Politeness strategies in Requests in the Movie series “Harry Potter”

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Politeness strategies in Requests in the Movie series “Harry Potter”

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Politeness strategies in Requests in the Movie series “Harry Potter” Lương Thanh Hồng Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh; Mã số: 60.22.15 Người hướng dẫn: PGS.TS. Nguyễn Văn Độ Năm bảo vệ: 2012 Abstract: The study presents an investigation in how politeness strategies are employed in requests in the movie series Harry Potter with the two main chapters. In chapter 1, some reviews on Speech Acts, Speech Act of Requesting, Politeness, Politeness strategies by Brown and Levinson (1987) are taken into careful consideration to serve as a good foundation for the data analysis and findings in the next chapter. Chapter 2 based on Brown and Levinson’s framework studies the politeness strategies in requests used by the characters in the movie series Harry Potter and points out how S-H relationship affects their choices of politeness strategies in making requests. The results show that the characters in the movies are more in favor of negative politeness strategies than positive ones in order to minimize the imposition on the hearers when making requests. Moreover, there is a variation of the proportion between positive and negative politeness strategies depending on the specific cases of social relationship. The study may serve as a good start for further study on politeness in general and politeness strategies in particular. Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Hội thoại; Ngôn ngữ Content PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale As it can be seen clearly, politeness plays an of great importance role in human daily communication. It has a great influence in phenomena, rules and structures of languages. Therefore, the effectiveness of communication is affected considerably. During the development of civilized society, human beings have been founding standards and values describing appropriate behaviors as well as communicative strategies and language structures which are considered being polite in specific situations and specific cultures. There are a number of studies on politeness issue because of its significance in communication. However, each researcher has a different point of view. For example, Lakoff and Leech study politeness under communicative strategies, Brown and Levinson consider politeness as behaviors saving face. Although politeness seems to be quite familiar and very old, in fact it still develops non- 2 stop and actually offers me many interests, which inspires me to carry out a research on such issue. However, to achieve politeness in communication, it is necessary to give out suitable politeness strategies for each certain context. Thus, the study on politeness as well as politeness strategies is of great importance and essential to enhance the effectiveness of our daily communication. Moreover, what are the other reasons why I would like to investigate politeness strategies in requests in the movie series Harry Potter? Firstly, according to many scholars not only is requesting one of the most popular activities in human daily communication but also is the most threatening act to the human face. Thus, choosing appropriate politeness strategies when making requests need to be taken into due consideration, which actually brings me good opportunities to do research on politeness strategies often used in daily requests. Secondly, I choose the requests in the movie series Harry Potter as the data for my study because watching movies is one of my biggest hobbies and offers me much interest. Especially, the movie series recently have been the best ones produced by Warner Bros - a very famous movie producer in the United States, so I believe that the reliability of the content quality is much relevant to my study. Finally, I would expect the result of my research: Politeness Strategies in Requests in the Movie Series “Harry Potter” will have a great meaning to teaching and learning as well as using politeness strategies in requests appropriately and effectively. In addition, it will be much easier for people to choose and employ politeness strategies, which actually offers effectiveness in daily communication. 2. Aims of the study 1. To study the performance of positive and negative politeness strategies in the requests by the characters in the three episodes of the movie Harry Potter. 2. To study the effects of S-H relationship on the choices of politeness strategies in the requests of the characters in the three episodes of the movie Harry Potter. 3. Research questions 1. What are the positive and negative politeness strategies in the requests by the characters in the three episodes of the movie Harry Potter? 2. How does S-H relationship affect the choices of positive and negative politeness strategies in making requests of the characters in the three episodes of the movie Harry Potter? 