The Many Ways To Be Polite

The Many Ways To Be Polite Politeness is the actions taken by a competent speaker in a community in order to attend to possible social or interpersonal disturbance. Politeness is something strange which can be seen in different forms and levels. What is polite and what not depends on where you grew up and what norms of politeness you acquired there ( Meyerhoff 2006: 81). In a conversation a speaker might say something that would be considered very rude by the listener, but that speaker might actually just trying to be polite. He was being polite according to the standards of where he grew up. So, politeness is expressed in different ways, in different places. In this essay, we will see the different forms and levels of politeness and how these forms attend to different social needs. Also we will look at examples of the different forms that requests and apologies can take. We will explore how useful is distinguishing between the politeness which is used between friends and with people that we are not very familiar with. Then we will briefly discuss about the frameworks of politeness that are used in a workplace interaction and intercultural communication. All these phenomenon of politeness will be discussed in this paper with consideration of Brown and Levinsons theory (1978) in order to illustrate how there is more than one way of being polite. According to Meyerhoff (2006) there are a number of different ways in which linguists can analyse politeness. The various approaches differ primarily in the emphasis placed on the speaker, the addressee or both, and the emphasis given to accounting for behavior that would be considered polite or behavior that would be considered impolite (p. 83). The most widely known and extensively used approach to the study of politeness is Brown and Levinsons theory which has the most dominant position in the field.People associate politeness just with ways of speaking that avoid causing offence by showing deference to another person. (Meyerhoff 2006: 84). Brown and Levinson (1978) state that deference would be inappropriate in any speech community, in some contexts. Comments that orient to in-group membership may be what starts an interaction and avoid causing offence. For example you do not always reply thank you so much when someone helps you, cheers or thanks works better. Extreme deference c ould be taken as ironic or snobbish. Now, before continuing in more depth with Brown and Levinsons theory, it is useful to refer to Grices Maxims (1975), a set of rules that people follow in communication to maintain participant harmony. Brown and Levinsons theory suggests that these four Grices principles for speaking in a cooperative way, were correct. These rules can be summed up as the Maxim of quality where a person should be truthful and sincere, the Maxim of quantity: a person must say no more or less than required, the Maxim of relevance: being relevant to that topic and the Maxim of manner: being perspicuous. All of which underpins and is underpinned by the idea that the people involved in a conversation will cooperate with each other (the cooperative principle). These four principles are not considered to be a theory of face but constitute a foundation for a theory of face, later developed by Brown and Levinson. (Adapted for Brown and Levinson 1978:95 ) The theory of Brown and Levinson suggests that there are two types of politeness. The negative politeness strategies which are the strategies that avoid offence by showing deference (e.g. Do you mind if I borrow it for a second?) and the positive politeness strategies are those that avoid offence by highlighting friendliness (e.g. You look fit and healthy-any chance you could help me push the car?). Also, considering a strategy to be polite or impolite depends on the attention that a speaker pays to his own face wants and the addressees face wants. The term face derives from the work of Goffman (1967). In Goffmans work, face was a personal attribute or quality that each of us works to protect or enhance. In Brown and Levinson the definition of face emphasises less that interpersonal and communal nature of the face wants. Face is the public self-image that every model person (MP) claims for him or herself. Brown and Levinson propose that we want to guard our face against possible dama ge when we interact with others. (Meyerhoff 2006: 84) Now, it is important to refer to the factors involved in choosing politeness strategies. Choosing what kinds of strategies would be polite or impolite in a situation depends on evaluating three main factors. Power, distance and weight (cost) of imposition were identified by Brown and Levinson. Power refers to the difference in status between participants in discourse, distance relates to the level of familiarity that exists between the speaker and the addressee, and weight of imposition relates to the extent to which one wishes to impose on another person. People often put more effort to be polite to people that their position have greater social power than we have. For example I will use more negative politeness strategies (more polite) to a government official processing a passport application than I will use (less polite) to a telemarketer who rings during dinner. This has to do with power because I want the government official to do me a favor and speed up my application as for the telemarketer, he needs something from me so I am the one with power. Also, the social distance between speakers has a huge effect on the way that they speak to each other. Generally, we give more attention to the negative face wants (more polite) of people we do not know very well and we are more abrupt to close friends. For example when you are cooking with a close friend you might say Youve got the butter instead of I think the butter is closer to you that it is to me so could you pass it to me. But, when working with someone that you are not very close you might ask in less direct way, showing more attention to their negative face wants, you might say