Analysis of the effects of power and social distance upon politeness patterns
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Date
2013
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University of Management and Technology
Abstract
This study attempts to analyze the effects of the social variables i.e. power and social distance upon politeness. It investigates how much the phenomenon of politeness is related to power and social distance. It explores whether Brown and Levinson‟s politeness theory can be applied to Pakistani culture or not. This research is conducted in schools, colleges, universities, government and private sector offices situated in Lahore city. It is based upon mix design i.e. a combination of both qualitative and quantitative approach. Two instruments i.e. questionnaires and recordings have been used for data collection. Questionnaires are developed on the basis of Discourse Completion Test (DCT) which is a questionnaire containing situations, briefly described and designed to elicit a particular speech act. The recordings are based on interactions taking place between two speakers. Different situations regarding request and apology have been assigned to the participants and they had to respond according to them. The quantitative data collected through questionnaires was analyzed through SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) and Word Excel. The qualitative data collected through recordings was analyzed through Word Excel. The results of the study revealed that social variables i.e. „power‟ and „social distance‟ have a significant influence on people‟s use of polite language. Statistical evidence shows that social distance is directly related to politeness while power is indirectly related to politeness. It means that the greater the social distance, the more polite language people will employ while the greater the power, the less polite language people will use. The powerless people show great respect for the powerful people, while the powerful need not show respect for the powerless. Hence, the powerless people use more polite language as compared to the powerful people. The study recommends that further research is required on other issues related to politeness such as the comparative study of politeness phenomenon in each gender to find out whether
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females are more polite or males. This study is helpful not only for the researchers of pragmatics rather of anthropology, sociolinguistics and sociology since the phenomenon of politeness comes under all these disciplines. Findings from this pragmatic research can aid applied linguistics and studies in cross-cultural communication in general.
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Keywords
M.Phil Thesis, Applied Linguistics, Politeness