The Occurence of Tense Atmosphere Due To The Miscalculation of The Weightiness of The FTA in 'Twenty Four'.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ..............................................................................................
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS .....................................................................
ii
ABSTRACT ...........................................................................................
iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................
Background of the Study ............................................................
Statement of the Problem ............................................................
Purpose of the Study ...................................................................
Methods of Research...................................................................
Organization of the Thesis ..........................................................
1
1
4
4
4
5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .....................
6
CHAPTER THREE: THE OCCURRENCE OF TENSE
ATMOSPHERE DUE TO THE MISCALCULATION OF
THE WEIGHTINESS OF THE FTA IN TWENTY FOUR .
11
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ...................................................
33
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................
38
APPENDIX ............................................................................................
39
ii
Maranatha Christian University
ABSTRACT
Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya akan menganalisis tentang ketidaktepatan
dalam penggunaan strategi kesantunan kepada mitra tutur lewat penelitian tentang
peranan strategi kesantunan dalam serial aksi Amerika berjudul Twenty Four.
Saya mengumpulkan teori mengenai kesantunan dari beberapa sumber,
seperti sejumlah buku dari perpustakaan dan internet. Saya juga mengaplikasikan
teori yang berkaitan dengan Pragmatics dan juga teori spesifik mengenai
kesantunan dan muka, yang dalam Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to
Pragmatics disebut dengan politeness and the management of face. Face
Threatening Act (FTA) adalah tindakan mengancam muka. Guna menghindari
tindakan mengancam muka, penutur harus terlebih dahulu mengenal empat
macam kesantunan.
Guna mengetahui strategi kesantunan yang tepat dalam menyampaikan
keinginan penutur, penutur harus menghargai muka mitra tutur (hearer’s face).
Sebelum menghargai tentang muka mitra tutur, penutur harus mengenal the
Weightiness of the FTA based on the three parameters (tolak ukur FTA yang
didasarkan dalam tiga parameter) yakni Power (kuasa), Distance (jarak) and Rate
of Imposition (tingkat imposisi). Setelah mengetahui tolak ukur dari FTA, penutur
dapat menentukan strategi kesantunan untuk menyampaikan keinginan penutur
tanpa mengancam muka mitra tutur.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
Kesalahan hitung tolak ukur FTA dapat menyebabkan ketidaktepatan
dalam penggunaan strategi kesantunan. Kesalahan hitung tolak ukur FTA dapat
mengancam muka mitra tutur. Kesalahan hitung tolak ukur FTA juga mempunyai
peranan penting dalam memberikan efek terhadap atmosfir cerita. Dalam serial
Twenty Four, kebanyakan atmosfir yang dihasilkan adalah berupa ketegangan.
Ada beberapa alasan mengapa kesalahan hitung tolak ukur FTA dapat
memberikan efek tegang dalam film seri Twenty Four. Diantaranya ialah bahwa
mitra tutur dapat menjadi marah kepada penutur. Mitra tutur dapat mengancam
jabatan si penutur, membentak, memukul, atau bahkan menodong senjata kepada
si penutur. Hal inilah yang akan saya bahas dalam tugas akhir saya.
iv
Maranatha Christian University
APPENDIX
Data 1
David Palmer: You were part of it, weren’t you? When all is and done, you’re
on Prescott’s side.
Mike Novick : No sir, I’ m on your side and always be. This could be a good
thing, a chance to correct a mistake of historic proportions.
David, I’m begging you reconsider your position on this.
David Palmer: I’m the president, Mike. You don’t call me by my first name.
Mike Novick : Yes, sir.
Data 2
Jack Bauer: Hey, man. How are you doing?
Dave
: You know what? Get the hell out of here, will you?
Jack Bauer: Hey man, I just wanted to bum a smoke.
Dave
: Yeah, well. I don’t smoke, so get out!
Jack Bauer: You are packing the fuses a little tight, sport.
Dave
: What did you say?
Data 3
David Palmer : Wayne, we have to be patient. Anne is not going anywhere and
are not changing our strategies.
Wayne Palmer: David, we really…
David Palmer : Right now, it’s Mr. President.
Wayne Palmer: Yes sir, Mr. President.
Data 4
Ivan’s technician: Our real enemy is Rusia. We should be figuring out
another way to get back home not wasting time trying to
use the gas against the Americans.
Ivan Erwich
: Question my orders again and I will kill you. Do you
understand? They’ve closed the ports. They will hunt us until
39
they find us. So if we cannot use the gas against Russia, we
will use it against America. Get up!
Data 5
Bill Buchanan: What is it Lynn? I’m up to my ears trying to coordinate this
hostage situation.
Lynn McGill : Sit down Mr. Buchanan.
