Discourse and Pragmatics
Politeness and Face
Politeness and Face
Popular Meanings
Face: mian zi, min ji, mentsu, chae myon
Concept of honour
Politeness: Being nice, following certain
rules of social conduct (li_
Popular ideas of politeness and face are
usually governed by expectations about
scripts and frames
Face
The public self-image one wishes to
claim
Linked to fundamental cultural
assumptions about the social persona
Can be lost, maintained, or enhanced
Mutual cooperative concern with face is
integral to social interaction
Face (Goffman)
the positive social value a person
effectively claims for him(her)self by the
line others assume he (she) has taken
during a particular contact
Face is
located in the flow of events
on loan from society
Face needs
Need to be liked
Need to be accepted
Need to avoid embarrassment
Need to uphold our line
Facework
The communication strategies used to
protect,maintain, and enhance
face, to satisfy face
needs and to
mitigate face threats
The traffic rules of social interaction
defensive orientation (towards saving own
face)
protective orientation (towards saving Hs face)
Facework
Different people,
groups and cultures
have their own
characteristic
repertoire of face
saving practice
Face: The Linguistic Meaning
Linguistic meaning
Face
the negotiated public image mutually granted each
other by participants in communication
Politeness
How we signal our relationship with and feelings
towards those we are communicating with in our
language use
Politeness
Is this polite?
Ms. Cheung, I wonder if you
could please get back to me
on this matter at your earliest
convenience
Is this polite?
Is this polite?
A: Hello.
B: Hi Rodney. Can you guess who this
is?
Is this polite
Wow, you look awful today! Is there
anything wrong?
To you best friend?
To your boss?
My Mother in England
The Paradox of
Face
The Problem
We want people to like us
We want people to respect us
Respect and intimacy are expressed in
different ways
Two kinds of face
Negative face (desire for autonomy,
personal space,freedom from
imposition, freedom of action)
Positive face (desire for self-image to
be acknowledged and approved of)
Each are addressed with specific forms
of face work
Politeness
how we express
SOCIAL DISTANCE/CLOSENESS
and POWER RELATIONSHIPS
in our language
There is no faceless
communication
All communication is a risk to face
You have to make inferences about and
protect the other persons need to be
liked or respected
You have to protect your own need to
be liked or respected
Two Kinds of Face Strategies
Positive Face Strategies
Solidarity
Showing closeness or solidarity
using first name, expressing interest, claiming
common point of view, using informal language
Called Involvement Face Strategies
Positive Face Strategies
Use first name or nicknames
Use informal language
Use a common language
Act interested, sympathetic
Be direct
Agree
Claim common experiences, interests, group
membership
Talk about us
Two Kinds of Face Strategy
Negative Face Strategies
Showing respect
using titles, not making assumptions,
apologizing, using formal language
Called Negative Face Strategies
Negative Face Strategies
Use titles
Use formal language
Dont make assumptions
Apologize
Be indirect
Try to minimize imposition
Hedge
Talk about things not having to do with us
Independence and
Involvement
In any interaction we usually use both
independence and involvement
strategies
The problem is deciding how and when
to use these strategies
Based on
who we are talking to
why we are talking to them
Why is politeness
dangerous?
Paradox of Face
We all want to be liked and respected
at the same time
We have to manage
positive and negative face strategies at once
You always run the risk of being too hot or too cold
Different groups might favor different strategies
Role Plays
Face Systems
Face systems are based on three different
aspects of the situation
Power (+P power difference, -P no power
difference)
Distance (+D distant, -D close)
Weight of Imposition (how important topic is
for speakers, +W important, -W not very
important)
Values exist on a scale (not absolute)
Deference Face System
-P, +D
symmetrical (equal)
participants see themselves as at same
social level
distant
both would use mostly independence
strategies
Solidarity Face System
-P, -D
symmetrical
close
both participants likely to use more
involvement strategies
Hierarchical Face System
+P, +/-D
asymmetrical (unequal)
asymmetrical face strategies
higher uses more involvement
lower uses more independence
Deference
Speaker<-----------------Independence--------------->Speaker
Solidarity
Speaker<--Involvement-->Speaker
Hierarchical
Speaker
(involvement)
Speaker
(independence)
But its really not that simple...
There is another factor
W
Weight of imposition
W+/ W-
To make it even more
complicated
We usually use a COMBINATION of
strategies
We negotiate system/strategies with the
people we are talking to
Video
Watch the video
Note how the characters use politeness
strategies
Are they successful?