something like Excuse me, are those the telephone accounts? Could I have them for a second? . The cost of imposition, according to Brown and Levinson meant how big the social infraction is. An example is when you ask someone for the time, which is considered as a situation with a minor imposition, you can a stranger in the road for the time and the politeness strategies pay little attention to face wants (Sorry do you have the time?). But, asking for money is greater imposition. You usually ask for money someone you are close to and if the amount is big you will probably ask someone who is even closer to you, like a very close friend. Under this framework there are three social variables which shape the way that people choose the politeness strategies they will use.Their attention to others positive and negative face wants will be determined by the relative power and social of the interactants and by the social lost of the imposition (Meyerhoff 2006: 88). These three factors are by no means independent. Earlier, I referred to the two types of politeness and the term face. Actually, there are two types of politeness because we are concerned with maintaining two distinct kinds of face, the negative and the positive face. The negative face is the want of every competent adult member of a community that their actions be unimpeded by others. The positive face is the want of every member that their wants be desirable to at least some others. (Brown and Levinson 1987:62 in Meyerhoff 2006: 85). Some societies orientate more towards deference and being attentive to negative face wants. In such societies it seems very rude to ignore the distance that might be between you and your addressee and talk as if you know her or him better than you do. A Language example is Forgive me, Ms Smith, I do apologise, but could I possibly intrude for a second. In this sentence the title Ms shows deference politeness and distance attending to negative face. Forgive me and I do apologise try to reduce the imposition of the request and attends to negative face. A further attempt to reduce the cost of imposition is could I, possibly and a second. In contrast, there are societies which orientate towards positive face. The interaction between strangers is expected to be more personable and friendly. In these societies it is rude to interact by emphasizing or drawing attention to the social distance between the interlocutors. Such a society is the Australians, where the use of first names is the norm even in professional contexts. A language example of such a society is a greeting to an old friend that you have not seen for some time e.g. Tapper! Its been ages. Youre looking good. Whatve you been doing nowadays?. In this greeting the use of ingroup code (the nickname Tapper), showing attention to the addressees interests (Whatve you been doing nowadays?) and exaggerating the speakers interest or approval (Youre looking good) are strategies that attend to the addressees positive face wants. Brown and Levinson suggest that some conversational events which represent a threat to another individuals self-image are described as inherently facethreating acts (FTAs). When such an event occurs it is sure that somebodys positive or negative face wants will be threatened, and the participants have to decide what politeness strategies they will use. Examples of FTAs are expressing thanks and making an apology, these are threats to the speakers face wants. Saying thanks establishes indebtedness to the other person. Making an apology is having to state publicly that you have done something stupid or unkind, this threatens your positive face wants as other people may not identify you and will be unwilling to suggest that they share your wants and desires. So depending on how serious an FTA is it will require more or less action to mitigate (or reduce) the potential damage to the addressees or the speakers face. (Meyerhoff 2006: 90). As I said in the introduction I will also briefly discuss about the frameworks of politeness which are used in intercultural communication. Peoples use of politeness varies in intercultural communication depending on where they come from and how their societies orientate towards politeness. An example of such differences is when making a request for a drink in a bar in English and doing the same in German. In English you usually use strategies to attend the addressees negative face wants. (Could I have a glass of red wine, please?). But, in German there is not such an attention to the servers negative face wants and it is appropriate to say I will get red wine. Sometimes a could or please may be added but using both will sound absurd and snooty. (Meyerhoff 2006: 97). Another example is how people refuse an invitation to a meal from a social superior. In some cultures a general answer like Im busy that night Im afraid will be perfectly acceptable but in western communities people want to give a reason for your refusal. (Holmes 2001: 275). This has to do with peoples negative and positive face wants. People from western communities are more concerned about their positive face, they want their wants to be desirable to at least some others and they do not like drawing attention to the social distance. In conclusion, indeed there is more than one way of being polite. As it is presented above, politeness has many forms and levels and can be used in different ways. Politeness is perceived differently depending on where you grew up and your social status so it can be also expressed differently. People use different strategies to express politeness in a conversation depending on who is the addressee, what is his social status and how close they are to him. According to Brown and Levinsons theory there are two basic strategies, the positive and the negative strategy. These two strategies exist because we are concerned to maintain two kinds of face, the negative and positive face. People have to evaluate three factors in order to decide what strategies they will use, power, distance and cost of the imposition.

