Realisation of politeness strategy and situated speech acts in multilingual linguistic landscape in Cyprus
The aim of this study was to implement pragmatic and cultural analysis of public signs in Cyprus (LL) regarding speech acts (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969; Black, 2006; Sharndama, 2015), pragmatic cultural schemas and pragmatic devices (Mey, 2001, 2010; Kecskes, 2010; Sharifian, 2017) and politeness strategies (Brown & Levinson, 1987). The researcher implemented an in-depth qualitative and quantitative landscape analysis of visible semiotic signs in public space, by visiting geographical areas of the Republic of Cyprus, rural and urban, and collecting photographic data of advertising billboards and commercial shop signs (Huebner, 2006). The focus was on the main shopping streets and highway/street billboards. Overall, 4,200 signs have been photographed, documented and analysed. The findings suggest that the most common types of politeness strategy were bald on record, positive and negative politeness, which conveyed direct and precise meaning, lack of imposition on the customers as well as attracting their attention. The sign makers try to engage readers/viewers directly by using imperatives or requests with negative politeness markers, expressing gratitude. The analysis of public signs in terms situated speech acts, pragmemes, or generalized pragmatics acts, and practs, or concrete pragmatic acts, substantiations of pragmemes, revealed that many signs aim to emphasize the focus of the business by mentioning the products or services together with the target customers and words of collective implications. In addition, there is an emphasis on the access to the business, via mentioning the products or services together with the business owner’s identity, the nearby places. It is obvious that private signs in Cyprus show international qualities, trends and identities by using multiple languages and ensuring the reliability of quality standards, expressing credibility, referring to home-made and famous brand origins, year of business establishment, family, care and ethics, showing outstanding qualities of the products and services and providing favourable treatment.
References
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