Politeness theory

Politeness theory accounts for the redressing of affronts to a person's 'face' by face-threatening acts. The concept of face was derived from Chinese into English in the 19th century.Erving Goffman would then go on to introduce the concept into academia through his theories of 'face' and 'facework'. Although politeness has been studied in a variety of cultures for many years, Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson's politeness theory has become very influential. In 1987, Brown and Levinson proposed that politeness was a universal concept, which has created controversy within academia. Politeness is the expression of the speakers' intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward the listener. Another definition is "a battery of social skills whose goal is to ensure everyone feels affirmed in a social interaction". Therefore, being polite can be an attempt for the speaker to save their own face or the face of who he or she is talking to.

Face is the public self-image that every person tries to protect. Brown and Levinson defined positive face two ways: as "the want of every member that his wants be desirable to at least some others executors" (p. 62), or alternatively, "the positive consistent self-image or 'personality' (crucially including the desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved of) claimed by interactants" (p. 61). Negative face was defined as "the want of every 'competent adult member' that his actions be unimpeded by others", or "the basic claim to territories, personal preserves, rights to non-distraction—i.e. the freedom of action and freedom from imposition". Whereas positive face involves a desire for connection with others, negative face needs include autonomy and independence.

Ten years later, Brown characterized positive face by desires to be liked, admired, ratified, and related to positively, noting that one would threaten positive face by ignoring someone. At the same time, she characterized negative face by the desire not to be imposed upon, noting that negative face could be impinged upon by imposing on someone. Positive face refers to one's self-esteem, while negative face refers to one's freedom to act. These two aspects of face are the basic wants in any social interaction; during any social interaction, cooperation is needed amongst the to maintain each other's face. Participants can do this by using positive politeness and negative politeness, which pay attention to people's positive and negative face needs respectively.

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