Pytania od dr Kuzio
1. DEFINE INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND DESCRIBE FIVE CHARACTERISTICS
OF IT.
Interpersonal communication is a specific type of communication. It occurs between people
and creates personal bond between them. It creates a connection between people, such that
one person’s actions affect and reflect the other person’s actions. It involves paying attention to
the characteristics and circumstances that make the participants unique individuals.
Interpersonal communication is the complex process through which people express, interpret,
and coordinate messages in order to create shared meaning, meet social goals, manage
personal identity, and carry out their relationships.
All two-person (dyadic) interaction is interpersonal.
There are five characteristics of interpersonal communication.
Interpersonal communication is continuous; when we are in the presence of someone, and we
are aware of each other’s presence, we constantly consciously or subconsciously send verbal
and nonverbal messages.
Interpersonal communication is transactional; in each interpersonal communication episode,
each participant gains something from the episode.
Interpersonal communication is irreversible; once the exchange takes place, it can never be
ignored or taken back.
Interpersonal communication is situated; it occurs within a specific communication setting that
affects how the messages are produced, interpreted, and coordinated.
Interpersonal communication is indexical; how we communicate is an index or measure of the
emotional temperature of our relationship at a particular point in time.
Trust is the extent to which partners in a relationship rely on, depend on, and have
faith that their partner will not intentionally do anything to harm them.
Control is the extent to which each person has power or is “in charge” in the
relationship.
Intimacy is the degree of emotional closeness, acceptance, and disclosure in a
relationship
2. DISTINGUISH BETWEEN CONTENT AND RELATIONAL MESSAGES.
Every verbal message contains two kinds of messages.
Content messages are the literal or typical meanings of the symbols used to communicate.
It focuses on a subject being discussed. E.g. Clean your room. Put gas in the car. Pay the
RENT.
Relational messages are the meanings that symbols have for the relationship between
communicators.
They show how the parties feel about each other.
They deal with one or more social needs, such as inclusion, control, affection, respect.
They are often conveyed nonverbally, thus they can be difficult to interpret.
3. DESCRIBE SIX FEATURES OF COMPETENT COMMUNICATION.
Adaptability (flexibility)
a. The ability to change behaviors and goals to meet the needs of interaction
b. Comprised of six factors:
1. Social experience - participation in various social interactions
2. Social composure - refers to keeping calm through accurate perception
3. Social confirmation - refers to acknowledgment of partner’s goals
4. Appropriate disclosure - being sensitive to amount and type of info
5. Articulation - ability to express ideas through language
6. Wit - ability to use humor in adapting to social situations; ease tensions
Conversational Involvement
a. Behavioral and cognitive activity
b. Cognitive involvement demonstrated through interaction behaviors
c. Assessed according to three factors:
1. Responsiveness - knowing what to say, know roles, interact
2. Perceptiveness - be aware of how others perceive you
3. Attentiveness - listen, don’t be pre-occupied
Conversational Management
a. How communicators regulate their interactions
b. Adaptation and control of social situations
c. Who controls the interaction ebb and flow and how smoothly the interaction proceeds
d. How topics proceed and change
Empathy
a. The ability to demonstrate understanding and share emotional reactions to the situation
b. Need not lead to “helping” the other person
c. Cognitive understanding
d. Parallel emotions
Effectiveness
a. Achieving the objectives of the conversation
b. Achieving personal goals
c. A fundamental criteria for determining competence
Appropriateness
a. Upholding the expectations for a given situation
b. A fundamental criteria for determining competence
4. IDENTIFY THREE FACTORS THAT PROMOTE COMPETENT COMMUNICATION
“Communication competence is the degree to which a communicator’s goals are achieved through
effective and appropriate interaction.”
According to Spitzberg & Cupach (1984) the component model of competence includes:
motivation
knowledge
skill
The component model's three parts requires that a communicator be able to 1) recognize what
communication practice is appropriate (knowledge), 2) have the ability to perform that
practice (skill), and 3) want to communicate in an effective and appropriate manner, including
orientation in various social situations (motivation).
13. EXPLAIN HOW RACIST, SEXIST, AND HETEROSEXIST LANGUAGE MARGINALIZES
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY.
Racist, sexist, and heterosexist language share the quality of marginalizing people within a society.
In addition, words and phrases that implicitly privilege being White, male, or heterosexual create
barriers for other ethnic groups, women, or homosexual individuals in our society. Language at its
worst can undermine people’s ability to contribute to their community.
Racist language includes words and utterances that undermine a person’s ethnic group. By doing
so, these verbal messages dehumanize their targets and render people vulnerable to both
discrimination and acts of violence. Consider the racist propaganda that Nazis used to justify the
extermination of Jews, the origins and usage of racial slurs in American culture, and messages of
hatred produced by Al Qaeda to intimidate citizens of the Western world.
