Winning the Customers Over and Again: Investigating Discourse Features in Nigeria Banking Interactions

This paper explores the communication strategies employed by service providers in Nigeria banks to gain new and retain their old customers. This is done by looking at the discourse features inherent in banking interactions. The researcher was given the impetus to undertake this study because of the uniqueness exhibited in banking and business discourse. One could easily have drawn a conclusion that, as expected of every business interaction, the banking interaction would be without fuss because of the training employees receive on human relations, but these findings reveal that this is not always the case. However, the fact that employees have more successful interactions is one that cannot be denied, and this success can be attributed to the application of politeness strategies by bank staff. Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory serves as theoretical framework. Eleven texts from bank employee-customers interactions were purposively selected and subjected to content analysis in order to reveal linguistic strategies employed in them. It is realised that bank employees adopt features like inclusion, directness, informality, face saving features like avoidance of questions, politeness markers, hesitation and taciturnity when interacting with customers. It is also observed that bank employees use hesitation mostly to avoid making absolute statements which could affect customers’ negative face. Also, face saving strategies are the most used as employees do everything to save customer from embarrassment and make them feel good. Inclusion strategies by bank employees serve as vital retention device. This affects the choice of code and kinship terms used by bank employees when relating with customers. In the face of the heat with customers, bank employees resort to taciturnity as an avoidance strategy so that they are not held by their words. Politeness markers like ‘please’ are used even where they do not seem necessary and sorry is not commonly used. In all, bank employees’ attempt to treat their customers as kings in line with their training.

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KAJIAN PRAGMATIK KESANTUAN BERBAHASA ARAB PADA NOVEL KAUKAB AMUN KARYA SALLY MAGDI

Arabi Journal of Arabic Studies ◽

10.24865/ajas.v2i2.61 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 141 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Siti Aminah

Keyword(s):

The Novel ◽

Politeness Strategies ◽

The Face ◽

Face Saving ◽

Negative Face

This article discusses the politeness in Arabic speech especially on the politeness strategies used by the characters in the novel Kaukab Amūn. By utilizing Brown and Levinson's view of politeness, it is concluded that in order for communication to be smooth and harmonious, speakers and hearer use positive and negative politeness strategies. The strategy of positive politeness that is done in order to maintain the proximity between the speaker and the hearer is realized in the form of avoiding conflict, involving the opponent in a certain activity/speaker activity, promising, giving praise, expressing jokes, giving attention and sympathy, using certain identity identifiers, asking approval, and showing optimism. The negative politeness strategy is done by using the indirect sentence, reducing the strength or the threat to the speech partner, using the apology expression, and paying respects to the hearer. In the dialogue between characters in the novel Kaukab Amūn face threatenings were found, both positive and negative face threathening and the characters use the face saving act strategies.

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TINDAK PENGANCAMAN DAN PENYELAMATAN WAJAH ANIES BASWEDAN DAN BASUKI “AHOK” TJAHAJA PURNAMA

Jurnal KATA ◽

10.22216/jk.v2i2.3377 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 356

Author(s):

