Politeness Maxim Used By Characters in Forever My Girl Movie
on
Udayana Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities,p-ISSN: 2549-6956, e-ISSN: 2621-9107
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24843/UJoSSH.2022.v06.i01.p07
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Politeness Maxim Used By Characters in Forever My Girl Movie
Ni Putu Mega Purnami1, Yana Qomariana2, Ni Luh Mas Indrawati3
[1]English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University
Denpasar, Bali
Email: megapurnami@gmail.com
[2]English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University
Denpasar, Bali
Email: yana_qomariana@unud.ac.id
[3]English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University
Denpasar, Bali
Abstract: Maxim is a linguistic rule in lingual interaction between the speaker and the interlocutor. Politeness maxim is an important aspect that contributes to maintaining social harmony. This study is entitled Politeness Maxim Used by The Characters in “Forever My Girl” movie. Qualitative research is used in this study. This study aims to find what maxims are performed in utterance used by the characters and what scale of politeness shown by the characters in the movie. Both theories applied are based on Leech theory (1983) which are politeness maxim and the scale of politeness. The data were collected by using the documentation method and note-taking technique. The result shows that there are six types of politeness maxims and the researcher found each type of politeness scale. The most common maxim used is Agreement Maxim and the dominant scale is social distance.
Keywords: politeness maxim, politeness scale, movie
Language is needed as it is an important part of human life that is used to communicate with people. Linguistics is the scientific study of language and pragmatics is the branch that studies about speaker’s meaning. Therefore, pragmatics plays an important role in language that affects human interaction. Politeness is required in communicating since it is used to express a good manner that contributes to maintaining social harmony in social life. Being polite means acting with consideration of norms applied in society. By implement politeness, the interaction between the speaker and the hearer is going well as is expected.
In discussing the issue of politeness, the politeness principle is the principle that contributes to making communication run properly. As Leech (1983) states the politeness principle means involves minimizing the benefit to the speaker or hearer. In his book, Leech (1983) mentioned that the politeness principle consists of six maxims the speaker should obey in communicating.
The phenomenon of politeness maxim can be found in movies as a subject of this research. The
movie is a reflection of real-life which both utterances that people produce in are similar that the politeness maxim is applied.
In this research, the researcher analyzes politeness maxim in a movie that tells about the relationship of the family with the title Forever My Girl. This movie is chosen since many of the characters express their politeness through the words they say.
Regarding the description above, the objectives of this study are to describe the politeness maxim performed in utterance used by the characters and find out the scale of politeness shown by the characters in the Forever My Girl movie. These both are correlated that politeness maxim uttered by the speaker is influenced by the relationship between the speaker and the hearer that can be identified in the scale of politeness starting from the unpolished to the most polite of the utterance itself.
Based on the phenomenon, it leads the researcher to make research with title "Politeness Maxim Used by The Characters in Forever My Girl Movie". The discussion applied the two theories proposed by Leech that politeness maxim classifies into Tact Maxim, Generosity Maxim, Approbation
Maxim, Modesty Maxim, Agreement Maxim, and Sympathy Maxim. It applies scales of politeness divided into Cost-benefit Scale, Optionality Scale, Indirectness Scale, Authority Scale, and Social Distance Scale.
Based on the background of the study above, two problems are undertaken as follows: What are politeness maxims performed in utterances used by the characters in the Forever My Girl movie?, What scale of politeness is shown by the characters in the Forever My Girl movie?.
Based on the problems presented above, the aims of this study can be formulated as follow: To find out politeness maxim performed in utterances used by the characters in the Forever My Girl movie, To find out the scale of politeness shown by the characters in the Forever My Girl movie.
The research method covers data source, method and technique of collecting data, method, and technique of analyzing data, and method and technique of presenting analysis.
Data Source
The data source in this study was taken from all of the utterances produced by the characters in the Forever My Girl movie. The movie released in 2018 is adapted from the novel by Heidi McLaughlin and was directed by Bethany Ashton Wolf. The main idea of the story was the lead actor tried to fix his relationship with his family and his close friend whom he let down. Thus, many politeness utterances were found in the conversation.
