-
More on the Analysis of Politeness Forms in English and
Persian
Nasser Rashidi1 Leila Sammahnejad2
Language reflects the context in which it is used. We adapt our
talk to suit our audience and talk differently to children,
customers and colleagues. We use language differently in formal and
casual contexts. And all these are also dependant on our speech
community. This study examines the understanding of politeness
phenomena in Shiraz, a city in Iran, between native and non-native
speakers of Persian. Accordingly, two speech acts namely, request
and apology are studied to see the participants perception and
interpretation of the linguistic actions. These speech acts are
selected due to their common occurrence in every day human
interaction. A socio-pragmatic approach is used in this study, one
which according to Leech (1983) is described as the sociological
interference of pragmatics (1983: 10). The analysis shows that the
English speakers use positive politeness more, while the Persian
speaker prefers the negative politeness. Key words:
socio-pragmatics, positive politeness, negative politeness,
context, maxim.
1 - PhD - Shiraz University 2 - M.A.- Shiraz University
-
1. Introduction Generally speaking politeness involves taking
account of the feeling of others. A
polite person makes others feel comfortable. Being
linguistically polite involves speaking to people appropriately in
the light of their relationship to you. Inappropriate linguistic
choices may be considered rude. Making decisions about what is or
is not considered polite in any community, therefore involves
assessing social relationships along the dimensions of social
distance or solidarity, and relative power or status. We need to
understand the social values of a society in order to speak
politely.
The manner in which persons apologize or make a request enables
an evaluation of how polite they are (Holmes, 1995:26). This is
further demonstrated, for example, by the work of Janney and Ardnt
(1993: 14). According to them, politeness is viewed as a rational,
rule-governed, pragmatic aspect of speech that is rooted in the
human need to maintain relationships and avoid conflicts. The
manner of ones speech (thoughts and actions) is crucial in
maintaining or disrupting social harmony. Speech acts are,
therefore, common manifestations of politeness behavior in human
interactions. Linguistic politeness is culturally determined.
Different speech communities emphasize different functions, and
express particular functions differently. The way people decide
which form to use in a particular context depends on some factors
such as the social distance between participants, their relative
status, and the formality of context. 2. Perspectives on
Politeness
According to Fraser (1990), research over the years has shown a
lack of consistency among researchers on what politeness is and how
it may be accounted for. The starting point of this study was to
get a background understanding of politeness. Earlier research
appears to indicate that there are four major perspectives on
politeness. Each of these perspectives is briefly introduced below
and the selected view, the conversational maxim view, which is used
in the present study, would be discussed as well. 2.1. The social
norm view
The social norm view of politeness assumes that each society has
a particular set of social norms consisting of more or less
explicit rules that prescribe a certain behavior, a state of
affairs, or a way of thinking in a context (Fraser, 1990: 220). Ide
(1989) was one of the first to express this view in her study of
politeness phenomena in the Japanese society. 2.2. The
conversational-contract view
In this approach, when entering into a conversation, each party
brings an understanding of some initial set of rights and
obligations that will determine, at least for the preliminary
stages, what the participants can expect from the other(s) (Fraser,
1990: 232). These rights and obligations are based on the parties
social relationships with one another and can be adjusted and
re-adjusted during the course of time or when there is change in
context. 2.3. The Brown and Levinson face-saving view
Brown and Levinson account for language usage by constructing a
Model Person (MP). Their MP is a fluent speaker of a language who
has two special properties, viz., rationality and face. By
rationality Brown and Levinson mean that the MP would be able to
use a specific mode of reasoning to choose means that satisfy
his/her ends. Brown and Levinson (1987: 61) define face as the
public self image that everyone wants to claim for himself. For MP
this means that he/she is endowed with two particular wants or
desires that he/she will try to maintain in interactions with
others. Brown and Levinson refer to these two wants as positive
face (the desire to be accepted and have what one wants approved by
others) and negative face (the desire for autonomy, not to be
imposed by others). 2.4. The conversational-maxim view
The conversational-maxim perspective of politeness relies
principally on the work of Grice (1975). Grice argues that
conversationalists are rational individuals who are, all other
-
things being equal, primarily interested in the efficient
conveying of messages (Fraser, 1990: 222). To this end, Grice
(1975: 45) maintains that the overriding principle in conversation
is the cooperative principle (CP), that is to Make your
conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage which
it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk
exchange in which you are engaged. Simply put, the CP requires one
to say that which has to be said, at the time it has to be said,
and in the manner in which it has to be said.
Grice lists four maxims that follow from the CP, which has
assumes speaker will follow. These are the maxims of quantity,
quality, relation and manner. Grice assumes that the CP is always
observed and that any violations of the maxims signal
conversational explicatures. Furthermore, he suggests that this
principle and these maxims characterize ideal exchanges. Grices
Cooperative Principles (CP)
1. Quantity (QN): Give the right amount of information 2.
Quality (QL): Tell the truth 3. Relevance (R): Be relevant 4.
