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Article published In:
International Journal of Language and Culture
Vol. 10:1 (2023) ► pp.115–144

Request strategies

A socio-pragmatic study of the Javanese community in Indonesia

 | Universitas Airlangga
 | Universitas Airlangga
This research investigates request strategies in the Javanese community and the influence of the ± Power (±P), ± social Distance (±D), and ± Rank of imposition (±R) on the use of request strategies. The data were collected through Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs) and analyzed according to Blum-Kulka et al. (1989). The results show that in the (+P+D+R) context, requests tend to be expressed indirectly. This is influenced by the (+) which is attached to all the variables. In the (−P−D−R) context, requests tend to be expressed directly. This is influenced by the (−) which is attached to all the variables. In the contexts of (+P+D−R), (+P−D+R), (−P−D+R), and (−P+D+R), there is a tug-of-war between the (+) and (−). However, the influence of the (+) appears to be stronger than the (−). Therefore, in these contexts requests are more likely to be expressed indirectly rather than directly.
Keywords: Javanese community, power, rank of imposition, request strategies, social distance
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
    • 2.1Requests and face-threatening acts
    • 2.2Request strategies
      • 2.2.1Direct strategies
      • 2.2.2Conventionally indirect strategies
      • 2.2.3Non-conventionally indirect strategies
    • 2.3Perspectives
    • 2.4Linguistic situation of the Javanese community
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants/informants
    • 3.2Instrument
    • 3.3Data collection procedure
    • 3.4Data analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Use of request strategies in the (+P+D+R) context
    • 4.2Use of request strategies in the (+P+D−R) context
    • 4.3Use of request strategies in the (+P−D+R) context
    • 4.4Use of request strategies in the (−P−D−R) context
    • 4.5Use of request strategies in the (−P+D+R) context
    • 4.6Use of request strategies in the (−P−D+R) context
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 8 September 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.22043.jau
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