Language as a means of human communication is very interesting to learn. The science of studying language is called linguistics. In linguistics itself, there are many other branches of science. One of them is pragmatics. In general, pragmatics is the study of meaning based on context. (George Yule, 1996:3) It doesn't stop there, in pragmatics it also turns out to study many things. One of them is language politeness. Well, politeness is the main focus of this post. There are several experts who express their opinions about the concept of politeness. Brown and Levinson are the experts who introduced the concept of politeness strategy.
Politeness Strategy
The concept of
politeness strategy was adapted by Brown and Levinson from the face concept
introduced by Erving Goffman, a sociologist. According to Goffman, the face is a
picture of self-image in agreed social attributes. This face can be interpreted
as honor, self-esteem, and self-image in public (public self-image).
So, face here is not
defined as a yes face, but self-respect. We as social beings when interacting
with others have the potential to injure or harm the self-esteem of others.
These are called face-threatening acts (FTA). This act of attacking self-esteem
or FTA has a relationship with language politeness.
Why? Because when we
attack someone's self-esteem, we will instinctively realize that our actions
will harm others. So that we will also prepare politeness strategies when
talking to other people by looking for ways so that our actions do not offend
the interlocutor. The strategy we seek has levels. Brown and Levinson
categorize them into 5 levels. Among others are:
1. Bald-on record
strategy (without strategy), this strategy is carried out by speakers by
not making any effort to reduce the consequences of threatening. Alias speaks openly. This strategy is usually done with people who are
already familiar. An example of his utterance is “hey, wake up!”
2. Negative
politeness strategy, this strategy contains a low level of politeness. For
example, when we wake up a roommate in a boarding house with the words,
"Ven, wake up dong". The word Ven is a form of negative politeness.
3. Positives
politeness strategy, this strategy is used to show intimacy and is usually
used to the interlocutor who is not known or to the interlocutor who is
familiar but has a great need. For example, we will speak more politely to a
college friend we don't know than to a friend we already know.
4. off-record
politeness strategy (indirect or disguised strategy), this strategy is
realized in a sarcastic or disguised way. For example, we forget not to bring a
pen when we are going to take the civil servant written exam, then we want to
borrow it from the gentlemen next to us. We don't immediately say "You can
borrow a pen", but say "Sorry, sir, do you have more pens?".
5. Don't do FTA
(do nothing), this strategy is the highest politeness strategy. In this
strategy, we do not do anything that can interfere with self-esteem.
For example, we are
being invited by a lecturer on vacation, and suddenly on the way we want to pee.
But we are silent, not daring to speak because we are very reluctant to ask to
stop at a public toilet. So, the concept of politeness strategy offered by
Brown and Levinson can be used to prevent or repair the damage caused by actions
that attack self-esteem. Okay, now let's move on to the principle of
politeness!
Politeness Principle
According to Leech (in Joan Cutting, 2002), there are six maxims
in the politeness principle. The six principles are:
a.
The maxim of wisdom (tact), namely the principle that refers to
reducing one's own benefits and maximizing the benefits of others. According to
Leech, this type of maxim is the most important kind of politeness in society.
(Joan Cutting, 2002: 419) Example: A: “Let's finish the fruit salad! There's
still a lot inside, really."
B: "Wow, the fruit salad is really fresh, Mom."
The above statement shows that what A says maximizes profit for
B.
b.
Generosity maxim, namely the principle that refers to minimizing
benefits for oneself and maximizing self-sacrifice. (Joan Cutting, 2002: 49)
Example: Mother A: "Oops, I've run out of fried oil."
Mother B: “Just use my cooking oil, ma'am. I'll take it to the
kitchen first."
The statement above shows that what Mrs. B said minimizes
benefits for oneself and maximizes self-sacrifice, namely by offering and
getting cooking oil.
c.
The maxim of acceptance, which is the principle that refers to
minimizing belittling others and maximizing praise for others. (Joan Cutting,
2002:49)
For example, the speech "wow, your bread is delicious, ya"
will be appreciated rather than the speech, "your bread is not
good!".
d.
Modesty, namely the principle that refers to reducing
self-praise and adding insults to oneself. (Joan Cutting, 2002:49)
Example: X: "You'll sing at the wedding, okay?" Y:
“okay, but my voice is not good.”
From the maxim above, we can see that Y reduced self-praise and
added insults to himself by calling his voice bad.
e.
The maxim of agreement, which is the principle that refers to
reducing disagreement with others and increasing agreement with others. (Joan
Cutting, 2002:50)
Example: X: “Wow, it feels like the day is going by really
fast.” Y: “Yes, indeed!” From the maxims above, we can see that Y's statement
is to apply the principle of agreement, namely by agreeing to what X said.
f.
Maxim of sympathy, namely the principle that refers to
minimizing antipathy and maximizing sympathy for others. (Joan Cutting,
2002:50)
Example: A: “Next month my book will be published.” B: “Wow,
congratulations! You are great!"
From the speech above, we can see that what B said applies the
principle of sympathy, namely by congratulating A's success. So, that's it,
guys, explanations of strategy and politeness principles. This knowledge is
very important for anyone to know considering we are social creatures who
interact with other people every day.
A translation of this
blog post:
Mari
Mengenal Strategi Kesantunan dan Prinsip Kesantunan dalam Pragmatik |
kumparan.com
Bibliography
Cutting, Joan.
Pragmatics and Discourse. London: Routledge. 2002.
Syahrin, Elvi.
"Politeness Strategy as Pragmatic Competence in French Directive Speech
Acts". Medan State University. 2008.
Yule, George.
pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1996.
