7.2. Critical Incidents in Cross-cultural Communication

Week 7 Part 2 will help you

• to get an overview of some critical incidents that may occur in cross-cultural communication,
• to learn about the linguistic phenomenon of positive and negative politeness.

To reach these goals you are expected to:

• watch the video lecture,
• do an activity to check your understanding,
• read about politeness,
• and check your knowledge and understanding with another activity.

 Video

Critical Incidents in Cross-Cultural Communication

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Activity

The following six text passages are short reports by German students about a critical incident they experienced while they were abroad. For each situation decide which “speech act” has caused the problem in communication. 

 Reading

Politeness

It is generally accepted that politeness is a universal concept and can be found in every culture. However, the ways through which it is realized in each speech community may vary from culture to culture as a result of different norms and conventions.

The term “politeness” is used all the time in everyday life, but it is also understood in very different ways. In general, the understanding of the term is very vague. It may refer, among other things, to a trait of character (“She is a very polite person”), to some behaviour in a specific situations (“She behaved in a very polite manner”) or to specific linguistic phenomena (“This is a very polite request”). It is therefore necessary, first of all, to distinguish between a linguistic and a non-linguistic understanding of the term (Bublitz 2009: 259). In the non-linguistic sense politeness is usually seen as a social norm which includes rules of etiquette and courtesy rules. As a linguistic phenomenon politeness can be found on all linguistic levels, e.g.:

–          prosody (e.g. rising or falling pitch to indicate questions, requests or sympathy)

–          lexicology (e.g. linguistic politeness markers such as ‘please’/’bitte’/’por favor’/’prego’ or ‘thank you’/’tak’/’merci’; modals like ‘may’, ‘could’ or ‘might; hedges like ‘possibly’ and ‘perhaps’)

–          syntax (e.g. tag questions like ‘…, isn’t it?’, ‘…, don’t you?’)

–          phraseology (e.g. politeness routines such as ’pleased to meet you’, ‘if you don’t mind’, ‘welcome to…’)

–          pragmatics (e.g. speech acts such as apologies, compliments or praise or ways of addressing people)

In general, politeness is a form of behavior aimed at developing and maintaining good interpersonal relationships. It helps to facilitate the interaction by reducing potential conflict and friction (Yule 1996: 106). Politeness is directed at relationships which is also reflected in the fact that politeness is a tool to show an awareness of another person’s “face” (Yule 1996: 134).  Face is defined as “the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself” (Brown and Levinson 1987: 61). Brown and Levinson also distinguish between two types of face: “negative face” and “positive face”.

Negative face refers to a person’s right to self-determination. When we say that someone has expressed himself ‘politely’, we usually mean that he respects the negative face of his counterpart. We all expect to be respected and treated as responsible and independent members of society. This would also include the idea of having the freedom to act autonomously. If this independence is not respected, however, for example, when somebody imposes his own needs and wants upon somebody else, this is often considered to be a face-threatening act.

In order to minimize the imposition on the hearer people may use a variety of so-called negative politeness strategies: For example, people may give the hearer the option not to act (e.g. “Would you mind if I close the window?”) or they may apologize for an inconvenience that might be caused (e.g. “I’m sorry to bother you, but…”). Another negative politeness strategy could simply be to show respect to someone by addressing him or her in a formal way. Many languages such as French, Spanish or German, for example, make a distinction between an informal way and a formal way of addressing someone (e.g. tu vs. vous or Du vs. Sie). In some countries in South America the title Don or Doña is used as a generic honorific when addressing a senior citizen, similar to Sir and Madam in the American South.

A further negative politeness strategy is the use of so-called “hedges”. Hedges are mitigating devices which soften the impact of an utterance and make it sound more tentative or cautious. Hedges can appear in various forms, e.g. as adjectives (e.g. little, minor, insignificant), adverbs (e.g. somewhat, pretty, relatively, pretty, quite, rather), question tags (e.g. …, isn’t it? …, don’t you?) or even phrases or clauses (e.g. “I may be wrong, but…”, “I know I shouldn’t be asking this, but …”).

Positive face, on the other hand, refers to how one sees oneself and how one wants to be seen by others. It refers to the desire for a self-image which is usually positive – in other words, the desire to be respected and appreciated by others.

By using positive politeness strategies speakers typically demonstrate some form of involvement. Typically, this can be done by showing sympathy, appreciation or solidarity (e.g. “I’m very sorry to hear that”, “I know how you feel”, “Congratulations!”).

In a way, the concept of face can be compared to a magnet with a positive and a negative pole. The “negative” pole represents the individuality and the independence of the participants, while the “positive” pole is concerned with a person’s right and need to be regarded as a full member of society.

In sum, being polite basically means that a person’s wants and needs for positive and negative face are respected and appreciated. Ultimately, politeness is of course also very much linked to a person’s evaluation of what is appropriate or inappropriate in a particular situation.

Cross-cultural differences

Each culture has its own cultural norms and conventions how to signal politeness in specific situations. Although many cultures share very similar forms to signal politeness, differences may also occur, e.g. regarding the frequency of specific phenomena, i.e. how often specific politeness markers, modals or hedges are used or which degree of formality is preferred when addressing people.

In particular, three main factors determine how much politeness is appropriate in a specific situation: the relative power between the speaker and the hearer, the social distance between them and the weight of imposition. Of course, these factors may vary considerably across cultures. For instance, due to the factors “power” or “social distance” different politeness strategies may be used in a culture which is structured in a very hierarchical way compared to a rather egalitarian society. Some societies, e.g. Japan, have a very complex system of honorific terms to show respect to elderly people or people who are considered to be superior within the hierarchy. Cultures which have a strong orientation towards relationships also often prefer to use more indirect approaches and negative politeness strategies when making a request or asking for a favour. In general, therefore it is appear to be crucial to be aware of relevant differences between cultures with respect to politeness routines and strategies.

References:

Brown, Penelope & Levinson, Stephen (1987): Politeness. Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bublitz, Wolfram (2009): Englische Pragmatik: Eine Einführung. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag.
Leech, Geoffrey (1980): Explorations in Semantics and Pragmatics. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Leech, Geoffrey (1983): Principles of Pragmatics. London, New York: Longman.
Watts, Richard J. (2003): Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yule, George (1996): Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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  Activity

Which of the following sentences reveal a positive politeness strategy, which ones a negative politeness strategy?

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