theories Flashcards
(20 cards)
Grice — successful conversation
has to keep to 4 maxims:
quality: be truthful
quantity: say enough
relevance: to the point
manner: be clear
Brown & Levinson — Positive Politeness
to NOT threaten someones positive face
the desire to be valued giving compliments
attend to the hearer
avoid disagreement
assume agreement
hedge opinion
how do people feel when their POSITIVE FACE is threatened
feel embarrassed
how do people feel when their NEGATIVE FACE is threatened
annoyed
Brown & Levinson — Negative Politeness
to NOT threaten someones negative face
the desire not to be imposed upon, asking someone to do something
be indirect
request forgiveness
minimise imposition
pluralise the person responsible
Brown & Levinson — Off-Record (Indirect)
give hints
be vague
be sarcastic or joking
Brown & Levinson — Face Threatening Acts
an act which challenges the face wants of an interlocutor
- impoliteness, taboo language, dismissal of others, lack of sympathy, seeking disagreement, invading space, sarcasm, making others uncomfortable, discussing sensitive topics
Leech’s Maxims
TACT maxim: minimise COST to OTHER
GENEROSITY maxim: minimise BENEFIT to SELF
APPROBATION maxim: minimise DISPRAISE of OTHER
MODESTY maxim: minimise PRAISE of SELF
AGREEMENT maxim: minimise DISAGREEMENT between SELF AND OTHER
SYMPATHY maxim: minimise ANTIPATHY between SELF AND OTHER
FAIRCLOUGH — Synthetic Personalisation
mass media create a relationship between themselves and the audience through personalised language.
this can be achieved through the choice of pronouns, modals, and an informal, casual tone.
it makes the audience feel as if they are being personally addressed
FAIRCLOUGH — instrumental vs influential power
instrumental: used to maintain and enforce authority by authority figures
influential: to influence and persuade
MARTIN JOOS’ FORMALITY
FROZEN: set phrases or conventional structures
FORMAL: speaker addressing an audience — no exchanges or interruptions
CONSULTATIVE: interactions and informal exchanges between anyone. not necessarily family or friends
CASUAL: informal setting between friends or people who know each other well. may use colloquialisms or interruptions.
INTIMATE: reserved for close friends and family in private, may have code words or shared context
WAREING — POWER
3 distinct areas
POLITICAL power: held by people with authority
PERSONAL power: based on an individual’s occupation or role in society
SOCIAL GROUP power: held by a group of people due to certain social factors
STUBBE & HOLMES — doing power/occupational power
Power is assigned to participants based on their role and function within the workplace.
People in a superior or managerial position use what is called ‘doing power’ over their colleagues through language choices
However, in different circumstances managers & workers adopt ‘doing collegiality’ and ‘doing friendship’ as the structure of the modern work places adapt from a traditional structured managerial hierarchy
Goffman — face
image you want to present to other people
Goffman & Lakoff — Framing
The way we use ideas, stories, metaphors, & connections to make sense of the world.
The different way things are framed effects peoples views and ideals
Howard Giles — attitudes to dialects
experiment listening to arguments from RP, South Wales, Somerset & Birmingham accents
concluded; standard accent carries a great deal of authority, but non-standard can be very persuasive
William Labov — Marthas Vineyard
original inhabitants diverged their language from visitors and converged their language to that of the fishermen, who the held in higher esteem than the visitors. this sociolect then became the norm of the people living in Martha’s Vineyard
William Labov - New York Department Stores
the more expensive the store, and therefore arguably the more affluent the shopper, the more likely it is that the staff will use SE and Standard pronunciation
Peter Trudgill — Norwich (1974)
- Men more likely to use NSE than women
- Men believed that they used NSE more often than they did in reality
- Women believed that they used SE more than they did in reality
- Working class people are more likely to use NSE and middle & upper class people
Lesley Milroy (with James Milroy and others) — Belfast (1980)
People in closed networks used more non-standard forms.
Non-Standard forms are less evident in women’s speech because the women belong to less dense social networks
