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Article published In: Pragmatics
Vol. 28:1 (2018) ► pp.139–156

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The concept of complimenting in light of the Moore language in Burkina Faso

 | Ouaga I Pr Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Burkina Faso
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 13 February 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.00005.saw
Abstract
This paper sheds light on the concept of complimenting, based on its practice in the Moore language spoken in Burkina Faso, West Africa. It revisits Holmes, Janet. 1986. “Compliments and Responses in New Zealand English.” Anthropological Linguistics 28 (4): 485–508.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar definition of “compliments” and proposes a model which gives new insight into the concept of complimenting behaviour across languages and cultures. The proposed model may have implications for our understanding of politeness strategies as proposed by Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Use. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, particularly with the urge to integrate third person in the model, as a close examination of data from Moore would suggest. The data analyzed were collected in naturally occurring discourse.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
  • 3.What is complimenting?
  • 4.Some terminological issues
  • 5.Implicit compliments in Moore
  • 6.Implications for politeness strategy
  • 7.Complimenting as one leg of the deontic evaluation tripod
  • References
References (49)
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Rudolf von Rohr, Marie-Thérèse & Miriam A. Locher
2020. The interpersonal effects of complimenting others and self-praise in online health settings. In Complimenting Behavior and (Self-)Praise across Social Media [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 313], ► pp. 189 ff. DOI logo

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