Politeness in context: the case of apologies and requests of a South African isiZulu speaking community
The aim of this study was to investigate politeness within the isiZulu speaking community. The study focused on the understanding of politeness within the target community (Umlazi Township) and whether this understanding has changed over the past generation. It also examined if males and females exhibit and value politeness differently. Finally, the study investigated which of the existing Western/non-Western models of politeness are relevant for describing the politeness phenomena in the target community. This study was conducted through the realisation of the speech acts of requests and apologies focusing on the variables of age, status and social distance. In order to achieve triangulation, qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used. These comprised of observation of domestic and educational contexts, interviews with cultural/religious leaders, discourse completion tasks (DCTs) and interviews with families. My findings reveal that the understanding of politeness phenomena within the target community is more in keeping with that of other non-Western cultures than in Western cultures. Females are found to exhibit more polite behaviours than males. Furthermore, the general understanding of politeness over the past generation has remained more or less constant.
politeness --etiquette --apologies --reuests --customs --Zulu community
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