10 3. Interference of Mother Tongue ……………………………… 14 4. Terms of Address …………………………………………… 15 C. Theoretical Framework …………………………………………… 16 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ………………………………………. 18 A. Object of the Study ………………………………………………….. 18 B. Method of the Study ………………………………………………… 19 1. Sampling ………………………………………………………. 19 2. Data Collection ………………………………………………… 21 3. Data Analysis ………………………………………………… 22 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ………………………………………………. 23 A. Descriptions of the Data …………………………………………… 23 B. The Address Words of the Students Address Their Lecturers …… 27 C. Discussion ………………………………………………………….. 42 1. The Ways of the Students Address Their Lecturers ………….. 42 2. The Address Terms Seen From the Politeness Principles ……. 46

  

BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………… 52

APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………... 54

  LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Total Respondents ………………………………………… 24

Table 4.2: Definition of Address Term in Semester 5 ……………… 24

Table 4.3: Definition of Address Term in Semester 7 ……………… 25

Table 4.4: Definition of Address Term in Semester 9 ……………… 25

Table 4.5: Address Words of the Students of Female Lecturers in Situation1………………………………………………………. 28 Table 4.6: Address Words of the Students of Male Lecturers in Situation 1……………………………………………………… 30 Table 4.7: Address Words of the Students of Female Lecturers in Situation 2…………………………………………………… 31 Table 4.8: Address Words of the Students of Male Lecturers in Situation 2…………………………………………………… 33 Table 4.9: Address Words of the Students of Female Lecturers in Situation 3………………………………………………… 35 Table 4.10: Address Words of the Students of Male Lecturers in Situation 3…......................................................................... 37 Table 4.11: Address Words of the Students of Female Lecturers in Situation 4………………………………………………….. 38 Table 4.12: Address Words of the Students of Male Lecturers in Situation 4…........................................................................ 40

  

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  With the accomplishment of this thesis, she would like to thank her Lord, who is watching her from above and showing the right direction in her life, so she can realize what she has dreamt of. She also thanks Him for giving her people that have helped her during this study.

  She would like to give her special grateful for her advisor, Dr. Fr. B. Alip,

  

M.Pd., M.A. who has led her to get valuable knowledge and helped her to finish

  this thesis. He is one of the best lecturers that she ever found. He has always given her advice, guidance and spirit patiently to finish her thesis.

  She is also grateful to all the lecturers for giving her knowledge and guidance during her study in Sanata Dharma University. Her appreciation is expressed to Sanata Dharma University’s staff and librarians, especially Mbak Nik in the secretariat office of Sanata Dharma University.

  She feels deeply grateful to her beloved father and mother for the uncountable supports, morally and financially, and also for the love, care and prayers.

  The greatest affection is offered to her beloved boyfriend Andrew Poetra

  

Suryo Nugroho. He always gives her support and encouragement from the

beginning of her study until the completion of this thesis.

  The writer is fully aware that she really needs her friends, so she would

  

Damay Rotua, Pricillia Noviani, Yemima Anggraini Pribadi, Dynasty Tzin,

Andry Gani Widjaja and Linda Valentina Budiman. They are very good

  friends that always do many things together.

  Finally, the writer would thank her relatives and other people that she can not mention one by one. She thanks them for their help.

  Gisela Rachel

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of Study Human needs communication with other people to make their relationship. When two or more people communicate with each other in speech, they do something

  

that we call a language. As a human, we need to talk to other people and we need

language as the tool. It is like a statement said by Fromkin and Roadman (1988: 19-

23), they state that wherever human exists, language also exists.

  Although we do not know when, where, and how language began but at least

we can speculate why language began. Language began because human needed an

efficient communication for building a relationship with each other. In other words,

the function of language is to convey messages because by using language we can tell

what we feel and think, also understand other’s feelings, emotions and thoughts.

  Nowadays many citizens from a country can speak more than one language.

Such as, Indonesian is able to speak English and other languages. As time goes by,

language is developing, for example English. English is a very popular language in

the world and English serves as an international language. Most of countries can

speak English, including Indonesia.

