scholarly journals Politeness in Parliamentary Discourse: An Analysis of the Hansard of the Parliament of Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
Benedict S. Akuka ◽  
Christiana Hammond ◽  
Albert A. Wornyo
Keyword(s):  
Politeness Theory ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Implicit Expressions

This study investigates politeness in parliamentary discourse in Ghana. Using politeness theory as framework and the parliamentary Hansard as source of data, the study examines the politeness strategies employed by parliamentary actors, the implications of the frequency of the usage of the politeness strategies, and how the Standing Orders of Parliament determine the choice of a politeness strategy. Findings of the study show that political actors in the Parliament of Ghana use the bald on-record, the positive, the negative and the off-record politeness strategies in varied proportions. The study further reveals that the negative politeness strategy is the most frequently used politeness strategy with the Speaker being the highest user of the negative and the bald on-record politeness strategies. Again, the study found out that the off-record politeness strategy is the least used strategy. The Majority Members in Parliament use the highest frequency of the positive politeness strategies while the Minority Members of Parliament employ more negative politeness strategies. The study concludes that parliamentary discourse in Ghana employs more of the direct explicit polite expressions than the indirect implicit expressions of politeness. The study recommends that researchers should pay critical attention to the politeness phenomenon in parliamentary discourse.

Regieren nach oder getrieben von Umfrageergebnissen? Wie Bundes- und Landtagsabgeordnete die mediale Umfrageberichterstattung wahrnehmen

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28
Author(s):  
Catharina Vögele ◽  
Ursula Alexandra Ohliger
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
German State ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Perceived Benefit ◽  
Legal Restrictions ◽  
Election Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

This study analyzes how German political actors at the federal and state levels perceive the opportunities and risks of political poll reporting . A quantitative online survey of Members of the Bundestag and all German state parliaments shows that their perceptions are ambiva­lent: Although they all express great or very great interest in opinion polls, they have ambivalent views on how useful opinion research is for their political activities . With regard to the perceived benefit of poll reporting, the commissioning of opinion polls, and the desired frequency of media poll reporting, differences between the members of parliament surveyed are evident . When analyzing the internal and external use of the results of opinion polls our findings suggest that they are primarily used to strategically plan election cam­paigns and to identify popular topics . A large majority of members of parliament agree on the possible effects of poll reporting on voters . They view these effects predominantly criti­cally and are in favor of legal restrictions on publishing election polls .

scholarly journals “GOOD EVENING TO YOU, LADY OF THE HOUSE”: CONSIDERACIONES SOBRE EL PRINCIPIO DE CORTESÍA EN EL TEATRO DE J.M. SYNGE

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Encarnación Hidalgo Tenorio
Keyword(s):  
Western World ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
Irish Theatre ◽  
Role Construction ◽  
Irish Studies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Abbey Theatre ◽  
The Press ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Literary Figure

