ABSTRACT
The studies of language variation in social context show that women speak differently than men. Many 5ociolingnistic findings since Jespersen (1922) and Lakoff (1975) up to the most recent findings in the late 20`h century (e.g. Bergvall et.al., 1996; Cheshire et.al., 1998; Coates, 1998), have shown the close relationship of women and politeness. The first studies of women's language and politeness were mostly carried out in the English language. These findings have then triggered parallel studies in non-English languages. Interestingly, many studies that have been conducted in Asian languages such as in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Javanese and Indonesian, reveal that their studies do not always agree with the findings Found in the English languages studies ''(e.g. Matsumoto, 1988; Errington, 1988; Smith-Hefner, 1988; Gu, 1990; Mao, 1994; Chang, 1999). This evidence has postulated the need of conducting many other studies in politeness and its relation to women's linguistic behavior in other languages and other cultures. Researchers have also believed that situational and cultural variables have indeed played important roles in determining what is considered polite behavior in one's particular speech act. This belief has encouraged me to conduct my research on women's politeness behavior in my own language. My being a Chinese descent born in Java, Indonesia, has inspired me to do my research in the politeness behavior of Chinese Indonesians who live in Java. This |