  In Indonesia, English is one of the subjects of the study in school. Not only is

it a school subject but it is also used in daily conversation. Sometimes we use two

languages to communicate with other people. For example, Indonesian uses English

  Speaking English is not only about how to use the proper grammar in

conversation. To use language effectively, in this case is English, people need to

understand the culture in which the language is spoken. Sometimes we do not use the

right grammar, pronunciation and words.

  English learners often feel confused when they face the situation in which

they should address people properly. The way in addressing people in writing and in

speaking is different. Most do not know how to call others, for examples: a girl does

not know how to address her boyfriend's parents or a mother does not know how to

call her children's teacher. Not a few people directly ask such a question: “How

should I call you?" But this question is awkward for the native English because it is

like you ask them to mention their status or position, such as age, job, education,

religion and even marital status.

  It is difficult to learn exactly how to address people because there will always

be some people and some professions that need a formal condition. There are many

factors that can influence the way people communicate in other languages, such as

the mother tongue language and the tradition and culture of a country. Those factors

can make a country differs from other country. The culture and tradition of a country

can influence how they communicate. Indonesian has her own culture and it

influences people when they have conversation with other. When we communicate

with other people, sometimes we must address them because addressing people can

show our politeness to others. In English there are many ways to address someone.

  

also show the status of a woman or man, the marital status and also show that

someone is older than the speaker.

  In the Indonesian language, the addressing word is less than English. We only

have addressing terms such as Bapak and Ibu. Sometimes these addressing terms

cannot show the marital status or the status of someone, because sometimes

Indonesian people use the addressing word just to differentiate between man and

woman. There is no specification to decide if the man or woman is married or not.

We can find a lot of examples of the usage of addressing word, for example the usage

of addressing word by students in a school. Students must call their teacher with

addressing terms. For example in Indonesia, we can take some examples of students

in Indonesia, especially in English Letters, Sanata Dharma University. When students

wants to communicate with their teachers, they should address the teachers with an

addressing word, such as, Miss, Ma’am, and Sir, while in Indonesia we use Bapak or

Ibu . Many students in this faculty do not call their teacher in appropriate way. For

instance, when they call Miss Anna, sometimes the students call her in Indonesian

way like Bu Anna. Many students do not realize if it is wrong. They just address their

teacher like in Indonesian way although they use English.

  The culture of a country can influence our language especially when

addressing someone who is older than us. Sometimes when we use other language we

make some mistakes. It can give influence when we use English. For instance, in the

English language we said “Miss’ with the last name, but in Indonesian, we said “Ibu”

  

lecturer (for example: Miss Budiman) as Miss Linda which the right way is Miss

Budiman . In fact, if the students call her Miss Budiman, it will sound strange. Many

students never call their teacher with the English culture. This phenomenon happens

because many students are Indonesian and they are still affected by the Indonesian

culture. They often call their teacher with ‘Ibu’ then the call name. The students just

change the word ‘Ibu’ with ‘Miss’, but they do not realize if they should change the

nick name with the last name.

  The usage of addressing word is simple but it is very important to be

analyzed, because from the way we address someone, it shows our respect to others.

  

The writer thinks that this phenomenon is very important for being analyzed because

the addressing terms have important role in our daily life.

  We must understand the situation and the culture of a language that we use.

That is why the Sociolinguistics point of view is needed for analyzing this study.

Sociolinguistic can be defined as a branch of linguistics that is concern with language

and social context. This analysis is related with many people that are considered as

social context.

  Brown and Levinson (1978) provides a way in investigating cultural

differences in conversational interaction. Politeness is usually influenced by the

culture of the community where the language is spoken.

  Finally, we have to consider the politeness principle when we communicate

with other people. We should know the right usage of the other language, as English,

  

when we communicate to other people. It is very important because this phenomenon

happens very often in our daily life.

  B. Problem Formulation Based on the background of the study, the writer formulated two problems formulations in this research. The problems are:

  

1. How do the students of English Letters in Sanata Dharma University address

their teachers?

