Download LEXICAL AND STYLISTIC MEANS OF EXPRESSING POLITENESS

LEXICAL AND STYLISTIC MEANS OF EXPRESSING POLITENESS
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Olkova I.A., Kuznecova D.B.
(СКГУ им. М.Козыбаева)
In the given article we consider the peculiarities of verbal communication in British
culture, reflected in choosing means of expressing the category of politeness. The importance of
the verbal communication in this culture is reduction to a minimum the direct impact on the
interlocutor. The investigation is based on the plays “Othello” written by W. Shakespeare and
“Pygmalion” written by B. Show.
The category of politeness, as a speech act, belongs to the illocutionary speech acts. The
theory of speech acts has the special branch concerning the category of politeness. Politeness
theory is the theory that accounts for the redressing of the affronts to face posed by facethreatening acts to addressees [1]. It was formed by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson in
1987.
They determined two types of politeness strategies that are chosen according to the
intentions and attitude of interlocutors.
The first strategy is positive and has a purpose to disguise threat. The speaker uses special
means to show that he respects the wishes of the interlocutor to have his or her own revered
positive face. The positive politeness strategies include statements that designate friendliness,
goodwill and solidarity.
The negative politeness strategy is focused on the negative face of interlocutor; it takes
into account the hearer's desire to be independent. Usually the negative politeness strategies
stress the lack of pressure on the interlocutor.
In the given article we analyzed the following aspects of means of expressing politeness:
lexical and grammatical, and stylistic and syntactic. After the conducted analysis we emitted the
lexical means presented in the following scheme.
Adverbs and
adverbial forms
Markers of apology
Modal verbs
Lexical and grammar means
of expressing politeness in the
English language
Addressing words
Tag-questions
Markers of
gratitude
Figure 1 - Lexical and grammar means of expressing politeness in the English language
(based on the material of the plays “Othello” written by W. Shakespeare and “Pygmalion”
written by B. Show).
Our hypothesis states that the number and type of expressing means depend on the plot of
the fiction work. As the “Othello, The Moor of the Venice” is the tragedy in which the main
character is accused of the neglect of moral principles that were accepted in the society of those
times, and had to justify before the people who have a higher social position, the main strategy of
politeness is the negative one, whereas the main strategy that is used in the “Pygmalion” is in the
most cases positive. This fact determines the differences between using lexical and grammatical
means of expressing politeness in these two plays.
During the conducted analysis we have researched about 300 pages of fiction texts to
reveal various means of expressing politeness. Some examples from the analyzed works are
presented below.
The most common means in both of these plays are addressing words. This means takes the
special place in expressing politeness in all periods of time and can be classified into the
following groups: due to the status, social position and job, addressing words with addition of
strengthening adjectives and adverbs, and addressing due to the relationships of interlocutors.
During our investigation, we came to the conclusion that addressing due to the status
prevails in the literature of the 17th century, while in the literature of the 20th century addressing
by name dominates.
“RODERIGO.
Signior, is all your family within?” [2]
Such addressing words as “signior” and “Sir” are usually used in relation to the person
whose status is higher than the status of the speaker to underline the respect. In this particular
case the Venetian nobleman addressed to the senator using this words and it is obvious that is
was a sign of reverence, so we can classify these phrases as the attributes of the positive
politeness strategy.
The following phrase illustrates the
“PICKERING
What is his trade, Eliza?”[3]
The second frequently used lexical means of expressing politeness is the usage of markers
of gratitude and apology. These means take almost the similar place in both of plays and are
considered to be the most appropriate and simple ways to express politeness in every period of
time.
As the variety of all expressing means is less expressed in the situation of the 17 th century,
the great deal of means determined in the theoretical part are rarely used, or not used in the play
“Othello” we cannot make up the whole picture of their usage in those times. But we can see the
greater variety of gratitude and apologies in another play. In order to make the degree of
reverence to the more important person stronger, the speaker can use some positive adverbs and
adjectives:
“DOOLITTLE
Thank you kindly, Governor.” [3]
In order to make the degree of reverence to the more important person stronger, the speaker
can use some positive adverbs and adjectives. Adding such strong adverbs and adjectives
designates the sincerity of the statement and characterizes them as the expression of positive
politeness.
The markers of apology can be divided as formal and informal, where formal are the
demonstration of negative, positive or neutral politeness, and informal shows the positive
attitude to the addresser. For example:
“PICKERING
I beg your pardon, Miss Doolittle. It was a slip of the tongue!” [3]
This phrase illustrates the formal apology for insignificant action, but shows that the
speaker has a great deal of respect in his intentions.
Such means as adverbs and adverbial forms are used in both plays in order to underline the
statues of the addresser or some special relationships between the interlocutors. In the similar
intention modal verbs are used.