Rasin in the Sun Walter Character Analysis Essay

Depression is ongoing feelings of hopelessness, sadness, unhappiness, and causes a bleak outlook on life. When someone is suffering from depression they cannot be at the top of their game. A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959, which was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. The story is based upon the family getting an insurance check; from Walter senior’s death, and the troubles of an African American family in the 1950’s. One Character, Walter shows almost every sign of depression throughout the play. He uses bad cooping skills, like alcohol, hurting his family meanwhile. Walter begins the play, as an unhappy man who is selfish but later matures into a better husband, father, and head of the household. When someone is unhappy, they tend to make impulsive decisions. In the case of Walter Lee Younger, he follows those footsteps. He proves that statement to be true when he tells the character Mama, also know as â€Å"Lena Younger† how he feel his job is nothing, saying, â€Å"†¦Mama, that ain’t no kind of job†¦ that ain’t nothing at all† (Hansberry 73). When Walter is talking to Mama about his future, he tells her he feels as if it’s, â€Å" †¦ a big, looming blank space- full of nothing† (73). That darkness he is showing in that conversation proves to us, that he is very unhappy where his life currently stands. The unhappiness he is experiencing now will later help him become a stronger man. Throughout the play, Walter shows the audience that he is a very selfish man, who will do whatever to get his way. In the beginning of the play, Walter says while talking to Ruth â€Å"I got me a dream† (33). He wants to buy a liquor store with his father’s $10,000 life insurance money, he tells Ruth, â€Å"†¦the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, †¦that be ten thousand each† (33). Walter is oblivious that Mama and Ruth want a house, and Beneatha wants money for college, showing that Walter only cares about himself. The Younger’s get a call from Walter’s work, Ruth answers and they tell her that Walter hasn’t been to work for three days. This shows that Walter is being selfish and missing work to grieve at a bar because Mama didn’t give him money for the liquor store, when he knows the family is struggling for money. Ruth confronts Walter and tells him, â€Å"†¦Mr. Arnold has had to take a cab for three days†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"†¦If you don’t come in tomorrow that they are getting a new man† (105), Walter looked at her and laughed. Walter thinks that through his selfish acts that he is going to get his way, but little does he know that it is just going to add fuel to the fire. Sometimes it’s better off to shut up, swallow pride, and accept wrongdoing. It’s not giving up, It’s called growing up. That is exactly what Walter Lee did in the third act, he proved himself that he could be a better man. When he was talking to Mr. Karl Linder about if they where going to accept his offer, â€Å"†¦to buy the house†¦ at a financial gain†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (118), Walter was planning to accept his offer, but realized his family really wanted to move into this home. He told Mr. Linder that, â€Å" †¦we have decided to move into our house because my father – my father he earned it for us brick by brick† (148) which is a very big improvement for Walter. Usually Walter does impulsive selfish acts, not thinking about his family. When Mama told Walter, talking about Travis, â€Å" †¦You make him understand what your doing, Walter Lee. You teach him good. Like Willy Harris taught you. You show where five generations done come to† (147) something triggered Walter to realize what he was actually doing and made him reject the offer, doing something exceptional for the family, making himself a better head of the household. Walter also tells Linder that he is proud of Beneatha, which is very unusual. He tells him, â€Å"†¦ that’s my sister over there and she’s going to be a doctor – and we are very proud† (148), that is a very big statement that he told Linder. Earlier in the play he told Beneatha, â€Å"Who the hell told you to be a doctor? †¦ go be a nurse like other women – or just get married and be quiet.† (38), Walter completely changed his view, and actually was proud of Beneatha. Making himself a better brother. Walter Lee Younger makes a commendable change throughout the play. Walter becomes a better man, making himself better suited to be the head of the household. It took him time, but he realized what life was really about. He  stood up for the family, showing responsibility, maturity, and love to the family. * Hansberry, Lorraine . A Raisin in the Sun. 7th. 51. New york: Random House, Inc., 1958. 0-151. Print.

