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2.3.1
The Meaning of Face
In their theory of politeness, Brown and Levinson
introduce the concept of face
at first. Jaszczolt (2002, p. 318) said that Brown and Levinson have adopted this concept
by Erving Goffman (1967). Goffman
(1967)
himself
said
that the meaning of face as
following:
“the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line
others assume he has taken during a particular contact. Face is an image of self
delineated in terms of approved social attributes…” (as stated from Jaszczolt,
2002, p. 318).
Furthermore, the concept of face is also got from the English folk term. Brown
and Levinson (1978) said that,
“our notion of ‘face’ is derived from that of Goffman (1967)
and from the
English folk term, which ties face up with notions of being embarrassed or
humiliated, or ‘losing face” (p. 61).
Besides, Brown and Levinson
(1978) defined
face as
the public self-image that
everyone wants to claim for himself
(p. 61).
As
addition, Yule (1996)
also
noted
a
similar definition of face which is defined as, “the public self image of a person” (p. 60).
It can be said that face is about what we want for the others to think about us. It is more
about the reputation of someone.
2.3.2
Positive and Negative Face
Based on Brown and Levinson theory of politeness, face is divided into two
aspects
which are a negative and a positive face.
According to Brown and Levinson
(1978), positive face is, “the positive consistent self image or ‘personality’ (crucially
including the desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved of) claimed by
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