Sexist language includes words or expressions that differentiate between the sexes or exclude and
trivialize either gender (Parks & Roberton, 1998). Consider words in the English language that
reflect men’s historically dominant position in society. For example, the United States Declaration of
Independence states that “all men are created equal” and that the laws set forth in the declaration
are for the benefit of all “mankind.” Moreover, men who enjoy sexist humor tend to engage in
more sexual harassment, have more hostile views of women, and are more aggressive with
romantic partners.
Language can also marginalize gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people. Heterosexist
language is language that assumes heterosexuality is superior to other sexual orientations. In the
most explicit form, heterosexist language includes derogatory comments, insults, jokes, or threats
about the sexual practices of someone who is not heterosexual. Heterosexist language also
surfaces in more subtle ways, such as references to romantic partners that assume a heterosexual
relationship or medical forms that exclude “domestic partner” as an option for next of kin.
16. DESCRIBE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR ACROSS
CULTURES AND GENDERS.
One of the most recognizable and problematic differences between cultures involves the use of
gestures called emblems. Emblems are gestures that have a direct verbal translation, such as the
peace sign, waving hello or goodbye, the OK symbol, or extending your middle finger.
Another prominent difference between cultures is how people think about and use time. A
monochronic time orientation reflects a desire to do one thing at a time. Countries that adopt a
monochronic orientation toward time include Britain, Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada
and the United States. In these countries, people keep rigid schedules and they view time as a
commodity that can be spent, saved, or wasted. In contrast, a polychronic time orientation
disregards artificial schedules and stresses informality. Many Latin American and Arab cultures
adopt a polychronic time orientation, where people are comfortable scheduling many activities at
once and don’t adhere to a rigid schedule. Likewise, “island time” refers to the relaxed view of
time common in many tropical locations.
Each culture also has a different idea about what is attractive in terms of clothing, body shape,
ornamentation, and artifacts. In Western cultures like the United States, perceptions of beauty
have become heavily influenced by media representations of thin, full-lipped, large-breasted
female supermodels and muscular, broad-chested, male athletes. These images are not the gold
standard of beauty in other cultures.
Males and females evolved with different body structures and appearances in order to facilitate
mating and carry out traditional gender roles. Furthermore, women tend to be more expressive in
the face and tend to reveal their emotions, especially positive emotions, more frequently than men
(Brody & Hall, 1993; Coates & Feldman, 1996). Men, on the other hand, are more likely than
women to display anger (Coates & Feldman, 1996). These differences probably evolved because
of the roles males and females played in ancient societies. An ability to express frequent and
positive emotions would have helped women provide nurturing to infants, whereas anger might
have helped men ward off predators. Thus, some of the differences in the nonverbal behaviors of
men and women likely served important evolutionary functions.
An alternative explanation for gender differences in nonverbal communication is related to the
ways that men and women are socialized into their respective gender roles. From a very young
age, girls learn how to behave as women by watching their mothers, and boys learn how to
behave as men by watching their fathers.
Girls are more skilled than boys at recognizing facial expressions of emotion (McClure, 2000), and
women tend to be more emotionally expressive than men (Brody & Hall, 1993). As these adults
become models for their own children, they hand down gender differences in emotional expression
to the next generation.
One final explanation for gender differences in nonverbal behavior is that gendered behaviors
are reinforced. In general, young girls are rewarded for performing traditionally “female”
behaviors, and young boys are rewarded for performing traditionally “male” behaviors.
21. DESCRIBE HOW INTIMACY AND POWER SHAPE THE INFLUENCE MESSAGES THAT
PEOPLE USE
The three primary types of interpersonal relationships we engage in are friendships, romantic
relationships, and family relationships. Each of these relationships develop through a series of
stages of growth and deterioration. Friendships and romantic relationships differ from family
relationships in that they are relationships of choice. Each of these relationships requires
commitment from participants to continuously navigate relational dynamics in order to maintain and
grow the relationship.
The relationship of friendship differs from other interpersonal relationships, even those
characterized by mutual caring, such as relationships among colleagues: friendships are, intuitively,
“deeper,” more intimate relationships. The question facing any philosophical account is how that
characteristic intimacy of friendship is to be understood.
