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Drawing on the politeness theory, this study explored the dubbing of English children's cartoons into Modern Standard Arabic, focusing on negative face speech acts such as compliments, suggestions, rejections, and suggestions in rejections.

Through quantitative and qualitative comparative analyses, this study investigated the influence of cultural differences on the selection of dubbing strategies, analyzed the politeness strategies employed in dubbing, and examined the maintenance of pragmatic equivalence in translated speech acts. Data were collected from the cartoon series “The Loud House” from popular digital platforms Shahid and Netflix, chosen for their regional (the Arab world) and global popularity, respectively.

The findings revealed shifts and adaptations in the dubbing process influenced by linguistic and cultural factors, particularly emphasizing social norms and power dynamics (e.g. respect for elders) prevalent in the Arab culture. Translators strategically employed politeness strategies, such as off-record and bald on-record strategies, to ensure cultural appropriateness and maintain the integrity of familial relationships depicted in the content. The comparative analysis of translators' approaches on Shahid and Netflix platforms highlights significant differences in the translation of negative face-threatening act scenarios. Netflix shows a tendency to adjust politeness pragmatic levels to better suit the preferences of the target audience, indicating a proactive effort to enhance viewer engagement through effective translation strategies. In contrast, Shahid adopts a more conservative approach, maintaining a consistent politeness level in its translations, which aligns closely with cultural norms and expectations. This comparative analysis underscores the divergent translation strategies employed by the two platforms, with Netflix prioritizing adaptation to audience preferences and Shahid favoring preservation of established politeness levels. The cultural social factors that influenced the translation and adaptation of face threatening acts can be grasped by considering elements such as social distance, power dynamics, and relative imposition. In Arabic culture, these factors play a crucial role in determining the social dynamics and interactions between individuals. The observed patterns of shifts and adaptations in the translation of face threatening acts on Shahid and Netflix reflect the nature of stratified Arabic societies where communal relationships are defined by factors like family ties, elder-younger dynamics, and friendships. These cultural factors shape the social norms and expectations surrounding face threatening acts, which, in turn, influence the translation choices made on these platforms.

The study has several limitations that need acknowledgment. Firstly, the sample size was limited, focusing on the dubbing of only two versions of an animated series and four seasons, comparing translations across two platforms. Additionally, there were challenges related to the accessibility and availability of data, with limited information about the translators involved in the dubbing process. Furthermore, the study's focus on specific types of translations may have overlooked other important factors influencing translation practices. Lastly, regional variations in translation practices within the Arab world were not considered. Despite these limitations, the study provides valuable insights into translation practices in animated series on Shahid and Netflix platforms, highlighting the need for future research to address these limitations and provide a more comprehensive understanding of translation practices in the Arab world.

The findings of this study have significant practical implications for a wide range of stakeholders, including translators, educators, textbook writers, and even non-specialists. For translators, especially those working in the field of audiovisual translation, understanding the nuances of politeness strategies and their application in different cultural contexts is essential. The findings suggest that translators should be sensitive to cultural and social factors when translating negative face-threatening act scenarios in cartoons. By making strategic decisions to adapt translations to align with audience preferences while still preserving cultural appropriateness, translators can enhance viewer engagement and ensure that the translated content resonates effectively with the target audience. Educators and textbook writers can also benefit from these findings by incorporating insights into politeness theory and cross-cultural communication into their curriculum and materials. By teaching students about the importance of politeness strategies in translation and providing them with practical examples and exercises, educators can help prepare the next generation of translators to navigate complex linguistic and cultural challenges in their work. Additionally, non-specialists, such as viewers of translated content, can gain a better understanding of the intricacies involved in translation and the impact of cultural factors on communication. By being aware of these issues, non-specialists can become more discerning consumers of translated media and appreciate the skill and artistry involved in the translation process.

This study underscores the cultural competence and sensitivity of Arab translators in navigating linguistic and social dynamics, contributing to the creation of culturally resonant and entertaining content for young Arabic-speaking audiences.

