“The analysis of positive and negative politeness used

by participants in news article”

KARDI NURHADI

ABSTRACT

In the academics perpective, newspaper is seen not only asthe source of information, but also it can be used as the sourceof knowledge. It is an effective media to present the new studiesin a scientific field and giving the positive contribution forthe progress of the discipline. In language learning newspapercan be used as a media to improve our language ability. In termsof pragmatics, it is possible to find out pragmatics problemsespecially politeness. This paper focus on the analysis ofpragmatics namely positive and negative politeness. The data istaken from the news article, there were five item of articleselected. The analysis is done by seeing the expression andstatement used by participant in news article. It is based thequotation and statement of the participant. Then, the pragmaticsanalysis show that, there were some of politeness problem foundin the news article. There were five of politeness fact for eachthe article. The politeness problem including the positivepoliteness (compliment) and negative politeness. It is possibleto involve face threatening act between the participant. Thepositive and negative politeness have it own purposes. Brown andLevinson (1987) described that, writing politeness is interpretedas a strategy (or series of strategies) employed by a speaker toachieve a variety of goals,such as promoting or maintainingharmoniuos relations. As a matter of fact, the pragmaticspoliteness is not only found in spoken text but also it can befound in written text.

KEYWORDS: pragmatics problem, positive and negative politeness,news article, face threatening acts ( FTA’s), the participant.

A. INTRODUCTION

In the modern life, news paper has a play important role.

It is kind media to report to what happened in current

situationn. It is not only a source of information, but it can be

used for different need such as promoting and advertising. In the

academic perspective, newspaper is seen as a source of knowledge,

especially those are who study language. We can use a newspaper

as a media to improve our language ability. For this reason, in

the pragmatics context, we can use news paper to analyize the

problems in pragmatics such as politeness. There are many

participant and reference state in a news paper. They said about

a topic and reported by written form. As the reader, we can

analyze the expression and statement of participant. There will

be an interaction between reader and participant. And then, it is

possible whether the participat use the strategy of politeness

either positive or negative politeness.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the use of

politeness strategy uses the participant in a news article. It is

argued that the participant in a news article convey different

expression and statement in making meaning. It is possible to

arouse the politeness phenomena between participant reported in

news article. We can analyze from the quatation of the

participant. They may use different strategy of politeness in

making meaning. As matter of fact, pragmatics is not only concern

to analyze the spoken text, but also written text as well. Among

the interesting of this study on the use of positive and negative

politeness used by participant in a news article.

B. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The theory of analysis of this paper here includes on the one

hand, Eggins about the view of language, on the other hand Brown

and Levinson politeness theory.

1. The view of language

Eggins (1993:2) explains that, there are four main

theoretical claims about language: that lannguage use is

functional; that its function is to make meaning; that these

meanings are influenced by social and cultural context in

which they are exchanged; and that process of using language

is a semiotic process , a process of making meaning by

choosing.

Based on this view, there are two context of language,

namely context of culture and context of situation. Context of

culture refers to genre or text, according to Martin in Eggins

(1993: 3) a genre is a staged, goal oriented, purposeful activity

in which speakers engage as members of our culture. In this case,

according to the types of genre, news article belong to popular

written genre. And then, context of situations is the study of

any language, spoken by a people who live under conditions

different from our own and possess a different culture, must be

carried out in conjunction with the study of their culture and

their environment.

There are three kinds context of situations namely: field –

what the language is being used to talk about; mode- the role

language is playing in the interaction and tenor – the role

relationship between the interactants.

By understanding both of context above, it is easier for us to

do the analysis in the news article. The article consist of

different participant with different in convey the message to

other. It is possible to have the politeness problem. Therefore,

this study is just focus on the positive and negative politeness

used by participant in the news article.

2. Theories of politeness

o Definition of politeness:

According Cutting, Joan (2002) politeness refer to the

choices that are made in language use, the linguistic

expression that give people space and show a friendly

attitude to them.

Brown and Levinson (1987) analysed politeness, and said that

in order to enter into social relationship , we have to

acknowledge and show an awareness of the face, the public

self image, the sense of self , of the people that we

address.

According Brown and Levinson, said that it is a universal

characteristic across cultures that speakers should respect

each other’s expectations regarding self –image , take

account of their feelings and avoid face threatening acts

( FTAs).

o Positive politeness

Positive Politeness is redress directed to the addressee's

positive face, his desire that his wants should be thought

of as desirable.

Redress consists in partially satisfying that desire by

communicating that one's own wants are in some respects

similar to the addressee’s wants.

The linguistic realizations of Positive Politeness are in

many respects representative of the normal linguistic

behavior between intimates.

Brown and Levinson (1987: 63) state that positive face

reflects the desire to have one’s possessions, goals, and

achievements desired by a socially or situationally relevant

class of others; thus, positive politeness expresses either a

general appreciation of the addressee’s wants, or similarity

between the wants of the speaker and addressee.

o Compliments

A compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly

bestows credit upon the addressee for some possession, skill,

characteristic, or the like, that is positively evaluated by the

speaker and the addressee (Holmes, 1988: 446). As expressions of

solidarity, compliments occur most often between status equals

(Herbert, 1990: 220; Holmes, 1998: 114), and may function as a

negotiating strategy (Herbert, 1989: 25).

o Negative politeness

Redressive action addressed to the addressee´s negative face

Addressee wants to have his freedom unhindered and his

attention unimpeded

Specific and focused to minimize the particular imposition

that the FTA effects

Politeness in Western cultures is always considered with

negative politeness behaviour

The most elaborated and the most conventionalized set of

linguistic strategies for FTA redress

Brown and Levinson, (1987: 129) explain that negative

politeness is redressive action that addresses the hearer’s

desire that her actions and her attention be unimpeded. While

positive politeness functions as a generalized interaction

enhancer, negative politeness is specifically focused and serves

to minimize a particular imposition. It is most succinctly

encapsulated in the formulaic, virtually automatic utterances

that spring to the lips of social interactants hundreds of times

a day, including ‘please,’ thank you’, ‘sorry’, ‘excuse me’, and

the like.

Example of negative politeness

o Taking blame and apologizing

The negative politeness strategy of ‘ritual self-deprecation’

involves taking blame in order to avoid implying that the

addressee is at fault.

o Softening the force of requests

Conventional indirectness resolves the dilemma created by

the speaker’s desire to go on record and yet to give the hearer

an ‘out’ by being indirect (Brown and Levinson, 1987:132).

Indirect speech acts are the most significant form of

conventional indirectness and often consist of rhetorical

questions (ibid).

o Formality

Formality is a negative politeness strategy that uses

conventionalized indirectness to display deference to the

addressee and thus minimize the effect of the speaker’s

imposition (Brown & Levinson 1987: 70). Lexical and grammatical

realizations of formality include hedges,impersonalization,

nominalization, and other distancing mechanisms that redress

face-threatening acts with linguistic deference (ibid).

o Politeness strategies

Off record strategy. If you do off record, you ask for help

indirectly, and say, in a voice loud enough for your

neighbours, to hear something. For example : ‘ I wonder

where on earth that website is. I wish I could remember the

address’.

On record – baldly. It means direct speech act; such

utterances tend to contain the imperative with no mitigating

devices. For example: ‘ this door handle’s falling off’. ‘

fix it or give that note to me’.

On record – with negative politeness. Negative politeness

strategies pay attention to negative face, by demonstrating

the distance between interlocutors , and avoiding intruding

on each other’s territory. Speakers use them to avoid

imposing or presuming and to give hearer options.

On record – with positive politeness. Positive politeness

strategies aim to save positive face, by demonstrating

closeness and solidarity, appealing to friendship, making

other people feel good and emphasising that both speakers

have a common goal.

C. PREVIOUS STUDIES

In terms of pragmatics politeness, there were some research

relate to the politeness problem, the example of research as

follows:

1. The pragmatics of politeness in the book review by Ma Lluisa Gea Valor.

In this research, the writer focus on the compliments one of

the positive politeness strategis in the book review. The

writer concern on the compliment politeness. The data taken

from 25 book review.