2. How are these ways of addressing seen from the politeness principles?

  C. Objectives of the Study In this analysis the writer intended to find out how this phenomenon happened

in Sanata Dharma University. Then, the writer also intended to analyze this

phenomenon seen from the politeness principles.

  D. Definition of Terms There is a term that should be described clearly in order to understand the title

and the problem formulation of this study. The terms are politeness principles and

address term.

  1. Politeness Principles The term of politeness is used to refer to the way of certain language

  

relationship. In brief, Lakoff (1973) points out that in a conversation, the participants

have to obey three rules, in order that our utterances will be regarded as polite. Those

rules can be clarified into: rules of formality, rules of hesistancy and rules of equality.

  2. Address Terms According to Wales (1989:9) address terms are forms used to refer to, or to

name a person directly in speech or writting. They include titles (Your Majesty),

kinship terms (mother, mum), endearments and insults (honey, bitch), first names

(Susan), surnames (White), titles and last names (Mrs. White).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part is the review of

  related studies. The second part is the review of related theories that will support the analysis. The last part is the theoretical framework to show the relation among the theories and how it is applied in this study.

A. Review of Related Studies

  Fennell (2001:162) stated that a first name could use by sisters and brothers and first plus last name by intimate friends. When people addressed someone for the first time they used the highest title the other person could merit in order to be polite. Sometimes we used titles and occupational terms in direct speech.

  Many languages have not been under consideration in linguistic politeness. Linguistic theories, including the theory of politeness, have been applied to all languages, especially English. The study of politeness can be done under the scope of sociolinguistics. There were some researches on politeness which is related to the topic of this study that was Pujiastuti’s thesis titled The Strategy of

  

Politeness among the Ninth Semester Students of the English Language Education

Study Program, Sanata Dharma University, which is written in 1997. The thesis

  is about politeness strategies among the English-speaking Indonesian students perception toward the strategies of politeness used in Javanese, Indonesia and English and then analyzes the students’ desirability in choosing the strategy of politeness in English conversation.

  According to Pujiastuti, there is no significant difference of the student perception toward the strategies of politeness used in Javanese, Indonesian and English strategies of politeness. The students follow the idea of Brown and Levinson (1978) about the universality of politeness systems. The strategy of politeness applied in Javanese can be applied in Indonesian or English. This fact shows that the students transfer the knowledge and experience they get in their native language into target language. The strategy of politeness is used by students in English conversation. Most of them apply negative politeness strategy, the rest use other politeness strategies. It can be said that the students have the ability in applying their knowledge of the target language, by producing polite utterances according to different situations.

  The second related thesis of this research was written by Pangarsa, titled A

  

Study of English Language Politeness Strategies in Daily Conversation as Shown

in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House , which is written in 2007. This thesis has the same

  perception about politeness. According to Pangarsa, being polite means expressing respect towards the people to whom the speaker-listener is talking to and avoiding offending them. This thesis helps the writer to understand more, that politeness is important in our lives. In Pangarsa research, he tried to analyze the politeness in the daily conversation shown in A Doll House. Besides in this research the writer tried to analyze the politeness in education environment among the students in Sanata Dharma University The third related studies were the essay written in LLT Journal, titled

  

Brown and Levinson’s Model of Politeness Strategies in Ernest Hemingway’s Hill

Like White Elephants (169-179). In this essay, politeness is a useful strategy to

  maintain smooth conversation. From the view point of pragmatics, politeness is closely relate to concept of face, where everybody is concerned to some extent with maintaining their public self image, need to be respected by others. This essay has the same perception with the writer analysis. Politeness could maintain the conversation become smoother. In this research the conversation in between the students and the lecturers.

  In this thesis, the writer has the same topic with the other related studies that is about politeness. However, the previous studies discussed the politeness strategy when the present writer discusses the politeness principle of the addressing words.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Politeness

  Politeness refers to behavior which actively expresses positive concern for others, as well as non-imposing distancing behavior. Holmes (1996) explains that politeness is an expression of concern for the feelings of others. In other words, politeness may take the form of an expression of good will as well as the more simplest terms, politeness consists of this recognition of the listener and his or her rights in the situation.

