The positive face - Chapter I. Theoretical foundations and approaches to the study of politeness 7

The positive face means trying to leave a good impression on the interlocutor, eagerness to be approved and showing that the interlocutor approves. This is the position that each participant in the conversation strives to take.
The negative face is the desire of the participants of the dialogue to have freedom of movement and not to allow the interference of others. The negative face represents the personal space of the speaking person, the totality of his thoughts, feelings, and information. In the research conducted by P. Brown and S. Levinson on English culture, it is seen that the negative face is more important than the positive face. Because in English culture, the negative face, that is, the principle of not putting pressure, expresses respect for the interlocutor. In this, the language is expressed with respect by using indirect language and expressions of apology. The key to successful communication is to save the faces of both interlocutors.
Also, in foreign linguistic literature, much attention was paid to the development of the theory of "politeness" (P. Brown, S. Levinson, 1987; B. Fraser, 1990; G. Kasper, 1996), because this category has a unique meaning in the process of communication. It was believed that there is However, in contrast to the previous works (P. Brown, S. Levinson, 1978, 1987), where the category of "politeness" was considered within the framework of sentences and phrases, researchers are now trying to study it at the level of speech (S. Mills, 2003; L.Mullany, 1999; C. Christie, 2002).
It should be noted that "Politeness" as a scientific term has been used in English linguistics (mainly in the West) since the 60s of the 20th century and has been formed as a separate field. The first studies conducted in this regard are the works of Californian Robin Lakoff, American P. Brown, British S. Levinson and Leach28. Before proceeding directly to the analysis of linguistic material, let's consider what the concept of "politeness" is and what role it plays in English linguistic culture.
Following V.I. Karasik, we understand the concept as a multidimensional mental formation, including a value component29. The linguoculturological concept is understood as "a conditional mental unit aimed at a comprehensive study of language, consciousness and culture"30.
In English, the principle of politeness is implemented differently in speech acts. The speaker (addresser), trying to be polite, uses various linguistic and non-linguistic means to fulfill his communicative intentions. Assessing the risk of "losing face" and deciding whether or not to perform a speech act, the speaker chooses the form of expression of politeness - explicit, open, i.e. explicit or hidden, implicit, i.e. implied.
Hence, in a number of linguistic works it is proposed to distinguish between two types of linguistic politeness: explicit and implicit. Implicit politeness is difficult to describe in a language, since any statement that does not have any linguistic markers of politeness can perform the functions of politeness if it corresponds to the corresponding intentions of the speaker.
As Yu.D. Apresyan, “in many cases, the illocutionary function of the utterance is not marked by any proper linguistic means, but is restored by the addressee on the basis of extralinguistic knowledge about the structure of the world as a whole, about the current situation, about the postulates of cooperative communication”31.
By R. Rathmair's definition, explicit politeness is this is normal verbal and non-verbal behavior appropriate in a particular society (or in certain strata of it). Explicit courtesy consists in taking into account the conversion contract and other rules of pragmatic execution, that is, it can be described as compliance with existing norms. Language behavior appropriate to the situation is polite, deviation from it is impolite.
The expression of explicit politeness is determined by the rules of etiquette, which, being a stabilizing form of everyday communication, allow individuals at different levels of the hierarchy to maintain contact without losing their "face".32
Implicit politeness, otherwise individual or informal politeness, are consciously applied strategies that allow the speaker to avoid damaging the image of the communication partner, contribute to the spontaneous maintenance of the image of the addressee and at the same time "self-presentation" of the speaker as a tactful and helpful member of society. This expression of politeness is both a sign of a characteristic of a person and a strategy that, supra-individually, depending on the pragmatic parameters of differences in status, distance, etc., becomes relevant for the addressee33 and by taking care of the level of relationships contributes to a better achievement of communicative goals.
With such an expression of politeness, the essence is to choose between different language models of expressions that are most consistent with observing J. Leach's politeness maxims. The rules of implicit politeness are not only difficult to formulate, but also difficult to research, their observance is not mandatory, it is free, positively labeled and associated with such qualities as courtesy, friendliness, cordiality, tact, courtesy, etc. The localization of linguistic material is also not as unambiguous as with explicit politeness; the connecting element is usually indirectness34.
Implicitness is changeable, as it depends on the situation, while explicitness is a constant property of structures formalized at the level of vocabulary, grammar and syntax. It should be noted that implicit and explicit politeness perform the same functions in communication as a whole and differ (except for forms of expression), perhaps, only in how they are evaluated by the communicants themselves.
In the case of implicit politeness, the speaker is completely free to choose means and can use both conventionalized and non-conventionalized (individual) means and strategies. Implicit politeness is characterized by informality, while explicit politeness can be both formal, conventionalized, and individual. In accordance with this, explicit politeness is regarded as a norm and at the same time as proof of good taste, and its absence is regarded as bad manners or, figuratively speaking, “non-belonging” of the speaker to a given group of society, to a given community.
1.3-§. The role of the category of politeness in written speech
Since ancient times, it has been known that speech is an important part of life for every person. Since ancient times, people have distinguished types of speech. There is both oral and written language. Written speech is a complex system of rules, definitions, genres, styles. And not every person can truly master this type of speech. Many scientists studied the issues of written speech, its patterns, styles. For example, such great scientists as M. Ruth, V. Vinogradov, L. Shcherba, D. Ushakov and many others studied and improved the Russian language, its written language and its styles.