ResumenEn el ámbito de los estudios irlandeses se ha estudiado con profusión el inesperado fracaso del fenómeno teatral encabezado por W.B. Yeats y en el que John Millington Synge se llevó la peor de las partes. La subversión que sus personajes implicaban a todos los niveles explica el rechazo de los mismos por parte del público que acudía en masa al Abbey Theatre solo para silbar y patalear durante alguna de sus representaciones (Kilroy 1971). Un análisis detallado de la forma en la que hace que se expresen apunta en esta dirección. La incorrección verbal es una seña característica del teatro de esta figura clave de la literatura irlandesa. Partiendo de ahí, en el presente trabajo se aplica el principio de cortesía lingüística (Brown y Levinson 1987) a tres de las obras más destacadas de este dramaturgo: In the Shadow of the Glen, The Tinker’s Wedding y The Well of the Saints. Con la intención de refutar los resultados de trabajos anteriores (Hidalgo-Tenorio 1999) y demostrar la validez de este modelo en la investigación de textos de ficción, se comprueba que esas mujeres, que rompen con la norma social y conversacional una y otra vez, en casos muy excepcionales hacen un uso magistral de todas las estrategias posibles de cortesía. Las razones son tan diversas como las que se darían en cualquier transacción conversacional del mundo real. Este artículo se proponer desgranarlas como uno de sus objetivos.Palabras clave: Pragmática, principio de cortesía, género, teatro irlandés, J.M. Synge.English title: “Good Evening to You, Lady of the House”: Considerations on the Politeness Principle in J.M. Synge’s DramaAbstract: In the field of Irish studies, scholars have considered extensively the failure of the theatrical experience led by W.B. Yeats and J.M. Synge, who bore the brunt of popular criticism. The subversion embodied in Synge’s characters explains their rejection by the public, who flocked to the Abbey Theatre just to whistle and stamp their feet during some of his performances. One in January 1907 caused a particularly furious reaction from the press and political nationalists (Kilroy 1971). Since verbal impropriety (Bousfield and Locher 2008, Culpeper 2011) is their most outstanding characteristic, the analysis of how this major literary figure makes them express themselves can shed light on a phenomenon of much sociological relevance. Accordingly, here I apply the politeness principle (Brown and Levinson 1978, 1987) to four of his most well-known plays: The Well of the Saints, The Tinker’s Wedding, In the Shadow of the Glen and The Playboy of the Western World. Apart from demonstrating the validity of this model in the exploration of fiction, I will show that those women, who regularly break social and conversational norms, make use of all politeness strategies in very exceptional cases. The reasons are as diverse as those articulated in any real-world transaction, and this article aims to disentangle them. Thus, it will be easier to tackle the issue of gender role construction (Holmes 1995, Weatherall 2002, Litoselitti 2006), which is definitely one of the grounds on which Dublin’s dismissal of the Irish Dramatic Movement was based (Hidalgo-Tenorio 1999).Keywords: Pragmatics, politeness theory, gender, Irish Theatre, J.M. Synge.

scholarly journals Authentic Discourse and Model Exemplars in Japanese Language Textbooks: A Case Study of Apologies and Requests

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nobuko Kato
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
Discourse Model ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Natural Discourse ◽  
Discourse Strategies ◽  
Language Textbooks

<p>In recent years, the communicative approach has prevailed in second language teaching, such that model dialogues are presented in textbooks for language learners. However, there has been little research on the extent to which such exemplars reflect authentic discourse in Japanese. This thesis, therefore, explores the speech acts of Japanese language native speakers (NSs), non-native speakers who are learning Japanese (NNSs), and discourse model examples presented in Japanese language textbooks (TXs) in order to investigate their similarities and differences, and thereby enhance the contents of textbooks. In particular, this thesis focuses on the discourse structure and expressions. The study takes a quantitative approach to the data analysis, using two different scenarios in settings of apology and requests. NSs pairs and NNSs pairs were requested to perform role-plays of two different scenarios in Japanese. The conversational data of the role-plays were transcribed, and the model exemplars of apology and request presented in the selected Japanese language textbooks were also analysed. The analysis employs the framework of cross-cultural speech act realisation patterns (CCSARP) of Blum-Kulka et al. (1989) to categorise utterances based on the intentions of the speakers into two parts, namely: Head Acts (HAs) and Supportive Moves (SMs). Once the data were classified by the CCSARP, individual HAs and SMs were sorted according to Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987), which divides politeness strategies into four types: bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off record. By adopting both CCSARP and politeness theory, the characteristics of the discourse strategies and expressions of the three groups analysed in this thesis can be grasped. The analysis produces several new findings by identifying various ways in which the model dialogues in Japanese language textbooks fail to reflect the natural discourse of Japanese native speakers. The thesis presents suggestions for improvement for the benefit of textbook authors in future.</p>

Marina Orsini-Jones and Fiona Lee. Intercultural Communicative Competence for Global Citizenship. Identifying cyberpragmatic rules of engagement in telecollaboration. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Pp. i-xix, 1-135. ISBN 978-1-137-58102-0 ISBN 978-1-137-58103-7 (eBook)