Financial analysts' roles and incentives mean that they have conflicting identities to maintain towards investors and firm managers. The authors study how analysts adopt various politeness strategies in their questioning to establish socially desirable identities in the Q&A of publicly accessible earnings calls.

The study is based on a sample of US firms with extreme earnings changes. 46 transcripts of end-of-year earnings calls were investigated with the help of linguistic discourse analysis, drawing on frameworks of face and linguistic politeness. For each transcript, the authors identified the structure of the face-threatening acts (FTAs) that arise when analysts ask probing questions and ascertained what specific politeness strategies, if any, are used by analysts to mitigate those FTAs. The authors examine how analysts perform identities through politeness in language and compare analysts' politeness behaviour and identity construction in the increasing earnings sub-sample with the decreasing earnings sub-sample.

Analysts negotiate different identities according to specific social contexts, promoting their identity as (1) competent professionals when firms report problematic performance by asking questions in a confrontational manner with few politeness strategies and (2) dependents of the firm by asking questions in a more polite manner when firms experience satisfactory performance. Analysts aim to present a socially desirable face in Q&A to influence managers' and investors' perceptions.

The study raises awareness about linguistic politeness as a communication strategy in the Q&A in earnings calls. It thereby enables managers and analysts to use linguistic politeness consciously and strategically and to recognise such use by others.

This study complements existing literature on earnings conference calls as part of external corporate communications by focusing on analysts' use of language when interacting with manages. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to show that politeness underpins analysts' language use as a device for identity negotiations. This is important to understand because analysts' identities vis-a-vis managers and investors is closely related to the stability of the financial system.

The purpose is to show how actors' relative power or parity is dynamically instanced in discrete speech behaviors that are exchanged throughout everyday organizational interaction.

Politeness theory, rooted in the dramaturgical theories of Erving Goffman, details a set of linguistic indices used to show regard for others' face. This conceptual paper draws on politeness theory to model the unfolding of power relations within face-to-face verbal interchange in organizations. The paper presents a number of propositions suggesting how power differentials (or parity) are reflected in a set of common speech behaviors used to defray threats to face throughout organizational interaction.

This article extends and applies politeness theory to organizations by exploring specific motives and linguistic outcomes of high and low power actors, describing the behavioral egalitarianism associated with organic organizations, and suggesting how the demand characteristics of face-to-face interaction create oligarchic tendencies that militate against the success of workplace participation. Politeness' role in the social construction of power, and in distortive processes within hierarchical communication, is also discussed.

This paper enables researchers to understand the specific linguistic features associated with power-related roles, and it shows how the social distribution of certain speech behaviors is a function of power and dependency relations.

The findings provide managers a fine-grained understanding of how power affects speech, and an understanding of how such speech patterns may stymie attempts to stimulate organizational empowerment and employee voice.

Prior scholarship has neglected this most important topic.

Training programs designed to enhance managerial effectiveness at cross‐cultural communication tend to be directed at specific target cultures. This paper argues that an etic approach, one based on universal variables that occur in every culture and that vary across cultures, comprises an important alternative. This paper reviews anthropological/sociolinguistic research on one universal variable, “politeness.” Politeness, or linguistic indirection used to show social consideration, is a crucial element of interpersonal communication in all human cultures, yet it has received little mention in the literature. Implications of politeness for managerial cross‐cultural communication are explored. The implications of a universalistic approach to cross‐cultural communication training are discussed.

Aims to examine consumer politeness, an interaction style that may prevent a dissatisfied customer from complaining about a negative service encounter, and seeks to determine the relationship between politeness and the propensity to engage in various types of complaining behavior.

Two surveys served to develop and validate a scale for measuring politeness and tested the relationship between consumer politeness and complaining behavior. The specific items for the politeness scale were developed based on the distinction between negative and positive politeness as described by politeness theory.

