الخلاصة:
This qualitative study explores the politeness tendencies that result
from attempts to pay bills in Palestinian Society. The significance of this
paper rises from the fact that it attempts to highlight potential causes of
pragmatic failure and breakdown that might occur in cross-cultural
communication. Brown and Levinson's (1987) and Leech’s (1983)
models of linguistic politeness are considered as a theoretical framework
of the study. Naturally occurring data were collected ethnographically
from four situations. Analysis of data shows that paying for meals by
Palestinians is rooted in maintaining face which is oriented toward a
person's public image. In Palestinian Arabic, it is necessary to preserve
the interlocutors' face. The one who pays the bill finds it more important
to make his/her addressee feel wanted, and to be considerate of his/her
wants and feelings than it is to be honest or direct. Therefore, politeness
battles that occur when paying bills in Palestinian society have taken on
the pragmatic functions of minimizing the benefit of the self and
maximizing the benefit of the others. Such battles are manifestations that
aim at expressing intimacy and connectedness. These pragmatic
functions of such battles of politeness reflect the role of politeness in
Palestinian society as a device utilized by Palestinians to mark, establish,
or assert social relationships including connectedness, generosity and
solidarity.
