Relevance theory and politeness

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to open up for debate the question of whether Wilson's (1995 [1986]) relevance theory can usefully inform politeness research. It is therefore designed to indicate some of the methodological implications for the study of politeness that would arise from an adoption of a relevance-theoretical framework. I begin by outlining some arguments posited by politeness theorists who have applied relevance theory and then provide a brief account of some of the key differences between the Gricean framework that informs Brown andLevinson's (1987 [1978]) theory of politeness and the account of utterance interpretation offered by relevance theory. I conclude by suggesting some of the differences in focus that would result from the analysis of politeness from a relevance-theoretical perspective.

13. Politeness and impoliteness

“…It has been used to account for politeness by a number of scholars (e.g. Escandell-Vidal 1996; Jary 1998;Christie 2007). In particular, relevance theory can account for the anticipated versus inferred distinction: so few cognitive effects arise from anticipated politeness (behaviour following social norms) that it is not relevant enough to spend inferential effort; but when there are sufficiently large cognitive effects to reward processing effort, inferred politeness can take place.…”

Epilogue. Politeness research: Sociolinguistics as applied pragmatics

“…As many critiques of Brown and Levinson's politeness theory have pointed out, in 1978, the dominant pragmatic framework was the Gricean model. I have argued elsewhere (Christie 2007) how the Gricean framework enabled and constrained the development of the original theory, so will rehearse this relationship very briefly here in order to show how a politeness theory today is embedded within quite a different pragmatics and therefore generates quite distinct research questions.…”

Marcadores discursivos indicadores de cortesía de la variedad mexicana. Un enfoque pluricéntrico para su enseñanza en ELE

“…La cortesía -sobre todo en español-como fenómeno de comunicación ha sido estudiada principalmente en el marco de la pragmática y su estudio se ha abordado desde diferentes enfoques (Placencia & García, 2007, p. 369) que oscilan entre aquellos de tipo pragmalingüístico (estudios de las estructuras formales y las funciones de la cortesía, véanse Briz, 2004Briz, , 2011Haverkate, 2004), los de tipo cognitivo (estudios de los procesos mentales que toman parte en las dinámicas de cortesía verbal, véanse Bousfield, 2008;Christie, 2007;Escandell Vidal, 1998), y los de corte sociocultural (que ponen la mirada en los contextos en que se desarrolla la comunicación cortés, véanse Bravo, 2004Bravo, , 2005Scollon & Scollon, 1995). Asimismo, bajo estos enfoques se ha tratado de determinar si la cortesía verbal es un fenómeno sociorelacional o es cognitivo individual (Escandell Vidal, 1995;1998); si se trata de una estrategia o si es una convención (Bravo, 2004;Briz Gómez, 2004;Escandell Vidal, 1995); si es un fenómeno universal o no (Kerbrat-Orecchioni, 2004); si posee capacidad creativa o es más bien automática (Escandell Vidal, 1995).…”