Bill Buchanan: Would you stop with the Mr. Buchanan?
We need to get this assault in motion now!
Lynn McGill : Sit down Bill.
Data 6
Chloe O’Brian: Edgar what’s the new password for the central server?
Edgar Stiles : I’ll get you on.
Chloe O’Brian: No, don’t get me on. Just give me the password so I can
access it whenever I want to.
Edgar stiles : It’s not your area anymore.
Chloe O’Brian: What are you talking about? You work for me.
Edgar Stiles : No, I worked for you. Worked! With an ‘ed’ at the end, past
tense.
Chloe O’Brian: Edgar, I’ve been reinstated so quit being territorial and just give
me the password.
Edgar Stiles : No!
Data 7
Tony Almeida: Chassell stand up! Please stand up! Get off!
Chassell
: We’re gonna get her to talk!
Tony Almeida: She’s gonna in shock before she does. Just relax!
Jack Bauer : Agent Chassell, step outside. Now! I want prints and
photographs send to CTU immediately.
Chassell
: He has no right to give me order.
Data 8
Bill Buchanan: Jack can be disciplined later. Taking him out of the field
right now is a mistake.
Lynn McGill : Don’t tell me how to do my job.
Bill Buchanan: He was authorized by the president, Lynn.
Lynn McGill : But he works for me and so do you. I want him here now. The
rest of you maintain your search protocols. Send your progress
reports to my screen in ten minutes.
40
Data 9
Barry
: You’re not helping her. You’re just making things worse.
Jack Bauer: I am sure that you are qualified to help someone through this kind
of distress over an extended period of time but you see we do not
have an extended period of time. So if you don’t mind stepping aside
so I can do my job. I would appreciate it.
Barry
: Believe or not Jack, you don’t have to be qualified to help people.
You just have to be there for them.
Jack Bauer: Like you were for there for my daughter.
Barry
: What does that mean?
Jack Bauer: You’re twenty years older than she is. I know exactly what you’re
doing.
Barry
: I’ve done nothing but try and help her deal with her loss. How
dare you accuse me of taking advantage of her.
Jack Bauer: You did…
Data 10
Joseph
: Mr. President, we’ve started down a slippery slope here and
unless we are…
David Palmer: Cut the euphemisms, Joseph. What are you trying to say?
Joseph
: Sir, we are concerned about the fact that you ordered the death of a
high ranking member of our intelligent.
David palmer: Joseph, No one’s more aware than I am of the moral ambiguity of
my decision. I did it to buy CTU more time to find Saunders and to
delay for as long as possible the slaughter of millions.
Data 11
Charles Logan: When did this happen?
Evelyn
: A few minutes ago I came back in and I found her on the
bed.
Charles Logan: What do you mean came back in? You mean you left her alone!
41
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
We converse with a lot of people in our daily lives. In other words, we
communicate with others in the daily lives. We produce utterances to express our
intention to others within our communication to express our needs, to ask
something, to have someone to do something, to invite someone and others. We
will make others angry if we simply reveal our intention without paying attention
to politeness. That is why; politeness has important roles in our communication.
In our daily lives, it is found that, regardless of the fact that the speaker
has tried to be polite to the hearer; the hearer still might get angry. In my own
experience, I often hear people reveal their intention with some utterances politely
to others but the others still respond to it angrily. For example: There are two
people, one is a man and the other is a woman. They happen not to be socially
close but have similar status. He says to her, “Give me that!” The woman
becomes angry to the man because the man threatens her face. The man should
1
Maranatha Christian University
not have uttered the utterance because such an utterance only fits for a man who
has power over the woman or if the man has a close relationship with the woman.
According to Brown and Levinson, Face is the public self-image of a person.
When a speaker reveals his or her intention to a hearer, there is a possibility of
threat to the hearer’s face. This is usually known as Face Threatening Act or can
be called FTA. In order to avoid the threat to the hearer’s face, one needs to apply
the appropriate politeness strategy. (Thomas 168-169)
For that reason, I would like to know further and analyze which
appropriate politeness strategies to perform to the hearer in order to minimize or
to avoid the possibility of damage to the hearer's face. If the speaker chooses to
perform an inappropriate politeness strategy to the hearer, the hearer will feel his
or her face threatened, regardless of the speaker’s effort to be polite. The hearer
usually becomes angry to the speaker. It is because the speaker is not primarily
concerned about which politeness strategies to apply; consequently, the hearer
may become angry. Actually, that occurs due to the speaker’s unawareness of the
Weightiness of the FTA. The speaker needs to calculate the Weightiness of the
FTA. The Weightiness of the FTA is based on three parameters: Power (P),
Distance (D), and Rate of Imposition (R). The formulation will be W(FTA)
=R+D+P. After the speaker has calculated the Weightiness of the FTA correctly,
he or she can choose an appropriate politeness strategy to minimize or to avoid
damage to the hearer’s face (Thomas 169). Hopefully, having finished my thesis,
the readers and I will be more aware of the Weightiness of the FTA so that we can
be more polite to reveal our intention.