  In any language, politeness is a complicated thing which we often deal with. Being polite means expressing respect towards the person whom we are talking to and avoiding offending them. It is difficult because it requires an understanding of both the language and also the social and the cultural values of the community. People often do not understand just how complicated it is because people tend to think of politeness simply as a matter of saying “please” and “thank you” in the right place and the right time (Holmes, 2001:267). In fact, it requires a great more deal than the superficial politeness routines that parents explicitly teach their children.

  According to Wardhaugh (1992), politeness itself is socially prescribed. It does not mean that we must always be polite. We can be impolite to others on occasion. Impoliteness depends on the existence of standards, or norms, of politeness. Geertz (1960, p.248) says “it is nearly impossible to say anything without indicating the social relationships between the speaker and listener in terms of status and familiarity. The Japanese are also always described as being an extremely ‘polite’ people. Politeness seems to be very important principle in language use, we must consider others’ feeling.

  From those theories, the writer understands that politeness is needed to maintain our relationship with other people. People may express concern for others’ feeling in various ways. Politeness is something we need to consider when people will not feel comfortable having a communication with us. Politeness is also needed to keep other people’s feeling. Politeness means behaving or speaking in a way that is correct for the social situation we are in, and showing that we are careful to consider other people's needs and feelings. Here is stated clearly that people will feel respected if we are polite.

  2.    Politeness Principle

  Some experts who discuss politeness principles are Lakoff (1973), Fraser (1978), Brown and Levinson (1978) and Leech (1983). Their theories were particularly based on the same observation and opinion.

  In brief, Lakoff (1973) points out that in a conversation, the participants have to obey three rules, in order that our utterances will be regarded as polite.

  Those rules can be classified into: rules of formality, rules of hesitancy and rules of equality. The first rules tells the speakers to avoid being too forceful and snobbish in a conversation. Rules of hesitancy suggest a speaker to give freedom to the hearer in such a way so that he will be able to decide his options. Rules of equality suggest equality between the speaker and the hearer as an interactive norms and honors. These rules tell us to be friendly (Lakoff, 1973, cited in Goody, 1978). In short, according to Lakoff (1973) an utterance is polite if it does not sound forceful, it gives freedom to the hearer.

  From the explanation above, Fraser (1978) proposes a slightly different idea on politeness. His discussion is not based on conventions or rules but on distinguished politeness from deference. Fraser as quoted by Goffman, stated that deference is a component of activity as a functions as a symbolic means by which appreciation is regularly conveyed (1978:11)

  When somebody gives respect to somebody else, it does not always mean that he/she does something politely. On the other hand, Fraser says: “Politeness is a property associated with neither exceeds any right no failed to fulfill any obligations” (1978:12).

  From the two definitions above there are three points that can be clarified. First, it is clear that politeness is part of utterance. Second it depends on the hearer to decide whether or not a person uses a politeness strategy in his/her utterance.

  Therefore, sometimes there is a misunderstanding between the speaker and the hearer. A politeness strategy that is used by the speaker will be regarded as impolite by the hearer, and vice versa. Third, politeness strategy is connected with the right and the obligation of the speaker and the hearer. It means that, in order to sound polite, an utterance should fulfill the following criteria: (1) the speaker should not forget the right of the hearer, (2) the speaker should fulfill his obligation upon the hearer.

  According to Fraser, (1978:12), when somebody is involved in a conversation, it means that he/she is involved in conversational contract with somebody else (the hearer). In this contract the people involved in a conversation have to obey the rights and obligation proposed. Similar with business contract, this one begins with a negotiation between the speaker and the hearer.

  The rights of the hearer, in this case would include the right to ask a question. However, this right is limited. It means that in asking questions, a speaker should consider who the hearer is. For two persons, who have known each other, who meet in a hotel, for instance, it is all right to ask a question like,

  

could you tell me which room you stay in? The same question however is

impolite, if uttered by a man to a woman whom he just meets in the hotel.

  Besides, there is also a right to answer a question. When a person does not answer somebody’s question, he can be said to be impolite. However, in a conversational contract, every person has the right not to answer a question, because he or she has the right to do so. If for example, the question sounds impolite to the hearer based on his point of view.

