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Yes, but...: Positive Politeness in Conversation Arguments
Abstract
This article describes some of the linguistic mechanisms people use when engaging in disagreements with one another. Unacquainted students discussed an issue on which they had opposing views. These disagreements were then transcribed and examined for the occurrence of politeness strategies. There was evidence for many of the positively polite strategies described by Brown and Levinson, as well as several previously undocumented strategies that appear to function as positive politeness. In addition, participants rated each other on several dimensions, and these perceptions were related to a speaker's degree of positive politeness.
... Using data from discussions between unacquainted research participants on subjects such as abortion, Holtgraves (1997) found the way in which dispreferred turns were described by CA research (see 1.4.2.2) confirmed. He identified seven strategies for conveying positive politeness in disagreement, which included token agreement hedge opinion, personalize opinion, express distaste with one's position, displace agreement, self-deprecation, assert common ground. ...
p>This thesis presents a developmental account of facework strategies in L2 argumentative discourse. From an individual perspective, face denotes how speakers want to be seen in terms of their social role(s) and personal qualities; from a social perspective, face is the image that is actually conveyed to others.
Data were gathered from learners of German at three different levels of proficiency by means of argumentative discourse tasks and retrospective interviews, and interpreted within the framework of face as well as from a linguistic/psycholinguistic perspective. The results of the analysis show that linguistic limitations and processing constraints cannot alone explain the observed developments. Instead, the desire to be seen as a good L2 speaker appears to be playing an important role. Learners actively tried to make the task easier for themselves by using strategies that contributed to accuracy and fluency, eased processing and helped avoid potential pitfalls. This suggests that learners acted not only within a ‘discussion frame’ in which it would be important to present a positive self-image based on the opinions expressed in the discussion and the manner of their presentation, but also within an overlapping ‘language task’ frame.
The thesis contributes to the field of interlanguage pragmatics by providing a theoretical framework for the interpretation of face alongside notions of identity, thereby moving it away from politeness and social appropriateness. By suggesting that learners act according to an internal context that they have set for themselves, it provides an integrated account of psycholinguistic/linguistic and individual/social approaches to second language acquisition.</p
... Queste strategie includono l'uso di una varietà di dispositivi attenuanti e indicatori di posizione pessimistica. Un diplomatico linguisticamente preparato può anche adottare strategicamente un atteggiamento di cortesia positiva, facendo ricorso a complimenti, accordo parziale, battute o pronomi inclusivi (ad esempio, noi e ci) per sottolineare la comunanza di opinioni e la cooperazione (Holtgraves, 1997;Johnson, 2006;Malamed, 2010). Ad esempio, una espressione di disaccordo come Fantastico, questa mi sembra un'idea eccellente, ma penso che potrebbe essere un po' prematuro 15 include una combinazione di strategie di cortesia positiva e negativa (cfr. ...
Il 26 giugno 2019 il dipartimento di Filosofia e Beni Culturali dell’Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia organizzò, in collaborazione con il Centro Studi sui Diritti Umani, il Consiglio d’Europa Ufficio di Venezia, e Europe Direct Venezia, il convegno “Le parole dell’odio” che si tenne nell’Aula Magna a Ca’ Dolfin. La giornata non fu scelta a caso: il 26 giugno, infatti, ricorre la Giornata Internazionale a sostegno delle vittime di torture, come stabilito nel 1997 dall’Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite con la Risoluzione 52/149.
Le riflessioni proposte dai relatori non mancarono di porre in risalto lo stretto rapporto tra quello che in inglese viene denominato hate speech e i diritti umani, come pure la responsabilità della scuola, e di ogni altra agenzia educativa, nell’affrontare la questione della violenza verbale che nei nostri giorni, con la sua allentante prospettiva di offrire una facile identità, sta sempre più connotando la comunicazione a causa anche dell’effetto moltiplicatore dei social media.