Saiko Rudi Kasenda

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Method ◽

Common Ground ◽

Large Range ◽

Politeness Theory ◽

Crucial Point ◽

Passive Voice ◽

Positive Image ◽

The Face ◽

Face Saving ◽

The One

This article is aimed to investigate face threathening acts and face saving acts demonstrated by Anies Baswedan dan Basuki Tjahaja Purnama as the candidates of DKI Jakarta governor during the debate held in April 2017. Face threatening act and face saving act are analyzed because they are able to show not only their positive image but also the negatve one in front of not only to each candidate but also to the audience watching the debate. Politeness theory from Brown and Levinson (1987.) are employed to analyze both candidates’ face threatening acts and saving acts since this theory provides detailed descriptions of a large range of strategies that can be used to deeply understand both face threatening acts and face saving act performed by the candidates. The context surrounding the debate becomes a crucial point to analyze how politeness strategy is applied to show face thratening act and face saving act. Through qualitative method, this study found that 1) Bald on-record is the strategy used by the candidates to show face threatening and they are intended to show contradictions, to disagree, to insult, to interrupt, to speak out-of-topic, to challenge, and to exaggerate. 2) Both candidates use positive and negative strategies to show face saving act intended to show contradictions, to assert common ground, to show agreement, to joke, to apologize, and to avoid disagreement. 3) The face threatening act and saving acts can be considered as the efforts to defend their argumentations and to preserve their positive faces, 4.) The use of the word “kita” and passive voice can be seen as markers in both candidates’ utterances to minimize the imposed face threatening act and to signal solidarity to each candidate and to audience, 5) While Anies is revealed to be the one who more frequently uses face threatening act, Basuki is the candidate who uses face saving act more often during the debate. The study is expected to enrich the study in the field of pragmatics focusing on the use of politeness strategy. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menginvestigasi tindak pengancaman muka wajah dan tindak penyelamatan wajah yang ditunjukkan oleh Anies Baswedan dan Basuki Tjahaja Purnama pada Debat Pilkada gubernur provinsi DKI Jakarta 2017. Tindak pengancaman wajah dan penyelamatan wajah diteliti pada makalah ini karena dapat merepresentasikan citra positif maupun citra negatif kandidat pilkada Gubernur DKI tidak hanya dihadapan masing-masing kandidat tetapi juga kepada masyarakat umum yang menyaksikan. Teori kesantunan dari Brown dan Levinson digunakan untuk menganalisis tindak pengancaman muka dan tindak penyelamatan muka kedua kandidat karena teori ini memiliki penjelasan yang komprehensif tentang berbagai strategi yang dapat dipergunakan untuk memahami secara mendalam bagaimana tindak pengancaman dan penyelamatan wajah ditunjukkan oleh kedua kandidiat. Konteks topik debat yang diangkat dipahami untuk dapat menganalisis tindak pengancaman dan penyelamatan wajah oleh Anies dan Basuki. Melalui metode kualitatif, studi ini menemukan bahwa 1) Bald on-record adalah strategi yang sering digunakan untuk menunjukkan tindak pengancaman muka dan ditujukan untuk menyatakan kontradiksi, menyatakan ketidaksetujuan, menyinggung, menginterupsi, berbicara di luar topik pembicaraan, menantang kandidat lain, dan memberikan pernyataan yang berlebihan. 2) Tindak penyelamatan muka dilakukan dengan strategi kesantunan positif dan negatif seperti menyatakan kontradiksi, menegaskan common ground, memberikan persetujuan, membuat lelucon, meminta maaf, dan menghindari ketidaksetujuan. 3) Tindak pengancaman muka dan penyelamatan muka dapat dianggap sebagai cara untuk mempertahankan argumentasi kedua kandidat dan untuk melindungi wajah positif masing-masing.4) Penggunaan kata “kita” dan kalimat pasif dimaksudkan untuk meminmalisiri ancaman sekaligus sebagai sinya solidaritas.5) Anies ditunjukkan sebagai kandidat yang lebih sering menggunakan tindak pengancaman muka, sedangkan Basuki adalah kandidat yang lebih sering menunjukkan penyelamatan muka selama debat berlangsung. Studi ini diharapkan dapat memperkaya pemahaman di bidang pragmatik khususnya tentang penggunaan strategi kesantunan

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Politeness strategies and the representation of women in the Holy Qur’an

Intercultural Pragmatics ◽

10.1515/ip-2018-0012 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 409-435

Author(s):

Kawakib Al Momani ◽

Fathi Migdadi ◽

Eman Rabab’a

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Approach ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

The Other ◽

Representation Of Women ◽

Different Types ◽

Social Unity ◽

Politeness Strategies ◽

The Face ◽

Negative Face ◽

Sensitive Issues

Abstract The goal of this study is to examine the strategies of politeness used in the Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims, to address and represent women. Women have been represented negatively in many different types of texts through face-threatening acts that sustain masculine power and hegemony. This study attempts to investigate the image of women in the most sacred book of Muslims. Two aspects are examined herein: the representation of women in relation to sensitive issues like sex and marriage, and the forms of address and reference to women. A qualitative approach is used to provide interpretations of the hidden meanings in the selected excerpts, adopting Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness and Leech’s maxims of politeness as the guides for the analysis. The analysis has revealed that women all through Qur’an have been addressed and referred to decently and politely. Unlike most of the other topics where bald-on-record strategies are used, the use of off-record strategies and positive and negative face strategies of politeness have been found to be dominant in discussion of issues relevant to women. These strategies have been used to avoid unpleasant communication in spiritual issues, and also to avoid misrepresentation of women, demeaning of their persons, causing any embarrassment, and thereby saving the face of both women and recipients. However, bald-on-record strategies are sometimes used in topics related to legal matters concerning familial and social unity and solidarity. The analysis has demonstrated the means by which language is used in the Glorious Qur’an to courteously address women. Concerning interpersonal maxims, the approbation, modesty, sympathy, tact, and agreement maxims have shown to be evident in addressing and referring to women. This study will contribute to the field of pragmatics and will lead to cross-religious and cross-cultural understanding during a period where Islam and its teachings are being widely questioned and examined.

