Thesis (M. A. (African Languages)) -- University of the North, 2002 / Refer to document

Politeness theory, developed by Brown and Levinson, has been applied to literature in linguistic research for in-depth analysis of discourse, whether written or spoken. Based on my understanding of politeness and the different politeness strategies suggested in the literature, this paper analyzes the different strategies mostly used by the main characters of the televised version of the novel North and South (1855), written by Elizabeth Gaskell, by focusing on some parts of the conversations in the televised version (2004), in terms of gender, social class and situation. The result shows that the film characters mostly resort to on-record and positive politeness strategies, while negative politeness and off-record strategies are less used in the conversations, which supports the story ambition to bridge gender and social gaps. The analysis demonstrates that much of our understanding of character motives in a novel/film relies on the way politeness strategies credibly reflect our experience and how strategies in interaction commonly work as theoretically described.

This thesis investigates self-guiding sociopragmatic interactional principles (SIP) in communication and choice of linguistic strategies of politeness during service encounters in Turkish and English. To this end, two questionnaires were administered to 67 monolingual native speakers of English (ENS) by online administration and 85 monolingual native speakers of Turkish (TNS) by pen and paper administration who were all university students. Data were collected (1) by a SIP questionnaire to determine what principles are important in deciding what to say, and (2) by a linguistic strategies of politeness questionnaire (LSQ) to determine the strategies subjects would employ in conflict-generating service encounters. Three sociopragmatic interactional superprinciples were identified through factor analysis, namely (a) Tact (cost-benefit), (b) Relational Communicative Style, and (c) Task achievement. It has been found that face is of central value in communication and the key to the design of politeness and that its maintenance appears to be a prerequisite to adjusting communicative style and goal-orientation. Results indicate that the major differences between TNS and ENS were related to the principles of &amp / #8216 / sounding restrained&amp / #8217 / , &amp / #8216 / sounding humorous&amp / #8217 / , and &amp / #8216 / sounding warm and friendly&amp / #8217 / . The principles of &amp / #8216 / hinting&amp / #8217 / and &amp / #8216 / clarity&amp / #8217 / were not found as opposites for the TNS whereas they were in negative correlation for the ENS. Moreover, findings for the LSQ demonstrate that realization of self-goal was more important for TNS than ENS as reflected in conflict-maximizing linguistic strategy choice. The study underscores the need for a novel approach to politeness that incorporates SIPs choice of linguistic strategy.

Ši daktaro disertacija yra iš lingvistinio mandagumo – lingvistinės pragmatikos srities. Tyrimo objektas – sakytiniai prašymai. Tikslas – ištirti ir sugretinti lietuvių ir anglų prašymų mandagumo strategijas bei jų realizacijas, nustatyti ir paaiškinti tirtų kalbų atstovų prašymų panašumus bei skirtumus. Tiriamoji medžiaga gauta eksperimentiniu diskurso kūrimu testu – atvirosiomis anketomis su prašyti skatinančių situacijų scenarijais. Respondentai – aukštųjų mokyklų studentai: 100 lietuvių ir 100 anglų. Medžiagos klasifikacijai ir analizei naudota Blum-Kulkos ir kt. (1989) sistema, sukurta tirti prašymui kaip pasakymų sekai, sudarytam iš prašymo branduolio (minimalaus ilokucinės jo galios realizacijos vieneto) ir papildomų vidinių bei išorinių modifikacijų. Darbe remiamasi Brown ir Levinsono (1987) teorija, kurioje pasiūlyta perskyra tarp pozityviojo (artumas, solidarumas) ir negatyviojo (atstumas, pagarba) mandagumo. Gauti rezultatai rodo, kad nors lietuvių ir anglų prašymai turi daug bendrybių, lietuviškuose atsispindi mažiau dėmesio adresato laisvei ir privatumui, daugiau tiesmukumo, mažiau atsargaus pesimizmo, tikėjimo šnekos akto sėkme ir pan. Tačiau lietuviai labiau nei anglai yra linkę savo prašymus švelninti perteikdami artumą, atsiremdami į savaime suprantamus žmonių įsipareigojimus vieni kitiems, kurdami draugišką bendravimo atmosferą ir pan. Lietuviai, palyginti su negatyviai mandagiais anglais, yra labiau orientuoti į pozityviojo mandagumo tipą. Skirtingi... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This doctoral dissertation belongs to the area of linguistic pragmatics. The subject dealt with in this study is the analysis and comparison of spoken requests in Lithuanian and British English. The aim of the study was to compare politeness strategiess and linguistic realizations of requests, to identify and describe the similarities and differences between these directives in the chosen languages. The data has been collected by means of the Discourse Completion Test, which is an open-ended questionnaire used to prompt requests. The answers of 100 Lithuanian university undergraduates and 100 English university undergraduates were studied. The data classification was based upon the coding scheme of Blum-Kulka et al. (1989), which is designed to study requests as a sequence of utterances, which are made of a head act (the minimal unit of the realization of the request’s illocutionary force) and its internal and external modifications. Brown & Levinson’s (1987) theory with its distinction between positive politeness (closeness, solidarity) and negative politeness (distance, deference) was applied. Despite the numerous similarities that were found, the results demonstrate that Lithuanian requests show less consideration of the hearer’s freedom and privacy, less careful pessimism, more directness, and greater belief in a favourable outcome of the speech act, etc. However Lithuanians are inclined to soften their requests by conveying closeness, appealing to the duties and... [to full text]