Method and Technique of Collecting Data
The researchers applied the documentation method. To make this study runs chronologically, the following procedures are taken: First, the researcher downloaded a movie and its movie transcript from the internet. Second, the movie was watched several times and matched to its movie transcript. Third, note-taking was used to identify and classify the data findings. In this case, the researcher gave a minute when the conversation occurred.
Method and Technique of Analyzing Data
The descriptive qualitative method was used to analyze the data in this study that supported by the paragraph in describe the data findings itself. It was done by the following step: First, the researchers watched the movie and list the data finding which contains politeness maxim. Second, gave a mark to the data findings that contains politeness maxim. Third, analyzed the data used the theories proposed by Leech (1983) which Politeness Maxim and Scale of Politeness. Thereafter, give an overview of the context of situation and wrote an explanation afterward.
Method and Technique of Presenting Data
The method and technique of presenting data in this study used the informal method that the data explained and describe by sentence. The technique was the descriptive technique that the data will be presented in words or sentences and the form of a paragraph.
This section discusses the analysis of politeness maxim and scale of politeness which both are proposed by Leech (1983). The analysis focuses on the utterances produced by all the characters in the movie. The data was presented as follow:
Tact Maxim
(00:12:05 – 00:12:12)
Liam: I am just dealing with some writer’s block right now
Sam: Dude, I'm telling you, you can’t keep putting off
Liam: All right, Sam.
The conversation above took place in Sam's apartment. The conversation began when Sam asked Liam about his new song. Liam told him his obstacles in delaying his obligations. Immediately, Sam advised by saying, "Dude, I’m telling you, you can’t keep putting them off”. Sam’s utterance was applied tact maxim since he minimized the cost to Liam that he was benefited from Sam's advice. Further, Sam maximized the benefit to Sam by reminding Liam about his responsibility.
Measured by the politeness scale, it was included in the cost-benefit scale and the social distance scale. The cost-benefit scale was showed when Sam gave benefits to Liam by saying words to remind Liam as advice. Then, Liam felt benefited by the words uttered by Sam. The next scale was the social distance scale that showed when Sam said the word "Dude. That word was meant "friend" that was used in the informal situation and it pronounced explicitly by men to male friends. Therefore, Sam's utterance was considered polite that measure by cost-benefit and the social distance scale.
Generosity Maxim
(00:08:45 – 00:09:04)
Liam : Can you please tell me where the
nearest
cellphone store is?
Employee: It's Mr. Page. I'd be delighted to assist you. It’s
on the edge of The Quarter. I’d be happy to call
you a car.
Liam : Can you tell me how far, which
direction, how
many blocks?
Employee : Take a right on Royal, and it’s six blocks down
on your left.
Liam : Okay.
The conversation above took place at a hotel. The character named Liam ran in a hurry because his cellphone was damaged. At that time he was trying to find out a place to fix his cellphone which was closest to the hotel and he asked an employee there. The hotel employee greeted Liam friendly that every word she conveyed showed politeness to Liam. She said, “It’s Mr. Page. I’d be delighted to assist you. It's on the edge of The Quarter. I'd be happy to call you a car. It used to minimize the benefit to herself as she offered herself to help Liam. She also gave a direction on where to go to bring his cellphone and this referred to maximize the cost to self.
The scales of politeness were identified in this data were a cost-benefit scale that Liam got benefit from the employee's information. The second scale was an authority scale because the employee calls Liam "Mr" which referred she showed her respect to Liam. Therefore, the employee's utterance was considered polite that measure by a cost-benefit and an authority scale.
Approbation Maxim (00:02:26 – 00:02:37)
Josie: I am getting married.
Mason: Ladies, you guys look beautiful. Josie, you look
amazing.
Josie: Thank you, Mason.
