Requests and Culture: Politeness in British English and Japanese

The present study is concerned with the study of politeness in the context of cross-cultural pragmatics. Specifically, the investigation reported here may contribute to cross-cultural pragmatics by applying and developing Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (Brown and Levinson, 1978  1987), notably with respect to requests and responses to off-record requests. Brown and Levinson have made a significant contribution to theory, but as they themselves acknowledge (Ibid.: 11), they have not provided an equally sound methodology, and in this study, I attempt to put their politeness theory on to a more secure methodological footing, to be discussed in more detail in chapter 5.

Since its first publication in 1978, Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness has been subject to many criticisms. Taking account of such criticisms, and considering their theory in more detail, I will attempt to argue that:
1. the variables determining politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson are valid  and
2. Brown and Levinson’s framework is still valid for cross-cultural comparison.

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