THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE POLITENESS IN SOCIOPRAGMATICS

TO REDUCE CYBERBULLYING IN SOCIAL MEDIA

By:

Nurur Risky Aulia (0203520078)

1st Semester/English Language Education/Graduate Program

Language cannot be separated from human social life because it is a tool used to
communicate and interact with other people. According to Keraf (1997, p.1) language is a
tool of communication between members of the community in the form of sound symbols
produced by human speech. Therefore, language has a central role in intellectual, social,
and emotional development (Suciartini & Sumiartini, 2018, p.105).

In order to carry out an interaction, a person must have an interlocutor, whether it is

a direct or indirect interaction, particularly an interaction through social media. Social
media is a medium, both in the form of pages and applications that allow users to create
and share content and engage in social networks. Besides being used to interact, social
media also acts as a means of self-expression. Every individual is free to express including
in expressing opinions about a matter (Uswatun et al., 2017, p.68).

Nowadays, almost all aspects of human life can no longer be separated from the
influence of the use of technology. According to Kurniawan (2017, p.220) online media is
a tool that changes the pattern of information dissemination from previously broadcast
media monologues to social media dialogue. In this case, social media is designed to
facilitate interactive social interactions based on internet technology (Palupi & Endahati,
2019, p.27). Thus, by using social media someone can reach a wider world closer.

Over time, the increasingly rapid development of technology has succeeded in

creating various types of social media that are used as communication tools, ranging from
social media that functions as a tool of exchanging information such as WhatsApp, Line,
Telegram, etc. to social media that functions as a tool for sharing photos, videos or status,
such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc. Therefore, based on statistical data
from Kominfo it is stated that internet users in Indonesia currently reach 196.7 million
users and 95 percent use the internet to access social networks (“Dirjen PPI: Survei

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Penetrasi Pengguna Internet di Indonesia Bagian Penting dari Transformasi Digital,”
2020). This indicates that most of the population in Indonesia uses social media platforms
to interact with each other.

The development of technology especially in the world of social networking

indirectly affects the use of language when interacting with the interlocutor, including in
social media. The use of language in interacting on social media is usually done by
commenting on the available features on photos or videos that have been previously
uploaded by other social media users. The existence of freedom of opinion in the
comments column requires social media users to use it wisely by providing polite language
and not causing differences in interpretation by the other person.

On the other hand, freedom of expression on social media does not always have a
positive impact but also has a negative impact. By using the freedom of expression,
anyone can give negative messages by sending comments, spreading photos and videos of
someone with inappropriate language. This includes cyberbullying behavior which is a
form of linguistic deviation on social media that is commonly found in Indonesian society.

According to Rifauddin (2016, p.38) cyberbullying refers to the use of information

technology to scare someone by sending or uploading intimidating messages. There are
many ways that can be done to attack the victim, for example by sending cruel messages or
disturbing images or videos and then disseminated to make the victim feel embarrassed
and hurt (Uswatun et al., 2018, p.71). In addition, someone who carries out cyberbullying
can hide their identities behind anonymous accounts. The motives of the perpetrators of
this cyberbullying is very diverse, for example wanting to seek attention, taking revenge or
just thinking it was a joke.

According to the results of the Indonesian Polling research in collaboration with

Asosiasi Penyelenggara Jasa Internet Indonesia (APJII), there are about 49 percent of
social media users who have been the target of cyberbullying on social media (Pratomo,
2019). Related with the data, cyberbullying is usually more experienced by public figures;
it is due to the large number of followers, so it is not surprising that every activity they
upload on their social media accounts invites a lot of attention from many people.
Therefore, public figures are more vulnerable to cyberbullying on social media platforms.

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 In addition, public figures' social media accounts are frequently filled with
comments containing disapproval, resistance, emotion, and even threat by someone
unknown. This behavior is an act of cyberbullying, where someone uses the features
available on social media to express emotions and spread hatred or resistance against
someone.

Cyberbullying is not limited by time and can be done without physical force, such
as face to face. Therefore, some social media users unknowingly also take actions that lead
to cyberbullying. This can be caused by their lack of knowledge about language politeness
on social media (Uswatun et al., p.69).

According to Pranowo (2009, p.72) there are several factors that cause the use of
language that is not polite, namely:

1. The speaker does not know the politeness rules that must be used in doing the
interaction.
2. The speaker factor gets politeness.
3. Speakers find it difficult to leave the habits in their mother tongue culture so that
they are still carried away by new habits.
4. The nature of speakers who like to speak less politely in public.

