ETHNOGRAPHY
Ines Tenter
ETHNOGRAPHY
 Ethnography
and its Topics
 The Rise of Ethnography as a Science
 Scope and Focus
 Ethnography and its Significance
 Communicative Functions
 Summary
Ethnography and its Topics
Ethnography includes the following topics:
patterns and functions of communication
 nature and definitions of speech communities
 means of communicating
 components of communicative competence
 relationship of language to world view and social
organisation
 linguistic and social universals and inequalities

The Rise of Ethnography as a Science
For a long time ethnographers and linguists failed
to account for an interrelationship of language and
culture


Scientist Dell Hymes called for an approach which
would deal with aspects of communication which
were both: anthropological and linguistic

1962, with the publication of “The Ethnography of
Speaking“ Hymes launched for a new disciplin:
The Ethnography of Communication
(as the field has come to be known)
 Not much later the Ethnography of
Communication has become an emergent
discipline, addressing a largely new order of
information in the structuring of communicative
behaviour and its role in the conduct of social life.
Scope and Focus

As with any other science, the Ethnography
of Communication has two foci:
1.
particularistic: is directed towards the
description and understanding of
communicative behaviour in specific
cultural settings
generalizing: is directed towards the
formulation of concepts and theories upon
which to build a global metatheory of
human communication
2.
Scope and Focus

TOPIC QUESTION:
(the subject matter of the Ethnography of Communication is best
illustrated by one of ist most general questions)
What does a speaker need to know to
communicate appropriately within a particular
speech community, and how does he or she
learn?
Such knowledge, together with whatever skills are needed to
make use of it, is:
Communicative Competence
Scope and Focus
Language is best understood when the:
 habits
 customs
 institutions
 philosophy
 (all the subject-matters embodied in the
language)
are best known.
The student of a language should be a student
of the people who speak the language!
Scope and Focus
Middle of 20th century:
“Observed behaviour is regarded as a
manifestation of a deeper set of codes and rules,
and the task of Ethnography is seen as the
discovery and explication of the rules for
contextually appropriate behaviour in a community
or group.“
In other words:
Culture is what the individual needs to know to be
a functional member of the community.
Scope and Focus
Doing Ethnography in other cultures involves
first and foremost fieldwork:




observing
asking questions
participation in group activities
testing the validity of one`s perception against the
intuitions of natives
Scope and Focus

Reveals that many of the
communicative practices assumed to be
“natural“ or “logical“ are in fact as
culturally unique and conventional as
the language code itself.
Essential feature of all ethnographers:
 A sense of cultural realtivism
Ethnography and its Significance
For Antrophology:
The Ethnography of Communication extends
understandings of cultural systems to language,
relating
language to:




social organisation
role-relationship
values and beliefs
other shared patterns of knowledge and behaviour
which are transmitted from generation to generation
in the process of socialization/enculturation
Ethnography and its Significance
For Psycholinguistics:

the Ethnography of Communication means that
studies of language acquisition must not only
recognize the innate capacity of children to learn
to speak but must account for how particular ways
of speaking are developed in particular societies in
the process of social interaction

such cross-cultural research requires the openness
and relativism of ethnographic methods
Ethnography and its Significance
For Sociolinguistics:
(Sociolinguistics generally involves the
recording of naturalistic speech in various
contexts)

the Ethnography of Communication helps to
evaluate the social significance of the
material recorded

ethnographic knowledge about social norms
govering linguistic choices in the situation
recorded helps to understand them
Ethnography and its Significance
For Applied Linguistics:
 the identification of what second language
learners must know in order to communicate
appropriately in various contexts
 contrasting whole communicative systems in
cross-cultural interaction and translation
 recognizing and analyzing communicative
missunderstandings
 knowing possible sactions for various
communicative shortcomings
Ethnography and its Significance
For Theoretical Linguistics:
 make a significant contribution to the study of
universals in language forms and use