On this point, there is considerable variation in the literature—so much that it raises the question
whether differing accounts aim at elucidating the same object. For it seems as though when the
analysis of intimacy is relatively weak, the aim is to elucidate what might be called “acquaintance
friendships”; as the analysis of intimacy gets stronger, the aim seems to tend towards closer
friendships and even to a kind of ideal of maximally close friendship. It might be asked whether
one or another of these types of friendship ought to take priority in the analysis, such that, for
example, cases of close friendship can be understood to be an enhanced version of acquaintance
friendship, or whether acquaintance friendship should be understood as being deficient in various
ways relative to ideal friendship. Nonetheless, in what follows, views will be presented roughly in
order from weaker to stronger accounts of intimacy.
22. DESRIBE THE PATTERNS OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION THAT OCCUR
DURING CONFLICT INTERACTIONS.
Interpersonal communication is an exchange of information between two or more people.
Conflict interactions All conflict is marked by some degree of tension, uncertainty, and
unpleasantness.
Conflict Patterns
Four common triggers for conflict are criticism, demand, cumulative annoyance, and rejection.
1)
all know from experience that criticism, or comments that evaluate another person’s personality,
behavior, appearance, or life choices, may lead to conflict. Comments do not have to be meant as
criticism to be perceived as such. If Gary comes home from college for the weekend and his mom
says, “Looks like you put on a few pounds,” she may view this as a statement of fact based on
observation. Gary, however, may take the comment personally and respond negatively back to his
mom, starting a conflict that will last for the rest of his visit. A simple but useful strategy to manage
the trigger of criticism is to follow the old adage “Think before you speak.” In many cases, there are
alternative ways to phrase things that may be taken less personally, or we may determine that our
comment doesn’t need to be spoken at all.
2)
Demands also frequently trigger conflict, especially if the demand is viewed as unfair or
irrelevant. Tone of voice and context are important factors here. When you were younger, you
may have asked a parent, teacher, or elder for something and heard back “Ask nicely.” As with
criticism, thinking before you speak and before you respond can help manage demands and
minimize conflict episodes. demands are sometimes met with withdrawal rather than a verbal
response. If you are doing the demanding, remember a higher level of information exchange may
make your demand clearer or more reasonable to the other person
3)
Cumulative annoyance is a building of frustration or anger that occurs over time, eventually
resulting in a conflict interaction. For example, your friend shows up late to drive you to class three
times in a row. You didn’t say anything the previous times, but on the third time you say, “You’re
late again! If you can’t get here on time, I’ll find another way to get to class.” Cumulative
annoyance can build up like a pressure cooker, and as it builds up, the intensity of the conflict also
builds. Criticism and demands can also play into cumulative annoyance. We have all probably let
critical or demanding comments slide, but if they continue, it becomes difficult to hold back, and
most of us have a breaking point
4)
No one likes the feeling of rejection. Rejection can lead to conflict when one person’s comments or
behaviors are perceived as ignoring or invalidating the other person. Vulnerability is a component
of any close relationship. When we care about someone, we verbally or nonverbally communicate.
We may tell our best friend that we miss them, or plan a home-cooked meal for our partner who is
working late. The vulnerability that underlies these actions comes from the possibility that our
relational partner will not notice or appreciate them. When someone feels exposed or rejected,
they often respond with anger to mask their hurt, which ignites a conflict. Managing feelings of
rejection is difficult because it is so personal, but controlling the impulse to assume that your
relational partner is rejecting you, and engaging in communication rather than reflexive reaction,
can help put things in perspective.
24. SOCIAL PENETRATION THEORY MODEL AND ITS APPLICATION
Social Penetration Theory explains differences in communication in relation to the depth of
interpersonal relationships. Developed in 1973 by psychologists Irwin Altman and Dalmas
Taylor, the theory states that relationships begin and deepen through self-disclosure. In the
beginning, people establish relationships by disclosing many simple, harmless facts through
small talk. As relationships grow, the rate of self-disclosure slows while the facts disclosed
become increasingly intimate in nature. Intimate self-disclosure allows others to penetrate a
person’s public persona and discover his or her innermost self. Relationships stagnate when the
people involved refuse to self-disclose.
Altman and Taylor first described the process of self-disclosure as peeling back the layers of
an onion, which possess both breadth and depth. “Breadth” refers to the various facets of a
person’s life, such as work, family, community and hobbies. “Depth” pertains to the details
concerning each of these areas. The outer layers of the onion represent superficial information
about a person, such as physical appearance and speech. The deeper layers represent more
intimate information, such as the person’s thoughts, feelings and relationships with others. As a
person self-discloses to a friend or partner, she peels away the outer layers of herself toward
exposing her core nature. Altman and Taylor outlined the various stages of intimacy that result
from this process of self-disclosure:
Orientation Stage — Also known as the “small talk” or “first impression” stage. Communicators
become acquainted by observing mannerisms and personal dress and by exchanging nonintimate information about themselves. Interaction adheres to social norms.