Mentre ascoltavo quanti erano intervenuti all’evento, mi chiedevo se noi insegnanti siamo sufficientemente consapevoli del nostro ruolo di educatori dei futuri cittadini del mondo o se, invece, troppo spesso ci limitiamo a curare l’aspetto strettamente attinente alla nostra disciplina. Mi domandavo se facciamo del nostro meglio per seminare il rispetto, la tolleranza, l’accoglienza e se io stessa, insegnante di lingua straniera, abbia fornito ai miei studenti, negli anni, adeguati strumenti linguistici affinché essi siano in grado di rapportarsi con l’alterità sulla base di una buona e corretta comunicazione. Altre domande si affacciavano alla mente: «Ho insegnato come dimostrare rispetto usando la lingua straniera studiata?» E ancora: «Ho evidenziato adeguatamente come, per esempio, l’assenza di un condizionale possa far percepire una mia richiesta rivolta a un interlocutore straniero come invasiva o irrispettosa?». Nel cercare di darmi delle risposte, promisi a me stessa che nei miei futuri interventi formativi non avrei mancato di richiamare l’attenzione dei docenti sulle conseguenze sociali determinate da inadeguate modalità di manifestazione del proprio pensiero facendo riferimento alla Raccomandazione del Comitato dei Ministri del Consiglio d’Europa del 30 ottobre 1997, in cui per la prima volta si tentò di definire il termine hate speech.
L’insegnamento delle lingue straniere e della lingua materna (o di studio per chi proviene da altro Paese per compiere gli studi qui in Italia) hanno, dunque, un ruolo determinante per lo sviluppo delle competenze civiche delle future generazioni. Ciò vale anche per tutte le altre discipline presenti del curricolo scolastico perché ognuna concorre alla formazione del futuro cittadino al di là delle abilità e dei saperi pertinenti. Umberto Margiotta, mio riferimento sicuro durante il dottorato e prematuramente scomparso nel 2019, parlava di “obiettivi sociali” della scuola la quale, attraverso l’insegnamento, è in grado di trasformare gli obiettivi di conoscenza in obiettivi formativi: «in ciò sta il proprium dell’azione dell’insegnare» (Il valore formativo delle discipline, Rivista dell’Istruzione, 4, 2016, p. 73).
In queste poche righe si concentra, dunque, la ragione del titolo di questo numero della nostra rivista, Il contributo delle discipline nel progetto educativo. Si tratta di una dimensione sulla quale l’ANFIS ha fortemente voluto riportare l’attenzione dei nostri lettori tenendo vivo, così, il lascito di tanti pedagogisti che ci hanno preceduto e che ci hanno indicato la strada, primo tra tutti J. Dewey che, per usare le parole di Cambi (2005), ci ha rappresentato la pedagogia e l’educazione come «chiavi-di-volta di una società democratica» (Le pedagogie del Novecento. Roma-Bari: Laterza, p. 51).
Ecco, dunque, come gli Autori che hanno collaborato alla definizione di questo numero di Idee in form@zione analizzano il ruolo delle discipline in relazione allo sviluppo globale dei futuri cittadini.
La sezione “Studi e riflessioni” si apre con il contributo di Mario Piatti dal titolo La musica tra educazione e disciplina. Piatti si interroga sulla funzione sociale dell’educazione musicale e propone una visione olistica dello sviluppo delle nuove generazioni. In altre parole, si sfata la centralità delle “materie” cosi da favorire la valorizzazione della dimensione trasversale della formazione e cancellare la gerarchia tra le discipline scolastiche perché è la realtà del mondo la vera unica “materia” di cui la scuola deve occuparsi.
Il secondo contributo, scritto da Ivo Mattozzi, si intitola L’insegnamento della storia locale può contribuire all’educazione alla cittadinanza? Nell’articolo l’Autore argomenta le potenzialità formative dello studio della storia a scala locale nel contribuire a sviluppare l’uso intelligente e critico delle tracce, a comprendere i nessi tra presente e passato, a partecipare alla tutela e alla valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale, ad assumere parte attiva e critica nelle storie in corso.
