Politeness and Interaction in pragmatics study

Politeness and Interaction

Politeness can be defined as the means employed to show awareness of another person’s face. Showing awareness for another person’s face when that other seems socially distant is often described in terms of respect or deference.

Within their everyday social interactions, people generally behave as if their expectations concerning their public self-image, or their face wants, will be respected. Alternatively, given the possibility that some action might be interpreted as a threat to another’s face, the speaker can say something to lessen the possible threat. This is called a face saving act.

A person’s negative face is the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and not to be imposed on by others. A person’s positive face is the need to 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. So, a face saving act which is oriented to the person’s negative face will tend to show deference, emphasize the importance of the other’s time or concerns, and even include an apology for the imposition or interruption. This is also called negative politeness. A face saving act which is concerned with the person’s positive face will tend to show solidarity, emphasize that both speakers want the same thing, and that they have a common goal. This is also called positive politeness.

One way to see the relevance of the relationship between these politeness concepts and language use is to take a single speech event and map out the different interpretations associated with different possible expression used within that event. For example, you arrive at an important lecture, pull out your notebook to take notes, but discover that you don’t have anything to write with. You think that the person sitting next to you may provide the solution. In this scenario, you are going to be ‘self’, and the person next to you is being to be ‘other’.

However, generally speaking, bald on record expression are associated with speech events where the speaker assumes that he or she has power over the other (for example, in military contexts) and control the other’s behavior with words. In everyday interaction between social equals, such bald on record behavior would potentially represent a threat to the other’s face and would generally be avoided. Avoiding a face threatening act is accomplished by face saving acts which use positive or negative politeness strategies.

A positive politeness strategy leads the requester to appeal to a common goal, and even friendship. However, in most English speaking contexts, a face saving act is more commonly performed via a negative politeness strategy. Even more relevant for our concern with the pragmatics of language in use, the availability of the bald on record form, as well as off record forms, means that the use of a face-saving on record forms represents a significant choice. The choice of a type of expression that is less direct, potentially less clear, generally longer, and with more complex structure means that the speaker is making a greater effort, in terms of concern for face, than is needed simply to get the basic message across efficiently.