POLITENESS AND FACEWORK IN UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Abstract

Politeness is a universal phenomenon which governs human interaction. It is a means to avoiding and pacifying conflict and promoting smooth communication between interlocutors. It is also a way of showing respect and consideration for others, or ways of avoiding rudeness. This study therefore examined how politeness and facework operate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States Presidential Debate. Atotal of seventeen oral discourses were selected from the debate. Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory (1990) was applied to the data for analysis. The data were analysed quantitatively. The study found out that positive politeness strategies which employ in-group identity markers were frequently used in the conversations. The asymmetric relationship between the interlocutors results in the frequent use of these in-group identity markers which were mostly used by the two debaters. It is therefore concluded that for social interaction to function smoothly, maintenance of each person's face through the application of politeness principle is a fundamental phenomenon.