Conversational messages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Conversational messages - Essay Example How we give out accounts and how it is accepted or not depend on one’s culture. We tend to use the different types of accounts whenever our behavior or action is subjected to a valuative inquiry, which is a request for an explanation for an inappropriate or unexpected behavior, or failure to adhere to an expected or appropriate behavior (Cody & Dunn, p. 263). That is exactly why accounts are based on cultural and social expectations. The use of accounts is associated with the politeness theory. The politeness theory considers two concepts, face work and politeness forms. People prefer apologies as preferred speech acts for receivers compared to excuses, justifications and denials (Cody & Dunn, p. 266). The face work is an important concept in the politeness theory. There are two types of face work, the positive face and the negative face. Positive face reflects appreciation and respect for each communicator’s role while the negative face reflects one’s desire to be free of constraints or obligations (Cody & Dunn, p. 266). This can be better understood through a sample situation. Let’s say you arrived late for a meeting and you say, I’m sorry I’m late. I know how important your time is so let’s get started immediately. That is a positive face. A negative face will be like this, I’m sorry for being late but the heavy traffic caught up with me. You have made an apolo gy followed by an excuse that indicates you do not have control over what happened. You wanted to be free of the negative consequences of being late. The use of apologies and excuses depend on the cultural and social values important for the communicators. The expected behavior of Americans may be different from the expected behavior of Japanese when it comes to giving apologies. In an American or British setting, formality may be perceived as impolite among intimates, like family members, because it may appear as sarcasm or a mockery (Ogiermann, p. 37). Japanese preferred saying