2. The medium is the message: politeness strategies in men’s and women’s voice

mail message by Pamela Hobbs.

Both of the example research above can be a reference to the

writer in conducting the pragmatics politeness problem. In this

research, the writer would like to analyze the positive and

negative politeness used by participant in news article. The data

is taken from the Jakarta Post; there will be five news item

selected.

D. DATA COLLECTION

The data of this paper is taken from the Jakarta post news

article. There were five item of article selected. Then, the

article is analyzed based on the politeness problem. The focus of

this research the positive and negative politeness used by

participant in each article. The data is combine from written to

spoken from. In the article oftenly qouted the statement from the

speaker.

E. ANALYSIS

To do the analysis, the writer presented each of five item

article, the article as follows:

Text 1

EX ARMY CHIEF JOINS DEMOCRATS

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Sat, June 29 2013, 7:26 PMA- A A+

Former Army chief of staff Gen (ret) Pramono Edhie Wibowo has finally announced his decision to join the Democratic Party. Pramono, who attended the party’s annual National Coordinating Meeting (Rakornas),said he was now a member of the party’s supervisory board.

“I became a party member four days ago,” he said as quoted by kompas.com on Saturday.

Pramono, who retired less than a month ago, had earlier said that he had no interest tojoin a political party and therefore would spend more time with his family during his retirement.

“Well, the truth is I want to help this party. Pak SBY had earlier asked for my favor,” Pramono, who is also Yudhoyono’s brother in law, said.

He added that the whole family stood behind him on his decision to become a politician.

From the text 1, the writer have identified that the

participant was Pramono Edhi Wibowo. He was brother in law of

Indonesian Former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Previously

he rejected to join any political party, like Pramono said he had

no interest to join a political party and therefore would spend

more time with his family during his retirement.

However, then he annonced joining to the democratic party,

as he said “I became a party member four days ago,” he added that

“Well, the truth is I want to help this party. Pak SBY had

earlier asked for my favor.”

In terms of pragamatic politeness, Pramono uses the negative politeness

strategy. He used on record strategy – with negative politeness.

Negative politeness strategies pay attention to negative face, by

demonstrating the distance between interlocutors , and avoiding

intruding on each other’s territory. Speakers use them to avoid

imposing or presuming and to give hearer options.

Previously he had no interes to join a political party. But

finally, he has announced his decision to join democratic party.

Text 2

SINGAPORE’S FORMER PM PRAISES SBY’S RESPONSE TO HAZE CLOUD The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | World | Sun, June 30 2013, 5:20 PM A- A A+

Singapore’s former prime minister Goh Chok Tong praised the Indonesian government for its ability to tackle the haze crisis caused by land and forest fires in Riau.

In a statement posted on his Facebook account, on Sunday morning, Goh expressed his gratitude to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He said the President had shown a strong leadership in dealing with the transnational problem.

“As the saying goes, when there is a will, there is a way. Thank you, President SBY, for showing this will, graciousness and dignified statesmanship,” Goh wrote, as quoted by Kompas.com.

Interestingly, Goh also took the opportunity to criticize several ministers from the United Indonesia Cabinet II whom he said had made ‘harsh, hostile and unconstructive’ statements.

“[…] This is appreciated, in contrast with the boorish remarks of some of his ministers,” said Goh.

The Singaporean politician who currently serves as senior emeritus minister opened his statement by praising the improved condition due to several initiatives taken by the Indonesian government.

“Hot spots down in Sumatra. PSI (pollutant standard’s index) in moderate range, helpedby rain, wind direction change and Indonesian President's directive to his Ministers to put out the many fires,” Goh said.

To prevent this type of crisis from happening again in the future, the parliament member from the Marine Parade constituency highlighted that “prevention was better than cure”.

“It may not be possible to totally stop poor farmers from using slash-and-burn practicesbut it should be easy to prevent commercial plantation owners from doing so,” said Goh.