La prima sezione di questo numero si conclude con l’articolo di Roberto Castaldo e Rosanna Genni Educare alla complessità: l’umanistica digitale come piattaforma educativa. L’articolo affronta la questione della presunta distanza tra discipline umanistiche e scientifiche, così come tra competenze tecnologiche e competenze linguistiche, personali, relazionali e di cittadinanza. Gli Autori testimoniano la necessità e la possibilità di superare il modello che fraziona la realtà in angusti e ristretti “orti disciplinari” attraverso la presentazione dell’esperienza dell’IIS Europa di Pomigliano d’Arco nell’ambito del percorso Web marketing innovativo-Indirizzo commerciale dei Nuovi Istituti Professionali.
La seconda sezione, “Pratica formativa”, si apre con l’articolo Esperienze di didattica delle scienze tra citizen science, student voice e peer-tutoring di Attilio Arces, Orietta Ferronato, Gianfranco Santovito, Salvatore Vicari e Michele Zanata. In questo contributo gli Autori tematizzano il valore delle conoscenze scientifiche applicate alla partecipazione consapevole alle decisioni sociali, anche attraverso l’attivazione di soft skill, e sottolineano quanto l’apprendimento realizzato attraverso la prospettiva della citizen science possa generare esperienze di cittadinanza.
Segue l’articolo in inglese di Vincenza Leone e Magdalena Brzezińska Transatlantic Educators Dialogue (TED) Program for Global Citizenship. Le Autrici sono convinte che la cittadinanza locale non debba escludere quella globale e che è fondamentale per gli insegnanti stessi impegnarsi nel dialogo in una dimensione transnazionale. A questo proposito illustrano una esperienza realizzata nell’ambito del programma TED che ha visto sistemi e pratiche educative europee e americane confrontarsi e promuovere con successo la collaborazione transatlantica e l’apprendimento tra pari.
Il titolo del contributo di Marzia Bucalossi è Fare arte a scuola. Linguaggi, creatività, espressioni. Il valore dell’esperienza per coniugare il “fare” con il “pensare” per una formazione globale e integrata. Nel contributo l’Autrice discute del valore dei linguaggi espressivi e li rappresenta come straordinaria risorsa educativa perché stimolano e risvegliano capacità intellettuali, affettive e civiche contribuendo alla maturazione di dimensioni trasversali quali la comunicazione, la relazione, la socialità, la riflessione e il senso estetico.
La sezione si conclude con l’articolo di Enrica Ricciardi Un libro, perché no? Breve itinerario nel mondo dei libri per ragazzi. L’articolo offre indicazioni sul panorama editoriale contemporaneo e sui possibili percorsi operativi che, in classe, sostengono la pratica della lettura anche come esperienza di cittadinanza
L’articolo in inglese a nostra firma Learning to mediate. If not now, when? contenuto nella sezione “Lo scaffale del formatore” esamina la categoria della mediazione che rappresenta una delle principali novità nella nuova e più ampia versione ufficiale del Quadro Comune Europeo di Riferimento per le Lingue (CEFR, 2001), denominata CEFR Companion Volume with New Descriptors (CEFR CV, 2018). In particolare, viene focalizzata la parte dedicata a “Mediare la comunicazione” con l’obiettivo di individuare possibili attività da predisporre per potenziare le competenze comunicative degli studenti.
La sezione intitolata “La voce dei docenti in formazione” quest’anno accoglie i contributi di Martina Ghio, Giuseppina Rampazzo e Lisa Foroni.
