Leech's Politeness Maxims in Iraqi Male/Female EFL Learners' Apologies

Abstract

Language users need pragmatic competence to communicate successfully, which is the language knowledge of the speaker and the use of appropriateness and politeness rules. Politeness is a pattern of language use defined by culture, it enables the speaker to formulate appropriate speech acts, thus Politeness is considered to make the interaction between people more effective. Therefore, this study used the speech act of apology to examine the use of the politeness principle by Iraqi Male/Female EFL learners at the University of Anbar specifically. This study investigates the types of politeness principle that are frequently used by male and female students in some social contexts. Furthermore, it aims to investigate the effects of gender and other social factors on participants’ choice of politeness strategies. In collecting the data, the researcher used an oral Discourse Completion Task supported by a semi-structured interview. The collected data has been analysed using the descriptive analysis method. The findings revealed 8 out of 10 types of Leech’s politeness principles: tact, generosity, approbation, sympathy, feeling reticence, opinion reticence, and obligation of S to O. ‘Silence’ was used by the participants as a new maxim of politeness. In conclusion, the majority of the participants used most of the politeness strategies suitably regardless of their gender. This indicates that the gender of the participants has a slight effect on the choice of politeness strategies. Moreover, social status and age were the most effective social factors as compared to the others