Face, Communication and Social Interaction Book

Foreword xi

1 Face and interaction Michael Haugh 1

1.1 The rise of face in research on communication and social interaction 1

1.2 Face as co-constituted in and constitutive of interaction 5

1.3 Overview of the volume 16

Part I Face in interaction

2 Face as emergent in interpersonal communication: an alternative to Goffman Robert B. Arundale 33

2.1 Goffman's conceptualisations of face and facework 34

2.2 Problems in Goffman's explanation 37

2.3 An alternative explanation of face and facework 40

2.4 Two contrasting explanations of facework 46

A Goffmanian account 47

An account using Face Constituting Theory 49

On Goffman on face 51

3 How to get rid of a telemarking agent? Facework strategies in an intercultural service call Rosina Marquez-Reiter 55

3.1 Introduction 55

3.2 The notions of face and facework 57

3.3 Methods and background 61

3.4 Analysis 62

3.5 Discussion 70

3.6 Conclusion 72

4 Analysing Japanese 'face-in-interaction': insights from intercultural business meetings Michael Haugh Yasuhisa Watanabe 78

4.1 Introduction 78

4.2 Face in Japanese 79

4.3 Methodology 81

4.4 Finding face in intercultural business meetings 83

4.5 Implications 91

5 "That's a myth": Linguistic avoidance as face-saving strategy in broadcast interviews Eric Anchimbe 96

5.1 Introduction 96

5.2 The data 98

5.3 The 'double-face' of the media 99

5.4 Approaches to political interviews and face-saving 100

5.5 Linguistic avoidance and related concepts 102

5.6 Linguistic avoidance as political face-saving strategy 103

Valence strategy: from negative to less negative or positive connotation 104

Generalisation strategy: from clearconcept or reference to vague ones 105

Specificity strategy: from a general concept to a specific one 107

Correction strategy: from an earlier (misunderstood) position to a new (intended) one 108

Non-committal strategy: avoiding making binding commitments 109

Evidentiality strategy: shifting authorship to a third party 110

5.7 Conclusion 111

6 Two sides of the same coin: how the notion of 'face' is encoded in Persian communication Sofia A. Koutlaki 115

6.1 Introduction 115

6.2 The concept of face in the literature 116

6.3 Face in Iranian culture 117

6.4 The principles of Persian politeness 120

The Deference Principle 120

The Humility Principle 123

The Cordiality Principle 124

6.5 Conclusion 130

Part II Face, identity and self

7 Face, identity and interactional goals Helen Spencer-Oatey 137

7.1 Introduction 137

7.2 Theories of identity 138

Self-aspect/attribute approaches to identity 138

Impression management and self-presentation 140

Face and identity 141

7.3 Research procedure 142

The business background 142

The data and data collection 143

The participants 144

7.4 An action-oriented identity approach to the analysis of face 144

Face and self-presentation 145

Face and identity attributes 147

Face and interactional goals 149

7.5 Research implications 152

7.6 Concluding comments 152

8 Evoking face in self and other presentation in Turkish Sukriye Ruhi 155

8.1 Introduction 155

8.2 Face as 'social frame' and self-presentation 156

Pinning down face 156

Self-presentation 159

8.3 Data collection and 'face' idioms in Turkish 161

8.4 Self-presentation and other-presentation 163

'Face' idioms in self-presentation 163

'Face' idioms in other-presentation 166

Face, self-presentation and affect 170

8.5 Concluding remarks 171

9 Face and self in Chinese communication Ge Gao 175

9.1 Introduction 175

9.2 Data 176

9.3 Findings and discussion 177

Mian zi and the Chinese self 177

Mian zi and context 179

Differences between mian zi and lian 179

Giving and saving/leaving mian zi 183

9.4 Conclusion 187

10 Face, politeness and interpersonal variables: implications for language production and comprehension Thomas Holtgraves 192

10.1 Face and facework 192

10.2 Facework and linguistic politeness 193

10.3 Facework and interpersonal variables 195

Person perception and impression management 196

Facework and language comprehension 198

10.4 Individual and cultural differences 200

10.5 Conclusion 203

11 In the face of the other: between Goffman and Levinas Alexander Kozin 208

11.1 Introduction 208

11.2 Saving the face 211

11.3 The face of ambiguity 216

11.4 Trauma's many faces 220

11.5 Conclusion 221

Part III Face, norms and society

12 Facework collision in intercultural communication Stella Ting-Toomey 227

12.1 Intercultural facework approaches 228

Conflict face-negotiation theory 228

Corporate values' cultural grid 231

12.2 Intercultural facework: expectancies and collisions 235

A case study: a motivational or de-motivational speech? 236

Intercultural facework: expectancy analysis 237

Intercultural facework: interaction collision analysis 238

12.3 Intercultural facework expectancies: research directions 242

Intercultural facework situations 243

Intercultural facework negotiation 243

Intercultural facework competence 244

13 Face in the holistic and relativistic society Tae-Seop Lim 250

13.1 Introduction 250

13.2 The holistic worldview and cognitive relativity 251

13.3 Characteristics of face and facework in the holistic and relativistic society 252

Face is pervasive 253

Face is holistically assessed 261

Face is public 262

Facework is global and long-term 264

Face is relative and complementary 266

14 Finding face between gemeinschaft and gesellschaft: Greek perceptions of the in-group Marina Terkourafi 269

14.1 Introducing the players 269

Face at different levels of abstraction 269

From Face2 to Face1: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft as mediating Discourses 271

14.2 Face and the interplay between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft 275

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft elements in contemporary Greek society 276

Some examples of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft elements in Modern Greek 279

14.3 Concluding remarks 283

15 Significance of 'face' and politeness in social interaction as revealed through Thai 'face' idioms Margaret Ukosakul 289

15.1 Introduction 289

15.2 The Thai concept of 'face' 290

15.3 The relationship of face to shame 292

15.4 The relationship of face to politeness 293

15.5 Politeness strategies 294

15.6 Shame as the effect of loss of 'face' 298

Offending event(s) 299

Loss of honour 300

Behavioural reaction 301

Recovering honour 302

Preservation of honour 302

Deviations from the norm 303

15.7 Conclusion 304

16 Facing the future: some reflections Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini 307

16.1 Facing the future: some reflections 307

16.2 'Culture' as a determinant of face? A concept lost in debate 309

16.3 Face and understanding the 'other': an interpretative dialogue 315

16.4 Facing the 'Other': a methodological note 318

Contributors 328

Transcription conventions 329

Index 330