Martina Ghio racconta il momento illuminante in cui è riuscita a cogliere il potenziale educativo del gioco. Giuseppina Rampazzo analizza il suo incontro con l’esperienza di Don Milani proprio nei luoghi fisici che ospitarono la Scuola di Barbiana. Lisa Foroni riflette sulla importanza di dedicare del tempo a se stessi e di riflettere, anche da persone adulte, sulle azioni da intraprendere per governare il nostro percorso formativo lungo tutto l’arco della vita.
La sezione “Letti per voi” accoglie le recensioni curate da Eleonora Aquilini, Alberto Gelmi, Carmen Genchi, Elefteria Morosini e Luisanna Paggiaro. Eleonora Aquilini presenta il volume Rinnovare l’insegnamento delle scienze. Aspetti storici, epistemologici, psicologici, pedagogici e didattici di Carlo Fiorentini. Alberto Gelmi offre le sue riflessioni in merito a Sull’attualità di Tullio De Mauro a cura di Ugo Cardinale. Il volume recensito da Carmen Genchi è La Valutazione integrata. Tra discipline e competenze: una guida metodologica e operativa di Alberto Ferrari e Maria Renata Zanchin. Elefteria Morosini illustra Il futuro oggi. Storie per orientarsi tra studi e lavori di Ornella Scandella. Luisanna Paggiaro recensisce un volume in lingua italiana, Cittadinanza globale e sviluppo sostenibile. 60 lezioni per un curriculum verticale a cura di Fernando M. Reimers, Giovanna Barzanò, Loredana Fisichella e Maria Lissoni, e uno in lingua inglese, Language Education in a Changing World. Challenges and Opportunities di Rod Bolitho e Richard Rossner.
Infine, nella sezione “Traduzioni”, abbiamo scelto di proporre in italiano un articolo pubblicato nel 2020 da Noriko Ishihara il cui titolo originale è The Language of Respect and Dignity for Intercultural Understanding and Conflict Resolution: Application to Diplomacy and Education. Abbiamo iniziato questo Editoriale proprio ricordando il ruolo determinante della scuola nell’affrontare la questione della violenza verbale. Chiudiamo questo numero di Idee in form@zione con questo articolo perché vi si offre un esempio concreto di come l’educazione alla comunicazione rispettosa possa essere efficacemente realizzata a scuola coinvolgendo più materie scolastiche e perché è un forte richiamo alla riflessione sulle potenzialità formative di tutte le discipline scolastiche che vanno ben oltre i meri saperi disciplinari.
... PR3 no rechaza esa explicación, pero su valoración negativa del trabajo realizado por ET5 se mantiene, dado que los argumentos de la estudiante no justifican todos sus resultados. El turno de PR3 se organiza con la estructura sí, però, que ha sido estudiada en varias lenguas y descrita como un mecanismo de acuerdo parcial con el que se retrasa y atenúa el desacuerdo que llega con el pero (Pomerantz, 1984;Holtgraves, 1997). PR3 usa otros mecanismos de atenuación, como un inciso con una estructura parecida a la descarga de responsabilidad vista en (5): que jo puc estar d'acord. ...
El estudio de la empatía se ha convertido en un foco de interés para disciplinas muy diversas y a la vez complementarias, cuyas aportaciones han permitido empezar a vislumbrar cómo se vehicula esta capacidad en una gran variedad de situaciones desde un punto de vista lingüístico y paralingüístico. Dentro de la investigación en el marco del discurso institucional, este artículo se propone analizar el papel de la empatía en tutorías universitarias, un género marcado por unas características definitorias concretas que parten de una desigualdad jerárquica entre profesor y estudiante. Más concretamente, el análisis cualitativo de un corpus de veinte tutorías universitarias se centra en los mecanismos de atenuación a través de los cuales se puede manifestar la empatía en casos en los que el profesor está en desacuerdo con el estudiante. Los resultados ilustran que el posicionamiento más o menos cercano de los profesores respecto a su rol institucional, que depende del tema concreto que estén discutiendo con los estudiantes, determina la presencia de mecanismos lingüísticos de atenuación con valor empático. Cuando adoptan un rol marcadamente institucional, la empatía se mantiene a un nivel cognitivo y no entra en el terreno afectivo. Mediante el análisis pormenorizado de estas manifestaciones, este estudio aplica los avances en la exploración de la empatía y su relación con la atenuación en un contexto y una lengua concretos para contribuir al estudio de este fenómeno.
