Polite appearances: How non-manual features convey politeness in British Sign Language

Abstract

This paper explores how non-manual features are key to conveyinglinguistic politeness in British Sign Language (BSL). Data were collectedthrough five semi-structured interviews incorporating the elicitation of twospeech acts commonly associated with research on linguistic politeness: requestsand apologies. The data from this exploratory study suggest that nonmanualfeatures (including specific mouth gestures and movements of the headand upper body) are more crucial for linguistic politeness than manual signs.The data indicate a degree of commonality between the features used for politenessin BSL and those previously identified in American Sign Language (Roush1999; Hoza 2001, 2007). While non-manual features convey both linguistic andparalinguistic meaning in signed language (Sandler and Lillo-Martin 2006),their use in politeness highlights the complexity of the interaction betweenthese two functions and illuminates an aspect of politeness frequently overlookedin much research: the use of intonation. Analysis of the use of nonmanualfeatures for politeness also problematizes the categorization of politenessstrategies using existing frameworks developed on spoken languages,such as the internal modifications outlined by Blum-Kulka et al. (1989).