“With satellite technology, new laws if necessary and political will, smoking guns can be identified, confiscated and made to pay if they are fired.” (fan/ebf)

From the text 2, the writer identified that the participant

in text is the former Singapore prime minister Goh Chok Tong, he

gives the opinion about the haze crisis caused by land and forest

in Riau. In terms of pragmatics politeness, he uses the positive politeness strategy,

as we can see in his statement :

“As the saying goes, when there is a will, there is a way. Thank you, President SBY, for

showing this will, graciousness and dignified statesmanship,”

“[…] This is appreciated, in contrast with the boorish remarks of some of his ministers,”

said Goh.

The statement above is kind of politeness strategy, in terms of

politeness it is a compliment or praises. In his statement, Goh used On

record strategy – with positive politeness. Positive politeness

strategies aim to save positive face, by demonstrating closeness

and solidarity, appealing to friendship, making other people feel

good and emphasising that both speakers have a common goal

Text 3

JOKOWI ALLOWS RESIDENTS IN TO WATCH ‘ARIAH’ FOR FREE

Corry Elyda, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Fri, June 28 2013, 9:27 PM A- A A+

Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, granted free admission to the Ariah musical performance to people outside the gates. Jokowi, who had a seat in the VVIP row, went down to the gates and allowed those outside to come in.

"Come in come in," he yelled before the performance that took to the stage at the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta on Friday evening.

When asked who would pay for the tickets, priced at Rp 2,000 (20 USCents) each, Jokowi said, "I will pay for their tickets," he said.

Not only did he give free admission to watch the colossal drama, which was staged as part of Jakarta’s 486th anniversary commemoration, Jokowi also regularly left his seat during the show to sit among the cheaper seats.(dic)

From the text 3, the participant of the text above is

Jakarata Governor “ Jokowi” or Joko Widodo. Jokowi is the

phenomenal figure in Indonesia, in every occasion, he always get

the public attention either his comment or attitude. In this

case, Jokowi show his politeness to the people, even though he is

a governor, look at the these statement:

"Come in come in," he yelled before the performance that took to the stage at the

National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta on Friday evening

Jokowi said, "I will pay for their tickets," he said

In terms of politeness, Jokowi used on record – with

positive politeness. Positive politeness strategies aim to save

positive face, by demonstrating closeness and solidarity,

appealing to friendship, making other people feel good and

emphasising that both speakers have a common goal.

Text 4

YOUR LETTERS: WHAT NEXT, MR. PRESIDENT? The Jakarta Post | Readers Forum | Thu, June 13 2013, 7:38 AM A- A A+

Paper Edition | Page: 8

On my way to Hanoi last week, I came across an article in the Straits Times written by Zakir H. who wrote that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono admitted to religious and communal violence in Indonesia, which was not exclusive to Indonesia.

SBY stated: “We will not allow desecration of places of worship”. If that is so, why are churches being padlocked and why are Ahmadiyah mosques being burned down? Why are religious minorities being harassed and killed and their killers still walking around freely?

Yes indeed SBY. Those perpetrators should be apprehended but what are you doing about it?

Talking about this and stating that you are going to take action are two different things. The non-implementation of your promises is still pending.

Stating that Indonesia is not the only country with religious problems is so ignorant. If other countries are swimming in excrement, it does not mean that Indonesia should also be.

Be careful what you say Mr. President because you cannot change nor can you retract what you have said and promised. You know that there is practically no law enforcement in Indonesia.

The award that you received is a big joke and you know this as well as everybody else. What are you going to do next, open an Israeli Embassy in Jakarta?

Lynna van der Zee-OehmkeBogor - West Java

From the text 4, this kind of letter from the reader to

President. The reader give the response about the President

statement:

“We will not allow desecration of places of worship”.

In this case, the reader show the interest about the

religious and communal in Indonesia. She disagreed about the

President statement, by giving the statement:

“Be careful what you say Mr. President because you cannot change nor can you retract

what you have said and promised. You know that there is practically no law

enforcement in Indonesia”.

In terms of pragmatics, the statement above is a negative

politeness strategy. it can be seen from the expression of “ be

careful”. According to Brown and Levinson, it is kind off record

strategy. If you do off record, you ask for help indirectly, and

say, in a voice loud enough for your neighbours, to hear

something. In this case, the writer say loudly to the president

in written form.

