Positive Politeness

Bald On-record

Politeness Strategies

Damage to the Speaker

Ø An act that shows that the speaker is in some sense wrong, and unable to control himself.

Ø Apologies: In this act, speaker is damaging his own face by admitting that he regrets one of his previous acts.

Ø Acceptance of a compliment.

Ø Inability to control one’s physical self.

Ø Inability to control one’s emotional self.

Ø Self-humiliation.

Ø Confessions.

Politeness strategies are used to formulate messages in order to save the hearer’s face when face-threatening acts are inevitable or desired. Brown and Levinson outline four main types of politeness strategies: bald on-record, negative politeness, positive politeness, and off-record (indirect).

Bald on-record strategies usually do not attempt to minimize the threat to the hearer’s face, although there are ways that bald on-record politeness can be used in trying to minimze FTAs implicitly. Often using such a strategy will shock or embarrass the addressee, and so this strategy is most often utilized in situations where the speaker has a close relationship with the audience, such as family or close friends. Brown and Levinson outline various cases in which one might use the bald on-record strategy, including:

· Instances in which threat minimizing does not occur

· Great urgency or desperation

Watch out!

· Speaking as if great efficiency is necessary

Hear me out:...

· Task-oriented

Pass me the hammer.

· Little or no desire to maintain someone's face

Don't forget to clean the blinds!

· Doing the FTA is in the interest of the hearer

Your headlights are on!

· Instances in which the threat is minimized implicitly

· Welcomes

Come in.

· Offers

Leave it, I'll clean up later.

Eat!

Positive politeness strategies seek to minimize the threat to the hearer’s positive face. They are used to make the hearer feel good about himself, his interests or possessions, and are most usually used in situations where the audience knows each other fairly well [7]. In addition to hedging and attempts to avoid conflict, some strategies of positive politeness include statements of friendship, solidarity, compliments, and the following examples from Brown and Levinson [2]:

ü Attend to H’s interests, needs, wants

You look sad. Can I do anything?

ü Use solidarity in-group identity markers

Heh, mate, can you lend me a dollar?

ü Be optimistic

I’ll just come along, if you don’t mind.

ü Include both speaker (S) and hearer (H) in activity

If we help each other, I guess, we’ll both sink or swim in this course.

ü Offer or promise

If you wash the dishes, I’ll vacuum the floor.

ü Exaggerate interest in H and his interests

That’s a nice haircut you got; where did you get it?

ü Avoid disagreement

Yes, it’s rather long; not short certainly.

ü Joke

Wow, that’s a whopper!

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23