This essay examines the relation between gender and adherence to Brown and Levinson's Politeness Principle. Women and men tend to use language for different purposes and for the purpose of achieving various goals. In order to examine this relation, a research study was conducted. Two women and three men were observed discussing subjects given by an interviewer. The collected interview data gathered from the conversation was analyzed and related to the Politeness Principle. Aspects from sociolinguistics, such as theories from gender and language studies, and the Cooperative Principle as proposed by H P Grice, were also considered and formed part of the analysis. The results indicate that there is a small difference between women’s versus men’s adherence to the Politeness Principle. More specifically, women tend to use more aspects of linguistic politeness. However, as the sample group of the research study consisted of only five participants, the limits of the study in terms of the generalizability of the results are recognized and suggestions have been made for further research.

The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of socio-cultural rules underlying address behaviour in face-to-face interactions in Xitsonga. In the study, a socio-pragmatic approach is used. This approach is a combination of sociolinguistics and pragmatics. Data are collected using semi-structured interviews from 29 participants in Hlanganani region. Hlanganani is a Xitsonga speech community located in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The participants were selected in terms of five variables, namely their age, gender, marital status, educational status and occupation. Five theories are tested in this study, namely Brown and Gilman’s (1968) theory of power and solidarity, Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory, the theory of accommodation, the theory of universal grammar and the Gricean theory of conversation. The study finds that Hlanganani is an age-set society in that the age of a person is the primary determiner of address choice. The male gene also receives superior status in address behaviour in Xitsonga. It is also found that women are given the same lower status as children. It is observed that women’s statuses reflect their graduation in terms of marriage and the production of children. It is recommended that more studies of a similar kind should be undertaken based on either different speech communities or on a comparative basis of particularly African languages. Such studies will go a long way in describing similarities and differences in both the linguistic and the social structures of different cultures. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of socio-cultural rules underlying address behaviour in face-to-face interactions in Xitsonga. In the study, a socio-pragmatic approach is used. This approach is a combination of sociolinguistics and pragmatics. Data are collected using semi-structured interviews from 29 participants in Hlanganani region. Hlanganani is a Xitsonga speech community located in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The participants were selected in terms of five variables, namely their age, gender, marital status, educational status and occupation. Five theories are tested in this study, namely Brown and Gilman’s (1968) theory of power and solidarity, Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory, the theory of accommodation, the theory of universal grammar and the Gricean theory of conversation. The study finds that Hlanganani is an age-set society in that the age of a person is the primary determiner of address choice. The male gene also receives superior status in address behaviour in Xitsonga. It is also found that women are given the same lower status as children. It is observed that women’s statuses reflect their graduation in terms of marriage and the production of children. It is recommended that more studies of a similar kind should be undertaken based on either different speech communities or on a comparative basis of particularly African languages. Such studies will go a long way in describing similarities and differences in both the linguistic and the social structures of different cultures. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)