2
Maranatha Christian University
The corpus of the data for my analysis is speech events in Twenty Four
movie series. Twenty Four are action movie series. They are concerned with
Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) and politics. These movie series present a lot of
tense atmospheres. The tense atmospheres are built by gun fight, physical combat,
betrayal, terrorist’s threat, time limit, conversations and others. Yet, in my thesis, I
want to specifically analyze the conversations that lead to the occurrence of tense
atmosphere in the movie series. I choose these movie series because in the movie
series, I can find statements in which a speaker miscalculates the Weightiness of
the FTA. The miscalculation results in the speaker’s applying the politeness
strategy inappropriately, which means that although the speaker has chosen a
certain politeness strategy to apply to the hearer carefully, the hearer’s face is still
threatened. This gives rise to the tense atmosphere of the characters in the movie
series. Although the miscalculation of the Weightiness of FTA is not the main
elements to result in the tense atmospheres, the miscalculation is one of the
elements which gives rise to the tense atmospheres in Twenty Four movie series.
Therefore, my thesis topic is “The miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA
in Twenty Four”.
My topic belongs to Pragmatics. Pragmatics is meaning in interaction.
This definition is formulated from the process of speaker’s meaning. Pragmatics
as the study of speaker’s meaning means message produced by a speaker and
interpreted by a hearer. The specific theory I use is politeness strategy and the
management of face. According to Jenny Thomas, politeness means that one
shows awareness to another person's face and try to avoid damage to the hearer’s
face. Face means the public self-image of a person. (Thomas 2, 22)
3
Maranatha Christian University
Statement of the problems
1. Who are the participants involved in the speech events?
2. How does the miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA appear in the
speech events?
3. How does the miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA help to the
occurrence of tense atmosphere to the story?
Purpose of the Study
1. To know the participants involved in the speech events.
2. To know how the miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA appear in
the speech events.
3. To know how the miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA help to the
occurrence of tense atmosphere to the story.
Methods of Research
The source of data is conversation in Twenty Four movie series. I want to
find out some utterances which contain miscalculation of the Weightiness of the
FTA in the movie series. First, I watch Twenty Four movie series and then I
analyze some conversations in the movie series. Afterwards, I look for the theory
from the Internet and read some books at library concerned with politeness. I look
for the theory from Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics book
and Pragmatics book. Finally, I write the research report about the politeness
strategy in Twenty Four movie series.
4
Maranatha Christian University
Organization of the Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter is the Introduction,
which consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem,
Purpose of the Study, Method of Research and Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter Two contains the theories used to analyze the data. The discussion of the
Weightiness of the FTA is put in Chapter Three. Chapter Four is the Conclusion.
The thesis ends with the Bibliography and Appendices.
5
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions concerning the
occurrence of tense atmosphere due to the miscalculation of the Weightiness of
the FTA in Twenty Four. After having analyzed some data, I find out when the
speaker wants to reveal his or intention, there is possibility of threatening the
hearer’s face. Thus, there are four strategies to perform in order to minimize or to
avoid damage to the hearer’s face in Twenty Four.
I would like to point out that there are some different kinds of features of
politeness strategies applied by the speakers in Twenty Four. Performing bald-onrecord politeness strategy is the most direct form politeness strategy. It is because
I find that there is not identity marker; on the contrary, what is important only the
content of the messages. For example: when Chloe ask new password to Edgar,
she utters: “No, don’t get me on. Just give me the password so I can access it
whenever I want to.” I also point out that there are three features to indicate
positive politeness strategy. The first one is identity markers that emphasize
closeness between the speaker and the hearer, for examples: the use of first name
and nicknames. For example: when Mike addressing David Palmer with David.
33
Maranatha Christian University
The second one is showing interests to hearers. The third one is claiming common
ground. There are a lot of features to indicate negative politeness strategy, for
examples: shows deference, use of hedge and impersonalize speaker and hearer.
Three features to indicate off-record politeness strategy are giving hints, using
metaphors and being ambiguous.
I also conclude five things. The first one is I find that sometimes the
speaker is not aware of the Weightiness of the FTA in Twenty Four. The
Weightiness of the FTA is based on three parameters of Power, Distance and Rate
of Imposition. In the data, the speakers at least miscalculate one of the three
parameters. In Twenty Four, Most of the speakers are not aware of the parameters
of Power, Distance and Rate of Imposition because of the closeness between
speaker and the hearer, Power, Distance, and Rate of Imposition becomes similar.
