‘Face’ across historical cultures
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Şükriye Ruhi
Abstract
This paper investigates the use of the word ‘face’ in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Turkish and Chinese so as to trace the meaning of the concept in the two languages and cultures. The study describes the occurrence of the lexeme in five semantic/pragmatic domains in novels dating from the turn of the twentieth century, a period that corresponds to an acceleration in modernisation movements. Two conclusions are drawn from the comparison of face in Turkish and Chinese, and noteworthy similarities and differences are shown. The interpersonal and the emotional domains cover a wide usage area but form mirror images of each other in terms of the frequency of the tokens. Yet, the Chinese novels reveal more metapragmatic discourse on talk. This is interpreted as face forming a profound emic notion in Chinese culture, which encompasses both relational management and the social worth of the person, while the Turkish novels suggest that it is an “idiom” primarily employed for describing relational management style.
Abstract
This paper investigates the use of the word ‘face’ in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Turkish and Chinese so as to trace the meaning of the concept in the two languages and cultures. The study describes the occurrence of the lexeme in five semantic/pragmatic domains in novels dating from the turn of the twentieth century, a period that corresponds to an acceleration in modernisation movements. Two conclusions are drawn from the comparison of face in Turkish and Chinese, and noteworthy similarities and differences are shown. The interpersonal and the emotional domains cover a wide usage area but form mirror images of each other in terms of the frequency of the tokens. Yet, the Chinese novels reveal more metapragmatic discourse on talk. This is interpreted as face forming a profound emic notion in Chinese culture, which encompasses both relational management and the social worth of the person, while the Turkish novels suggest that it is an “idiom” primarily employed for describing relational management style.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The historical understanding of historical (im)politeness 1
- ‘Face’ across historical cultures 25
- Nineteenth-century English politeness 49
- “[T]his most unnecessary, unjust, and disgraceful war” 81
- A socio-cognitive approach to historical politeness 103
- From good manners to facework 131
- “Tumbled into the dirt” 154
- Positive and negative face as descriptive categories in the history of English 175
- Insults, violence, and the meaning of lytegian in the Old English Battle of Maldon 195
- Understanding Anglo-Saxon “politeness” 227
- An evolutionary take on (im)politeness 251
- Notes on Contributors 279
- Index 283
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The historical understanding of historical (im)politeness 1
- ‘Face’ across historical cultures 25
- Nineteenth-century English politeness 49
- “[T]his most unnecessary, unjust, and disgraceful war” 81
- A socio-cognitive approach to historical politeness 103
- From good manners to facework 131
- “Tumbled into the dirt” 154
- Positive and negative face as descriptive categories in the history of English 175
- Insults, violence, and the meaning of lytegian in the Old English Battle of Maldon 195
- Understanding Anglo-Saxon “politeness” 227
- An evolutionary take on (im)politeness 251
- Notes on Contributors 279
- Index 283
