Area Study 3
(Also see topic below: “We must be careful with our use of language in public contexts”)
Formal language has a variety of social purposes, including: – maintaining and challenging positive and negative face needs – reinforcing social distance and authority – establishing expertise – promoting social harmony, negotiating social taboos and building rapport – clarifying, manipulating or obfuscating
Students investigate how:
- informal language can be used to meet and challenge others’ face needs, both positive (the need to be liked, respected and treated as a member of a group) and negative (the need to be autonomous and act without imposition from others);
- how informal language choices can build rapport by encouraging inclusiveness, intimacy, solidarity and equality; and
- how informal language features such as slang and swearing patterns are important in encouraging linguistic innovation and in-group membership.
Food-for-thought
According to one Style Manual, (published by the Department of Finance and Administration: fifth edition), “the vocabulary of sociology or computer science has its place within those disciplines, but to use terms such as ‘socio-economic profile’, ‘interface’ or ‘parameters’ in non-technical documents suggests to readers that the author is trying to impress them with her or his superior knowledge.” (10)
“The way we describe ourselves and others, or the way in which we address one another, can have a profound impact on our self-image and our relations with other people. If individuals or groups are labelled consciously or unconsciously in demeaning, harmful or stereotypical ways, they often experience hurt and pain or develop hatred – leading to a negative self-image, feelings of inferiority and possibly expressions of anger.” (Style Guide)
“For a pluralist democracy to work, we must all possess a measure of civility and tolerance. … To be a citizen is, in part, to show the right manners to our fellow members of society. (91: On Hate, Tim Soutphommasane, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne 2019)
“Just as we look after our own face (self-respect), we are expected to be considerate of, and look after, the face-wants of others.” (social savoir faire) Kate Burridge, Forbidden Words, p. 33
- (Positive face) We use inclusive language to protect people’s positive face needs. (public contexts/casual acquaintances). (Positive)
- ANU’s fact sheet on pronouns: “Misgendering is a term used to describe accidentally or intentionally using incorrect pronouns about or towards a person. It can happen by accident, and that is okay – you can apologise and correct yourself, or ask what pronouns they use. However, when it happens intentionally, it is considered bullying. It is not always easy for someone to come out and tell people they are trans* or that they would like you to use a different set of pronouns that feel better for them. You can show your support and respect by normalising the sharing of pronouns at the beginning of a conversation or meeting, and by including your pronouns in your email signature. This helps others to know how to address us and helps us to know how to address others.” See the use of honorifics and pronouns
- We avoid discriminatory terms because they are positive face threatening.”
- (Negative face) Government officials, councillors and policy officers infringe people’s negative face needs in the interests of community safety/rules. They often provide instructions about what citizens can do and what they cannot do. However, these instructions are often qualified by contextual factors and by discourse markers/politeness conventions.
- Authors/editors/cartoonists seek to protect their negative face needs; they believe that they should have the freedom to voice issues that are in the interests of public discussion and debate. Their negative face needs may provide tension with another person’s positive face needs. The cartoonist’s rights are protected in the Racial Discrimination Act 18D.
Key idea 1
When communicating people are obliged to use inclusive language and non-discriminatory terms out of respect for people’s positive face needs. Inclusive language recognises that people need to be treated with respect and dignity and that language plays a key role in making sure that people are included.
Positive: for this reason we should use terms such as “person” instead of “man”. We should refer to “people with a disability” rather than a “disabled person” – recognising that people are individuals. See the use of honorifics and pronouns and Harmony Week. The Style Guide for Government departments;
Negative: Examples of negative /positive face-threatening acts:
Key idea 2
Positive face threatening acts threaten social cohesion and undermine public safety. Professor Katharine Gelber, University of Queensland, Gerber: “just by saying the hate speech, you have harmed people. They are placed as lesser than’. “They have powers taken away from them.”
Sexist language: negative and positive face needs. See Mark Latham’s tweet and Alex Greenwich and Nazi signs
Hate speech has been found to lower the self-esteem of those against whom it is directed, cause psychological distress, prevent people from wanting to socialise and sometimes degrade physical health.
Key idea 3
Many public commentators, cartoonists and linguists also believe that it is important to protect negative face needs – the freedom to say and do what one wants in a democratic society. Often, they contend, academics, scientists and public commentators metaphorically “stir the possum” for productive reasons – social and political debates, may be inconvenient but life-changing.
See comments relating to Section 18 D and Gillian Triggs.
- In public spaces, we expect users to respect our negative face needs.
- In the public arena, we take exception to officials who unreasonably impose upon negative face needs.
Key idea 4
In the interests of public safety and the common good, government and council officials often impose upon people’s negative face needs. They believe that some restrictions are necessary to safeguard the greater good. These restrictions may apply to the wearing of masks in public and to social distancing; there are also rules about smoking in public places and the disposal of dog litter.
Some politeness conventions minimise or qualify the imposition; some linguistic features such as the agentless passive also seek to minimise an order to follow instructions. There are also often contextual factors such as an accompanying graphic image/sign that places the instruction in a safety context.
When governments or councils require action to be carried out by citizens they often use linguistic strategies to reduce the imposition on negative face needs. They might use the passive voice, inclusive pronouns and listing devices to soften the command and to encourage all citizens to “work together”. Likewise at schools “Please do not smoke in … “ Please pick up after your dog.” Or the imposition may be more direct (cartoons)
Many public commentators, cartoonists and authors, editors also negotiate their own negative face needs when presenting arguments and opinion pieces. Leunig defends his freedom of expression which is a negative face need. His rights are protected in The Racial Discrimination Act 18D – in good faith and in the public interest. However, his negative face needs also bump up against someone’s positive face needs – and this tension often exists.
Also:
“We must be careful with our use of language in public contexts”
We must be careful in public contexts, taking into account racial, sexual and gender diversity. The language we must must be socially, ethnically and racially inclusive and ensure social harmony as a reflection of Australian national values. Using inclusive language, we ensure respect for people’s positive face needs. (Using person-first language and inclusive pronouns ensures respect for people’s sexual and gender diversity – avoid binary terms.
Individuals must also respect default politeness conventions when in public and treat people respectfully and courteously. This is particularly when dealing with people who represent organisations and institutions; people should not abuse others and use discriminatory terms or abusive and derogatory language. – respectful terms.. politeness respectful discourse markers. address people
In public contexts, writers or speakers must ensure that language is accessible and clear to members of the public; it must be easy to read; at the same time it must also provide the information that people are searching .. clear and comprehensible, to around a Year 7 literacy level (Style guide) It must not include jargonistic and difficult.. lexis. (This type of language needs to negotiate both positive (one must be able to understand and follow guidelines and instructions) and negative face needs (one also needs access to information)
- Return to: Contemporary Formal Examples
- See a Summary of Contemporary Informal Examples
- Return to Essays Made Easy: English Language
- References to linguists and relevant commentators (which ones?)