VII. 面子论Face Theory

Penelope Brown
• • • • • • • Phone: +31 24 352 1441 Fax: +31 24 3521213 E-mail: pbrown@mpi.nl Status: researcher Group affiliation: Acquisition Group Professional background: Linguistic Anthropology, Language Acquisition, Mayan （玛雅语） Indians（印第安人）
WX = D(S, H) + P(H, S) + RX WX is the numerial value that measures the weightiness of the FTA; D(S,H) is thr value that measures the social distance between the speaker and the hearer; P(H,S) is a measure of the power that the hearer has over the speaker; RX is a value that measures the degree to which the FTA is rated an imposition in that culture.
Negative face > positive face
Brown & Levinson 1987: 61
2. Face- threatening Acts
2.1 Definition A speech act presenting a threat to the hearer ’s expectation regarding his self-image is described as face threatening act (FTA). The opposite of the FTA is face -saving act (FSA),which is performed by the speaker to lessen the threat if the speaker interprets the action as threatening the hearer ’s face.
• In their view, politeness was the various rational behaviors of a Model Person (MP) to satisfy his face wants. A Model Person has two special properties — rationality and face. • Rationality: – the application of a specific mode of reasoningwhat Aristotle(1969) called ‘practical reasoning’— which guarantees inferences from ends or goals to means that will satisfy those ends.
Stephen C. Levinson
• Status: Director of The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (Germanybased) • Group Affiliation: Language and Cognition Group • Email: Stephen.Levinson@mpi.nl • Professional background: Linguistics, anthropology, cognitive anthropology
Face Theory
Face Theory
• In 1978, Brown and Levinson put forward Face Theory in Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. • The notion of ‘face’ is derived from that of Goffman (1967) and from the English folk term, which ties face up with notions of being embarrassed or humiliated, or ‘losing face’. • Thus face is something that is emotionally invested, and that can be lost, maintained, or enhanced, and must be constantly attended to in interaction.
Brown & Levinson 1987: 61
Positive face
(b) Positive face: the positive consistent self-image or “personality” (crucially including the desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved of) claimed by interactants Positive face represents an individual’s desire to be accepted and liked by others.
Face consists of two related aspects: Negative face Positive face
Brown & Levinson 1987: 61
Negative face
(a) Negative face: the basic claim to territories, personal preserves（个人领地）, rights to nondistraction（不被干扰） i.e. to the freedom of action and freedom from imposition Negative face refers to an individual's right of freedom of action and his/her need not to be imposed upon by others.
Face enhancing acts (FEAs)
• Expressives [praising, complimenting]
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2.2 Three social varibles for weightiness of FTA Brown and Levinson think that many speech acts essentially pose threats to people’ face, either to speakers’ face or to hearers‘ face. So there is a question as to the calculation of the weightiness of an FTA. According to Brown and Levinson, the calculation of the weightiness of an FTA involves the following three factors:
D is "a symmetric social dimension of similarity/difference". It is the degree of familiarity and solidarity the speaker and the hearer share . P is “an asymmetric social dimension of relative power,” and it involves the degree to which the hearer can impose his will on the speaker. R is a culturally and situationally defined ranking of impositions by the degree to which they are considered to interfere with an MP's wants of self-determination or of approval(his negative-and positive-face wants). Impositions are basically ranked according to the expenditure of the hearer ’ services (including the provision of time) and/or goods (including non-material goods like information and the expression of regard and other face wants)
Let's look at some examples: (1) A1: Excuse me, would you by the chance have the time? A2: Got the time, mate? This example concerns the D variable; the relative power of the speaker and the hearer (P variable) is more or less equal, and the imposition (R variable) is not great. Then D is the only variable in the calculation that determines the change from A1 to A2. In this case, A1 is used where the speaker and the hearer were distant; A2 is used where the speaker and the hearer were close.
1. Face
• Face is the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself. It refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize.
Speech acts as FTAs: Representatives (assertives) Directives (impositives) [requests, commands, advice] Expressives [criticisms, blames] Commissives [promises, refusals] Declarations [dismissals, naming]
(i) the "social distance"(D) of S and H (a symmetric relation) (ii) the "relative power" (P) of S and H (an asymmetric relation) (iii) the absolute ranking (R) of impositions in the particular culture. The strength of an FTA is measured by adding together the three variables D, P and R on the basis of which the amount of face work needed or the degree of politeness required can be worked out. The calculating formula of the weightiness of an FTA as follows: