A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF POLITENESS FEATURES OF CRITICISM IN JOSEPH MCGINTY’S THIS MEANS WAR

ABSTRACT This research aims to (1) identify the politeness strategies of criticism employed by the characters in This Means War movie, (2) find out the politeness principles underlying the use of politeness strategies of criticism by the characters in This Means War movie, and (3) investigate the factors influencing the choice of politeness strategies of criticism in This Means War movie. This research used qualitative approach. However, quantitative method was also employed in this research to obtain the frequency of the data occurrences in order to support the qualitative interpretation. The data were in the form of utterances containing criticism uttered by the characters in This Means War movie. The context of the data was the dialogues between the characters in This Means War movie. The source of the data was divided into two, i.e. primary and secondary sources. The primary source of the data was a movie entitled This Means War. The secondary source of the data was the dialogue transcript of This Means War movie. The researcher was the main instrument of this research, and she was supported by the data sheet as the secondary instrument. The data were collected and analyzed by categorizing the utterances containing criticism into the data sheet based on the classification of the objectives of the research. The trustworthiness of the data was gained through triangulation. The results of the research show three points. First, there are three types of politeness strategies of criticism occur in This Means War movie. The strategies are bald on record strategy, positive politeness strategy, and off record strategy. Off record strategy places the highest rank because the characters prefer to choose the most indirect way to perform criticism since it is an act which is highly potential to threaten another person’s face. Second, there are five types of politeness principles which underlie the characters’ preference to use a certain politeness strategy. They are tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, and agreement maxim. Agreement maxim becomes the most dominant type as in criticizing others, the characters usually focus on either maximizing agreement or minimizing disagreement between themselves and the hearer. It is done in order to make the hearer agree and accept the criticism they said. Third, two factors are influencing the choice of politeness strategy in This Means War movie. They are payoff and circumstances: relative power, social distance and rank of imposition. Payoff always becomes one of the considerations in every chosen strategy as the characters will get advantages in any strategies they applied