An Analysis on TV Series This Is Us with the Politeness Principle

【Abstract】As human beings， communication is a fundamental skill for everyone to master. So learning to communicate politely is a cornerstone for the interpersonal communication. In order to create a successful communication between the addressed and addressee， the politeness principle should come into service. So this study intends to explore the usage of politeness principle in the teleplay this is us， expecting to give some indications for the communicators in daily life.

【Key Words】communication； politeness principle； maxims

【作者簡介】劉蘭（1994-），女，漢族，湖北黃岡人，研究生，海南大學，研究方向：外國語言學及應用語言學。

1. Introduction

This article studies the America TV series entitled This is us. It is to give a clarification on the application of the Politeness Principle in this TV series， which makes readers have a full-scaled understanding about the usage of the Politeness Principle. All the materials are collected by note-taking technique and then analyzed descriptively with the Politeness Principle. After the analysis finished， the researcher found that the Politeness Principle was used frequently in the utterance materials， covering many maxims of politeness principle. Furthermore， the utterances among the characters not only includes the usage of maxims， but also considering the social distance between the addressed and addressee， and the formality of the situation to avoid embarrassment and create a comfortable environment for communicators.

2. Studies on Politeness Principle

2.1 The Definition of Politeness Principle

Politeness is expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette（Sondang M， Juniati H，2015）， also being called as “li” or “li mao” in Chinese. According to the definition of Lakoff （2003）， there are three rules in polite language； the distance of formality， meaning how polite we should be in accordance with the situation； not give much pressure on the addressee； and the deference or hesitancy， which gives the addressed his own option.

It is indicated by Grice that politeness can make up the drawbacks of cooperative principle. Brown and Levinson （1987） agreed that politeness involves positive and negative politeness， and describes speakers’ taking consideration of other people’s face wants. Face refers to our public self-image. Positive politeness takes speech strategies that emphasize speakers’ solidarity with hearers. And negative politeness refers to keep suitable distance with others and give deference for others. The indirect strategy put forward by Brown and Levinson advocates using indirect language and removing the speaker from the potential to be imposed. Leech （1983） proposed the politeness principle from two aspects： to minimize expressions of impolite beliefs； and to maximize expressions of polite beliefs. And he defines politeness as expressions of speakers to establish and maintain comity. When the addressed and addressee are engaging the communication interaction， striving to get an atmosphere of harmony.

2.2 Clarification of the politeness principle

To explain how politeness operates in conversational exchanges， Leech （1983） proposed a series of maxim as following： tact maxim， generosity maxim， approbation maxim， modesty maxim， agreement maxim and sympathy maxim.

Tact maxim is that speakers minimize the cost to addressee by using two discourse markers； appealing to solidarity and modifying hedge. The generosity maxim makes the advantages of speakers as small as possible； makes oneself loss as big as possible. The approbation maxim minimizes the expression of dispraise to others； and maximizes the expression of approval to others. In modesty maxim， participants need be humble by reducing the praise himself. In Chinese， self-disparagement is widely used as a kind of modesty maxim. In agreement maxim， Participants should show agreement on the speech acts. If there is a match between speakers and hearers in the speech acts， it will be polite. Leech （1993） says sympathy maxim is that speakers try to minimize antipathy between self and others and maximize sympathy between self and others.

2.3 Studies on Politeness Principle

The study about politeness principle is mainly from the following perspectives； its changes， from Grice （1973）， Robin Lakoff （1972）， then Brown and Levinson （1987）， to last Leech （1987）. Politeness contagiously developed， and the politeness principle also arose and improved， until the general six maxims of politeness taking into practice. Besides， some studies explored the relationship between the politeness principle and other theories. For example， the politeness principle and cooperative principle （周利娟，2000）. And another one is the application of politeness principle； it can be categorized into the academic environment and social environment. In academic environment， the researchers analyze the way of communication between teachers and students under the instructions of the politeness principle （周紅，2003；Sondang Manik Juniati Hutagao， 2015）. Also concentrate on the usage of politeness principle in the literature， like the politeness principle in A Dream in Red Mansions （顏靜蘭陳逸飛，2017） and Pride and Prejudice （陳明娟，2005）. Furthermore， some researchers explain the typical usage of politeness principle， like utterance silence （周樹江，2014）， and euphemism （Xue. L.L.，2016）. As for the social environment，the research mainly study the social communication on the politeness principle， like the violation of politeness principle in American election candidates’ debate （Jakarta， 2009）； the differences between the western and Chinese politeness principle in dialogue （姚菊芳， 2011）.

What’s more， the analysis of the movies， TV series dialogues with the politeness principle is also a key point， such as the analysis of Stand by me Doraemon with politeness principle， Sinkeviciute （2010） entitled “A Comparative Analysis of Politeness in First Encounter Conversations in British English Film and Peninsular Spanish Film”， and Nikmah （2012） entitled “Analysis of Apology As A Politeness Style of Expressed By The Characters In The Twilight Saga Movie”. The research about movie is much， but about TV series it is few， furthermore the analysis of the movie with politeness principle always follows the steps， count the maxim each movie referred to， and explain which maxim the dialogue concerned， but not give the context about the dialogue， which is not beneficial to the analysis of the violation or adaption of the politeness principle. So this paper intends to give a full-scale understanding about the background of the dialogue， and according to the context analyzing the dialogue with the politeness principle， aiming to give a concrete explanation about politeness principle.

