465 Article Text 1915 1 10 20221226
465 Article Text 1915 1 10 20221226
465 Article Text 1915 1 10 20221226
Ethical Lingua
in “H3 Podcast #7” Youtube Video Vol. 9, No. 2, 2022
Abstract
The purposes of this research are 1) to analyze and investigate the types Article’s History
of positive politeness used in “H3 Podcast #7 - Post Malone and Joji” Submitted 26 October 2022
YouTube video, and 2) to analyze the reason why positive politeness is Revised 26 December 2022
used. The method used in this research is qualitative-descriptive method. Accepted 26 December 2022
The theoretical used in this research is the theory of positive politeness
strategies from Brown and Levinson (1987). The results of this research DOI
indicate that there were two types of positive politeness strategies are 10.30605/25409190.465
found in the video: 1) claim common ground, and 2) convey that S
(speaker) and H (hearer) are cooperators. There were three strategies
used in the claim common ground: strategy-1: noticing, attending to Copyright © 2022
hearer (32%), strategy-2: exaggerating interest, approval, sympathy with The Author(s)
hearer (23%) and strategy-3: intensifying interest to hearer (16%). The This article is licensed under
strategies used related to the convey that S and H are cooperators cover CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License
three strategies, namely, strategy-1: assert or presuppose S’s knowledge
of and concern for H’s wants (6%), strategy-2: offer, promise (13%) and
strategy 3: be optimistic (10%). Therefore, the reason why positive
politeness used in “H3 Podcast #7” is that the speakers concern with the
hearer’s positive face, they tend to show the solidarity, emphasize that
both speakers and hearers want the same thing, and they have a
common goal. Politeness gets the speakers message delivered and
responded to in the ways he/she wants.
553
Positive Politeness Strategies Used in “H3
Podcast #7” Youtube Video A Pragmatic Study
Introduction
Communication is the process by which information is transferred from one person to another. It could
be done in a variety of ways, one of which is verbally through the use of words. All words used are
determined by the context of the communication. Language is a communication tool that everyone
uses every day to convey information and arguments to others. In this case, language cannot be
separated from culture because language represents a nation and is closely related to the attitudes
or behaviors of groups of language speakers. Besides the features of women's language, the
differences between women and men also can be found in their speech act. Speech act based on
how they were delivered is divided into two types namely, direct speech acts and indirect speech acts.
Based on delivery techniques, speech acts can be classified into direct speech acts and indirect
speech acts. Based on the interaction of meaning, speech acts can be classified into literal speech
acts and nonliteral speech acts (Gunawan and Astari, 2019). Indirect speech act related to the
principle of politeness in the conversation. Imperative sentences can be expressed through an
interrogative sentence or declarative sentence that people who are commanded do not feel
commanded (Gunawan and Astari, 2019).
Speaking is the technique by which people express their thoughts, feelings, and desires since
they are social beings with a need to communicate through language. When people express
themselves, they occasionally forget that their actions or words could offend someone else. This
can happen when we use certain words or when we communicate with others in certain ways. In
order to reduce the possibility of offending others' feelings during dialogue, people can act
politely. Good manners are sometimes referred to as being polite. Respect for other people's
dignity is demonstrated by acting humbly.
Yule (1996: 60) state, “Politeness, in an interaction, can consequently be described as the
measures taken to express awareness of another person's face”. The face represented in here
is not the physical face of a person, but rather one of dignity or self-worth. In order to appear
attractive, people want to maintain their dignity because losing one's dignity is equivalent to losing
one's sense of self-worth. In fact, people frequently are unaware of apparent offense. When a
person feels offended, their self-worth or appearance may be in threatened. Face-threatening
activities are actions that have the potential to cause harm to others (FTA). Brown and Levinson
(1987: 65) state, “Given these assumptions of the universality of face and rationality, it is
intuitively the case that certain kinds of acts intrinsically threaten face namely those acts that by
their nature run contrary to the face wants of the addressee and or of the speaker”. According to
the description above, any action that is opposite to one's desire might offend the feelings of both
the speaker and the hearer. It's known as a "face-threatening conduct" (FTA). FTAs refer to
actions that can threaten, disturb, or even harm a person's self-esteem rather than actions that
can harm a person's face. Although there are occasions when face-threatening actions are
unavoidable, politeness strategies can be used to protect one's face from the action. According
to Thomas (1995: 169), “in order to maintain a harmonious relationship, the speaker can engage
in politeness strategies in communicating in order to save the hearer's face from action that can
threaten his or her face”.
