A linguistic interaction is
necessarily a social
POLITENESS AND INTERACTION
Dr. Shadia Y. Banjar http://wwwdrshadiabanjar.blogspot.com
5/17/2009 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 1
A linguistic interaction is necessarily a
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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
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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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
They are typically more relevant to participants
whose social relationships are actually in the
process of being worked out within the
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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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 socio-
linguistic interaction (Yule, 1996).
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Brown and Levinson (1978) suggest
that a need to be polite is common
to all cultures.
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: 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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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
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POLITENESS, in an interaction, can be
defined as the means employed to show
awareness of another person’s face.
In this sense, POLITENESS can be
accomplished in situations of social
distance or closeness.
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Showing awareness for another person’s 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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Hey, Bucky, got a
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•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 individual’s 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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FACE SAVING ACT
Perhaps you could just ask
him if he is going to stop
soon because it’s getting a
bit late and people need to
get to sleep.
I’m going to tell
him to stop that
awful noise right
FACE THREATENING ACT
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CONCEPT OF “FACE”:
• Politeness – “showing awareness of another person’s
face” (Yule, 1996: 134).
• Face-threatening act – “a threat to another person’s
self - image” (Yule, 1996:134).
• Face-saving act – “saying something that lessens the
possible threat to another’s face”.
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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 Positive Face
The need to be connected and a
The need to be independent
member of the group.
• Let’s do it together.
• I’m sorry to bother you.
• You and I have the same
• I know you’re busy.
• Appeal to negative face
• Appeal to positive face.
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someone’s 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 someone’s face, they will challenge you
We use politeness with other people so that they will not
We have to make a choice and provide a balance between
getting a message across directly, which might challenge
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 person’s 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,
• Please, in ‘Shut the door please’.
•Hedges, such as, ‘If it isn’t 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
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 wouldn’t be too much trouble, I mean if you don’t mind, I’d be grateful if you’d
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, I’d be very grateful’
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Francesca Pridham( 2001:54)
What was said How polite is it?
Direct message –
1. ‘Shut the door’ 1. Message clear – challenge to face
negative face could cause offence.
2. ‘Please shut the door’ 2. ‘Please’ indicates awareness of
politeness but still could cause a
reaction as quite blunt.
3. ‘Could you shut the 3. Command hidden as question –
window please?’ implies listener has some choice! This
4. ‘Shall we shut the 4. Use of personal pronoun ‘we’ implies
window please?’ we’re in the same in-group, have the
same values and are doing the task
together. This protects someone’s
Indirect message – 5. ‘It’s cold here’ 5. No challenge here! You can always
no threat to face deny wanting anyone to do anything.
Message unclear. Response might
easily be ‘Is it?’ or ‘Why don’t you
shut the window then?’
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A speaker can also respect a listener’s value system and
appreciate it by implying membership of the same in-
group as the listener. This can be done by the following
• using the personal pronouns, ‘we’ and ‘us’,
e.g. ‘let’s go swimming’;
• using the same in-group vocabulary,
e.g. using dialect or colloquial language when someone
• using psuedo-agreement which avoids saying ‘no’ or
disagreeing with a speaker,
e.g. ‘Would you like to come to my house?’
– ‘Well, I’d love to at another time.’
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• Being nice to other people.
• Linguistic politeness studies “face”
• In pragmatics your face is your public
• Politeness: is showing awareness and
consideration to another person’s
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Politeness refers to:
• Non-intrusive behavior.
• Expression of good-will or camaraderie.
Politeness is also defined as the concern for someone’s
“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
make your receiver feel good.
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A Model of Politeness (Brown & Levinson, 1978)
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