A Contrastive Analysis of Compliment Formulas, Strategies, and Responses on Native Javanese and Non-Native Javanese Learners of English

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the correspondences and non-correspondences of semantic and syntactic compliment formulas, compliment strategies, and compliment response strategies to see the effect of culture in NJ and NNJ while giving and responding to compliments. This is a contrastive analysis and employ qualitative method. The data are the answers from the participants found in the questionnaires. The participants are 10 speakers, 5 Native Javanese (NJ) and 5 Non-Native Javanese Learners of English (NNJ) from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd students of English Post Graduate at Universitas Sumatera Utara, employed questionnaires and interviews as research instruments. The findings of the research showed that NJ and NNJ were partly correspondence in semantic and syntactic compliment formula, strategies, and response. NJ and NNJ were similar in using adjectives and verbs, but differ in adverbs. The most dominant syntactic formula in NJ is found to be "N V Wh-Q?", while in NNJ, it is "NP looks/is (really) ADJ." In terms of compliment and response, NJ and NNJ used some similar strategies but differ in the frequency of usage. It was observed that explicit compliments were the most dominantly used in both NJ and NNJ, with NJ also employing numerous implicit compliment strategies. Regarding compliment response strategies, it was found that acceptance with amendment: comment and non-acceptance: avoidance were the most commonly used by NJ, while acceptance: appreciation token was the most frequently used by NNJ. These results indicate that NJ tends to adopt Javanese culture, characterized by "andhop ashor" or humility, whereas NNJ adopts Western culture, being more expressive and direct.