Exploratory Affective Stage — Communicators begin to reveal more about themselves, such
as their opinions concerning politics and sports teams. Deeply personal information is withheld.
Casual friendships develop at this stage, and most relationships stay at this level.
Affective Stage — Communicators begin to disclose personal and private matters. Personal
ways of speaking, such as using idioms or unconventional language, is allowed to come
through. Communicators feel comfortable enough to argue or criticize each other. Romantic
relationships develop at this stage.
Stable Stage — Communicators share a relationship in which disclosure is open and
comfortable. They can predict how the other person will react to certain types of information.
Depenetration — Occurs when one or both communicators perceive that the cost of selfdisclosure outweighs its benefits. Communicators withdraw from self-disclosure, thus ending the
relationship.
Progress through these stages is usually linear at first but may become cyclical later.
Psychologists say intimate relationships can switch stages at different times—moving, for
example, from the stable stage to the exploratory effective stage and back again—as
partners work through their insecurities and reservations.
Social Penetration Theory is being used in today’s modern world to study electronic interactions
on the Internet through social media sites and chat rooms. On the one hand, people who meet
online are often unable to predict how a person will react to certain types of information,
making the cost of self-disclosure difficult to evaluate. On the other hand, the impersonal
nature of communicating through a screen may mitigate the cost of sharing intimate
information, thus making self-disclosure more likely. Theorists in this field have observed a
variety of outcomes with online interactions, highlighting a need for more study to turn Social
Penetration Theory into a more predictable model.
Pytania od dr Adamczyk
2. DISCUSS THE INDEX OF SYNTHESIS AND THE INDEX OF FUSION IN
MORPHOLOGICAL TYPOLOGY OF LANGUAGES
Index of synthesis (IS) refers to the amount of affixation in a language, i.e., it shows the
average number of morphemes per word in a language. On the index of synthesis, we have
two poles: isolating and polysynthetic.
An isolating language typically has one morpheme per word (i.e., there is a separate word for
every grammatical function, e.g., Chinese)
A polysynthetic language typically has many morphemes per word, and entire
sentences/complete thoughts are a single word (e.g., Blackfoot).
Index of fusion (IF) refers to the ease with which morphemes can be separated from other
morphemes in a word. The index of fusion also has two poles: agglutinative and fusional.
Agglutinative languages have many morphemes in a word, but each morpheme contributes
only one grammatical meaning, and each morpheme is clearly segmented, e.g., Turkish. English,
when it uses multiple morphemes in a word, is usually agglutinative. "Wonderfully" is easily
segmented into wonder-ful-ly, and each morpheme contributes a single meaning.
Fusional languages, on the other hand, tend to use fewer morphemes per word because each
morpheme contributes multiple grammatical meanings, e.g., Russian or Spanish. In Spanish, the o in "hablo" contributes the meanings "1st person", "singular", "present", and "indicative mood".
It's a single sound, so it's not possible to segment it at all; it simply has all those meanings
rolled into one sound.
Name and discuss at least five types of word formation processes.
Coinage
The most typical sources are invented trade names for commercial products that become
general terms (usually without capital letters) for any version of that product. Older examples
are aspirin, nylon, vaseline and zipper; Word formation 53 more recent examples are
granola, kleenex, teflon and xerox. It may be that there is an obscure technical origin (e.g.
te(tra)-fl(uor)-on) for some of these invented terms, but after their first coinage, they tend to
become everyday words in the language. New words based on the name of a person or a
place are called eponyms. When we talked about a hoover (or even a spangler), we were
using an eponym.
Borrowing
Borrowing, that is, the taking over of words from other languages. (Technically, it’s more than
just borrowing because English doesn’t give them back.) Throughout its history, the English
language has adopted a vast number of words from other languages, including croissant
(French), dope (Dutch), lilac (Persian), piano (Italian), pretzel (German), sofa (Arabic), tattoo
(Tahitian), tycoon (Japanese), yogurt (Turkish) and zebra (Bantu). A special type of borrowing
is described as loan-translation or calque (/kælk/). In this process, there is a direct translation
of the elements of a word into the 54 The Study of Language orrowing language. Interesting
examples are the French term gratte-ciel, which literally translates as “scrape-sky,” the Dutch
wolkenkrabber (“cloud scratcher”) or the German Wolkenkratzer (“cloud scraper”), all of
which were calques for the English skyscraper.
Compouding
Joining of two separate words to produce a single form. Thus, Lehn and Wort are combined to
produce Lehnwort in German. Common English compounds are bookcase, doorknob,
fingerprint, sunburn, textbook, wallpaper, wastebasket and waterbed. All these examples are
nouns, but we can also create compound adjectives (good-looking, low-paid) and compounds
of adjective (fast) plus noun (food) as in a fast-food restaurant or a full-time job
Blending
Blending is typically accomplished by taking only the beginning of one word and joining it to
the end of the other word.
