Chalfoun2024

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Chalfoun2024
BibType ARTICLE
Key Chalfoun2024
Author(s) Andrew Chalfoun, Giovanni Rossi, Tanya Stivers
Title The Magic Word? Face-Work and the Functions of Please in Everyday Requests
Editor(s)
Tag(s) Requests, Please, Politeness, EMCA, Request, Face, Face-work
Publisher
Year 2024
Language
City
Month may
Journal Social Psychology Quarterly
Volume
Number
Pages 01902725241245141
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/01902725241245141
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Expressions of politeness such as please are prominent elements of interactional conduct that are explicitly targeted in early socialization and are subject to cultural expectations around socially desirable behavior. Yet their specific interactional functions remain poorly understood. Using conversation analysis supplemented with systematic coding, this study investigates when and where interactants use please in everyday requests. We find that please is rare, occurring in only 7 percent of request attempts. Interactants use please to manage face-threats when a request is ill fitted to its immediate interactional context. Within this, we identify two environments in which please prototypically occurs. First, please is used when the requestee has demonstrated unwillingness to comply. Second, please is used when the request is intrusive due to its incompatibility with the requestee’s engagement in a competing action trajectory. Our findings advance research on politeness and extend Goffman’s theory of face-work, with particular salience for scholarship on request behavior.

Notes

Publisher: SAGE Publications Inc