Abstract This article addresses the relationship between linguistic politeness and addressee status in the performance of written requests in French. According to a first view, conventionalized Can you followed by a verbal phrase (in short, Can you VP?) “indirect requests” (IRs) are preferred because they enable speakers to convey politeness effects absent in imperatives. According to an alternative view, Can you VP? is the standard polite request form in written communication because it avoids impoliteness implications. To test these two competing hypotheses, I carried out a production task experiment with 122 native speakers of Belgian French writing email requests. In this experiment, addressee status was manipulated. An important finding is that higher addressee status does not increase the frequency of Can you VP? requests. Instead of using Can you VP? more often when they address higher status people, the participants used specific politeness markers such as formal greetings and the V-form of address. These results disconfirm the hypothesis that Can you VP? is used to convey extra politeness effects and suggests instead that people use such IRs to avoid the risk of being considered impolite.
摘要本文探讨了法语书面请求中语言礼貌与收件人地位的关系。根据第一种观点，常规的Can you后接一个动词短语(简而言之，Can you VP?)“间接请求”(ir)更受欢迎，因为它们使说话者能够传达祈使句所没有的礼貌效果。根据另一种观点，你能VP吗?是书面交流中标准的礼貌请求形式，因为它避免了不礼貌的暗示。为了验证这两种相互矛盾的假设，我对122名母语为比利时法语的人进行了一项生产任务实验，让他们写电子邮件请求。在这个实验中，收件人的地位是被操纵的。一个重要的发现是，较高的收信人地位并不会增加Can you VP?请求。而不是用Can you VP?更常见的是，当他们与地位较高的人交谈时，参与者会使用特定的礼貌标志，比如正式的问候和v型称呼。这些结果否定了你能VP吗?被用来传达额外的礼貌效果，并建议人们使用这样的ir来避免被认为不礼貌的风险。
{"title":"Do indirect requests communicate politeness? An experimental study of conventionalized indirect requests in French email communication","authors":"Nicolas Ruytenbeek","doi":"10.1515/pr-2017-0026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2017-0026","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article addresses the relationship between linguistic politeness and addressee status in the performance of written requests in French. According to a first view, conventionalized Can you followed by a verbal phrase (in short, Can you VP?) “indirect requests” (IRs) are preferred because they enable speakers to convey politeness effects absent in imperatives. According to an alternative view, Can you VP? is the standard polite request form in written communication because it avoids impoliteness implications. To test these two competing hypotheses, I carried out a production task experiment with 122 native speakers of Belgian French writing email requests. In this experiment, addressee status was manipulated. An important finding is that higher addressee status does not increase the frequency of Can you VP? requests. Instead of using Can you VP? more often when they address higher status people, the participants used specific politeness markers such as formal greetings and the V-form of address. These results disconfirm the hypothesis that Can you VP? is used to convey extra politeness effects and suggests instead that people use such IRs to avoid the risk of being considered impolite.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2017-0026","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43198195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Although linguistic politeness has been studied and theorized about extensively, the role of prosody in the perception of (im)polite attitudes has been somewhat neglected. In the present study, we used experimental methods to investigate the interaction of linguistic form, imposition, and prosody in the perception of (im)polite requests. A written task established a baseline for the level of politeness associated with certain linguistic structures. Then stimuli were recorded in polite and rude prosodic conditions and in a perceptual experiment they were judged for politeness. Results revealed that, although both linguistic structure and prosody had a significant effect on politeness ratings, the effect of prosody was much more robust. In fact, rude prosody led in some cases to the neutralization of (extra)linguistic distinctions. The important contribution of prosody to (im)politeness inferences was also revealed by a comparison of the written and auditory tasks. These findings have important implications for models of (im)politeness and more generally for theories of affective speech. Implications for the generation of Particularized Conversational Implicatures (PCIs) of (im)politeness are also discussed.
