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Dissertation acknowledgements in Cameroon English: A study in linguistic politeness

Dissertation acknowledgements in Cameroon English: A study in linguistic politeness This study investigates the polite language behaviour of users of Cameroon English in a typical plurilingual and multiethnic context with emphasis on the politeness strategies used with regard to acknowledging. Based on Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory, the data, obtained from the acknowledgements pages of students' dissertations in the University of Yaoundé 1, were investigated with the aim of identifying politeness strategies and their relative frequency. The study demonstrates that the urge to save face by being polite engenders a range of strategies, including the use of honorifics to mark deference, the use of terms of kin to foster solidarity and the use of self-abnegation as well as polite lexical forms to show deference, create and consolidate fraternity and above all save face as they acknowledge the contribution of others to the realisation of their research projects. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Acta Linguistica Hafniensia: International Taylor & Francis

Dissertation acknowledgements in Cameroon English: A study in linguistic politeness

Nkwain, Joseph
Acta Linguistica Hafniensia: International , Volume 47 (1): 20 – Jan 2, 2015
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20 pages

Dissertation acknowledgements in Cameroon English: A study in linguistic politeness

Abstract

This study investigates the polite language behaviour of users of Cameroon English in a typical plurilingual and multiethnic context with emphasis on the politeness strategies used with regard to acknowledging. Based on Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory, the data, obtained from the acknowledgements pages of students' dissertations in the University of Yaoundé 1, were investigated with the aim of identifying politeness strategies and their relative frequency. The study...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2015 The Linguistic Circle of Copenhagen
ISSN
1949-0763
eISSN
0374-0463
DOI
10.1080/03740463.2015.1041254
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This study investigates the polite language behaviour of users of Cameroon English in a typical plurilingual and multiethnic context with emphasis on the politeness strategies used with regard to acknowledging. Based on Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory, the data, obtained from the acknowledgements pages of students' dissertations in the University of Yaoundé 1, were investigated with the aim of identifying politeness strategies and their relative frequency. The study demonstrates that the urge to save face by being polite engenders a range of strategies, including the use of honorifics to mark deference, the use of terms of kin to foster solidarity and the use of self-abnegation as well as polite lexical forms to show deference, create and consolidate fraternity and above all save face as they acknowledge the contribution of others to the realisation of their research projects.

Journal

Acta Linguistica Hafniensia: International – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jan 2, 2015

Keywords: politeness; Cameroon English; acknowledgements; face; deference; solidarity

References

  • ‘Come Greet Uncle Eric’ – Politeness through Kinship Terms
  • De la sémantique à la morphosyntaxe. De l'intégration des socioculturèmes bamiléké de politesse dans l'expression française contemporaine: Cas du Crâne de Gilbert Doho
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  • Linguistic Politeness and Politic Verbal Behaviour: Reconsidering Claims for Universality
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