1. Ling 122: English as a World Language -
Politeness
Readings:
Y. Kachru & L. Smith,
Chapter 3;
Kyung-Ja Park

2. Politeness and Culture
The concept of politeness is crucial in any communication, but particularly in cross cultural communication
Communication with others must take culture into consideration
Norms of politeness
vary from culture
to culture

3. High and Low Context Cultures
Politeness in High and Low Context Cultures
What is meant by a ‘high context message’?
What is meant by a ‘low context message’?
What is meant by a ‘high’ or a ‘low context culture’?
Is the understanding of this concept important? If so, in what way? If not, why not?

4. Ways to indicate politeness
All languages have devices to indicate politeness and formality.
Linguistic markers of status, deference, humility
Posture, facial expressions, gestures, etc.
Politeness is closely
tied to cultural values.
One must know the
cultural values in order
to function successfully
in a society.

5. Parameters of Politeness
Face
Status
Rank
Role
Power
Age
Sex
Social Distance
Intimacy
Kinship
Group membership

6. FACE
The public self-image that every member wants to claim for him/herself
Negative face – the claim to freedom of action and freedom from
imposition.
Positive face –
the positive
self-image of the
conversation
partners.

7. Face-Threatening Speech Acts
Negative face-threatening speech acts threaten to restrict addressee’s freedom of action or freedom from imposition
Could you lend me $100 until next month?
If I were you, I’d consult a doctor. That sounds serious.
You’re so lucky to have such a good job!
Positive face-threatening speech acts threaten the positive self-image of the addressee by signaling undesirable qualities or disagreement
Wasn’t that report due today?
I’m not sure I agree with your interpretation of that.
‘Mabel thinks you have put on some weight.’

8. Are notions of positive and negative face universal?
Are all requests considered threatening to the negative face of the interlocutor(s) in other cultures?
Are all less-than-positive comments about one’s appearance considered threatening to the positive fact of the interlocutor(s) in other cultures?

9. Status ‘… a collection of rights and duties’
‘… hierarchy and position in a system of roles’
General Rule: The higher the status, the more politeness from the lower status participant
Japanese Politeness Assignment
Rule: If the speaker is lower in
social status that the hearer, then
the utterance has to be polite. If the
speaker is higher in social status than
the hearer but is lower than the
subject of the sentence he is
uttering, then the utterance has to be
polite.

10. Rank
Rank: A hierarchical organization with reference to a social institution.
One’s rank often serves as the
term of address
One’s rank often cues the level of
politeness required.
Cultures vary as to which relationships
are treated as rank relationships and
which ones are treated as status
relationships

11. Role
Role refers to the less institutionalized position one assumes in some interaction
Host/guest
Captain/team
Etc.

12. Power Power: The ability to impose one’s will on others
Sometimes high status and high power don’t coincide
Constitutional monarchy
In Britain, Japan, Thailand, special terms of address & other markers of polite language use signal the
monarch’s high status &
power.

13. Age
The relative ages of the speaker and the hearer determine how politeness is expressed
In many speech communities ,
a younger person may not
address an older person by his/her name, even if the younger person is of higher status. In Thailand, even among close friends & casual acquaintances, the younger person uses a term of respect in addressing the older.

14. Sex Sex or gender differences exist in all cultures with
respect to polite language
In general, women’s speech is supposed to be more polite.
In many cultures, men’s speech is constrained in the presence of women.
Sex differences take precedence over intimacy in male- female interaction.

15. Social Distance Social distance is a factor affecting politeness.
Social distance is linked to
intimacy.
The more intimate the
participants are, the less social
distance between them. The
more intimate , the less polite they are to each other

16. Intimacy Of participants – significant others
Of setting – boss/employee
at a bar-be-cue

17. Kinship The relationship between participants determines
what linguistic features are used.
India: use of honorific / plural
forms of pronouns to address
or refer to parents-in-law

18. Marking: narrator affects the voice
Group Membership
In some societies, group membership is important in determining what politeness strategies are used.
Japan: certain honorifics used with out-group members only; others for in-group
AAE: signifying & marking
Marking: narrator affects the voice
mannerisms of
the speaker in the
story
Signifying: ‘I see you
got your furniture
rearranged.’

