A cross-cultural pragmatic analysis of commercial advertisements in American and Vietnamese magazines

ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the use of politeness strategies, advertising appeals and the realization of politeness strategies in advertising appeals in Ameri

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

DO THI PHUONG MAI

A CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS

OF COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENTS

IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE MAGAZINES

(Nghiên cứu dụng học giao văn hóa về quảng cáo thương mại

trên tạp chí Mĩ và Việt)

Major: English Linguistics Code: 9220201.01

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Hanoi - 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

DO THI PHUONG MAI

A CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS

OF COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENTS

IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE MAGAZINES

(Nghiên cứu dụng học giao văn hóa về quảng cáo thương mại

DECLARATION

I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the works of others

The copyright of this thesis rests with the author Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent

I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party

Hanoi, 2018 Signature

Do Thi Phuong Mai

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the use of politeness strategies, advertising appeals and the realization of politeness strategies in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements The data for this study consist of 310 magazine advertisements collected within a period of six months at the end of 2014 These advertisements are analyzed on the basis of Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory and Pollay’s (1983) advertising appeal system The results reveal the preferences in the use of positive politeness strategies in both American and Vietnamese

advertisements Additionally, Effectiveness, Distinctive and Modern are the three

most popular appeals in selected advertisements Another similarity between American and Vietnamese magazine advertising is the realization of positive

politeness strategies in Effectiveness appeal However, there exist the differences

in the use of politeness strategies and advertising appeals between American and Vietnamese advertising At the same time, the manifestation of some politeness strategies, advertising appeals, and the realization of certain politeness strategies

in advertising appeals in American advertising is different from that of Vietnamese advertising The findings of the study, therefore, suggest that appropriate advertising strategies be employed to achieve the goal of the advertisements

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like first and foremost to extend my most sincere thanks to Professor Nguyễn Quang, my supervisor, for his critical comments and valuable instructions without which this thesis could not have been completed I do appreciate his kind encouragement, astute advice and immeasurable guidance and support through every stage of my Ph.D journey

My indebtedness also goes to lecturers of University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their immensely helpful guidance and support during my time of study therein

I am also grateful to my colleagues at Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education for their support throughout the process of writing this thesis

Last but not least, I am especially indebted to my beloved family members whose help and encouragements contributed greatly to the completion of my study

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FTA: Fact Threatening Act

H : Hearer(s)

S : Speaker(s)

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 Pollay’s appeal system, 1983 13

Table 1.2 Classification of advertising appeals 15

Table 2.1 American and Vietnamese magazines used in the study 47

Table 2.2 Research framework for politeness strategies in the study 52

Table 2.3 Single bald-on record strategies in the study 53

Table 2.4 Single positive politeness strategies in the study 55

Table 2.5 Single negative politeness strategies in the study 55

Table 2.6 Single off-record politeness strategies in the study 56

Table 2.7 Mixed politeness strategies in the study 56

Table 2.8 Result of pilot test on Pollay’s system 58

Table 2.9 Five newly-added advertising appeals (Shen, 2013) 59

Table 2.10 Advertising appeals in the study 60

Table 2.11 Elements in the research design 64

Table 3.1 Frequency of politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 66

Table 3.2 Frequency of single positive politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 69

Table 3.3 Frequency of single negative politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 83

Table 3.4 Bald-on record strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 90

Table 3.5 Similarities and differences in politeness strategies used in American and Vietnamese magazine advertisements 99

Table 4.1 Advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 102

Table 4.2 Similarities and differences in the use of advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 124

Table 5.1 Summary of the realization of politeness strategies in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 147

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Marketing mix 10

Figure 1.2 Promotion mix 10

Figure 1.3 Why Politeness?, adapted from Nguyễn Quang (2011) 17

Figure 1.4 Lakoff (1973)’s rules of pragmatic competence 19

Figure 1.5 Leech cost-benefit scale (1983) 20

Figure 1.6 Possible strategies concerning the delivery of an FTA (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 69) 21

Figure 2.1 Possible strategies concerning the delivery of an FTA, Nguyễn Quang (2012), adapted from Brown and Levinson (1987) 57

Figure 2.2 Data analysis procedure 63

Figure 5.1: Proportion of politeness strategies realized in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 126

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ABSTRACT ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES vi

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 7

1.1 Advertising 7

1.2 Advertising appeals 11

1.3 Politeness 16

1.3.1 Definition 18

1.3.2 Approaches to politeness 18

1.3.3 Concluding remarks 31

1.4 Politeness and advertising 33

1.5 Review of previous studies 35

1.5.1 Previous studies of advertising from cross-cultural pragmatic perspective 35

1.5.2 Previous studies of advertising appeals 42

1.5.3 Concluding remarks 44

CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 45

2.1 Research questions 45

2.2 Samples 45

2.2.1 Selection of the magazines 47

2.2.2 Selection of advertisements 47

2.3 Collection procedure 48

2.4 Coding 49

2.5 Research frameworks 50

2.5.1 Politeness 50

2.5.2 Advertising appeals 57

2.6 Data analysis 60

CHAPTER 3 POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE COMMERCIAL MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS 65

3.1 Frequency of politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 65

3.2 Single positive politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 68

3.2.1 Frequency of single positive politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 68

3.2.2 Linguistic realization of single positive politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 70

3.3 Single negative politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 83

3.3.1 Frequency of single negative politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 83

3.3.2 Linguistic realization of single negative politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 87

3.4 Bald-on record strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 89

3.4.1 Frequency of bald-on record strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 89

3.4.2 Linguistic realization of bald-on record strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 93

3.5 The hybrid negative-positive politeness strategy in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 95

3.6 Concluding remarks 97

CHAPTER 4 ADVERTISING APPEALS IN AMERICAN AND

VIETNAMESE COMMERCIAL MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS 101