4. Scope of the study 3 Due to the time and limitation of a minor thesis, it is impossible for me to investigate politeness strategies in requests in all their aspects. So, I would like to focus on verbal communication, but other important factors such as non-linguistic factors (facial expression, gestures, eye contact, etc.), paralinguistic factors such as intonation, pause, speed of speech, etc. are not taken into consideration in my study. Moreover, positive and negative politeness strategies based on the theoretical framework of Brown and Levinson (1987) are under the investigation of all the requests in three episodes: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince of the movie Harry Potter. 5. Methods of the study This study employs the Quantitative method which focuses much more on the collection and analysis of numerical data and statistics. Counting and measuring are common forms of quantitative methods. The result of the research is a number or series of number presented in tables and charts. 6. Design of the study The thesis consists of three main parts: PART 1: INTRODUCTION This part of the thesis presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, method and design of the study. PART 2: DEVELOPMENT This is the nuclear part of the thesis containing two chapters: Chapter 1: Theoretical Background This chapter establishes an overview of the theories on Speech Acts, Speech act of Request and Politeness theory which are the basis for the following analysis in the next chapter. Chapter 2: Politeness strategies in requests in the series of movies Harry Potter This chapter studies how the characters in the movie series use the politeness strategies in their requests and how S-H relationship affects their choices of politeness strategies when making requests. PART 3: CONCLUSION In this part, the author recapitulates the study, offers implication, limitations and suggestions for further research. 4 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1. Speech Acts 1.1.1. Speech act theory Many actions are carried out by using languages during human communication. Although they are expressed variously, they are all called speech acts. Speech act is one of the most issues that interests researchers most. It has been investigated seriously by different theorists such as Austin (1962), Grice (1957, 1975), Hymes (1964), Searle (1969), Levinson (1983), Brown and Yule (1983), Yule (1996), etc. so that human communication can be carried out in the most effective way.  Austin’s theory Speech act theory is originally developed by Austin in his famous book entitled “How to do things with words”. He presented a new picture of analyzing meaning in relationship among linguistics conventions correlated with words/ sentences, the situation where the speaker actually says something to the hearer, and associated intentions of the speaker. Austin (1962) defines speech acts as the actions performed in saying something. Actions performed through utterance production are called speech acts such as requesting, apologizing, complaining, promising, etc. Speech acts consist of three related acts, namely locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. 5 Austin also focuses on illocutionary acts where we might find the force of the statement and demonstrate its performative nature. He classified illocutionary acts into 5 categories based on performative verbs: Verdictives, Exercitives, Commissives, Behabitives, Expositives  Searle’s theory According to Searle (1969:24), language is a part of theory of action and speech acts such as promising, threatening, requesting, etc. are often performed during human communication. There are three different types of speech acts: Utterance acts, Propositional acts, Illocutionary acts. He also classified illocutionary acts into five clear and useful categories: Representatives, Directives, Commissives, Expressives, Declarations 1. 1.2. The Speech act of Requesting According to Searle (1969: 66), a request is defined as “a directive speech act which counts as an attempt to get H (the hearer) to do an act which S (the speaker) wants H to do, and which S believes that H is able to do; and which it is not obvious that H will do in the normal course of events or of H’s own accord.” From this point, it is very clear that the speech act of request consists of three basic elements: the speaker (S), the hearer (H) and the Act itself. Thus, in order to make a successful request, it is believed that the hearer is able and willing to do the act intended by the speaker. Searle (1975: 71) continued to develop Austin’s notion of felicity condition that holds for a successful speech act by proposing the conditions for requesting as follows: Preparatory condition, Sincerity condition, Propositional condition, Essential condition. In the view of Blum- Kulka et.al (1989), the realization of request can be seen from four aspects: Hearer dominance, Speaker dominance, Speaker and Hearer dominance, Impersonal or the use of unspecific agent. Although a request is realized in any perspectives, it possesses similar basic characteristics. Firstly, it gives us an idea about the expectations of the S and the H with regard to verbal or non-verbal action (Blum-Kulka et. al 1989: 11). Secondly, like