“MRSX HIGGINS
May I come, Mr. Doolittle?” [3]
The main aim if the usage of modal verbs” is to determine when giving the mild or strong
request, order or advice, asking for allowance or help.
The last grammatical means expressing politeness – tag-questions, were not found in the
play “Othello”, but are the main, and almost only, means of expressing negative politeness
strategy in the play “Pygmalion”.
“THE FLOWER GIRL
Good enough for ye-oo. Now you know, dont you?” [3]
Tag-questions as the grammatical mean are used in this play to show uncertainty and a
little bit of irony, so it can be said that such construction expresses the negative politeness.
Summing up, it can be said that the variety of the lexical and grammatical means primarily
depends on the plot of the story.
The kind of politeness strategy that was chosen by the author is clearly shown by the
stylistic and syntactic means that are used in each play.
Stylistic and syntactic ways
of expressing politeness
Indirectness and
hedging
Euphemisms
Polite lie
Figure 2 - Stylistic and syntactic ways of expressing politeness (based on the material of
the plays “Othello” written by W. Shakespeare and “Pygmalion” written by B. Show).
The first and the most often used syntactical way of expressing politeness is using indirect
sentences. Indirectness in communication is one of the tactics we learn as we mature
emotionally and socially. It helps in social interactions by avoidance of confrontation and
conflicts and promoting cooperation. It is obvious in the following example taken from the play
“Pygmalion”:
“PICKERING
But dont you think something might be done? I mean something to eliminate the
sanguinary element from her conversation.” [3]
In this case using indirectness helps the speaker to give noncommittal advice, a kind of hint
that cannot offence the addresser, but can, probably, point out her traits that make problems
during the conversation.
The main character of the play, Eliza Doolittle, and her relatives, belong to the low social
circle of London’s society, that’s why they are not able to express their thoughts and feelings in
appropriate grammatically right way and for them the only way to stay polite, while they are told
unpleasant and offensive things, is to use evasive constructions.
The usage of hedging is this play has the similar aims as the usage of indirectness. The
professor of phonetics, while telling his opinion about Liza Doolittle to her relatives, tries not to
offence them by using different hedging constructions.
“MRSX PEARCE
I just wish to trouble you with a word, if I may, Mr. Higgins.” [3]
This example shows how people try to be polite while interfering with their requests or
remarks; there are the most common examples of negative politeness.
The next example was taken from the play “Othello, the Moor of Venice”:
“IAGO.
Well, I may chance to see you; for I would very fain speak with you.” [2]
In this particular play indirectness and hedging are used due to the situation that
circumstances of the plot force people to be insincere in order to avoid evident confrontation and
its consequences.
The phenomenon of polite lie more characteristically belongs to the negative politeness
strategy and is one of the means of its expressing in the play “Pygmalion”. We suppose that this
fact also depends on the fact that in this play the behavior of people of the low social position is
described.
“HIGGINS
Oh! Quite right, Mrs. Pearce. [To Eliza] Yes: damned silly.” [3]
In this example using the expression “quite right” in its opposite meaning is used to convey
polite lie that indicates a deal of hypocrisy double-talk in order not to offence the person who
defends his daughter from the insulting.
The last stylistic means described in the given article is euphemism. Euphemisms as the
means of expressing positive politeness were found in the play “Pygmalion” for avoiding offence
from both of sides: low and high social circle. Euphemisms are used for dissimulation, to refer to
taboo topics (such as disability or death) in a polite way, and to mask profanity. For example, on
the premiere Mrs. Patrick Campbell, playing Eliza Doolittle, made a knockdown with the
exclamation "Walk! Not bloody likely!" and the result of it became usage the name "Pygmalion"
as "Not Pygmalion likely".
As the result of this analysis we can make the following conclusions:
1) The number, variety and kinds of chosen linguistic means of expressing politeness
depend on the chosen politeness strategy, and the politeness strategy, in its term, depends on the
plot of the story.
2) The expressing means in the literature of the 20th century are distinguished by their
number and variety, probably, due to the fact that more non-verbal means were used in the
conditions of court etiquette in 17th century.
3) The most common lexical means in both of this plays are addressing words. This means
takes the special place in expressing politeness in all periods of time and can be classified into
the following groups: due to the statues, social position and job, addressing words with addition
of strengthening adjectives and adverbs, and addressing due to the relationships of interlocutors.
4) The kind of politeness strategy that was chosen by the author is clearly shown by the
stylistic and syntactic means that are used in each play. The most frequently occurred stylistic
mean in both play is indirectness. Stylistic and syntactic means of expressing politeness play the
fewer roles than lexical and grammatical and define the negative politeness strategy.
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4.
References:
Brown P., Levinson S.C. Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. 1987.
Shakespeare W. Othello, the Moor of Venice. Penguin Classics, 2010.
Show J. B. Pygmalion. Penguin Classics, 2009.
Holmes, J. Women Men and Politeness. London: Longman. 1995.