Politeness Markers in the Interaction between Students and

Lecturers

Widya Fhitri

and Rahma Yanti

English Department, Universitas Dharma Andalas, Padang, Indonesia

Keywords: Politeness, Requesting, Utterances, College Students, Lecturers.

Abstract: This study aims to describe and explain politeness markers that are contained in the sentences of student when

making request to their lecturers at Dharma Andalas University. This is a qualitative descriptive study. The

data collected consist of the requests made by students and lecturers. The results of data analysis contained in

students’ sentences consists of words used to ask for permission. These words may be used as much as 40

percent in the sentences of students when making requests to their lecturers. In addition, greeting, expressions

such as “allow me to…” and “let's” are also used as much as 13% by students in their sentences to their

lecturers. Only one data shows words to ask for help and make apologies are used by students.

1 INTRODUCTION

Politeness in speaking is a natural thing used by

speakers to converse with their partners (Eelen, 2001;

Oktavianus and Revita, 2010) . Politeness can be in

the form of request or rejection (Revita, 2009). In this

article, request politeness is a topic to discuss. A

speech can be said to be polite when it has a proper

choice of words or flat intonation. However, a speech

that is considered impolite can also be said to be polite

if there are factors that make it more polite. One of

these factors is the politeness markers used when the

speaker speaks (Eelen, 2001; Oktavianus and Revita,

2010; Revita, 2009; Pranowo, 2009).

In this article, the author tries to explain how a

speech that is considered impolite or even unkind can

become a polite speech due to politeness markers.

There are several indicators that can mark a speech as

polite, namely: the use of words such as help, sorry,

allowed, if, so, let's, and greeting (Revita, 2009).

2 METHODS

This is a qualitative descriptive study. Data was

collected by listening the requests made by students

to their lecturers (Mahsun, 2005). Data retrieval was

completed with recording and note-taking techniques.

The data that has been obtained is transcribed and

analyzed by using identity and distributional methods

(Sudaryanto, 1993).

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Politeness markers are important factors that indicate

whether or not someone's speech is polite

(Oktavianus and Revita, 2010; Revita, 2009; Ikawati,

2011; Manaf, 2003). Therefore, some of the

permissions were granted to students by to the

lecturers, for the following reasons:

3.1 The Use of the Word “Help”

Data 1

Student : Ma'am, please help me with the

attendance list so i can follow the final

exam in this semester.

Lecturer : What percentage do you have?

Student : less than 75 percent maam. Please

ma'am.

Context:

A student asked the lecturer for help with his/her

class attendance. He hoped that the lecturer could

improve his class attendance so that he could take the

semester exam. The conversation took place at the

end of the lecture when the lecturer was about to leave

the classroom.

198

Fhitri, W. and Yanti, R.

Politeness Markers in the Interaction between Students and Lecturers.

DOI: 10.5220/0008681201980201

In Improving Educational Quality Toward International Standard (ICED-QA 2018), pages 198-201

ISBN: 978-989-758-392-6

A student came over to the lecturer and asked her to

alter the attendant list to allow them to take the exam.

It is clear that this speech can be categorized as a

polite speech. This is evidenced by the style of

language and the choice of words and intonation used

by the student when speaking. The student chose to

use the word “help” to complete his request to the

lecturer. The word “help” is one of the words that can

be used as a marker in a polite speech. The use of the

word “help” is one indicator of someone speaking

politely in asking (Pranowo, 2009).

3.2 The Use of the Word “Sorry”

Data 2

Student : Sorry, ma'am, I can't come to campus

next week because my sister is having

a wedding party.

Lecturer : Oh Okay. .

Context:

A student asks the lecturer for permission to not

attend the following week lectures. The conversation

took place just at the end of the class.

A student chose to use the word “sorry” in his

request to the lecturer. He apologized to the lecturer

for not being able to attend the lecture the following

week because of his sister’s wedding party. When the

word “sorry” is attached to one's speech, it

automatically become a polite speech. Pranowo

argues hat the use of the word “sorry” in the speech

would make the sentence polite. It means that the

word “sorry” plays an important role in determining

whether or not a person is polite.

3.3 The Use of Word ‘May’ and Let's

The use of words ‘may’ is also another marker of

politeness in someone's speech. The word “may” is

usually used to ask for permission from the

speecher’s listening partner in carrying out an action

that is marked or ordered. Some of the data that use

the word “may” as politeness markers in the speech

are data 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9 and 10.

Data 4

Student : Ma'am, I excuse to leave for a moment,

please?

Lecturer : Where are you going?

Student : I am going to the toilet Maam.

Lecturer : No. You can not go anywhere,

because the exam is ongoing. no one

can leave the room.

Student : Please mam. I can't stand it anymore

Maam.

Lecturer : Sorry. You will not.

Context:

A student asked the lecturer for permission by asking

whether it is was permissible to leave the room during

the exam. He praised the lecturer so that she would

grant permission.

The data above can be used when students want to

ask permission to go outside the classroom during the

semester exam. It is different from the data 5 where

the word “allowed” is used to tell the lecturer to go

home because there are important things that he/she

had to do. However, in plain view, these two data use

the same permission words. Although the

conversation in data 4 looks more friendly and polite

because it was coupled with the use of acceptable

words when compared to data 5, which can also be

categorized as polite speech because it uses politeness

markers.

Data 6

Student : (a student takes the blackboard eraser

and helps the lecturer who is also

erasing the blackboard).

Can I help, ma'am? Actually this is our

job, maam.

Lecturer : Oh yes. Of course with pleasure.

Context:

A student who approached the lecturer who appeared

to be tired erasing the blackboard. The student asked

to be allowed to help the lecturer.