Mason's utterance in the data above belongs to the approbation maxim that indicated when he said "Ladies, you guys look beautiful. Josie, you look absolutely amazing.”. It showed that he complimented her friends and Josie as the bride. Therefore, he completely minimizes expressions of dispraise to others and maximizes expressions that implied praise to others.
Based on the scale of politeness, Mason's utterance was included as the cost-benefit and the social distance scale. The cost-benefit scale was indicated when Mason burden cost to himself by giving benefits to the hearer in the form of praise. The social distance scale identified was because he said the word "guys" which meant the relationship between them was so close. Hence, Mason's utterance was included as polite measured from a cost-benefit and a social distance scale.
Modesty Maxim
(00:55:47 – 00:56:00)
Liam: I have not seen you for a long time Billy: How do you come up with songs to play? Liam: The truth is I have not been very good at it
The conversation of this data was classified as a modesty maxim that showed in Liam's utterance. Liam completely maximized the expression of dispraise to self. The conversation occurred when Billy asked Liam to play his guitar, when Liam answered her question, he did not praise by boasting himself by saying "The truth is I have not been very good at it lately". Then, he completely minimized the praise of himself.
The politeness scale influenced the speaker saying it by that way was social distance scale. It because of the relationship between them. Liam was Billy's father, then the scale of politeness that made Liam applied modesty maxim in this conversation was the social distance scale.
Agreement Maxim
(00:14:42 – 00:14:50)
Liam: Hey, Pat. I think you should go and if you want to
keep your job, I wouldn’t tell anyone where I am
Pat: You got it, Boss.
Liam: Alright
The conversation of this data was appropriate according to the agreement maxim. The conversation above took place in Liam's hometown. He asked his private driver not to tell anyone where he was. In answered Liam's order, Pat applied the agreement maxim that showed when he maximized the expression of the agreement by saying, "You got it, Boss". No words were indicated as disagreement, then he completely minimized the expression of disagreement between himself and Liam.
The scales of politeness in this data were measured by a cost-benefit scale and an authority scale. Pat maximized benefit to Liam by agreeing with Liam’s request. Then, it indicated that Pat minimized cost to himself. By saying the word "Boss", it indicated that the scale of politeness that influenced Pat applied agreement maxim in the conversation was authority scale since the different social status between the participants which were Liam and Pat.
Sympathy Maxim
(00:21:27 – 00:21:38)
Sam: Have you turned on a TV? Does the prehistoric cell
Phone of yours even have Wi-Fi
Liam: I'm in my hometown right now, in Louisiana. My
My best friend from high school passed away from high
school. I just went to his funeral.
Sam: Liam, I'm sorry, man. I mean. Are you all right?
Liam: Yeah. I think so.
Based on the data in the conversation above, the agreement maxim was shown by Sam. The conversation happened when Sam called Liam by phone call asked where Liam was. Liam answered Sam's question by informing him that he was in his hometown and gave the news that his friend passed away. Not long after, Sam expressed his sympathy by saying "Liam, I'm sorry, man." and he also asked about Liam’s condition. His utterances indicated that he minimize antipathy between himself and Liam and maximize sympathy between them.
The scale of politeness influenced Sam applied sympathy maxims were a cost-benefit and a social distance. The cost-benefit scale showed when Sam expressed his sympathy to maximize cost to himself. It used to make Liam calmer that meant he got benefit from Sam’s utterance. The second scale was a social distance scale that showed when he said the word "man" to Liam. It was a word that can be said to people who have a close relationship with the speaker. Therefore, Liam applied the sympathy maxim measured by the social distance scale.
Based on the discussion of this study, it focused on the analysis of politeness maxim applied the theory proposed by Geoffrey Leech (1983) with supporting theory of Scale of Politeness by Geoffrey Leech (1983). There were some points which can be summarized as the conclusion. The six types of maxim were found in this study and the agreement maxim became the most dominant maxim that was applied and the modesty was the fewest applied. Likewise, the five types of politeness scale which influence the politeness maxim uttered by characters were found in this movie. The scale most applied was a social distance scale and the fewest was an indirectness scale of politeness
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