The Analysis of Polite Speech In Intergroup Communication.

Abstract

Politeness in requests is a communication strategy the speaker uses to achieve goals, choosing the level of politeness based on the relative imposition involved in the request. It is important to use the right level of politeness. If the speaker is not polite enough, the hearer feels imposed on, but if the speaker is too polite, the utterance may sound sarcastic. This research aims to analyse politeness between third year students and the administration staff at Ibn Khaldoun University English section. In this study, fifty students were asked to answer a questionnaire and twelve workers from the administration to do an interview in order to collect the needed data for this research. Our research shows that politeness is important for the administrative staff since it boosts their self-esteem and confidence, allows them to understand their needs and concerns, enables them to establish a healthy relationship with students. Furthermore, it is important for students because it allows them to exchange information and seek guidance, deal with difficult situations, avoid conflicts and confrontations, and face threats, and the most important factor is that it facilitates the communication between students and administration.