EXPLORING SEMIOTICS IN SOCIAL INTERACTIONS FROM FACE-THREATENING ACT TO POLITENESS: AN INQUIRY INTO A. S. OGUNDIMU’S THE INSIDERS

Abstract

The aim of this study is to demonstrate how speech acts, including all utterances, unfailingly affect the faces of the interactants involved: the speaker and the hearer in Ogundimu’s novel The Insiders. Indeed, Politeness is directly connected with face assignment and in a broader sense with the identity’s construction. Politeness strategies and Speech acts are both the tools and results of socialization. The study of their multifaceted correlations undoubtedly contributes to scrutinize the issues of maintenance of face and identity. The scope of interface between the speech acts and politeness is far from being finally established. Both the quantitative and qualitative research methods are used for data generation, collection, analysis and interpretation. Data analysis shows that directive speech acts rank first with a rate of 51%, followed by assertive speech act with 23.40% and commissive. Expressive speech acts rank third with 12.76%. These data analyses reveal that the use of directive speech act threatens both negative and positive expression of the face of both speaker and hearer. All other speech acts also threaten and violate some politeness principles as well as some conversational maxim