1. Overview of the Politeness Principle
In everyday situations we have to communicate with other people to get information, to gain knowledge about a topic or to reach a variety of goals. To be successful, one has to follow some important strategies. Beside the rule of the language philosopher H.P. Grice, which is called the Cooperative Principle, there exists another concept that served when people are talking. It is called the Politeness Principle which has above all been developed by Leech. In the centre of this concept does not stand the information of a conversation, but the effect of what is said on the people.
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Table of Contents
1. Overview of the Politeness Principle
2. Theories of the Politeness Principle
2.1 Delimiting the politeness concept
2.1.1 Deference and politeness
2.1.2 Politeness as an utterance level phenomenon
2.1.3 Register
2.1.4 Politeness as a pragmatic phenomenon
2.2 The maxims of the politeness principle
2.2.1 The Tact maxim
2.2.2 The Generosity Maxim
2.2.3 The Approbation Maxim
2.2.4 The Modesty Maxim
2.2.5 The Agreement Maxim
2. Practical part
2.1 Dialogue
2.2 Describing some maxims and theories on examples
3. The necessity of the Politeness Principle
Objective and Topics
This essay aims to explain Leech’s Politeness Principle and consider how politeness depends on linguistic expression, context and relationships between speakers and hearers. It illustrates the concepts by analysing a dialogue.
- Politeness, deference and register
- Politeness as a pragmatic phenomenon
- Leech’s politeness maxims
- Indirectness, optionality and the cost-benefit scale
- Application of politeness concepts to a dialogue
Excerpt from the Book
Describing some maxims and theories on examples
When analysing a text it is just possible to look at what is said and which effect the conversation has on the hearer. The previous dialogue includes some theories and maxims of politeness which were explained in the following.
The greeting of the two women does already show the topic of deference. They call each other by their surname and express respect in this way, but there is no respect apparent relating to higher status or greater age in this case.
In line three the Tact maxim appears. The teacher tries to give the hearer (Misses Conner) the feeling of minimizing her cost. The phrase “for a minute” has the function of reducing the implied cost to the hearer. It is a “minimizer”. Misses Smith asks the sentence very indirect. This is polite, because she imposes something to Misses Conner who has the possibility to answer the question in the negative. Misses Conner not to have the feeling of being hard-pressed. The aspect of optionality of this maxim is met.
In line five some features of the Tact maxim are used again. The teacher introduces her problem to the mother of Robert. To be friendly and not too prompt, minimizers like “a bit of” and “for a second” are used once more. (Implied costs to the hearer are reduced.) The question does not have such a high degree of indirectness like the first example of this maxim, nevertheless it is polite and not too direct and it prescribes a “direction” for the following conversation of the two women. This question explains the goal of the teacher very clearly.
The expression of benefit to the hearer is maximized in line seven. The Generosity maxim is addressed here. The mother offers Misses Smith a seat. She maximizes benefit to the teacher of her son. The sentence is formulated very direct, but nevertheless it is polite, because it does not include any expression of cost to the teacher. It is a proposition.
The second sentence in the same line has some characteristics of generosity, too. The mother of Robert says that she is going to listen to Misses Smith immediately. This is an offer and at the same time she maximizes the expression of cost to herself.
Chapter Summaries
1. Overview of the Politeness Principle: The opening introduces the Politeness Principle alongside Grice’s Cooperative Principle and focuses on the effect of speech on the people involved.
2. Theories of the Politeness Principle: This chapter distinguishes politeness from related concepts and examines its pragmatic context. It also discusses Leech’s maxims and their use in communication.
2. Practical part: A dialogue involving a teacher, a mother and a pupil provides examples for an analysis of deference, register and politeness maxims.
3. The necessity of the Politeness Principle: The final chapter considers the principle’s relevance to interaction and communication.
Keywords
Politeness Principle, Geoffrey Leech, Cooperative Principle, pragmatics, deference, register, speech acts, tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim, indirectness, optionality, dialogue analysis
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this work about?
It introduces the Politeness Principle and examines how politeness operates in conversation.
What are its central topics?
The essay discusses deference, register, pragmatic context, politeness maxims and the analysis of dialogue.
What is the work’s main objective?
Its objective is to explain the Politeness Principle and illustrate how its concepts can be identified in conversation.
What method does the author use?
The author presents a theoretical discussion based on published literature and applies the concepts to examples from a dialogue.
What does the main body cover?
It explains distinctions relevant to politeness, discusses individual maxims and examines selected utterances in a practical dialogue.
Which keywords characterize the work?
Key terms include politeness, pragmatics, deference, register, tact, generosity, indirectness and optionality.
How is the Tact maxim illustrated?
The dialogue analysis considers expressions such as “for a minute” and “a bit of” as minimizers, as well as the hearer’s option to decline a request.
Who takes part in the dialogue?
The dialogue features a teacher, a pupil’s mother, the pupil and his friend. It provides material for discussing different relationships and conversational situations.
- Citar trabajo
- Christina Martens (Autor), 2001, The Politeness Principle, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/2901
