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1. Delimiting the concept of politeness 2. Politeness Explained in terms of Principles and Maxim 3. Politeness and Management of face 4. Politeness viewed as a conversational contract 5. Politeness measured along pragmatic scales
(Brown and Levinson: 1987) The human personality is sacred thing; one dare not violate it nor infringe its bounds, while at the same time the greatest good is in communion with others. (Durkheim 1915:299).
Terms relate to politeness: Cooperation Indirectness DEFINITION OF POLITENESS (Thomas: 1995)
POLITENESS
INTENDED RESPECT
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
PRAGMATICS
Deference, a. The speaker has no choice as to whether to use deferent form or not. b. It is built into the grammar of languages
e.g. a. - The cadet responds to the Academy Sergeant Major :
Yes, Sir! - Show politeness by holding a door open to allow someone else to
pass through
e.g. b. French, German and Russian, Choice of a second person pronoun T/V system Tu/vous, Du/Sie TbI/BbI
GESTURE
A lecturer of a University asks question to his student: I wonder if I might ask you to answer the last question!
POLITENESS
A student is answering to his respected lecturer:
Yes, Sir
Register
Register refers to systemic variation in relation to social context (Lyons 1977) or the way in which the language we speak or write varies according to the type of situation (Halliday, 1978, in Thomas 1995, p. 154) It is primarily a sociolinguistic phenomenon : a description of the linguistic forms which generally occur in a particular situation. e.g. If you decided to disrupt a stuffy meeting by using language not normally associated with that particular type of event, such as cracking jokes or making fun of the person chairing the meeting
A married couple are trying to decide a restaurant. The husband says: You choose.
(The other context), Husband: will you be kind to tell me what time is it? the wife says to the husband: If youll be kind enough to speed up a little?
E.g. (Thomas, p. 157)
These examples are artificial to be recognized as a politeness. There is no necessary connection between the linguistic form and the perceived politeness of a speech act in context.
(i) I wonder if I might respectfully request you to stop picking your nose? (ii) Stop picking your nose!
Pragmatic Principles
Minimize (all things being equal) the expression of impolite beliefs; Maximize (all things being equal) the expression of polite beliefs. The principles explain the relationship between sense and force in
The main maxims are: tact, generosity, Approbation, Modesty, Agreement and Sympathy human conversation
e.g. Finding something positive to say about rotten egg (but I had to look back 100 years to find it!) Situation: A young curate is having breakfast with his Bishop
Have a chocolate!
CONT.
THE MODESTY MAXIM
a. Minimize the expression of praise of self b. Maximize the expression of dispraise of self
Situation: A and B were giving a series of lectures in a foreign country where decent coffee was uncertain comodity. At the airport A had bought a good supply of ground coffee and a gadget for percolating it. She makes a first attempt as using it. Firstly, (A) minimize the expression of prise her gadget, then she maximize the expression of adore her ground coffee. e.g. a. A: This isnt bad, is it? B: The coffee? Its very good A few hours later she makes some more: e.g. b. B: This coffee is very good A: Not bad, is it?
CONT.
THE APPROBATION MAXIM
a. Minimize the expression of beliefs which express dispraise of other b. Maximize the expression of beliefs which express approval of other
All things being equal we prefer to praise others and if we cannot do so, to sidestep the issue, we can give sort if minimal response, e.g. in commenting a process of lecturing, we maximize in approve someone, or minimize the expression dispraise b. Well, I enjoyed your lecturer. a. In contrary just keep quite or Remain silent
CONT.
THE AGREEMENT MAXIM
a. Minimize the expression of disagreement between self and other b. Maximize the expression of agreement between self and other
e. g. Of (b) Mrs. Sharma allows her daughter to join her preference of extra class A: So.. Should I let my daughter to choose her interest? B: Yes, of course youre right, your decision might make her very overwhelmed .