If the speakers choose to perform bald-on-record strategy or off-record strategy,
the speakers have to pay more attention to the three parameters. In the film, for
example: When Tony Almeida performs bald-on-record strategy to agent
Chassell, Chassell becomes angry with him because he gives order to his
commandant. It is because Tony miscalculates parameters of Power and Distance.
This leads the speakers to perform an inappropriate politeness strategy to the
hearers.
The secondly I find out that sometimes the speakers misinterpret the
hearers’ face wants in Twenty Four. I am of the opinion that the speaker has to
pay more attention to the Weightiness of the FTA based on three parameters of
Power, Distance and Rate of Imposition if the speaker chooses to perform positive
politeness strategy or negative politeness strategy. Afterwards, the speaker can
34
Maranatha Christian University
determine what the hearers’ face wants, whether it is negative face wants or
positive face wants. The hearer’s face wants sometimes can change according to
the situation. Hearers’ face wants can change according to speech event;
therefore, the speakers must pay attention to it. I find that usually the hearer
expects negative face at formal situation. In Twenty Four, sometimes this happens
even though the speakers are relatively close with the hearer. In Twenty Four, for
an example: When Wayne Palmer calls David Palmer with ‘David’ at formal
situation; David feels his face threatened. It is because the closeness between
them, Power, Distance, and Rate of Imposition becomes similar. In fact, the
hearer wants to be independent. I also would like to point out that sometimes the
hearers expect positive face at formal situation. It is because of the closeness
between speaker and the hearer, the hearer wants to be similar to the speaker. In
Twenty Four, for an example: Bill Buchanan becomes angry with Lynn McGill
when he calls him with Mr. Buchanan. These factors usually lead to the speakers
misinterpreting the hearer’s face wants.
The third is politeness strategies that are mostly miscalculated in Twenty
Four are performing positive politeness strategies. In my opinion, it happens
because the speakers are not aware of the hearer’s face wants. The speakers
usually perform positive politeness strategies to whom they know well. I am of
the opinion that most speakers think that they do not need to be formal if they
have close relationship with the hearers even if the hearers have higher status.
They usually claim common ground to the hearer as if they had similar status with
the hearers. In fact, most hearers in Twenty Four expect negative face at formal
35
Maranatha Christian University
situation even though they have close relationship outside their work. Therefore,
in most cases, the speakers threat the hearer’s negative face. Yet, sometimes the
hearer expects positive face at formal situation. Usually it happens if there are
only a speaker and a hearer at a room in their office.
The fourth is I am of the opinion that politeness strategies according to the
degree of the threat from the low ones are bald-on-record strategy, positive
politeness strategy, negative politeness strategy, and off-record strategy. If the
possibility of threat in speakers’ utterances is very high, the speakers have to
perform the most indirect strategy to the hearers. Performing off-record strategy is
the most indirect way to show the speaker’s intention. If the speaker performs a
politeness strategy without paying attention to the degree of the threat, the hearer
will feel his or her face threatened. This leads to the speakers performing
inappropriate politeness strategies to the hearers.
The last is miscalculating of the Weightiness of the FTA can affect the
atmosphere of the story in Twenty Four. If the speakers perform inappropriate
politeness strategies to the hearers, the hearers will feel his face threatened. I am
of the opinion that the speakers themselves usually do not know that the hearers
can become angry with them. The tense atmosphere is raised for several reasons.
If the speakers threaten the hearers’ face, the hearers will become angry.
I also would like to point out that in Twenty Four; sometimes the hearers
will threaten the speakers by hitting them or even pointing a gun to them. If the
hearer has high relative status such as a president, he will not hit the speaker. If a
president becomes angry, he only threatens the speaker through his utterances. He
also can threaten the speaker’s position. Thus, the miscalculation of the
36
Maranatha Christian University
Weightiness of the FTA helps to the occurrence of tense atmosphere in Twenty
Four
Finally, I arrive at a conclusion that the miscalculations of the Weightiness
of the FTA appears in the speech event in Twenty Four have important roles.
Twenty Four are one of the action movie series. The miscalculation of
Weightiness of the FTA can give rise to the tense elements in Twenty Four movie
series. I hope that after completing this thesis, I will be more aware of the
Weightiness of the FTA. Thus, I can apply an appropriate politeness strategy to
reveal my intention without threatening other’s face. Therefore, by applying
appropriate politeness strategy to others, I can avoid or minimize the threat to the
hearer’s face.
37
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Textbook:
♦
Thomas, Jenny. Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics.
London: Longman. 1995.
♦
Yule, George. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press. 2000.
