POLITENESS AND

IRONY PRINCIPLE
www.pakfaizal.com
www.stainsalatiga.ac.id
Politeness is Islamic value
• According to George Yule (1996) in his book “Pragmatics” the
traditional linguists have no real social lives whereas the
modern linguists tend to consider that linguistic interaction
has a tight relation to social interaction.
The definition of Politeness
• Politeness is the awareness of another person’s face. The
word “Face” in this case refers to the public self-image of a
person.
.
Two important factors
• There are two important factors in PP (Politeness Principle):
Age and Power. Towards the older and the more powerful
authority we pay respect since there is a distance. Towards the
same age and power there is a closeness or friendliness.
An Example
• A. Excuse me, Mr. Buckingham, but can I talk to You for a
minute?
• B. Hey, Bucky, got a minute?
• Greeting somebody by uttering “Mr”+Last name shows that
there is a distance and respect whereas uttering one’s first
name shows friendliness or closeness.
Important terms
• “Face wants “ refers to the expectations dealing with one’s
face or public image.
• “Face threatening act” refers to a threat/ancaman to another
self-image.
• “Face saving act” refers to an act of saving one’s self image.
An example
• One day a young neighbor was playing music so loudly in the
middle of the night. At the same moment there was a couple
of older people who were trying to sleep.
• The husband: “I’m going to tell him to stop that awful noise
right now”
• The wife: “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.
• The saying of the husband is an example of face threatening
act whereas the saying of the wife in an instance of face saving
act.
Negative and positive face
• A person’s Negative face is the need to be independent, to
have freedom fo action, and not be imposed on by others.
• E.g: “mind your own business”, “I don’t care”, “Who cares?”, “I
want to be alone”.
• A person’s positive face is the need to be accepted, even liked,
by others. In short, a need to be connected.
A unique pattern of politeness principle
Pre-Request
• One way of avoiding risk is to provide an opportunity for the
other to halt the potentially risky action.
• A: Are you busy? (pre-request)
• B: not really (go ahead)
• A: Check over this memo. (request)
• B: Okay (accept)
• C: Are you busy? (pre-request)
• D: Oh, sorry (stop).
Leech’s politeness maxims
• 1 .The Tact maxim
• 2. The Generosity maxim
• 3. The Approbation maxim
• 4. The Modesty maxim
• 5 .The Agreement maxim
• 6 .The Sympathy maxim
The tact maxim
• The Tact maxim/maksim kearifan/kebijaksanaan
•
• The tact maxim states: 'Minimize the expression of beliefs
which imply cost to other; maximize the expression of beliefs
which imply benefit to other:
•
• Could I interrupt you for a second?
• If I could just clarify this then.
The generosity maxim
• The Generosity maxim/maksim kedermawanan
•
• Leech's Generosity maxim states: 'Minimize the expression of
beliefs that express or imply benefit to self; maximize the
expression of beliefs that express or imply cost to self.' Unlike
the tact maxim, the maxim of generosity focuses on the
speaker, and says that others should be put first instead of the
self.
•
• You relax and let me do the dishes.
• You must come and have dinner with us.
The Approbation maxim
• The Approbation maxim/maksim penghargaan
• The Approbation maxim states: 'Minimize the expression of
beliefs which express dispraise of other; maximize the
expression of beliefs which express approval of other.' It is
preferred to praise others and if this is impossible, to sidestep
the issue, to give some sort of minimal response (possibly
through the use of euphemisms), or to remain silent.
• I heard you singing at the karaoke last night. It sounded like
you were enjoying yourself!
• Mr.Samidi, I know you're a genius - would you know how to
solve this math problem here?
The modesty maxim
• The Modesty maxim/maksim kesederhanaan.
•
• Maxim of modesty is one of the six maxims proposed by Leech
(1983) in his PP (politeness principle) meaning to minimize
praise or to maximize dispraise of self. The Modesty maxim
states: 'Minimize the expression of praise of self; maximize the
expression of dispraise of self.'
•
• Oh, I'm so stupid - I didn't make a note of our lecture! Did
you?
• Mari mampir ke gubuk saya.
• Tadi saya kesini naik gerobak saya.
The agreement maxim
• The Agreement maxim/maksim kesepakatan
•
• The Agreement maxim runs as follows: 'Minimize the
expression of disagreement between self and other; maximize
the expression of agreement between self and other.'
•
• A: I don't want my daughter to do this, I want her to do that.
• B: Yes, but ma'am, I thought we resolved this already on
your last visit.
The Sympathy maxim
• The sympathy maxim states: 'minimize antipathy between self
and other; maximize sympathy between self and other.' This
includes a small group of speech acts such as congratulation,
commiseration, and expressing condolences - all of which is in
accordance with Brown and Levinson's positive politeness
strategy of attending to the hearer's interests, wants, and
needs.
•
• I am sorry to hear about your father.
Ironical principle
• Irony indicates that what is meant is the contradictory of what
is said. The use of irony is intentional. In other word, we
employ this linguistic device in utterance if we want the
addressee to encode the extra meaning hidden in the ironical
remark. Irony is contradicting either what the speaker has said
or usually says, or, contradicting what the take to be true. To
read the irony a hearer or reader do not just have to know the
context, but also have to be committed to specific beliefs and
positions within that context (Colebrook, 2004: 166, Martina
Stykatova, 2009: 53).
Types of irony

• Verbal irony is a disparity of expression and intention: when a

speaker says one thing but means another, or when a literal
meaning is contrary to its intended effect. An example of this
is when someone says "Oh, that's beautiful", when what they
mean (probably conveyed by their tone) is they find "that"
quite ugly.
• It's kind of ironic that if I get my Ph.D., I'll be a real doctor.
Marcia Cross

It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we

have lost our way.
Rollo May
 It's ironic …
At times like this you (American Judeo-christian) pray
but a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday
there's bombs on the busses , bikes, roads
inside your market your shops, your clothes.
(Linkin’ Park “Hands held high”)
• Dramatic irony is a disparity of awareness between actor and
observer: when words and actions possess a significance that
the listener or audience understands, but the speaker or
character does not, for example when a character says to
another "I'll see you tomorrow!" when the audience (but not
the character) knows that the character will die before
morning.
 An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic...
don't you think
• (Alanis Morissette “ironic”)