3. A brief introduction about TV Series This Is Us

Everyone has a family. And every family has a story. “This Is Us” describes the Pearson family across the decades： from Jack （Milo Ventimiglia） and Rebecca （Mandy Moore） as young parents in the 1980s to their 37-year-old kids Kevin （Justin Hartley）， Kate （Chrissy Metz） and Randall （Sterling K. Brown） searching for love， fulfillment and future in the present day. This grounded， positive dramedy reveals how the tiniest events in our lives impact who we become， and how the connections we share with each other can transcend time， distance and even death. From the writer and directors of “Crazy， Stupid， Love” comes a smart， modern show that will welcome you into a family you feel you have been with them for many years， and may be you were one of them truly.

4. Analysis

The usage of politeness principle in this TV series is continual， no matter between the family members， colleagues， doctors and patients； they all take the allowance of the politeness principle carefully to make a successful communication. Only in one scene when the two sides don’t obey the politeness principle because of the unwillingness to continue the communication. So the following part will give analysis about the application of politeness principle in the TV series， episode 1.

Data 1： Girls： We love your show！ Do you want a dance？ Kevin： No， but you know you go ahead.

In this dialogue， girls and Kevin rest after work in a room， Kevin is a 36-year-old man who works as a third-rate actor in soap series， being tired of his work， feeling no hope for life. And the girls are the temporal playmates of him. When the girl wanted to start a topic， they did not directly said about it， they praised Kevin’s performance at first， this is kind of approbation maxim， do much praise and less derogation as possible. And then use “Do you want...” not have a dance directly； this is the usage of the tact maxim to decrease others’ cost. Because of the social distance between two sides， the girls didn’t use the most direct way to invite Kevin， and that gave Kevin options. So Kevin knew their intention， to make the girls know his thought directly but not sweet words， Kevin said no directly to show his unwillingness， which maybe a little straight but useful to the girls， then Kevin said girls could have dance if they liked， and gave them options， which is the application of tact maxim again. So the whole conversation is a typical polite communication model for not familiar people.

Data 2： Doctor： Now， then I’m doctor Katowski. But you can call me Doc or Dr.k which is what most people choose to do because it is folksy. Wife： So you work with Dr. Schneider？ Doctor： Take a breath for me， dear. Deep breath now （woman breath and nod）. All right， you relaxed？ Good， good， good. Doctor Schneider’s appendix burst an hour ago. He just went in to surgery. No， no， no， no， no， no. Now， stay with me. Wife： I need Doctor Schneider. ‘cause he knows about all. Doctor： Stay with me now. Between his Screams of Agony， Schneider brought me up to speed on everything concerning your case. I know all about these triplets， and I know that this is a high-risk pregnancy. Woman： Yeah （suffering face）.

This conversation happened in a hospital； the wife had pregnancy with triplets. Now she was going to deliver. And the doctor who gave examination for her is ill suddenly， didn’t occur， another doctor called Katowski instead him. This is the first conversation between the woman and doctor Katowski. We can see that the doctor addressed the wife dear， a very intimate appellation； actually they met at the first time. So this is a strategy of agreement maxim to close the distance between two sides. What’s more， the doctor gave praise and repeated it for 3 times on the very easy behavior of the woman， it is an application of the approbation maxim. Furthermore， when the doctor first came into the inpatient ward， the doctor introduced his name， and gave a concrete explanation about his name. In fact， it is enough to give his name， and there is no need for explanation， but the doctor did， it meant that the doctor was trying to make the woman feel close and familiar with him， so he violated the maxim of quantity， but obeyed the generosity maxim， and gave more information about himself， decrease his benefit to make the woman relaxed.

Data 3： Annie： You have a hole in your pants （her mother gives a hint to stop talking）. William： Oh， that’s okay. I actually do. Hey， isn’t that what the kids do to be cool？ They put holes in the pants， right？ Right？ Not like that. William： Well， here I was， thought I was being cool. Wait， what if I do this？ Yep， what’s going？ （do the gesture of a rocker） Tess： No. William： You must be Tess； I heard you can play soccer.

In this conversation， William is the stepfather of Annie and Tess’s father， so Annie is his granddaughter. But this is the first time they have met each other， William knew Annie is his granddaughter， but Annie didn’t know William’s identity even mistaken William as a stranger. The little girl just told that she saw a hole in the old man’s pants out of curiosity at first sight， without consideration of politeness principle； this sentence would make the addressee embarrassed. Though the old man had felt the embarrassment， he didn’t say it directly， and just deal with the awkward situation masterly under the politeness principle. In consideration of the approbation and agreement maxim， William answered it was okay and used a rhetorical question to make a joke about pop fashion. On the one hand， he harmed his negative to admit the hole in his pants； on the other hand， as an old man， the pop fashion may be not familiar for him， and in order to make the little girl laugh， he made a joke about his hole. And the girl didn’t know the politeness， so when William asked about the fashion， she still didn’t mediate a dispute and said it was not fashion. William remained to be polite， and made a gesture of rocker which matched with the fashion， and asked how about this match， is it cool？ It took great consideration to the maxim of agreement， pretended to keep up with fashion of youth and close the distance with the little girl. And the younger sister Tess said no， William just praised her great performance in soccer， in accordance with the maxim of approbation.

5. Conclusion

After the analysis of the conversation in the TV series， we can see that different maxims will be applied in different situations for different addressees. So it is essential to make clear about the exact discrepancy and use it suitably. What’s more， what should pay more attention to is the mix of different kinds of maxims in a dialogue， the analysis should consider more about the conversation from more aspects. Last but not least， when we analyze what maxim it used. The relationship between the two parties is a very essential factor， different relationships cause different social distance， and the maxim will be totally different. On the one hand， the most direct way is the most polite way to the close friends； on the other hand， the most direct seems not to be the most polite way for the strangers at first meet. In a word， when we analyze the application of politeness principle， all contexts about the conversation should be taken into consideration.

References：

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