Ši daktaro disertacija yra iš lingvistinio mandagumo – lingvistinės pragmatikos srities. Tyrimo objektas – sakytiniai prašymai. Tikslas – ištirti ir sugretinti lietuvių ir anglų prašymų mandagumo strategijas bei jų realizacijas, nustatyti ir paaiškinti tirtų kalbų atstovų prašymų panašumus bei skirtumus. Tiriamoji medžiaga gauta eksperimentiniu diskurso kūrimu testu – atvirosiomis anketomis su prašyti skatinančių situacijų scenarijais. Respondentai – aukštųjų mokyklų studentai: 100 lietuvių ir 100 anglų. Medžiagos klasifikacijai ir analizei naudota Blum-Kulkos ir kt. (1989) sistema, sukurta tirti prašymui kaip pasakymų sekai, sudarytam iš prašymo branduolio (minimalaus ilokucinės jo galios realizacijos vieneto) ir papildomų vidinių bei išorinių modifikacijų. Darbe remiamasi Brown ir Levinsono (1987) teorija, kurioje pasiūlyta perskyra tarp pozityviojo (artumas, solidarumas) ir negatyviojo (atstumas, pagarba) mandagumo. Gauti rezultatai rodo, kad nors lietuvių ir anglų prašymai turi daug bendrybių, lietuviškuose atsispindi mažiau dėmesio adresato laisvei ir privatumui, daugiau tiesmukumo, mažiau atsargaus pesimizmo, tikėjimo šnekos akto sėkme ir pan. Tačiau lietuviai labiau nei anglai yra linkę savo prašymus švelninti perteikdami artumą, atsiremdami į savaime suprantamus žmonių įsipareigojimus vieni kitiems, kurdami draugišką bendravimo atmosferą ir pan. Lietuviai, palyginti su negatyviai mandagiais anglais, yra labiau orientuoti į pozityviojo mandagumo tipą. Skirtingi... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This doctoral dissertation belongs to the area of linguistic pragmatics. The subject dealt with in this study is the analysis and comparison of spoken requests in Lithuanian and British English. The aim of the study was to compare politeness strategiess and linguistic realizations of requests, to identify and describe the similarities and differences between these directives in the chosen languages. The data has been collected by means of the Discourse Completion Test, which is an open-ended questionnaire used to prompt requests. The answers of 100 Lithuanian university undergraduates and 100 English university undergraduates were studied. The data classification was based upon the coding scheme of Blum-Kulka et al. (1989), which is designed to study requests as a sequence of utterances, which are made of a head act (the minimal unit of the realization of the request’s illocutionary force) and its internal and external modifications. Brown & Levinson’s (1987) theory with its distinction between positive politeness (closeness, solidarity) and negative (distance, deference) politeness was applied. Despite the numerous similarities that were found, the results demonstrate that Lithuanian requests show less consideration of the hearer’s freedom and privacy, less careful pessimism, more directness, and greater belief in a favourable outcome of the speech act, etc. However Lithuanians are inclined to soften their requests by conveying closeness, appealing to the duties and... [to full text]