{"title":"Factors in the perception of speaker politeness: the effect of linguistic structure, imposition and prosody","authors":"N. Vergis, M. Pell","doi":"10.1515/pr-2017-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2017-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Although linguistic politeness has been studied and theorized about extensively, the role of prosody in the perception of (im)polite attitudes has been somewhat neglected. In the present study, we used experimental methods to investigate the interaction of linguistic form, imposition, and prosody in the perception of (im)polite requests. A written task established a baseline for the level of politeness associated with certain linguistic structures. Then stimuli were recorded in polite and rude prosodic conditions and in a perceptual experiment they were judged for politeness. Results revealed that, although both linguistic structure and prosody had a significant effect on politeness ratings, the effect of prosody was much more robust. In fact, rude prosody led in some cases to the neutralization of (extra)linguistic distinctions. The important contribution of prosody to (im)politeness inferences was also revealed by a comparison of the written and auditory tasks. These findings have important implications for models of (im)politeness and more generally for theories of affective speech. Implications for the generation of Particularized Conversational Implicatures (PCIs) of (im)politeness are also discussed.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2017-0008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42434582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Grainger, Karen and Sara Mills. 2016. Directness and Indirectness Across Cultures. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Hardback ISBN 978-1-157-34038-2. 177 pp. Price Hb GBP 44.99; e-book GBP 35.99.","authors":"J. O’Driscoll","doi":"10.1515/pr-2018-0032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-0032","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2018-0032","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46671669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article shows, through the analysis of “real life” institutional interaction, how experienced teachers and supervisors negotiate face when teachers contest or manage supervisors’ critical account requests during post observation feedback meetings. A linguistic micro-analysis of data extracts is supplemented with ethnographic data drawn from participant perspective interviews and researcher knowledge. The analysis shows how participants subtly and skillfully employ facework to manage the potential face-threat engendered by criticism and disagreement. This facework is mostly successful, but in one case the supervisor orients to face-threat and closes down the topic of discussion. This demonstrates that face is consequential to both unfolding talk and the feedback goal of dialogue and development. Feedback participants, both supervisors and teachers, also engage in moves of face support and face maintenance. The analysis shows face to be an emergent, situated relationship, co-constructed by both participants, and also shows that participants are willing to risk face-threat to achieve institutional goals (supervisors) and defend their actions (teachers). This supports the view that face-threat is rational and common and indicates that criticism, account requests, and disagreements are acceptable norms in post observation feedback.
{"title":"Teachers and supervisors negotiating face during critical account requests in post observation feedback","authors":"H. Donaghue","doi":"10.1515/pr-2018-0028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-0028","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article shows, through the analysis of “real life” institutional interaction, how experienced teachers and supervisors negotiate face when teachers contest or manage supervisors’ critical account requests during post observation feedback meetings. A linguistic micro-analysis of data extracts is supplemented with ethnographic data drawn from participant perspective interviews and researcher knowledge. The analysis shows how participants subtly and skillfully employ facework to manage the potential face-threat engendered by criticism and disagreement. This facework is mostly successful, but in one case the supervisor orients to face-threat and closes down the topic of discussion. This demonstrates that face is consequential to both unfolding talk and the feedback goal of dialogue and development. Feedback participants, both supervisors and teachers, also engage in moves of face support and face maintenance. The analysis shows face to be an emergent, situated relationship, co-constructed by both participants, and also shows that participants are willing to risk face-threat to achieve institutional goals (supervisors) and defend their actions (teachers). This supports the view that face-threat is rational and common and indicates that criticism, account requests, and disagreements are acceptable norms in post observation feedback.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2018-0028","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47328723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The present paper provides an intergenerational perspective on Greek conceptualizations of (im)politeness. Based on interviews eliciting narratives of impolite behaviour of our participants’ parents’ generation, the study illustrates the contested and changing nature of politeness in contemporary Greece. Through critically evaluating the older generation’s behaviour, the participants not only provided insights into their own politeness norms but also showed a clear understanding of the previous generation’s politeness norms. The discrepancy between what is perceived as polite by the two generations points to a distinction between empirical (is) and moral (should) norms (Haugh 2010), with the former allowing the participants to classify their parents’ impoliteness as non-intentional and the latter reflecting the emergence of new conceptualizations of politeness in Greece. While Greece has been unanimously characterized as a positive politeness culture in previous research, the present study illustrates an increasing emphasis on values and norms associated with negative politeness.