language-specific and comparative fields of
description and analysis

its approaches and findings are essential for
the formulation of a truely adequate theory of
language and linguistic competence
Communicative Functions

the need to look at the larger socio-political
contexts within which culturally situated
communication takes place, as these
contexts may determine features of
communication in ways that are not evident
from focus on communicative patterns alone
Communicative Functions
Examples:
Greetings in some languages; e.g.: Korean

the greeting may carry crucial information
identifying the speakers` relationship
Expressions of pain and stress:
1.
2.
3.
In English speech communities people learn
withdrawel or anger
In Japanese nervous laughter
In Navajo silence
All seems to be culturally patterned!
Communicative Functions
At societal level language serves many functions:
e.g.:
 creating/reinforcing boundaries
 unifying its speakers as members of a single speech
community
 excluding outsiders from intragroup communication
Certain linguistic features are often employed by
poeple, consciously or unconsciously, to identify
themselves and others, and thus serve to mark and
maintain various social categories and divisions
Communicative Functions
At the level of individuals and group interacting with
one another, the functions of communication are
directly related to the participants` purposes and
needs:

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
expressive (conveying feelings or emotions)
directive (requesting or demanding)
referential (true or false propositional content)
poetic (aesthetic)
phatic (empathy and solidarity)
matalinguistic (reference to language itself)
For ethnographers, the functional perspective has
priority in
description
Communicative Functions

While many of the functions of language are
universal, the ways in which communication operates
in any one sociesty to serve these functions is
laguage specific.
The same relative status of two speakers may be
conveyed by:
 their choice of pronominal forms in one language
 by the distance they stand apart of their body
position while speaking in another language
 and between bilinguals, even by their choice of which
language is used to addressing one another
Summary

How the science of the Ethnography of
Communication developed

What certain topics it deals with

What its significance for other science is

That Communicative Functions are culturally
patterned
The Analysis of Communicative
Events
Sümeyye Öztürk-Mutlu
Grundstudium 2. Semester
The Analysis of Communicative Events

The ethnographers are interested in
identifying recurrent events in community,
recognizing their salient components,
discovering the relationship among
components and between the event and
other aspects of society.
Types of Data


-Background Information: Including
settlement history, sources of population, history
of contact with other groups and notable events
affecting language issue or ethnic relations.
-Material Artifacts: Including architecture,
signs and such instruments of communication as
telephones, radios, books, television sets and
drums.
Types of Data

-Social Organization: Including a listing
of community institutions, identities of
leaders and office holders, the
composition of the business and
professional sectors, sources of power and
influence, formal and informal
organizations, ethnic and class relations,
social stratification, and distribution and
association patterns
Types of Data


-Legal Information: Law and court decisions
like what constitutes ‘slander’, what ‘obscenity’
and what is the nature and value of ‘freedom of
speech’, or how it is restricted.
-Artistic Data: Including literary sources
(written or oral), song lyrics, drama and other
genres of verbal performance and calligraphy.
Types of Data
-Common Knowledge
 -Beliefs about Language Use: Including
taboos and their consequences, beliefs
about who or what is capable of speech,
and who or what may be communicated
with (e.g. God, animals, plant)
 -Data on the Linguistic Code: Including
study of existing dictionaries and
grammars.

Survey of Data Collection Procedures

These procedures depend on the
relationship of the ethnographer and the
speech community, the type of data being
collected and the particular situation in
which fieldwork is being conducted
Survey of Data Collection Procedures


-Introspection: It is a means for data collection
only about one’s own speech community but it is
an important skill to develop for that purpose
-Participant-Observation: Collecting data in
situations in which they themselves are taking
part requires ethnographers to include data on
their own behaviours in relation to others and an
analysis of their role in the interaction as well as
those of others.
Survey of Data Collection Procedures