other speech acts such as refusal, apology, requesting is inherently face-threatening in that it allows the Hs to interpret it as an intrusive act towards their freedom of action (Brown and Levinson 1978). Thirdly, it indicates the power of the interlocutors: the superior tends to produce more direct requests while the inferior tends to produce more indirect requests. Finally, Brown and Levinson 1987 also pointed out that the conventionalized realizations of requests, as well as its frequency, are vivid indicators of whether a society is a positively or negatively oriented 6 society. “A positive society” is a society in which speakers’ need for approval and belonging (in groupness) are emphasized whereas showing of deference and keeping distance are emphasized in “negatively-oriented society”. 1.2. Issues of Politeness 1.2.1. Definition of Politeness Politeness is one of the most noticeable issues in the research of intercultural communication and cross-cultural communication of human beings. According to the foreword of Gumperz (cited in Brown and Levinson, 1987: xiii), “politeness is basic to the production of social order, and a precondition of human cooperation, so that any theory which provides an understanding of this phenomenon at the same time goes to the foundations of human social life.” During the vast development of linguistics, many researchers have been interested in the field of politeness with various points of view and from different aspects. However, according to Nguyen Quang (2004: 10), three main important approaches to politeness are mentioned:  Set the ideal standard for polite acts to refer such as Grice  Propose the principles of politeness in communication in the form of do’s and don’ts like Lakoff, Leech  Specify the necessary strategies to encounter Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) in communication as in Brown and Levinson, 1987 The most influential theory of politeness was originated by Brown and Levinson (1978 and revised in 1987). The significant point of their theory of politeness is the concept of “face”. The term “face” in the sense of “reputation”, or “good name” was developed from Goffman’s concept of “face” (1955) to explain the use of politeness phenomena. According to Brown and Levinson (1987:66), face refers to the public self-image that every member (of a society) wants to claim for himself consisting of two related aspects: Negative face, Positive face. Concerned with “positive face” and “negative face”, the concepts of positive and negative politeness are developed. According to Yule (1996:69), negative politeness is a face saving act which oriented to the person’s negative face will tend to show deference, emphasize the importance of the other’s time or concerns, and even include an apology for the imposition or interruption. Brown and Levinson state that “negative politeness is redressive action address to the addressee’s negative face: his want to have his freedom of action unhindered and his 7 attention unimpeded” (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 129). Thus, negative politeness focuses on individualism and avoids intruding others’ privacy. It is also the most preferred in English culture. Unlike negative politeness, positive politeness a face saving act which is concerned with the person’s positive face will tend to show solidarity, emphasize that both Ss and Hs want the same thing, and that they have a common goal (Yule, 1996:69). According to Brown and Levinson (1987:101), positive politeness is redress directed to the addressee’s positive face, his perennial desire that his wants should be thought of as desirable. They also mentioned four kinds of Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) so that people could respect others’ face, feelings and avoid FTAs. 1. Acts threatening to the hearer’s negative face by indicating that the speaker does not intend to avoid impeding the hearer’s freedom of action. E.g.: ordering, suggesting, threatening, requesting, promising, etc. 2. Acts threatening to the hearer’s positive face by indicating that the speaker does not care about the addressee’s feelings and wants. E.g.: disapproving, contempting, complaining, criticizing, disagreeing. 3. Acts threatening to the speaker’s negative face. E.g. accepting an offer, excusing, promising unwillingly 4. Acts threatening to the speaker’s positive face. E.g.: apologizing, confessing. Brown and Levinson also point out five macrostrategies that speakers can seek to avoid these above Face Threatening Acts. Circumstance determining choice of strategy 1.2.2. Social factors affecting politeness strategies 8 Brown and Levinson (1987:15) propose that three sociological factors are crucial in determining the level of politeness which a speaker (S) will use to an addressee (H); they are relative power (P) of H over S, the social distance (D) between S and H, and the ranking of the imposition (R) involving in doing the face- threatening act (FTA). As it can be seen obviously, all three dimensions P, D, and R have a great contribution to the seriousness of the FTA which will determine the appropriate type of strategy to be used. 