Manner (M): Be clear and brief
Leech (1983: 80) believes that the CP in itself cannot explain
(i) why people are often so indirect in conveying what they mean;
and (ii) what is the relation between sense and force when
non-declarative types of sentences are being considered. People do
not always adhere to the CP for various reasons. And as a result he
proposes his politeness maxims. Leechs Politeness Principles
(PP)
1. Tact Maxim (TM): Minimize the cost to other 2. Generosity
Maxim (GM): Minimize the benefit to self 3. Approbation Maxim
(APM): Maximize praise of other 4. Modesty Maxim (MM): Minimize
praise of self 5. Agreement Maxim (AGM): Maximize agreement between
self and other 6. Sympathy Maxim (SM): Maximize sympathy between
self and other
In an attempt to account for politeness in this study, the
Grices Cooperative Principles (CP) and Leechs Politeness Maxims
(PP), the two main subcategories of interpersonal rhetorics, are
employed. 3. Method
To gather information on the understanding of politeness in the
target community a questionnaire in the form of discourse
completion task (DCT) adapted from a study by Bharuthram (2003) was
used in this study. The DCT was structured to obtain responses to
both requests and apology situations. The specific situations in
the DCTs reflected potential real-life occurrences within the
target community. The DCT comprised three sections and each
situation in the DCT varied according to the social factors of
social distance, status, age, and gender. Participants were
expected to read each situation in the DCT and respond in the space
provided, by writing in either an apology or a request. The
participants of the present study were a combination of native and
non-native speakers of Persian. The goal was to have a comparison
between the two groups as well. 4. Analysis
To analyze the outcome of the questionnaire the two languages
were contrasted in terms of observing or violating CP or PP maxims.
Because the DCT has many parts and sub parts, two questions from
the request questions and two from the apology were selected
randomly to analyze the results. Requests An acquaintance (female)
owes you some money which is long overdue. You bump into her at the
shopping center and decide to approach her for the money.
YOU:
-
English: (E) Hi! Hows everything? You know, Im a bit short on
cash these days and I was wondering if theres any chance you could
repay the money you owe me.
Persian: (P) Salaam. Khobi? Che khabaraa? Yaadete chand vaqt
qabl Hi. Fine? Hows everything? Do you remember some time ago ye
meqdaar pol ?az man qarz gerefti? Midoni, ?albatte bebaxshidaa some
money from me borrowed you? you know of course sorry ye kaari
daaram ke be pol niaaz daaram. Age daashtam azat one work I have
that money I need. If I had from you nemigereftam. Vali sharmande
laazem daaram. Bebaxshidaa. I wouldnt take but sorry I need
sorry.
Lang PP CP SC P TM,GM VQL,VQN,VM Feel too sorry when ask someone
a request. E GM R,M,QN,QL Say the request without problem.
Apology You had arranged to meet your colleague (female) at the
shopping mall but failed to do so. Later that evening your
colleagues comes home.
Colleague: I waited for you for an entire hour! YOU: English:
(E) Gosh, Im really sorry about this. I completely forgot our
arrangement. Ive been so busy nowadays that I never realized what
day what was today.
Persian: (P) Ey vay! Vaaqe?an sharmande?am. Paak yaadam rafte
b?od. Oh! Really sorry I am. Completely I forgot. Qasde mo?attal
kardane shomaa ro nadaashtam. Baaz ham Intention of holding up you
I didnt. Again M?azerat mixaam. ?omidvaaram mano bebaxsh?id. Im
sorry. I hope me excuse.
Lang PP CP SC P APM,MM,SM VQL,VQN,VM Feel sorry too much when
apologizing E MM VQN,R Explain the excuse and feel sorry
5. Discussion The first task in the request part, we see that
the English speaker requests while
observing the Grices maxims. The native English speaker gives
the right amount of information and is clear and brief while asking
for something. On the other hand, the Persian speaker violates the
quality, quantity, and manner maxims and tries to minimize the cost
to other. He also tries to observe the generosity maxim by
minimizing the benefit to himself. Even when he wants to get his
own money that lends someone he feels sad and sorry. The Persian
speaker uses negative politeness a lot in responding to others. Of
course this act takes the form of exaggeration in his speech and
choice of words.
In the apology part of the DCTs, again we observe the tendency
of Persian speakers exaggeration and repetition, feeling sorry
about what he did wrong. While excusing, the native speaker of
Persian, maximize the praise of others and minimize praise of self.
At the
-
same time he violates the quantity maxim be extending the speech
and also he violates the manner maxim. The English speaker too,
violates the quantity maxim by too much explanation but at least it
has relevance. Like the Persian speaker he observes the modesty
maxim. 6. Conclusion
The central theme of this research was that politeness is
fundamental to human relationships. The more one is willing to
continue the relationship with others, the more he tries to respect
others. Of course, the DCTs were unable to reflect the usage of
non-verbal strategies. According to the DCTs it was clear that age,
power, and sex are crucial factors in human beings interactions.
Females were observed to use more polite forms and receive more.
