Relativism and Universalism in Linguistics - Fachbereich 10 ...

148 Workshops
12:15–13:00 Nomsa Satyo (Stellenbosch University, South Africa)
Politeness and requests in Xhosa drama
Lunch break
14:00–14:30 Workshop particpants
General discussion of workshop, results, announcements, goodbye, etc.
Face-saving as a relative phenomenon in parliamentary context:
a study of the Nigerian national assembly
Akpan, Ekaete Evangel / Ekpenyong, Bassey
University of Port-Harcourt, Nigeria / University Of Abuja, Nigeria
angelvangel2001@yahoo.com;drbaekpenyong@yahoo.com
Nigeria is one of the post-colonial countries in the world that is struggling to find political
stability in a democratic culture. Amidst the palpable influence of the protracted military rule,
the Nigerian Parliament is in constant conflict with decisions seen to be meted out by the
Executive Arm of Government, in the English language, the country’s official language.
While the Executive Arm is controlled by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, the parliament
comprises representatives from at least three political parties across the country.
The parliamentarians belong to diverse linguistic backgrounds with different cultural indexes
in handling situational faces. In the daily parliamentary deliberations, issues of national
integration, distribution of economic amenities and political positions, individual and
community empowerment are negotiated in sometimes very volatile atmosphere exuding
immense pragmatic interest.
In these contexts, there are possibilities of exposure to personal insult, derogatory remarks,
disregard for one’s status, failure to achieve desired goals and damage to valued friendly and
political relationships.
It was observed that at the end of face-threatening behaviours, face-saving or face-honouring
processes also occur with due reference to and application of the parliament Rules Book
coded in English, structured after universal pattern but with matters relative to the Nigerian
Parliament. Can this reference to universal parliamentary Ethics, coded in English but applied
by Nigerians from a mix of indigenous languages and linguistic identities said to be really
universal? This paper seeks to answer this question in the context of postulations by Brown
and Levinson (1978) Rosenberg (2004).
Name-escapism as face-saving strategy in Cameroonian cultures
Anchimbe, Eric A.
University of Munich
anchimbe_eric@yahoo.com
“And you dare call me by my name? – the world these days is amiss.” This is a common
phrase in most African contexts where the (unwritten) code of name-escapism as a sign of
respect for the other is used. To call someone by name is not only disrespect but also a sign
that he or she has no honour to merit that respect that goes with ‘not calling his or her name.’
This paper discusses the different contexts of name-escapism and the socio-pragmatic impacts
each creates. It studies among other things, name-escapism between the young and old;