1.2.3. Politeness and Indirectness The notions of indirectness and politeness play an important role in the negotiation of face during the realization of speech acts. In fact, there are many studies on the relationship between politeness and indirectness such as Leech (1983), Brown and Levinson (1987), Blum- Kulka (1987), LoCastro (2003). Brown and Levinson show that there is a close relationship between the use of indirect speech acts and politeness. The degree of indirectness relates to the degree of face threatening. Moreover, negative politeness is more polite than positive politeness because the speaker puts more effort in face- preserving work of the hearer in the use of more indirect speech acts. LoCastro (2003) points out the link between indirectness and politeness further supported by Searle’s observation that “politeness is the most prominent motivation for indirectness in requests, and certain forms tend to become the conventionally polite ways of making indirect requests” (cited in Dung, 2008). However, Blum- Kulka (1987) has a different view on the relationship between politeness and indirectness when studying perception of politeness and indirectness in requests in Hebrew and English. She shows that indirectness does not necessarily imply politeness. She also argues that too much indirectness may be perceived as lack of clarity which is a marker of impoliteness. Although there may be different views on the relationship between politeness and indirectness in different cultures, in this study I believe there exists a positive correlation between politeness and indirectness. 1.2.4. Politeness strategies Brown and Levinson propose 15 strategies for achieving positive politeness and 10 for negative strategies: 1.1.1.1. Positive Politeness Strategies 1. Notice, attend to H You must be hungry, it’s a long time since breakfast. How about some lunch? 9 Positive Politeness Strategies 2. Exaggerate What a fantastic garden you have! 3. Intensify interest to H There were a million people in the Co-op tonight. 4. Use in-group identity markers Come here, honey. 5. Seek agreement A: John went to London this weekend! B: To London! 6. Avoid disagreement A: Can you hear me? B: Barely. 7. Presuppose, assert common ground I had a really hard time learning to drive, didn’t I? 8. Joke Ok if I tackle those cookies now? 9. Assert or presuppose people’s knowledge and concern for H’s wants I know you can’t bear parties, but this one will really be good- do come! 10. Offer, promise I’ll drop by sometime next week. 11. Be optimistic Look, I’m sure you won’t mind if I borrow your typewriter. 12. Include both S and H in the activity Let’s have a cookie, then. 13. Give reasons Why don’t I help you with that suitcase? 14. Assume or assert reciprocity I’ll do X for you if you do Y for me. 15. Give gifts I’m really sorry to hear about that. 1.1.1.2. Negative Politeness Strategies Negative Politeness Strategies 1. Be conventionally indirect Can you please pass the salt? 2. Question, hedge I suppose that Harry is coming. 3. Be pessimistic Perhaps you’d care to help me. 4. Minimize the imposition I just want to ask you if I can borrow a little paper. 5. Give deference Thank you, sir. 6. Apologize I’m sorry to bother you, but … 7. Impersonalize S and H I ask you to do this for me. 8. State FTA as a general rule We don’t sit on tables, we sit on chairs, Johnny. 9. Nominalize I’m surprised at your failure to reply. 10. Go on record as incurring a debt or off record as indebting H I’ll never be able to repay you if you… 10 (Brown and Levinson, 1987 pp. 101-135) 1.3. Previous studies on request and politeness strategy According to Chieko Takezawa in her M.A. thesis at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada “Politeness and the speech act of Requesting in Japanese as a second language” she studied how native Japanese speakers and native English speaking learners of Japanese approached and attained their requests goals while maintaining the face of both requester and requestee. She used oral role play to collect data. The results showed that there was not much difference in the use of honorific language between the Japanese and learners of Japanese. But different linguistic devices were used for sentence endings, especially request speech act endings, between the native Japanese and the learners of Japanese. Thảo (2010) also studied how politeness strategies manifested in requests in the novel “The Thorn Birds” by following the theoretical framework of Brown and Levinson 1987 in her minor M.A. thesis at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University. The results show that characters in the novel use positive politeness strategies in their requests at a little higher frequency than negative politeness and the variation of the proportion between positive and negative politeness strategies depending on social relationship. According to Hòa (2010), she investigated politeness strategies in cross- cultural communication with respect to conversations found in the coursebook Inside Out (Pre- Intermediate). The data analysis was conducted mainly in the light of the politeness theories by Brown & Levinson and Nguyen Quang. The results revealed that the frequency of positive and negative politeness strategies depended largely on the relationships between the speaker and the hearer. In addition, some suggestions were offered and sample exercises were given for better and more effective teaching and learning of positive and negative politeness strategies. CHAPTER 2: POLITNESS STRATEGIES IN REQUESTS IN THE MOVIE SERIES “HARRY POTTER” 2.1. Politeness strategies in Requests in the movie series “Harry Potter” [...]