38
Maranatha Christian University
PREFACE ..............................................................................................
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS .....................................................................
ii
ABSTRACT ...........................................................................................
iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................
Background of the Study ............................................................
Statement of the Problem ............................................................
Purpose of the Study ...................................................................
Methods of Research...................................................................
Organization of the Thesis ..........................................................
1
1
4
4
4
5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .....................
6
CHAPTER THREE: THE OCCURRENCE OF TENSE
ATMOSPHERE DUE TO THE MISCALCULATION OF
THE WEIGHTINESS OF THE FTA IN TWENTY FOUR .
11
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ...................................................
33
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................
38
APPENDIX ............................................................................................
39
ii
Maranatha Christian University
ABSTRACT
Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya akan menganalisis tentang ketidaktepatan
dalam penggunaan strategi kesantunan kepada mitra tutur lewat penelitian tentang
peranan strategi kesantunan dalam serial aksi Amerika berjudul Twenty Four.
Saya mengumpulkan teori mengenai kesantunan dari beberapa sumber,
seperti sejumlah buku dari perpustakaan dan internet. Saya juga mengaplikasikan
teori yang berkaitan dengan Pragmatics dan juga teori spesifik mengenai
kesantunan dan muka, yang dalam Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to
Pragmatics disebut dengan politeness and the management of face. Face
Threatening Act (FTA) adalah tindakan mengancam muka. Guna menghindari
tindakan mengancam muka, penutur harus terlebih dahulu mengenal empat
macam kesantunan.
Guna mengetahui strategi kesantunan yang tepat dalam menyampaikan
keinginan penutur, penutur harus menghargai muka mitra tutur (hearer’s face).
Sebelum menghargai tentang muka mitra tutur, penutur harus mengenal the
Weightiness of the FTA based on the three parameters (tolak ukur FTA yang
didasarkan dalam tiga parameter) yakni Power (kuasa), Distance (jarak) and Rate
of Imposition (tingkat imposisi). Setelah mengetahui tolak ukur dari FTA, penutur
dapat menentukan strategi kesantunan untuk menyampaikan keinginan penutur
tanpa mengancam muka mitra tutur.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
Kesalahan hitung tolak ukur FTA dapat menyebabkan ketidaktepatan
dalam penggunaan strategi kesantunan. Kesalahan hitung tolak ukur FTA dapat
mengancam muka mitra tutur. Kesalahan hitung tolak ukur FTA juga mempunyai
peranan penting dalam memberikan efek terhadap atmosfir cerita. Dalam serial
Twenty Four, kebanyakan atmosfir yang dihasilkan adalah berupa ketegangan.
Ada beberapa alasan mengapa kesalahan hitung tolak ukur FTA dapat
memberikan efek tegang dalam film seri Twenty Four. Diantaranya ialah bahwa
mitra tutur dapat menjadi marah kepada penutur. Mitra tutur dapat mengancam
jabatan si penutur, membentak, memukul, atau bahkan menodong senjata kepada
si penutur. Hal inilah yang akan saya bahas dalam tugas akhir saya.
iv
Maranatha Christian University
APPENDIX
Data 1
David Palmer: You were part of it, weren’t you? When all is and done, you’re
on Prescott’s side.
Mike Novick : No sir, I’ m on your side and always be. This could be a good
thing, a chance to correct a mistake of historic proportions.
David, I’m begging you reconsider your position on this.
David Palmer: I’m the president, Mike. You don’t call me by my first name.
Mike Novick : Yes, sir.
Data 2
Jack Bauer: Hey, man. How are you doing?
Dave
: You know what? Get the hell out of here, will you?
Jack Bauer: Hey man, I just wanted to bum a smoke.
Dave
: Yeah, well. I don’t smoke, so get out!
Jack Bauer: You are packing the fuses a little tight, sport.
Dave
: What did you say?
Data 3
David Palmer : Wayne, we have to be patient. Anne is not going anywhere and
are not changing our strategies.
Wayne Palmer: David, we really…
David Palmer : Right now, it’s Mr. President.
Wayne Palmer: Yes sir, Mr. President.
Data 4
Ivan’s technician: Our real enemy is Rusia. We should be figuring out
another way to get back home not wasting time trying to
use the gas against the Americans.
Ivan Erwich
: Question my orders again and I will kill you. Do you
understand? They’ve closed the ports. They will hunt us until
39
they find us. So if we cannot use the gas against Russia, we
will use it against America. Get up!
Data 5
Bill Buchanan: What is it Lynn? I’m up to my ears trying to coordinate this
hostage situation.
Lynn McGill : Sit down Mr. Buchanan.
Bill Buchanan: Would you stop with the Mr. Buchanan?
