1. MODULE 2 Meaning and discourse in English
FACE,COOPERATION AND POLITENESS
Week 5

2. Key concepts Positive and negative face
Cooperation and speaker support
Cooperative principles (Grice)
Politeness
Analysing cooperation

3. Why do we need to cooperate?
because of FACE

4. The concept of “face” (Brown and Levinson)
B and L (looking at politeness in different cultures) suggest that we must acknowledge the face of other people if we want to enter into social relationships with them.
Talk may be a face-threatening act which may damage negative face and positive face

5. Positive face = wanting to be liked and approved of
Positive face is “I want to be liked”
Disagreeing with another person threatens their positive face
If you want not to threaten positive face you should show interest and seek agreement
Thanking another person does not threaten another person’s positive face

6. Negative face Negative face is a SENSE of …
“I do not like to be imposed on”
”don’t tell me what to do”
“I want to be free”
Telling someone what to do threatens their negative face
So we have to mitigate our responses by hedging and politeness

7. A: Could you pass the salt please? B: Could you give me £100 please?
A’s request doesn’t need mitigation
B’s request is inappropriate because it is more imposing and needs more mitigation

8. Why do we respond in this way?
“This food is delicious” If you have cooked the meal, which is the most appropriate response?
- yes, it is - I’m afraid it’s a bit overcooked - I’m glad you like it
Why do we respond in this way?

9. Responding to compliments
If you agree with a compliment you are boasting
If you do not agree with a compliment you are threatening the speaker’s positive face

10. You need to be able to identify cooperation

11. Speaker support
Speakers usually work together to help and reassure each other. This is called speaker support. It is important to recognise the techniques used in a conversation for speaker support (e.g. for showing agreement, for checking understanding

12. This is an uncooperative response because it is not relevant
A: Will you condemn the violence on the picket lines? B: I condemn the police and the National Coal Board
This is an uncooperative response because it is not relevant

13. A: I’m tired B: There’s the Leonardo Hotel
This is a cooperative response. We assume that it is relevant and that B is telling the truth

14. A:. When was your first sexual experience B:
A: When was your first sexual experience B: What wonderful weather we’re having?
B’s response is not relevant so we assume that B does not want to cooperate

15. Grice’s maxims
1. Quantity - make your contribution as informative as required
2. Quality -be true; do not say what you believe to be false
3. Relation - be relevant
4. Manner - avoid obscurity of expression, ambiguity; be brief, orderly

16. Politeness is closely connected to cooperation

17. The more polite you are, the more you risk losing the message
It’s very windy here. I’m very sorry but I wonder if you could move over a bit? Could you move over please? Can we move please? Please move Move!

18. Being polite
The more politeness we use in our speech, the more indirect we are.
The advantage of using politeness terms is that there is no threat to face. The disadvantage is that a polite message might be so indirect that it doesn’t come across (“it’s very windy here”)

19. Oh, sorry. I heard voices and I wondered who it was
Oh, sorry. I heard voices and I wondered who it was. Please could you stop talking I’m trying to work Hey, I’ve got an exam to study for. Is there somewhere else you could talk? Shut up, will you?
The level of politeness used in an utterance depends on the role of the person you are talking to and the power relations that exist between speaker and hearer

20. Analyse the role
Sometimes a speaker’s role gives them the authority to challenge others. Presenting a challenge to someone is difficult but there are various politeness techniques which help us to do it (see summary)

21. Types of politeness A speaker can also imply respect for the hearer’s value system and membership of the same group
POSITIVE POLITENESS
Show interest in hearer
Claim common ground with hearer
Seek agreement
Give sympathy
NEGATIVE POLITENESS
Be conventionally indirect
Minimise imposition on hearer
Ask for forgiveness
Give deference

22. Being polite
The more politeness we use in our speech, the more indirect we are.
The advantage of using politeness terms is that there is no threat to face. The disadvantage is that a polite message might be so indirect that it doesn’t come across (“it’s very windy here”)

23. Lakoff’s maxims of politeness
Don’t impose
Give options
Make the hearer feel good

24. Analysing cooperation
Features of interaction
Markers of politeness
Markers of respect
Vague language

25. Features of interaction
Questions (open, closed, tag, + options)
Commands
Interruptions
Overlaps
Pauses
Topic management
Grice’s maxims (are they followed?)
Discourse markers (see previous lessons
Markers of politeness and respect

26. Markers of politeness Specific words (please, thanks)
Hedges (if it’s not too much trouble)
Hidden commands (could you pass the salt please)
Provisional language (if would, can) to show negotiation is possible
Qualifiers, modifiers (quite, a bit)

27. Markers of respect Inclusive pronouns - we, us
Similar vocabulary, dialect, colloquial language
Pseudo-agreement - (Would you like to come to my house? Well, I’d love to another time)
This avoids saying no or disagreeing with a speaker

28. James and Simon a. … stops the poetry …
b. occasional; sometimes; ….doesn’t quite
come off
c. support (yeah)
repetition
vague language (quite, kind of)
d. No

29. Mum and Ruksana - uncooperative talk
a. R challenges her mother, attempts to close the conversation, interrupts, contradicts without mitigation; lots of simultaneous talk, questions not answered by M and R
b. Do parents have more positive face or negative face?
Do adolescents have more positive or negative face’