Face and politeness in traditional and modern Tunisia: An application of Brown and Levinson's politeness theory

This dissertation examines the concepts of politeness, power and face within the framework of Brown and Levinson (1987) theory, and involves the application of their model to the task of characterizing the ways in which Tunisian men and women compare on politeness continua within and outside the limits of their society. Throughout, comparisons are made with uses of politeness in the Anglophone world as described by Brown and Levinson and other scholars.; Fifty-four Tunisians from two social networks, a traditional and a "modern" one, were surveyed in tape-recorded interviews and observation to provide comparable linguistic data and background information.; Qualitative and quantitative analysis demonstrated that in traditional Tunisia, strategies of politeness are expressed through beliefs in notions of honor and shame as well as deference or reddressive acts like those relating to the evil eye, and/or prophylactic blessings in a closeknit and multiplex network. In contrast, in modern urban Tunisia, the concern is not only with in-group identity and loyalty to such a group in a looseknit and multiplex network, but also with social recognition and acquisition of positive face through the use of a superposed prestigious dialect which is not gender related.; Sociolinguistic correlations between the linguistic data and various extralinguistic variables revealed that taken as a whole, politeness typologies in the workplace span a full range of politeness behaviors as described by Brown and Levinson. The findings also suggest that, on the basis of subjects' reports, social status and age, rather than sex, are determining factors in the choice of terms of address and directives in the workplace.; The results show, however, that stereotypical gender-role socialization and organizational socialization processes are not uniformly applied and evenly absorbed by all individuals. To ensure successful management, women in particular, demonstrate a range of strategies for dealing with face-threatening acts in the traditionally male-dominated workplace.; Contributions of the investigation include the scholarly recognition of the effects of language contact on individuals' linguistic behavior, a further support for the claim that there are universals in linguistic usage based on the position of men and women cross-culturally, the possibility of developing new methodological tools for the teaching of language and culture in the foreign language classroom, and the buildup of cross-cultural bridges between different speech communities.