Also more polite forms are used to address elders than those from
the same age or youngsters.
The analysis of the above exhange units shed lights on the fact
that English speakers use positive politeness more, while the
Persian speakers prefer the negative politeness, not imposing
others, and respecting others privacy. This study confirms the
results of Yarmohammadi (1992) which investigated the offering,
invitation, and complement.
All in all we can say that the request and apology in English is
not as lengthy as it is in Persian. Of course there is no claim of
generalization in this study and more research should be done in
the area of politeness and the functions of language. 7.
Pedagogical Implications
Based upon the analysis and discussion of this study, the
following pedagogical statements can be made:
1. The teachers should make the Iranian students aware about the
cultural differences so that when the students are reading an
English book, they dont become surprised about the way the requests
and apologies are being made in that language.
2. The students awareness about the difference in observing the
maxims in English makes them better speakers of English so that
they would speak to the point.
3. The field of translation would also benefit from the
awareness of translators for the differences in cultures. As a
result we would have better translation works in future.
-
References Bharuthram, Sh. (2003) Politeness Phenomena in the
Hindu sector of the South African
Indian English speaking community Journal of Pragmatics.
35(2).1523-1544. Brown, P. and S.C. Levinson. (1987)
Politeness:Some Universals in Language Usage.
Cambridge University Press. Fraser, B. (1990) Perspective on
Politeness. Journal of Pragmatics 14, 219-236. Grice, H.P. (1975)
Logic and Conversation in Cole, P. and J. Morgan (eds) Syntax
and
Semantics, 3, London: Academic Press. Holmes, J. (1995). An
Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Longman, London. Janny, R.,
Ardnt, H. (1993) University and Relativity in Cross-cultural
Politeness Research:
A Historical Perspective. Multilingua 12(1), 13-50. Ide, S.
(1989). Formal Forms and Discernment: Two Neglected Aspects of
Universals of
Linguistic Politeness. Multilingua 8(2/3), 223-238. Leech, G.
(1983) Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
-
Appendix. Questionnaire: discourse Completion Tasks: 1 Name:
(Optional) ... Gender: Male Female Age group: 15-25 Instructions:
please read the following request and apology situations carefully.
Kindly respond as naturally as possible in the space provided,
writing down exactly what you would say (to the person) in each
situation.
Section A Requests 1. An acquaintance (female) owes you some
money which is long overdue. You bump into
her at the shopping center and decide to approach her for the
money. YOU:
...
.
2. You want to videotape a special function but you do not have
a video camera. You decide to borrow one from a close relative
(female). How would you request for the camera if she is:
a) much older than you
.................................................................................................................................
b) of the same age group as yourself
.................................................................................................................................
c) much younger than you
.................................................................................................................................
3. You park illegally and rush into a supermarket to purchase an
item. As you approach the cashier you see a person (male) in front
of you. how would you ask him permission to cut the queue, if he
is:
a) much older than you
.................................................................................................................................
b) of the same age group as yourself
.................................................................................................................................
c) much younger than you
..................................................................................................................................
4. You have an account that needs to be paid urgently. Although
you have the money, you do not have the time to make the payment.
You know that your brother goes into town daily. You decide to
approach him to pay the account on your behalf.
YOU:
...
5. You need to go into town to conduct some urgent business. You
approach your colleague (male), who lives a gew blocks away from
you, for a lift.
YOU:
...
-
6. You are having a party at your house and want to borrow some
music tapes and CDs from your colleague (female). How would you ask
your colleague if she is:
a) much older than you
..................................................................................................................................
b) of the same age group as yourself
..................................................................................................................................
c) much younger than you
..................................................................................................................................
Section B Apology 1. You have borrowed a video camera from a
close relative (female). While the camera is in
your possession, it is damaged. A few days later your relative
pays you a visit to collect the camera. How would you apologize to
her if she is:
a) much older than you
..................................................................................................................................
b) of the same age group as yourself
..................................................................................................................................
c) much younger than you
..................................................................................................................................
2. While rushing in a crowded supermarket your trolley bumps
into a person (female). How would you apologize if she is:
a) much older than you
..................................................................................................................................
b) of the same age group as yourself
..................................................................................................................................
c) much younger than you
..................................................................................................................................
3. You had agreed to pay along overdue account for your brother.
he handed you the money but you failed to pay the account.
Brother: Did you pay my account? YOU:
...
4. You had arranged to meet your colleague (female) at the
shopping mall but failed to do so. Later that evening your
colleague comes home. Colleague: I waited for you for an entire
hour! YOU:
...
5. You are having a party at home. You borrow music tapes and
CDs from a colleague. He lends them to you on condition that they
are returned the day after the party. After the party you discover
that one of the CDs is missing. How would you apologize for the
missing CD if your colleague is:
a) much older than you
-
.................................................................................................................................
b) of the same age group as yourself
.................................................................................................................................
c) much younger than you
..................................................................................................................................
6. You owe an acquaintance (male) money for some work done. You
meet him at the shopping centre. You apologize for non-payment.
YOU:
...