Literature Review
Pragmatics
A field of linguistics known as pragmatics, which is a component of sociopragmatics, examines
the meaning of speech in specific contexts involving speech and speech partners. According to
Levinson (1983), ―Pragmatics as a branch of knowledge that is concerned with language use.
It deals with what speakers mean it concerns what speakers mean. Based on these quotations,
it may be inferred that Pragmatics examines the intent behind the narrator's words. In addition,
Yule (2003) suggests that Pragmatics is the study of the meaning conveyed by speakers and by
speech partners so that the intent and purpose of the speech will be obtained. This Pragmatics
investigates the meaning of what is said by looking at the meaning and context that are employed.
In addition, Leech (2016) explains that context is background knowledge that is shared by the
speaker and the speech partner. Therefore, it is possible to interpret the aim and purpose of the
statements using the context. In a discussion or conversation, the interpretation of speech that is
formed depending on the situation affects a person's face.
A. Strategy 1: Assert or presuppose S’s knowledge of and concern for H’s wants
Affirming or demonstrating mastery of what "H" (the hearer) wants can be one way to show that both "S"
(the speaker) and "H" (the hearer) are in agreement, with "H" (the hearer) possibly doing so in order to
agree with "S" (the speaker). Here is an example of this strategy:
e.g., “I know you can't bear concert, but this one will really gonna be a good one- do come!”
The speaker knows that the hearer can’t bear concert, but the speaker still reassures the hearer by saying
that the concert will be good so that the hearer agrees with the speaker.
C. Strategy 3: Be optimistic
Optimism in the "H" is the next positive politeness tactic (the hearer). S (the speaker) believes that H (the
hearer) shares his or her desires and will work with S (the speaker) to achieve them. As a result, the "S"
(the speaker) gains the confidence to assume that the "H" (the hearer) will work with the "S" (the speaker),
which leads to a commitment that the two parties will work together as a result of the shared interest.
Additionally, by being optimistic, you'll maintain a positive face. Here is an example of this strategy:
e.g., “Hey look, if I borrow your eraser, I’m sure you won’t mind, right?”
The speaker assumes that the hearer wants and will help the speaker, so he becomes bold enough to ask
the hearer by saying “if I borrow your eraser, I’m sure you won’t mind right?”.
Sample 1
Post Malone: “Matching? So, you don’t wanna match too much.”
[16:23]
Context: Post Malone, Ethan and Hila were looking at a picture of a person wearing old style outfit
(vintage), and then Ethan saying that he doesn’t understand matching (Ethan’s doesn’t like to wear
clothes with same color).
Sample analysis: Post Malone says that if Ethan don’t want match too much because he said he
don’t understand why people wear match clothes. The positive politeness strategy used in the
utterance is claim common ground strategy 1: noticing to hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Post Malone’s utterance is noticing the aspect
of Ethan’s condition when he said “I still haven’t figured out matching. I don’t understand matching.”
Sample 2
Ethan: “So what’s the story behind this video?”
[26:17]
Context: Post Malone, Ethan and Hila were watching a video when Post Malone was getting
surprised by a group of mariachi band that came over to him when he was in Miami.
Sample analysis: Ethan asked Post Malone about the story behind the video because he was
curious. The positive politeness strategy used in the utterance is claim common ground strategy
1: attending to hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Ethan’s utterance is attending the aspect of
Post Malone’s condition which is he knew the whole story behind the video by saying “What’s the
story behind this video?”.
Sample 3
Ethan: “When you have mariachi band postmated over to sing you a song—That’s a hit.”
[29:12]
Context: Post Malone, Ethan and Hila were watching a video when Post Malone was getting
surprised by a group of mariachi band that came over to him when he was in Miami.
Sample analysis: Ethan said “That’s a hit.” To Post Malone. The positive politeness strategy used
in the utterance is claim common ground strategy 1: noticing to hearer.
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The reason why positive politeness used is because Ethan’s utterance is noticing the aspect of
Post Malone’s condition which is he was surprised by a mariachi band singing one of his songs
by saying “That’s a hit”.
