Politeness Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Politeness Theory - Essay ExamplePrimarily, the possible action focuses on the sequential context of utterances, which is deemed little for the comprehensive message interpretation this is nevertheless examined alongside different colloquial factors such as tone and volume. This theory can be applied to a diverse frame of social and professional or academic situations including but non limited to classroom pedagogy and vocabulary teaching. This paper will critically examine the politeness theory by carrying out a critical analysis several journal articles dedicated to various aspects of the concept with particular attention to its application in a pedagogical context as well as an analysis of the various disputations that have been enjoin towards challenging it. Summary of the politeness Theory The fundamental notion behind Brown and Levinson politeness theory is the face, which they defined as the public self-image that each individual in a society desires to claim for him/h erself. They created a binary framework in which the face was categorized as two divergent albeit related aspects videlicet the negative and positive face. The positive face is characterized with the self-image, which holds, and it encapsulates their inherent desire to gain approval and appreciation from new(prenominal) flock. The negative face is characterized by ones not wanting to have their actions inhibited or constrained by or for the sake of others in the context of this theory politeness refers to the steps that individuals pledge in the interests of preservation of both their face and that of their audience. The term has been explicitly defined as the redressive action with which individuals counterbalance the effects of face threatening facts (FTAs) redressive is contextually applied in adduce to actions that give or reinforce face to the audience of the message (Johnson, Roloff & Riffee, 2004). It is suggested that in communication, whether written, face-to-face of through other media, human beings perpetually attempt to maintain each others face. This is manifested in the fact that they a lot try their outmost to avoid creating through discourse, embarrassing or humiliating situations for each other in order to preserve self-esteem. FTAs are defined as action that infringes on the need of the patient of the reading to maintain their self-esteem therefore, one can say that there are acts that intricacy poses a threat to face (Foley, 1997). According to the theory, orders, suggestions advises reminders, threats or warning and similar acts pose a threat to ones negative face, on the other hand, positive face is threatened when they incorporate elements of disapproval, ridicule contempt or accusations and insults. Under the positive strategy, politeness is inclined toward the positive self-perception of the speaker has for himself and the listener as well. This confirms that the speaker takes perception of the listeners need to be respected an d this often happen among close friends or otherwise intimate people (Wilson et al., 1998). The negative politeness on the other hand is based on respect but in a different format as the speaker seeks to respect the negative face wants of the addressee by not interfering with their inherent autonomy of freedom. For example, one may start a request by locution