Читать книгу The Politeness/Impoliteness Divide. English-Based Theories and Speech Acts Practice in Moroccan Arabic онлайн

27 страница из 36

Brown and Levinson argue that the assessment of the seriousness of an FTA, that is, the calculation made by S and H, is determined by three factors “in many and perhaps all cultures” (1978: 74):

• The social distance (D) of S [the speaker] and H [hearer] (symmetric relation)

• The relative power (P) of S and H (an asymmetric relation)

• The absolute ranking (R) of imposition in a particular culture

Thus, the weight or seriousness of an FTA (x) can be estimated according to the following equation: Wx = D (S, H) + P (S, H) + Rx’. Brown and Levinson define D and P as “etic” pan-cultural social dimensions “which nevertheless probably have “emic” correlates” (1978: 76). In what concerns R, the degree it interferers with an agent’s positive or negative face needs, is culturally and situationally defined. In the case of positive FTAs, R involves “an assessment of the amount of “pain” given to H’s face, based on the discrepancy between H’s own desired self-image and that presented, explicitly or tacitly in the FTA” (1978: 78). With negative FTAs, two ranks of imposition are identifiable: one in proportion to the expenditure of resources (including the notion of time) and another in proportion to the expenditure of goods of whatever sort (including non-material goods). The three factors P, D and R are context-dependent variables and also independent of each other.


Правообладателям