WEEK 6

POLIITENESS AND CULTURE

The concept of politeness is crucial in any communication, but particularly in cross cultural communication

Communication with others must take culture into consideration

Norms of politeness vary from culture to culture

All languages have devices to indicate politeness and formality.◦ Linguistic markers of status, deference,

humility◦ Posture, facial expressions, gestures, etc.

Politeness is closely tied to cultural values.

One must know the cultural values in order to function successfully in a society.

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Are all requests considered threatening to the negative face of the interlocutor(s) in other cultures?

Are all less-than-positive comments about one’s appearance considered threatening to the positive fact of the interlocutor(s) in other cultures?

‘… a collection of rights and duties’ ‘… hierarchy and position in a system of roles’ General Rule: The higher the status, the more

politeness from the lower status participant

Rule: If the speaker is lower in social status that the hearer, then the utterance has to be polite. If the speaker is higher in social status than the hearer but is lower than the subject of the sentence he is uttering, then the utterance has to be polite.

Face Status Rank Role Power Age Sex Social Distance Intimacy Kinship Group membership

Cultural values determine which parameters (i.e., face, status, rank, role, power, age, sex, social distance, intimacy, kinship, group membership) interact with each other, and which ones are weighted more heavily in comparison with the others.

The relative ages of the speaker and the hearer determine how politeness is expressed

In many speech communities , a younger person may not address an older person by his/her name, even if the younger person is of higher status. In Thailand, even among close friends & casual acquaintances, the younger person uses a term of respect in addressing

the older.

Sex or gender differences exist in all cultures with respect to polite language

◦ In general, women’s speech is supposed to be more polite.

◦ In many cultures, men’s speech is constrained in the presence of women.

◦ Sex differences take precedence over intimacy in male-female interaction.

Social distance is a factor affecting politeness.Social distance is linked to

intimacy.

The more intimate the participants are, the less social

distance between them. The more intimate , the less polite they are to each

other

The relationship between participants determines what linguistic features are used.India: use of honorific / plural forms of pronouns to address or refer to parents-in-law

In some societies, group membership is important in determining what politeness strategies are used.◦ Japan: certain honorifics used with out-group members

only; others for in-group◦ AAE: signifying & marking

Marking: narrator affects the voicemannerisms of

the speaker in the story

Signifying: ‘I see you got your furniture

rearranged.’

Pronouns of address◦ Romance languages - ‘tu’ vs. ‘vous’ forms◦ Thai – use of pronouns for ‘I’ and ‘you’ depends on status,

rank, age, sex, social distance/intimacy & kinship/group membership

‘I’ ‘you’phŏm/dichăîn khunchăn thəəuáʔ lurkuu mɨŋrau kæækháu nɔɔŋphîi naaynǔu thanetc. etc.

Kinship termsIn many Asian languages, kinship terms are often used for people unrelated to the speaker:

Uncle / aunt Older sibling Younger sibling etc.

Plurals In many languages (e.g., Russian, Czech, Serbo-Croatian, some dialects of Polish), plurals may be used to show politeness when addressing a single person.

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QuestionsIn some societies, questions are used to express politeness, e.g. Inner Circle English-

speaking cultures.

‘Could you tell me the time?’

Topicalization and focus In English, topicalization and focus can effect the degree of politeness.◦‘If you DON’T MIND my asking, where did you get that dress?

◦‘WHERE did you get that dress, if you don’t mind my asking?’

Which is more polite sounding? Why?

Effort The greater the effort expended in face-maintaining linguistic behavior, the greater the politeness,

E.g., ‘I wouldn’t dream of it since I know you are very busy, but I am simply unable to do it myself, so ….’

Is this a universal tendency?

Gaze, gesture, & body posture Japanese bow, exchange business cards with two hands

Thais wai, avoid touching the head The ‘ok’ sign can mean

◦Money (Japan)◦Zero (France)◦An obscene comment (Greece)