A Critical Review of Prominent Theories of Politeness

Hutheifa Y Al-Duleimi ,Sabariah Md Rashid ,Ain Nadzimah Abdullah

doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.6p.262

Hutheifa Y Al-Duleimi , Sabariah Md Rashid + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.6p.262

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Abstract

Politeness plays a crucial role in all cultures and societies for maintaining relationships and for face saving. Although politeness is common to all cultures and languages, how it functions and is realised varies from one culture to another. Different theories have been proposed to examine the strategies with which politeness is expressed. Each theory has weak and strong points which may make it appropriate to a culture but not to another. The most widely used of these theories are Brown and Levinson’s (1978) and its modified version (1987), Lakoff’s (1973), and Leech’s (1983, 2005) theories of politeness. This paper aims to provide a critical review of the aforementioned theories. Specifically, it discusses different scholars’ viewpoints on these theories, highlighting the weak and strong points of the theories. Accordingly, it examines the applicability of these theories to the East and West cultures. A review of these theories indicated that they have weak points as well as strong ones. Furthermore, they might not be suitable for all cultures. This confirms that politeness is a social behaviour not specific to one culture or language. Critical review revealed that Leech’s (2005) Grand Strategy of Politeness might be the most applicable theory that could cover aspects of Eastern and Western cultures. Keywords: prominent politeness theories, Eastern culture, Western culture

Highlights

To begin with, politeness is not a natural phenomenon
Since the aim of the current study is to provide a critical review of the most prominent theories of politeness — Brown and Levinson (1987), Lakoff (1973, 1975), and Leech (1983, 2005) — the review focuses on explaining the essence of each theory and discussing any shortcomings and/or merits of each theory that have been raised by other scholars
Leech (2005) argued that his theory is one of pragmaticism (1983) and goes hand in hand with Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory as both have their own influential roles in pragmatic studies and have remained outstanding theories despite all the criticisms that had been directed against them. In his theory, Leech (2005) argued against the universality of Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory of politeness. His criticism focused on the applicability of the model to Westerners and its unsuitableness to “Eastern cultures and languages” (Leech, 2005)

Summary

A Critical Review of Prominent Theories of Politeness

Al-Duleimi (Corresponding author) Department of English, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, University Putra Malaysia, 43000, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Sabariah Md. Rashid Department of English, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, University Putra Malaysia, 43000, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Ain Nadzimah Abdullah Department of English, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, University Putra Malaysia, 43000, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Introduction

What is politeness?

Lakoff’s rules of politeness

Leech’s theory of politeness

Conclusion