Abstract
While compliments are generally paid as a means of ‘maintaining positive social relationships’ (Ruhi and Dogan 2001: 342), they can also serve multiple functions depending on the value system of a particular community (Sifianou 1999: 52). Aside from creating solidarity (Manes and Wolfson 1981: 130, Herbert 1986: 77, 82), compliments are also used to seek information (Jaworski 1995, Sifianou 2001), make indirect requests (Holmes 1995, Sifianou 2001), reinforce desired behavior (Jaworksi 1995), display deference and respect (Daikuhara 1986 cited in Baba 1999: 9) or even as forms of teasing (Jaworski 1995) and verbal harassment (Holmes 1995). Given their versatility and flexibility, compliments feature quite regularly in everyday discourse (Yu 2003: 1687) and ‘frequently appear as reinforcing devices together with, instead of or in response to, other speech acts’ (Sifianou 2001: 394).
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