19. Observation about Politeness Across Cultures
Cultural values determine which parameters (i.e., face, status, rank, role, power, age, sex, social distance, intimacy, kinship, group membership) interact with each other, and which ones are weighted more heavily in comparison with the others.

20. Instruments of Politeness
Pronouns of address
Romance languages - ‘tu’ vs. ‘vous’ forms
Thai – use of pronouns for ‘I’ and ‘you’ depends on status, rank, age, sex, social distance/intimacy & kinship/group membership
‘I’ ‘you’
phŏm/dichăîn khun
chăn thəə
uáʔ lur
kuu mɨŋ
rau kææ
kháu nɔɔŋ
phîi naay
nǔu than
etc. etc.

21. Instruments of Politeness
Honorifics
Japanese
Yamada ga musuko to syokuzi o tanosinda.
Speaker H, referent & son L
Yamada-san ga musuko-san to o-syokuzi o tanosim-are-ta.
Speaker L, referent & soon H
Yamada-san ga musuko to o-syokuzi o tanosim-are-ta.
Speaker & son L, referent H
“Yamada enjoyed dinner with (his/my) son.”
German –
‘Herr Doktor Professor Hűbner’
English
‘Honorable,’ ‘Respected,’ ‘Sir,’ ‘Excellency’

22. Instruments of Politeness
Kinship terms
In many Asian languages, kinship terms are often used for people unrelated to the speaker:
Uncle / aunt
Older sibling
Younger sibling
etc.

23. Instruments of Politeness
Set formulas
Arabic
Alla maʔak = ‘God be with you’
Alla yihfazak = ‘God preserve you’
Hindi
Praņaaam
Xuš raho
Korean
‘Where are you going?’
‘Just over there.’

24. Instruments of Politeness
Plurals
In many languages (e.g., Russian, Czech, Serbo- Croatian, some dialects of Polish), plurals may be used to show politeness when addressing a single person. ŋ

25. Instruments of Politeness
Questions
In some societies,
questions are used to
express politeness,
e.g. Inner Circle English-
speaking
cultures.
‘Could you tell me the time?’

26. Instruments of Politeness
Indirect speech acts
‘It’s cold in here.’
In Bengali, requests are sometimes made through plain statements, e.g., in a clothing shop …
Aamaar šarţ dorkaar
‘I need a shirt.’
In some cultures, talk about some unrelated topic is first indulged in before the real subject is mentioned.

27. Instruments of Politeness
Topicalization and focus
In English, topicalization and focus can effect the degree of politeness.
‘If you DON’T MIND my asking, where did you get that dress?
‘WHERE did you get that dress, if you don’t mind my asking?’
Which is more polite sounding? Why?

28. Instruments of Politeness
Effort
The greater the effort expended in face- maintaining linguistic behavior, the greater the politeness,
E.g., ‘I wouldn’t dream of it since I know you are very busy, but I am simply unable to do
it myself, so ….’
Is this a universal tendency?

29. Instruments of Politeness
Use of ‘little’
Many languages use the phrase ‘a little’ to convey the meaning carried by English ‘please’ in imperatives.
Japanese ‘chotto’
Thai ‘nooy’
Milwaukee-ese ‘once’
(as in ‘Come here once’)

30. Instruments of Politeness
Hedges
Linguistic devices by which a speaker avoids statements that are considered too strong.
Hedges are used to reduce friction in that they leave the way open for the respondent to disagree with the speaker and the speaker to retreat.
‘Doc, Sleepy and Grumpy
are sorta short.’

31. Instruments of Politeness
Gaze, gesture, & body posture
Japanese bow, exchange business cards with two hands
Thais wai, avoid touching the head
The ‘ok’ sign can mean
Money (Japan)
Zero (France)
An obscene comment
(Greece)

32. Kyung-Ja Park on Korea English
What value system is Korea English rooted in?
What are the characteristics of that value system?
How do those values manifest themselves in Korea English?
What are the implications for international business transactions?

33. Conclusion
Implications for doing business in a global economy - China