The present study investigates usage variation of politeness markers in spoken academic discourse. The aim of this corpus-based analysis is is twofold. First, it aims at investigating different types of politeness markers in educational settings. Second, the usage of politeness markers in spoken academic discourse is analyzed with respect to general spoken English. The present investigation focuses on different politeness markers randomly selected for the analysis. The politeness markers are categorized into four distinctive types (i.e. indirect requests, apologies, respect markers, and hedges) according to the functions they perform in spoken discourse. / Šis baigiamasis darbas pristato mandagumo žymeklių kalbos variantiškumo analizę sakytiniame akademiniame diskurse, paremtą tekstyno duomenimis. Tyrimo tikslas yra dvejopas: išanalizuoti mandagumo žymeklių kalbos variantiškumą sakytiniame akademiniame diskurse ir palyginti su jų vartosena bendrinėje šnekamojoje anglų kalboje. Analizė atlikta remiantis skirtingais mandagumo žymekliais, atsitiktinai atrinktais ir suskirstytais į skirtingas kategorijas, t.y. netiesioginius prašymus, atsiprašymus, pagarbumo žymeklius ir švelninamuosius žodžius. Mandagumo žymekliai suskirstyti į skirtingus tipus pagal jų atliekamas funkcijas sakytinėje anglų kalboje.

As a fundamental concept in communication in general and intercultural communication in particular, politeness has become a central topic in the research literature. The critical review of the relevant literature shows that the existing theories of politeness do not satisfactorily explain politeness behaviour across cultures, especially politeness behaviour of people in Asian Confucian cultures. Influential theories of politeness have so far focused primarily on the linguistic presentation of politeness (i.e., linguistics politeness) and viewed the individual desire to be free from imposition as the main motivation for politeness, whereas other social and interpersonal motivational concerns for politeness behaviour and the cultural values underlying politeness behaviour are marginalised in the current literature. Additionally, existing theories of politeness are more centred on Anglo-cultural language, particularly English and English-speaking cultures. Intercultural contexts where misunderstandings most probably occur as a result of the differences in cultural values are under-represented in the literature on communication and politeness. Given the widely recognized influence of Confucianism on communication in major Asian cultures, the present study aims to explore how well Confucian theory and principles are able to describe and elucidate Vietnamese politeness in Vietnamese – Anglo-cultural interactions. The goal of the study is to show how an alternative value system can operate in politeness in intercultural communication contexts. It helps bridge the gap in the literature by exploring Vietnamese politeness motivational concerns and their (non)imposition acts in their interactions with Anglo-culturals in intercultural workplace contexts in non-governmental organizations in Vietnam. The results show that the politeness behaviour of Vietnamese working in intercultural contexts is more influenced by their Confucian orientation to interpersonal harmony rather than by their desire to be free from imposition. In addition, the Vietnamese decision to perform an imposition act on their Anglo-cultural colleagues, and about the level of imposition, is significantly influenced by their perception of the potential benefit of their act toward the Anglo-cultural, and by their perception of the social distance between themselves and the Anglo-cultural with whom they are interacting. On the basis of its findings, the present study supports the need for major amendments to the current literature on politeness. It also proposes further implications for more effective communication between Vietnamese and Anglo-culturals in intercultural workplace contexts, and for language teaching.

This thesis deals with politeness and its realization in a classroom discourse. The theoretical part describes the most influential politeness theories and also the findings on the topic of teaching pragmatics and linguistic politeness. The research in the thesis focuses on analysis of teachers' verbal realizations of politeness as found in the recordings of four English lessons. The research was designed to verify the two hypotheses: (1) teachers are basically polite in a classroom of English as a second language and (2) politeness strategies of Czech teachers of English differ from those of native speaking teachers. The analytical part adopts the viewpoint of Brown and Levinson's positive and negative politeness. The last part of the thesis aims at summarizing the implications that this thesis, its theoretical summary and its research, have for teaching English as a second language.

The study reveals national cultures may influence the use of politeness strategies and organizational patterns in editorials written in the two languages, English and Chinese. Due to a newspaper's political orientation and its regional and national background, the rhetorical form of linguistic features in editorials might vary among cultures.

i Abstract The MA thesis examines the politeness strategies which native speakers and non-native speakers of English employ in written English requests addressed to the faculty. The requests represent by nature the category of Face threatening acts and require a certain level of politeness. The account of politeness is based on the Face management theoretical framework by Brown and Levinson (1987). The empirical part compares on-record (positive and negative) and o↵-record politeness strategies and the level of directness (Blum-Kulka, 1987) comprised in two hundred email messages sent by students of British and Irish, German, and French nationality. The analysis discovered that the nationality/native language is to some extent a determinative feature in the choice of politeness strategies, while the gender of the student influences the level of directness of the request. The Appendix contains the full sample of examined emails. Keywords politeness theory, face management, request, on- record politeness (negative and positive), o↵-record politeness, directness of request