Politness Theory

Politness Theory

1. Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson

   • POLITNESS It is possible to specify a number of different general principles for being polite in social interaction within a perticular culture. Some of these might include being tactful, generous, modest, and sympathetic toward others.
     • Politness can be defined as the means employed to show awareness of another person´s face.

2. FACE

   • It means the public self- image of a person. It refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expexts everyoneelse to recognize.
     • POSITIVE FACE
       • It is the need to be accepted, even liked, by others, to be treated as a member of the same group, and to know that his/ her wants are shared by others. In shorts, it is the need to be connected.
         • A POSITIVE POLITNESS STRATEGY leads to appeal to a common goal, friendship: -COMPLIMENTS -GREETINGS -SIGNS OF APPROVAL -AVOID DISAGREEMENT -MAKE JOKES
     • NEGATIVE FACE
       • It is the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and not to be imposed on by others.
         • The most typical form of NEGATIVE POLITNESS STRATEGY is a question containing: -A MODAL VERB (CAN, COULD, MIGHT) -APOLOGIES -HEDGING EXPRESSIONS (I THINK, MAYBE)

3. LAS REGLAS DE LA CORTESÍA DE R. LAKOFF

   • 1973
   • DOS REGLAS BÁSICAS
     • Sea claro
       • Asegurar una transmisión eficaz de la información
     • Sea cortés
       • Reducir las tensiones creadas en la interacción 3 MODALIDADES
         • -NO SE IMPONGA -OFREZCA OPCIONES -REFUERCE LOS LAZOS

4. Leech: La Cortesía

   • El principio regulador de la distancia social y su equilibrio: gracias a ella mantenemos o disminuimos la distancia social.
     • Permite medir la adecuación entre el enunciado y el grado de distancia social, a esto le llamamos CORTESÍA RELATIVA. Además existe una CORTESÍA ABSOLUTA, que es una característica propia de algunos actos.
   • Algunas ILOCUCIONES, por ejemplo las ordenes, son descorteses; y otras, por ejemplo los ofrecimientos son corteses.
   • MÁXIMAS DE CORTESÍA DE LEECH
     • 1.-Máxima de tacto 2.-Máxima de generosidad 3.-Máxima de aprobación 4.-Máxima de modestia 5.-Máxima de acuerdo 6.-Máxima de simpatía