Politeness theory


Politeness theory, proposed by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson, centers on the notion of politeness, construed as efforts to redress the affronts to a person's self-esteems or face in social interactions. Notable concepts include positive and negative face, the face threatening act, strategies surrounding FTAs and factors influencing the choices of strategies.
Though Brown and Levinson proposed their model as universally applicable, their theory has been challenged by other scholars both theoretically and with respect to its cross-cultural applicability.

Positive and negative face

The concept of face was derived from Chinese into English in the 19th century. "Face" conceptualized as an individual's positive claim of social values in socializing contact was introduced into academia by Erving Goffman through his theories of "face" and "facework". According to Brown and Levinson's assumption in politeness theory based on Goffman's "face", one's face is categorized into two forms: positive and negative. Brown and Levinson defined positive face two ways: as "the want of every member that his wants be desirable to at least some others executors", or alternatively, "the positive consistent self-image or 'personality' claimed by interactants". Negative face was defined as "the want of every 'competent adult member' that his actions be unimpeded by others", or "the basic claim to territories, personal preserves, rights to non-distraction—i.e. the freedom of action and freedom from imposition". Whereas positive face involves a desire for connection with others, negative face needs include autonomy and independence.
Ten years later, Brown characterized positive face by desires to be liked, admired, ratified, and related to positively, noting that one would threaten positive face by ignoring someone. At the same time, she characterized negative face by the desire not to be imposed upon, noting that negative face could be impinged upon by imposing on someone. Positive face refers to one's self-esteem, while negative face refers to one's freedom to act. These two aspects of face are the basic wants in any social interaction; during any social interaction, cooperation is needed amongst the participants to maintain each other's face. Participants can do this by using positive politeness and negative politeness, which pay attention to people's positive and negative face needs respectively.

Face-threatening acts

According to Brown and Levinson, positive and negative face exist universally in human culture; it has been argued that the notion of face is the actual universal component to their proposed politeness theory. A face threatening act is an act that inherently damages the face of the addressee or the speaker by acting in opposition to the wants and desires of the other. Face threatening acts can be verbal, paraverbal, or non-verbal. Based on the terms of conversation in social interactions, face-threatening acts are at times inevitable. At minimum, there must be at least one of the face threatening acts associated with an utterance. It is also possible to have multiple acts working within a single utterance.

Negative face-threatening acts

Negative face is threatened when an individual does not avoid or intend to avoid the obstruction of their interlocutor's freedom of action. It can cause damage to either the speaker or the hearer, and makes one of the interlocutors submit their will to the other. Freedom of choice and action are impeded when negative face is threatened.

Damage to the hearer

Damage to the speaker

Positive face-threatening acts

Positive face is threatened when the speaker or hearer does not care about their interactor's feelings, wants, or does not want what the other wants. Positive face threatening acts can also cause damage to the speaker or the hearer. When an individual is forced to be separated from others so that their well-being is treated less importantly, positive face is threatened.

Damage to the hearer

Damage to the speaker

Refusals as threatening both positive and negative face

In their study of refusals to requests, Johnson et al. argue refusals can threaten both the positive and negative face of the refuser, and the positive face of the requester. Obstacles, or reasons for non-compliance with a person's request, can "vary on three dimensions: willingness-unwillingness, ability-inability, and focus on-focus away from the requester".
The willingness dimension differentiates between refusals where the refuser states, "I don't want to help you" and "I'd like to help." Ability differentiates between, "I'm short on cash" and "I have some extra money." Focus on-focus away from requester differentiates between, "It's your problem, so you take care of it" and "It's terrible that your mom won't give you the money."
When a person makes a request, their positive face is threatened mostly along the ability and unwillingness dimensions. People tend to make requests of "intimates," people they are supposed to know well/have a good relationship with. Threat to the requester's positive face increases when the requester chooses a person who has low ability/inability to fulfill the request or is unwilling to comply ; choosing a person with low ability suggests the requester has poor relational knowledge. On the other hand, choosing a person with high ability decreases threat to the requester's positive face because it shows the requester's competence; choosing a person with high willingness reinforces the requester's choice and decreases threats to positive face.
Choosing to refuse or not refuse a request can threaten the requester's positive and negative faces in different ways. When a person refuses to comply with a request from an intimate, they are violating relational expectations and increasing threat to their positive face; however, focusing attention away from the requester can decrease threat to the requester's positive face even if they are unwilling to help. In contrast, focusing attention on the requester can increase threat to positive face since it highlights the refuser's unwillingness. Accepting a request is the least threatening act.
Threats to the refuser's negative face vary along the ability and focus dimensions. Focusing away from the requester allows the refuser to maintain their autonomy while maintaining the relationship; this leads to less face-threat if the refuser has high ability because they can choose whether to comply or not. Focusing on the requester would threaten their relationship with the requester and their long-term autonomy ; however, if the refuser has low ability, focusing on the requester can actually decrease threats to negative face by showing they are unable to comply even if they wanted to.
*Note: the requester and refuser would be analogous to the "speaker" and "hearer" roles discussed earlier in the section "Face-threatening acts".

Politeness strategies

Politeness strategies are used to formulate messages in order to save the hearer's positive and negative face when face-threatening acts are inevitable or desired. Brown and Levinson outline four main types of politeness strategies: bald on-record, negative politeness, positive politeness, and off-record as well as simply not using the face-threatening act. Jonathan Culpeper also used these strategies and added on them in his impolitness theory. Several factors contribute to the differences in the use of politeness strategies, including work experience, writing skills, and familiarity with appropriate levels of formality.

Bald on-record

Bald on-record strategy does not attempt to minimize the threat to the hearer's face, although there are ways that bald on-record politeness can be used in trying to minimize face-threatening acts implicitly, such as giving advice in a non-manipulative way. Often using such a strategy will shock or embarrass the addressee, and so this strategy is most often utilized in situations where the speaker has a close relationship with the listener, such as family or close friends. Brown and Levinson outline various cases in which one might use the bald on-record strategy, including:

Situations and examples

Positive politeness

Positive politeness strategies seek to minimize the threat to the hearer's positive face. These strategies are used to make the hearer feel good about themselves, their interests or possessions, and are most usually used in situations where the audience knows each other fairly well, or an individual's positive face needs, or self-worth, have to be met. In addition to hedging and attempts to avoid conflict, some strategies of positive politeness include statements of friendship, solidarity, compliments, and the following examples from Brown and Levinson:

Situations and examples

  • Attend to H's interests, needs, wants
  • Use solidarity in-group identity markers
  • Be optimistic
  • Include both speaker and hearer in activity
  • Make offers or promises
  • Exaggerate interest in H and his interests
  • Avoid disagreement
  • Make jokes

    Other purposes and usages

Positive politeness strategies can also emerge in situations where the speakers do not know each other well. For example, Charlotte Rees and Lynn Knight have explored the role politeness theory plays in general practice consultations. They found that, in an effort to remain polite, patients agreed to the presence of a student observer during a general practice consultation even when the patient preferred a private consultation. Rees and Knight concluded that politeness strategies in the medical field can inhibit patients from providing complete and accurate information.
Another use of positive politeness is polite or formal speech such as Japanese honorifics. Again, this type of formal speech can be used to protect the hearer's positive face.