Smoke + fog= smog, smog, smaze (smoke + haze), bit (binary/digit), brunch
(breakfast/lunch), motel (motor/hotel) and telecast (television/broadcast)
Clipping
This occurs when a word of more than one syllable (facsimile) is reduced to a shorter form
(fax), usually beginning in casual speech. The term gasoline is still used, but most people talk
about gas, using the clipped form. Other common examples are ad (advertisement), bra
(brassiere), cab (cabriolet), condo (condominium), fan (fanatic), flu (influenza), perm
(permanent wave), phone, plane and pub (public house).
Backformation
a word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form a word of another type (usually a 56
The Study of Language verb). A good example of backformation is the process whereby the
noun television first came into use and then the verb televise was created from it. Other
examples of words created by this process are: donate (from “donation”), emote (from
“emotion”), enthuse (from “enthusiasm”), liaise (from “liaison”) and babysit (from “babysitter”).
Conversion
A change in the function of a word, as for example when a noun comes to be used as a verb
(without any reduction), is generally known as conversion. Other labels for this very common
process are “category change” and “functional shift.” A number of nouns such as bottle, butter,
chair and vacation have come to be used, through conversion, as verbs: We bottled the homebrew last night; Have you buttered the toast?; Someone has to chair the meeting; They’re
vacationing in Florida. These conversions are readily accepted, but some examples, such as the
noun impact being used as a verb, seem to impact some people’s sensibilities rather
negatively. The conversion process is particularly productive in Modern English, with new uses
occurring frequently. The conversion can involve verbs becoming nouns, with guess, must and
spy as the sources of a guess , a mustand a spy. Phrasal verbs (to printout, totakeover) also
become nouns (a printout , atakeover). One complex verb combination (want to be) has
become a new noun, as in He isn’t in the group, he’s just a wannabe.
Acronyms
Acronyms are new words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words. These can be
forms such as CD (“compact disk”) or VCR (“video cassette recorder”) where the pronunciation
consists of saying each separate letter. More typically, acronyms are pronounced as new
single words, as in NATO, NASA or UNESCO. These examples
havekepttheircapitalletters,butmanyacronymssimplybecomeeverydaytermssuch as laser (“light
amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”), radar (“radio detecting and ranging”),
scuba (“self-contained underwater breathing apparatus”) and zip (“zone improvement plan”)
code
Derivation
The production of new English words. This process is called derivation and it is accomplished by
means of a large number of small “bits” of the English language which are not usually given
separate listings in dictionaries. These small “bits” are generally described as affixes. Some
familiar examples are the elements un-, mis-, pre-, -ful, -less, -ish, -ism and -ness which appear
in words like unhappy, misrepresent, prejudge, joyful, careless, boyish, terrorism and sadness.
Prefixes and suffixes
Some affixes have to be added to the beginning of the word (e.g. un-, mis-). These are called
prefixes. Other affixes have to be added to the end of the word (e.g. -less, -ish) and are
called suffixes. All English words formed by this derivational process have either prefixes or
suffixes, or both. Thus, mislead has a prefix, disrespectful has both a prefix and a suffix, and
foolishness has two suffixes.
Affixes
An affix that is incorporated inside another word. It is possible to see the general principle at
work incertainexpressions, occasionally usedinfortuitousoraggravatingcircumstancesby
emotionally aroused English speakers: Hallebloodylujah!, Absogoddamlutely! and
Unfuckinbelievable!.
5. PRESENT THE PATTERNS OF, MOTIVATIONS FOR AND CONSTRAINTS ON THE
PROCESS OF BORROWING.
"Borrowing is the incorporation of foreign features into a group's native language by
speakers of that language: the native language is maintained but is changed by the
addition of the incorporated features."
(Thomason and Kaufman 1988)
The patterns of borrowing
In order for loaned material to be entirely integrated with the recipient language, adaptation
of the former into the existing patterns of the latter is necessary. The patterns of borrowability
depend on the lexical structuring of the specific languages (Fredric W. Field 2002).
Usually the first elements to be borrowed are the words. However according to the authors of
the aforementioned definition, in case of wide-spread bilingualism and powerful long-term
cultural influence from source language speakers on the speakers of the adopting language,
"structural features may be borrowed as well - phonological, phonetic and syntactic elements
and even (though more rarely) features of the inflectional morphology" (Thomason and
Kaufman 1988: 37).
