Politeness Theory
Issues To Be Discussed:
1. Politeness and its types
2. Techniques to show politeness
3. Linguistic devices to show politeness
4. P. Brown and S. Levinson’s politeness theory
5. Positive and negative face
6. Face-threatening acts
7. Politeness strategies
8. Choice of strategy
9. Criticism of the politeness theory
10. G. Leech’s politeness maxims
Politeness and Its Types
Politeness is best expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. It is a culturally defined phenomenon, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply strange in another cultural context.
While the goal of politeness is to make all of the parties relaxed and comfortable with one another, these culturally defined standards at times may be manipulated to inflict shame on a designated party.
The British social anthropologists Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson identified two kinds of politeness, deriving from Erving Goffman's concept of face [8]:
Ø Negative politeness: Making a request less infringing, such as "If you don't mind..." or "If it isn't too much trouble..."; respects a person's right to act freely. In other words, deference. There is a greater use of indirect speech acts.
Ø Positive politeness: Seeks to establish a positive relationship between parties; respects a person's need to be liked and understood. Direct speech acts, swearing and flouting Grice's maxims can be considered aspects of positive politeness because:
x they show an awareness that the relationship is strong enough to cope with what would normally be considered impolite (in the popular understanding of the term);
x they articulate an awareness of the other person's values, which fulfils the person's desire to be accepted [2].
Some cultures seem to prefer one of these kinds of politeness over the other. In this way politeness is culturally-bound.
Techniques to Show Politeness
ü Expressing uncertainty and ambiguity through hedging and indirectness.
ü Polite lying.
ü Use of euphemism (which make use of ambiguity as well as connotation).
ü Preferring tag questions to direct statements, such as "You were at the store, weren't you?"
X modal tags request information of which the speaker is uncertain: "You didn't go to the store yet, did you?"
X affective tags indicate concern for the listener: "You haven't been here long, have you?"
^ softeners reduce the force of what would be a brusque demand: "Hand me that thing, could you?"
^ facilitative tags invite the addressee to comment on the request being made: "You can do that, can't you?"
Some studies have shown that women are more likely to use politeness formulas than men, though the exact differences are not clear [1, 13]. Most current research has shown that gender differences in politeness use are complex [10]; since there is a clear association between politeness norms and the stereotypical speech of middle class white women, at least in the UK and US. It is therefore unsurprising that women tend to be associated with politeness more and their linguistic behaviour judged in relation to these politeness norms.
Linguistic Devices to Show Politeness
Besides and additionally to the above, many languages have specific means to show politeness, deference, respect, or a recognition of the social status of the speaker and the hearer. There are two main ways in which a given language shows politeness:
· in its lexicon (for example, employing certain words in formal occasions, and colloquial forms in informal contexts);
· in its morphology (for example, using special verb forms for polite discourse).
P. Brown and S. Levinson’s Politeness Theory
Politeness theory is the theory that accounts for the redressing of the affronts to face posed by face-threatening acts to addressees [7]. First formulated in 1978 by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson, politeness theory has since expanded academia’s perception of politeness [17]. Politeness is the expression of the speakers’ intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward another [17, p. 6]. Another definition is "a battery of social skills whose goal is to ensure everyone feels affirmed in a social interaction" [7]. Being polite therefore consists of attempting to save face for another.
