Analyse du discours

This course, taught in English, explores how politeness is coded in language. What does is mean to be polite? How can speakers express politeness and why? What effect does it have on the listener?

Three levels of analysis are taken into account. First, how is politeness expressed at the word level? Students will learn how interjections, pronouns, adverbs, and verbs can all encode politeness. Uses of the preterite and modal auxiliaries are also addressed. Second, the course deals with how speakers can convey politeness at the sentence level. Students will study more specifically adverbial clauses, interrogative clauses, and passive forms. Third, focus is drawn to the discourse level with the help of two concepts: Gricean maxims and Face theory.

For this class, students will be asked to complete exercices, but also to analyze extracts of literary works, movie scripts, movies, and television series. Students are also expected to actively participate in class to practice their English.

Session 1 :

• Étudiants régime général : contrôle continu écrit
• Étudiants régime spécial : contrôle terminal écrit (1h).

Session 2 (« rattrapage ») :

Etudiants régime général et régime spécial: L’épreuve est commune pour les deux semestres de S5 et S6 (1h + 1h). Les étudiants ne rattrapent que l’UE manquante (S5 ou S6) ou les deux s’ils sont défaillants aux deux.

Organisation des enseignements

Travaux dirigés : 1 heure hebdomadaire.

Pour le TD, les étudiants doivent apporter le recueil de textes et exercices disponible en ligne.

Though this reading is not compulsory for the class, students willing to explore the issue of politeness in language may turn to:

Brown, P. & Levinson, S. C. (1978). Politeness — Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.