Language transfer (also called linguistic interference, cross-linguistic interference or L1
interference) refers to the users (whether speakers or writers), who apply knowledge from one
language to another one. Three main types of such phenomena are:
superstratum (plural superstrata)- is a label used by the linguists to denote the succeeding
language, whereas
substratum (plural:substrata)- is a language, which influences an intrusive language that
supersedes it;
adstratum (plural: adstrata)- is used to refer to a language, which because of it's prestige
became a lexical borrowings' source.
Motivations for borrowing:
Necessity- when the users of a particular language adopt new concepts (eg. technical, religious
or cultural), the need for the corresponding vocabulary promotes the borrowings
- eg. Latin borrowings in the English language: nucleus, formula, democracy, enthusiasm,
monk, bishop
Prestige- some languages may be of a higher status and for this reason they act as the source
languages for the borrowings; a language used by more powerful speakers is usually
perceived as more prestigious
- eg. pork, beef, cuisine- words, which came into use, when Norman French was the
language of the elite (England, 1066-1300)
- prestige related to an underclass, eg. English pal versus pal 'brother' in Romani
- borrowings of negative or pejorative nature, eg. Finnish koni 'old horse' versus konj 'horse'
(Russian)
Constraints on the process of borrowing:
At first the process of borrowing refers to the lexical items.
Nouns are the greatest category of borrowed words.
The derivation of the loaned verbs comes usually from non-verbal classes, typically nouns.
At the beginning the derivational affixes are borrowed and then the inflectional affixes.
Grammatical items, such as prepositions or conjunctions tend to be borrowed along with the
principles that describe their syntactic behaviour.
FIELD, F.W. (2002): Linguistic Borrowing in Bilingual Contexts. Amsterdam/Philadelphia:
Benjamins
THOMASON, S.G. & T. KAUFMAN (1988) Language contact, creolization and genetic linguistics.
University of California Press.
8. DISCUSS THREE FUNDAMENTAL LEVELS OF MEANING/STAGES OF
INTERPRETATION IN LANGUAGE. HOW DO THEY RELATE TO THE
SEMANTICS/PRAGMATICS DIVIDE?
Three conceptions of meaning can be distinguished — meaning as conceptual role,
meaning as communicated thought and meaning as speech‐act potential. At one time,
these were conceived as competing conceptions, but it is better to see them as
potentially compatible theories that are concerned with different aspects or levels of
meaning. The first would offer an account of the use of language (or other
representations) in thinking; the second, an account of the use of language in
communication; the third, an account of the use of language in certain institutions,
rituals, or practices of a group of speakers.
First level: A theory of the nature of thought, belief, desire, and other psychological
attitudes can appear in the guise of the theory of meaning or content. That is the best
way to interpret the first sort of theory.
Second level: A theory of level 2 attempts to say what communication is and what is
involved in a messages having a particular meaning. Communication is communication
of thoughts and ideas;
Third level: A theory of level 3 would be a theory of social institutions, games,
practices, etc. The theory would explain how the existence of such things can make
certain acts possible, for example, how the existence of a game of football can make
possible scoring a touchdown or how the existence of an institution of banking can
make possible writing a cheque. In a sense such a theory is a theory of meaning.
9. DISCUSS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE POLITENESS. WHAT ARE
FACE-THREATENING ACTS (FTAS) IN POLITENESS THEORY?
POLITENESS – politeness in general terms deals with being tactful, modest and nice to other
people. It means taking care to ensure (guarantee) that what we say (or what we don’t say) is
chosen appropriately so as to avoid embarrassing or offending anyone. In the study of linguistic
politeness, the most relevant concept is “face”. Face, in pragmatics, is public self-image. Face is
what a person loses when being humiliated or embarrassed in public (Trask). Politeness here
may be defined as showing awareness and consideration of another person’s face (Yule).
Ideas about the appropriate language to mark politeness differ substantially from one
culture/society to the next and thus it is very easy to give inadvertent (nieumyślny) offence when
talking to speakers of another language.
Politeness can be shown by: Expressing uncertainty and ambiguity through hedging and
indirectness. Polite lying. Use of euphemisms (which make use of ambiguity as well as
connotation). Preferring tag questions to direct statements, such as "You were at the store, weren't
you?". modal tags request information of which the speaker is uncertain. "You didn't go to the
store yet, did you?" affective tags indicate concern for the listener. "You haven't been here long,
have you?"
The linguistic aspects of politeness: tone of voice, markers of status, terms of address, degrees
of certainty or confidence, discourse markers (like English please), the choice between speaking
and remaining silent, acceptability of direct questions, and others.
POSITIVE
POLITENESS
According to
anthropologists
Penelope Brown
and Stephen
Levinson:
Seeks to establish a
positive relationship
between
parties;
respects a person's
need to be liked and
understood.
