POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN THE TV TALK SHOW “TALK INDONESIA”

Abstract

This study deals with the realization of politeness strategies in the TV talk show Talk Indonesia. The conversation in the talk show is delivered directly to the public, so it is important to make good and interesting conversation. One of the ways to make good communication is by using politeness strategies. The use of politeness strategies is to build communicative communication which appreciate and considerate the other’s face. This study was conducted to find out the FTA, investigate the politeness strategies used by the host, and attempt to reveal the effect of sociological variables in the use of those strategies. This research used descriptive qualitative approach. To obtain the data, several talk shows were observed and chosen, then transcribed orthographically. In doing the analysis, the steps used were identifying the FTA, identifying the politeness strategy, classifying and explaining the politeness strategies based on the theory of Brown and Levinson (1987), then analyzing the sociological variables that influence the realization of politeness strategies. The politeness strategies used by the host were bald on record, positive politeness, and negative politeness. Basically, the host used bald on record when he wanted to make a maximum efficiency in conversation. Positive politeness was used to make rapport and show friendliness. Negative politeness was used when the host gave deference to his addressee, and also to soften his utterance when he asked about sensitive topics. The influence of relative power can be seen in the use of honorific title for addressee who had high relative power, the host did not use it for the addressee who had mid and low power. Next, social distance also influenced the realization of politeness strategies, the higher social distance, is the higher politeness strategies realized by the host. The effect of rank of imposition could be seen when the degree of difficulties in the situation occurred, for example when the host asked about sensitive topic, the higher rank of imposition, is the higher politeness strategies employed by the host. Key words: Face, FTA, Brown and Levinson Politeness Strategies (1987), Relative Power, Social Distance, Rank of Imposition, Talk Show