Politeness and Interaction July 2011 Teacher
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Transcript of Politeness and Interaction July 2011 Teacher
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POLITENESSAND
INTERACTION
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Owing to rapid progress in
transportation and communicationsystem, people who previously
engaged in face to face interaction
among acquaintances are now
confronted by the need to
communicate with people fromdifferent backgrounds and with
unfamiliar communicative styles.
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However, what is appropriate
in communication differs from
culture to culture and
subculture to subculture.
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People use language to transmit
information, but to do it effectively,
language must be used in a mannerthat will not cause conflicts between
the participants. (either face to face or
electronic media)
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Politeness
Politeness is a form of social interaction
that is conditioned by the sociocultural
norms of a particular society.
Lakoff (1975:45) defines it as forms of
behavior that have been "developed in
societies in order to reduce friction inpersonal interaction".
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Rationale
Understanding politeness properly might
constitute an important key to the
understanding of a number ofsociolinguistic problems.
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In order to make sense of what is said in
an interaction, we have to look at variousfactors which relate to
1) social distance/ closeness2) powerrelations
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In our daily talk, there are ways to getthings we want.
When we are with friends, we can beinformal with them.
However, when we are talking to
adultsand people wedo not knowwell, we must be more formal andmore polite.
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POLITENESS
Brown and Levinson (1978) suggestthat a need to be polite is common to
all cultures. The concept of politeness has been
depicted in the literature as formality,
as deference, as indirectness, asappropriateness, as etiquette, as tact.
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Learning a foreign language involves notonly knowing how to speak and write, butalso how to behave linguistically;
therefore, the speakers and and users ofthe language must be equipped withpoliteness formulas in speaking and mustbe aware of how to use politeness indifferent communicative acts in their dailylife.
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Brown and Levinsons theory
rests on 3 basic notions:
1) face
2) facethreateningacts (FTAs)
3) politenessstrategies.
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So, to show awareness ofanother
personsface politeness
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Showing the equivalent awareness when
the other is socially close is oftendescribed in terms offriendliness,
camaraderie, orsolidarity.
(as opposed to respectordeference)
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Friendliness VS Respect
Professor A: Hey Lisa, gotaminute?
Professor B: Sure.
Student A: Excuseme ProfessorBlack,
but can I talk to youforaminute?Professor: Certainly.
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Face Wants
People generally behave as if their expectations
concerning their public self-image, or theirface
wants, will be respected.
If a speaker says something that represents a threat to
another individuals expectations regarding self-image,
it is described as a facethreateningact.
The speaker can say something to lessen the
possible threat. This is called a facesavingact.
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Concept ofFACE
Politeness showingawareness ofanotherpersonsface
Face-threateningact athreattoanotherpersonsself- image
Face-savingact sayingsomethingthat lessensthepossiblethreattoanothersface.
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Face threatening act
Givemethat!
A direct speech act can give the impressionthat you have a social power over the other
person.
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Face saving act
Couldyougivemethat?An indirect speech act in the form of a
question removes the assumption of power.
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Peoplehavetwo faces
1) POSITIVE FACE
is the need to be accepted, even liked, byothers, to be treated as a member of the
same group, and to know that his or her
wants are shared by others.
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POSITIVE FACE
Positive Facerefersto one'sself-
esteem,
theneedto be connectedandamemberofthegroup.
L
ets do it together. You and I have the same problems.
Appeal to positiveface
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2) NEGATIVE FACE
refers to one's freedom to act, the need tobe independent, to have freedom of
action, and not to be imposed on by
others.
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Someones face can be challenged in 2
ways
1) by tellinghim whatto do, which implies the
speaker has power over him
2) by showingyoudisagree with or do not
appreciate his values and beliefs.
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NEGATIVE FACE
Theneedto beindependentandfree
Im sorry to bother you.
I dont think you are right.
Appeal to negativeface
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If you challenge someones face, they will
challenge you back!
We use politeness with other people sothat they will not attack us.
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People can choose between a
variety ofexpressions which
show varying degrees ofpoliteness and face-saving.
See examples below
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1) Thestraight command, such as Shutthe door, does not respect a personsright to have control over their own body.