Direct
speech acts.
NEGATIVE POLITENESS (Note that
“negative” doesn’t mean “bad” here. It’s
simply the opposite of “positive”).
Making a request less infringing
(naruszający), such as "If you don't
mind..." or "If it isn't too much trouble...";
respects a person's right to act freely.
There is a greater use of indirect speech
acts.
Positive
politeness
strategies are used to
make the hearer feel
good about himself,
his
interests
or
possessions, and are
most usually used in
situations where the
audience knows each
other fairly well.
Some strategies of
positive
politeness
include statements of
friendship, solidarity,
compliments, and the
following examples
from Brown and
Levinson:
Negative politeness strategies are
oriented towards the hearer’s negative
face and emphasize avoidance of
imposition on the hearer. Negative face
is the desire to remain autonomous so the
speaker is distancing styles (like
apologies). Examples from Brown and
Levinson include:
Attend to hearer’s
interests, needs, wants
Be pessimistic
You look sad. Can I
do anything?
Be indirect
Would you know where Oxford Street
is?
Use hedges or questions
Perhaps, he might have taken it, maybe.
Could you please pass the rice?
You couldn’t find your way to lending me
a thousand dollars, could you?
Minimize the imposition
Use solidarity ingroup
identity
markers
It’s not too much out of your way, just a
couple of blocks.
Heh, mate, can you
lend me a dollar?
Use obviating structures, like passives, or
statements of general rules
Be optimistic
I hope offense will not be taken.
Visitors sign the ledger.
Spitting will not be tolerated.
I’ll just come along, if
you don’t mind.
Apologize
Include both speaker
(S) and hearer (H) in
activity
I’m sorry; it’s a lot to ask, but can you lend
me a thousand dollars?
Use plural pronouns
If we help each other,
I guess, we’ll both sink
or swim in this course.
Offer or promise
If you wash the dishes,
I’ll vacuum the floor.
Exaggerate interest
in H and his interests
That’s a nice haircut
you got; where did
you get it?
Avoid Disagreement
Yes, it’s rather long;
not short certainly.
Joke
Wow,
that’s
whopper!
a
Positive
Politeness
minimizes threatening
aspect
(definition
below) by assuring
that S considers to be
of the same kind with
H.
We regret to inform you.
A speaker asking the hearer for a
favour, is a common example of negative
politeness strategies in use. An example
that is given by McCarthy and Carter is
the following dialogue from the
Australian television soap opera,
"Neighbours":
Clarrie: So, (ASK FAVOR) I was
wondering, would it be all right if I came
over here on the night? What d'you
reckon?
Helen: Oh, Clarrie, I...
Clarrie: Oh (MINIMIZATION) I'd be no
bother. (REINFORCE EXPLANATION) It'd
mean a heck of a lot to those kids.
Helen: All right.
Clarrie: (THANK WITH BOOST) I knew
you'd say yes. You're an angel, Helen.
Helen: Ha! (laughs)
All of this is done in attempt to avoid a
great deal of imposition on the hearer.
Negative Politeness helps avoid future
debt by keeping social distance and not
getting too familiar with the addressee.
It pays respect by assuming that you may
be intruding on the hearer in return for
the face-threatening act.
"I don't mean to bother you, but
can I ask a quick question?"
When
S
includes
himself
equally as a
participant in
the request
or offer, it
may lessen
the potential
for
facethreatening
act debt.
“Let’s get on
with dinner”
to a husband
in front of the
TV
According to
Yule:
Using linguistic
aspects that help to
Using linguistic aspects that help to
maintain “NEGATIVE FACE” (↓).
maintain “POSITIVE
FACE” (↓).
Some cultures seem to prefer one of these kinds of politeness over the
other. In this way politeness is culturally bound.
According to Yule:
According to Trask:
According to Brown
and Levinson:
Positive face
The need to be connected,
to belong, to be a member
of a group.
Your need to maintain and
demonstrate your
membership in social group.
Positive Face refers to one's
self-esteem.
Negative face
The need to be independent
and free from imposition
(narzucanie się).
Your need to be individual
and independent, go get
what you want without
offending anyone.
Negative face refers to
one's freedom to act.
FACE TREATENING FACTS (FTAs) in politeness theory:
Brown: FTAs - acts that inherently damage the face of the addressee or the speaker by acting
in opposition to the wants and desires of the other. Most of these acts are verbal; however, they
can also be conveyed in the characteristics of speech (such as tone, inflection, etc.) or in nonverbal forms of communication.