Sample 4
Ethan: “This one line that resonates me with me so much I love, is ‘work so hard forgot how to
vacation’.”
[29:19]
Context: Post Malone, Ethan and Hila were watching a video when Post Malone was getting
surprised by a group of mariachi band that came over to him when he was in Miami.
Sample analysis: Ethan says to Post Malone that he loves the one line which is ‘work so hard
forgot how to vacation’. The positive politeness strategies used in the utterance is claim common
ground strategy 1: noticing to hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Ethan’s utterance is noticing the aspect of
Post Malone’s condition which is the lyrics on his songs were noticed by Ethan because he said
that he loves the line of the lyrics. The lyrics were ‘work so hard forgot how to vacation’.
Sample 5
Ethan: “Wait, do you believe in demons like in a religious sense?”
[1:41:35]
Context: The four of them were talking about their ghost stories experience to each other, and
then Joji suddenly said that he’s scared because he is a believer (Joji believes in ghost).
Sample analysis: Ethan asked to Joji if he believes demons in a religious sense because Joji said
that he is a believer. The positive politeness strategy used in the utterance is claim common
ground strategy 1: noticing to hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Ethan’s utterance is noticing the aspect of
Joji’s condition which is Joji said that he believes in demons.
Sample 6
Post Malone: “OHH HOOO!”
[15:05]
Context: Post Malone, Ethan and Hila were talking about Post Malone’s friend Vinny who were
always wearing a really wide jeans back then.
Sample analysis: Post Malone shouted when Ethan showed picture of a person wearing the jeans.
The positive politeness strategy used in the utterance is claim common ground strategy 2:
exaggerating interest with hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Post Malone’s utterance is shown with
exaggerated intonation when saw the picture. The intonation here is shown by an exclamation
mark “!” when he shouted.
Sample 7
Post Malone: “I AM.”
[29:45]
Context: Ethan suddenly changes the topic of the conversation by saying “And I feel like you’re
busy all the time.” To Post Malone.
Sample analysis: Post Malone replied to Ethan by saying “I AM.” With intonation because he was
really busy. The positive politeness strategy used in the utterance is claim common ground
strategy 2: exaggerating approval with hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Post Malone’s utterance is shown with
exaggerated stress when Ethan asked him. The intonation here can be heard by listening to Post
Malone’s voice when he said “I AM”.
Sample 8
Post Malone: “I know, you look great!”
[32:15]
Context: Post Malone, Ethan and Hila were talking about weight loss and then Ethan suddenly
said that if he did lose 15lbs in the past.
558 | Ethical Lingua
Sample analysis: Post Malone compliments Ethan with intonation by saying “You look great!”. The
positive politeness used in the utterance is claim common ground strategy 2: exaggerating
sympathy with hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Post Malone’s utterance is shown with
exaggerated sympathy by hearing Ethan when he said that the lose 15lbs in the past. The
sympathy here is shown in Post Malone’s utterance “You look great!”.
Sample 9
Ethan: “What? Well, no wonder you’re scared shitless, that’s a horrible way to like-.”
[1:43:21]
Context: The four of them were talking about their ghost stories experience to each other. When
Post Malone tell his ghost experience, he shocked Ethan by saying “Now get this as a precursor
of everything. The whole family, the mom, the dad and the two sons locked themselves in their
room together every night.”
Sample analysis: Ethan says “What?” with shocked intonation when he heard Post Malone’s story.
The positive politeness strategy used in the utterance is claim common ground strategy 2:
exaggerating interest with hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Ethan’s utterance is shown with exaggerated
intonation by hearing Post Malone statement. The intonation here can be heard by listening to
Ethan’s voice when he said “What?”.
Sample 10
Ethan: “Let’s just see, I mean 4 minutes–that’s gotta be it, right?”
[20:19]
Context: Post Malone, Ethan and Hila were talking about Post Malone when he wasn’t famous
yet, then they look for Post Malone’s music videos that have been uploaded on the internet long
time ago.
Sample analysis: Ethan said “That’s gotta be it, right?” to Post Malone. The positive politeness
strategy used in the utterance is claim common ground strategy 3: intensifying interest to hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Ethan’s utterance piques Post Malone’s
interest and drawing him into the discourse with direct questions by saying “That’s gotta be it,
right?”.
