The Face and Politeness on Philippine Press Briefings: A Content Analysis

Abstract

Face of the speaker and hearer matters in a communication. This qualitative study employing the content analysis was conducted to understand the different types of face threatening acts and politeness strategies in Press Briefings. There were 12 corpora used in this study. Results revealed that Face Threatening Acts have impacts on the hearer and speaker’s face. This study found two types of faces to the hearer’s face. First is the negative face and followed by the positive face. Each has its own elements which provided wider perspectives on the influence of language in the contexts of discourse. From the corpora, there is only one face which is the negative face. In particular, this presented about the expression of thanks. Moreover, the politeness strategies identified were bald on, positive, negative, and off-record. Face Threatening Acts transpired in the Press Briefings of the Malacañang Palace. Each face was threatened or affected by the exchange of discourses. In can be noted that speaker and hearer’s echelon matters in the presentation of faces. One has the control and the other has to follow. This manifested that imposition changed someone’s face. Furthermore, different elements were indicated in each of the politeness strategies. The utilization of politeness markers makes a difference in preserving and affecting the face of the speaker and the interlocutor. Notwithstanding, this concludes that press briefings are rich sources of information that may deepen the explanation of Face Threatening Acts as well as the politeness strategies.