-Observation: Collecting data which include
observation of communicative behaviour with
taping, photographing, videotaping and even
note-taking.
-Interviewing: It may include collection of
kinship, schedules, information on important
religious and community events and elicitation of
folktales, historical narratives, songs, exposition
of ‘how to’ in relation to various aspects of
technical knowledge and descriptions of
encounters among members of the community in
different contexts.
Survey of Data Collection Procedures


-Ethnosemantics: It is concerned primarily with
discovering how experience is categorized by eliciting terms
in the informants’ language at various levels of abstraction
and analyzing their semantic organization, usually in the
form of the componential analysis.
-Ethnomethodology and Interaction Analysis: It is
concerned primarily with discovering the underlying
processes which speakers of a language utilize to produce
and interpret communicative experiences, including the
unstated assumptions which are shared cultural knowledge
and understanding.
Identification of Communicative Events

Analysis of a communicative event begins
with a description of the components
which are likely to be salient
Components of Communication



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The genre or type of event
The topic or referential events
The purpose or function, both of the
event in general and in items of the
interaction goals of individual
participants
The setting, including location, time of
the day, season of year and physical
aspects of the situation
Components of Communication



The key or emotional tone of the event
The participants, including their age, sex,
ethnicity, social status or other relevant
categories and their relationship to one
another
The message form, including both vocal
and nonvocal channels and the nature of
the code which is used
Components of Communication



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The message content or surface level denotive
references; what is communicated about.
The act sequence or ordering of speech acts,
including turn taking
The rules for interaction or what proprieties
should be observed
The norms of interpretation, including the
common knowledge, the relevant cultural
presuppositions or shared understandings.
Japanese Marriage
Function and Purpose: To declare
intention to marry, to establish or develop
an appropriate role-relationship
 Key: Serious
 Participants: P1-Male; young, adult

P2-Female; young, adult
 Their occupation and status is not relevant

Japanese Marriage




Message form: Verbal, spoken Japanese, silence
Nonverbal, kinesics, eye gaze
Message content and sequence: P1 holds P2’s
hand (optional), looks at P2 and says ‘Please
marry me’. P2 stands with head down, silence
Rules of Interaction: A man must propose to a
woman at an emotional climax, there should be
silence. The woman’s head should hang down
and the direction of her eye gaze should be lower
than the men’s.
Japanese Marriage

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Norms of the Interpretation: The head of the
household is to be man and therefore he has to
take the initiative in the decision of marriage.
There is also a belief that as soon as an
experience is expressed in words, the real
essence disappears
Marriage is a climax in a girl’s life, its main goal
The response is what the young man expects and
it confirms that this is indeed the girl he wants
for is wife.
summary
Attitudes toward
Communicative Performance
Svitlana Sabadash, 2. Semester,
MA
LN-Haupseminar
Questions:
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
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→ how culture-specific criteria for ‘speaking well’
function in the definition of making of social
roles;
→ how attitudes toward different languages and
varieties of language reflect perception of people
in different social categories;
→ how such perceptions influence interaction
within and across the boundaries of a speech
community.
Language attitude studies:


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those which explore general attitudes toward
language and language skills (e.g. which
languages or varieties are better than others, to
what extent literacy is valued etc.)
those which explore stereotyped impression
toward language, their speakers, and their
functions.
those which focus on applied concerns (e.g.
language choice and usage and language
learning).
Attitudes toward language and language
skills

→ Attitudes toward language in general,
its nature, and its functions, may be
captured by some of the expressions a
speech community has that include
reference to language.
Attitudes toward language and language
skills

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→ In many languages, for instance, the ‘heart’ of
language is perceived to be the tongue:
English: she has a sharp tongue
a loose tongue
he speaks with two tongues
with a forked tongue
she spoke tongue in cheek
sharp tongue (English) → hot tongue (Dori) → a
pointed tongue (Pashto) → hairs on his teeth
(German)
Attitudes toward language and language
skills

