NEGATIVE POLITENESS USED IN E-MAIL CORRESPONDENCES IN HELICONIA VILLA
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NEGATIVE POLITENESS USED IN E-MAIL
CORRESPONDENCES IN HELICONIA VILLA
BY K.TRIANA ADI PUTRA
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, FACULTY OF LETTERS
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
2013
Abstrak
Judul dari artikel ini adalah “Sopan Santun Yang Digunakan Dalam Surat Elektronik di Vila Heliconia”.Sopan santun sebagai salah satu cirri dan kepribadian dari Bangsa Indonesia adalah hal yang sangat penting yang digunakan pada berbagai aspek dan situasi dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Dan tidak setiap orang mengetahui bagaimana melakukan hal ini agar bias diterima oleh semua pihak. Begitu pentingnya sopan-santun ini, oleh karena itu artikel ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa sopan-santun yang digunakan dalam surat elektronik di vila Heliconia. Surat elektronik yang akan dianalisa diambil dari kotak masuk pada computer milik karyawan vila Heliconia. Untuk menganalisa surat elektronik tersebut, jurnal ini menggunakan metode dokumentasi pada pengumpulan data dan metode kualitatif untuk menganalisa data tersebut. Dan teori yang digunakan adalah teori kesopanan yang dikemukakan oleh Brown dan Levinson. Hasil dan pembahasan menunjukkan bahwa strategi sopan-santun digunakan oleh karyawan villa, untuk meningkatkan tingkat hunian vila, meskipun hanya menggunkan beberapa strategi,hal ini tetap menandakan bahwa sopan-santun sangatlah penting untuk digunakan dalam berbagai situasi, khususnya dalam dunia kerja pada saat mengirim ataupun menerima surat elektronik.
Kata kunci :strategi sopan-santun, surat elektronik, dan surat-menyurat.
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1. Background of the Study
Politeness is very important principle in language use. It may be defined as taking account of the feelings of others (Holmes:1992:296 ). Politeness is universal that is it can be observed as a phenomenon in all cultures. Polite language is an important part of communication. It may be defined in a number of ways and also depend on a variety of factors, including
age, social distance between the speaker and the hearer, how well they know each other and the context of situation
In fact, the hospitality industries, using polite language is an important part in communication. And e-mail correspondences are increasing tremendously along with the demands of the guests to obtain very quick information on any requests that they have previously asked for. Besides, email correspondences can be used for providing an evidence or confirmation of significant information as well as authorization of a person that has a position in upper level to a person in lower level of a department within the hotel. E-mails are also used for distributing the information within the hotel from one department to others as a function of informing an acknowledgment, important message or information.
However, an e-mail would not help the communication better if the people who use it are not capable of speaking foreign language. It means they need to be able to communicate with foreigners or new customers. Heliconia Villa a hospitality industry that is located in Seminyak area is one of many industries which exists in Bali and has foreign customers. This company is using e-mail as a tool in communicating to customers, but the management allows the staff members to use their own creativity when composing replay to the e-mail. It means the staff members are not just using the patterns of replay to the e-mail, but they could improve by using their own idea as long as the guests feel comfortable. And it is very interesting to investigate the use of negative politeness in e-mail correspondences especially in HeliconiaVilla.
Based on the background stated above, the problem of the study was “ What are the types of negative politeness used in e-mail correspondences in Heliconia Villa?”
Based on the background and problem stated above, the aim of the study was “To describe and analyze the types of negative politeness strategies used in e-mail correspondences”.
Research method is a method used in a process of how people do a research and approach the problems and seek the answers through finding, collecting and analyzing the data. The qualitative method is a method to find out the answer to the problems and the information in narrative way. In this writing, there are three steps formulated as follows :
The data source was collected from Reservation Department at Heliconia Villa. According to the topic, the article focused on e-mail correspondences therefore, the data used the e-mail correspondences from the Reservation Department at Heliconia Villa.
Data collection should be relevant, accurate, and reliable. The documentation method was used in collecting data. The data were chosen randomly from the inbox of the Reservation Department, then read and understood carefully. Next the data were collected and analyzed to make them easier to be analyzed.
The data were analyzed qualitatively. Firstly, each e-mail was analyzed based on the theory of politeness principles proposed by Leech (1983). Then, each e-mail was analyzed based on negative politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson.
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5. Analysis of Negative Politeness Strategies Used In E-Mail
Correspondences In Heliconia Villa
From:Heliconia Villa [mailto:info@heliconiavilla.com]
Sent: Thursday, 31 January 2013 8:52 AM
To: Robyn Paterson
Subject: Re: Deal of Heliconia Villa
Dear Mr, Robbie,
Please find bellow the differences between Storey villa & One Bedroom Villa :
One Bedroom Villa is a luxury villa which completed by living/dining area,kitchen, bathroom with bathtub and shower, private pool and beautiful garden
While Storey villa is bungalow type (semi traditional decoration)which
wefurnished and add own small pool already.
