Chiến lược lịch sự trong lời thỉnh cầu trong các tập phim harry potter m a thesis linguistics 60 22 15

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES LƯƠNG THANH HỒNG POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN REQUESTS IN THE MOVIE SERIES “HARRY POTTER” (Chiến lược Lịch Lời Thỉnh cầu tập phim “Harry Potter”) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Hanoi – 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES LƯƠNG THANH HỒNG POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN REQUESTS IN THE MOVIE SERIES “HARRY POTTER” (Chiến lược Lịch Lời Thỉnh cầu tập phim “Harry Potter”) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyêñ Văn Đô Hanoi – 2012 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration …………………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………… iii Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………… vi PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale ………………………………………………………………………… 2 Aims of the study ………………………………………………………………… Research questions of the study …………………………………………………… Scope of the study ………………………………………………………………… Overview of the movie …………………………………………………………… Methods of the study ……………………………………………………………… Design of the study ……………………………………………………………… PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Speech Acts ……………………………………………… 1.1.1 Speech act theory ………………………………………… 1.1.2 Speech act of requesting ………………………………… 1.2 Politeness ………………………………………………… 1.2.1 Definition of politeness …………………………………… 1.2.2 Social factors affecting politeness strategies …………… 1.2.3 Politeness and indirectness ……………………………… 1.2.4 Politeness strategies ……………………………………… 1.2.4.1 Positive politeness strategies ……………………………………………… 1.2.4.2 Negative politeness strategies ……………………………………………… 1.3 Previous studies on request and politeness strategies ……………………… 1.4 Summary …………………………………………………………………… v CHAPTER 2: POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN REQUESTS IN THE MOVIE SERIES “HARRY POTTER” 2.1 Politeness strategies in requests in the movie series “Harry Potter” …………… 2.2 The frequency of Politeness strategies in Requests in the movie series “Harry Potter” ……………………………………………………………………………… 2.2.1 Sampling process ……………………………………………………………… 2.2.2 The frequency of politeness strategies in requests …………………………… 19 2.2.2.1 Positive politeness strategies ………………………………………………… 2.2.2.2 Negative politeness strategies ……………………………………………… 2.3 Politeness strategies in requests in the movie series Harry Potter and relationship 2.3.1 Positive politeness strategies and S- H relationships …………… 2.3.2 Negative politeness strategies and S- H relationships ………………………… 2.4 Summary …………………………………………………………………… PART 3: CONCLUSION 3.1 Recapitulation ……………………………………………………………… 3.2 Implications for teaching politeness strategies in requests ………………… 3.3 Limitations of the study ……………………………………………………… 3.4 Suggestions for further research …………………………………………… REFERENCES vi ABBREVIATIONS FTA: Face Threatening Act H: Hearer/ Addressee S: Speaker/ Addresser S.A: Speech Acts D: Distance P: Power R: Rank of Imposition PPS: Positive Politeness Strategy NPS: Negative Politeness Strategy E.g.: For example M.A.: Master of Arts PART 1: INTRODUCTION 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 nonstop 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 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 Aims of the study 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 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 Research questions What are the positive and negative politeness strategies in the requests by the characters in the three episodes of the movie Harry Potter? 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? Scope of the study 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 Overview of the movie The Harry Potter movie series are British- American one based on the Harry Potter novels by the British author J.K Rowling The series are distributed by Warner Bros and consist of eight episodes beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher‟s Stone (2001) and culminating with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part (2011) They are the highest movie series of all- time in inflation unadjusted dollars, with $7.7 billion in worldwide receipts The movie series are also a critical success and noted by audiences for growing visually darker and more mature as each episode was released The movie series revolve around Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers that he is a wizard Wizard ability is inborn, but children are sent to wizarding school to learn the magical skills necessary to succeed in the wizarding world Harry is invited to attend the boarding school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Each movie episode chronicles one year in Harry's life, and most of the events take place at Hogwarts As he struggles through adolescence, Harry learns to overcome many magical, social and emotional hurdles 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 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 32 expressions: I would be grateful to you, I would be greatly indebted to you, I could easily it for you, etc There is no occurrence of this strategy in the requests in the movie series In conclusion, according to 10 negative politeness strategies in the framework of Brown and Levinson (1987), the NPS in the requests in the three episodes of the movie Harry Potter are grouped as the following table: Negative politeness strategies Be conventionally indirect Question, hedge Be pessimistic Minimize the imposition Give deference Apologize Impersonalize S and H State FTA as a general rule Nominalize 10 Go on record as incurring a debt or off record as indebting H Table 3: The statistics