We need to get this assault in motion now!
Lynn McGill : Sit down Bill.
Data 6
Chloe O’Brian: Edgar what’s the new password for the central server?
Edgar Stiles : I’ll get you on.
Chloe O’Brian: No, don’t get me on. Just give me the password so I can
access it whenever I want to.
Edgar stiles : It’s not your area anymore.
Chloe O’Brian: What are you talking about? You work for me.
Edgar Stiles : No, I worked for you. Worked! With an ‘ed’ at the end, past
tense.
Chloe O’Brian: Edgar, I’ve been reinstated so quit being territorial and just give
me the password.
Edgar Stiles : No!
Data 7
Tony Almeida: Chassell stand up! Please stand up! Get off!
Chassell
: We’re gonna get her to talk!
Tony Almeida: She’s gonna in shock before she does. Just relax!
Jack Bauer : Agent Chassell, step outside. Now! I want prints and
photographs send to CTU immediately.
Chassell
: He has no right to give me order.
Data 8
Bill Buchanan: Jack can be disciplined later. Taking him out of the field
right now is a mistake.
Lynn McGill : Don’t tell me how to do my job.
Bill Buchanan: He was authorized by the president, Lynn.
Lynn McGill : But he works for me and so do you. I want him here now. The
rest of you maintain your search protocols. Send your progress
reports to my screen in ten minutes.
40
Data 9
Barry
: You’re not helping her. You’re just making things worse.
Jack Bauer: I am sure that you are qualified to help someone through this kind
of distress over an extended period of time but you see we do not
have an extended period of time. So if you don’t mind stepping aside
so I can do my job. I would appreciate it.
Barry
: Believe or not Jack, you don’t have to be qualified to help people.
You just have to be there for them.
Jack Bauer: Like you were for there for my daughter.
Barry
: What does that mean?
Jack Bauer: You’re twenty years older than she is. I know exactly what you’re
doing.
Barry
: I’ve done nothing but try and help her deal with her loss. How
dare you accuse me of taking advantage of her.
Jack Bauer: You did…
Data 10
Joseph
: Mr. President, we’ve started down a slippery slope here and
unless we are…
David Palmer: Cut the euphemisms, Joseph. What are you trying to say?
Joseph
: Sir, we are concerned about the fact that you ordered the death of a
high ranking member of our intelligent.
David palmer: Joseph, No one’s more aware than I am of the moral ambiguity of
my decision. I did it to buy CTU more time to find Saunders and to
delay for as long as possible the slaughter of millions.
Data 11
Charles Logan: When did this happen?
Evelyn
: A few minutes ago I came back in and I found her on the
bed.
Charles Logan: What do you mean came back in? You mean you left her alone!
41
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
We converse with a lot of people in our daily lives. In other words, we
communicate with others in the daily lives. We produce utterances to express our
intention to others within our communication to express our needs, to ask
something, to have someone to do something, to invite someone and others. We
will make others angry if we simply reveal our intention without paying attention
to politeness. That is why; politeness has important roles in our communication.
In our daily lives, it is found that, regardless of the fact that the speaker
has tried to be polite to the hearer; the hearer still might get angry. In my own
experience, I often hear people reveal their intention with some utterances politely
to others but the others still respond to it angrily. For example: There are two
people, one is a man and the other is a woman. They happen not to be socially
close but have similar status. He says to her, “Give me that!” The woman
becomes angry to the man because the man threatens her face. The man should
1
Maranatha Christian University
not have uttered the utterance because such an utterance only fits for a man who
has power over the woman or if the man has a close relationship with the woman.
According to Brown and Levinson, Face is the public self-image of a person.
When a speaker reveals his or her intention to a hearer, there is a possibility of
threat to the hearer’s face. This is usually known as Face Threatening Act or can
be called FTA. In order to avoid the threat to the hearer’s face, one needs to apply
the appropriate politeness strategy. (Thomas 168-169)
For that reason, I would like to know further and analyze which
appropriate politeness strategies to perform to the hearer in order to minimize or
to avoid the possibility of damage to the hearer's face. If the speaker chooses to
perform an inappropriate politeness strategy to the hearer, the hearer will feel his
or her face threatened, regardless of the speaker’s effort to be polite. The hearer
usually becomes angry to the speaker. It is because the speaker is not primarily
concerned about which politeness strategies to apply; consequently, the hearer
may become angry. Actually, that occurs due to the speaker’s unawareness of the
Weightiness of the FTA. The speaker needs to calculate the Weightiness of the
FTA. The Weightiness of the FTA is based on three parameters: Power (P),
Distance (D), and Rate of Imposition (R). The formulation will be W(FTA)
=R+D+P. After the speaker has calculated the Weightiness of the FTA correctly,
he or she can choose an appropriate politeness strategy to minimize or to avoid
damage to the hearer’s face (Thomas 169). Hopefully, having finished my thesis,
the readers and I will be more aware of the Weightiness of the FTA so that we can
be more polite to reveal our intention.