Yule: It is saying something that represents threat to another person’s self-image. In other words
it is any piece of behaviour which can easily make another person lose face. For example, if
you say:
“Give me that paper!” you use a direct speech act to get someone to do something. You are
behaving as if you have more social power than the other person. Let’s assume that you don’t
have such a power (because you’re not a military officer or prison warden) then you are
performing a facethreatening act. That kind of act is treated as impolite especially in cultures
that are oriented to indirectness and avoiding direct imposition.
But if you say:
“Could you pass me that paper?”, you use indirect speech act with a form associated with a
question. Then there is no assumption of social power. You are just asking if it is possible. That
kind of request (polite question) makes your request less threatening to the other person’s face.
Whenever you say something that lessens or removes the possible threat to another’s face it can
be described as face-saving act (face-saving act is not the part of a question. I just described it
to make the FTAs more understandable for you).
Of course, there are (as G. Yule writes, I don’t know that cultures) some cultures that treat indirect
speech acts as hesitation. A representative of that kind of culture may think “Is he sure that he
wants that paper, or is he just asking but he doesn’t want it? (Could you pass me that paper?)”.
Now, let mix it together (additional info, just to understand the topic better – you don’t have to
read it if you understand what has been said so far):
POSITIVE FACE-THREATENING ACT
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. 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:
the speaker’s negative assessment of the hearer’s positive face. The speaker directly or indirectly
indicates that he dislikes some aspect of the hearer’s possessions, desires, or personal attributes
or he expresses disapproval by stating or implying that the hearer is wrong, irrational, or
misguided. Examples: expressions of disapproval (e.g. insults, accusations, complaints),
contradictions, disagreements, or challenges.
The speaker expresses indifference toward the addressee’s positive face. The addressee might
be embarrassed for or fear the speaker. Examples: excessively emotional expressions.
The speaker indicates that he doesn’t have the same values or fears as the hearer. Examples:
disrespect, mention of topics which are inappropriate in general or in the context.
The speaker indicates that he is willing to disregard the emotional well-being of the hearer.
Examples: belittling (poniżanie) or boasting.
The speaker increases the possibility that a face-threatening act will occur. This situation is
created when a topic is brought up by the speaker that is a sensitive societal subject. Examples:
topics that relate to politics, race, religion.
The speaker indicates that he is indifferent to the positive face wants of the hearer. This is most
often expressed in obvious non-cooperative behavior. Examples: interrupting.
The speaker misidentifies the hearer in an offensive or embarrassing way. This may occur either
accidentally or intentionally. Generally, this refers to the misuse of address terms in relation to
status, gender, or age. Example: Addressing a young woman as "ma’am" instead of "miss."
Damage to the speaker
An act that shows that the speaker is in some sense wrong, and unable to control himself.
Apologies: In this act, speaker is damaging his own face by admitting that he regrets one of his
previous acts. Examples: acceptance of a compliment, inability to control one’s physical self,
inability to control one’s emotional self, self-humiliation, confessions.
NEGATIVE FACE-THREATENING ACT
Freedom of choice and action are impeded (utrudnione) when negative face is threatened.
Damage to the hearer:
An act that affirms or denies a future act of the hearer creates pressure on the hearer to either
perform or not perform the act. Examples: orders, requests, suggestions, advice, remindings,
threats, or warnings.
An act that expresses the speaker’s sentiments of the hearer or the hearer’s belongings.
Examples: compliments, expressions of envy or admiration, or expressions of strong negative
emotion toward the hearer (e.g. hatred, anger, lust).
An act that expresses some positive future act of the speaker toward the hearer. In doing so,
pressure has been put on the hearer to accept or reject the act and possibly incur a debt.
Examples: offers, and promises.
Damage to the speaker:
An act that shows that the speaker is succumbing (ulegać) to the power of the hearer. Examples:
expressing thanks, accepting a thank you or apology, excuses, acceptance of offers, the speaker
commits himself to something he or she does not want to do.
NEGATIVE FACE-SAVING ACT
“I’m sorry to bother you”/ “I know you are busy, but…”:
It is showing concern about the imposition.
POSITIVE FACE-SAVING ACT
“Let’s do this together!” / “You and I have the same problem, so….”
It is showing solidarity and drawing attention to a common goal.
Examples of face threatening acts (FTAs) in some cultures:
Speakers of Malagasy (in Madagascar) consider it impolite to give direct answers to questions
or to make predictions that might turn out to be wrong.
Speakers of Navaho (in the USA) consider it impolite to speak at all in the presence of a higherranking person, or to provide their own names.
Both Javanese and Japanese have rich and complex systems for the overt linguistic marking of
status among speaker, listener and person talked about, including both different vocabulary
and different grammatical forms, and failing to mark status appropriately is a grave breach of
decorum (poważne naruszenie decorum).