Abstract This paper tests the applicability of Brown and Levinson’s concept of off-record politeness on a specific sub-set of patterned dialogues in Sophocles’ extant tragedies, i.e., those involving the participation of female speakers. Brown and Levinson’s framework still provides the most suitable model for empirical analysis, but with refinements concerning the interrelation between emic and etic politeness, the notion of face, the extension of analysis to longer stretches of conversation, and the absolute ranking of the super-strategies. The survey suggests that a strict connection between the use of off record and the mitigation of FTAs can be established quite straightforwardly and that the hearer’s reactions to off record can help to identify the valid instances of the phenomenon. Moreover, it is argued that (a) female speakers frequently resort to off record, most notably in cross-sex interactions with men invested with high power; (b) few restricted categories of male speakers, i.e., strangers and lower-status characters, do use off-record politeness towards women; (c) off record in same-sex interactions among female characters is limited to when the imposition is of extraordinary seriousness.

中文翻译：

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Sophocles的客气礼貌：女性角色的有型对话

摘要本文测试了布朗和莱文森的礼节性礼貌概念在Sophocles现存悲剧中特定的模式化对话子集（即涉及女演讲者参与的对话）中的适用性。Brown和Levinson的框架仍然为实证分析提供了最合适的模型，但是对主语礼貌和主观礼貌之间的相互关系，面子的概念，分析延伸到更长的对话范围以及超级策略的绝对排名进行了改进。该调查表明，可以很容易地在使用不记名的唱片和减轻FTA之间建立严格的联系，并且听众对不记名唱片的反应可以帮助确定现象的有效实例。此外，有论据认为：（a）女讲者经常诉诸于不公开的记录，最明显的是与高能投资的男性进行性交；（b）少数男性说话者受到限制，即陌生人和地位低下的人物，确实对女性持礼貌态度；（c）在女性角色之间进行同性交往时，不良记录仅限于情节极为严重时。