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The Politeness principle and Leech’s maxims



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3. The Politeness principle and Leech’s maxims 
G. Leech was the father of the social-pragmatics approach to Grice’s 
research. He worked on “a broader, socially and psychologically oriented 
application of pragmatic principles” (Leech 1983:80). G. Leech (1983) proposed 
the six maxims of the 
Politeness Principle 
(PP) as a way of complementing the 
CP and explaining how politeness operates in conversational exchanges. Leech 
defines 
politeness as forms of behaviour that establish and maintain comity

That is the ability of participants in a social interaction to engage in interaction in 
an atmosphere of relative harmony. In stating his maxims Leech uses his own 
terms for two kinds of illocutionary acts. He calls representatives “assertives”, and 
calls directives “impositives”. 

 
Tact maxim (in directives [impositives] and commissives): minimise cost to 
other; [maximise benefit to other]  
eg.  Help yourself once more.
 and rather not 
I will help yourself once more. 

 
Generosity maxim (in directives and commissives): minimise benefit to self; 
[maximise cost to self] 


 
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e.g. Have you something against a cup of tee? and rather not I have nothing 
against a cup of tea. 

 
Approbation maxim (in expressives and representatives [assertives]): 
minimise dispraise of other; [maximise praise of other] 
e.g. The soup you cooked tastes good. and not The soup you cooked is inedible.  

 
Modesty maxim (in expressives and representatives): minimise praise of 
self; [maximise dispraise of self] 
e.g. It was silly of me.
 
not It was silly of you.
  

 
Agreement maxim (in representatives): minimise disagreement between self 
and other; [maximize agreement between self and other] 
e.g. I really liked the exhibition. – Yes, it was quite interesting. 
Not 
I found it 
very boring
.  

 
Sympathy maxim (in representatives): minimise antipathy between self and 
other; [maximize sympathy between self and other] 
e.g. I am sorry to hear that your cat died. 
Not
 I am glad to hear that your cat 
died. 
Each maxim is accompanied by a sub-maxim (between square brackets), 
which is of less importance. These support the idea that negative politeness 
(avoidance of discord) is more important than positive politeness (seeking 
concord). 
Note also that speakers may adhere to more than one maxim of politeness at 
the same time. Often one maxim is on the forefront of the utterance, with a second 
maxim being invoked by implication. 
Not all of the maxims are equally important. For instance, "Tact" influences 
what we say more powerfully than does "Generosity", while "Approbation" is 
more important than "Modesty”. 
The tact maxim regulates the operation of the directive speech acts (which 
are marked with highest face-threatening potential) and addresses the dominant 
type of politeness which, with regard to the addressee, can be ´measured´ on the 


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