Politeness Strategies of Requests in the TV Series <em>Grey's Anatomy</em> Season 2

Abstract

This study explores the use of politeness strategies of requests in the TV Series Grey’s Anatomy Season 2. The request strategies were classified based on the politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987). The results showed that out of the 274 requests found in the TV series, 132 requests (48.18%) were expressed using the bald on-record strategy, 108 occurrences (39.42%) using the negative politeness strategy, 25 occurrences (9.12%) using the positive politeness strategy, and nine occurrences (3.28%) using the off-record politeness strategy. For power, the characters of Grey’s Anatomy Season 2 tend to speak to their interlocutors depending on the power that they have between them. Meanwhile, as for the social distance, the speakers tend to ignore the differences in power that exist between them. The familiarity between the speakers and interlocutors influences them to use direct strategies despite the differences in power.