{"title":"An Intergenerational Perspective on (Im)politeness","authors":"S. Bella, Eva Ogiermann","doi":"10.1515/PR-2017-0033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/PR-2017-0033","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The present paper provides an intergenerational perspective on Greek conceptualizations of (im)politeness. Based on interviews eliciting narratives of impolite behaviour of our participants’ parents’ generation, the study illustrates the contested and changing nature of politeness in contemporary Greece.\u0000 Through critically evaluating the older generation’s behaviour, the participants not only provided insights into their own politeness norms but also showed a clear understanding of the previous generation’s politeness norms. The discrepancy between what is perceived as polite by the two generations points to a distinction between empirical (is) and moral (should) norms (Haugh 2010), with the former allowing the participants to classify their parents’ impoliteness as non-intentional and the latter reflecting the emergence of new conceptualizations of politeness in Greece.\u0000 While Greece has been unanimously characterized as a positive politeness culture in previous research, the present study illustrates an increasing emphasis on values and norms associated with negative politeness.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/PR-2017-0033","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43056722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Linguistic impoliteness appears to be an important feature of online reviews. This paper examines how impoliteness is realized in English and Chinese negative reviews, and how these reviews are responded to. The data sets are composed of 32 English and 32 Chinese negative reviews with responses respectively from the websites TripAdvisor and Dazhongdianping. Building on the work of Culpeper (1996; 2011), English reviewers are found to adopt more of a mixture of approval and criticism, and “stuff-oriented” pointed complaints, while Chinese reviewers employ more indignant exclamations and “staff-oriented” pointed complaints. This suggests that the latter are more concerned about their own face needs, and thus have the potential to be perceived as more impolite and aggravating than the former. However, it is also found that Chinese respondents are potentially more polite and indirect than English respondents. Chinese respondents pay more attention to reviewers’ face wants rather than that of their own, while English respondents attach greater importance to maintaining a positive image for a restaurant, and hence attending to their own face needs. This paper reveals a sharp contrast in the use of impoliteness and its link to the concept of face in English and Chinese negative reviews and responses.
{"title":"Impoliteness in English and Chinese online diners’ reviews","authors":"Xiaoyu Lai","doi":"10.1515/PR-2017-0031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/PR-2017-0031","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Linguistic impoliteness appears to be an important feature of online reviews. This paper examines how impoliteness is realized in English and Chinese negative reviews, and how these reviews are responded to. The data sets are composed of 32 English and 32 Chinese negative reviews with responses respectively from the websites TripAdvisor and Dazhongdianping. Building on the work of Culpeper (1996; 2011), English reviewers are found to adopt more of a mixture of approval and criticism, and “stuff-oriented” pointed complaints, while Chinese reviewers employ more indignant exclamations and “staff-oriented” pointed complaints. This suggests that the latter are more concerned about their own face needs, and thus have the potential to be perceived as more impolite and aggravating than the former. However, it is also found that Chinese respondents are potentially more polite and indirect than English respondents. Chinese respondents pay more attention to reviewers’ face wants rather than that of their own, while English respondents attach greater importance to maintaining a positive image for a restaurant, and hence attending to their own face needs. This paper reveals a sharp contrast in the use of impoliteness and its link to the concept of face in English and Chinese negative reviews and responses.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/PR-2017-0031","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46773369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There is a growing consensus that (im)politeness is associated with participants’ situated evaluations vis-à-vis the moral order (Haugh 2013a, 2015b; Kádár and Haugh 2013). This paper focuses on impoliteness as evaluative practices underpinned by the moral order of qingmian (lit., affection-based face). Drawing on data from Chinese interpersonal conflicts, the study reveals that unmet renqing (favor) expectations and unmet mianzi/lian (face) expectations are often evaluated as qingmian threats by participants, and thereby cause conflicts and disharmony. Our analysis investigates three key issues: (1) qingmian threat as the cause of interpersonal conflicts, (2) cultural factors influencing expectations associated with ‘taking offence’ in Chinese and (3) the implications of qingmian threat for (im)politeness theory at the etic level.
