Speech Functions Used by Male and Female Tour Guides in Their Touring Interaction with Tourists in Bukit Lawang

In today’s world, tourism is considered the world
largest and most diverse business sector. The interaction between
tour guides and tourists constitutes the most important part in all
their touring activities. Appropriate tour guides utterances can
create harmonious atmosphere and at the same time promotes a
more friendly relationship between tour guides and tourist. This
study was aimed at investigating the differences of speech
function used by male and female tour guides in their touring
interaction with the tourists. This research was conducted in a
qualitative research. The data were clauses consist of speech
functions used by male and female tour guides in their
interaction with tourists in Bukit Lawang. One male and female
tour guides are selected by using purposive sampling. In order to
identify the types of speech functions used by the tour guide,
Halliday’s theory of Interpersonal Function was used as well as
Lakoff’s theory about gender to find out the differences between
male and female tour guide’s utterances. The findings showed
that the types of speech functions found in male and female tour
guides in their touring interaction with the tourists are statement,
question, command, offer, and minor. In which statement is
more often used by male tour guide in the interaction with the
tourist, followed by question, command, offer and minor. While,
the question is more often used by female tour guide, followed by
statement, command, offer and minor. Therefore, male and
female tour guide have different ways in communicating the
language especially in their interaction with the tourists.