Imperative and Politeness in 'Presidential Debates Between Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney' Transcript
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ISSN: 2302-920X
Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud
Vol 18.2 Pebruari 2017: 202-210
Imperative and Politeness in " Presidential Debates Between Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney " Transcript
Putu Jessica Dewi Anggraeni1*, I Nengah Sudipa2, A.A.Sagung Shanti Sari Dewi3 [123]English Department, Faculty of Arts,Udayana University
1[[email protected]] 2[[email protected]] 3[[email protected]]
*
Corresponding Author
Abstrak
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan bentuk dan fungsi dari kalimat imperatif serta menentukan tipe kesantunan yang terkandung didalam kalimat imperatif pada transkrip debat presidensial. Sumber data diambil dari sebuah transkrip debat presidensial antara Barrack Obama dan Mitt Romney. Metode pengumpulan dan analisa data dilaksanakan menggunakan metode dokumentasi dan observasi langsung, serta menggunakan metode analisis deskriptif kualitatif. Teori yang digunakan dalam mendukung penelitian ini adalah teori tindak tutur dikemukakan oleh John L. Austin (1962) ; teori kesantunan dikemukakan oleh Brown dan Levinson (1987), teori struktural mengenai tata bahasa dikembangkan oleh Quirk, Geoffrey Leech, dan Jan Starvik di dalam buku" A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985) yang didukung dengan teori "A Practical English Grammar (1986)" dikembangkan oleh Thomson and Martinet serta "Practical English Usage (1995)"dikembangkan oleh Michael Swan. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa terdapat 4 bentuk dan fungsi imperatif yaitu komando, memberikan nasehat, permintaan, dan sugesti. Selain itu, tipe kesantunan yang ditemukan dalam kalimat imperatif tersebut adalah kesantunan negatif yang didukung adanya faktor situasi, kekuasaan, serta perbedaan usia.
Kata kunci :Imperatif, Kesantunan, Debat
Sociolinguistics is the branch of linguistics studying the relation between language and society. Sociolinguistics may be usefully defined as the study of variations in language, or more precisely of variation within speech communities. Sociolinguistics focuses on language as a social phenomenon. Language can be rather complex. The structural aspects of languages
– the types of sentences – are divided into categories based on the purpose and form of the sentence. There are four fundamental sentence types such as declarative, imperative, exclamatory, and, interrogative (Quirk,1985:803).
In the case of communication, however, everyone wants to be understood and does not want to lose his face or being embarrassed while communicating. The important concept is when we are in different situations; we are obligated to adjust our words to fit the occasion. Politeness is described as a social norm, or a set of prescriptive social 'rules'. Politeness can be indicated as a kind of social phenomenon, an approach used to maintain the harmonious interpersonal relationship, and also a kind of conventional behavioral norms. In this case, the politeness throughout Presidential Debates was identified. The sentence in the debating between participants was analyzed in order to get how the use of imperative form and function in the debating script which indicates the appropriate way of participants show politeness. The conversation is usually emphasizing the social distant, power, solidarity and differentiation of age.
There aretwo problems formulated to be analyzed :
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1) . What form and function of imperative were used in the debating transcript of "Presidential
Debates between Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney " on October 22, 2012 ?
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2) . How politeness was expressed within imperative based on the data ?
This research is intended:
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1) . To describe the form and function of imperative used in the debating transcript of "Presidential Debates between Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney " on October 22,
2012.
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2) . To analyze the politeness expressed within the imperative function found in the data.
The data of this study were obtained from internet in printed English transcript form of "Presidential Debates between Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney" Transcript. The Presidential Debates wereheld in the campus of Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida on October 22, 2012.This is the fourth and last debate of the 2012 campaign between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.There are thirteen data categorized as the imperative sentence found in the transcript of the debate. The thirteenth data were determined whether they contained negative or positive politeness.
The method of collecting data within this study was through direct observation and documentary methods. The steps of collecting data are as follows : firstly, watching the show and listening to the dialogue of the participants carefully in order to find out the use of imperative in terms of forms and function in relation to politeness and factors that influenced the politeness; secondly, reading the transcript to get relation between the acts and the dialogue between the participants in the debate show in order to find the use of imperative and its relation with politeness ; thirdly, from all of the collected data, only the imperative sentence in relation to politeness within the dialogue was chosen.
Method and technique of analyzing data were conducted qualitatively. The wasanalysis conducted through several steps. The details were as follows: first, the data derived from the transcripts were collected, then, the imperative sentence within the dialogue of participants while doing debate was determined; those data were categorized under politeness. The data were classified whether they indicated a command/order, request, advice, invitation, and suggestion in terms of imperative form and function. After that, the politeness appearing in terms of linguistics features was identified. The next step was strictly analyzing the selected data based on the theory of politeness proposed by Brown and
Levinson. The results of this classification were used to support the analysis of politeness based on the use of imperative in debating transcript.
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5. Result and Discussion
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5.1 Imperative and Politeness
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5.1.1 Command/order
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a. ROMNEY: we must have a comprehensive strategy to help reject this kind of extremism. (pg 2).
Based on the structural theory explained above, this sentence indicates imperative in command/order form and imperative with subject.( Quirk et al, 1985 :828). This statement has command or order function. Imperative in command form wasused to give a direct order / command (direct order) .This statement is negative politeness. Speakers use negative politeness to respect the hearer and give freedom to the hearer.The supported factors are speech situation and power.