The results suggest an inverse relationship between politeness and complaining behavior. The studies also find that polite and impolite consumers do not necessarily engage in the same types of complaining behavior.

In future studies, researchers may consider examining the conditions under which polite consumers do and do not voice complaints. Researchers may also consider investigating the possibility of a relationship between politeness and the opposite of complaining behavior, i.e. complimenting behavior.

Given that voice offers managers an opportunity to identify and then remedy problems, they should look for non‐threatening ways to encourage consumers to engage in this behavior. Managers may, for example, consider using positive politeness as a means for soliciting complaints.

This study introduces a sociolinguistic construct to help explain propensity to engage in complaining behavior. As such, it serves to identify and isolate one of the challenges managers face in addressing consumer complaints across a variety of service industries.

This study investigated the use of language impoliteness of primary school teachers in communicating with their students during the learning process.

The methodology of this study used a mixed-method approach by involving 100 primary school teachers in the fifth and sixth grades. The researcher used the language politeness/impoliteness scale developed by Mantasiah et al. (2019) to measure teachers' language impoliteness. This scale was developed based on Brown and Levinson's theory who divided politeness maxims into six consisting of tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, appreciation maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim. The levels of teachers' language impoliteness were divided into five categories (5 = always, 4 = often, 3 = sometimes, 2 = rarely, 1 = never).

The finding shows that 28% of teachers were in the sometimes category and 33% of teachers were in the rarely category. The results signify that some teachers tend to speak impolitely with the students during the learning process. They considered that it was acceptable as they did not know the negative effects caused by their impolite language. Moreover, teachers were more likely to violate sympathy, tact and agreement maxims than other maxims.

The finding of this study can be applied generally at all levels of education, ranging from primary education to higher education, as a base to develop a program to improve the soft skills of teachers especially the way teachers communicate with their students in the learning process. By understanding language politeness theory, the awareness of teachers in communicating in the learning process can be improved, which can affect positively to the quality of learning process.

Numerous studies conducted on communication skills of teachers focused on using communication sciences approach. This study tried to use another approach to portray the communication skills of teachers based on language politeness uttered using linguistics approach. Moreover, previous studies preferred to conduct language politeness and impoliteness of teachers in senior high schools and lecturers in university, and there is still lack of studies focusing on language politeness of primary school teachers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the communicative rituals of opening and closing manifested in e‐mail‐based Internet Public Library's (IPL's) online reference interaction.

A total of 400 transcripts comprising user queries and responses by IPL librarians are examined. The opening and closing elements are identified to examine the way in which IPL librarians and users construct social space; that is, communicate their interpersonal and affective stances during the course of seeking and offering information.

The results of data analysis show regular patterns of verbal and structural politeness indicators of opening and closing e‐mail discourse. Linguistic elements such as greetings and acknowledgement are included in all the sampled transcripts; i.e. a 100 percent occurrence. Closing rituals have a 95 percent occurrence of linguistic features such as acknowledgement and invitation for follow‐up. In contrast, there is a low occurrence of personalized openings through greeting by user name (26 percent). This lack of personalization also occurs in closings: personalized farewell through use of librarian name appears in only 8 percent of closings.

The employment of the various politeness tactics in opening and closing reflects the librarian's attention and concern to user's information needs, interests and wants. Such communicative competence narrows social distance and brings forth close socio‐interpersonal space for interaction; this may, in turn, improve the overall quality of reference service. Research findings also indicate that more use of personal names may decrease the social distance between the librarian and user, resulting in increased solidarity and proximity.

The study provides new insights into linguistic politeness and the functions of address forms such as personal names with a view toward developing effective opening and closing rituals that contribute to the enhancement of virtual reference services.

The purpose of this study is to explore linguistic stylometric patterns encompassing lexical, syntactic, structural, sentiment and politeness features that are found in librarians’ responses to user queries.

