A Critique of Politeness Theory

A Critique of Politeness Theory PDF Author: Gino Eelen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317641388
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
As a sociolinguistic phenomenon that connects language and its users to the social world that surrounds them, politeness can provide insights into the very structure of social reality and the process by which it is established and maintained. And through its focus on ethical aspects of social interaction, it can expose the fundamental nature and the inner workings of morality in our everyday lives. Although a highly specific subject matter, politeness therefore touches on issues far beyond its immediate borders. In a critical state-of-the-art review of the field, this book examines the extent to which the potential impact of politeness has been explored so far. Through a metatheoretical analysis of epistemological, methodological, social and psychological ideologies prevalent in mainstream politeness theory, it offers an overview of sociolinguistic thinking about language and social reality during the past quarter of a century. Eelen's analysis of the literature reveals a coherent and consistent ideology underlying the entire field, but also shows how this ideology has caused scientific theory to miss out on many important aspects of the reality of everyday life. His examination of the relationship between science and commonsense thinking, between scientific and everyday notions of politeness, draws attention to issues which remain untouched by current theoretical models and opens up avenues of research hitherto left unexplored.

A Critique of Politeness Theory

A Critique of Politeness Theory PDF Author: Gino Eelen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317641388
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Get Book

Book Description
As a sociolinguistic phenomenon that connects language and its users to the social world that surrounds them, politeness can provide insights into the very structure of social reality and the process by which it is established and maintained. And through its focus on ethical aspects of social interaction, it can expose the fundamental nature and the inner workings of morality in our everyday lives. Although a highly specific subject matter, politeness therefore touches on issues far beyond its immediate borders. In a critical state-of-the-art review of the field, this book examines the extent to which the potential impact of politeness has been explored so far. Through a metatheoretical analysis of epistemological, methodological, social and psychological ideologies prevalent in mainstream politeness theory, it offers an overview of sociolinguistic thinking about language and social reality during the past quarter of a century. Eelen's analysis of the literature reveals a coherent and consistent ideology underlying the entire field, but also shows how this ideology has caused scientific theory to miss out on many important aspects of the reality of everyday life. His examination of the relationship between science and commonsense thinking, between scientific and everyday notions of politeness, draws attention to issues which remain untouched by current theoretical models and opens up avenues of research hitherto left unexplored.

A Critique of Politeness Theory

A Critique of Politeness Theory PDF Author: Gino Eelen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131764137X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
As a sociolinguistic phenomenon that connects language and its users to the social world that surrounds them, politeness can provide insights into the very structure of social reality and the process by which it is established and maintained. And through its focus on ethical aspects of social interaction, it can expose the fundamental nature and the inner workings of morality in our everyday lives. Although a highly specific subject matter, politeness therefore touches on issues far beyond its immediate borders. In a critical state-of-the-art review of the field, this book examines the extent to which the potential impact of politeness has been explored so far. Through a metatheoretical analysis of epistemological, methodological, social and psychological ideologies prevalent in mainstream politeness theory, it offers an overview of sociolinguistic thinking about language and social reality during the past quarter of a century. Eelen's analysis of the literature reveals a coherent and consistent ideology underlying the entire field, but also shows how this ideology has caused scientific theory to miss out on many important aspects of the reality of everyday life. His examination of the relationship between science and commonsense thinking, between scientific and everyday notions of politeness, draws attention to issues which remain untouched by current theoretical models and opens up avenues of research hitherto left unexplored.

A Critique of Politeness Theory

A Critique of Politeness Theory PDF Author: Gino Eelen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Courtesy
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description


Politeness

Politeness PDF Author: Penelope Brown
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521313551
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
This book studies the principles for constructing polite speeches, based on the detailed study of three unrelated languages and cultures.

Politeness. A Theoretical Review of Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory

Politeness. A Theoretical Review of Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory PDF Author: Nadja Grebe
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640482026
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 19

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,0, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Institut für fremdsprachliche Philologien), course: Core Pragmatics, language: English, abstract: As efficient communication plays a crucial, far-ranging role in our everyday life, it is highly interesting to examine how we transport the information we want to communicate. Yet, in contrast to what efficient might implicate, the actual language use is rather characterized by “indirectness and the flouting of Gricean maxims” (Blum-Kulka 1998: 50), than by clear and direct expressions. One of the main reasons for this process lies within the concept of politeness: Since, roughly speaking, the more indirect a request is being articulated, the more polite it will be considered. Thus, this paper aims to contemplate the aspect of politeness in interactions, as it greatly influences the choice of speech. Therefore, I will make use of Brown and Levinson’s notion of politeness and present their concept in theory before I will continue by questioning the practicability and universality of this model.

Languages and Publics

Languages and Publics PDF Author: Susan Gal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781900650427
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Papers presented at the 92nd annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), held in Washington D.C. in November 1993

Broadening the Horizon of Linguistic Politeness

Broadening the Horizon of Linguistic Politeness PDF Author: Robin Tolmach Lakoff
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027253828
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
LC number: 2005048400

Politeness

Politeness PDF Author: Richard J. Watts
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521794060
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
During the last fifteen years, existing models of linguistic politeness have generated a huge amount of empirical research. Using a wide range of data from real-life speech situations, this new introduction to politeness breaks away from the limitations of current models and argues that the proper object of study in politeness theory must be commonsense notions of what politeness and impoliteness are. From this, Watts argues, a more appropriate model, one based on Bourdieu's concept of social practice, is developed.

The Pragmatics of Politeness

The Pragmatics of Politeness PDF Author: Geoffrey N. Leech
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195341384
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
This readable book presents a new general theoretical understanding of politeness. It offers an account of a wide range of politeness phenomena in English, illustrated by hundreds of examples of actual language use taken largely from authentic British and American sources. Building on his earlier pioneering work on politeness, Geoffrey Leech takes a pragmatic approach that is based on the controversial notion that politeness is communicative altruism. Leech's 1983 book, Principles of Pragmatics, introduced the now widely-accepted distinction between pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic aspects of politeness; this book returns to the pragmalinguistic side, somewhat neglected in recent work. Drawing on neo-Gricean thinking, Leech rejects the prevalent view that it is impossible to apply the terms 'polite' or 'impolite' to linguistic phenomena. Leech covers all major speech acts that are either positively or negatively associated with politeness, such as requests, apologies, compliments, offers, criticisms, good wishes, condolences, congratulations, agreement, and disagreement. Additional chapters deal with impoliteness and the related phenomena of irony ("mock politeness") and banter ("mock impoliteness"), and with the role of politeness in the learning of English as a second language. A final chapter takes a fascinating look at more than a thousand years of history of politeness in the English language.

Politeness in Language

Politeness in Language PDF Author: Richard J. Watts
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110199815
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
The second edition of this collection of 13 original papers contains an updated introductory section detailing the significance that the original articles published in 1992 have for the further development of research into linguistic politeness into the 21st century. The original articles focus on the phenomenon of politeness in language. They present the most important problems in developing a theory of linguistic politeness, which must deal with the crucial differences between lay notions of politeness in different cultures and the term 'politeness' as a concept within a theory of linguistic politeness. The universal validity of the term itself is called into question, as are models such as those developed by Brown and Levinson, Lakoff, and Leech. New approaches are suggested. In addition to this theoretical discussion, an empirical section presents a number of case studies and research projects in linguistic politeness. These show what has been achieved within current models and what still remains to be done, in particular with reference to cross-cultural studies in politeness and differences between a Western and a non-Western approach to the subject. The publication of this second edition demonstrates that the significance of the collection is just as salient in the first decade of the new millennium as it was at the beginning of the 1990s.