The strategies of closing conversation used by the main character of The Pursuit of Happyness movie

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on the strategies of closing conversation by the main character of The Pursuit of Happyness movie using Coppock’s theory. Closing conversation is the utterances which are used by the speaker to end the conversation as a sign to the hearer that their conversation is moving to end. Coppock recognized the strategies of politeness in conversation closing as a cooperation that should be done in closing conversation to avoid miscommunication in ending conversation, to combat the positive face threat, and to save face that she classified into three types: Positive Face-Saving Strategies, Combined Positive and Negative Politeness, and Solidarity Strategies.

This research aims at answering the problem of How the strategies of closing conversation are used by the main character of The Pursuit of Happyness movie.

This research was conducted using qualitative method. The data are in the form of transcribed utterances uttered by Chris Gardner to close the conversation. After the data were collected, they were analyzed into three types of the strategies of closing conversation then drew the general conclusion based on the theory and research findings.

The researcher found the strategies of closing conversation used by the main character of The Pursuit of Happyness movie are: (1) Positive Face-Saving Strategies in the form of positive comment, excuse and imperative to end; (2) Combined Positive and Negative Politeness in the form of blame, goal and summary, and (3) Solidarity Strategies in the form of plan, general wish and mentioning the name.