Politeness and style differences in the Turkish language: the case of pre-service English language teachers

Abstract

Being polite or perceived as a polite person is a difficult task when learning different languages and experiencing different cultures because learning grammar or vocabulary of a language is not enough to be perceived as a polite person since one should learn social and cultural values of the community as well. Moreover, politeness strategies and styles utilized while one is speaking his or her mother tongue can vary in a contextual manner. This study aims at examining politeness strategies and style differences the Turkish language. In accordance with this aim, a discourse completion test with four cases was prepared and administered to 32 pre-service English language teachers. The findings indicated that the participants, to a large extent, used positive politeness strategies while using the intimate style whereas they generally preferred negative politeness strategies while using the consultative and the formal styles. Additionally, it was found out that the family background of the participants has no meaningful influence on the way they use politeness strategies in different styles. However, it is concluded that gender and age of the participants affect their choice of the address forms.