4.1 Frequency of advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 101

4.2 Linguistic realization of advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 109

4.2.1 Linguistic realization of Effectiveness appeal in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 109

4.2.2 Linguistic realization of Distinctive appeal in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements 115

4.3 Concluding remarks 122

CHAPTER 5 REALIZATION OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN ADVERTISING APPEALS IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE COMMERCIAL MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS 125

5.1 Realization of positive politeness strategies in advertising appeals 126

5.2 Realization of negative politeness strategies in advertising appeals 134

5.3 Realization of bald-on record politeness strategies in advertising appeals 139 5.4 Realization of mixed politeness strategies in advertising appeals 143

CONCLUSION 148

1 Recapitulation of the study 148

2 Implication 153

3 Limitations 157

4 Suggestions for further studies 158

REFERENCES 159 APPENDIXES I

APPENDIX 1: POLITENESS STRATEGY FRAMEWORK I APPENDIX 2: ADVERTISING APPEAL FRAMEWORK VIII APPENDIX 3: SELECTED ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE STUDY XI

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

In today’s world of consumerism, advertising plays a significant role in

that “it [advertising] creates needs, more needs and entices the consumer”

(Jurgensen, 2006: 9) The advertising market is so cunning that it transforms simple shirts, bags, shoes or sneakers into precious objects In order to do so, ad-writers have used a variety of techniques to make their products more appealing

to their consumers They have applied both textual and non-textual methods, including all kinds of visual and linguistic tricks in order to persuade their audience An ideal advertisement, as Chow (2010) explains, must draw attention, arouse interest, stimulate desire, create conviction, and above all, get action

Shimp & Andrew (2013) argue that most consumer behaviors are swayed

by emotions rather than rationality As a result, when forming the language of advertising, ad-writers normally resort to two major advertising approaches, namely “soft-sell” appeal (or indirect advertising) and “hard-sell” appeal (or direct advertising) (Mueller, 1986) Additionally, with regard to other interlocutor’s emotions, rapport may be the most essential factor determining the attraction and sustainment of their involvement in communication Advertisers, therefore, apply a variety of strategies to guarantee the rapport with their potential consumers, of which politeness strategies are one of the most popular ones

The study of politeness in advertising text is of interest to many linguists

as the language used by ad-writers must be careful in order not to offend the prospective customers and at the same time successfully in persuading these customers to buy the products or use the services advertised There have been relatively few studies on politeness and advertising nationally and internationally Such research includes studies by Mai Xuân Huy (2005), Hồ Vi

Nữ Mỹ Linh (2011), Ngũ Thiện Hùng (2011), Hardin (1997; 2001), Escribano

(2006), Stehlik (2007), Wise (2011), to name a few There are also certain studies comparing the expression of politeness in advertising in two languages, for example Koga and Pearson (1992), Gas & Neru (2006), Wise (2011) or Hermosilla (2012) However, there have not been sufficient studies on politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese advertising

Furthermore, thanks to the globalization of the world marketplace, international advertising segment has been expanding (Tomkins, 2000) Therefore, it is significant that advertisers understand cultural universals and exclusions that tend to condition advertising appeals in different markets Cultural difference is an important factor in understanding international advertising successfully (Keegan, 1989) because consumers growing up in a particular culture are accustomed to a specific culture (Zhang & Gelb, 1996) In other words, advertising is culture-oriented discipline as it is based on language and other communication tools which are deeply rooted in the given culture of a society (Shutte & Ciarlante, 1998) Particularly, advertising communicates cultural values through advertising appeals (Pollay, 1983) because ad-writers often refer to cultural values when they have to select the primary advertising appeals Based on this view, a larger number of cross-cultural studies have examined similarities or differences in cultural values embedded in advertising contents Typical examples include Cheng and Schweitzer (1996), Albers-Miller and Stafford (1999), Lin (2009, Shen (2013), and Sar & Rodriguez (2014) who employ content analysis to see the cross-national differences in advertising strategy However, to the best of the author’s knowledge, virtually no study has focused on the potential relationship between politeness and advertising appeals Consequently, this study employs Brown and Levinson (1987)’s politeness theory and Pollay (1983)’s advertising appeal conceptual framework to examine how American and Vietnamese advertising differ from each other in the use of politeness strategies and advertising appeals

2 Aim and objectives of the study

The overall aim of the study is to pragmatically provide a study on politeness strategies, advertising appeals, as well as the realization of politeness strategies in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements

In order to achieve this aim, the objectives set out for the study are:

 to find out what politeness strategies and advertising appeals are used in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements;

 to examine how politeness strategies are realized in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements;

 to discuss the similarities and differences in the use of politeness strategies, advertising appeals, and the realization of politeness strategies

in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements from cross-cultural pragmatic perspective

4 Scope of the study

The aim of this study is to examine politeness strategies and advertising appeals used in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements

It attempts to investigate the similarities and differences between American and Vietnamese magazine advertisements’ preference of politeness strategies and advertising appeals, which reflects the influence of American and Vietnamese

cultures on advertisers’ choices for such phenomena According to Trehan (2006: 120), an advertisement consists of headlines, subheads, illustrations, slogans, text or body-copy, blurbs, boxes or panels, identification marks, and closing ideas However, since it is impossible to cover every single aspect of an advertisement, this study focuses on intra-linguistic factors only Consequently, paralinguistic and extra-linguistic factors are out of the scope of this study

Another noteworthy point is that many other issues related to commercial advertisements such as the rhetorical features of advertising language or the advertising strategies also fall out of the scope of the research

5 Significance of the study

This work is important for different reasons Theoretically, the study contributes to an investigation into some research areas in Vietnam on linguistic politeness and advertising appeals Additionally, the study’s findings are expected to reinforce or deny existing hypotheses in the fields and to bring about

a better insight into the issues of linguistic politeness and advertising appeals in advertising