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‘It’s hard to write a good article’: The online comprehension of excuses as indirect replies

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470218.2017.1327546 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 71 (6) ◽

pp. 1265-1269

Author(s):

Andrew J Stewart ◽

Jeffrey S Wood ◽

Elizabeth Le-luan ◽

Bo Yao ◽

Matthew Haigh

Keyword(s):

Eye Tracking ◽

Strong Evidence ◽

The Third ◽

Direct Question ◽

The Face ◽

Face Saving ◽

Threatening Situation ◽

Negative Face ◽

Good Article

In an eye-tracking experiment, we examined how readers comprehend indirect replies when they are uttered in reply to a direct question. Participants read vignettes that described two characters engaged in dialogue. Each dialogue contained a direct question (e.g., How are you doing in Chemistry?) answered with an excuse (e.g., The exams are not fair). In response to direct questions, such indirect replies are typically used to avoid a face-threatening disclosure (e.g., doing badly on the Chemistry course). Our goal was to determine whether readers are sensitive during reading to the indirect meaning communicated by such replies. Of the three contexts we examined, the first described a negative, face-threatening situation and the second a positive, non-face threatening situation, while the third was neutral. Analysis of reading times to the replies provides strong evidence that readers are sensitive online to the face-saving function of indirect replies.

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Politeness in compliment responses

Pragmatics ◽

10.1075/prag.16.1.03ruh ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 43-101 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Şükriye Ruhi

Keyword(s):

Management Approach ◽

Motivating Factors ◽

Self Presentation ◽

Self Confidence ◽

Self Image ◽

Compliment Responses ◽

Face Management ◽

Politeness Strategies ◽

The Face ◽

Negative Face

This paper analyses a corpus of compliment responses in Turkish according to the conversational maxim approach (Leech 1983, 2003) and the face-management approach (Brown and Levinson 1987) with a view to extending the conceptualisation of self-presentation in theorising on politeness. It observes that the two theories ground politeness on consideration for alter and give precedence to politeness in the sense of displaying deference and solidarity at the expense of self-politeness, described in the present study as speaker need for display of competence, self-confidence, and individuality in interaction, besides the need for non-imposition. Regarding the maxim approach, the paper argues that conversational implicatures triggered by a variety of responses ultimately tie to the Tact Maxim and more specifically to the Sympathy Maxim in the Turkish context. The analysis reveals that compliment responses may override the Politeness Principle, that self-presentational concerns are crucial motivating factors, and that face concerns need to be incorporated into the model. From the perspective of the face-management approach, the study supports the claim in O’Driscoll (1996) and Spencer-Oatey (2000) that the notions of positive and negative face as need for community and autonomy need to be disentangled from the theory’s conceptualisation of face as public self-image. With the incorporation of a number of self-politeness strategies, the face-theoretic analysis builds on this distinction and integrates it with the concept of interactional imbalance by extending an analytic framework adapted from Bayraktaroğlu (1991). The paper concludes with suggestions on how the two theories may complement each other.

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Conversational Implicature and Politeness Strategies in Bíọ́dún-Káyọ̀dé Newspapers’ Review in South Western Nigeria

American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research ◽

10.46545/aijelr.v2i1.70 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 13-24

Author(s):

Agunbiade Favour Olamide

Keyword(s):

Native Speakers ◽

Critical Evaluation ◽

Speech Community ◽

Conversational Implicature ◽

Politeness Theory ◽

Cooperative Principle ◽

The People ◽

Communication Situations ◽

Politeness Strategies ◽

The Face

Wardhaugh (1986) opines that when we speak, choices must of necessity be made of what we want to say, how we want to say it, the choice of words, sounds, (styles and other variables available within the speech community) that best unite (connect) what we say with how it is said. Based on the foregoing, the focus of this study is to identify and analyze the politeness strategies employed in the talk exchanges presented in Bíọ́dún and Káyọ̀dé newspapers’ review through critical evaluation. In addition, the study seeks to investigate what is implicated by an expression, other than what a speaker actually said by saying what he said. Brown and Levinson's politeness theory and Grice’s Cooperative Principle with its Maxims are adopted for analysis purpose. This study intends to show that Yorùbá culture places premium on social behaviour displayed and to reveal some of the culturally inherent linguistic and non-linguistic tools in the native speakers’intuition as well as and repertoire of the people which they employ to meet the face want of interlocutors in communication situations.