Words not only describe the world but also influence the world or modify relationships (Austin, 1965; Pinker et al,, 2008). Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has presented his competence in influencing or even shaping diplomatic relationships through his words and utterances. This study explores the ways in which he has been successful as a strategic speaker (Lee & Pinker, 2010), establishing solidarity with Japan using the soft power introduced by Nye (2004, 2011). By closely examining his 12-minute online speech at the Japanese parliament in March 2022, it investigates the extent to which his speech has exerted influence on the Japanese people as well as on the two countries’ relationship. As for methodology, the data of an English-translated script were analyzed by adopting politeness theory (Brown & Levinson, 1987), which stems from the concept of “face” (Goffman, 1967), a positive social value in social interaction. Specifically, all of President Zelensky’s utterances were evaluated by three factors that account for politeness strategies – relative power, social distance, and weight of imposition. Based on this analysis and the responses in Japan, this study argues that his speech adopted not only face-threatening but also face-boosting effects (Bayraktaroğlu, 1991), building common ground as an affiliation strategy and generating solidarity and soft power. This study concludes that President Zelensky’s speech to Japan contributes to consolidating solidarity in Japanese minds and soft power, which have encouraged the Japanese government and its citizens to continue supporting Ukraine financially, psychologically, and diplomatically.
Modern Chinese concessive connective kě shì (e.g., kàn shàngqù bù zěnmeyàng, kě shì chī qǐlái què tǐng bùcuò ‘it looks not so good, but it tastes quite good’) did not develop from a clause-initial emphatic kě shì structure that has a pragmatic counter expectation meaning (e.g., kě shì tā shuō de ‘it was really she who said it’), but from an affirmative response marker kě shì in Early Modern Chinese (e.g., kě shì ne, míng’er nǐ sòng wǒ shénme? ‘quite right, what do you send me as gifts tomorrow?’). Shì in the connective did not develop from a copula shì, but from an adjective shì meaning ‘right, true’ (e.g., rán, shì yě ‘right, it’s true’). The hypothesized pathway may be explained as the grammaticalization of an affirmative response marker used in the context of token agreement, and may be adopted to account for the formation of an Old Chinese concessive connective rán (e.g., rán Zhèng wáng, zǐ yì yǒu bùlì yān ‘but if Zheng State perishes, it serves you no good, either’). It gives support to an extra-clausal source for the formation of a sentence connective.
Adopting a Conversation Analysis approach, this study examined disagreements in casual Taiwanese Mandarin conversations, with a focus on the role of gender, in recorded spoken interactions. The data consisted of 281 spontaneous conversations in ordinary settings among family members, friends, classmates, roommates, and colleagues and were categorized into three broad categories according to relative severity of disagreement: (1) softened disagreements; (2) disagreements neither softened nor strengthened; and (3) strengthened disagreements. The results showed that the three main types of disagreements had similar distributions in the data. In softened disagreement responses, negative politeness was most often used as mitigation, and contrastive markers such as keshi, danshi, and buguo (all meaning 'but') were the most commonly used linguistic markers. In neither softened nor strengthened disagreements, clarification was the pragmatic strategy used most frequently, and in strengthened disagreements, rhetorical questions were used most often. The data were further analyzed with respect to inter-and intra-gender interactions. Furthermore, the results also indicated that females were generally more polite than males in intra-gender interactions than in inter-gender interactions. This apparent impoliteness in the female-to-male interactions could indicate that the females feigned mock impoliteness in order to show solidarity with their male interlocutors. Some instances of this mock impoliteness were in the form of sajiao ('buttering up someone') by the females in order to persuade males into accepting their opinions.