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
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‘good’ vs. ‘bad’ speech
this doesn’t depend on standardization of a
language or a tradition of literacy, although
primary valuation of oracy may accompany
literacy.
A speech community defines on their own the
standard of their speaking
‘writer’ vs. ‘orator’
Writing vs. speaking (US President election)
Attitudes toward languages and varieties

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These include:
aesthetic/unaesthetic
Correct/incorrect
Cultivated/uncultivated
Developed/undeveloped
Effective/uneffective
Proper/improper
Religious/non-religious
Vigorous/non-vigorous
Attitudes toward languages and varieties

these dimensions refer to both formal and
functional aspects of codes, and
judgement apply to both multiple
language and varieties of a single
language.
Diglossia and dinomia


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Diglossia – two or more language in a speech
community are allocated to different social
functions and contexts
Diglossia: (Fishman) both bilingualism and
diglossia, diglossia without bilingualism,
bilingualism without diglossia and neither
bilingualism nor diglossia.
Donomia – ‘two systems of laws’ the coaxistens
and complementary use within the same society
of two cultural systems.
Diglossia and dinomia
Language
CODE
Culture
Society
Diglossia
Dinomia
Individual
bilingualism
biculturalism
Diglossia and dinomia
An each individual represents his/her
ethnic and social group.
 One individual cannot change the whole
group attitude (e.g. Language course at
US school)

Stereotyping


Making judgement about people according to
linguistic features is a common form of
stereotyping; it is possible because of the highly
‘visible’ nature of the markers in language which
are correlated with extralinguistic categories in a
society, such as race, sex, age, social class,
religion, and ethnicity.
Social ‘typing’ or categorization is probably a
necessary part of our procedures for coping with
the outside world.
Stereotyping

‘Social structure is the sum total of those
typifications and of the recurrent by
means of them’ (Berger and Luckmann
967:33)
Stereotyping
the typing may assume negative aspects,
however, and then it ceases to be just a
mode of socialization
 because of their negative connotations
and consequences, we might like to claim
that stereotypes have no basis at all in
observable reality, but they often do.

Stereotyping
e.g. Jewish speaking in New York is
defined as ‘rude’ and ‘pushy’
 This is the judgement not how people talk,
but about what kind of people they are.

Language and identity
Each person can identify themselves with
a language group by their way of
speaking, accents and social behavior.
 But if a person is bilingual, he or she
tends to code-switching. Bilinguals usually
speaks one langue better then another,
but very often some subjects/topics they
know only in one language

Learning Language



Children start to learn a language from a very
beginning as far they can distinguish some
sounds.
But when can a child become bilingual and which
language would dominate in his speaking –
decides first of all his speech community. If a
child at the age of 2-3 immigrates into another
speech community – he intergrades fully into
these community.
But when a child of 7 would intergrade into
another speech community, the probability that
his foreign accents would stay is very high.
Taboos and Euphemisms

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Taboos are often a reason of misunderstanding
between two persons from different speech
communities.
To taboos often refers: culture-specific believes,
religion, animal-names etc.
Euphemisms are serving to soften the verbal
impact of dying, death and burial:
e.g. is out of his misery, climbed the golden stair
Taboos and Euphemisms
sleep and rest: laid to rest, called to the
eternal sleep
 departure: crossed over the Great Divide,
gone to the Great Beyond
 occupations: answered the last muster,
gave up the ship
 sports: ran the good race, struck out
 dead: the deceased, the last lamented

Taboos and Euphemisms
the cemetery: the Marble City, memorial
park
 the coffin: casket, eternal box
 the grave: long home, deep six
 the funeral: planting, cold meat party

Taboos and Euphemisms



Sometimes some words in one language can be
taboo in another.
For example, many students learning English as a
foreign language refuse to pronounce some
words ‘correctly’ because of phonetic similarity to
obscene words in their native language
(e.g. Turkish speakers do not want to say English
peach)
Summary:




