Politeness strategies by Logan Paul and Nike Ajlak in The Donald Trump Interview - IMPAULSIVE EP. 418
This qualitative study analyzes the politeness strategies used by Logan Paul and Mike Ajlak in The Donald Trump Interview – IMPAULSIVE EP. 418. Using Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory as cited in Watts (2003), it focuses on spoken utterances directed specifically at Donald Trump. The data consists of utterances by Paul as the main host and Ajlak as the co-host that contain politeness strategies. The findings reveal that both Paul and Ajlak used more positive politeness strategies. Paul employs all four main strategies, while Ajlak uses fewer. Both hosts used the same three main strategies (positive politeness, negative politeness and off record) but different strategies. This indicates they apply politeness strategies variations, based on their roles: Paul, the main host, leads the conversation and sets the tone, while Ajlak, the co-host, supports and maintains the flow. Despite the differences, both use the same positive politeness strategy(“Claim Common Ground”) and two negative politeness strategies (“Don’t Presume/Assume” and “Don’t Coerce H”). They also share unused strategies, such as “Be direct” and “Convey that S and H are cooperators.” From the findings, it can be concluded that both of them are polite, although they used different strategies especially because their guest is the former president. For further research, politeness on political interviews is recommended.