Magister Artium - MA / This thesis is a sociolinguistic exploration of the research that was conducted on the Manenberg community. It focuses on the community’s socio-economic vices such as gangsterism, drug trafficking, drug addiction, prostitution, lack of education, poverty, unemployment, domestic violence and so forth (c.f. Salo, 2004; Willenberg & September, 2008). Taking these factors into account, the research explores discourses surrounding HIVand AIDS messages and investigates whether such euphemisms are dependent on age and gender. This study also evaluates the politeness strategies employed by the youths and adults as means to de-taboo taboo talk related to HIV and AIDS

This thesis reports on two aspects of interpersonal meaning in peer reviewer reports for eleven researchers in the Animal and Veterinary Sciences awarded NRF ratings in A1, B1, C1 and Y1 rating categories. These aspects are the evaluation of the researcher applying for a rating, and the instruction to the NRF as to the rating the researcher ought to receive. A full APPRAISAL Analysis (Martin & White 2005) complemented by an investigation of politeness strategies (Myers 1989) is used to analyse the reports and show how the various systems of interpersonal meaning co-function and to what effect. The analysis reveals that there are clear differences between the evaluative and instructive language used in the reports. Those for the A1 rated researchers are characterised by only positive evaluations of the applicant, frequently strengthened in terms of Graduation and contracted in terms of Engagement. Overall there is less Engagement and politeness in these reports rendering them more ‘factual’ than the reports for the other rating categories. The A1 rated researcher is therefore construed as being, incontestably, a leader in his/her field of research, worthy of a top rating. The reports for the B1 and C1 rated researchers are characterised by the increasing presence of negative evaluations. In addition, there are more instances of softened/downscaled Graduation, dialogic expansion and deference politeness, showing that there is more perceived contention about the evaluations made. The reports for the Y1 rated researchers (a category for young researchers) focus on the applicant’s demonstrated potential to become a leader in the field. In addition to a high incidence of negative evaluations, downscaled Graduation, dialogic expansion and deference politeness, the Y1 reports are also characterised by a high incidence of advice and suggestions from the reviewers concerning the applicant’s work and standing. At a broader level, the analysis reveals that the language used in the reports has a profound influence on the outcome of the rating process. The reports are crucial, not only for evaluating the applicant but, also, more subtly, in directing the NRF towards a specific rating category. It offers insights into what is valued in the scientific community, what is considered quality research, and what leads to international recognition. The research also adds uniquely to current thinking about the language of science and, more particularly, highlights the nuanced understanding of evaluative and instructive language in the reports that is possible if one draws on the full APPRAISAL framework, and insights into politeness behaviour.

Ce travail étudie la relation entre scepticisme et politesse dans l’œuvre de David Hume afin de contribuer à la compréhension philosophique de l’art d’écrire de Hume et de son évolution. Du Traité de la nature humaine (1739-1740) aux œuvres suivantes (les Essais, les deux Enquêtes, les Four Dissertations et les Dialogues sur la religion naturelle), on observe un incontestable changement dans la manière de communiquer la science de l’homme au public du XVIIIe siècle. Inspiré en partie du journalisme philosophique d’Addison et de Steele et destiné à rendre la philosophie abstraite accessible au public de la conversation, l’art d’écrire de Hume témoigne d’une intégration progressive de la culture de la politesse au scepticisme mitigé et à son expression. Mais cela signifie tout sauf un renoncement aux ambitions spéculatives du Traité, que Hume aurait abandonnées pour la recherche d’une gloire mondaine. Au contraire, comme expression de la bonne humeur caractéristique du « vrai sceptique » et comme préparation littéraire de la réception critique de la philosophie au sein de la République des Lettres, l’art d’écrire de Hume cherche à donner à cette science sceptique – et science nouvelle – qu’est la science de l’homme le public dont elle a besoin pour assurer sa fondation. Le scepticisme mitigé apparaît alors comme étant essentiellement un scepticisme policé, c’est-à-dire comme la meilleure manière de faire entrer la « métaphysique » dans la voie sûre de la civilisation. / This study deals with the relationship between scepticism and politeness in the works of David Hume, in order to contribute to the understanding of Hume’s art of writing from a philosophical point of view. From the Treatise of human nature (1739-1740) to the later works (the Essays, the two Enquiries, the Four dissertations and the Dialogues concerning natural religion), one can observe an obvious change in the manner of communicating the science of man to the public of the eighteenth century. Partly inspired by the philosophical journalism of Addison and Steele and designed to make abstract philosophy accessible to the public of conversation, Hume’s art of writing shows a progressive integration of the culture of politeness with scepticism and its expression. But this certainly does not mean that Hume would have left the speculative ambitions of the Treatise for worldly success. On the contrary, as an expression of the good humour which characterizes the « true sceptic » as well as a literary preparation of the critical reception of philosophy in the Republic of Letters, Hume’s art of writing tries to give to the science of man, considered as a sceptical – and new – science, the public that it needs for its foundation. Hence mitigated scepticism appears essentially as a polite scepticism, the best way for « metaphysics » to enter upon the secure path of civilization.

