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When we think of the notion of (im)politeness, we often have in mind specific behavioural patterns which are related to showing respect, good manners, or, alternatively, which are offensive and violate social norms in specific contexts. These are, of course, also related to linguistic expressions. Linguistic (im)politeness involves, i.a., several verbal and nonverbal strategies, such as hedging, indirect requests, formulaic expressions, and honorifics, to ensure smooth social interactions and show consideration for others' feelings or "face". Hence, our course will look into several theoretical frameworks of politeness, including the culturally dependent, context-sensitive model of “face” by Brown and Levinson (1987), the politeness principle developed by Leech (1983), as well as more dynamic and discursive approaches, focusing on the co-construction of politeness real-time social contexts (e.g. Watts 2003). As such, the view of politeness in this course will rely on a pragmatic theoretical framework, and in relation to several contextual variables (social distance between speakers, their relative power/authority, and the ranking of the imposition). Finally, we will look into cross-cultural variation in politeness, as something which is considered polite in one culture (e.g., directness in some contexts) may be viewed as rude in another. |
