Politeness Theory: In Search of Effective Research Methodology in Western Sociopragmatics

Abstract

The present paper provides a review of the most discussed issues with regard to creating a universal formal approach to study the politeness theory. What we see now is the lack of a proper metalanguage, and proliferation of various theoretical approaches: the presentday terminology describing polite behavior is represented by a variety of concepts: ‘appropriateness’, ‘saving face’, ‘face constituting’, ‘rapport management’ etc. along with a great number of diverse discursive practices in different cultures makes it quite a challenge to provide a coherent overview of politeness strategies. However, despite considerable fragmentation in politeness theory research we can observe certain consistency in the chosen methods for the interpretation of empirical material and experimental data. Firstly, specialists avoid using the term ‘politeness’ in theoretical reasoning due to abundance of peripheral semantic components realized in the speech of language users from different cultures, and restrict its employment to the interviewing of respondents. To interpret certain behavior as (im)polite and analyze its perception, the impact of expectations and norms is increasingly taken into consideration. Although research of authentic verbal interaction based on discourse analysis is still quite common, a greater focus on paralinguistic aspects of communication can be predicted. Research findings in the politeness theory will be more and more applied to discursive practices to benefit the health and welfare of the society.