From a practical perspective, this research work is expected to contribute

to an enhanced understanding of how advertisers from the two cultures employ politeness strategies and advertising appeals in magazine advertisements More importantly, it is hoped that as a cross-cultural pragmatic study, the research can provide advertisers and practitioners sufficient details and specific examples to help them appropriately use politeness strategies and advertising appeals in different cultures

From a methodological point of view, this study seeks to explore the extent to which Brown and Levinson’s (1978, 1987) theory of politeness strategies and Pollay’s (1983) advertising appeal framework are applicable to other languages and cultures

From a pedagogical perspective, the findings of the study can serve as a valuable reference for schools and other educational institutions in establishing

their educational programs about advertising, politeness strategies and advertising appeals It is also important that the study contributes to raising faculty and students’ awareness and appreciation of cultural differences

6 Methodology

To answer the three research questions mentioned, the present study looked at both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of data, but focused mainly on qualitative from a cross-cultural pragmatic approach Specifically, 310 advertisements taken from six different American and Vietnamese magazines are analyzed based on two research frameworks, Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory and Pollay’s (1983) advertising appeals Additionally, content analysis is employed as a research technique for the study Owing to these methods and techniques, American and Vietnamese advertisements taken from American and Vietnamese commercial magazines within a period of six months

at the end of 2014 were analyzed to figure out the similarities and differences in the use of politeness strategies and advertising appeals as well as the realization

of politeness strategies in advertising appeals The methodology is presented at length in Chapter 2 of the thesis

7 Structure of the study

The present study is divided into three main parts, as follows:

The first part, Introduction, gives the reader an overview of the study through the rationale for the study Other issues clarified in this section are research aim and objectives, research questions, scope, significance, and methodology A summary of all the parts and chapters is also presented in the structure of the study to help the audience have an overall idea of the study The second part of the study consists of five chapters which present the major issues of the thesis

Chapter 1 presents a theoretical background and literature review in the light

of cross-cultural pragmatics It begins with an introduction to basic terminologies, concepts, and approaches which are used in the two research frameworks of the

research Then, up-to-date relevant studies of advertising from cross-cultural pragmatic perspective and studies on advertising appeals are discussed

Chapter 2 addresses the methodology of the present study In this chapter, samples of the study, data collection procedures, research frameworks and data analysis instruments are presented

Chapter 3, 4, and 5 present and discuss the research results in response to the three research questions posed in the study, including the analyses of politeness strategies, advertising appeals, and how politeness strategies are realized in advertising appeals In particular, chapter 3 presents and discusses the findings on the frequency and linguistic manifestation of politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements It then compares and contrasts the use of politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements Chapter 4 discusses the findings on the frequency, linguistic manifestation, as well as similarities and differences of advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese advertising Chapter 5 focuses on the way that politeness strategies are realized in advertising appeals and the similarities and differences in the realization of politeness strategies in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese advertising The findings and discussions in these three chapters are based on cross-cultural pragmatic perspective

Finally, the part of Conclusion summarizes the major findings and the research work performed It also provides recommendations as to how this study can contribute to the current literature on advertising research, to cross-cultural pragmatic analysis, as well as to education Finally, limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies are also presented

CHAPTER 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Chapter 1 aims at establishing the theoretical framework underlying the present study and locating the present study within linguistic research in general The chapter firstly gives an account of the basic concepts and major approaches

in politeness and advertising appeal theories It then reviews the previous studies

of cross-cultural pragmatics and advertising appeals which are relevant to the current research Finally, a brief summary of the fundamental literature locating the gap to be filled by the present study is provided

by words of mouth to an individual or to a group of people.” However, if there

are a large number of people to be introduced about something, advertisement – public announcement – might be used

According to Bovee & Arens (1992), advertising is “the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media."

From Dyan (1995)’s point of view, advertising is the paid, impersonal, one-way marketing of persuasive information from an identified sponsor disseminated through channels of mass communication to promote the adoption

of goods, services or ideas

Based on the above definitions and from the author’s perspective, advertising is informing a large group of people about a product or service via

different advertisements in order to attract their attention and then encourage them

to do some actions like buying a product, using the service, or doing charity

1.1.2 Classification

Advertising can be classified based on different criteria The following classification is based on Bovee & Arens (1992)’s as their typology is exhaustive and comprehensible

In terms of media, advertising includes print advertising (newspapers and magazines), broadcast advertising (radio and television), out-of-home advertising (outdoor and transit advertising), and direct-mail advertising

With regard to geographic area, it consists of international advertising, which aims at foreign market; national advertising targeting at customers in several regions of the country; regional advertising used for advertising products which are sold in one area or region and local advertising which is directed at customers from only one city or local trading area

As far as target audience is concerned, consumer advertising and business advertising can be named The classification of advertisements by target audience is strongly tied to the purpose of the advertisements as the purpose of the advertisement determines its target audience The manufacturer of any product usually determines the purpose of the products The position of the product in the product life circle also determines the purpose of the advertisement Therefore, different forms of advertisement suit the different stages of the product life circle

Action advertising and awareness advertising are two kinds of advertising based on consumer response Action advertising is often used in newspapers or magazines in order to provoke an immediate action on the part of the reader Such advertisements contain telephone numbers and/or links to websites where the customer can get additional information or order the advertised product Awareness advertising, on the other hand, attempts to build

the image of a given product, to create interest in the product and to influence people to choose and become loyal towards a certain brand

Product advertising and non-product advertising are two advertising types when considering the advertising objects Product advertising is aimed at promoting goods or services whereas non-product advertising aims at selling ideas to affect people's awareness of and attitudes to organizations and their activities This category includes advertisements for charities and political parties

In terms of purposes, commercial advertising and non-commercial advertising can be classified In this way of classification, commercial advertising promotes goods, services, or ideas of a business with the expectation

of making a profit So as to achieve the commercial purposes, ad-writers have to make great efforts in attracting consumers On the other hand, non-commercial advertising has such functions as recruitment, promotion of public health or encouraging charity donations The focus of this study is on commercial advertising in the print medium namely magazines

