Politeness and Face in Interaction

Politeness theory explains how speakers manage face, the public self-image of participants, through strategies that mitigate threats to autonomy and to the desire for approval.

Definition

Politeness and face in interaction is the topic concerned with how speakers attend to participants' face, the public self-image at stake in interaction, using linguistic strategies to perform or soften face-threatening acts.

Scope

This topic covers the concept of face derived from Goffman, Brown and Levinson's distinction between positive and negative face, the notion of face-threatening acts, and the politeness strategies (bald-on-record, positive, negative, off-record) used to manage them. It includes the weighting of social distance, power, and imposition, and cross-cultural critiques of the model's claimed universality. Broader interactional meaning-making is treated in neighboring topics.

Core questions

• What is face, and what are its positive and negative aspects?
• What makes an act face-threatening, and how is the threat weighted?
• Which politeness strategies do speakers use to manage face?
• How universal is the Brown and Levinson model across cultures?

Key concepts

• Face (positive and negative)
• Face-threatening acts
• Politeness strategies
• Social distance, power, and imposition
• Universality vs. cultural specificity

Key theories

Positive and negative face

Brown and Levinson distinguished positive face, the desire for approval, from negative face, the desire for autonomy, and described politeness as strategies addressed to each when an act threatens face.

Face and face-work

Goffman introduced face as the positive social value a person claims in interaction and face-work as the actions taken to maintain it, providing the foundation Brown and Levinson built on.

History

Goffman's 1967 analysis of face-work was developed into a systematic politeness theory by Brown and Levinson in 1978, reissued in 1987, which became the dominant framework while also attracting cross-cultural critique.

Debates

Universality of politeness

Critics argue that Brown and Levinson's model, rooted in negative face and individual autonomy, reflects Western assumptions and does not capture politeness in cultures organized around group and relational concerns.

Key figures

• Penelope Brown
• Stephen Levinson
• Erving Goffman

Seminal works

• brown1987
• goffman1967

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between positive and negative face?

Positive face is a person's desire to be liked and approved of, while negative face is their desire to act without imposition; politeness strategies are designed to protect one or both when an utterance threatens them.