of negative politeness strategies 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 NPS1 % 11.85 Chart 2: The frequency of negative politeness strategies From the chart above, we can see clearly that the characters in the three episodes of the movies Harry Potter seem to be more in favor of employing negative politeness strategies as most of negative politeness strategies are used in making requests except for negative politeness strategy and 10 The negative politeness strategy 7: Impersonalize S and H accounts for about 67% in comparison with other strategies With this kind of strategy speaker not want to put any imposition on hearer by avoiding using “I” and “you” Moreover, it is realized by the most use of imperative utterances, performative verbs and impersonal verbs E.g.: Do as I say Don‟t use that name Take my hand Leave it alone The use of questions and hedges is also quite often in making requests with 15.64% to make hearer feel less threatened and more polite E.g.: In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: - Harry, wonder if I might have a word - Less talking, if you don't mind 34 in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: - Perhaps you could give us the last unforgiveable curse, Ms Granger -I think it's unwise for you to linger over these dreams, Harry or in Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince: -Well, I think you should put it back in order for them, don't you? -I think your question had better be posed to Professor Snape Characters in the movies seem to be interested in this kind of strategy Be conventionally indirect with nearly 12% of using it in their requests It is believed that the more indirect an utterance is, the more effort speaker puts on the face-preserving work, and therefore the more he will be seen as trying to satisfy H‟s face wants E.g.: - May I help your arm? - Will you join me, please? - Would you like me to fix it for you? Although the negative politeness strategy 3, 4, 5, 6, are also employed in making requests by the characters in the movies, the frequency is not as high as the others They are just used in some specific situations E.g.: Not trying to lure Potter into one of the Ministry's summer internships, are we? (Strategy 3: Be pessimistic strategy) - Got a bit of toothpaste (Strategy 4: Minimize the imposition) - Mr Filch, if you please (Strategy 5: Give deference) - Forgive my mawkishness, Harry (Strategy 6: Apologize) - Your attention, please (Strategy 7: Nominalize) 2.3 Politeness strategies in the movie series Harry Potter and S-H relationship S - H relationship plays an important role in creating effective human communication as it has a great influence in choosing appropriate politeness strategies for communication of human beings Each specific kind of relationship makes people able to have relevant politeness strategies S - H relationship under the research is classified into three categories: close relationship, neutral relationship and far relationship in which close relationship is understood as the relationship between: family members, close friends, students and intimate professors; 35 neutral relationship is for friend - friend, professor - professor, student - professor, boss - slave and acquaintances; far relationship is for enemies and strangers 2.3.1 Positive politeness strategies and S - H relationships Positive politeness strategies Notice, attend to H Exaggerate Intensify interest to H Use in- group identity markers Seek agreement Avoid disagreement Presuppose, assert common ground Joke Assert or presuppose people‟s knowledge and concern for H‟s wants 10 Offer, promise 11 Be optimistic 12 Include both S and H in the activity 13 Give reasons 14 Assume or assert reciprocity 15 Give gifts Table 4: The statistics of positive politeness strategies under the S-H relationship 36 S- H relationship Close relationship Neutral relationship Far relationship Table 5: Positive politeness strategies and S- H relationship The statistics can be converted into the following pie chart: Close relationship Neutral relationship Far relationship Pie chart 3: The frequency of positive politeness strategies under S-H relationship From the chart above, we can see clearly that people who have close relationship such as family members, close friends or students and intimate professors account for a big number nearly 55% in using positive politeness strategies to show their solidarity and closeness For example: in the conversation between Harry Potter and his dear professor Hagrid, Mr Hagrid is fond of using positive politeness strategies in making requests to instruct Harry how to get access to a Buckbeak - Not so fast, Harry (Strategy 4) - Slow down, Harry (Strategy 4) Moreover, in neutral relationship between normal friends, students - professors, professors - professors in Hogwarts magical school, people seem to be in favor of using positive politeness strategies about 36 % to make friends with each other 37 For example: when Harry Potter asks two classmates how to get Hogsmeade village, they employ some positive strategies to have closer relationship - Guys, let me go (Strategy 4) - We‟ll get you there (Strategy 12) - We‟ll show you a quicker way (Strategy 12) On the other hand, far relationship including enemies and strangers in the movies use positive politeness strategies much less than the other two groups with just over % For example: in the conversation of Harry Potter and his biggest enemy Voldemort-the Lord of Dark, Voldemort pretends to be friendly and close with Harry by using such strategies - Pick up your wand, Potter (Strategy 4) - Come on, now, Harry The niceties must be observed (Strategy 4) - Don‟t turn your back on me, Harry Potter (Strategy 4) However, the common feature of three groups