1.1.3 Significance

Advertising is firstly a marketing norm According to marketing theory, there are four significant factors that a company or a business should and must control, including product, price, place, and promotion (The four Ps) These four factors together create the so-called marketing mix Among these four elements, promotion consists of advertising, personal selling, publicity and sales promotion According to Pride (1990), advertising is the most important tool in improving sales and interest Figures 1.1 and 1.2 can illustrate the position and role of advertising in marketing (Pride, 1990)

Figure 1.1 Marketing mix, Pride (1990) Figure 1.2 Promotion mix, Pride (1990)

Additionally, advertising is acknowledged as the engine that drives

consumers purchase and therefore, it “keeps the wheels of the economy turning”

(Rodgers & Thorson, 2012) The most outstanding function of adverting is to introduce a wide range of goods to the public and thus to support the development of the market economy All in all, advertising plays an important role in the modern society

1.1.4 Characteristics of advertising language

In order to attract the audience, advertising language should be in accordance with the criteria of an effective act of verbal communication which includes six language roles stated by Jakobson (1960, cited in Sebeok, 1960: 350- 377) as follows:

 Referential function: describes a situation, an object, or a mental state and is oriented toward the context

 Emotive function: adds the information about the internal state of the speaker and orientates toward the addresser

 Conative function: engages the addressee directly and is represented in imperatives and vocatives

 Phatic function: establishes, discontinues, or prolongs the communication

 Meta-lingual function: describes and discusses the language itself

 Poetic function: focuses on the message for its own sake

Among the six roles mentioned, the conative and referential functions are

of great importance in advertising as they are intended to get people to act in a way the advertiser desires These roles are also in line with Pollay’s (1983) advertising appeals which are discussed in detail in the following part

1.2 Advertising appeals

1.2.1 Advertising appeals

Appeals can be understood in different ways According to Wells, Burnetts and Moritaty (1995), appeals are something that makes the product particularly attractive or interesting to the consumer Appeals are closely related

to products’ attributes in the way that they are created to represent the supposed values of the advertised products

Appeals are classified in different ways Kotler (1997) differentiates three types of appeals; namely, rational appeals, emotional appeals and moral appeals

In this way of classification, Rational appeals are the ones which appeal to the

audience’s self-interest Consequently, they are involved in quality, value or

performance of the product Emotional appeals attempt to stir up negative or

positive emotions and include fear, guilty and joy The last type of appeals

named Moral appeals refers to the audience’s sense of what is right or proper

Therefore, they include such appeals as ecological appeals or nationalism This way of classification is somewhat similar to advertising values which are manifested in advertising messages

Another way of classifying advertising appeals is based on the overall level as either rational or emotional (Laskey, Fox, and Crask, 1995) The idea of rational versus emotional appeals originally came from Copeland’s (1924, cited

in Albers-Miller, N D., & Stafford, 1999) proposition that for either rational or emotional reasons, individuals buy products Rational advertising derives from traditional information processing models of decision making in which the

consumer tried to make logical and rational decisions Therefore, these advertising appeals are related to the audience’s self-interest, and they show product benefits such as product’s quality, economy, value or performance Meanwhile, emotional appeals are closely related to the emotional, experiential side of consumption, i.e., ad-writers seek to make the consumers feel good about the product, by creating a likeable or friendly brand, they rely on feelings for effectiveness The author of the study is in favor of this classification as it is comprehensible and appropriate for the study

1.2.2 Pollay’s appeal system and its application to the present study

Pollay (1983) proposes a framework of 42 advertising appeals drawn from the review of a variety of related previous research to measure cultural values embedded in advertising He also shows that advertising reflects a somewhat different set of values that can be found in the society in general Therefore, advertising may have only positive appeals related to products, but such negative appeals like fear or guilty are depicted as safety appeals in Pollay’s framework

Pollay’s framework is considered the most complete set of advertising appeals with definition to many scholars (Dahl, 2002) It is also an exhaustive category scheme of the entire advertising appeals and has been tested and validated by several empirical studies like Albers (1994), Cheng (1997), and Harwood & Roy (1999)

Conceptual definitions of Pollay’s appeals are described as in Table 1.1

Table 1.1 Pollay’s appeal system, 1983

No Categories Operational definition

3 Convenience It stresses handy, time-saving, quick, easy, suitable, accessible, and

versatile A product is suggested to be handy and easy to use

4 Ornamental It suggests beauty, ornateness, decorativeness, adornment, embellishment,

design and style

9 Traditional The experience of the past, customs, and conventions are respected The

qualities of being historical, time-honored, and legendary are venerated

10 Modern The notion of being contemporary, modern, new, improved, progressive,

advanced, up-to-date, and ahead of time is emphasized

11 Natural It suggests spiritual harmony between man and nature by making

references to the elements, animals, vegetable or mineral

12 Technology The advanced and sophisticated technical skills to engineer and

manufacture a particular product are emphasized

13 Wisdom It relates to knowledge, education, awareness, intelligence, curiosity,

satisfaction, comprehension, sagacity, expertise, judgment, experience

14 Magic The emphasis is on the miraculous effect and nature of a product

15 Productivity

It refers to achievement, accomplishment, ambition, success, careers, development, being skilled, accomplished, proficient, pulling your weight, contributing, doing your share

self-16 Relaxation The use of the product will bring one comfort or relaxation

17 Enjoyment It relates to have fun, laugh, be happy, and celebrate, to enjoy games,

parties, feasts and festivities A product will make its users wild with joy

18 Maturity

It means being adult, grown-up, middle-aged, senior, elderly, having associated insight, wisdom, mellowness, adjustment; refers to aging, death, retirement, or age related disabilities or compensations