American televised political shows are under tremendous pressure to succeed within an economic model that requires maximizing viewership. In response to this growing financial pressure, political shows invite contentious guests to discuss current events and issues. Such discussions are often confrontational, making a mockery of the responsibility the news industry has in disseminating information in an impartial and insightful way. Although outrage is a common discourse feature of televised political shows, little is known about what this language looks like and how it is used to argue ideological positions. To this end, drawing from critical discourse analysis, this study investigates the multidimensional and multifunctional aspects of mocking, which is a type of outrage discourse. The findings show that mocking is an important argumentative tool for panel members, which occurs in the turn following an opposing viewpoint and is used to carry out a range of actions, including expressing disagreement, establishing a competing ideological position, and refuting an idea based on an opponent’s political identity, to name a few. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how mocking and mock news feed into partisan ideologies, creating both tribalism and skepticism within society.
This paper examines the relationships among cultural variation, power, disagreement, and mitigation devices. Based on a multi-modal analysis of original data from two TV shows ( Shark Tank in the US and Dragon’s Den in China), it is found that investors’ linguistic performance shows greater frequency and variation in both disagreement and its mitigation, influenced by power and politeness. Regarding the role of cultural variation, this study challenges some stereotypical conceptions of culture with the finding that Chinese participants use negation more often than their US counterparts. Meanwhile, Chinese and American participants choose different disagreement-mitigation formats: In the US Shark Tank investors tend to initiate disagreements by enforcing explicitness and entrepreneurs tend to mitigate them by offering explanations, while in the Chinese Dragon’s Den investors tend to utter negations and then mitigate them with qualifiers or alternative statements. Moreover, the American show also contains cases where the pre-set power-asymmetrical relationship changes during the course of presentation, and entrepreneurs with increasing power start to challenge investors by asking them various questions. However, this alteration of power relationships appears to be more difficult in the Chinese context.
Kindness is a pro-social virtue, which evokes mixed feelings in the modern world. In Western culture, for example, kindness is always positive, but elitist. The Digital Revolution and the birth of artificial intelligence, such as the Google Mini, allowed the transition from elitist experience to mass experience. The study has an exploratory function and starts from the Man-AI interaction, in a provocative and oppositional conversational context created by the Human Being. In the research, it is hypothesized, therefore, that the synthesis of the artificial voice does not allow to characterize all the facets of the tone and the emotionality of the kindness. As a result, Artificial Intelligence is programmed to always respond in a “gentle” way, putting in place different facets of kindness, which are well detected in the emotionality and prosodic analysis, above all in the recognition of “pitch” speech pattern. While emotional tone analysis confirms the “understanding” of reading the communicative context of Artificial Intelligence. Among future perspectives it is highlighted how the study of these vocal patterns of artificial kindness can be a springboard for research on bullying, using the Google Mini Kindness tool.
Social robots employed for childcare must conform to the norms of human society if they are to help children acquire valuable interpersonal interaction skills through the inculcation of behavioral attributes such as politeness. A survey of working parents identified certain behavioral principles necessary for social robots used with children at varying stages of their social development. A set of politeness principles was derived from scholarly discussions on human courtesy to design appropriately polite social robots. In communicating courteously with children, social robots must be able to express intimacy (i.e., friendliness), respect opinions (i.e., agreeableness), and remember previous interactions (i.e., attentiveness). These principles should improve children’s evaluation of the robots and enhance their perception of the machines’ sociality, likability, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness. The results obtained from this study confirm that the priorities of etiquette must be modified according to the developmental stages of children. These outcomes offer practical implications for the design of social robots.
