Evaluation of politeness: The case of attentiveness

Abstract

This paper attempts to fill a gap in politeness research by introducing the concept of behavioural politeness and including the hearer as a significant component in the proposed analytical framework, which is set in the context of a cross-cultural study. Research into politeness has predominantly focused on linguistic features and on the speaker. Little attention has been paid to politeness as a whole unit of behaviour, and to the perspective of the hearer/receiver, i. e. how the hearer/receiver would judge politeness. It is proposed that politeness manifested through behaviour, i. e. behavioural politeness, and evaluation of politeness by the hearer/receiver are also important, and this paper takes the evaluation of attentiveness as an example of behavioural politeness using subjects from three cultural backgrounds. An attempt is also made to characterise the cultures (British, Japanese and Swiss) involved in this study in order to clarify this significant variable.