19 Youth The worship of the youngest generation is shown through the description

of younger models The rejuvenating benefits of the products are stressed

20 Safety

It refers to security (from external threat), carefulness, caution, stability, absence of hazards, potential injury or other risks, guarantees, warranties, manufacturers’ reassurances

21 Tamed It means docile, civilized, restrained, obedient, compliant, faithful,

reliable, responsible, domesticated, sacrificing, self-denying

22 Morality It means humane, just, fair, honest, ethical, reputation, principled,

religious, devoted, and spiritual

23 Modesty It means being modest, nạve, demure, innocent, inhibited, bashful,

reserved, timid, coy, virtuous, pure, shy, virginal

24 Humility It means unaffected, unassuming, unobtrusive, patient, fate-accepting,

resigned, meek, plain-folk, down-to-earth

25 Plain It means unaffected, natural, prosaic, homespun, simple, artless,

29 Freedom It suggests spontaneity, carefree, liberty and indulgence

30 Casual It means unkempt, disheveled, messy, disordered, untidy, rugged,

rumpled, sloppy, casual, irregular, noncompulsive, imperfect

31 Vain It means having a socially desirable appearance, being beautiful, pretty,

handsome, being fashionable, well groomed, tailored, graceful, glamorous

32 Sexuality The commercial uses glamorous and sensual models or has a background

of lovers holding hands, embracing, or kissing to promote a product

33 Independence The emphasis is on self-sufficiency and self-reliance of an individual or

on the individual as being distinct and unlike others

34 Security It means confident, secure, possessing dignity, self-worth, self-esteem,

self-respect, peace of mind

35 Status

The use of the product is claimed to be able to elevate the position or rank

of the user in the eyes of others The feeling of prestige, trendsetting, and pride in the use of the product is conveyed It suggests that a certain product or service will make the user well-off

36 Affiliation

It relates to be accepted, liked by peers, colleagues and community at large, to associate or gather with, to be social, to join, unite or otherwise bond in friendship, co-operation, reciprocity, to conform to social customs, have manners, social graces and decorum

37 Nurturance

It stresses giving charity, help love, protection, nursing, consolation, or support, comfort, nursing, care or sympathy to the weak, disabled, inexperienced, tried, young, elderly, etc

38 Succorance It means to receive expressions of love (all expressions except sexuality),

gratitude, pats on the back, to feel deserving

39 Family

The emphasis is on the family life and family members The commercial stresses family scenes: getting married, companionship of siblings, kinship, being at home, and suggests that a certain product is good for the whole family

40 Community

It relates to community, state, national publics, public spiritedness, group unity, national identity, society, patriotism, civic and community organizations or other social organizations

41 Health This value commends that the use of a product will enhance or improve

the vitality, soundness, strength, and robust of the body

42 Neat It refers to orderly, neat, precise, tidy, clean, spotless, unsoiled, sweet-smelling,

bright, free from dirt, refuse, pests, vermin, stains and smells, sanitary

Pollay’s advertising appeals can be categorized on an overall level as either rational or emotional as stated in Albers-Miller and Stafford (1999)

Table 1.2 Classification of advertising appeals

(Albers-Miller and Stafford, 1999)

Effectiveness Distinctive Modesty

Productivity Popular Enjoyment Durability Traditional Adventure

Although Pollay’s (1983) advertising appeal system is considered to be comprehensive and reliable, it has also been criticized Because of the American origin of Pollay’s appeals (1983), some scholars like Zhang (2014) or De Mooij (2015) have questioned the applicability of Pollay’s 42 appeals in other cultural contexts Additionally, research of Albers-miller & Stafford (1999) and Albers-Miller &Straughan (2000) reveals that in a service context, certain Pollay’s advertising appeals are not meaningful These researchers, therefore, clarify that only 16 appeals in Pollay’s list are emotional and service related The last criticism on Pollay’s advertising appeal system relies on its excessive number of value items (Zhang & Harwood, 2004) Consequently, many researchers have testified Pollay’s taxonomy to select the most appropriate advertising appeals (Cheng, 1997; Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Ji & McNeal, 2001; Lin, 2009)

The author of this study shares the ideas that Pollay’s framework is more comprehensive than other schemes of the same category thanks to its comprehensiveness, relevance, analytical ability, and also reliability Additionally, Pollay’s list of appeals is unique in the way that it derives from

previous studies and it has been successfully used in such cross-cultural studies even outside the Western advertising culture (Dahl, 2002) like the present study

1.3 Politeness

Politeness is a phenomenon that has been drawing a lot of attention in recent years Many researchers such as Lakoff (1973), Leech (1983), Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987), Frasers (1990), Watts (1992) have postulated different theories on politeness Politeness is so popular that almost everyone perceives it

as natural when communicating Thomas (1995) even states that it almost can be considered a pragmatic discipline

According to Nguyễn Quang (2011), as human beings, we are endowed with double nature, the social being which helps interact with each other like other species in the animal kingdom and the conscious being which allows us to think Thanks to social interaction and thinking, human beings develop self-concept and other-concept During the process of recognizing self-concept and other-concept, individuals realize that they are not only specific individuals but also members of different groups in society In other words, each person has double status, membership and individualship Then in everyday life, people carry out communicative acts, thus the demand to be polite in communication appears To satisfy their positive face, people employ positive politeness Similarly, negative politeness appears to ensure people’s negative face At the same time, positive politeness serves to satisfy people’s membership while negative politeness is to enhance individualship Moreover, politeness is there to maintain social harmony In other words, it can be said that politeness is the product of social order and the precondition of human cooperation The following figure adapted from Nguyễn Quang (2011) will illustrate the point:

Figure 1.3 Why Politeness?, adapted from Nguyễn Quang (2011)

The following part discusses in detail various definitions, approaches to politeness, general concepts in contemporary politeness theories and the relationship between politeness and advertising