1 There are many different languages and each
of them is unique with its phonetic, lexical and
grammatical structure.
2 Each language has its own standards and rules
of speaking.
3 Speech community creates it unique specific
features like: accent, dialect and special
expressions (metaphors, euphemisms and
taboos)
4 Every speech community has some ideas of
how the other speech community behaves and
looks like – stereotyping.
Literature:

Muriel Sville-Troike: ‚The Ethnography of
Communication‘, 1982 Basil Blackwel Ltd.
Course: Language and Culture
Prof. Dr. Raymond Hickey
SS06
Politeness
Tugba Akbaba
Grundstudium LN
Overview
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Definition of Politeness
The politeness principle → Leech`s Maxims
Face and politeness strategies
FTA`s and politeness strategies by Brown and
Levinson :
Bald on-record
Positive Politeness
Negative Politeness
Off-record
Conclusion
What is Politeness ?



Statements to `polite` behaviour:
“He always shows a lot of respect towards his
superiours“
“She is always very helpful and oblinging“
“He always opens doors for the ladies“ etc.
Some people: polite behaviour = socially correct
others: polite behaviour = stadoffish or incincere
The more specific case of `polite` behaviour is `polite`
language
What is Politeness ?

The more specific case of `polite` behaviour is `polite`
language
- the language a person uses to avoid being too direct
- language which displays respect tpwards others
- language which contains “polite“ utterances like:
please, thank you, excuse me, sorry etc.

Some people consider polite language negatively, as
`dishonest`, `distant`, `unfeeling` etc
What is Politeness ?



We have to be polite in different social situations
Example:
- In a group of friends: “Go get me that plate!“
- In a group of adults at a formal function: “Could
you please pass me that plate, if you don`t mind“
Otherwise it would be socially unacceptable,
because of the conventional standards of good
behaviour
→ “It costs nothing to be polite“ Churchill
Face and Politeness Strategies




`Face` refers to the respect that an individual has for him
or herself, and maintaining that `self-esteem` in public or
in private situation. Any speech act may impose on this
`self-esteem` and is therefore face threatening.
Speakers have srategies for lessening the threat.
Positive politeness: being komplimentary and gracious
to the adressee
Negative politeness: is found in ways of mitigating the
duty
Examples:
Hedging: Er, could you, er, perhaps, close the, um ,
window?
Apologizing: I'm terribly sorry to put you out, but could
you close the window?
Impersonalizing: The management requires all windows
to be closed.
Face Threatening Acts (FATs) & Politeness
Strategies (Brown & Levinson)


In their theory communication is seen as potentially
dangerous and politeness is defined as an redressive
action, which reduces this danger. FTAs are acts that
infringe on the hearer`s need to maintain his/her self
esteem, and be respected.
They developed four types of politeness strategies to
deal with FTAs :
1.
Bald on-record
2.
Negative politeness
3.
Positive politeness
4.
Off-record (indirect)
1. Bald on-record



Does nothing to minimize threats to the hearers
`face`
This typ of strategy is commonly found with
people who know each other very well , such as
close friends and family.
Example:
An emergency: Help!
Task oriented: Give me those!
Request: Put your jacket away.
Alerting: Turn your lights on! (while driving)
Positive Politeness



This strategy shows you recognize that your hearer has
a desire to be respected
It is usually seen in groups of friends, it tries to minimize
the distance between them, by expressing friendliness.
Example:
Attend to the hearer: "You must be hungry, it's a long
time since breakfast. How about some lunch?"
Avoid disagreement: A: " What is she, small?"
B: "Yes, yes, she's small, smallish, um, not really small
but certainly not very big.„
Hedge opinion:
"You really should sort of try harder."
Negative Politeness

This strategy is to assume that you may be imposing on
the hearer, therefore this also assumes automatically
that there might be some social distance

Example:
Be indirect: I'm looking for a pen.
Request forgiveness: You must forgive me but....
Minimize imposition: I just want to ask you if I could use
your computer?
Pluralize the person responsible: We forgot to tell you
that you needed to by your plane ticket by yesterday.
Off-Record (indirect)

