The Use of the Politeness Strategies when Implicating a Third Person: A Case study of Indonesian Au Pairs in the Netherlands.

Abstract

Many studies have evaluated politeness strategies between speakers and hearers in general, but not many have investigated the politeness strategies in which a third person addressee is implicated in the utterances, especially in a sociolinguistic interview. This study looks at how Indonesian au pairs employ politeness strategies when interviewed regarding their perception of their host parents and when they talk about the host parents. The data was collected from interviewing two Indonesian au pairs who have stayed in the Netherlands for at least four months. The participants were asked some questions relating to the host parents in a semi-structured sociolinguistic interview. The findings show that the au pairs use not only independence strategies, but also involvement strategies. Both of the politeness strategies are employed when implicating the host parents in different ways. It is concluded that the au pairs use co! mplex pol iteness strategies when responding to questions in a semi-structured sociolinguistic interview and their choice of strategy appears to be directly contingent on the context given and individual situational relationship.