A linguistic interaction is

necessarily a social
interaction.

POLITENESS AND INTERACTION

By:
Dr. Shadia Y. Banjar

5/17/2009

http://www.kau.edu.sa/SBANJAR
http://wwwdrshadiabanjar.blogspot.com

Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar


A linguistic interaction is necessarily a

social interaction.

5/17/2009

Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar


In

order to make sense of what is said in an

interaction, we have to look at various factors
which relate to social distance and closeness.

Some of these factors are established prior to an
interaction and thus are largely external factors.

They typically involve the relative status of the
participants, based on social values such as age
and power.

We take part in a wide range of interactions
(mostly with strangers) where the social distance
determined by external factors is dominant.
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Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar


Internal factors such as amount of imposition

or degree of friendliness can result in the initial

social distance changing and being marked as
less, or more, during the course of the
interaction.

They are typically more relevant to participants
whose social relationships are actually in the
process of being worked out within the
interaction.

Both external and internal factors have an
influence not only on what we say, but also
on how we are interpreted.
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Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

The interpretation of what is uttered usually

goes beyond what was intended to be
expressed, and includes evaluations in
terms of politeness. Therefore, one can
clearly observe that much more is
communicated than is said during a sociolinguistic interaction (Yule, 1996).

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Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

POLITENESS
Brown and Levinson (1978) suggest
that a need to be polite is common
to all cultures.

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Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

: being polite showing good manners and consideration

for other people (e.g. open the door for a
lady, give your seat to an elderly person
in public transport).
Linguistic politeness: the way people
choose to speak and how the hearers
react to their speech.

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Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

THE CONCEPT OF FACE

Brown and Levinson (1978) have concluded that, in order

to enter into social relationships, all people must
acknowledge the face of other people.
As a technical term, face means the public self-image of
a person. It refers to that emotional and social sense of
self that every one has and expects everyone else to
recognize.

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Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

POLITENESS
POLITENESS, in an interaction, can be
defined as the means employed to show
awareness of another persons face.
In this sense, POLITENESS can be
accomplished in situations of social
distance or closeness.

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Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar


Showing awareness for another persons face

when that other seems socially distance is often
described in terms of respect or deference.

Showing the equivalent awareness when the
other is socially close is often described in terms
of friendliness, camaraderie, or solidarity.

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Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

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Hey, Bucky, got a

minute?

FRIENDLINESS

PROFESSOR

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RESPECT

PROFESSOR

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STUDENT

Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

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FACE WANTS

People generally behave as if their expectations

concerning their public self-image, or their face
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 face threatening act.
The speaker can say something to lessen the
possible threat. This is called a face saving act.

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Perhaps you could just ask

him if he is going to stop
soon because its getting a
bit late and people need to
get to sleep.

FACE SAVING ACT

Im going to tell
him to stop that
awful noise right
now!

FACE THREATENING ACT

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CONCEPT OF FACE:
Politeness showing awareness of another persons
face (Yule, 1996: 134).
Face-threatening act a threat to another persons
self - image (Yule, 1996:134).
Face-saving act saying something that lessens the
possible threat to anothers face.

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Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

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FACE THREATENING ACT

Give me that!

A direct speech act can

give the impression that
you have a social power
over the other person.

FACE SAVING ACT

Can you give me that? An indirect speech act
in the form of a
question removes the
assumption of power.
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People have two faces:

Negative face: the need to

be independent, to have
freedom of action, and not to
be imposed on by others.
Positive face: is the need to
be accepted, even liked, by
others, 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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Negative and Positive Face

Negative Face
The need to be independent
and free.
Im sorry to bother you.
I know youre busy.
Appeal to negative face
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Positive Face
The need to be connected and a
member of the group.
Lets do it together.
You and I have the same
problems.
Appeal to positive face.
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someones face can be challenged in two ways:

either by telling him what to do, which implies the speaker
has power over him, or

by showing you disagree with or do not appreciate his
values and beliefs.

If you challenge someones face, they will challenge you
back!

We use politeness with other people so that they will not
attack us.

We have to make a choice and provide a balance between
getting a message across directly, which might challenge
someone, and
Getting a message across indirectly, which is more polite
but sometimes means the message itself is lost.

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People can choose between a variety of expressions which show varying degrees of
politeness and face-saving (Francesca Pridham,2001:53):
1. The straight command, Shut the door, does not respect a persons right 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, therefore, be rude or patronizing.
2.To avoid this rudeness, politeness factors have been introduced into the language,
for example:
Please, in Shut the door please.
Hedges, such as, If it isnt too much trouble . . ..
Commands hidden as questions, e.g. Could you pass the salt please?
Using provisional language to imply negotiation is possible, e.g. if, would and
can.
The number of hedges or politeness factors in a request or command is in proportion
to the amount that the speaker feels she or he is imposing on the listener.
If it wouldnt be too much trouble, I mean if you dont mind, Id be grateful if youd
type this letter, therefore, seems ridiculous because there are too many politeness
factors used in relation to the difficulty of the task.
3. Sometimes, to save face, the speaker makes the request as impersonal and
indirect as possible,
e.g. if this letter was typed, Id be very grateful
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Francesca Pridham( 2001:54)

Direct message
threatens face

Politeness techniques

What was said

1. Shut the door

1.

2. Please shut the door 2.

3. Could you shut the

window please?

3.

4. Shall we shut the

window please?

4.

Indirect message 5. Its cold here

no threat to face

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5.

How polite is it?

Message clear challenge to face
negative face could cause offence.
Please indicates awareness of
politeness but still could cause a
reaction as quite blunt.
Command hidden as question
implies listener has some choice! This
saves face.
Use of personal pronoun we implies
were in the same in-group, have the
same values and are doing the task
together. This protects someones
positive face.
No challenge here! You can always
deny wanting anyone to do anything.
Message unclear. Response might
easily be Is it? or Why dont you
shut the window then?

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A speaker can also respect a listeners value system and

appreciate it by implying membership of the same ingroup as the listener. This can be done by the following
means:
using the personal pronouns, we and us,
e.g. lets go swimming;
using the same in-group vocabulary,
e.g. using dialect or colloquial language when someone
else does;
using psuedo-agreement which avoids saying no or
disagreeing with a speaker,
e.g. Would you like to come to my house?
Well, Id love to at another time.
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SUMMARY

Being nice to other people.

Linguistic politeness studies face
In pragmatics your face is your public
self-image.
Politeness: is showing awareness and
consideration to another persons
face.
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Politeness
Politeness refers to:
Non-intrusive behavior.
Expression of good-will or camaraderie.
Politeness is also defined as the concern for someones
face. Face need are the basic wants.
There are two kinds of face needs:
Negative face needs: need to not be imposed upon.
Positive face needs: need to be liked and admired.
Polite people avoid face-threatening acts, and use positive
polite utterance when possible.

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Robin Lakoff (1973) has summarised politeness in

three maxims:
dont impose;
give options;
make your receiver feel good.

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A Model of Politeness (Brown & Levinson, 1978)

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