A study of forms and functions of directives in advice columns from English-daily / Shaidatul Akma Adi Kasuma

This study investigates the forms and functions of directives in an advice column of a local newspaper. The forms and functions of directives are intricately related to the protection of face. Thus, the (im)politeness and face-saving strategies used in the advice texts are also analysed. The forms and functions of directives are identified based on the theoretical frameworks of Ervin-Tripp’s (1976), Blum-Kulka (1987) and Eken’s (1996). To rationalize the relationship between forms and functions of directives and the protection of face, the theoretical frameworks of (im)politeness adopted are the positive-negative politeness theory (Brown and Levinson, 1978, 1987) and the frame-based view (Terkourafi, 2005). The face-saving strategies are identified based on the frameworks of Blum-Kulka, et.al (1989), Skewis (2003) and Uso-Juan and Martinez-Flor (2008). This study found that imperatives and hints are the most frequent forms used in the advice texts. The high occurrence of imperatives and hints shows the acceptability and appropriacy of these structures in the advice texts. It also illustrates the balance of direct and indirect strategies as well as the positive and negative politeness in the interaction. To intensify and mitigate the directives, the face-saving strategies that are frequently applied are the syntactic mitigation, preparators and grounders (external mitigators) and modal auxiliary verbs and adverbs (internal mitigators). In sum, this study discovers that the society of written advice texts prefer imperatives and hints to maintain their face in the interaction. Plus, the presentation of taboo issues such as affairs, marital problems and sexualities in public also indicates the openness of the advice column’s society in accepting dynamic social matters