Hemingway's dialogue and the texts of politeness and literature -- Brown and Levinson's politeness strategies -- The face of honesty in "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife -- The face of bravery in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" -- The face of love in "Hills Like White Elephants" -- Interpretive implications of politeness theory.

Over the last sixty years, overtly intertextual poems with titles such as “Poem Beginning with a Line by John Ashbery” and “Poem Ending with a Line by George W. Bush” have been appearing at an increasing rate in magazines and collections. These poems wed themselves to other texts and authors in distinct ways, inviting readers to engage with poems which are, themselves, in conversation with lines from elsewhere. These poems, which I refer to as “apprompted” poems, explicitly challenge readers to investigate the intertextual conversation, and in doing so, they adopt inherent risks. My thesis will chart the various effects these poems can have for readers and the consequences they may hold for the texts from which they borrow. Literary critics such as Harold Bloom and J. H. Miller have described the act of borrowing as competitive and parasitic—“agon” is Bloom’s term for what he sees as the oedipal anxiety of poets and poets’ texts to their antecedents, but an investigation of this emerging genre in terms of linguistic pragmatics shows that apprompted poems are performing a wider range of acts in relation to their predecessors. Unlike Bloom’s theory, which interprets the impulse of poetic creation through psychoanalysis, I employ linguistic terms from Brown and Levinson’s linguistic Politeness theory to analyze apprompted poems as conversational speech events. Politeness theory provides a useful analysis of these poems by documenting the weight of threats to the positive and negative “faces” of the participants in each poetic conversation. I have documented these “face-threatening-acts” and used them to divide apprompted poems into five major speech events: satire, revision, promotion, pastiche, and ecclesiastic. Ultimately, this paper serves at the intersection of literary criticism and linguistics, as I suggest a theoretical approach to the interpretation and criticism of apprompted poems by way of linguistic pragmatics.

Research around the implementations of human-like interactions during conversations with embodied conversational agents is currently at the forefront of Human-Computer Interaction as a field of science. In particular, conveying politeness through verbal and nonverbal behaviors is a significant challenge when modeling life-like virtual agents, as it underlies the conventional set of unspoken rules that govern human communication. In order to assess measures of perceived persuasiveness and politeness in human-agent interaction, in this study we compare six different politeness strategies - namely Baseline, Indirect, Asking, Proposing, Commanding and Pointing - to identify which combinations of verbal and nonverbal behaviors best persuade humans in joining a virtual conversational group while immersed in Virtual Reality (VR). 45 people were asked to walk towards the group with a specific scenario in mind, and answered questions on the perceived politeness of the agents inviting them. Results show that direct strategies are more persuasive than indirect ones, and the more imposing ones among them are perceived as more offensive, less friendly and inhibiting the interactant’s freedom of action. Additionally, strategies are less effective when participants feel more immersed in VR. We conclude that those giving the counterpart a higher freedom of action are most effective in conveying politeness, while those involving no behavior at all are least effective. / Forskning kring hur samtalsagenter kan förses med mer mänskliga beteenden under konversationer befinner sig i den vetenskapliga framkanten nar det galler människa-datorinteraktion. Det galler särskilt avseende att förmedla artighet genom verbala och icke-verbala beteenden hos realistiska virtuella agenter eftersom det finns en uppsättning bakomliggande oskrivna regler som styr mänsklig kommunikation. For att kunna utreda den upplevda förmågan att övertyga och att vara artig i människa-agentinteraktion sa har i denna studie sex olika strategier for artighet utvärderats, nämligen: Startläge, Indirekt, Frågande, Föreslående, Befallande och Utpekande. Ambitionen ar att kunna identifiera vilka kombinationer av verbala och icke-verbala beteenden som på basta satt övertygar människor att ansluta till en samtalande grupp i Virtual Reality (VR). 45 personer ombads att gå fram till en grupp med en särskild avsikt och därefter besvara frågor om den uppfattade artigheten nar de virtuella agenterna inviterade dem. Resultaten visar att direkta strategier uppfattas som mer övertygande an indirekta och de framfusiga som mer förolämpande, mindre vanliga och att de begränsar den interagerandes handlingsfrihet. Utöver detta sa ar alla strategier mindre effektiva i direkt förhållande till hur immersiv upplevelsen i VR ar. Vi kan sammanfattningsvis saga att de strategier som ger den interagerande större frihetsgrader ar mer effektiva att förmedla artighet, medan de som ar betydligt mer subtila ar minst effektiva.

