Strategiese linguistiese beleefdheid en institusionele beeld :'n ondersoek na die invloed van beleefdheidstrategieë op institusionele beeld deur gepaarde waarnemings

[摘要] In this study, students' reactions towards linguistic politeness and the lack thereof inletters distributed by Stellenbosch University (SU), is tested. The aim of the research isto determine the answers to mainly two questions: Does letters which lack linguisticpoliteness influence institutional image negatively? Is linguistic politeness considered avital component in institutional letters? SU is currently engaged in establishing theinstitution's proposed image in letters directed to students. For that reason, male andfemale students from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Natural Sciences werechosen as respondents.The pioneers in the field of pragmatic politeness, Penelope Brown and Stephen C.Levinson, identified approximately 40 politeness strategies utilised in social interaction.According to Brown and Levinson, these strategies protect two intrinsic aspects of thehuman personality: positive face (roughly, the want to be respected by others) andnegative face (roughly, the want not to be impeded by others).Consequently, two official letters from SU were tested to establish senior students'interpretation of the letters' contribution to face loss. One letter, incorporating nopoliteness strategies, and a manipulated version comprising appropriate strategies wasemployed. The research was accomplished by means of pared observations in whichfifteen analogous politeness concepts were tested. Senior students responded tocomparable questions that assessed the letters' effect on their positive and negativeface. Despite this, the respondents were never fully aware of the fact that their opinionof politeness was tested.The next step entailed the statistical processing of the answers that were ultimatelyfeatured on comparable histograms. The results prove that the writer (as arepresentative of SU) of the letter in which politeness strategies lack, shows no respectfor the student (she/the letter generates positive face loss). However, this letter ismainly responsible for negative face loss which means the writer is excessivelyprescriptive.Interestingly enough, the student respondents were more sensitive towards linguisticpoliteness in the manipulated text than the lack thereof in the original version.Alternatively, the students are more appreciative towards the institutional letter which employs positive and negative politeness strategies. The results prove the highprobability of linguistic politeness promoting institutional image and white, Afrikaansspeaking students' regard for linguistic politeness in institutional letters.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University