Лекции по теоретической грамматике английского языка для студентов

cost-benefit scale
: the more costly an action, the less polite it is, and, conversely, 

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the more beneficial it is to the addressee, the more polite it is. This helps explain 
why, for example, imperative mood is not necessarily associated with 
impoliteness: 
Bring me some water 
vs. 
Have another drink
. Next, 
optionality scale 
is used to rank options according to the degree of choice offered to the addressee - 
the degree of politeness matches the degree of indirectness (tentativeness), and, 
vice versa, increased directness results in greater impoliteness (e.g., 
Lend me your 
car 
vs. 
Do you think you could possibly lend me your car?
). It appears that while 
imperatives offer little option of whether or not to comply with the action 
requested (
Give me some change
), questions (
Have you got a quarter, by any 
chance
?), hypothetical formulations (
Could I borrow some money?
), and ones 
using negatives (
You couldn´t lend me a dollar, could you?
) provide greater 
freedom to deny that request. Of course, politeness formulae (
please
) can always 
be added to give extra politeness.
We should also differentiate between 
absolute 
and 
relative 
politeness; in 
the absolute sense, 
Lend me your car 
is less polite than 
I hope you don´t mind my 
asking, but I wonder if it might be at all possible for you to lend me your car. 
However, in some situations, the former request could be overpolite (among family 
members) and the latter one impolite (as an ironic remark).
In all societies, maxims of politeness govern linguistic and non-linguistic 
behavior. The details of these maxims vary [sometimes greatly] from culture to 
culture [and subculture to subculture], leading to situations where 
misunderstandings may occur. In middle-class American society, 
M. Noonan
identifies the following five maxims:
tact: Minimize cost to other; maximize benefit to other.
modesty: Minimize praise of self; maximize dispraise of self.
phatic: Keep talking; avoid silence.
irony: If you must cause offence, at least do so in a way which doesn’t 
overtly conflict with maxims of politeness, but allows the hearer to arrive at the 
offensive point of your remark indirectly, by way of implicature [inference].

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banter: In order to show solidarity with the hearer, say something that is (1) 
obviously untrue and (2) obviously impolite to the hearer.
Many cultures lack an equivalent of the Phatic Maxim. The Banter Maxim is 
much more closely associated with males than with females in middle-class 
American society. Violations of the politeness maxims may invite inferences too, 
ones which are also context sensitive. For example, a violation of the Phatic 
Maxim may be interpreted as evidence of anger, sadness, etc. depending on 
contextual clues. 
The Politeness Principle was not the only one singled out by G. Leech. In his 
book entitled