A total of 462 online texts/transcripts comprising answers of librarians to users’ questions drawn from the Internet Public Library were examined. A Principal Component Analysis, which is a data reduction technique, was conducted on the texts and transcripts. Data analysis illustrates the three principal components that predominantly occur in librarians’ answers: stylometric richness, stylometric brevity and interpersonal support.

The results of the study have important implications in digital information services because stylometric features such as lexical richness, structural clarity and interpersonal support may interplay with the degree of complexity of user queries, the (a)synchronous communication mode, application of information service guideline and manuals and overall characteristics and quality of a given digital information service. Such interplay may bring forth a direct impact on user perceptions and satisfaction regarding interaction with librarians and the information service received through the computer-mediated communication channel.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the stylometric features encompassing lexical, syntactic, structural, sentiment and politeness using Principal Component Analysis have not been explored in digital information/reference services. Thus, there is an emergent need to explore more fully how linguistic stylometric features interplay with the types of user queries, the asynchronous online communication mode, application of information service guidelines and the quality of a particular digital information service.

This paper examines how politeness strategies are used in Omani schools and professional development classrooms. It is a qualitative study following an interactional sociolinguistic analysis approach. The study adopts Brown and Levinson (1987) model to analyse the use of politeness and the notion of face in two different contexts.

This is a qualitative study because it includes descriptive findings. It will follow an interactional sociolinguistic analysis approach and adopts Brown and Levinson (1987) model to analyse the use of politeness and the notion of face in two different contexts. It aims at studying student–teacher interaction in two different groups: Omani private school and Professional development Academy. Two classes will be attended in the school and two classes in the Academy. A mix of female and male teachers from both groups will be observed. The first age group is young learners of grades 7 and 9 and the age range of the second group is adult learners aged between 25 and 40 years old.

The results are as follows: young learners want to be perceived with their positive face while adult learners with negative face. More face saving acts (FSA) are performed by teachers than face threatening acts (FTAs). More FTAs are performed by young students than adult students. More FSAs are performed than FTAs by female teachers than their counterparts. All teachers agreed that when their face is put into threat, they will save it even if it meant putting the student's face in threat. These results imply that there is a big awareness of politeness and face in the modern day Omani classroom in different contexts and that teachers are actually using it and trying to help students to be aware of it.

The findings of this study will reverberate throughout the field of education and pedagogical techniques since before this study, there has not been sufficient investigation exploring politeness strategies or FSAs of adults in this age group in Oman. In fact, there have not been sufficient studies conducted in this area in Oman within all age groups. To this purpose, this paper will contribute to the existing literature in this field by examining how politeness strategies are used and factors that directly affect their use in the classroom in a new context, Oman. Moreover, the analysis that is presented in this study conveys valuable information for future research exploring this topic but within a broader age range and a bigger sample.

The paper seeks to extend Coulter and Coulter (2002) findings regarding the impact of “person‐related” service characteristics (empathy, politeness, and similarity) and “offer‐related” service characteristics (customization, competence, and promptness) by examining business client trust in their current bank service representatives based on the length of the relationships with their banks.

The paper tested the effects of the above variables by collecting data from small business owners in the transportation industry in British Columbia, Canada. Clients were surveyed as to their beliefs about and feelings toward their bank service representatives.

The findings in this paper demonstrate that all six factors are related to trust building in general, but the factors are more salient at different periods of the relationship with their banks. Customization was found to be of particular importance at “crucial” periods of time in the business life cycle.

The results in this paper demonstrate how relationship‐managers at banks can work toward the establishment of their clients' trust by emphasizing the attributes that meet their clients' respective and timely needs.

In this paper Coulter and Coulter (2002) documented that both “person‐related” and “offer‐related” service characteristics have an impact on trust. This study focused on and presents the relative importance of these characteristics in general and across various time periods in particular. The results uniquely demonstrate that the relative importance of the factors in building trust varies according to stages in the life cycle of the businesses.