Publications

Publication details [#3208]

Ferguson, Charles A. 1976. The structure and use of politeness formulas. Language in Society 5 (2) : 137–151.

Publication type

Article in journal

Publication language

English

Keywords

formulaic expression | greeting | language universal | politeness | thanking

Language as a subject

Arabic | English

Journal WWW

journals.cambridge.org/

Annotation

The use of interpersonal verbal routines such as greetings and thanks is examined as a universal phenomenon of human languages. Some differing patterns of structure and use are shown with examples from Arabic, English and other languages.

Reprints

Coulmas, Florian. 1981. In Coulmas, Florian, ed. Conversational routine: Explorations in standardized communication situations and prepatterned speech. Mouton. pp. 21–35.