The Politeness/Impoliteness Divide

This book aims to explore the contribution that Moroccan Arabic and the cultural code associated with this language makes to the theoretical discourse on politeness. It focuses on the way in which significant speech acts such as expressing gratitude, invitations and compliments are managed. The specific treatment of these speech acts shows a particular viewpoint on how human beings are involved in the act of communicating. In this context, politeness is revealed to be more than a mere strategy for «saving face» in social interactions. Politeness is a strategy to preserve community values and to construct personal identities related to these values. What may seem to be a deviant and odd practice of politeness from a Western perspective turns out to have a deeper conceptual and cultural justification.