Politeness Studies

LANGUAGE & CONTEXT

Lecture 3

Invite me to dinner

Review Speech Act Theory

You are in a room with person A. The room
temperature is too high but for some reason
you cant move to turn on the air con. You
want to ask A to help you

Strategies you may choose

(Brown and Levinson, 1987)

Bald on record

On record with redressive actions

Off record

Not doing (saying) at all

indirectness

Bald on record
Tell me the address for that website.

Lend me 30.
Open the door.

Have another biscuit.

Marry me.

On record with redressive actions

Could you tell me the address for that
website?
Sorry to bother you. I couldnt borrow 30,
could I, if you dont need it right now?
Would you like another biscuit?

Would you mind moving just slightly? I cant

see the screen very clearly.

Off record
I wonder where on earth that website is.
A: Well, how do I look?
B: your shoes look nice.

Interesting book. Pity I dont have 30 on

me.

Not doing (saying) at all

Doing nothing

Non-verbal cues?

Politeness Studies
What does to be polite mean?

To be extremely formal?
To be extremely indirect?

Politeness Studies
Face
Positive / Negative Face
Face Threatening Act (FTA)
Positive / Negative Politeness strategies

 Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Have you ever struggled between

Two Basic Needs of Humans

Independence vs. Involvement (Tannen,

1986)
Negative face vs. Positive face (Brown
and Levinson, 1987)

 Negative face
The basic claim to territories, personal preserves,
rights to non-distraction i.e. to freedom of
action and freedom from imposition.
Positive face

The positive consistent self-image or personality

(crucially including the desire that this self-image
be appreciated and approved of) claimed by
interactants.

Readings this week

Cutting, J. (2008) Pragmatics and Discourse: A
Resource Book for Students. Units: A5, B5, C5, D5.
Brown, P. and Levinson, S. (1987) Politeness: Some
Universals in Language Use. Cambridge: CUP.
Cameron, D. (2001) Working with Spoken
Discourse. London: Sage. Chapt. 6. section on
politeness