Sociolinguistics 4

Social classification, face and politeness

The story so far

• We classify everything, including people.

• We generalise in terms of general ‘types’ (prototypes – ‘the typical X’).

• Characteristics are stored as links to other nodes.

• All the characteristics of a type are inherited (by default) by all its members.

Classifying people

• We classify people on the basis of many different characteristics, so each person belongs to many different types:

• Sex

• Occupation

• Etc …

• Language community

Language as a badge of membership

• Distinguishing communities is an important function of language.

• Language is better than clothing etc.• because:

– There’s so much detail to learn.– It’s very observable.– It’s very fast and flexible.– It allows multiple membership through

bilingualism and code-mixing.

Multiple group membership (1)

L ang uag e P e r s o n

E ng l i s h B r i t i s h G r e e k G r e e k-C ypr i o t

M e

lang

lang

lang

lang

Multiple group membership (2)

E nglis h 'S lang ' M ale - s pe ak G re e k

B r i t Te e nage r M ale G re e k-C ypr io t

M e

lang lang lang lang

Language choice is a juggling act

Two social functions of language

• Self-classification.– Much more on this later.– Uses the whole of language.

• Interaction-management:– e.g. Hello! Sorry! Look here!– Uses dedicated vocabulary.

• Interaction-management is closely related to self-classification through ‘face’.

Faces show feelings …

… or …

…or…

…or…

…or…

Face

• As in: to lose face, to save face.

• Your face is your ‘public self-image’ (Brown and Levinson).

• It’s the rights you claim from others:– The positive right to be respected: respect.– The negative right to be unimpeded: freedom.

• The kind of respect and freedom you claim depends on your self-classification.

Morality

• We want others to protect our face.

• But we know that they want the same of us.

• We could easily damage their face.

• But we know that they could do the same to us.

• So: Treat others as you would like them to treat you! (The ‘Golden Rule’)

Logic

• We classify ourselves as an X.

• We know that Xs have rights.

• So we inherit those rights as well.

• But so do other Xs!

• In other words:– What’s good for us is good for them.– What’s good for them is good for us.

Basic morality

r e s pe c t X fr e e do m

• M e

po s - r ight

ne g- r ight

re lat io n

Politeness

• Sometimes we do ‘face-threatening acts’.

• But we can repair the damage by being ‘polite’.

• We can use non-verbal behaviour – smiles, etc.

One-sided politeness …

…and mutual politeness.

Polite language

• Language offers tools for repairing X’s face:• Polite language consists of:

– special polite expressions, e.g. please– special uses of ordinary expressions, e.g. I was just

wondering whether you would mind awfully if …

• It deals with threats to:– Positive face (respect), e.g. darling– Negative face (freedom), e.g. please

Positive politeness expressions

• Greeting: hello (We have a relation.)

• Farewell: see you later (We still have one)

• Hedged criticism: if you don’t mind me saying so (I won’t damage our relation)

• Address: mate (We’re in this together.)

• Hidden disagreement: I’ll think about it (Japanese) (I don’t want to offend you.)

• Hidden telling: isn’t it? (You’re the expert.)

The meaning of Hello!

• •

H E L L O

s pe ake r addre s s e e

s o c ial r e lat io n

Negative politeness expressions

• Apology: sorry (It was an accident.)– Apology-acceptance: that’s ok (Not important)

• Request: please (It’s up to you.)– Request-acceptance: yes (I’m willing.)

• Offer: (there you go), bitte (German) (I’m doing this for you.)

• Gratitude (offer-acceptance): thanks (You didn’t have to do it.)– Gratitude-acceptance: not at all (Not important)

The meaning of Sorry!

• • •

SO R R Ys pe ake r

e ve ntaddre s s e e

re gre t te r injure d

Discrimination

• Politeness is for saving other people’s faces.

• But in fact we don’t give everyone the same rights.

• At least small children have limited freedom.

• Slaves (if we have them!) have no rights at all.

• Nor does ‘the enemy’.

Discrimination (1)

R e s pe c t X F r e e do m

M e C hi l d 0 S l ave 0

po s - r ight

ne g- r ight

ne g- r ight r ight

Classification matters

• How we treat others depends on how we classify them.

• We distinguish the rights of sub-groups of our own group.

• But our classification may exclude some people altogether from having rights.

• And what about animal rights?

Discrimination (2)

r e s pe c t X fr e e do m

• M e

po s - r ight

ne g- r ight

re lat io n

P e r s o n

Politeness again

• We use politeness markers to compensate for a face-threatening act (FTA).

• FTAs threaten X’s face only if X has relevant rights.

• This depends on how we classify X.

• So our use or non-use of politeness markers shows X how we classify them.

A cautionary tale

Then Gilead cut Ephraim off from the fords of the Jordan, and whenever an Ephraimite fugitive said ‘let me cross’, the men of Gilead asked him to say shibboleth [ear of corn]. If he said sibboleth, they seized and slaughtered him. (Judges 12, 4-6).

• Language as a badge of membership.• Classification decides rights.

Coming shortly

• Week 5: Power and solidarity

• Week 6: Accommodation and sociolinguistic variables