POLITENESS AND INTERACTION

7.1 Politeness7.2 Face Wants

7.3 Negative and Positive Face7.4 Self and Other: Say nothing

7.5 Say something: off and on record7.6 Positive and Negative Politeness

7.7 Strategies7.8 Pre-sequences

• George Yule (1996): the traditional linguists have no real social lives but the modern linguists tend to consider that linguistic interaction has a tight relation to social interaction.

• An interaction will make sense because of factors relate to :o relative status of the participantso social values: age and power

• For example:o “Excuse me, Mr. Buckingham, but can I talk to You for a minute?”o “Hey, Bucky, got a minute?”• “Mr”+ Last name • one’s nickname or first name

7.1 Politeness

• Politeness is the awareness of another person’s face. “ ”: the public self-image of a person.

•Politeness:

7.2 Face Wants

• Face : the expectations dealing with one’s face or public image.

• Face : a threat to another self-image.

• Face : an act of saving one’s self image.

Example:One day a young neighbor was playing music so loudly in the middle of the night. • Grandpa: “I’m going to tell him to stop that awful noise

right now” • Grandma: “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.”

• Grandpa’s saying:• Grandma’s saying:

At the same moment there was a couple of older people who were trying to sleep.

7.3 Negative and Positive FacePeople have two faces:

: the need to be accepted, even liked, by others. In short, a need to be connected.

: the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and not to be imposed on by others.

7.4 Self and Other: Say nothing• : you• Other:

• You want to lend a penSelf: (looks in bag)Other: (offers pen) Here, use this

7.5 Say something: off and on record• statement, but not

directly addressed to the othero“Uh, I forgot my pen”o“Hmm, I wonder where I put my pen”• statement, that directly

addressed to the other as a means of expressing your needs.o“Give me a pen”o“Lend me your pen”

7.6 Positive and Negative Politeness• : leads the requester to appeal to

a common goal, and even friendship, via expressionsE.g:o How a bout letting me use your pen?o Hey, buddy, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me use your pen.

• strategy: a face saving act.The most typical form used is a question containing a modal verbe.g:o Could you lend me a pen?o I’m sorry to bother you, but I ask you for a pen or something?

7.7 Strategies• : the tendency to use positive politeness

forms, emphasizing closeness between speaker and hearer• Deference strategy: forms, emphasizing the hearer’s right to freedom

7.8 Pre-sequences• The basic assumption:

• One way of avoiding risk is to provide an opportunity for the other to halt the potentially risky action.

Example 1:A: Are you busy? (pre-request)B: not really (go ahead)A: Check over this memo. (request)B: Okay (accept)

Example 2:C: Are you busy? (pre-request)D: Oh, sorry (stop).