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 201-203
Author(s):  
Grigore-Dan IORDĂCHESCU
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
The Impact

The book titled Intercultural Communicative Competence for Global Citizenship. Identifying cyberpragmatic rules of engagement in telecollaboration brings novel approaches to Computer Mediated Communication, based on practical outcomes from a small-scale online international learning (OIL) project, i.e., CoCo, carried out during the academic year 2015–2016, between UK and France. It provides useful insights into the contribution of OIL projects to the internationalisation of the Higher Education (HE) curriculum as well as to the development of global citizenship competences, with a focus on intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in the digital era. The authors structured the book into seven chapters, concentrating on essential pragmatics concepts revisited within the cyberspace and describing the project methodology and findings. Chapter 1, Introduction provides an overview of the topics presented in the volume, with clear definitions and eloquent examples, i.e., Online International Learning (OIL), Intercultural communicative competence (ICC), Telecollaboration, Internationalisation of the curriculum (IoC), Threshold concept (TC), Global citizenship, and Cyberpragmatics. Chapter 2, Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) Revisited brings forth an account of the historical evolution of the concepts of Communicative Competence (CC) and Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC), while at the same time examining the impact of the World Wide Web, coupled with the extensive use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) on the re-conceptualisation of ICC and its reassessed characteristics. It emphasises the value of integrating telecollaboration into the Higher Education curriculum with a view to creating global citizenship competences for the digital age in Higher Education. Chapter 3, Cyberpragmatics advances a comprehensive definition of cyberpragmatics seen as a professional as well as an academic genre-specific online ‘savoir-être’. It explores the theoretical foundations of the term, coined by Yus (2011), and brings forth examples of cyberpragmatic findings from similar research. Moreover, it gives an overview of the politeness theory (Brown, & Levinson 1987) and politeness principle (Leech 1983, 2014). The authors explain the blurring line between oral and written language that may occur in the case of online communication and how this affects students. The chapter also provides a clear-cut definition of the threshold concept (TC) pedagogy, upholding that Intercultural Cyberpragmatic Communicative Competence (ICCC) may be subsumed to TC. The authors advocate curricular scaffolding in HE in order to assist students with reflecting on and practising ICCC. Last but not least, the chapter presents the research question that this study aims to address. Chapter 4, The ‘CoCo’ Telecollaborative Project: Internationalisation at Home to Foster Global Citizenship Competences presents the CoCo (Coventry Colmar) telecollaborative course, along with the tasks devised and/or adopted for it, e.g., the Cultura Quizzes. It demonstrates the successful integration of CoCo into the curriculum and assessment of the two participating institutions and how students managed to apply critical digital literacies for global citizenship through active learning. The authors make an overview of research instruments and materials, including the frameworks of analysis and their application. Useful figures and tables illustrating the telecollaborative project structure, the politeness frameworks and strategies applied are also included. The fifth chapter, ‘CoCo’ Research Questions and Answers, delves further into the research questions of this study, at the same time offering a rationale for the analysis decisions taken as part of the asynchronous discussion forums with reference to tasks devised for the CoCo telecollaborative project. It tackles the impact of linguistic politeness theory frameworks on how project participants manage to negotiate politeness online. As for the asynchronous interactions in the CoCo forum, politeness strategies and facework employed by the CoCo interactants are interpreted from a cyberpragmatic standpoint through the application of Brown and Levinson’s and Leech’s politeness frameworks of analysis. Chapter 6, Emerging Online Politeness Patterns, brings forth a thorough account of the results obtained from the analysis of interactants’ exchanges carried out on the asynchronous discussion forums, with respect to the tasks devised for the telecollaborative CoCo project. In particular, three online exchanges were used in order to highlight patterns of linguistic behaviour, i.e., type and frequency of politeness strategies or maxims. The final chapter, Conclusion, presents the summary of findings, limitations and further research suggestions as well as pedagogical implications for teachers and students alike. The politeness frameworks of analysis provided by Brown and Levinson (1978) and Leech (1983), applied to cybercommunication are outlined and explained. The results revealed particular problematical areas in the field of cyberpragmatics, underpinning the challenges that students may face in telecollaboration, leading to the conclusion that detailed and structured task scaffolding is necessary in such collaborative activities. All in all, the book is an extremely useful tool for all stakeholders in the tertiary education landscape. It is a must read for language teachers, teacher trainers, trainees and educators from all educational systems across the globe.

