What is politeness?

Definition
	Politeness is social deixis that expresses a low degree of solidarity between the speaker and the addressee.

Examples (German, French)

Some uses of the second person pronouns Sie in German and vous in French signal politeness.

Source:

Hartmann and Stork 1972 179

Concept module: politeness
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): P
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004