Politeness In Language By: Eini Alnooroo, Jordiina ROCK!!!! And Vilmus Metsovaaraa! (Eini Alanärä, Jordi Rocha and Vilma Mettovaara)

Explanation Politeness can be best explained by showing consideration for others  and observance of accepted social usage.  It is a very cultural thing, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be considered rude or simply inappropriate in another culture. English is either a very formal or a very rude language, this is due because in English there is only one "you" for everybody. For some people it can be quite a tricky situation to seem polite when meeting a new person. As in Spanish, German and French there are the words "Usted", "Sie" and "Vous".

Politeness Strategies Positive politeness Negative politeness Usually in groups of friends or with people who know each other It tries to take away the distance between people Expresses friendliness Intends to bring people closer Respects interests Try to impose the impose the hearer Intrude their personal space Creates social distance and awkwardness into the situation.

Examples of politeness strategies Positive politeness Negative politeness Attend to the hearer: "You must be hungry, it's a long time since breakfast. How about some lunch?" Avoid disagreement: A: " What is she, small?" B: "Yes, yes, she's small, smallish, um, not really small but certainly not very big." Assume agreement: "So when are you coming to see us?" Hedge opinion: "You really should sort of try harder." Be indirect: "I'm looking for a comb.“ Forgiveness: "You must forgive me but...." Minimize imposition: "I just want to ask you if I could use your computer?" Pluralize the person responsible: "We forgot to tell you that you needed to by your plane ticket by yesterday." Source: Brown and Levinson's Politeness strategies

Greetings: Politenes in greetings Two friends meeting: Hi! What’s up? ’Sup dude! Meeting someone you don’t know: Hello Good morning/afternoon/evening

How does it affect people? In our opinion oliteness can basically give a certain image of someone to someone else, because manners can tell a lot about a person. For example if you've seen someone do something rude once, you might picture them to be rude all the time. And then again, if someone is nice once you might straight away assume they're a very nice and fair person.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VTRHr8xcT8

Picture Sources http://www.randomblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Taking-politeness-to-a-whole-other-level..jpg http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8049/20060518.gif http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwSRuFgm1aA/TuNf6YaN9MI/AAAAAAAAAYo/u4LTQv80kGc/s1600/politeness9.jpg http://www.jazzyintellectual.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/shakinghands.jpg http://bornagainredneck.blogspot.fi/2008/10/nyc-most-polite-city-in-world.html http://www.english-at-home.com/speaking/english-greetings/ http://www.problogger.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/conversation.gif http://www.funelf.net/photos/Don%60t-forget-to-smile.jpg http://memecrunch.com/meme/R0M/polite-room-mate-dog/image.png

Sources cited: Brown, and Levinson. "Politeness Strategy Examples." Politeness Strategy Examples. N.p., 25 Feb. 1997. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://logos.uoregon.edu/explore/socioling/strat.html>.   Patenttranslator's Blog." Patenttranslators Blog. N.p., 3 Dec. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://patenttranslator.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/the-different-levels-of-politeness-in-different-cultures-and-languages/>. "Born Again Redneck's Daily Duh!" Born Again Redneck's Daily Duh! N.p., 15 Oct. 2008. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://bornagainredneck.blogspot.fi/2008/10/nyc-most-polite-city-in-world.html>. "Politeness." Explore Linguistics! N.p., 25 Feb. 1997. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. "English Greetings." English Greetings. N.p., 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://www.english-at-home.com/speaking/english-greetings/>.