politeness and interaction 礼貌与互动.ppt

Politeness and Interaction Contents Politeness Face Strategies Pre-sequences Concepts of Politeness Politeness “ … is one of the constraints of human interaction, whose purpose is to consider others feelings, establish levels of mutual comfort, and promote rapport.” Hill et al. (1986: 282) “ … what we think is appropriate behaviour in particular situations in an attempt to achieve and maintain successful social relationships with others.“ (Lakoff 1972: 910) Politeness is the expression of the speakers’ intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward another (Mills, 2003, p. 6). Politeness means to show awareness of anothers face socially distant awareness: respect, deference, acknowledging that other person is independent socially close awareness: friendliness, solidarity A. Excuse me, Mr. Buckingham, but can I talk to you a minute? B. Hey, Bucky, got a minute? Politeness Principles Leech (1983) argues that there is a Politeness Principle that works in conjunction with theCo-operative Principle, and identifies six associated politeness maxims 1 Tact Maxim (a) Minimize cost to others; (b) Maximize benefit to others; 2. Generosity Maxim (a) Minimize benefit to self (b) Maximize cost self 3. Approbation Maxim (a) Minimize dispraise of others (b) maximize praise of others e.g. “How amazing you are to draw such a picture in such short time!” “What an awful job you have down!” 4. Modesty Maxim (a) Minimize praise of self (b) Maximize dispraise of self e.g. “How foolish I am to do such a thing!” “How clever of me!” 5. Agreement Maxim (a) Minimize disagreement between self and others (b) Maximize agreement between self and others e.g. A: The dress is beautiful and quite