Examples Of Politeness

1.4.4 The three super-strategies of the politeness theory According to Leech, politeness is basically strategies used to avoid conflict and according to the degree of effort put in the words used to avoid conflicts, it can be measured. (Leech, 1980, p. 19). In order to mitigate the effect of the speaker’s words, he or she has to adopt strategies that can alleviate the tension; therefore, according to Brown and Levinson:
There are three main strategies of politeness, ‘positive politeness’ (roughly, the expression of restraint), ‘negative politeness’ (roughly, the expression of restraint), and ‘off-record (politeness)’ (roughly, the avoidance of unequivocal impositions), and claim that the uses of each are tied to social determinants, specifically

(Yule, 1996, p. 62) Its field of reforming is more general, as it includes having the same wants of the other, approving the other’s interest, and to some extent, exaggerating in order to fulfill the face of the other. (Brown & Levinson, 1987, p. 101)

Unlike positive politeness, negative politeness is specific and focused and “more polite” as it is entitled to reform the interference on the negative face of the other speaker. It gives the hearer the upper hand and power, that is why, it is the most traditional way to fix the threat that has happened to the hearers face. (Brown & Levinson, 1987, pp. 131,132) Thus, negative politeness deals with saving one’s negative face by showing respect, appreciating the other’s interests or hobbies, and in some cases justifying the disturbance made to the other. (Yule, 1996, p. 62)
Finally the off-record means, an act of communication that is vague and has many interpretations, so that, the speaker is not at fault or guilty of saying something that can hurt the face of the hearer. (Brown & Levinson, 1987, p. 211) The off-record strategy is to be further explored in the next

That way, the hearer’s face is saved and preserved. Sometimes off-record strategies can be transformed into an FTA, for example, the use of irony, metaphors, idioms, etc, but because the way in which words are said with a proper face can as well save the speaker according to the context. (Brown & Levinson, 1987, pp. 211-213)

The off-record strategy is regarded as the best method to be polite as it make the speaker gets away with his or her words and saves his or her face, and in the same time it save the face of the hearer. To a far greater extent, using the off-record, the speaker can fulfill the satisfaction of the hearer’s negative face more than the negative politeness can do. The speaker can also prevent the entailed liability and responsibility of the direct action, positive politeness, and negative politeness. (Blum-Kulka, 1987, p. 131)

According to Brown and Levinson, by utilizing the off-record strategies, the speaker is violating the Gricean Maxims which are realizations of the cooperative principle of any conversation. When uttering one of the following fifteen off-record strategies, violating the Maxim of Quantity, Quality, Relevance, or Manner is the