Canadian politeness. Truth or stereotype?

Term Paper (Advanced seminar) , 2017 , 28 Pages , Grade: 1.7

Communications - Specialized communication

“Is Our Politeness Holding us Back” (Souvaliotis 2011)? This very title indicates a major concern about language. The author is thinking about Canada which is stereotypically said to be the politest countries in the world. Or, like the novelist Bissoondath put it in: “We are a country of good heart, a country on the whole of courage and goodwill […]” (2006: 25). Souvaliotis continues and analyzes that Canadians voice their “concerns so gently packaged and tightly buried in their talk that most listeners would naturally smile” (2011).

Scientifically, this prejudice seems to be incredible, which is why this paper needs to be written. The title and research question, hence, can be stated as “Canadian Politeness – A never-ending stereotype or just the truth about the friendliest country?” and should outline whether Canadians are more polite than others and if so, why. The hypothesis states in fact a more kindly and friendly way of speaking, though, it just occurs in a sense of habit and not manner.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Theoretical and Historical Background
a. An Attempt of Defining Politeness
b. Conversation Analysis and Politeness
c. Parameters in a Communication Situation

3. Methodology
a. The Possibly Most Known Twitter Dialogue (Canada)
b. Twitter Dialogue USA

4. Analyses and Results
a. Twitter Dialogue Canada
b. Twitter Dialogue USA

5. Discussion

6. Conclusion

• College: University of Würzburg (Neuphilologisches Institut)
• Course: English in Canada
• Grade: 1.7
• Author: B.A. Philipp Freund (Author)
• Publication Year: 2017
• Pages: 28
• Catalog Number: V376894
• ISBN (eBook): 9783668544598
• ISBN (Book): 9783668544604
• Language: English
• Tags: English, Canada, Politeness, stereotype, Conversation Analysis, Communication Situation, Politeness in Canada, Twitter Dialogue, speech acts, face-threatening acts, face, face-threatening, Face-saving, Face-keeping, Ian Mendes, Daniel Munro, Justin Bieber, impoliteness, polite, more polite, McMaster University, Frontier Thesis, Fragment Theory, British, Great Britain, Colonies, Colony, America, USA, United States