Data 6 and 7 also shows polite speech because

students uses permission words when they want to

offer assistance to their lecturers. Even though the

request was very beneficial to the lecturer, the student

still needed a positive victim from his lecturer.

Whereas, the use of the word “may” in the data 7

where students ask the lecturer to give them extra

time to collect assignments. It is very detrimental to

the lecturer but is beneficial to the students. Although,

the two conversations above use the word may be in

different situations, the speech is still polite, even

more polite after using the politeness markers above.

Data 1

Student : Let us carry it, Ma'am. (Suddenly a

student approaches the lecturer to ask if

he could help her with what she was

carriying

Lecturer : Oh .. Yuni. It is okay. I can carry it

myself.

Politeness Markers in the Interaction between Students and Lecturers

199

Student : are you sure, Mam.

Lecturer : No. thanks.

Context:

A student offered to help the lecturer with what she

was carrying but the lecturer refuses because she

thought she was able to carry it. This conversation

occurs when the lecturer was heading for the lecture

hall.

Data 3

Student : Is it heavy Mam, let me help. Later,

you will get a headache like last week.

May I?

Lecturer : Subhanallah. Thank you.

Context:

A student offers to help the lecturer carry her laptop

and in focus. The student reported that the lecturer

brought the equipment herself to the class.

In addition to permission words, the word can can

also be used as an indicator of polite. It can be seen in

data 1 and 3. In the data statement, it is clear that the

supervisor uses the word to complete his speech to

look more polite. Like the following data, Let me

bring that one, which is a statement by a student to

the lecturer who is walking to the lecture room.

Students offered assistance to their lecturers by using

polite sentences. These statements are categorized as

polite speech because they apply several factors

which make them more polite. In this case, the

statement used the word “so”. The same as with one

data utterance, three data can also be categorized as

polite speech because there is the use of the word

expression “let's identified as an indicator of

politeness. As explained by Pranowo, a speech can be

said to be polite when using the permission

expressions such as “so’ and “let's”. Therefore, the

two speeches above are categorized as polite.

3.4 The Use of Greeting, Mr. Mrs.

The use of greeting Mr / Ms is also one of the

politeness indicators/markers used by students when

speaking with their lecturers. The use of greeting

words is also one of the six markers of choice for

someone to speak politely or impolitely. Therefore,

the two data below are classified as data that have a

single marker that only has a sign of the word “polite”

"Maam / Mr." as a politeness marker although in

general, all utterances use honorifics words.

Data 12

Student : Maam, can we have class twice right

now? So we can take a long holiday before

Lebaran, Maam. (while blinking eyes to

the lecturer)

Lecturer : Have I ever said that?

Student : No ma'am, only you are kind and I'm sure

you are strong. (laughing)

Context :

A student asks in a tone instructing the lecturer to

meet two times on the same day by seducing the

lecturer. This speech occurs when the lecturer enters

the lecture room. Then, a student came along beside

the lecturer. The conversation happened within an

informal situation.

Data 14

Student : Miss, your autograph, Miss?

Lecturer : What for?

Student : To repair KRS Miss.

Context:

A student directly asks his PA teacher's signature to

correct KRS.

The two data above are utterances that use

greeting words as the single markers used by speakers

to their speech partners. It is clear that the

conversation above does not have politeness markers

other than the greeting word that is used repeatedly.

The repetition of the greeting word is intended to

make the speech more polite. The repetition of

greeting words used by speakers is an indication of

his/her attempt to be polite (Pranowo, 2009).

The use of the word “can”

Data 8

Student : Ma'am, can we change the class

schedule tomorrow ma'am?

Lecturer : Anyway, how many times do we have

to replace meetings?

Student : Only one time Mrs.

Lecturer : All right, I will inform you later.

Context:

A student asks the lecturer to change the following

day tomorrow. This speech happens took place at the

end the class.

One of the students asked the lecturer if he could

change the lecture schedule. the lecturer considered

the students’ request. In the speech asking that the

speaker tuck in the word which is the indicator of

linguistic politeness.

ICED-QA 2018 - International Conference On Education Development And Quality Assurance

200

3.5 The Use of the Word “If”

Data 15

Student : Maam, you look pale, today. what if

you went home first? Yes ma'am.

Lecturer : Yes, I'm really dizzy.

Context :

A student tells his lecturer to go home so she can rest

because she feels that her lecturer is very pale. The

conversation occured when the lecturer was heading

to the classroom.

Data 10

Lecturer : Should we have extra study

tomorrow?

Student : what if tomorrow we don't come to

campus, Maam? Because we want to

go to our hometowns, Maam.

Lecturer : Okay. OK.

Context:

Some students request a day off from their lecturer so

that they could go to their hometowns. This speech

occurred at the end of the lecture.

Speech Data 10 and 15 Data utterances ten and fifteen

are two examples of polite speech with politeness

indicators for the use of the word “if”. The use of

words if in the speech above makes the speech more

polite. The use of if makes the sentence softer. The

use of the word means that the speech partner can

choose the best choice and that benefit more speech

partners. This is what makes the two data above more

polite.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The study reveals that several indicators/ markers are

used by students when speaking with their lecturers.

The most politeness markers found are the use of

permission words, such as the word of “may” boleh.

Then, followed by so/let mari, greeting words Mr,

Mrs, “help” tolong, if jika, and can bisa. In this study

of politeness, all the problem formulation variables

have been answered by the existing analysis.

However, there are still linguistic aspects that can

better be studied. The shortcomings contained in this

study open up opportunities for further researchers to

improve the present study. Politeness can occur in any

environment. Be it family, school, campus or

community life. We are civilized people, so it is best

to maintain norms of politeness.

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