... politeness strategies in requesting by the characters in the movies Finally, all the statistics needed for the study are calculated carefully and presented in the following tables as well as charts 2.2.2 The frequency of politeness strategies in requests employed in the movie series “Harry Potter” Positive politeness strategies Sum % Negative politeness strategies Sum % 105 184 33.55% 58.78 Mixed politeness. .. Contrasting the use of politeness strategies in requests in literary works in English and Vietnamese 20 - Studying on the social factors affecting the use of politeness strategies in requests - Studying politeness strategies in another kind of FTA, for example: complaining, criticizing, etc in the movie series Harry Potter References In English: 1 Austin, J L (1962), How to Do Things with Words, Harvard... chapter investigates how the characters in the series of movies Harry Potter make their requests politely by the frequency of using politeness strategies in their requests as well as how S-H relation affects their choice of politeness strategies Brown and Levinson framework of politeness strategies is employed in this study with 15 positive politeness strategies and 10 negative politeness strategies 2.2 The. .. obtain his/her desires by asking the hearer to cooperate with the speaker in carrying out a tacit commitment E.g.: I think it's best if you simply cast them away Harry, I must insist you accompany me back to the castle immediately! 2.2.2.2 Negative politeness strategies in requests in the movie series “Harry Potter” 13 Following 10 negative politeness strategies in the framework of Brown and Levinson... differences in employing politeness strategies effectively For example, the finding of the research shows that English speakers prefer using negative politeness strategies in making request than using positive ones So, Vietnamese speakers should pay attention to using negative politeness strategies rather than positive ones when making requests in order to minimize the imposition on the hearers and let them... analyzing data 4 Suggestions for further research Although limitations are not avoidable in my study, the study can serve as the background for further studies such as: - Investigating politeness strategies in requests in the whole movie Harry Potter - Comparing and Contrasting the use of politeness strategies in requests by English speakers and Vietnamese speakers - Comparing and Contrasting the use... Recapitulation According to the study of the manifestation of 15 positive politeness strategies and 10 negative politeness strategies of Brown & Levinson 1987 employed in making requests, characters in the movies are more in favor of using negative politeness strategies with 58.78% than the positive ones with just 33.55% They sometimes use mixed politeness strategies in making requests, about over... However, according to Nguyen Quang (2002), Vietnamese people in particular and Oriental ones tend to be more in favor of positive politeness and familiar interactions as they wish to show their concern to or for others, and thus, narrow the distance between S and H 2.2.2.1 Positive politeness strategies in requests in the movie series “Harry Potter” According to 15 positive politeness strategies in the framework... The frequency of politeness strategies in requests employed in the movie series “Harry Potter” 2.2.1 Sampling process The process of collecting data consists of three steps Firstly, all the request utterances in the conversations of the characters in three movies series Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince are picked... for others to study politeness strategies in requests of the all movie series as well as study other speech acts like complaining, promising, criticizing, etc Finally, in the process of collecting and analyzing data, modern supportive tools were not employed so it was quite hard for the author to conduct the data and statistics Thus, it is highly recommended to use supportive tools in collecting and . negative politeness strategies. CHAPTER 2: POLITNESS STRATEGIES IN REQUESTS IN THE MOVIE SERIES “HARRY POTTER” 2.1. Politeness strategies in Requests in the movie series “Harry Potter”. Negative politeness strategies in requests in the movie series “Harry Potter” 14 Following 10 negative politeness strategies in the framework of Brown and Levinson (1987), the NPS in the requests. 2.2.2. The frequency of politeness strategies in requests employed in the movie series “Harry Potter” Positive politeness strategies Negative politeness strategies Mixed politeness strategies

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