Literature Review
Definition:
Politeness in general terms is the applied mechanisms and behavioral modification for the purpose of accommodating the participants in a conversation and in turns earns their respect and admiration.
The politeness theory:
Brown and Levinson (1978) introduced the notion of “face” in order to explain politeness in a wider sense. They theorized that most people have two kinds of “face” during a regular conversation, “positive face” and “negative face”. The positive face is the internal idea people have about themselves and their desire to project it onto other people in order to gain praise and approval. The negative face is the possessive part that holds the desire to keep one’s space and property and keep people …show more content…
She mentions the common misbelief that women are more polite than men because they are the weaker sex and therefore need a technique to communicate with men who are the powerful sex. Then she explains her claim that politeness is neither gender governed nor power governed, but rather cultural governed. The bases for this cultural governed politeness are determined by the social status, honor, respect, and the cultural and religious norms. According to Farhat (2013) most women in Arab society have a high and respectful status that requires men to be more polite to them. Men in Arab society must without exception be polite to their mothers, Aunts, and grandmothers. It is both a social and religious rule that women in the family are to be respected and honored. However, this does not mean that men only respect women in their family, an elderly women is always respected in the Arab society even if she is a stranger. Farhat (2013) then explains that in these situations women are in a revered position in the society, given to them not by power or gender, but by the cultural norms. Women can be impolite to men or women in a lesser status however that does not meant that they need not be polite to other men or women. The relationship between gender and politeness is not as general as to say that women are more polite than men but is more specific and is governed by the social and cultural norms. It is a sensitive topic that needs to be studied one case at a
Definition:
Politeness in general terms is the applied mechanisms and behavioral modification for the purpose of accommodating the participants in a conversation and in turns earns their respect and admiration.
The politeness theory:
Brown and Levinson (1978) introduced the notion of “face” in order to explain politeness in a wider sense. They theorized that most people have two kinds of “face” during a regular conversation, “positive face” and “negative face”. The positive face is the internal idea people have about themselves and their desire to project it onto other people in order to gain praise and approval. The negative face is the possessive part that holds the desire to keep one’s space and property and keep people …show more content…
She mentions the common misbelief that women are more polite than men because they are the weaker sex and therefore need a technique to communicate with men who are the powerful sex. Then she explains her claim that politeness is neither gender governed nor power governed, but rather cultural governed. The bases for this cultural governed politeness are determined by the social status, honor, respect, and the cultural and religious norms. According to Farhat (2013) most women in Arab society have a high and respectful status that requires men to be more polite to them. Men in Arab society must without exception be polite to their mothers, Aunts, and grandmothers. It is both a social and religious rule that women in the family are to be respected and honored. However, this does not mean that men only respect women in their family, an elderly women is always respected in the Arab society even if she is a stranger. Farhat (2013) then explains that in these situations women are in a revered position in the society, given to them not by power or gender, but by the cultural norms. Women can be impolite to men or women in a lesser status however that does not meant that they need not be polite to other men or women. The relationship between gender and politeness is not as general as to say that women are more polite than men but is more specific and is governed by the social and cultural norms. It is a sensitive topic that needs to be studied one case at a