is that the characters in the movie use positive politeness strategy 4: Use in-group identity markers much more often than any other positive politeness strategies, over 50% for each group of relationship 2.2.2 Negative politeness strategies and S - H relationships Negative politeness strategies Be conventionally indirect Question, hedge Be pessimistic Minimize the imposition Give deference Apologize Impersonalize S and H State FTA as a general rule Nominalize 38 10 Go on record as incurring a debt or off record as indebting H Table 6: The statistics of negative politeness strategies and S- H S- H relationship Close relationship Neutral relationship Far relationship Table 7: Negative politeness strategies and S- H relation The statistics can be converted into the following pie chart: 14.15% 35.85% 50.00% Close relationship Neutral relationship Far relationship Pie chart 4: The frequency of negative politeness strategies under S-H relationship There is no doubt from the pie chart that neutral relationship category accounts for about a half in the total use of negative politeness strategies in making requests compared to the other groups with the most typical negative politeness strategy 7: Impersonalize S and H In addition, questions, hedges and be conventional indirect are employed commonly in characters‟ requests in order to minimize the imposition of the speaker on the hearer 39 For example: in the conversation between the head master of the Hogwarts school - professor Dumbledore and his colleague professor Horace Dumbledore employed negative politeness strategies in his requests Well, I think we should put it back in order for them, don‟t you? Do you mind if I use the loo? (Negative politeness strategy 2) or Luna offers to fix Peter‟s face: Would you like me to fix it for you? (Negative politeness strategy 1) Close relationship group ranks the second in the usage of negative politeness strategies with nearly 36% They also use the negative politeness strategy most with the form of imperative utterances by avoiding using I and you in their requests E.g.: In the close relationship between Harry and professor Dumbledore: I would like you to meet an old friend and colleague of mine, Horace Slughorn (Negative politeness strategy 1) Take my arm Do as I say (Negative Politeness Strategy 7: Imperative) Far relationship is rarely met in the movie, so the less usage of negative as well as positive politeness strategies than other groups with just over 14 % is understood easily People often use negative politeness strategy 7, 1, to be more polite and make the hearer feel less threatened E.g.: Harry with his enemy Malfoy Come on Enjoy your ride back to London (Negative Politeness Strategy 7) 2.4 Summary On the whole, the characters tended to employ politeness strategies in their requests However, they seemed to be more in favor of using negative politeness strategies than negative ones to minimize the imposition on the hearers and respect their freedom in doing the 40 acts Regarding the role of S - H relationship in using politeness strategies, it is revealed that in terms of positive politeness strategies, people who have close relationship tend to employ more than the other groups to show their closeness and solidarity On the other hand, characters having neutral relationship prefer using negative politeness strategies 41 PART 3: CONCLUSION Recapitulation Politeness is considered an important issue which has the status of universal principles of human interaction Therefore, making polite behaviors in communication is a complicated business in any language It is actually quite difficult to carry out politeness strategies as it involves the understanding of not only the language but also the cultures and social factors that have great effects on the choice of politeness strategies Each researcher has a different view on achieving politeness by pointing out specific politeness strategies Among these views, I am interested in the theoretical framework of Brown and Levinson (1987) which deals with face saving and offers 15 positive politeness strategies and 10 negative politeness strategies I take requesting utterances in the movie series Harry Potter as the data for my study According to the study of the manifestation of 15 positive politeness strategies and 10 negative politeness strategies 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 7% Among 15 positive politeness strategies, strategy 4: Use in group identity marker is employed the most with nearly 69% when the speaker tries to give address action to a hearer‟s positive face However, there is no occurrence of strategy 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15 in making requests In terms of negative politeness strategies, characters in the movies prefer using strategy 7: Impersonalize S and H much more than other strategies with nearly 67% in order to minimize the imposition on hearer by using imperative utterance instead of using “I” and “you” Regarding the role of S - H relationship in using politeness strategies, it is revealed that in terms of positive politeness strategies, people who have close relationship tend to employ more than the other groups about nearly 1.5 times to show their closeness and solidarity whereas neutral relationship category accounts for over 35% and far relationship one occupies just over 9% On the other hand, in general, characters in the movies employ negative politeness strategies more than the positive ones Especially, characters having neutral 42 relationship prefer using negative politeness strategies with nearly 50% in comparison with the two others groups: close relationship (35.85%) and far relationship (14.15%) Implications for teaching politeness strategies in requests Speakers from