The Study of Politeness and Face in 2013 Presidential Election Candidates of Iran

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 978
Author(s):  
Hassan Soleimani ◽  
Maliheh Nouraei Yeganeh
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
The Body ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
News Source ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Politeness Strategies

The present paper investigates pragmatic competence by considering some corpora of 2013 Iran presidential debates.The Fararu news source was used for sampling third debate. The present study examined two aspects of pragmatic competence for analyzing the materials. First, Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory was used to examine the positive and/or negative politeness of each candidate’s speech. Then, the study used the Pearson chi-square formula to examine the frequency of politeness strategies used by candidates. Second, Arundale’s (2010) face theory was used to analyze criticism responses exchanges between the candidates. The researchers assumed that, following the theories, pragmatic competence might have a great effect on election’s outcomes and mitigate the threat to candidates’ face. The findings showed a statistically significant difference between the frequencies of politeness strategies used by Iran’s 2013 presidential candidates. Moreover, there was one by one relation between the mitigating of face threatening acts and face constituting strategies used by candidaes. We hope the findings could add to the body of knowledge in both pragmatics and presidential election context.

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF REFUSAL EXPRESSIONS IN JAPANESE AND BAHASA AT WORKPLACE

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Maria Gustini
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Completion Test ◽  
Age Range

This article examines Contrastive Analysis of Refusal in Indonesian language and Japanese language. Up to now, there have been no contrastive researchs which compare refusal speech acts within Indonesian language and Japanese language, focused on working situations. This article reports on a study to investigate differences and similarities in the politeness strategies of refusals between Japanese language (JS) and Indonesian language (IS). This study employed politeness theory of Brown and Levinson (1987). Therefore the participants of this research were Indonesian and Japanese who currently work in company, school, etc. This research used descriptive method and collecting data using DCT (Discourse Completion Test) in Indonesian and Japanese. Therefore, the research subjects were those who already worked with the age-range from 22 to 50 years. 40 native speakers of Indonesian (IS) and 40 native speakers of Japanese (JS) participated in this study. All participants were asked to fill out a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) which written in the form role-play questionaire, consisting of 3 situations. DCT situations were categorized based on power and familiarity/social distance between speaker and hearer. Results are as follows: (1) JS and IS using apology, reason, fuka, and requeirment in refusal act. (2) IS explain reason clearly in refusal act. Other hand JS using aimai reason. (3) JS used expressions of apology appropriately according to their power (hierarchical position), while IS made appropriate use of these expressions according to relative social distance. (4) IS tend to using requeirement in each refusal act.

scholarly journals Breathing Through their Noses: Candidate Selection and Role Adaptation amongst First-Term MPs in the  New Zealand Parliament

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Steven Barnes
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
The Future

<p>Sir Keith Holyoake, New Zealand Prime Minister from 1960 to 1972, famously counselled first-term Members of Parliament to ‘breathe through their noses’, suggesting that it was in their best interests to keep their heads down and mouths shut. Perhaps this recommendation is instrumental in the low profile of first-term MPs in New Zealand and the subsequent dearth of information available about these individuals. Within political science, scholarly attention has tended to focus on the ‘power holders’ – senior leaders and those perceived to have the most influence. In New Zealand, this has resulted in a growing field of literature about prime ministers, party leaders, and the few parliamentarians who reach cabinet. This thesis steps back from power holders to shed light on new MPs. It is important to know who new MPs are. Within parliamentary systems MPs often serve long apprenticeships before being promoted to the senior positions of their party and government. Thus MPs who enter parliament today may hold significant influence in the future. However, very little is known about legislators when they enter parliament. Do all Members of Parliament wish to become ministers or prime ministers, or do they have more modest aspirations, such as being the best local MP they possibly can? By understanding the motivations of our neophyte politicians we can better understand the types of people who are likely to become significant political actors in the future. This study aims to understand how and why individuals become MPs and how they adapt to the role once they have been elected. This thesis uses information gained from two rounds of interviews conducted with first-term Members of Parliament during their first nine months in office. Thus this research presents an insight into how MPs view candidate selection and follows them through their first few months in the job as they reconcile their pre-election expectations with the roles expected of MPs. The result is an account of how individuals become MPs and the roles they develop once elected.</p>

