Brown and Levinson's Face Theory

Brown and Levinson Face Theory

Politeness is described as a social norm, a set of prescriptive 'social rules'. We are polite in order to protect our 'face' as, as humans we want to be liked by others. Brown and Levinson developed the 'Face Theory' which explains about this in detail. It mentions that we have both a 'Positive Face' and a 'Negative Face'.

Positive Face: The desire to be appreciated and liked

Negative Face: The desire to have freedom and not be imposed upon

Our 'Face' is basically the way we present ourselves to others and how we want to be seen.

There is also something called a 'Face Threatening Act (FTA)'. A Face Threatening Act is where someone deliberately does something to threaten someones either positive or negative face, and therefore challenges their face and how they portray themselves.

Politeness could be described as:

Showing good manners toward others, as in behavior, speech, etc.;courteous; civil:

And can often be achieved by:

- being contextually appropriate

- following social and cultural norms

- being socially positive by addressing face needs

However, when someone threatens your 'face' you can react in a number of ways and stratagies, these are called 'politeness superstrategies' and vary depending on contextual factors...

Bold on record - not attempting to minimise the face threat

Positive politeness - showing you value someone so minimising the threat to the positive face

Negative politeness - not impeding on someone, minimising the threat to the negative face

Off record - avoiding responsibility for the FTA often by being indirect

Withhold - not performing the FTA

Politeness superstrategies are determined by contextual factors: 

-Power relations between speaker and listener

-Social distance between speaker and listener

-How great the threat of the FTA is