Abstract:
This study investigates politeness in parliamentary discourse in Ghana. Using
politeness theory as framework and the parliamentary Hansard as of source of data,
the study examines the politeness strategies employed by parliamentary actors, the
implications of the frequency of the usage of the politeness strategies and how the
Standing Orders of Parliament determine the choice of a politeness strategy.
Findings of the study show that political actors in the Parliament of Ghana use the
bald on-record politeness strategies, the positive politeness strategies, the negative
politeness strategies and the off-record politeness strategies in varied proportions.
The study further reveals that the negative politeness strategy is the most
frequently used politeness strategy and the Speaker being the highest user of the
negative politeness strategy and the bald on-record politeness strategy. Again, the
study found out that the off-record politeness strategy is the least used strategy.
The Majority Members in Parliament use the highest frequency of positive
politeness strategies while the Minority Members of Parliament employ more
negative politeness strategies. The study concludes that parliamentary discourse in
Ghana is more of the direct explicit polite expressions than the indirect implicit
expression of politeness. The study recommends that researchers should pay
critical attention to the politeness phenomenon in parliamentary discourse.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Communication and Media Studies,
Faculty of Foreign Languages Education and Communication, submitted to the
School of Graduate Studies, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Communication and Media Studies)
in the University of Education, Winneba
FEBRUARY, 2021