scholarly journals Formal and Informal Russian Invitation: Context and Politeness Strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 994-1013
Author(s):  
Gayane Rubenovna Vlasyan ◽  
Irina Vladimirovna Kozhukhova
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
The Impact

Invitation is a speech act which is perceived differently across cultures. Understanding the pragmatics of invitation requires knowledge of the notion of politeness and politeness strategies which comprise culture specific elements. Politeness is realized in various discourses, social contexts and speech acts. The purpose of the study is to identify politeness strategies in Russian invitation in formal and informal contexts in three age groups and see how they correspond to the understanding of politeness in Russian communicative culture. The empirical data for the study were obtained through discourse completion tests with 101 participants (issuers of the invitation) of different age and social status as well as through ethnographic observation. The research is based on Discourse Analysis and Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson 1987; Larina2009, 2015; Locher 2006, 2013; Leech 2014; Mills 2003, 2017; Sifianou 1992; Terkourafi &Kadar 2017; Watts 2003, among others). We used discourse analysis to analyze the impact of the social and cultural context on the performance of invitation, the descriptive method which was used to analyze the pragmatic functions of invitation, as well as contextual interpretation of this speech act and the method of quantitative data processing. The study revealed some differences between a formal and informal invitation concerning politeness strategies and linguistic means of its expression. It also showed that in Russian culture issuing an invitation is not perceived as a face threatening speech act; in the analysed social contexts the preference is given to direct invitation, and the inviter’s imposition, as a rule, is perceived positively. The results contribute to a better understanding of Russian politeness and communicative style and can be implemented in intercultural pragmatics, intercultural communication and SL teaching.

scholarly journals Milton’s God: Democrat or Tyrant?

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 109-118
Author(s):  
Mostafa Sadeghi Kahmini
Keyword(s):  
Paradise Lost ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Politeness Strategies

Politeness is a universal phenomenon that is present in every human interaction. Many theorists have attempted to theorize politeness the most important of whom are Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson. The application of their theory has been extended to include literary works which are conversational in nature like drama or works whose building blocks consist of dialogues. This study tries to apply Politeness Theory to Milton's Paradise Lost in order to solve the age-old dispute over Milton's God to whom contradictory characteristics of democracy and tyranny are ascribed. It will be shown that in the conversation that takes place between God and residents of Heaven, God is more careful about politeness strategies despite his supremacy and it seems to be at odds with tyrannical features attributed to him.

scholarly journals Pronouns, Address Forms and Politeness Strategies in Odia

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Kalyanamalini SAHOO
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Social Relationship ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
Address Forms ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Linguistic Usage

This study discusses how various politeness strategies are implemented linguistically and how linguistic usage is related to social and contextual factors in the Indic language Odia. The study extends the validity of politeness theory (Brown & Levinson, 1978) with reference to Odia speech-patterns and shows that Odia usage of politeness would be more differentiated according to the social relationship and gender than the content of the message.  In Brown and Levinson’s model, individual speech acts are considered to be inherently polite or impolite.  However, in Odia, it is found that communities of practice, rather than individuals, determine whether speech acts are considered polite or impolite. Thus, politeness should be considered as a set of strategies or practices set by particular groups or communities of practice as a socially constructed norm for themselves.

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