2
Maranatha Christian University
The corpus of the data for my analysis is speech events in Twenty Four
movie series. Twenty Four are action movie series. They are concerned with
Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) and politics. These movie series present a lot of
tense atmospheres. The tense atmospheres are built by gun fight, physical combat,
betrayal, terrorist’s threat, time limit, conversations and others. Yet, in my thesis, I
want to specifically analyze the conversations that lead to the occurrence of tense
atmosphere in the movie series. I choose these movie series because in the movie
series, I can find statements in which a speaker miscalculates the Weightiness of
the FTA. The miscalculation results in the speaker’s applying the politeness
strategy inappropriately, which means that although the speaker has chosen a
certain politeness strategy to apply to the hearer carefully, the hearer’s face is still
threatened. This gives rise to the tense atmosphere of the characters in the movie
series. Although the miscalculation of the Weightiness of FTA is not the main
elements to result in the tense atmospheres, the miscalculation is one of the
elements which gives rise to the tense atmospheres in Twenty Four movie series.
Therefore, my thesis topic is “The miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA
in Twenty Four”.
My topic belongs to Pragmatics. Pragmatics is meaning in interaction.
This definition is formulated from the process of speaker’s meaning. Pragmatics
as the study of speaker’s meaning means message produced by a speaker and
interpreted by a hearer. The specific theory I use is politeness strategy and the
management of face. According to Jenny Thomas, politeness means that one
shows awareness to another person's face and try to avoid damage to the hearer’s
face. Face means the public self-image of a person. (Thomas 2, 22)
3
Maranatha Christian University
Statement of the problems
1. Who are the participants involved in the speech events?
2. How does the miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA appear in the
speech events?
3. How does the miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA help to the
occurrence of tense atmosphere to the story?
Purpose of the Study
1. To know the participants involved in the speech events.
2. To know how the miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA appear in
the speech events.
3. To know how the miscalculation of the Weightiness of the FTA help to the
occurrence of tense atmosphere to the story.
Methods of Research
The source of data is conversation in Twenty Four movie series. I want to
find out some utterances which contain miscalculation of the Weightiness of the
FTA in the movie series. First, I watch Twenty Four movie series and then I
analyze some conversations in the movie series. Afterwards, I look for the theory
from the Internet and read some books at library concerned with politeness. I look
for the theory from Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics book
and Pragmatics book. Finally, I write the research report about the politeness
strategy in Twenty Four movie series.
4
Maranatha Christian University
Organization of the Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter is the Introduction,
which consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem,
Purpose of the Study, Method of Research and Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter Two contains the theories used to analyze the data. The discussion of the
Weightiness of the FTA is put in Chapter Three. Chapter Four is the Conclusion.
The thesis ends with the Bibliography and Appendices.
5
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions concerning the
occurrence of tense atmosphere due to the miscalculation of the Weightiness of
the FTA in Twenty Four. After having analyzed some data, I find out when the
speaker wants to reveal his or intention, there is possibility of threatening the
hearer’s face. Thus, there are four strategies to perform in order to minimize or to
avoid damage to the hearer’s face in Twenty Four.
I would like to point out that there are some different kinds of features of
politeness strategies applied by the speakers in Twenty Four. Performing bald-onrecord politeness strategy is the most direct form politeness strategy. It is because
I find that there is not identity marker; on the contrary, what is important only the
content of the messages. For example: when Chloe ask new password to Edgar,
she utters: “No, don’t get me on. Just give me the password so I can access it
whenever I want to.” I also point out that there are three features to indicate
positive politeness strategy. The first one is identity markers that emphasize
closeness between the speaker and the hearer, for examples: the use of first name
and nicknames. For example: when Mike addressing David Palmer with David.
33
Maranatha Christian University
The second one is showing interests to hearers. The third one is claiming common
ground. There are a lot of features to indicate negative politeness strategy, for
examples: shows deference, use of hedge and impersonalize speaker and hearer.
Three features to indicate off-record politeness strategy are giving hints, using
metaphors and being ambiguous.
I also conclude five things. The first one is I find that sometimes the
speaker is not aware of the Weightiness of the FTA in Twenty Four. The
Weightiness of the FTA is based on three parameters of Power, Distance and Rate
of Imposition. In the data, the speakers at least miscalculate one of the three
parameters. In Twenty Four, Most of the speakers are not aware of the parameters
of Power, Distance and Rate of Imposition because of the closeness between
speaker and the hearer, Power, Distance, and Rate of Imposition becomes similar.
