The Acquisition of Politeness in the Language of Children

Seminar paper from the year 1997 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,0 (B), University of Hannover (English Seminar), language: English, abstract: Introduction: Politeness as a General Concept According to Brown and Levinson (1978) politeness is a complex system for all human puplic and social interaction with the conventional politeness forms such as requests (e.g.: May I please use your phone?), excuses (e.g.: Im very sorry for being late!), greetings (e.g.: Good evening, my dear Mister Jones.), orders (e.g.: Could you please be so kind as to give me the sugar?), claims (e.g.: Excuse me, this is my seat.), offers (e.g.: Would you like to have a cup of coffee?), please and of course thank you. In 1973, Robin Lakoff pointed out that the system of politeness follows two major rules: 1. Be clear. 2. Be polite. The first rule includes Grices postulates accounting efficiency, economy and informativeness: a) Quantity: Be as informative as required. Be no more informative than required. b) Quality: Say only what you believe to be true. c) Relevance: Be relevant. d) Manner: Be perspicuous. Dont be ambiguous. Dont be obscure. Be succint. [...]