{"title":"Impoliteness Revisited: Evidence from Qingmian Threats in Chinese Interpersonal Conflicts","authors":"Yongping Ran, Linsen Zhao","doi":"10.1515/PR-2017-0027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/PR-2017-0027","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000There is a growing consensus that (im)politeness is associated with participants’ situated evaluations vis-à-vis the moral order (Haugh 2013a, 2015b; Kádár and Haugh 2013). This paper focuses on impoliteness as evaluative practices underpinned by the moral order of qingmian (lit., affection-based face). Drawing on data from Chinese interpersonal conflicts, the study reveals that unmet renqing (favor) expectations and unmet mianzi/lian (face) expectations are often evaluated as qingmian threats by participants, and thereby cause conflicts and disharmony. Our analysis investigates three key issues: (1) qingmian threat as the cause of interpersonal conflicts, (2) cultural factors influencing expectations associated with ‘taking offence’ in Chinese and (3) the implications of qingmian threat for (im)politeness theory at the etic level.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/PR-2017-0027","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47543048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article presents a detailed analysis of (im)politeness in a naturally occurring multi-party conversation and in doing so challenges the theoretical premise of dyadic communication in traditional politeness research. Informed by the classical theories of Leech (1983) and Brown and Levinson (1987), traditional politeness research has largely been framed in the dyadic model of communication, without taking into full consideration the influence of other participants. Following a number of discursive theorists, we propose that (im)polite utterances are not always addressed exclusively at one hearer or one party of hearers. More often than not, the other parties present exert considerable influence on the design and interpretation of (im)polite utterances as well. Our analyses of three extracts of a multi-party conversation from a Chinese dinner table demonstrate that in a triad involving a relational coalition of two participants, the (im)politeness in some speech acts can be extended or transformed in specific contexts. In particular, a compliment directed at one member of the coalition tends to be polite at the same time to the other member; and a criticism between the coalition members may be polite to the third party under some circumstances. It is argued that the extension and transformation of (im)politeness in a multi-party context are culturally motivated and conditioned by the interpersonal relationships among the different parties. The study points to the need for further research on (im)politeness in a multi-party context.
本文对自然发生的多方对话中的(非)礼貌进行了详细的分析，从而挑战了传统礼貌研究中二元交际的理论前提。受Leech(1983)和Brown and Levinson(1987)的经典理论影响，传统的礼貌研究在很大程度上被框定在交际的二元模型中，没有充分考虑到其他参与者的影响。跟随一些话语理论家，我们提出(我)礼貌的话语并不总是专门针对一个听者或听者的一方。通常情况下，在场的其他各方也会对礼貌话语的设计和解释产生相当大的影响。我们对中国餐桌上三段多人对话的分析表明，在涉及两个参与者的关系联盟的三位一体中，某些言语行为中的(非)礼貌可以在特定的语境中扩展或转换。特别是，对联盟中的一个成员的赞美往往同时对另一个成员也很有礼貌;在某些情况下，联盟成员之间的批评可能是对第三方的礼貌。本文认为，在多方语境中，礼貌的延伸和转化是由文化驱动的，并受到各方之间人际关系的制约。该研究指出，需要进一步研究多方环境下的礼貌行为。
{"title":"(Im)politeness at a Chinese dinner table: A discursive approach to (im)politeness in multi-party communication","authors":"Dengshan Xia, Chun Lan","doi":"10.1515/PR-2016-0056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/PR-2016-0056","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article presents a detailed analysis of (im)politeness in a naturally occurring multi-party conversation and in doing so challenges the theoretical premise of dyadic communication in traditional politeness research. Informed by the classical theories of Leech (1983) and Brown and Levinson (1987), traditional politeness research has largely been framed in the dyadic model of communication, without taking into full consideration the influence of other participants. Following a number of discursive theorists, we propose that (im)polite utterances are not always addressed exclusively at one hearer or one party of hearers. More often than not, the other parties present exert considerable influence on the design and interpretation of (im)polite utterances as well. Our analyses of three extracts of a multi-party conversation from a Chinese dinner table demonstrate that in a triad involving a relational coalition of two participants, the (im)politeness in some speech acts can be extended or transformed in specific contexts. In particular, a compliment directed at one member of the coalition tends to be polite at the same time to the other member; and a criticism between the coalition members may be polite to the third party under some circumstances. It is argued that the extension and transformation of (im)politeness in a multi-party context are culturally motivated and conditioned by the interpersonal relationships among the different parties. The study points to the need for further research on (im)politeness in a multi-party context.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/PR-2016-0056","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44882761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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