The Relationship Between The Concept of Pdr and The Practice of Brown & Levinson’s Politeness Strategies by Indonesian Caregivers in The Domain of Elderly Care in Japan

Abstract

An important topic of pragmatic studies is politeness. To be able to deliver messages
successfully in a speech act, politeness is believed to be an important means that can be used to
reduce inconvenience in communication process. This article is a piece of research to support a
dissertion that examines politeness in communicating in Japanese by Indonesian caregivers
towards the elderly in Japan. Specifically, this article examines the relationship between PDR
(power, distance, rank of imposition) concept and the practice of Brown&Levinson‟s politeness
strategies by the Indonesian caregivers towards the elderly in Japan. This study applies
qualitative method. The type of data used is primary data in the forms of utterances from the
Indonesian caregivers towards the elderly. The Indonesian caregivers who are the subjects of the
study work at 6 elderly care homes in Japan. These six homes were chosen as research locations
as they hire more Indonesian caregivers compared to other homes. The results of the analysis
indicate that there is relationship between the concept of PDR and the practice of
Brown&Levinson‟s politeness strategies in the utterances of the caregivers towards the elderly;
however, the two concepts of Brown&Levinsoncan cannot be fully applied in the utterances of
the Indonesian caregivers in the context of taking care of the elderly. The Indonesian caregivers
applied positive and negative politeness strategies in their utterances towards the elderly, as the
choice of the politeness is highly dependent on the situational contexts where the utterances take
place.