Whats the problem?
Conflicting Strategies/Mixed up
systems
Two businessmen meeting for the first time
Mr R: (reading Mr. Wongs business card which says
Wong Hon Fai) Hi, Hon Fai. Im Bill Richardson. My
friends call me Bill.
Mr W: How do you do Mr. Richardson.
Mr. Wong thinks: That guy is acting too familiar, who
does he think he is?
expects deference system, hears hierarchical system
Mr. R. thinks: This guy doesnt want to be my friend.
Hes not very nice.
expects solidarity system, hears deference system
Task
Look at the situations and rate them
according to P, D, and W
Discuss how you might act in these
situations
VIRTUALLY ALL SOCIAL
ACTS
ARE POTENTIALLY FACE
THREATENING ACTS
Acts threatening Hs positive
face
Disapproval, criticism, ridicule,
complaints, reprimands, accusations,
insults
Contradictions, disagreements
Violent expressions of emotion, taboo
topics, bad news, non-cooperation, use
of inappropriate address forms or
conversational style
Acts threatening Hs negative
face
Orders, requests, suggestions, advice,
reminders, warnings, threats
Offers, promises
Compliments
Expressions of strong emotion (anger,
hate, lust)
Acts threatening Ss positive
face
Apologies
Accepting compliments
Loss of bodily control (bodily leakage)
Loss of emotional control (emotional
leakage)
Acting stupid
Confessions and admission of guilt
Act threatening Ss negative
face
Expressing or accepting thanks
Accepting an apology
Making excuses
Accepting offers
Making unwilling promises or offers
Politeness Strategies
Dont do the FTA
Do the FTA
off record (indirectly)
on record (directly
without politeness (baldly)
with politeness
positive politeness
negative politeness
Politeness Strategies
Estimation of lesser face loss
Estimation of greater face loss
Politeness Strategies
Positive Politeness
Involvement
approach based
showing S wants what H wants, treating H as member of group
friend, someone you know and like
Negative Politeness
Independence
avoidance based
formality, restraint, distancing
Positive Politeness Strategies
Notice and attend to Hs wants and needs
Exaggerate interest, approval, sympathy
Use in-group identity markers
Seek agreement/avoid disagreement
Assert common ground
Joke
Be optimistic
Give offers, promises, reasons, sympathy,
understanding, cooperation
Negative Politeness
Strategies
Be indirect
Hedge
Be pessimistic
Minimize imposition
Give deference
Apologize
Depersonalize (avoid you, I)
Task
Case Studies
Chart two: Complete System
How do we decide which
strategy to use?
Power (P)
Distance (D)
Weight of Imposition (W)
Power
Whats the difference between how you do
FTAs towards your parents and your younger
sister? Your teacher and your classmate?
-P
positive politeness (involvement)
+P
lower person: negative politeness (respect)
higher person: positive politeness
Distance
Whats the difference between the way
you do FTAs towards your friend and
towards a stranger?
-D
positive politeness (involvement)
+D
negative politeness (independence)
Weight of imposition
Whats the difference between how you
do big FTAs and small FTAs?
-W
positive politeness
+W
negative politeness
Combinations
+P, -D, +W
-P, +D, -W
-P, -D, +W
Values are never absolute
We always use a combination of
strategies
Face and Culture
Different cultures have different ways to
judge P, D, and W
Different cultures have different ways of
expressing negative politeness and
positive politeness
Effect of power, status, age and gender
Chinese conceptions of face
Face not seen to belong to self alone,
but also to group (family)
Politeness strategies characterized by
self-denigration and respect (negative
politeness (li)
Heavily encoded in the language
Two kinds of Chinese Face
Mianzi (prestige, reputation, either
earned or ascribed)
Lian (respect for a persons underlying
moral character)
Morality defined as subordinating ones
own face wants to those of the group
Mianzi vs. Lian
Losing mianzi
loss of ones reputation because of failure or misfortune
Losing lian
loss of ones moral standing in the community
Lian more important than mianzi
Mianzi can have negative connotations (being overly
concerned with self-image)
Mianzi vs. Lian
Possible to lose Mianzi but gain lian
Example: J.J. Chan
to gain mianzi at the expense of lian in
the end will cost one both (Mao 1994)
Task
Go to a shop and pretend you want to
buy something. Notice how the shop
attendant manages politeness
strategies and FTAs (also notice how
you do it!)
Conclusion
Politeness is the way we communicate
our relationship in interaction
There is no faceless communication
the paradox of face