Goffman's concepts of face and face-work have been used by researchers in recent years to explain the interpersonal underpinnings of language use. Most notable in this regard is the research of Brown and Levinson, whose theory of politeness has stimulated considerable research on this topic. By operationalizing face-work in terms of specific linguistic strategies and by linking face concerns with the major interpersonal dimensions of social interaction, this research has led to theoretical advances in explaining how speakers will phrase their remarks. This research is summarized and reviewed in this article, and I argue that face-management theory has the potential to explain comprehensively how speakers will phrase all remarks that have interpersonal implications. Moreover, because of the centrality of face in social interaction, I argue that face management theory has the potential to explain certain features of related communication phenomena such as language comprehension, person perception, and cross-cultural communication.
The present paper is concerned with the knowledge or cognitive representations which individuals must possess in order to understand utterances occurring in conversations. We examined Brown and Levinson's (1978) model which reconciles the Cooperative Principle of Grice (1975) with the face-wants of conversational interactants by relativising the operation of abstract principles of conversation to aspects of the social relationship between the speaker and hearer. In an empirical study of ironic sarcasm and banter, Brown and Levinson's model is found to require an additional relationship parameter, ‘relationship affect’, to account for the ways in which neutral observers interpret counter-to-fact insults and compliments. As predicted, the literal meanings of utterances are also found to influence observers' cognitive representations of the relationship between speaker and hearer. However, unexpected correlations among the relationship variables suggest that the model's additivity assumption may need to be relinquished.
A large proportion of compliment responses deviate from the model response of accepting compliments. A close examination of those responses reveals that while rejections are frequent, they are not performed as preferred seconds. While various sequential features suggest that determination, one indication is that most compliment responses lie somewhere in between acceptances and agreements on the one hand and rejections and disagreements on the other hand. This chapter describes an organization, which accounts, in part, for the in between-ness of compliment responses. The chapter presents descriptions of constraint systems bearing on compliment responses and describes solution types to conflicting constraints as displayed by compliment responses. The productions of compliment responses are sensitive to the cooperation of multiple constraint systems. One preference system is that of supportive actions, which are responses that legitimize, ratify, and affirm prior compliments. A second constraint system is that of self-praise avoidance.
This study investigated the influences of three situational variables and interpersonal construct differentiation on the use of face-saving strategies. Speakers carried out role-play persuasive tasks that were varied on the dimensions of speaker power, request magnitude, and familiarity. The resulting messages were coded for the dominant levels of autonomy granting and positive face support provided to the target. Speakers provided more face support when they had relatively little power. Furthermore, this effect was stronger for positive face support than for autonomy granting. Speakers also granted more autonomy when making large requests, especially when they had relatively little power. With respect to familiarity, speakers provided less face support to familiar targets when small requests were involved but provided more face support when making large requests. The study also found several interactions between construct differentiation and the situational factors. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
This study extended Brown and Levinson's model of politeness in order to explain more complicated forms of interaction and proposed three different types of facework: solidarity, approbation, and tact. The effects of three social factors—relational intimacy, power difference, and the right to perform a given act in a given situation—on the three types of facework were examined. Relational intimacy was the strongest positive predictor of facework. Its effect was consistent across different types of facework and across different levels of power and right. The right to perform a certain act and speaker's power decreased facework, but these effects were mediated by relational intimacy, achieving significance mainly in distant relationships. The study also examined the relationships among different types of facework. Respondents used multiple types of facework when multiple face wants were threatened, and the use of one type of facework did not decrease the use of other types.
This experimental study examined the effects of accounts, 'offender' and 'victim/witness' sex, and sex-role orientation on rating scales and 'behaviouroid' and behavioural measures. Participants who spent up to 45 minutes completing questionnaires that proved unusable due to a confederate's error were exposed to one of four systematically varied accounts or explanations. Account type, participant and confederate sex, and participant sex-role orientation served as predictor variables. In general, concessions and excuses yielded more positive impressions, greater commitment on the part of participant victims to help the offender, and greater help than did refusals, but the effectiveness of accounts also depended on by whom they were proffered. Results demonstrated partial support for politeness theory predictions.