Politeness and impoliteness
Task A - Why are we polite to one another?
‘Politeness’ is the term linguists use to refer to a whole
range of linguistic and non-linguistic strategies that display to the
hearer that the speaker (a) has a positive opinion of the hearer and (b)
does not want to impose on him/her. Examples of (a) are usually termed
positive politeness (you say positive things about someone else)
and examples of (b) are usually called negative politeness (you
try not to get in the way of others and perhaps even try to help them).
Politeness appears to be a universal phenomenon found in all cultures,
although its manifestations and extent vary to some degree from one culture
to another. The British are often thought to be very concerned with politeness,
but it is arguably an even larger factor in Chinese and Japanese communities,
for example. In Britain, if you praise one of my children you enhance
my positive face. In China you could also achieve a similar, if weaker
effect, by praising my nephew or niece, but in Britain such an effect
would usually be very slight indeed. Sitting so that the soles of your
feet are visible is rude in some cultures, but not others.
The fact that politeness is universal raises an
obvious question. Why are human beings polite to one another? Discuss
this question with your partner and then compare our answer with yours.
Our answer
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