Sample 11
Ethan: “You know what I’m talking about?”
[44:54]
Context: Post Malone, Ethan and Hila were watching Post Malone’s old music video, and then
Ethan noticed that the guy in the video whose Jason is resemble a person named Fred Savage.
Sample analysis: Ethan said “You know what I’m talking about?” to them. The positive politeness
used in the utterance is claim common ground strategy 3: intensifying interest to hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Ethan’s utterance piques Ethan’s interest and
drawing him into the discourse with direct questions by saying “You know what I’m talking about?”,
it has the same meaning as “You know what I mean?”.
Sample 12
Joji: “Yeah, know what I mean?”
[1:49:51]
Context: The four of them were talking about their ghost stories experience to each other, and
then Joji tell his ghost experience to Ethan.
Sample analysis: Joji said “Know what I mean?” to Ethan. The positive politeness strategy used
in the utterance is claim common ground strategy 3: intensifying interest to hearer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Joji’s utterance piques Ethan’s interest and
drawing him into the discourse with direct questions by saying “Know what I mean?”.
Sample 13
Post Malone: “We know it’s creepy but let’s figure it out, like let’s see what’s going on.”
[1:45:39]
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Context: The four of them were talking about their ghost stories experience to each other, and
then Post Malone tell his ghost experience to Ethan.
Sample analysis: Post Malone said “We know it’s creepy but let’s figure it out, like let’s see what’s
going on.” The positive politeness strategy used in the utterance is convey S and H are
cooperators strategy 1: assert or presuppose S’s knowledge of and concern for H’s wants.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Post Malone’s utterance is affirming mastery
of what is wanted by hearer to have the same agreement with him by saying “We know it’s creepy
but let’s figure it out, like let’s see what’s going on”.
Sample 14
Post Malone: “I can chronologically tell you everything that happened until the last time.”
[1:41:00]
Context: The four of them were talking about their ghost stories experience to each other, and
then Post Malone is going to tell his ghost experience.
Sample analysis: Post Malone says that he can tell everything that happened until the last time as
offering it to Ethan. The positive politeness strategy used in the utterance is convey S and H are
cooperators strategy 2: offer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Post Malone’s utterance is intended shows
goodwill in satisfying the desire of the positive Ethan’s face by saying that he can tell Ethan
everything that happened.
Sample 15
Ethan: “So now I wanna show you guys’ Pre-Malone. There’s Post Malone, which is where are
you now.
[42:18]
Context: Post Malone, Ethan and Hila were talking about Pepsi, and then Ethan suddenly changes
the topic to watch Post Malone’s old music video.
Sample analysis: Ethan says that he wanna show Post Malone’s old music video as offering it to
them. The positive politeness used in the utterance is convey S and H are cooperators strategy 2:
offer.
The reason why positive politeness used is because Ethan’s utterance is intended shows goodwill
in satisfying the desire of the positive everyone’s face by saying that he wanna show everyone
Post Malone’s old music video.
Conclusion
This research focuses on analyzing the positive politeness that is used in the video. The results of
this research indicate that there were two types of positive politeness strategies are found in the video:
1) claim common ground, and 2) convey that S (speakers) and H (hearers) are cooperators. There
were three strategies used in the claim common ground: strategy-1: noticing, attending to hearer
(32%), strategy-2: exaggerating interest, approval, sympathy with hearer (23%) and strategy-3:
intensifying interest to hearer (16%). The strategies used related to the convey that S and H are
cooperators cover three strategies, namely, strategy-1: assert or presuppose S’s knowledge of and
concern for H’s wants (6%), strategy-2: offer, promise (13%) and strategy 3: be optimistic (10%).
Therefore, the reason why positive politeness used is because the speakers concern with the hearer’s
positive face, they tend to show the solidarity, emphasize that both speakers and hearer want the
same thing, and they have a common goal. Politeness gets the speakers message delivered and
responded to in the ways he/she want. When the speakers communicate with courtesy and with a
posture that seeks a positive outcome, that will likely get his/her message across without push back
or dismissal. A polite person (or company) will have a stronger, more persuasive brand.
References
Brown, P & S. C. Levinson. 1987. Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.