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Book
Author Brown, Penelope.

Title Politeness : some universals in language usage / Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson
Published Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1987
1987

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  401.9 Bro  AVAILABLE
 MELB  401.9 Bro/Psu  AVAILABLE
 MELB  401.9 Bro/Psu  AVAILABLE
Description xiv, 345 pages
Series Studies in interactional sociolinguistics ; 4
Studies in interactional sociolinguistics ; 4
Contents Machine derived contents note: Symbols and abbreviations -- Foreword John J. Gumperz -- Introduction to the reissue -- Notes -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Summarized argument -- 3. The argument: intuitive bases and derivative definitions -- 4. On the nature of the model -- 5. Realizations of politeness strategies in language -- 6. Derivative hypotheses -- 7. Sociological implications -- 8. Implications for language studies -- 9. Conclusions -- Notes -- References -- Author index -- Subject index
Summary "This study is about the principles for constructing polite speeches. The core of it first appeared in Questions and Politeness, edited by Esther N. Goody (now out of print). It is here reissued with a fresh introduction that surveys the considerable literature in linguistics, psychology and the social sciences that the original extended essay stimulated, and suggests distinct directions for research. The authors describe and account for some remarkable parallelisms in the linguistic construction of utterances with which people express themselves in different languages and cultures. A motive for these parallels is isolated - politeness, broadly defined to include both polite friendliness and polite formality - and a universal model is constructed outlining the abstract principles underlying polite usages. This is based on the detailed study of three unrelated languages and cultures: the Tamil of South India, the Tzeltal spoken by Mayan Indians in Chiapas, Mexico, and the English of the USA and England, supplemented by examples from other cultures. Underneath the apparent diversity of polite behaviour in different societies lie some general pan-human principles of social interaction, and the model of politeness provides a tool for analysing the quality of social relations in any society. This volume will be of special interest to students in linguistic pragmatics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, anthropology, and the sociology and social psychology of interaction."--Publisher's web site
Analysis Social interactions Role of language
Notes "The bulk of the material in this volume first appeared in a collection in the series Cambridge papers in social anthropology, volume 8"--Foreword
Bibliography Bibliography: pages 301-327
Subject Conversation.
Etiquette.
Language and languages -- Usage.
Social interaction.
Pragmatics.
Sociolinguistics.
Speech acts (Linguistics)
Author Levinson, Stephen C.
LC no. 86023255
ISBN 0521308623