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: 20 (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.: I'm 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 Grice's 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. Don't be ambiguous. Don't be obscure. Be succint. [...]