Towards a model for the study of politeness in Zulu

Abstract

In this article I present a tentative model for the study of politeness in Zulu against the background of politeness theory. I argue that such a model may not solely reflect verbal means of expressing politeness, but must further draw on non-verbal aspects and on discourse conventions more generally. This in its turn necessitates locating a study of politeness in the context of the cultural values of the speech community concerned. These considerations lead me finally to query the link between politeness and indirectness, which has been proposed as a linguistic universal.