A Study Based on the Expressions of Politeness in Turkish and French

A Study Based on the Expressions of Politeness in Turkish and French

DEMIRKAN, Murat
ZEYTINKAYA, Dilber

Key words: politeness, expressions, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, intercultural consciousness ABSTRACT In order to develop intercultural consciousness, people have to study the politeness principles of the society in which two languages are talked. Students can gain the necessary communication skills by learning the politeness principles. In Grice’s cooperative principal, it is necessary to teach the principles of politeness in addition to quality, quantity, importance and style principles. According to the research results, the schoolbooks that teach Turkish and French do not cover sufficiently the dialogues and exercises related to the principles of politeness (“...” Kazmaz: 2012). This study aims at making a comparative analysis of the usage of the principles of politeness both in Turkish and French. As a special kind of communication channel, the politeness expressions show themself not only in sentences, words, intonations but also in some facial expressions like smiling or looking. In this research, by taking into consideration some concrete practices of the politeness theory, the importance of teaching two languages as foreign languages will be underlined and some concrete examples of politeness discourse for which Grice’s cooperative principal fails to explain will be discussed. The principles of the politeness theory -as image, influence, perception, impression- which are also the main research areas of sociolinguistics and pragmatics will be analysed with some special examples in respect to their contribution to language teaching. In the first part of the study, the theoretical views Goffman, Brown and Levinson, Lakoff and Leech, Kerbrat-Orecchioni and in the second part the politeness expressions peculiar to French and Turkish language will be comparatively analysed. In the concluding part, the importance of the politeness principles in language learning will be emphasised.

Article
PeerReviewed

IBU Publishing

2013-05-03

1839