Text 5

MUNARMAN REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE FOR WATER ATTACK

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Fri, June 28 2013, 1:24 PMA- A A+

Islam Defenders Front (FPI) spokesman Munarman said he had no regrets after throwing water at University of Indonesia (UI) sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola during a live television talk show.

Munarman said as quoted by kontan.co.id that he had the right to do what he did because he was disgruntled with one of Thamrin’s responses during the talk show discussion, which centered on the police ban of public sweepings during Ramadhan.

The incident, which took place in front of National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy RafliAmar, began when Munarman gave his perspective on the ban against organizations such as his forcibly closing entertainment sites during the fasting month.

Thamrin tried to respond to Munarman’s opinion but rather than listen, the latter took his glass of water and threw the contents at Thamrin.

“Shut up when I am talking,” Munarman, who holds a degree in law and was once the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), exclaimed as quoted by kompas.com.

From the text 5, the writer identified the politeness problem, it

is about the participant statement Munarman:

“Shut up when I am talking,” said Munarman.

Munarman said as quoted by kontan.co.id that he had the

right to do what he did because he was disgruntled with one of

Thamrin’s responses during the talk show discussion, which

centered on the police ban of public sweepings during Ramadhan.

In terms of pragmatics, he used off record strategy. If you

do off record, you ask for help indirectly, and say, in a voice

loud enough for your neighbours, to hear something. For example

when he said,” shut up when I am talking”.

F. FINDINGS

Based on the text analysis above, the writer found some of

politeness problem. The finding of politeness problem can be seen

in the following table:

No Positive politeness Negative politeness1. As the saying goes, when there is a

will, there is a way. Thank you,

President SBY, for showing this

will, graciousness and dignified

statesmanship( compliment

strategy)

“[…] This is appreciated, in contrast

with the boorish remarks of some

of his ministers ( compliment).

( text 2)

Pramono said he had no interest to

join a political party and therefore

would spend more time with his family.

“I became a party member four days

ago,” he added that “Well, the truth is I

want to help this party. Pak SBY had

earlier asked for my favor.” ( text 1)

2. "Come in come in," he yelled

before the performance that took

to the stage at the National

Monument (Monas) park in Central

Jakarta on Friday evening

Jokowi said, "I will pay for their

tickets," he said.( text 3)

Be careful what you say Mr. President

because you cannot change nor can

you retract what you have said and

promised. You know that there is

practically no law enforcement in

Indonesia.( text 4)

“Shut up when I am talking,” said

Munarman. ( text 5)

G. CONCLUSION

In the pragmatics perspective, news artice is potentially

involve politeness problem. It is based on the participants

stated the article. They giving response and statement to the

reader. As the the reader we can find some of politeness problem

of the participant. This paper tries to analyze the politeness

problem both of positive and negative politeness. The analysis

show that, there were politeness problem for each item of the

news article. The positive politeness for instance complimenting

and prasing of one participant to its reference. Then, the

negative politeness for example giving the negative response to

the reference.

Finally, politeness has a play important role in the genre

of news article. Therefore, it would be interesting to do the

analysis of politeness problem in the news article. There were

many participant of the news article, paying attention to their

utterance and expression is a way to find out politeness problem.

Pragmatics politeness is not only find in spoken interaction, but

also in written text.

REFERENCES

Cutting, Joan. 2002. Pragmatics and Discourse (a resource for students).

Routledge Taylor and Francis group. London and New

York.

Eggins, Suzanne.1994. An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics.

Pinter Publisher Ltd. London.

Hobbs, Pamela. 2003. The medium is the message: politeness strategies in

men’s and women’s voice mail message. Journal of Pragmatics.

University of California Los Angeles.

Levinson, C.Stepehen.1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge University

Press. London

Valor, Ma Lluisa Gea. 2001.The pragmatics of politeness in the book

review . ESP Journal. Spain.

Thomas, Jenny.1995. Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to

Pragmatics. Longman Group limited. England.

The Jakarta Post. News article : June paper edition.