System Migration Plan

System Migration Implementation Phase I Oracle Environment On December 16, 2006 the migration of the production database will take place. It has been deemed necessary to move our Oracle production database to a more robust server for future growth. At this time the database resides on a p650 unit that will be utilized in phase two of this migration. Below find the laid out plan as it pertains to the move. December 16, 2006:There will be a complete backup of the existing server. December 17, 2006:Starting early that morning, the backup of the existing server will be restored on to the new server emulating the current environment.While the restore of the new server is taking place, the existing server will be set up for the actual move of the existing Oracle database. Step. 1: The mounted file system will be un-mounted from the operating system, at that point after recording all the necessary paths. Step. 2: The volume group that the file systems reside in will be varied off, and then exported. After this step the database which resides on the EMC Symmetric will no longer exist on the present database server. Step. 3: The server will be totally taken down and power will be totally extinguished. Step. : The remove of the fibber channel card that leads back to the EMC database location. The data on the EMC/database will go unchanged or accessed at this point. Step. 5: The fibber channel card will then be placed in the new server. Step. 6: The new server will then be powered on with the fibber channel card from the now existing server, and then the database will be imported to that server. Step. 7: At this point all the network and fibber connections will be moved to the new sever from the existing one using the same IP/Hostname to eliminate further configuration changes or delays. Step. : A DBA will be contacted to confirm the migration success, and then the server will be taken down for the data center outage. System Upgrade Recommendation Phase II Oracle Environm ent As a result of an evaluation of performance and future growth of the present Oracle environments, it was proposed and recommended that the production database server be upgraded with additional processors and memory. As phase one, on January 29th 2006 each Oracle environment received the recommended upgrade as described in the briefing dated January 3, 2006 and title: Hardware Upgrade for Oracle Financials in Preparation for OAB and iSupplier Modules.The Oracle environment received the recommended memory and has proved to perform as projected. The production application server now utilizes 16GB of memory, and the database server has a total of 32GB. In a continued effort to move toward phase two, the following information has been composed and now submitted for evaluation. It is the opinion of the system administrator, utilizing performance tools that the existing system degradation only appears during multiple thread requests.In short, thread request are granted buy and throw s ystem processors within any given computer environment. To wit, it has been ascertained that during a normal business run the system reflects system degradation at any point of a new presented workload introduction. System memory and IO performance proves to be stable while the now utilized processors show to be at their maximum thread capacity. In today’s environment the production database unit consists of four processors; with the recommendation to increase this number buy four additional processors facilitating a total of eight.This is projected to improve Dallas County production presently as well as future growth performance. See projected cost on page two. Model Highlights 7038-6M2 The Model 6M2 delivers a cost-efficient growth path to the future with: †¢ 64-bit system scalability in 2-, 4-, 6-, and 8-way configurations with the following processor options: o 2-way 1. 2 GHz POWER4+ with 8 MB shared L3 cache per processor card o 2-way 1. 45 GHz POWER4+ with 32 MB s hared L3 cache per processor card †¢ Expandability and reliability: System memory expandable from 2 GB to 64 GB o Rack-mounted drawer utilizes 8U (EIA Units) o Supports up to eight 7311-D10 or 7311-D20 I/O drawers per server o Each I/O drawer supports either 6 (for D10) or 7 (for D20) hot-plug PCI bus slots To upgrade to an 8 way system IBM has given a cost of $25,750. 00 2-way 1. 45 GHz POWER4+ with 32 MB shared L3 cache per processor card. The above quote is without any government discount or third party intervention. However, a third party vender’s quotes $9590. Mr. UNIX Sr. UNIX System Administrator

William Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream,...

Part One: Author Biography The great English writer, William Shakespeare, was born around April of 1564 in Stratford, England. He was the son of John and Mary Shakespeare and had two older sisters and three younger brothers. He later married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and had three children, two being twin girls. By 1597, Hamlet had begun to establish himself, and 15 out of the 37 plays he wrote were published. From then on, Shakespeare’s works continued to be published. Shakespeare is now said to be a famous English poet because of his works such as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Part Two: Analysis/ Theme The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare takes the reader on a journey throughout Hamlet’s many†¦show more content†¦(Shakespeare, I.ii. Lines 76-86) Hamlet seems to be the only person still in deep mourning over his father’s passing. Gertrude has already remarried his uncle, and his uncle, now step-father, is satisfied with the happenings because he now has the crown and the queen. It is understandable why Hamlet would be suicidal because he is alone in his mourning for his father, and everyone else continues to tell him to move on and forget about his father’s tragic death. Alongside this, Hamlet also explains his suicidal thoughts by describing the morals that he holds. Hamlet does not want to live a life under the rule of his uncle, Claudius, because of what he has done to the real king. In the famous excerpt â€Å"To be or not to be...,† Hamlet explains his moral views on whether a life is worth living due to the circumstances at hand (Shakespeare, III. i. Lines 56-89). This analysis by Dr. Jenkins was written in an effort to depict the reasoning behind the famous excerpt by stating: In the opening lines, Hamlet displays initial indecision and is overwhelmed by his problems. 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