The Storey villa type by two floor , one room on up-stair and one roomin down stair and each room have bathroom but have no bathtub (only shower) and the space of living, kitchen and garden more small then One Bedroom Villa.
One bedroom villa is single level floor.
Actually on website it is mentioned One bed two storey.
All the images already send in separate email.
Should you need any information please feel free to contact us.
Best regards,
Lina.
Analysis:
Line
(1)
(9)
(13)
(16)
This strategy enjoins the speaker to question or hedge, such assumption, derives from the want not to presume and the want not to coerce H(Hearer).
Example :
“Actually on website it is mentioned One bed two storey”. (line 16) Meaning :From the sentence above, the receptionist tries to make a minimal assumption to the guest, finally the guest will try to see the website for the more information that he needed.
“Should you need any information please feel free to contact us”. (line 18) Meaning :From the sentence above, the receptionisthas an opportunity to make a minimal assumption to the guest, and finally the guest will try to contact the receptionist as soon as possible if the guest interested in the reception offer.
It gives redress to H’s negative face by explicitly expressing doubt that the conditions for the appropriateness of S’s speech act can be obtained. It may be realized by doing indirect assertions.
The following examples can be seen :
“The Storey villa type by two floor , one room on up-stair and one room in down stair and each room have bathroom but have no bathtub (only shower) and the space of living, kitchen and garden more small then One Bedroom Villa”.(line 10)
Meaning : The receptionist informs the guest about the incomplete facilities of the storey villa.
Speaker redresses the seriousness of the FTA to pay H deference indirectly.
The example of this strategy can be found from the data :
“The Storey villa type by two floor , one room on up-stair and one room in down stair and each room have bathroom but have no bathtub (only shower).(line 10)
Meaning : The receptionist tries to minimize the imposition of the guest by using the word ‘only’, strictly inform, that the storey villa has no complete facilities than one bedroom luxury villa.
The speaker uses the addressee honorific terms to make the conversation more polite. The use of addressee honorific terms shows the far relation of the speaker to the hearer.
Example :
“Dear Mr, Robbie”. (line1)
In the text above the receptionist used the addressee honorific terms in their utterance instead of addressing just by name make sentence more formal and more polite. It also gives deference to guest.
In this strategy S does want to impinge on H by phrasing the FTA as if the agent were other than S or at least possibly not S or H alone, and the addresseewere other than H, or only inclusive of H. This results in variety of ways of avoiding the pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’.
Here the example :
‘we furnished and add own small pool already”. (line 9)
Meaning: from the sentence, the receptionist is avoiding the use of ‘I’ by pluralizing herself by using ‘we’. The receptionist prefers to use ‘we’ as a plural form which serves negative politeness end. In addition, the use of ‘we’ in this context make the sentence conventionalized in polite form which more appropriate to formal situation and negative politeness.
In this case, there were several points explained based on the analysis and finding in the previous chapter. These points can be described as the conclusion of this journal as follows :
In e-mail correspondences, the use of negative politeness strategy depends on the situation and how the employees applied it. And there are five strategies found in e-mail correspondences, those are :‘Question, Hedges’,’ Be Pessimistic’,’Minimize the Imposition,’ Give Deference, ‘Impersonalized S(speaker) and H(hearer)’. The reason of using the negative politeness strategies in email correspondences is the receptionist would like to maintain a good and a long term relationship with the guests and it would continue to the quite numbers of bookings received by the Villa as part of the main goal of the Reservation staff members to produce more bookings and revenues. And the use of slangs, jargons and taboo words are avoided, to make the sentences more polite and could acceptable for everyone, especially in email correspondences.
Brown, P. and Levinson. 1978. Universal in language usage. Politeness Phenomena.In Esther N Goody (Ed.). Questions and Politeness : Strategies in Social Interaction, (56310).London :Cambridge University Press.
Gains, Jonathan. 2010. Electronic Mail- A New Style of Communication or Just a New Medium? : An Investigation into the Text Features of E-mail. Available from :http://www.sciencedirect.com/science.
Holmes, Janet. 1984. General Linguistics. “Women’s Language” :a functional approach. London: Longman
Holmes, Janet. 2001. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Pearson Education Limited. UK. Group.
Leech, G. 1974. Semantics. London: Hazel Watson &Viney Ltd.
Lakoff, Robin. 1975. Language and Women’s Place. New York: Harper & Row.
Wehmeir, Sally. 2006. Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary. London : Oxford
University Press
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