Therefore, linguistic politeness has occupied a central place in the social study of
language even it has been the subject of intensive debate in sociolinguistics and
pragmatics. A lot of linguistic scholars have carried out studies on linguistic politeness in a
wide range of cultures. As a result, several theories have been proposed on linguistic
politeness and have been established as scholarly concept.

The first theory of language politeness comes from Brown and Steven Levinson.
According to Brown and Levinson (1987) politeness principles are principled reasons for
deviation from the cooperative principle when communication is about to threaten face. In
this case, they see politeness in terms of conflict avoidance. The central themes are
rationality and face, which are claimed to be universal features. Face refers to an
individual's feeling of self-worth or self-image, reputation or good names that everyone
has and expects everyone else to recognize. Such self-image can be damaged, maintained
or enhanced through interaction with others.

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 Brown and Levinson (1987) assume that every individual has two types of face or
want: negative and positive. Positive face is reflected in the desire to be liked, approved of,
respected and appreciated by others and negative face is reflected in the desire not to be
impeded, to have the freedom to act as one chooses. Politeness, in interaction, can be
employed to show awareness of another person's face. In this sense, politeness can be
accomplished in situation of social distance. Socially distance represents respect or
deference whereas socially close is described in terms of friendliness, camaraderie, or
solidarity (Brown & Levinson, 1992; Thomas, 1997).

According to the theory, Brown and Levinson (as cited in Rahardi 2005, p.39) state
that behind keeping a positive face in performing speech acts, there is an positive face-
threatening actions as a form of resistance from the positive face itself which can be
categorized into cyberbullying behavior, positive face-threatening actions include:
disapproval, criticism, demeaning or humiliating actions, complaints, anger, accusations,
insults, opposition, challenges, and so on. Meanwhile, negative face-threatening actions
include: orders and requests, suggestions, advice, warnings, threats, challenges, offers,
promises, praise, and expressions of negative feelings such as hatred and anger.

Viewed from the politeness theory proposed by Brown and Levinson, it can be
seen that when interlocutor maintains a positive face, then as speech partners we must
support the positive face made by interlocutor, especially on social media. For example,
when interlocutor uploads a status, photo or video on their social media account, someone
who see the upload should participate by providing positive comments or opinions.
However, when someone has a different point of view from the interlocutor, then they can
express their opinion using polite language so that there is no misinterpretation by the
interlocutor.

Furthermore, the theory of language politeness was also put forward by Geoffrey
Leech. Leech (1983) suggests that in order for speech to be polite, it is necessary to pay
attention to the use of the maxim of politeness in speech acts as follows:

1. Tact maxim, where the speaker should benefit the hearer

2. Generosity maxim, that the speaker fully delegates the loss to their self
3. Praise maxim, the speaker should give as much praise as possible to the
interlocutor
4. Modesty maxim, the speakers should minimize compliments aimed at themselves

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 5. The agreement maxim, the speaker should maximize their agreement with the
interlocutor
6. Sympathy maxim, the speakers should express sympathy to the interlocutor as
much as possible
7. Consideration maxim, the speakers should try their best to minimize the
displeasure of the interlocutor and prioritize the pleasure of the interlocutor to the
maximum.

The six politeness maxims proposed by Leech are language rules that must be
obeyed by all language users in order to create a good interaction between the speaker and
the interlocutor. In this case, politeness in language is an attitude that must be maintained
in communication activities, both speakers and interlocutor must maintain a positive face
to each other in order to produce polite speech. This politeness of language is very
important to pay attention to in using social media.

The politeness theory proposed by Brown and Levinson and Leech, it indicates that
in sociopragmatic, it has been regulated how a person should perform speech acts with
their interlocutor well and also how to give opinions in polite language and not cause
misinterpretations to the interlocutor who then can be categorized as cyberbullying
behavior on someone on social media.

As a member of society who has studied the theory of language politeness, it

should be applied properly in interacting on social media. It can be started from ourselves
by supporting anyone by giving opinions in polite language. Furthermore, as a family
member and friend, someone can give direction and invite people around us to use polite
language on social media. Then, as a future teacher, the application can be done by
teaching the importance of language politeness to students in interacting on social media.

Based on these two politeness theories, we can know that in interacting with
someone either directly or from social media, we must maintain and obey the rules of
polite language, then in interacting someone cannot give opinions that contain resistance,
emotion, disapproval, etc. Therefore, sociopragmatics as a science that studies the structure
of language in communication plays an important role in directing humans to make good
and correct interactions in accordance with the existing politeness theory.

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