You take some of the pressure off of you . You are trying
to avoid the direct FTA of asking for something

Example:
Give hints: "It's cold in here."
Be vague:
"Perhaps someone should have been more responsible."
Be sarcastic, or joking:
"Yeah, he's a real rocket scientist!"
Conclusion

We see that polite language is a way of expressing
ourselves, which makes it easier for us to deal with other
people, because through politeness we build trust

Politeness is necessary in our society, because we have
to fit to the social norms, otherwise we wouldn`t be
accepted

But: Just because a person is polite it does not mean
he/she has good intentions towards you!
Course: Language and Culture
Prof. Dr. Raymond Hickey
SS06
Disadvantages of Politeness
Tülay Sezgin
Grundstudium LN
Overview
1) Introduction: An example of an
impolite behaviour
2) The etymological origins of the
terms “polite” and “politeness”
3) Negative aspects of politeness
4) Conclusion
1) Introduction: An impolite Behaviour
You are standing in a queue at
a coach station waiting for a
ticket; someone jumps the queue
 A feeling of annoyance
What we would expect:
The official: to point out that there is a queue
• Those behind the “jumper“: to start complaining
• An excuse of the offender
• An explanation for his behaviour:
 ”I’m terribly sorry. I hope you don’t mind that I
have jumped the queue. My coach leaves in five
minutes and I desperately need to catch it.”
Language behaviour: heart of a social
communication
Politeness: the crown of social values
•
2) The etymological origins of the terms
“polite” and “politeness”
•
•
•
Link between “polish”, “poli” (Greek: “city”,
“polity”) and politizmos (Greek “civilization”).
English “polite” and French “poli” lie in the
Latin past participle form “politus” and “poli”:
“polished” and “to polish”.
“Polite” has to do with the etymological roots
of police or politics in the Greek “poli” and
“politizmos”.
3) Negative aspects of politeness
Polite behaviour cannot always be regarded as a
positive thing
• Relegation of own interests in favour of a social
• Group
• Feeling of resentment
Problem:
If we put ourselves into the background of other
members of a social group, how do we know that
others will also do the same?
More negative aspects:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Oppressive force
Taming of the individual
Imposing deference and
conformity
Altruistic intentions
Deceptive lie
Convenient mask
Other questions of politeness
•
•
How far can we go with these actions
before others begin to take advantage
of us?
Would it be easier to do what is to our
advantage and disregard other
feelings
and interests?
Conclusion
Language and forms of language
behaviour are the heart of social
communication
Politeness: the crown of social values
Including oppressive forms, deception and
altruistic intensions
References:
 Watts,
Richards J. 2003:
“Politeness”. Cambridge [u.a]:
Cambridge Univ. Press.
Course: Language and Culture
Prof. Dr. R. Hickey
SS 06
The concept of politeness:
American English vs. Japanese
Özlem Ögredici
Grundstudium LN
Overview
Negative and positive politeness (Brown &
Levinson)
Differences of Politeness in American English and
Japanese
General assertions
TLN (title plus last name) vs. FN (first name)
Employment of compliments/responses to
compliments
Conclusion
Negative and positive politeness
(Brown & Levinson 1978)
Positive politeness: directed toward S's need for approval and
belonging; expresses solidarity; using in-group markers, being
optimistic, indicating common ground, and offering or promising;
American speaker: “Your hair looks nice today.”  positive
Negative politeness: being conventionally indirect, questioning,
hedging, being pessimistic, minimizing the imposition, giving
deference, and apologizing; increases when S is less powerful or
familiarity is low; attempt by the speaker to save the listener’s face
by engaging in some formality or restraint.
Speaker: “Do you like my new haircut?" American speaker: “It
looks great!” (but the true opinion is that the haircut looks terrible) 
negative
Differences of politeness in AE and
Japanese
Politeness in Japanese:
Differences in social status and power are clearer and more
important in Japan.
 The Japanese language supports this system.
 “Keigo” (special polite language) used to show respect when
speaking to superiors or people outside of one's own group.
 It is more polite to keep others outside of the group.
 The Japanese acknowledge superiority more clearly and
usually use negative politeness to people outside their groups.
 Examples: they apologize to maintain a good relationship, even
when he/she is not wrong (negative politeness) or they
disagree or criticize, he/she does so very indirectly (negative
politeness).