Situation: Example of (a) e.g. 18 & 19 Speaker A is Mr. Sharma, the Indian-born father of one of the pupils attending school. Speaker B is Mrs. Green, the deputy head teacher of a school (a British woman). They are involved in a major disagreement concerning the courses Mr. Sharmas daughter will take the following year.
e.g. 18, (Thomas, 1995, p. 165) A: I dont want my daughter to do CSE, I want her to do O level. B: Yes, but Mr Sharma, I thought we resolved this on your last visit e.g. 19, (Thomas, 1995, p. 165) A: Nehemulla is ideally suited to the class shes in and this class will do CSE in two years time. B: No, my dear, no, no, its wrong!
CONT.
For indicating generosity, sometimes it is fine to directly expressed invitation even obviously regard as a force to maximize the benefit to other or somehow in generally speaking in your own party or peculiar home we do unmodified imperative to minimize benefit to self, allowing other as if the part of us (owner)
Cont.
THE SYMPATHY MAXIM
a. minimize antipathy between self and other b. maximize sympathy between self and other.
This includes a small group of speech acts such as congratulation, commiseration, and expressing condolences all of which is in accordance with Brown and Levinson's positive politeness strategy of attending to the hearer's interests, wants, and needs e.g. (b) In maximizing sympathy of someone whose father has already passed
away by saying I am sorry to hear about your father. The speaker makes an effort to minimize the antipathy between himself and the addressee. E.g. (a). Despite very serious disagreement with you on a technical level, we have done our best to coordinate our efforts in reaching on agreement. But have so far not been able to find any common ground
FACE
Theyve got to safe face. Saving face is the strongest motive in the world
General idea of politeness: fixed concept of social behavior/etiquette within a culture, involves certain general principles as being tactful, generous, modest, sympathetic towards others. (Brown and Levinson, 1978, 1987) Narrower concept of politeness within an interaction: face = the public self-image of a person (emotional and social sense of self one has and expects everyone else to recognize)
Negative face : need to be independent, to have freedom of action, not be imposed on by others Positive face : need to be accepted/liked, to be treated as a member of the same group, to know that wants are shared by others.
FACE WANTS!
Within everyday social interaction people generally behave as if their expectations concerning their face wants (i.e. public selfimage) will be respected face threatening act (FTA)-Brown and Levinson : speaker says something that represents a threat to another individual's expectations regarding self-image face saving act : speaker says something to lessen a possible threat Situation: Young neighbor is playing loud music late at night. Older couple cannot sleep.
A: I'm going to tell him to stop that awful noise right now! B: Perhaps you could just ask him if he's going to stop soon because it's getting a bit late and people need to get to sleep. http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
PARAMETER OF FTA :
- POWER (P) - DISTANCE (D) - IMPOSITION RATING (R)
Politeness STRATEGIES for avoiding FTA: A. ON RECORD SUPERSTRATEGY 1) Bald-on record 2) Positive Politeness 3) Negative Politeness B. OFF RECORD SUPERSTRATEGY
What would you do if you saw a cup of pens on your teacher's desk, and you wanted to use one, would you say
Ooh, I want to use one of those. Hmm, I sure could use a blue pen right now. So, is it O.K. if I use one of those pens?
I'm sorry to bother you but, I just wanted to ask you if I could use one of those pens?
Cont.
A. 2) positive politeness
A face saving act concerned with the person's positive face will tend to show solidarity, emphasize that both speakers want the same thing and have a common goal.
e.g: hey buddy, is it OK for me to have a beer?
Cont.
A. 3) Negative politeness A face saving act oriented to a person's negative face tends to show deference, emphasizes the importance of the other's time or concerns and may include an apology for the imposition e.g: I hope it's not too forward, but would
Cont.
B. Off record: statements not directly addressed to another person e.g: It's so hot. It makes you really thirsty.
Politeness and Interaction Ex. Yule (1996, pp. 64-66) (How to get a pen from someone else)
say nothing (but search in bag) say something off record ('I forgot my pen') face saving act on record
positive politeness
negative politeness
Inclusion Equality
Exclusion Superordination/subordination
REFERENCES
Houpte Seminar, Introduction to Pragmatics. http://ifla.unistuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html. Downloaded on April 21, 2013 Thomas, J. 1996. Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics. New York: Longman Group Limited. Yule, G. 1996. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
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