Human beings

Social beings Conscious beings

Interacting Thinking

Self-concept and other-concept

Being members Being individuals

Positive face Negative face

Positive politeness Negative politeness

Satisfying membership Satisfying individualship

Social harmony

1.3.1 Definition

Politeness is such a popular notion that it has been defined by a great number of researchers all over the world However, it is hard to find a uniform

definition for politeness as politeness differs from one culture to another

Etymologically, politeness was described as:

“… derived from the Latin „politus‟, past participle of „polire‟ meaning „to smooth.‟ Thus, „polite‟ original meant „smoothed,‟ „polished,‟ and subsequently

„refined,‟ „cultivated,‟ „well bred,‟ and so on when referring to people and

„courteous,‟ „urban‟ etc when referring to manners.” (Sifianou, 1992: 81 cited

in Miriam A Locher, 2004: 89)

As can be seen from the aforementioned definition, politeness is associated with the behavior of the upper classes, the urban life and civilized manners as well as forms of social behaviors

From the normative perspective, Hill et al (1986: 349) defines politeness

as “one of the constraints on human‟s interaction, whose purpose is to consider others‟ feelings, establish levels of mutual comfort, and promote rapport.”

From the strategic point of view, it is defined as “the means employed to show awareness of another person‟s face” (Yule, 1997: 60), or the strategies

used to minimize the face threat of the face-threatening act (Brown and Levinson, 1987)

From the communicative approach, Nguyễn Quang (2004: 11) considers

politeness as “any communicative act (verbal and/or non-verbal) that is intentionally and appropriately meant to make another/ others feel better or less bad.”

The author of this study is in favor of Nguyễn Quang (2004)’s conceptualization and functionally take politeness as making people feel good

1.3.2 Approaches to politeness

There are a variety of politeness theories proposed in the light of pragmatics since the late 1970s However, four current theories to the phenomenon can be traced, namely the conversational-maxim view, the face-saving view, the social-norm view, and conversational-contract view

1.3.2.1 The conversational-maxim approach

The conversational-maxim approach is influenced by Grice’s cooperative principles (1975) which include four famous conversational maxims, namely quantity (be informative), quality (be true), relation (be relevant) and manner (be clear) According to Grice (1975), other maxims such as politeness maxim can also be added to the cooperative principle Basing on that, such authors as Lakoff (1973) and Leech (1983) suggest two sets of politeness rules

Lakoff (in Eelen, 2001: 2) defines politeness as “a system of interpersonal relations designed to facilitate interaction by minimizing the potential for conflict and confrontation inherent in all human interchange.” She, therefore, suggests two sets of politeness rules named Be clear and Be polite The first set

is similar to Grice’s cooperative principle while the second one has three rules: (1) Don’t impose, (2) Offer optionality, and (3) Encourage feelings of camaraderie Her theory can be summarized as follows:

Pragmatic competence Rules of politeness

Figure 1.4 Lakoff (1973)’s rules of pragmatic competence

However, Lakoff (1973)’s politeness theory has been criticized by such researchers as Brown (1998) in that she does not offer a theory of politeness within which her rules can be framed This problem was more clearly stated by

Marquez (2000: 8) that “when it comes to reformulation of her (Lakoff‟s) rules of politeness, she does not provide a definition of the terms she uses, instead, she appears to equate formality with aloofness, camaradie with showing sympathy.”

Quantity Quality Relevance Manner Don’t impose Offer optionality Encourage feelings of

camaraderie

Rules of conversation (Grice’s principles) Rules of politeness

Sharing the same point of view, Watts et al.(1992: 6) point out that “[w]e are never told explicitly how these three levels of politeness are to be understood, nor…what politeness itself is.”

Leech (1983) adopts Grice’s cooperative principles and constructs a model including politeness maxims and a set of rules He introduces the politeness principle acting under the principle of minimizing the impolite expressions and maximizing polite expressions This politeness principle consists of six maxims like tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim Leech recognizes that some maxims tend to be more highly valued in certain societies over the others

He points out, for example, that Chinese people tend to value Modesty more than

Britain do whereas Tact maxim is probably the most significant kind of politeness in English-speaking countries He additionally proposes a cost-benefit scale to illustrate the relationship between and S and H when a speech act is performed as in the following figure:

Cost to hearer

Benefit to hearer

Less polite

More polite

Figure 1.5 Leech cost-benefit scale (1983)

The scale shows that the greater the cost to the hearer, the greater impoliteness

of the act and the greater the benefit to the hearer, the greater the politeness of the act

Leech’s theory is criticized by certain scholars like Watts et al (1992), Turner (1996), or Marquer (2000) Watts et al (1992: 6) and Turner (1996: 6) criticize that Leech’s concept lack both an explicit definition and an indefinite

number of maxims Marquer (2000) observed that the degree of importance

between one maxim proposed by Leech and another seems to be unclear

Furthermore, he also argues that Leech doesn’t explain how the six maxims vary

cross-culturally

1.3.2.2 The face- saving approach: Brown and Levinson’s theory

A major approach to politeness referenced by many previous studies is

undoubtedly Brown and Levinson’s theory (1978, 1987) which consists of three

notions: face, face-threatening act (FTA) and politeness strategy In Brown and

Levinson’s (1987) point of view, face is “the public self-image that every

member wants to claim for himself.” In other words, face refers to a speaker’s

sense of linguistic and social identity They assume that there are two types of

face, positive and negative face Positive face refers to an individual’s desire to

be appreciated by others in order to have his/ her wants to be considered

desirable whereas negative face is one’s desire to be unimpeded in his/ her

actions

Brown and Levinson assume that, during an interaction, certain kinds of

acts are threatening to the face and therefore, need softening Consequently, they

propose the notion face-threatening act that threatens people’s face So as to soften

these face-threatening acts, they introduce certain strategies as in Figure 1.6

Figure 1.6 Possible strategies concerning the delivery

of an FTA (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 69)

3 Negative strategies (Baldy)

According to Brown and Levinson (1987), a FTA can be performed either

on or off record

The bald on-record strategy is the most direct strategy It does nothing to minimize threats to the hearer’s face To perform the disagreement directly without any softening devices, the speaker may use certain negation markers like

