| This sociolinguistic study of the politeness behavior of two Chinese Indonesian mother daughter pairs in Surabaya, Indonesia, was conducted qualitatively to find out how their language reveals the concept of politeness. The study is also aimed to find out whether there is any language change and/or language maintenance from mother's use of polite language to the one used by her daughter. It also aims to see how their use of politeness patterns show about their being Chinese Indonesians. One mother daughter pair had Chinese education background and the other Dutch education background.;The two main methods used in conducting the research are participant observation and interviews. The data found during the field research were noted in matrices, journals, and transcription of interviews. The data were then compared, analyzed, and discussed.;The results from the analyses showed that their politeness patterns were revealed in the use of terms of address, in which propriety was the main issue in the use of address terms. Making compliments, appreciation, requests, refusal, and apologies could also be categorized in their politeness strategies but were revealed in a more indirect and subtle ways.;There were some changes in the politeness patterns of the mother compared to her daughter. The educational and social background might have been the cause of the changes. The Chinese educated background participants showed stronger attachment to the Chinese customs, while the Dutch educated mother and her Indonesian educated daughter showed more adaptation to the Javanese and Indonesian customs. |
