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

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Politeness and the social-norm view: The social-norm view essentially reflects the conventional view of politeness as a series of refined and well-mannered acts, and any deviation from these rules as impoliteness. However, conceiving of politeness as a matter of social rituals is subject to several problems, especially in terms of any cross-cultural comparison or understanding. We can assume that the concept and social interpretation of an example of polite behaviour in a given culture might not equate exactly with that found in any other culture (Nwoye 1992: 315). Equivalent polite terms might simply not exist, or might denote a different concept across cultures (Hill et al. 1986); alternatively, the concept of what is seen as polite might differ from one period to another (Locher, 2004: 72). Additionally, strategies used to display polite acts might contradict, in terms of perceived intent, those used in different cultures. For example, the use of modality or indirectness to indicate formality in English requests does not have a directly comparable counterpart in MA, where other devices, such as a “plea for blessing”, are used instead. (This strategy will be addressed in the forthcoming chapters). Another case in point is the question of with whom politeness should be used, and is again of specific interest cross-culturally. According to Fraser (1990: 321) the use of polite behaviour among family members could be seen as arrogant or even impolite.