“no” accompanied by different paralinguistic features such as word stress, loud volume or lengthened vowels This strategy is preferred among people who know each other very well in a very comfortable environment

The positive politeness strategies are the ones that oriented towards the positive face of the hearer by indicating or presupposing in some way that the speaker wants what the hearer’s wants (Brown and Levinson, 1987) In order to

do so, the addressee should be treated as a member of an in-group, a friend, a person whose personality trait is known; therefore, this involves the use of expressions of solidarity, informality and familiarity Fifteen positive politeness strategies outlined by Brown and Levinson (1987) and examples of positive politeness strategies cited from Watts (2003) and Nguyễn Quang (2003) are presented as follows

The first type of positive politeness strategy is Notice, attend to hearers (H) (his interests, wants, needs, goods) This strategy shows awareness of and

concern for H’s wants as a way of indicating cooperation as in the following example:

Wow, how smart you look today! What occasion? By the way, can I borrow 50,000 VND if you have?

The second type is named Exaggerate (interest, approval, sympathy with H) This strategy softens the impending FTA by creating a friendly environment,

specifically using emphatic expressions such as “really,” “absolutely,” or

“exactly.” For example:

Good old Jim Just the man I wanted to see I knew I‟d find you here Could you spare me a couple of minutes?

The third type is Intensity interest to H This strategy draws H into the

narration, for example by using the “vivid present, directly quoted speech, tag questions, or exaggerate facts.” (Brown and Levinson, 1987) as in:

You‟ll never guess what Fred told me last night This is right up your street The forth type of positive politeness strategy is Use in-group identity markers In-group identity markers include address forms (generic names and

terms of address), in-group language or dialect, the use of jargon or slang, brand name, or contradiction and ellipsis For instance,

Here is my old mate, Fred How are you doing today, mate? Could you give us a hand to get this car to start?

Seek agreement is the fifth type of positive politeness strategy In order to

seek agreement from the H, the S can repeat what have been said or use the safe topic as in:

I agree, right Manchester United played badly last night, didn‟t they D‟you reckon you could give me a cigarette?

The sixth type is Avoid disagreement Seeking for common group upon

which the S can agree with the H is a way to avoid disagreement Another way

of avoiding disagreement is to make one’s utterance safely vague by the use of hedges as in the following example:

Well, in a way I suppose you‟re sort of right But look at this Why don‟t you? The seventh type of positive politeness strategy is called Presuppose/ raise/ assert common ground This strategy includes “point-of view” operation to

reduce the distance between S and H This strategy also includes small talks or gossiping before implementing the FTA For example,

People like you and me, Bill, don‟t like being put around like that, do we? Why don‟t we go and complain?

Using Joke is the eight kind of positive politeness strategy Joke can be

used to minimize an FTA of requesting as in the following example:

- Great summer we‟re having It‟s only rained five times a week on average

- Yeah, terrible, isn‟t it?

- Could I ask you for a favor?

The next strategy is Assert or presuppose S‟s knowledge of and concern for H‟s wants This strategy is similar to the first strategy in the way that it

shows concern for H’s wants to indicate cooperation between S and H as in:

I know you like marshmallows, so I‟ve bought you home a whole box of them I wonder if I could ask you for a favor

Offer/ promise is the 10th positive politeness strategy proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987) This strategy is used by S to distract the H from potential face threats First, the S may stress cooperation or future cooperation in various areas by using offers, suggestions or promises The following sentence is an example of this strategy:

I‟ll take you out to dinner on Saturday if you cook the dinner this evening

The 11th strategy is Be optimistic This strategy is aimed at minimizing the

FTA by presuming the H’s willingness to cooperate or to imply that the imposition is minor For example,

I know you are always glad to get a tip or two on gardening Fred, so if I were you, I wouldn‟t cut your lawn back so short

Include both S and H in the activity is another positive politeness strategy

This strategy uses the inclusive “we” instead of “I” or “you” as in:

I‟m feeling really hungry Let‟s stop for a bite

Strategy 13 is Give (or ask for) reasons By using this strategy, the S

fosters cooperation by involving the H in his reasoning process so that the suggestion will be seen as a mutual decision

I think you‟ve had a bit too much to drink, Jim Why not stay at our place this evening?

The 14th strategy is named Assume or assert reciprocity In this strategy,

the S highlights an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship as in the following example:

Dad, if you help me with this math homework, I‟ll mow the lawn after school tomorrow

The last positive politeness strategy suggested by Brown and Levinson is

Give gifts to H (goods, sympathy, understanding, cooperation) By using this

strategy, the S anticipates H’s wants, tangible or intangible to show support towards their fulfillment and make efforts to satisfy particularly the desire for goodwill as in:

- Have a glass of malt whisky, Dick

- Terrific, thanks

- Not at all I wonder if I could confide for a minute or two

In addition, Nguyễn Quang (2003: 91-99) proposes two more positive

strategies The first one is Console, encourage hearer as in “It‟s nothing, really Don‟t give up You have my backing.” The other strategy is Ask personal questions For example, in communication, S can ask H such question as “How many children have you got?” to show his concern towards H

Negative politeness is addressed to the hearer’s desire to have his freedom

of action unhindered and his intention unimpeded Negative politeness

“performs the functions of minimizing the particular imposition that the face threatening acts unavoidable affects” (1987: 129) Briefly, negative politeness

strategies are addressed to H’s negative face and are characterized as expressions

of restraint, formality, and distancing According to Brown and Levinson, negative politeness strategies are furthermore viewed as more face redressive, i.e more polite, than positive strategies, a point that will be discussed later As a result, negative politeness strategies can be expressed in either saving the

interlocutor’s face by mitigating FTAs, or satisfying negative face by showing respect for the addressee’s right not to be imposed on Ten negative politeness strategies and examples of theirs (cited from Watts, 2003) are as follows:

Negative strategy 1 is Be conventionally indirect In this strategy, the S

uses mostly indirect speech acts which are often conventionalized as in:

Could you tell me the time please?