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b. OBAMA :we would investigate exactly what happened, and number three, most importantly, that we would go after those who killed Americans and we would bring them to justice. (pg 3)
This statement clearly used the subject "we", which refers to all governments. According to the structural theory developed by Quirk, the subject "we" placed in initial position and followed by modal "would" includes the other form of expressing imperative meaning. It has the standard structure " Subject + Would ", therefore, it belongs to the imperative with subject and imperative in command/order form. This clearly shows that the sentence above has a function as giving command/order. According to the theory above, this statement applied the negative politeness. Obama used his self-protection when he delivered his argument to Romney, therefore he used "we" not "I" to emphasize his claim and seemed more respectful to the hearer.
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c. ROMNEY : We should key our foreign aid, our direct foreign investment, and that of our friends, we should coordinate it to make sure that we -- we push back and give them more economic development.(pg 3)
The statement is included in the imperative sentence in the forms of command and imperative with subject. The function of this imperative sentence is giving command or order. According to the statement above, Romney used negative politeness. He uses the negative politeness because he wants to keep his self-esteem as well as Obama. The other factors supporting this negative politeness are situation or speech situation either formal or informal. Besides, Power refers to the power relationship between two interlocutors.
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d. OBAMA: Number four, we have to do is recognize that we can't continue to do nation building in these regions. (pg 7)
This statement is about ordering in form of imperative.The form of this imperative sentence is the other form of expressing imperative meaning in command form. Based on statement above, it showed thefunction of giving command uttered by Obama.Based on Obama's argument above, he used negative politeness in imperative speech.The factors that affect that condition are the power, the situation, as well as the age difference.
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e. ROMNEY: And for that to happen, we have to strengthen our economy
here at
home. We have to get our economy going.So, we have to make decisions based upon uncertainty, and that means a strong military.We have to also stand by our allies. (pg 12)
This sentence includes Imperative with subject form and the other forms expressed imperative meaning of command/order.This statement is a direct speech act uttered by the speakers in accordance with the
content and purpose. They compete to provide criticism and suggestions
in this event.Based on the statement above, Romney uses negative politeness. Negative politeness can be called "politeness as a strategy for self-protection".There are several factors that can favor the occurrence of negative politeness in Romney's statement above, including Situation and power.
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f. OBAMA: We absolutely have to make more progress and that's why we're going to keep on pressing.(pg 33)
This sentence includes imperative with subject and imperative in command form.This statement has a function as an imperative in the form of command. Based on the Obama's statement above, he used negative politeness. Negative politeness is a strategy for self-protection". There are many factors influence the occurrence of negative politeness. In the argument above, there are two supporting factors; they are the situation, the power, and differentiation of age.
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a. SCHIEFFER: We'll get to that, but let's give the president a chance.(pg 4)
This statement has two forms of imperatives. This statement incudes imperative form with “let” and imperative in suggestion form. Based on the function of imperative, this sentence shows the suggestion function. Based on the previous theory, Schieffer used negative politeness. This argument has two supporting factors; they are power and situation.
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b. SCHIEFFER: Should we reassess our policy and see if we can find a better way to influence events there? (pg 7)
This argument includes imperative with question tag. Besides, this argument is also imperative with suggestion form. The sentence above is an imperative sentence that serves as a conduit suggestion. According to Schieffer’s (moderator) suggestion, he used negative
politeness.The factors that contribute to this negative politeness are a situation or speech condition and power.
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c. OBAMA : Let's check the record.(pg 34)
The sentence above has two forms of imperative. The first is Imperative form with let and the form of suggestion. It is imperative sentence which has the characteristics as giving suggestion. Based on Obama's suggestion above, he used negative politeness or "politeness as a strategy for self-protection". Application
of negative politeness if associated with this condition is affected by the situation, power, and differentiation of age.
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a. ROMNEY : We should be playing the leadership role there, not on the ground with military.(pg 9)
This statement includes imperative with subject and imperative in advising form ( according to Thomson and Martinet ). The sentence above has a function to give an advice. The way in which Romney delivered his advice was smooth by using negative politeness and could influence his image as an opponent of Obama. The factors that support this negative politeness are the situation and power.
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b. ROMNEY: We should have taken a leading role, not militarily.(pg 10) This sentence has two forms of imperative; they are "imperative with subject" and imperative in form of advice. The sentence above has a function to give an advice.Speakers use negative politeness to respect hearer (Obama) and give the freedom of the hearer (Obama). There are several factors that influence the occurrence of negative politeness, including the factors of the situation and power.
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c. OBAMA: But we also have to develop clean energy technologies that will allow us to cut our exports in half by 2020. (pg 13)
This sentence has two forms of imperative; they are "imperative with subject" and it includes imperative in form of advice. If it is associated with the function and context of the situation, this argument has the function of providing advice. Obama applied the negative politeness. The factors which resulted in the negative politeness were situation and power. Obama was participating in a formal event; a presidential debate against Romney.
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a. ROMNEY: Iwish we'd have had a better vision of the future.(pg 11)
This statement includes into Imperative with subject; besides, this statement has imperative meaning in request form (Thomson and Martinet, 1986:249). The statement uttered by Romney has a function within the context of the situation. In the statement made by Romney, he used negative politeness. The factors that affected this statement were power and situation.
In the first discussion, there are thirteen data classified as imperative sentence; such as giving the command, suggestion, giving advice, and requesting. There are thirteen data which are classified according to form and function of the imperative sentence. The type of form and function obtained from the collection of such data were giving the command, suggestion, giving advice, and requesting. Thirteen data were divided into 4 sections. 6 Data had the imperative form with subject and the imperative form of the command, as well as serve as an imperative sentence for giving command. 3 Data have the imperative form of suggestion, let imperative with the form, and the imperative form with question tags. Besides, it has a function as giving a suggestion. 3 Data have the imperative form with the subject and the imperative with advice form as well as having the function of providing advice. 1 data is an imperative sentence with the imperative form with the subject and with the imperative request form.
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