Chapter 11 - Solidarity and Politeness

Question 1

What are the aspects of communication discussed in class

Answer 1

o Pronominal choice (tu/vous)
o Naming and address terms
o Politeness markers

Question 2

what was the pronominal choice distinction that used to exist in english?

Answer 2

Thee/thou (now highly marked)

Question 3

what is most important about naming practices?

Answer 3

• Must be appropriate for both parties

Question 4

Who are the Nuer?

Answer 4

Pastoral people living in Southern Sudan with a very complicated naming system

• special names for twins
• women have an ox name
• once married they change it to a cow name

Question 5

• Choice of name used depends on your knowledge of

Answer 5

• who the other person is

- What the circumstances are

Question 6

What did a 1960s study about terms of address demonstrate?

Answer 6

o Asymemetrical Title Last Name /First Name = inequality in power
o Mutual TLN = inequality & unfamiliarity
o Mutual FN = equality & familiarity

Question 7

what is the least intimate form of address?

Answer 7

By title alone (rank or occupation)

Question 8

what can using first name indicate?

Answer 8

o A sign of considerable intimacy

o A desire for intimacy

Question 9

what’s an example of a false claim to solidarity?

Answer 9

Car salesperson using your first name

Question 10

What are the Dangers in cross-cultural communication

Answer 10

different relationships are expressed through what appears to be the same address system
e.g. an immigrant using TLN to colleagues = too formal

Question 11

what does asymmetrical use of names indicate? ex.

Answer 11

Power differential

ex. Teacher and student

Question 12

How has naming distinguished races in southern states?

Answer 12

• Southern States:
- boy to address black males : “what’s your name boy”
• E.g. FN toward blacks, TLN toward whites

Question 13

in what example did a manager chose ‘good business’ over ‘reinforcing social inequality’

Answer 13

• In a restaurant a black woman wanted to be called by last name

Question 14

What are our choices in addressing people?

Answer 14

no title = good morning
familiar = good morning May
Polite = Good morning Ms/ White

Question 15

give 2 examples of languages that employs kinship terms as address terms

Answer 15

ex. 1 Japanese has two terms for relationships, one within the family and another outside
ex. 2 vietnamese use generational/ age based kinship terms as forms of adress

Question 16

what are the social factors influencing our address decisions?

Answer 16

o The particular occasion
o Social status
o Age
o Family relationship
o Occupation hierarchy
o transactional status

Question 17

How do we choose the correct term of address in the military

Answer 17

Hierarchical strcuture

ex. Military must maintain chain of command while also showing solidarity

Question 18

choosing the term of address difficult in the business world?

Answer 18

Hierarchical structure
o Relative rank = the key factor
o Status usually overrides age difference

Question 19

why is choosing the term of address difficult in hierarchical structures?

Answer 19

o Those at the bottom seek to minimize their difference in status
o Those at the top seek to maximize that difference
= power struggle (top want formal address, bottom want familiar address)

Question 20

Give example of how social change can change terms of address

Answer 20

ex. Modern China
• Communist party promotes Tongzhi ‘comrade’ = to replace titles for owners/ employers/honorific titles - to unite people
• Some titles are still used ‘teachers’ ‘doctor’
• Tonghi is used - In neutral situations or to keep another at arm’s length

Question 21

What’s the difference in terms of address for achieved vs. inherited status? example?

Answer 21

Achieved: Status derives from his or her achievements = few distinctions in address
-Basic forms of address
-other means for signalling relationships
Ex. English in NA
Inherited: Status is ascribed = sets of finely graded address terms that reflect the social structures
Ex. Java

Question 22

What can our choice of pronominal forms and address terms show?

Answer 22

o Solidarity, power, distance, respect, intimacy etc.

o Awareness of social circumstances (politeness)

Question 23

Is politeness socially prescribed?

Answer 23

YES, We could not be impolite if there weren’t rules of politeness

Question 24

Being polite is…

Answer 24

• taking account for feelings of others
• making others feels comfortable
• speaking to people appropriately to the light of their relationship to you

Question 25

What is considered rude?

Answer 25

• Inappropriate linguistic choices = rude

-e.g. saying stop talking to a superior

Question 26

being polite involves assessing what?

Answer 26

social relations
o Social distance/solidarity
o Relative power/status

Question 27

Who proposed the term ‘Face’

Answer 27

Goffman

Question 28

What is ‘Face’

Answer 28

o In social interaction we present a face to others and must Protect our own face and faces of others
o Each time we interact
-Mini-drama
-a ritual
-each party recognizes the identity of the other
o no faceless communication

Question 29

Who proposed the Politeness theory?

Answer 29

• Brown and Levinson

Question 30

What is the politeness theory?

Answer 30

model of politeness based on the notion of face

Question 31

how did Brown and Levinson define face?

Answer 31

the public self image that every member wants to claim for himself

Question 32

What are the 2 aspects of face described by the politeness theory (brown and levinson)?

Answer 32

• positive face: desire for appreciation and approval by others
• negative face: the desire not to be imposed upon by others, or have your desires impeded by others

Question 33

What are the 2 kinds of politeness described by the politeness theory?

Answer 33

1) Positive politeness: moves to achieve solidarity
- offers of friendship, use of compliments, informal language use
ex. symmetrical T/V use
2) Negative politeness: leads to difference, apologizing, indirectness and formality in language use
ex. Asymmetrical T/V use

Question 34

What are Face threatening acts?

Answer 34

• Acts that ‘impinge on the hearer’s need to maintain their self-esteem and be respected”

Question 35

Example of negative politeness?

Answer 35

◦ Being indirect: “I’m looking for a pen.”
◦ Requesting forgiveness:
“You must forgive me but, I really need you to get this
done.”
◦ Minimizing imposition:
“I just want to ask you if I could use your computer.”
◦ Pluralize the person responsible:
“We forgot to tell you that you needed to buy your ticket
by yesterday to have the discount.”

Question 36

Examples of positive politeness?

Answer 36

◦ Attending to the hearer: 
“You must be hungry, it’s a long time since breakfast. 
How about some lunch?” 
◦ Avoiding disagreement: 
“Yes, yes, she’s small, smallish, um, not really small but 
certainly not very big.” 
◦ Assume agreement: 
“So when are you coming to see us?”

Question 37

Describe the characteristics of positive politeness

Answer 37

• The speaker recognizes the hearer’s need to be respected
• Shows that that relationship is friendly
• Shows group reciprocity

Question 38

Describe the characteristics of negative politeness

Answer 38

• Recognizes the hearer’s face +

* The speaker is aware that they are imposing

Question 39

Explain the complicated politeness in Javanese

Answer 39

• Two socially ranked Dialects with 3 styles: High, middle and low
• For many words there are 3 distinct variants according to which style you are using
• High/low honourifics
> you must first decide which dialect, then choose a style (6 choices for each word)

Question 40

•French politeness formula has 3 components:

Answer 40

1) An initial mitigating component (short/long/ Ø)
ex. Est-ce-que
2) The central request
3) A final component / Ø
ex. S’il vous plait

Question 41

How does utterance length relate to politeness? What is the problem?

Answer 41

The longer the utterance the more polite it is. It could come of as sarcastic

Question 42

Which french formulas are power-loaded/rude and which is overdone?

Answer 42

Ø - request - Ø = RUDE

Long mitigator - request - final = Overdone or sarcastic