CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1. Background of the Study

As the primary means of communication between people, language plays
an important role in understanding and expressing the world around us and
beyond. Because of this critical importance of language in people's social lives,
language has been studied from various aspects, such as structure, wholesome
processes, and cultural aspects. In this global world, we were bombarded by many
television shows, yet we also exposed with many languages. This means that in
one society there are various ethnic groups with their respective cultures. They use
a language with their own cultural background. They engage in cross-cultural and
linguistic communication. The main aspects of language considered in this study
are the cultural aspects and variations of language, which can be called
pragmatics.
Pragmatics refers to the study of language in context. As such, her focus is
on exploring the meaning given to utterances based on the social and situational
contexts in which they are embedded. (Yule, 1996) explains that pragmatics is the
study of contextual meaning. Consideration should be given to how the speaker
structures what he or she wants to say. There are many different ways people use
language in communication. Each community has its own way of using expressive
speech acts. These paths correspond to cultural contexts. (Wierzbicka, 2003)
found that each of the communities had different languages, cultures and speech
practices. This means that two different countries have different language codes,
and also different vocabulary, grammar and usage of codes. Speech act theory
forms a major platform for cross-cultural pragmatics. Speech acts focus on
specific speech events. The most noted speech acts included compliments,
apologies, denials, demands, complaints, greetings and disagreements. As Austin
defined the speech act (Austin, 1962), it is the act done by saying something.
(Searle, 1969) states that all oral communication involves speech acts, which form
the basic unit of communication. One commonly treated speech act is
compliments and compliment replies. People use compliments to initiate
communication. It may also be used to find close friends, avoid awkward feelings,
or facilitate interaction.
In communicating cross-culturally, participants from each culture and
language use different communication patterns and strategies. This means that to
convey a certain intent or message, they use different ways. The different ways of
communicating from each ethnic group are very interesting to study. The
participants, speakers and interlocutors, in cross-cultural and linguistic
communication, as claimed by Wierzbicka (1996, 2002) and Goddard (2004) use
certain speech modes and dictums. Furthermore, it is said that the mode of speech
can contain a dictum that can be delivered directly or indirectly. Besides
containing various speech meanings, an utterance can also contain the meaning of
the speaker. Therefore, in line with Wierzbicka and Goddarad, Thomas (1995)
says that the speaker's intention can be understood from two aspects or levels,
namely: the meaning of the speech as the first level and force (the speaker's
meaning) as the second aspect or level of the speaker's meaning. The claim of the
imperative dictum by some experts is “I want you to do something”. In principle,
the imperative dictum is a command. Commands are carried out in two ways,
namely: direct orders and indirect commands.
A speech act can be called an utterance. It means to make someone do
something. Searle (1979) states that there are five types of speech acts:
representative, referrer, comitative and expressor, and expository. Yule (1996)
adds that the term speech act includes “action''. They are requesting, questioning,
giving orders, making promises, and giving suggestions. Complaints are actually
a part of communication, information that informs the recipient of a statement,
product, service, etc., about an inappropriate situation. Complaints have several
linguistic variations. Complaints are often presented through declaration forms,
question forms and mandatory forms. By complaining, people show their
dissatisfaction through these expressions. The power of a speaker's complaint
depends on volume and context. The purpose of the complaint is clearly worded
and cannot be predicted from the wording. Complaints are spoken by many
complaint strategies. Complaints are utterances spoken to offend another person,
so most of the time, complainers use the direct accusation strategy of complaints.
The way people produce speech acts depends on the context. There are
many influencing factors such as gender (Tuner & Turhan, 2019) and culture.
Fundamentally, a person's words and actions influence their understanding of
behavior. In this case, the pragmatics also overlaps with other cultures and is
commonly referred to as cross-cultural pragmatics (Wierzbicka, 2003). One
example can be found in the international model competition titled MasterChef
Junior US and MasterChef Junior Indonesia. These competitions were chosen
because of the similarity of the two shows, both TV series featuring similar
natural dialogue, but taking place in different contexts or cultures. This article
focuses on the commentary verbal speech act created by the judges. The writer
also observed also observed in detail the differences between American and
Indonesian cultures when commenting on the candidates.
As noted above, the researchers noted the comments of the MasterChef
Junior US and MasterChef Junior Indonesia judges. The judges are interested to
analyze because it is defined as the person who decides whether or not a
candidate's career should progress to the next stage. Also, the judges are the
decision makers in the competition. The judges' comments are therefore
considered important to the contestants' development by providing suggestions
and advice for the contestants' success in each performance. Therefore, I am
interested in examining the complaints strategies of judges when making
comments. Due to the large number of seasons of these TV shows, this study is
limited to one season: MasterChef Junior US Season 5 and MasterChef Junior
Indonesia Season 3.
There are several studies that have examined the use of nonverbal speech
acts in various contexts. In the classroom, Budiasih et al. (2016) conducted a
study on the non-verbal behavior of international students in the Indonesian
learning environment by influencing the learning process. Malenab-Temporal
(2018) investigated her ESL learners' speech acts in classroom discourse. These
studies show that in the classroom, most speech acts are used to ask questions,
express opinions, and confirm. Speech act analysis was also performed on the
utterances. Rosyidi et al. (2019), for example, investigated Jokowi's non-verbal
speech act during the first Indonesian presidential debate in 2019. Putri (2018)
investigated Donald's nonverbal conduct in his Trump inaugural address. Both
studies showed that nonverbal acts are commonly used to express opinions,
promise, and persuade in political speech. As a further type of text, Sholihatin
(2020) analyzed verbal and verbal speech acts in defamatory texts. She found
nonverbal acts to be representative, declarative, and indicative. A review of these
previous studies helps show that each text her genre uses different speech act
features. However, in previous studies, different aspects of speech act were
discussed only in one subject, for example in the classroom or in the context of
political speeches. We found limited research on cultural aspects, especially non-
verbal behaviors related to Indonesian culture. Practical research across cultures
has focused on politeness (eg, Nureddeen, 2008; Spencer-Oatey & Jiang, 2003). It
is therefore important to examine how speech acts, especially speech acts, are
applied in different contexts by identifying the relationship between speech acts
and other cultural aspects, particularly American and Asian cultures. Furthermore,
this paper aims to clarify the types and functions of non-verbal speech acts
performed by the comments of the judges of MasterChef Junior US and
MasterChef Junior Indonesia. The importance of this research is to provide and
enrich better insight into cross-cultural practical research, especially non-verbal
behavior that also considers cultural dimensions.

1. 2 Research Questions
There are three research questions according to the background of the
study:
1. What are the types and functions of complaining strategy performed by the
judges of MasterChef Junior US Season 5 and MasterChef Junior
Indonesia Season 3?
 2. How the cultural background of the judges affect the complaining
strategies performed by the judges of MasterChef Junior US Season 5 and
MasterChef Junior Indonesia Season 3?

1.3 Research Objectives

There are three objectives of the research according to the background of
the study:
1. To explore types of complaining strategy performed by the judges of
MasterChef Junior US Season 5 and MasterChef Junior Indonesia Season
3.
2. To explore functions of complaining strategy performed by the judges of
MasterChef Junior US Season 5 and MasterChef Junior Indonesia Season
3.
3. To analyze cultural background of the judges affect the complaining
strategies performed by the judges of MasterChef Junior US Season 5 and
MasterChef Junior Indonesia Season 3.

1.4 The Significance of the Study

1.4.1 Theoretical Significance

Through this research, theoretically, the significance of the study is to
enrich researches or studies in cross-cultural pragmatics, especially in
complaining strategies done by the judges in Indonesia and United States,
especially in MasterChef Junior US and Indonesia. Through this cross-cultural
pragmatics study, the readers could enrich their knowledge about what is
happening around them to comprehend the complaining strategies.

1.4.2 Practical Significance

Practically, this research is expected to contribute to the understanding to
the society in different cultures from United States and Indonesia. Then, this
research gives us pictures how to give complaint, especially in our real life. The
choice of the utterance form from Indonesia could give benefit for students
outside Indonesia to learn about Indonesian complaining culture to avoid
misunderstanding in cross-cultural communication.