The paper starts with the theoretical background providing a comprehensive overview giving general accounts on complaints, directness and politeness and then reviewing findings of complaints in Brunei English. The methodology chapter will present details on the data, the data collection procedure and the coding scheme used to classify the data. The fourth chapter includes most important findings which are relevant to answer the research questions. The discussion chapter will be used to look at the results in the light of previous findings and theories. At last, the paper will close with a summary of all relevant and noteworthy findings and will offer an outlook and ideas for future research worth investigating.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Background
2.1. Relevant Concepts: Complaints, Directness, Politeness
2.2. Complaints in Brunei English (BrunE)
3. Methodology
3.1. Data
3.2. Data Collection Procedure
3.3. Coding Scheme
4. Results
4.1. Complaint Move Components
4.2. Level of Directness
4.3. Level of Politeness
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Themes
This study aims to investigate the complaining behavior of individuals in Brunei by analyzing 30 complaints published in the online "Opinion" section of the Borneo Bulletin. It examines the structural move components, the level of directness, and the degree of politeness, while assessing whether current communication styles have shifted compared to previous research findings.
- Analysis of linguistic move components in online complaint letters.
- Assessment of directness strategies based on House and Kasper’s scale.
- Evaluation of politeness levels using modality markers (upgraders/downgraders).
- Comparative diachronic analysis of Bruneian complaining behavior.
- Exploration of the impact of internet anonymity on face-threatening communication.
Excerpt from the Book
2. Theoretical Background
Before discussing previous studies done on complaints in Brunei English, the question of what a complaint actually is needs to be clarified. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines a complaint as an "expression of grief, pain, or dissatisfaction", the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary online defines it as "a reason for not being satisfied; a statement that somebody makes saying that they are not satisfied" while the online Collins dictionary describes it as "a reason for complaining". All three definitions describe scenarios in which some act or situation leads to dissatisfaction which is then expressed by a speaker. It implies that some act or situation has previously been unacceptable for the complainant which then becomes the reason for the complaint to be lodged.
Looking at definitions from a pragmatic point of view provides a clearer and narrowed-down picture of the matter. There, complaints are described to belong to the group of expressive speech acts which are used by speakers to express their feelings and attitudes (cf. Searle 1976). This definition, however, suggests isolated appearances of complaints. Several researchers (e.g. Cohen & Olshtain 1993, Murphy & Neu 1996) have indicated, that complaints frequently rather occur in combination with other speech acts such as warnings, advice or threats which make them part of a larger so-called ‘speech act set’. This means that a speech act can naturally either be realized by using a single strategy or by combining two or more strategies including other speech acts as well.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Presents the research gap regarding complaints in Brunei and outlines the objectives of analyzing online letters to the editor in the Borneo Bulletin.
2. Theoretical Background: Defines complaints as speech acts and explores concepts of directness, politeness, and face-threat in the context of Brunei English.
3. Methodology: Details the corpus creation, the manual data collection process from 2017-2018, and the coding scheme used for move components and modality markers.
4. Results: Provides findings on move frequency, directness levels, and the application of modality markers, showing a tendency toward aggressive and direct strategies.
5. Discussion: Interprets the findings in light of previous research, suggesting that anonymity may contribute to a shift toward more direct and face-threatening complaining behavior.
6. Conclusion: Summarizes the key insights, noting the changes in Bruneian complaining habits and acknowledging the limitations of the small-scale corpus.
Keywords
Brunei English, Complaints, Pragmatics, Speech Act Set, Directness, Politeness, Modality Markers, Borneo Bulletin, Online Communication, Face-Threat, Upgraders, Downgraders, Linguistic Analysis, Social Interaction, Diachronic Change.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research?
The study examines how Bruneians communicate complaints in English within online digital media, specifically focusing on the structure and pragmatic features of these complaints.
What are the central thematic fields covered?
The work covers pragmatics, the classification of speech acts, cross-cultural politeness theory, and the linguistic evolution of English in Brunei.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to determine if complaining behavior in Brunei has shifted toward more direct and impolite forms compared to findings from previous decades.
Which scientific methodology is applied?
The author uses a qualitative and quantitative move analysis, applying the coding schemes for directness and politeness established by House and Kasper (1981).
What does the main body of the work treat?
It provides a theoretical overview of speech acts, a detailed explanation of the methodology, a breakdown of complaint move components, and an analysis of directness and politeness metrics.
Which keywords characterize this paper?
Key terms include Brunei English, speech act set, directness, politeness, modality markers, and face-threat.
Does the internet affect how Bruneians lodge complaints?
Yes, the study suggests that the anonymity of online platforms allows complainants to abandon traditional non-confrontational cultural norms in favor of more direct and aggressive strategies.
Why did the author use a small-sized corpus?
While limited in scale, the small corpus allowed for a deep qualitative analysis and context-sensitive coding that would be impossible with a massive, automated data set.
How does this study compare to the 2010 study by Henry and Ho?
It builds upon their framework but identifies a newer, more aggressive trend in complaint language that diverges from their earlier observations.
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- Katja Grasberger (Autor:in), 2019, Complaining in Brunei English, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/497960