Negative strategy 2 is named Question, hedge This strategy is used to

minimize the S’s imposition of his view on the H because many speech acts contain the S’s opinions and assumptions about the H’s beliefs, wishes, and abilities Normally, the stronger the face threat is, the more hedging is used The following example will illustrate this strategy

I wonder whether I could just sort of ask you a little question?

Be pessimistic about ability or willingness to comply by using subjunctive

is Negative strategy 3 This strategy is based on minimizing the imposition by the implication that the S does not expect a positive outcome For instance,

If you had a little time to spare for me this afternoon, I‟d like to talk about my paper Minimize the imposition is the fourth negative politeness strategy in

Brown and Levinson (1987)’s theory This strategy is based on utilizing expressions that are to minimize the site of the FTA as in the following example:

Could I talk to you just for a minute?

Negative strategy 5 is named Give deference This strategy is encoded in

the language structure as formal forms It can be done by showing respect to H and humbling the S For example,

Excuse me, officer I think I‟ve parked in the wrong place

Another negative strategy is Apologize This strategy is used to show

regret or reluctance to impose This can be done through admitting the impingement, begging for forgiveness or giving overwhelming

Sorry to bother you, but…

The seventh negative strategy is Impersonalize S and H: avoid the pronouns “I” and “you” As its name denotes, in this strategy, the S avoids

using the pronouns “I” and “you” to seemingly less impose on the H Consequently, the imposition becomes agentless, and the H is not specified as the object of the imposition In the following example, the S avoids using personal pronouns to show that he is not imposing on the H

- This car is parked in no-parking area

- It‟s mine, officer

- Well, it will have to have a parking ticket

Negative strategy 8 is State the FTA as a general rule A way of

dissociating the S and H from the imposition is stating it as a general rule, as in:

Parking on the double yellow is illegal, so I‟m going to have to give you a fine Nominalize to distance the actor and add formality is another negative

politeness strategy proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987) This strategy is used to distance the S and/ or the H from the FTA

Participation in an illegal demonstration is punishable by law Could I have your name and address, madam?

The last negative politeness strategy in Brown and Levinson’s (1987)

theory is Go on record as incurring a debt, or as not indebting H This strategy

uses explicit acknowledging indebtedness to the H together with disclaiming indebtedness in offers as in:

If you could just sort out a problem I‟ve got with my formatting, I‟ll buy you a beer at the lunch time

Nguyễn Quang (2003) suggests one more strategy namely Avoid asking personal questions For example, such question as “How much do you earn a month?” should be avoided, especially when S and H are not in a close relationship

Off-record indirect strategies are different from the direct strategies in the way that they are indirectly realized Off-record strategies include giving hints, giving association clues, presupposing, understating, overstating, using tautologies, etc For examples,

It‟s cold in here (So please shut the door)

I have to clean the house again today

He fixed the car, but didn‟t fix it

You are a real angel (Thank you for your help)

The aforementioned politeness strategies can be used to minimize the degree of offense to the speaker or the hearer in the reference to the face-threatening act Consequently, Brown and Levinson’s model has served as the basis of analysis for a lot of previous studies on linguistic politeness

Although Brown and Levinson’s theory has been considered as influential and most valid, it has also been criticized for certain weaknesses by some researchers Firstly, Watts (2003: 88) argues that this model does not include the potentiality of more than one strategy is chosen at the same time He even further

argues that this possibility can happen and “…is particularly the case with positive politeness strategies.” Additionally, there can also appear the case in

which one utterance can be interpreted as both positive and negative politeness strategies or the case in which it is confusing in determining what kind of politeness strategy it is For example, in the following utterance, it is hard to demarcate the type of politeness strategy used:

Stop whining!

The above utterance is firstly a directive, which is a nredressive record act Therefore, it is not seen as a polite utterance However, if it is added

on-with some redressive actor, such as the politeness marker “please”, it can

become less face threatening:

Stop whining, please!

Brown and Levinson seem to be aware of the above problem; therefore, in their

1987 version, they also mention the mixture of strategies – a kind of hybrid strategy somewhere between negative and positive politeness

Another severe criticism on Brown and Levinson’s model is that its central notion of face is likely to be Western-biased Therefore, it cannot reflect other language and cultures, especially the Oriental ones like Chinese, Japanese

or Vietnamese

Chinese researchers like Mao (1994) or Hu (1994) claim that Brown and Levinson’s notion of face plays a much smaller and different role in their culture Similarly, face has been argued not to work effectively in the Japanese language

and culture (Matsuto, 1988; Ide, 1989; Gu, 1990) They point out that “the Japanese politeness system places a higher value on recognition of the interpersonal relation than on mitigating impositions of freedom of action.”

Last but not least, there has been a lot of criticism on Brown and Levinson’s model’s reliance on the relation of politeness choice and the degree

of face loss As can be seen in Figure 1.5, Brown and Levinson show the to-greater estimation of face loss from (1) Bald on record, to (2) Positive politeness to (3) Negative politeness to (4) Off record and to (5) Don’t do the

lesser-FTA At the same time, they also argue that “the more an act threatens speaker‟s

or hearer‟s face, the more the speaker will want to choose a higher-numbered strategy” (1987: 60) In other words, according to Brown and Levinson, the

greater the risk of the face threat is, the higher-numbered strategy should be selected to soften that face threat In short, higher-numbered strategies are closer

to politeness than the lower-numbered ones However, this notion seems to be bias For example, negative politeness (number 3) in Brown and Levinson’s perspective is implied to be more polite than positive politeness (number 2) Nevertheless, while it appears to be true in individualism-cultures of Western countries, it does not seem to be the case in collectivism-oriented cultures like