Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Ágnes Deli: Cognition and politeness

To get into the domain of the addressee is a kind of intrusion. Goffman's (1967) notion of 'face' implies this concept of territoriality, which he points out in his 'Replies and Responses' (1981:37) as follows: "To ask an improperly personal question can be equivalent to making an unwanted visit; both constitute invasions of territoriality". Grice's principles of co-operative behaviour (see Grice,1975) can be either observed or floated. However, floating the maxims of MANNER (viz. 1. Avoid obscurity of expression, 2. Avoid ambiguity, 3. Be brief, 4. Be orderly ), is often to do with another principle: "Be polite". Conversationalists sometimes follow this principle at the cost of the maxims "Be brief, and "Avoid ambiguity". Brown and Levinson (1987) offer a detailed discussion of the politeness principles, which are realized in various strategies of social encounters. Using Goffman's (1967) term 'face' they classify their linguistic forms into 'face saving' and 'face threatening' acts, and then cross-classify them into 'bald on record' and 'off record' types. Their notion of 'face' also ties up with notions of being embarrassed or humiliated, or 'losing face'. As they put it: "Thus face is something that is emotionally invested, and that can be lost, maintained, or enhanced, and must be constantly attended to in interaction. In general, people cooperate (and assume each other's cooperation) in maintaining face in interaction, such cooperation being based on the mutual vulnerability of face" (1987:61). Requests are considered face threatening acts in linguistic literature. Using an imperative form is a "bald-on-record strategy" in Brown and Levinson's framework, and as such it is a face-threatening act (FTA) (cf. ibid.: 95). My view is that questions are also FTA's in the broad sense. A question represents a problem, and a problem is a compulsion of a psychological kind, consequently, any elicitation for a reply is a face threatening act. To maintain and enhance their partners' face speakers can opt out for less