LING 1020, Fall 2020
Reading guide for Chapter 5 of Meyerhoff (2019), pages 90-113
Here is a list of the key terms and ideas you need to know, in the order of their first mention in
the chapter. Write a definition or explanation for each one.
Politeness- The action taken by competent speakers in a community in order to attend to
possible social or interpersonal disturbance
Leech’s general statement of what politeness is: action or utterance is polite if the speaker
expresses or implies meanings that associate high value with what pertains to someone
else or associates low value with what pertains to the speaker himself
Brown & Levinson’s Politeness Theory
Face- social persona, adopted into politeness theory
face wants- are the desire to protect our positive face and negative face from threat or
damage
negative face- the want of every competent adult member of a community that their
actions be unimpeded by others “Don’t tread on me”
positive face- the want of every competent adult member of a community that their wants
be desirable to at least some others “ love me, love my dog”
negative politeness strategies- An action, Phrase or utterance that indicates attention is
being paid to the negative face wants of an interlocutor. Often achieved through shows of
deference. One type of action available to mitigate an inherently face threatening act
positive politeness strategies- An action, Phrase or utterance that indicates attention is
being paid to the Positive face wants of an interlocutor. Often achieved through shows of
deference. One type of action available to mitigate an inherently face threatening act
3 factors involved in deciding on a politeness strategy:
o Power- a vertical relationship between speaker and hearer in brown and
Levinson’s theory of politeness. Determines what kind of redressive action the
speaker might take with a face threating act
o social distance
o cost of imposition- Modified term from brown and Levinson’s theory of
politeness. Scalar measure for how serious a face threatening act is in a particular
society, and given the power and distance difference between speaker and hearer
inherently face-threatening acts (see examples on page 100)- speech acts which threaten
the speakers and or hearers positive face and negative face.
speaker’s face wants-
addressee’s face wants
bald or on record- Refers to inherently face threatening act made without any softening
through positive or negative politeness strategies.
flow-chart on page 101
redressive or mitigating action
(make sure you read and understand the case studies on pages 104-107)
Intercultural Communication
sociolinguistic competence- skills and resources speakers need to deploy in order to
be competent using language, not only grammatically but appropriately in different
contexts domains or with different interlocutors
pragmatic competence- ability of a well socialized speaker to know when certain
speech acts are required, appropriate or inappropriate.
how Brown & Levinson’s framework can be used to describe intercultural
communication:
Critiques of Politeness Theory
relationship between power and distance:
social distance can be measured in different ways at the same time: there are multiple
dimensions on which distance can be calculated it can be difficult to predict whether
interactants will orient themselves to one dimension or another
emphasis on speaker’s choices
o individualistic society-emphasizes and celebrates individual over relationships
o collectivist society- emphasises the relationships and interdependence of the
individuals it is compromised of
o wakimae- Japanese term introduced to the study of politeness. Attention paid to
peoples interdependence and to the reciprocity of relationships and specifically
the discernment of appropriate behavior based on this
attention to both positive and negative face