different cultures have different assumptions and norms of their own cultures in their communication, which can be the cause of miscommunication, misunderstanding and cultural conflicts It cannot be denied that language learners may have good understanding of the language, and its patterns of realization However, they seem to lack awareness of using language appropriately So, it is necessary to have knowledge about how to perform politeness behaviors in general and especially in making requests which is considered one of the most face threatening acts in particular Thus, in order to help students communicate politely and effectively when making requests, I would like to suggest some implications Firstly, teachers should help students be more aware of cross-cultural 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 have more freedom in doing things Secondly, it is advisable for teachers to focus on teaching functions of language by attracting students to take part in teachers‟ designed activities like role- play, presentation, etc rather than its structures so that students are able to use language appropriately and effectively in their communication Finally, when teaching politeness strategies in making requests, teachers should put them in specific context and point out the considerable influence of social factors in the choices of using politeness strategies For example, instead of teaching the rules or patterns of requesting languages, teachers should employ specific contexts such as between friends, student- professor, customer- seller, etc in their lectures Limitations of the study 43 Despite the writer‟s great effort, the study has shown many inevitable shortcomings and weaknesses due to the writer‟s limited knowledge of the field as well as ability of carrying out research Moreover, owing to the limited size of a minor M.A thesis, it is impossible for me to investigate the politeness strategies in requests in the movie series more deeply and thoroughly The author just 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 In addition, the author just focuses on the politeness strategies in requests by the characters in three episodes of the movie series Harry Potter instead of the all eight episodes of the movie Thus, it is advisable 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 analyzing data 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 of politeness strategies in requests in literary works in English and Vietnamese 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 44 REFERENCES In English: Austin, J L (1962), How to Do Things with Words, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Blum-Kulka, S (1987), “Indirectness and Politeness in Requests: Same or Different?”, Journal of Pragmatics 11, pp 131-146 Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G (1989), Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: Requests and Apologies, Vol 31, New Directions in Discourse Processing, Norwood, NJ: Ablex Brown G., Yule G (1983), Discourse Analysis, CUP, Cambridge Brown P., Levinson S.C (1987), Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage, CUP, Cambridge Dung, T.T.V (2008), A comparative study on politeness strategies in complaining in American and Vietnamese cultures, M.A thesis, ULIS- VNU Hanoi Lakoff, R (1975) Language and Woman's Place New York: Harper and Row Leech, G (1983), Principles of Pragmatics, Longman, London Levinson, S C (1983), Pragmatics, CUP, Cambridge 10 Locastro, V (2003), An Introduction to Pragmatics: Social Action for Language Teachers, University of Michigan press 11 Gino, E (2001), A critique of Politeness Theories, St Jerome Pub 12 Hoa N T (2010), A study on Politeness Strategies in the conversations of the course book “Inside out” pre-intermediate, minor MA thesis, ULIS, VNU Hanoi 13 Quang N (2006), Lecture-notes on Cross-cultural Communication ULIS, VNU, Hanoi 14 Searle, J R (1969), Speech Acts – An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, CUP, Cambridge 15 Searle, J R (1975), “Indirect Speech Acts”, In Cole P., Morgan J L (ed.), Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts, pp 41-58, Academic Press, New York 45 16 Searle, J R (1976), “A Classification of Illocutionary Acts”, Language in Society 5, pp 1-23 17 Searle, J R (1979), Expression and Meaning: Studies in the theory of speech acts, CUP, Cambridge 18 Tam, H.C, (1998), Requests by Australian Native Speakers of English and Vietnamese Learners of English, MA thesis, Latrobe University, Australia 19 Thanh, D T M (2000), Some English- Vietnamese Cross Cultural Differences in Requesting, M.A Thesis, ULIS, VNU Hanoi 20 Thao, N T P (2010), Politeness strategies in Requests in “The Thorn Bird”, 21 Yen, N.T.Q (2007), Gender and Politeness strategies in Requesting, minor M.A thesis, ULIS, VNU Hanoi 22 Yule, G (1996), Pragmatics OUP, Oxford In Vietnamese: Nguyen Van Do (2004), Tìm hiểu mối quan hệ ngơn ngữ văn hóa, NXB ĐH Quốc gia Hà Nội Nguyen Quang (2002), Giao tiếp giao văn hóa, NXB ĐH Quốc gia Hà Nội Nguyen Quang (2004), Một số vấn đề giao tiếp nội văn hóa giao thoa văn hóa, NXB ĐH Quốc gia Hà Nội Nguyen Quang (2005), Các chiến lược lịch dương tính giao tiếp ngôn từ Việt- Anh, NXB ĐH Quốc gia Hà Nội ... IN REQUESTS IN THE MOVIE SERIES ? ?HARRY POTTER” (Chiến lược Lịch Lời Thỉnh cầu tập phim ? ?Harry Potter”) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60. 22. 15 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyêñ... 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 Overview of the movie The Harry Potter.. . (in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) Let‟s go, kids Keep up, girls Watch it there, boy (in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) Wands out, Harry Champions, prepare yourselves! (in Harry