Direct commands like this are only issued
by a superior to an inferior. Giving straight
commands like this can be rude or
patronizing.
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2) To avoidthisrudeness, politeness
factorshave beenintroducedinto the
language,
Please Shutthedoorplease.
Hedges Ifitisnttoomuch trouble . . ..
Commandshiddenas questions,
Couldyoupassthesalt
please?
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The number of hedges or politeness factors in
a request or command is inproportionto the
amount that the speaker feels she or he is
imposing on the listener.
If it wouldnt be too much trouble, I meanif you dont mind, Id be grateful if youd
pick up the phone
What do you think of this utterance?
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3) Sometimes, to saveface, thespeaker
makestherequestasimpersonal and
indirectaspossible,
e.g. if this letter was typed, Id be very
grateful.
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4) Speaker can also respect a listeners valuesystem and appreciate it byimplyingmembership of the same groupas the listener.
usingthepersonal pronouns, weand us,
e.g. lets go swimming;
usingthesamein-groupvocabulary, e.g. using dialect or colloquial language when someone
else does;
usingpsuedo-agreement whichavoidssaying no or
disagreeing withaspeaker,
e.g. Would you like to come to my house?
Well, Id love to at another time.
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Summary
Politeness is showing awareness andconsideration to another persons face.
There are 2 kinds of face needs:
Negativefaceneeds: need to not be imposedupon.
Positivefaceneeds: needto be liked andadmired.
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Brown and Levinson sum up human
politeness behavior in 4 strategies:
bald on record,
positive politeness,
negative politeness,off-record-indirect strategy.
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Bald on-record
The bald on-record strategydoes
nothing to minimize threats to the hearer's
face
Do the dishes. Its your turn.
Shut up!I want some beer.
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Anemergency: Help!
Watch out!
Task oriented: Give me those!Pass me the hammer.
Request: Put your jacket away.
Alerting: Turn your headlights on!(while driving)
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Any advantage ofbald on record?
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Positive (or solidarity)politeness
Positivepolitenessmeans being
complimentary and gracious to the
addressee.
Thepositive politeness strategyshows
you recognize that your hearer has a
desire to be respected. It also confirms
that the relationship is friendly andexpresses group reciprocity.
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1) Attendto thehearersinterests,wantsLiz, you look sad...Can I do anything?
You must be hungry..its a long time since breakfast.
How aboutsome lunch?
2) Usesolidarity, in-groupidentitymarkers
Heh, mate, can you lend me a dollar?
Can you bring me the key, honey?3) Include bothspeakerandhearerinactivity
Ifwe helpeach other,Iguess, wellboth sinkorswiminthis
course.
Positive politeness
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4) OfferorpromiseIfyou wash thedishes,Illvacuumthefloor.
5) Exaggerateinterestinhearerandhis
interests
Thatsanice haircutyou got; wheredidyou getit?
6)Using compliments
Youmakesuch greatcoffee! Wouldyou.?
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Any advantage ofpositive politeness?
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Negative politeness(showrespect & maintain socialdistance)
The negative politeness strategyalso
recognizes the hearer's face. But it alsorecognizes that you are in some way
imposing on them. Some other examples
would be to say, Idon'twanttobother
youbut... or Iwas wonderingif...
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Examples of negative politeness
Hedging: Er, could you, er, perhaps, close the,
um , window?
Pessimism: I dont suppose you could close the
window, could you?
Indicatingdeference: Excuse me, sir, would you
mind if I asked you to close the window?
Apologizing: Im terribly sorry to put you out, butcould you close the window?
Impersonalizing: The management requires all
windows to be closed.
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Any advantage ofnegative politeness?
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Off-record indirect(indirectrequest)
This strategy uses indirect language and
removes the speaker from the potential to
be imposing.
This strategy takes some of the pressure
off of you.
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Examples ofoff-record indirect
Givehints:
Its a bit cold in here.
It would be so nice to have a blanket.
Bevague:Perhaps someone should have been more
responsible.
These fries would taste great with some salt.
Besarcastic, or joking:
Yeah, hes a real Einstein!
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Any advantage ofoff-record indirect?