The aim of this cross-cultural study is to analyze discourse strategies between Finnish and Japanese participants regarding the indexing of in-group and out-group dynamics in Japanese communication. This research is going to concentrate on Finnish and Japanese people’s use of Japanese language to establish uchi/soto (inside/outside) relationships in work-related instances. This study focuses solely on the in-group and out-group dynamics and socio-pragmatic features during interactions with addressees from inside and outside the company, because in these situations the contrast between the dynamics of in-groups and out-groups is often more transparent. The data was processed and analyzed using a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) survey.This research aims to answer two questions: How different are the nuanced uses of polite expressions and the politeness strategies between the Finnish and the Japanese respondents, and could it be possible that both respondent groups index uchi and soto relationships in the same way through language use?The results showed similarities in the use of politeness strategies between both groups. Differences were found in code-switching between various politeness levels. The data only serves as an indicator for the hypothesis and gives further room for future research.

This paper discusses Standard Kiswahili honorifics in Nairobi. It used observation as a means of obtaining data in Nairobi where Standard Kiswahili is also spoken. It points out that honorifics are a chief politeness strategy across many discourse domains; Kiswahili honorifics are conspicuously used and seem easy to learn; honorifics complement other politeness strategies; they are used in both formal and informal encounters. This paper also argues that honorifics in expressing face sav-ing ideals in Kiswahili language have both a social and individual appeal. There is, therefore, a strong suggestion for social face and communal based politeness as opposed to individual polite-ness in Kiswahili. This paper observes that politeness and especially by means of honorifics makes a Kiswahili conversational encounter fruitful. The honorifics also help to define, redefine and sus-tain social strata that are used as a basis of expressing face-saving ideals and politeness in Kiswa-hili and hence contributing to less conflict in interaction and strengthening cohesion in society in question.

The aim of this essay is to investigate the claims made by Robin Lakoff regarding women’s language, where she claims that women use hedges more than men. The aim of this essay is to investigate whether this statement is true. To put it differently, this essay aims to look at gender differences in the use of modal adverbs as hedges. As a method, a frequency analysis has been conducted, where data from the British National Corpus 2014 (BNC2014) has been used. Since hedging involves various linguistic forms, this essay focuses on the modal adverbs presented by Huddleston and Pullum. The results show that women do use more hedges than men. Regardless, there are not any major dissimilarities across genders. Although there were some findings that supported Lakoff’s claims, there were also some that contradicted her claims.

This thesis examines how social distance in terms of different relationships affects the usage of linguistic resources, with a focus on the Spanish region Andalusia. The aim is to investigate how relationships between different interlocutors affect language, and particularly what different strategies of politeness are being used, and how these differ regarding each interlocutor presented. For the investigation, there are two main types of speech acts used: invitation and request. 30 native and residential Andalusians have participated in the investigation and answered a survey concerning several social situations. The results show that indirect types of politeness strategies are in general more produced when the social distance is extensive. Furthermore, the results of the investigation indicate that politeness strategies can also differ between interlocutors that do not reflect an exceeding social distance. The results presented in this thesis contribute to the research field of sociolinguistics with focus on how social distance affect the usage of politeness in the Andalusian region, which will be useful for making comparisons between different regions in the Spanish speaking world.