Grice, Goffman and other blokes

Speech theorists

Name the 5 key theories you can apply

(Giles) Accommodation Theory

(Grice’s) Maxims of conversation

(Leech, Goffman) Politeness theory , maintains face

(Brown, Levinson) Face threatening acts

(Keith, Shuttleworth) Women and mens speech features

(Lakoff’s) Features of womens language

Speakers either comply and observe the maxims or fail to do so. What do we call this if a speaker does not comply?

Flouting- done deliberately and in a foregrounded way
Voilate- unintentionally or surreptitiously

What are the 4 maxims

Maxim of...
quality
quantity
relevance
manner

Quantity

Amount, speaking for the right amount of time and making a balanced conversation

Quality

Truth, speaking honestly and factually

Relevance

Staying on topic , not diverting the conversation

manner

Ambiguity, speaker avoids rambling, unclear replies

What are the two types of face needs

Positive face needs- needing to feel appreciated and valued
Negative face needs- desire to feel independent and not imposed upon

What is a face threatening act?

A speech act that has the potential to damage someone's self-esteem : When you challenge or infringe someone's positive or negative face needs

What is alignment?

Repeating back what is said as a form of affirmation. E.g
Derek: Are you sure?
Jane: I am sure.

What is a politeness strategy?

Distinctive ways in which speakers can choose to speak to avoid FTAs

Different scales of politeness strategy impact how we respond, used to avoid FTAs, can you name all 5 forms of responses?

1) direct request with no politeness strategy
e.g turn that music down, its too loud

2) positive politeness strategy, often using hedging
E.g I love the band you're listening to but your music is a bit loud, would you mind turning it down

3) Negative politeness strategy , avoid ordering or imposing
e.g I'm sorry to ask you this but can you turn your music down

4) indirect request, avoids being explicit , more cryptic
e.g I really love this book I'm reading, shame its so noisy on this train.

5) inaction, not reacting at all in order to avoid confrontation

Name the 4 degrees of severity an FTA can occur.

Bald / on record Face threatening act

Indirect: Positive or negative face

Ignoring

What are positive and negative face needs?

Positive- the need to feel appreciated and valued

Negative- the need to not feel imposed upon and independent

Features of male and female language

(Shuttleworth)

Features of women’s language according to Lakoff

* Heading or fillers (sort of, well)
* Tag questions
* Intonation on declaratives
* Empty adjectives (lovely, charming)
* Precise colour terms (magenta)
* Intensifiers
* Standard English, hyper correct grammar
* Super polite forms ( euphemisms, indirectness)
* Avoidance of swearing (fudge)
* Prosodic stress