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Conversational Implicature and Politeness Strategies in Bíọ́dún-Káyọ̀dé Newspapers’ Review in South Western Nigeria

American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research ◽

10.46545/aijelr.v2i1.140 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 13-24

Keyword(s):

Native Speakers ◽

Critical Evaluation ◽

Speech Community ◽

Conversational Implicature ◽

Politeness Theory ◽

Cooperative Principle ◽

The People ◽

Communication Situations ◽

Politeness Strategies ◽

The Face

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Online Intercultural Dialogue: “Failed” Communication in a Telecollaboration Project

Kalbotyra ◽

10.15388/kalbotyra.2021.74.11 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 74 ◽

pp. 198-220

Author(s):

Dina Savlovska ◽

Dora Loizidou ◽

Viktorija Ivanova

Keyword(s):

Computer Mediated Communication ◽

Intercultural Dialogue ◽

Discussion Forums ◽

Cultural Issues ◽

Politeness Theory ◽

Human Communication ◽

Mediated Communication ◽

Cultural Backgrounds ◽

Politeness Strategies ◽

Negative Face

Over the past two decades, the development of computer-mediated communication technologies has modified human communication. Increasingly, representatives from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds are disposed to a constant negotiation of meanings. The main purpose of this study is to carry out a linguistically grounded analysis of the intercultural dialogue during online asynchronous written exchanges between Latvian and Cypriot students.Based on the politeness theory of Brown and Levinson (1987), which implies that all adult members of society are endowed with two universal aspects: “positive face” and “negative face”, and using the methods of content analysis and discourse analysis, this research analyses the way learners communicate or hide their position concerning sensitive cultural issues. To attain the objective of the present research, a quantitative and qualitative experimental study was conducted. The learners’ public messages in the discussion forums were juxtaposed with their private messages concerning proposed cultural topics. The findings show a strong interdependence between the politeness strategies used by the learners and the intercultural issue discussed. Thus, online intercultural discussions can be qualified as context-dependent and content-dependant. Discussion forum does not seem to be an appropriate environment to facilitate and encourage intercultural discussions about potentially controversial issues.

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Complaint and Politeness Strategies used by Iranian Speakers of English

International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature ◽

10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.3p.38 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 38

Author(s):

Narges Masjedi ◽

Shamala Paramasivam

Keyword(s):

Social Relationship ◽

Speech Act ◽

Speech Act Theory ◽

Politeness Theory ◽

Academic Context ◽

Good Relationship ◽

Completion Task ◽

Politeness Strategies ◽

The Face ◽

Relationship Breakdown

Complaint is a face threatening act and it happens when a speaker reacts with anger to things which go wrong or to a speech or an action which affected him/her unfavorably. Therefore, complaints can engender social relationship breakdown. However, a complainer can use politeness when he/she aims to maintain a good relationship with complainee or to mitigate the severity of his/her complaint and face threat. This study aims to investigate the complaint speech act with regard to the strategies and structure used as well as the politeness strategies employed by Iranian learners in communication with other nationalities in the academic context of a university. Searle’s (1969) speech act theory and Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory comprised the theoretical framework of the study. The data were elicited through open-ended discourse completion task questionnaire from 50 Iranian learners. The data were analyzed using pragmatics as the approach within discourse analysis. The findings show that Iranians are able to draw on a variety of strategies and structures and adapt them in a flexible manner when faced with various complaint-provoking situations. Culturally, the findings show that Iranians are indirect and exercise negative politeness as they try to minimize the face threatening act of complaining. However, when the situation demands for it, they can be direct in their manner of speech.

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A Pragma- Stylistic Analysis of Formal Congratulatory Letters in English and Arabic

Arab World English Journal ◽

10.24093/awej/vol12no3.18 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 257-277

Author(s):

Muna Y. Al-Janabi ◽

Ibtihal M. Al-Tememi

Keyword(s):

Foreign Relations ◽

Strategy Use ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Stylistic Analysis ◽

Successful Performance ◽

Illocutionary Acts ◽

Politeness Strategies ◽

The Face ◽

Face Saving ◽

Stylistic Device

Politeness strategies are of significant importance to maintain the face of the addressee. Senders of formal congratulatory letters seek to create a positive image in the minds of their addresses by performing particular illocutionary acts and face-saving acts (FSAs) in the form of written texts. To the best knowledge of the researcher, this topic received little attention from linguistic researchers, especially on the pragma-stylistic level. The importance of this study arises from the fact that congratulatory formal letters are an effective tool in the successful performance of foreign relations and thus deserve investigation. The current study investigates the pragma-stylistic aspects of illocutionary acts and FSA Politeness Strategies in some selected English and Arabic formal congratulatory letters written by English and Arabic officials. Findings reveal that assertive constitutes the highest frequency in English data, while expressive occurs more in Arabic. Besides, the FSA politeness strategy (Use appropriate forms of address) includes most of the total frequency in both English and Arabic data, which still it appeared more in English. Additionally, (Exaggerate interest, sympathy with H) comes next in Arabic, while (Be optimistic) appeared more in English. In addition, results show that exaggeration (Hyperbole) is the prevalent stylistic device used in Arabic. Arabic officials usually exaggerate the glorification of people in authoritative positions, while English high officials tend to be more moderate. The findings will be helpful in cross-cultural comparative studies and other related fields.

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