Written speech has its own specific styles and genres. Writing styles include scientific, business, artistic and journalistic styles. Each of them has its own characteristic features. So, for example, the scientific style is the style of speech of the literary language, which has a number of features. First of all, this style is used in the fields of science and education. Its characteristic features are such features as: generalization, abstractness, the presence of a large number of terms, their interpretation, emphasized logic. There are also secondary features: these are unambiguity, semantic accuracy, standardity, objectivity, brevity, rigor, clarity. There are such genres as: popular science, scientific publicistic, scientific and informative, scientific and educational, scientific and reference.
One type of written speech is a publicistic style. The purpose of this style is to convey socially significant information, while taking into account the impact on the reader to certain actions. This style is used in socio-economic, political, cultural relations. This style also has its own genres. For example, such as: articles in newspapers, magazines, reports, and so on. Features of the publicistic style of speech are logical, figurative, emotional. It uses socio-political vocabulary and various types of syntactic constructions. This style differs from others in that it contains the reliability and accuracy of information, specificity, justification.
Publicism is a chronicle of modernity, because. it reflects the topical problems of our time. The publicistic style originated in antiquity. Until now, lawyers, political scientists, public figures use samples publicistic style, created by the orators of ancient Greece and Rome. The word "publicistic" comes from the Latin - publicus - public. The main function of this style is to influence society: listeners, readers, their feelings, namely the masses. Journalism is designed to actively interfere in life, to form public opinion.
Genres of publicistic style: the note, the report, the reportage, the interview, the article, the review, the comment, the essay, the study, the pamphlet, the letter, the critique.
A letter is an epistolary genre, a specific speech, the author's appeal to the addressee with an appeal, suggestions, thoughts and feelings. Letters have become one of the topical genres of written business speech at the present time.
Business letters. Official correspondence of various types, which is sent on behalf of one organization, institution of another organization, institution, although it may be addressed to one official and signed by one official, is business correspondence.
Business writing is part of business communication. In this area, language communication is the most important tool for managing relationships. Business writing is related to business. Business is an area where the ability to communicate with partners, with any person is of great importance. There are now a lot of businessmen in the business world and, addressing them, the addresser who wants to succeed must remember that much depends on the address he uses, since the form of address contributes to the success of the addressee's further activities.
The grammatical forms also take a major part in business letters. Researchers35 point out the elements of business letter writing and offer suggestions on successful business letter writing, for example, using active construction rather than passive construction. Active verbs make the writing simpler, less formal, clearer and more precise such as We have changed the delivery date … instead of The delivery date has been changed… . The use of modals may be one of the forms which distinguishes British from American business letter writing. The form such as I would be grateful if you would… is more widely used in British letters.
The central position in the structure of the communicative category of politeness is occupied by units of speech etiquette, followed by grammatical categories in a pragmatic aspect, various indirect speech acts, introductory constructions and modal words. Politeness is a communicative category designed to regulate the process of communication and contribute to the creation of friendly relations between communicants. The need to use the category of politeness in business writing is due to the following functions:
a) influencing (successful implementation of communicative intentions); b) regulatory (creation, maintenance and preservation of social balance and partnerships);
c) harmonizing (giving the necessary tone, reducing the degree of categorization of the statement);
d) presentational (creating an image, self-presentation of the addressee as a well-mannered person).
Etiquette epithets like: respected, highly respected, deeply respected, etc. indicate the use of the category of politeness in business writing.
R.J. Watts, who has studied politeness in written discourse, particularly in letters, distinguishes between "polite" and "polite" behavior36. The first is behavior that "tells us nothing about how members value it, except that it is appropriate to the ongoing social interaction"37. The latter are "linguistic and non-linguistic behaviors that participants construct in ways that are relevant to ongoing social interaction"38. It follows from the above that socially appropriate behavior is not defined and in many cases polite behavior goes unnoticed while being noticeable. Although R.J. Watts argues that no linguistic construct can be polite or impolite by itself. Several studies investigated the area of politeness, both in spoken language and written documents, and the theory itself39. The model of politeness strategies given by P. Brown and S. Levinson40 was used as the main tool in this study. The focus of this study is on the main parts of the letter, e.g. Opening and closing letters. These main parts are called external strategies41.
English scientist P. Maier examined politeness strategies used by native and non-native speakers in business letters. She examined the native speaker letters for "specific constructs that can be classified as politeness strategies based on Brown and Levinson's model"42.
As a preliminary remark, politeness in business letter writing involves taking into account the correspondent’s feelings. Therefore the language used should always avoid any choice of words that might be face-threatening. Any reply to a letter received should express thanks for the previous correspondence in the very first paragraph. Whenever possible you should express your pleasure for having received some written communication from your business partner, and invite him not to hesitate contacting you if necessary. As a rule any letter should be replied to on the day it is received. This is a means to keep up communication and at the same time a politeness strategy.
However, findings from this study may yield implications for the teaching and assessment of business writing. First, the differences as found above are obvious as regards the conveyance of politeness strategies in business letter writing, which may largely be attributable to their different levels of pragmatic competence, possibly deriving from their sub-culture diversities. Language instructors, therefore, are urged to emphasize the conventional expressions conducive to expressing politeness strategically. Second, it is highly desirable that modal sequences that can serve such purposes are taught to learners in an explicit and effective manner. Rating scales particularly for assessing business writing are suitably informed by the need of such linguistic structures that can serve pragmatic purposes.
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