Analysis of Imperative Sentences in the Chinese and Indonesian Translations of the Digital Comic Who Made Me a Princess by Spoon

Abstract

This study aims to describe the forms of imperative sentences found in character dialogues and to analyze the factors underlying their use in the Chinese version and Indonesian translation of Spoon’s digital comic Who Made Me a Princess. The study employs a qualitative descriptive method, with data consisting of utterances containing imperative sentences in the Chinese dialogues and their Indonesian translations. Data were collected using observation and note-taking techniques and analyzed using Wijana’s (1996) speech act theory to identify imperative sentence forms and Mizutani and Mizutani’s (1987) theory to examine factors influencing politeness in their use. The analysis identified 23 imperative sentences, consisting of 19 direct imperatives and 4 indirect imperatives. The findings indicate that direct imperative forms are more frequently used in interactions between characters, particularly when commands need to be conveyed firmly and clearly. In addition, four factors were identified as underlying the use of imperative forms: the degree of familiarity between the speaker and addressee, age differences, social relationships between the characters, and gender. These factors influence the choice of speech forms and the level of politeness in communication among the characters in Spoon’s digital comic Who Made Me a Princess