If the speakers choose to perform bald-on-record strategy or off-record strategy,
the speakers have to pay more attention to the three parameters. In the film, for
example: When Tony Almeida performs bald-on-record strategy to agent
Chassell, Chassell becomes angry with him because he gives order to his
commandant. It is because Tony miscalculates parameters of Power and Distance.
This leads the speakers to perform an inappropriate politeness strategy to the
hearers.
The secondly I find out that sometimes the speakers misinterpret the
hearers’ face wants in Twenty Four. I am of the opinion that the speaker has to
pay more attention to the Weightiness of the FTA based on three parameters of
Power, Distance and Rate of Imposition if the speaker chooses to perform positive
politeness strategy or negative politeness strategy. Afterwards, the speaker can
34
Maranatha Christian University
determine what the hearers’ face wants, whether it is negative face wants or
positive face wants. The hearer’s face wants sometimes can change according to
the situation. Hearers’ face wants can change according to speech event;
therefore, the speakers must pay attention to it. I find that usually the hearer
expects negative face at formal situation. In Twenty Four, sometimes this happens
even though the speakers are relatively close with the hearer. In Twenty Four, for
an example: When Wayne Palmer calls David Palmer with ‘David’ at formal
situation; David feels his face threatened. It is because the closeness between
them, Power, Distance, and Rate of Imposition becomes similar. In fact, the
hearer wants to be independent. I also would like to point out that sometimes the
hearers expect positive face at formal situation. It is because of the closeness
between speaker and the hearer, the hearer wants to be similar to the speaker. In
Twenty Four, for an example: Bill Buchanan becomes angry with Lynn McGill
when he calls him with Mr. Buchanan. These factors usually lead to the speakers
misinterpreting the hearer’s face wants.
The third is politeness strategies that are mostly miscalculated in Twenty
Four are performing positive politeness strategies. In my opinion, it happens
because the speakers are not aware of the hearer’s face wants. The speakers
usually perform positive politeness strategies to whom they know well. I am of
the opinion that most speakers think that they do not need to be formal if they
have close relationship with the hearers even if the hearers have higher status.
They usually claim common ground to the hearer as if they had similar status with
the hearers. In fact, most hearers in Twenty Four expect negative face at formal
35
Maranatha Christian University
situation even though they have close relationship outside their work. Therefore,
in most cases, the speakers threat the hearer’s negative face. Yet, sometimes the
hearer expects positive face at formal situation. Usually it happens if there are
only a speaker and a hearer at a room in their office.
The fourth is I am of the opinion that politeness strategies according to the
degree of the threat from the low ones are bald-on-record strategy, positive
politeness strategy, negative politeness strategy, and off-record strategy. If the
possibility of threat in speakers’ utterances is very high, the speakers have to
perform the most indirect strategy to the hearers. Performing off-record strategy is
the most indirect way to show the speaker’s intention. If the speaker performs a
politeness strategy without paying attention to the degree of the threat, the hearer
will feel his or her face threatened. This leads to the speakers performing
inappropriate politeness strategies to the hearers.
The last is miscalculating of the Weightiness of the FTA can affect the
atmosphere of the story in Twenty Four. If the speakers perform inappropriate
politeness strategies to the hearers, the hearers will feel his face threatened. I am
of the opinion that the speakers themselves usually do not know that the hearers
can become angry with them. The tense atmosphere is raised for several reasons.
If the speakers threaten the hearers’ face, the hearers will become angry.
I also would like to point out that in Twenty Four; sometimes the hearers
will threaten the speakers by hitting them or even pointing a gun to them. If the
hearer has high relative status such as a president, he will not hit the speaker. If a
president becomes angry, he only threatens the speaker through his utterances. He
also can threaten the speaker’s position. Thus, the miscalculation of the
36
Maranatha Christian University
Weightiness of the FTA helps to the occurrence of tense atmosphere in Twenty
Four
Finally, I arrive at a conclusion that the miscalculations of the Weightiness
of the FTA appears in the speech event in Twenty Four have important roles.
Twenty Four are one of the action movie series. The miscalculation of
Weightiness of the FTA can give rise to the tense elements in Twenty Four movie
series. I hope that after completing this thesis, I will be more aware of the
Weightiness of the FTA. Thus, I can apply an appropriate politeness strategy to
reveal my intention without threatening other’s face. Therefore, by applying
appropriate politeness strategy to others, I can avoid or minimize the threat to the
hearer’s face.
37
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Textbook:
♦
Thomas, Jenny. Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics.
London: Longman. 1995.
♦
Yule, George. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press. 2000.
38
Maranatha Christian University