  In line with this, Wardhaugh (1992:258) states that the right and the obligation of the speaker and the hearer are related more on what we want to say and how we want to say it. Based on Wardhaugh’s opinion, then, people are still questioning about the differentiation on politeness and deference suggested by Fraser, since the obligation of the speaker and the hearer in a conversation may cover the obligation to give respect.

  Brown and Levinson (1978) point out that in theory of politeness, the discussion is particularly focused on the notion of face, which is based on the universal wants. Further according to Brown and Levinson:

  The core of the theory of politeness consists of the concept of negative and positive face. When people interact in a society they are concerned to preserve and present a public image that has two aspects. The positive aspect of a person’s public face in his concerns to be thought of as a Since the speaker face is a public image, his positive face wants are to be seen as a supporting member of that public. While the negative face refers to self image of a person who wants to be respected by giving him freedom to act (in Schmidt, 1980:101).

  In line with the above idea, Scollon adds that a person also wants to preserve some sphere of his territory within which he has the right of independence of movement and decision (1983:166). Within his private sphere, he wants the right not to be imposed upon, to be free from any obligations. This aspect of face asserts the right of a person to be independent in his social world.

  In a society there should be an equal combination between those universal wants. This condition can be performed by implementing coding of communication which are covered in politeness strategies. Thus, Brown and Levinson give definition of politeness strategy as follows:

  Politeness strategies are the coding of communication which provide in each case the carefully calculated balance of the universal wants which are continually under negotiation in public communication (1978). Further, Brown and Levinson argue that there are other dimensions to be considered, namely idea that any act of communication is an impossion or a force of something on the hearer’s face (in Scollon and Scollon, 1983:166). Thus, since some acts of communication are relatively causing no harm of anybody, they do not require so much delicacy. They may be presented directly without giving too much consideration of the hearer’s face.

3. Interference of Mother Tongue

  In learning second foreign language, somebody will use his/her previous knowledge or experience that they got in the first language, in order to facilitate the second or foreign language learning process. This is in accordance with what is stated by Lado: “Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture” (1981:11).

  The transfer has two types, positive and negative transfer. The first one occurs when a previous item is correctly applied to present the subject matter. The second one occurs when the previous performance disrupts the performance of the second task, i.e., when a previous item is incorrectly associated with an item to be learned (Brown and Levinson, 1987).

  After the transformation of the language, there might be some influences of the language. For example, there are some misunderstanding usages of the language. There might be some grammatical misuse in the second language because we still use our native grammar. Sometimes we apply the foreign language in our native language and sometimes we do not consider the culture of the foreign language. Maybe there will be some different meanings of the language. We have to consider the language that we used because sometimes the language can be impolite, dishonor or intimidate someone because of the wrong usage.

  Based on the theory, we know that sometimes the knowledge of the native language is negatively transferred in the second or foreign language learning. This is due to our lack of knowledge and competence of certain materials in target language. That is why we often find difficulty in expressing our ideas in the target language. Then we will try to overcome our problem above by recalling the knowledge we have in our native language (our mother tongue) to be used in expressing our ideas.

4. Terms of Address

  According to Wardhaugh (1992), address by title alone is the least intimate form of address in that titles usually designate ranks or occupation, for example

  

Doctor, Waiter . They are devoid of ‘personal’ content. Knowing and using

  another person’s name is a sign of considerable intimacy or at least of a desire for such intimacy. Using a nick name or pet name shows even greater intimacy.

  When someone uses first name alone in addressing someone, he may feel on occasion that the person is presuming and intimacy him.

  In North America, first names are required among people who work closely together, even though they may not like each other at all. First names may be used to refer to public figures. In certain situations, the use of first name by one person can be heavily marked for power. In the Southern states of the United States, whites have often used naming and addressing practice to put blacks in their places.

  According to Wardhaugh (1992) in English, we are in doubt as to how addressing another we can actually avoid the difficulty by not using any address term at all. We only can say Yes Sir, Yes Miss.