„Have a look over there! You will have to do that next week.“ If we wanted to follow and to join this conversation, we would need to know different pieces of information from the extralinguistic context: Where and when did the action take place? And finally, who are the speaker and the addressee? The tokens “there”, “you”, “that”, and “next week” can be described as deictic expressions or - for short - deictics (THOMAS 1995: 9). The term “deictic expression” comes from the Greek word deiktikós (“pointing at”) (BUßMANN 2002: 149). Lyons defines deixis to be “the location and identification of persons, objects, events, processes, and activities being talked about, or referred to, in relation to the spatiotemporal context created and sustained by the act of utterance and the participation in it, typically, of a single speaker and at least one addressee” (JARVELLA / KLEIN 1982: 35).
We are frequently faced with deictic expressions in everyday-languagewhether consciously or unconsciously - in the way that we refer to persons, places, times, and various different other things. Thereby, we would receive a demand such as “Do this!” or “Keep out!” as much more rude and aggressive than a - more politely
- demand such as “Would you mind to do this?” or “Please, do not disturb”. Obviously, we are able to feel the delicate differences between both demands while speaking and we seem to be able to make adequate use of these differences. Why is that so? Why do we receive two demands with quite the same content in different ways? What are these differences like, how are they received, and which advantages does a speaker gain from either using the one expression or the other? It seems that deixis and politeness are connected in a way and that the use of different deictic expressions also has different effects on the politeness expressed through these deictic expressions. Insofar, it can be stated that we are just on the interface between deixis and politeness.
My aims are to find answers to the questions above, to give an overview of the prevailing politeness principles, and to draw a connection to social deixis in particular. I will first organize the different categories of deixis and then concentrate on the politeness principles developed by Brown and Levinson.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The different categories of deixis
2.1. Local deixis
2.2. Temporal deixis
2.3. Person deixis
2.4. Discourse deixis
2.5. Situation deixis
2.6. Social deixis
3. The principles of conversation
3.1. Politeness
3.2. Face
3.2.1. Face threatening acts (FTAs)
3.2.2. The strategies of face threatening acts
4. About the connection between social deixis and politeness
5. Conclusion
6. Works Cited
Objectives and Core Themes
The primary aim of this work is to explore the intersection between pragmatics, specifically the categories of deixis, and the principles of politeness as defined by Brown and Levinson. The paper examines how linguistic choices in daily interaction are influenced by social factors and the necessity to preserve individual and collective "face".
- Theoretical overview of deixis categories (local, temporal, person, discourse, situation, and social).
- Examination of Grice's Cooperative Principle and the concept of politeness.
- Deep dive into the theory of "Face" and Face Threatening Acts (FTAs).
- Analysis of politeness strategies and their cost/benefit assessment.
- Investigation into how social deixis serves as a mechanism for politeness markers.
Excerpt from the Book
2.1. Local deixis
Local deixis denotes locations regarding the speaker, the addressee or third parties, whereby two modes of reference are possible (ERNST 2002: 50):
“absolutely with regard to a standardized measuring system (e.g. degrees of latitude or longitude)” (2002:50)
“relatively with regard to something named”: e.g. “the restaurant is 300 meters away from the town hall”; this is always the case, independent from the location of the speaker), while “Give me the screwdriver on your left” is relative to the speaker / hearer (2002: 50).
Pure place-deictic English words are the adverbs here and there, and the demonstrative pronouns this and that (LEVINSON 1983: 79).
An interesting phenomenon in that context is what is called empathetic deixis. Empathetic deixis describes “the metaphorical use of deictic forms to indicate emotional or other psychological ‘distance’ or ‘proximity’ between a speaker and a referent” (LEVINSON 1983: 81). That is the case with a shift from that to this to show empathy, and from this to that to show emotional distance (1983: 79).
Local deixis is sometimes also referred to as space deixis, place deixis, or spatial deixis.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter defines deictic expressions and establishes the motivation for linking deixis with politeness principles in communication.
2. The different categories of deixis: Provides a technical overview of the six primary categories of deixis, including place, time, person, discourse, situation, and social aspects.
3. The principles of conversation: Discusses H.P. Grice’s maxims and introduces Brown and Levinson’s theory on politeness and the concept of "face".
4. About the connection between social deixis and politeness: Explores how social deixis functions as a set of markers that influence the perceived degree of politeness in everyday language use.
5. Conclusion: Summarizes the findings regarding the interplay between speech acts, intended politeness, and social identity.
6. Works Cited: A list of essential academic literature used to support the theoretical arguments provided in the text.
Keywords
Pragmatics, Speech Act Theory, Deixis, Politeness, Face, Face Threatening Acts, Social Deixis, Communication, Brown and Levinson, Grice, Linguistic Context, Honorifics, Interaction, Cooperation Principle, Sociolinguistics.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the central focus of this paper?
The paper examines how different linguistic categories of deixis are linked to social interactions and the principles of politeness, explaining how we navigate social distance and power dynamics through speech.
What are the main thematic fields covered?
The work covers deixis (local, temporal, person, discourse, situation, social), conversational principles, the theory of "Face," and politeness strategies.
What is the primary objective of the research?
The goal is to provide an overview of politeness models by Brown and Levinson and to demonstrate how social deictic elements act as markers that steer politeness in human interaction.
Which methodology is employed in this study?
The study uses a descriptive and analytical approach based on existing linguistic theories (Brown and Levinson, Grice, Goffman, Levinson) to categorize deixis and assess politeness strategies.
What topics are discussed in the main body of the work?
The main body focuses on defining deictic expressions, explaining the "Face" concept, analyzing how FTAs are minimized, and providing practical examples of how German pronouns or titles function as social deictics.
Which keywords define this work?
Key terms include Pragmatics, Deixis, Politeness, Face, Face Threatening Acts, and Social Deixis.
What is "Empathetic deixis" and why is it important?
Empathetic deixis refers to the metaphorical use of deictic forms to show emotional distance or proximity, such as using "this" to indicate empathy, which highlights the psychological aspect of communication.
How do "Face Threatening Acts" relate to politeness?
FTAs are acts that contradict the face wants of the speaker or addressee. The author explains that we use specific strategies (ranging from "bald on record" to "off record") to minimize the risk of threatening someone's public self-image.
- Quote paper
- Christian Hensgens (Author), 2005, The Principles of Politeness and Social Deixis, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/35036