Differences of politeness in AE and
Japanese
Politeness in American English:



Social status and power are not so clear and less important than
in Japan.
Americans use more positive politeness than Japanese.
For Americans, it is polite to include other people in one's own
group by use of informal language.
Differences of politeness in AE and
Japanese
TLN vs. FN by Americans and Japanese:
TLN (title plus last name): formal and polite form used for
address to convey a polite or formal attitude of the S;
 FN (first name): informal and casual form which conveys a
friendly attitude of the S;
 By Americans: “polite” and “friendly” are similar concepts and
often used together; easy to switch from TLN to FN; not a great
offence to use FN to address a person to whom polite or
respectful attitude is expected;
 By Japanese: “culture”, “polite” and “friendly”=discrete
concepts. Japanese (who speaks English) keeps distinction
between TLN and FN form; oversensitive to politeness
distinctions; using FN (like an American) means to learn the
American structure of “polite” and “friendly”.

Differences of politeness in AE and
Japanese
Employment of compliments/responses to compliments:

Compliment is a form of positive politeness.
Accepting the compliment
Returning the compliment
Thanking and denigrating
Deflecting
Rejecting the compliment

American
Yes (39.3%)
Yes (18.5%)
No
Yes (29.5%)
Yes (12.7%)
Chinese
Yes (1.0%)
No
Yes (3.4%)
No
Yes (95.7%)
American speakers were found to engage in deflection
responses (e.g. "Did I really do that well?”). Chinese speakers
frequently responded to compliments with rejection followed by
self-denigration (Chen, 1993).
Differences of politeness in AE and
Japanese
Japanese speakers exhibit a similar pattern like the Chinese
speakers: use compliments by downgrading oneself or comparing
oneself negatively (approach to negative politeness);
 Tend to compliment appearance as well as abilities (also the case
among Americans)
 Similarity between JSs and AESs: the primary function of
compliments to generate harmony or solidarity
 Difference: the response to compliments95% of the responses
among JSs showed a “self-praise avoidance”; only 5% showed
appreciation;
 JSs seldom compliment own family (not the case among
Americans)
Indicates function of downgrading oneself” family in Japan is part
of one’s self;

Conclusion
Criteria
of politeness
Speakers
Japanese speaker
American speaker
Social status and
superiority
Important, clearly
distinguished
Less important, no clear
distinction
Negative politeness
Often used; especially
when S is inferior
Seldom used
Positive politeness
Very seldom used; JSs
have problems with it;
Often used; no problems
Integration of other
people
Polite to keep other
people outside the group
Polite to include other
people
Polite TLN vs.
friendly FN
“Polite” and “friendly” are
different concepts;
distinguished clearly
“Polite“ and “friendly”
almost the same;
switching allowed
Compliments
Used by downgrading or
comparing oneself
negatively
Accepting and returning;
deflection responses;
own family
References
Books:

•


Watts, Richard J. (ed.) 2005: “Politeness in language”. Berlin
[u.a]: Mouton de Gruyter.
Garcia, Ofelia (ed.) 1989: “English across cultures, cultures
across English”. Berlin [u.a]: Mouton de Gruyter.
Internet:


www.studentorgs.utexas.edu/flesa/tpfle/contents10.doc
www1.doshisha.ac.jp/~kkitao/library/article/polite2.htm
Thank you for your
attention...
…and don’t forget to be
polite...PLEASE!