This thesis proposal is entitled Politeness Strategies and Face Threatening Act in

Mahmoud Abbas Speech on United Nations Meeting in New York September 29, 2014.
This research is conducted based on the conflict that happened between Palestine and Israel that
still going on until today. This study aims to analyze how Mahmoud Abbas delivered his speech
in front of the member of the United Nations. How he used the strategies of politeness in his
speech whether it is positive, negative, bald on record, or off record. Also about how he used the
Face Threatening Act in the speech he delivered. Face Threatening Act and Politeness Strategies
are two different things; the first one refers to the act threatening others face while speaking, the
second one refers to the act maintaining others face although the speaker produces face-
threatening acts.
The writer applies qualitative method in this research with descriptive approach. In this
research, the writer does some steps. The steps are divided into three; the first is data collecting
method, the second is data classifying method, and the third is data analyzing method. Data
analyzing is based on the formulation of this study, as below:
1. What are the types of politeness strategies that emerge in Mahmoud Abbas speech
utterance?
2. What are the types of the face threatening acts accompanying politeness strategies in
Mahmoud Abbas speech utterance?
In order to explain the question above, there are main theories and supporting theories used
in this research. Main theories include set of pragmatic theories related to politeness strategies
and face threatening acts, such as Brown and Levinson (1987) theory, Yule (1996), and Goffman
(1967) theory about Face. Brown and Levinson (1987) divided face into negative face and
positive face. Negative face is the need/desire not to be imposed upon while positive face is the
need/desire to be liked or affirmed. Goffman (1967) define Face as the sacred thing for every
human being, an essential factor all communicators have to pay attention. Yule (2000) also
states that face means the public self image of a person. It refers to the emotional and social
sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize.