This document provides an overview of a study that examines politeness strategies and impolite acts in the American movie "Ten Things I Hate About You" and the Egyptian movie "آداء من أنا". It uses Brown and Levinson's politeness model to analyze conversations between the heroines and heroes in both movies. The study aims to determine whether Brown and Levinson's model can fully account for politeness strategies and impolite acts in the Egyptian movie. Several impolite acts are identified in the first 10 minutes of both movies, including insults, ridicule, criticism, accusations, and interruptions threatening characters' positive and negative faces. The document also outlines the

1. (Im)politeness in Ten things I hate about you and ٖ‫آ‬‫دٛا‬ ِٓ
Contrastive conversation analysis
Submitted by: Sawsan Fawzy
2017

2. Page 2 of 16
1. Introduction
This paper examines the politeness strategies and impolite acts used in two
movies: the American movie Ten things I hate about you and the Egyptian movie
‫دٛا‬ ِٓ ٖ‫آ‬ that are adaptations of Shakespeare‟s The taming of the shrew. The study
examines politeness not only in conversation verbal acts but also in non-verbal acts such
as beating, giving looks of contempt that are not necessarily involved in mutual verbal
conversations. It uses Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model of politeness to examine the
strategies and acts; however, it does not assume that this model can fully describe all
politeness strategies and acts in the Egyptian movie. That is to say, the study examines
whether Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model can account for Egyptian politeness strategies
and impolite acts. This is the study main objective depending on which it can suggest
whether politeness strategies and acts in the two dialects can be similar or not.
Ten things I hate about you is a 1999 American romantic comedy movie directed
by Gil Junger and starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger. The screenplay was written by
Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith. The heroine, Kat, is a feminist shrew and she
has a younger sister who is not allowed to date until her elder sister, the feminist shrew
does. A male schoolmate, Joey, hires the hero, Patrick, to tame the shrew and date her so
that Joey can date the younger sister.
‫دٛا‬ ِٓ ٖ‫آ‬ is a 1962 Egyptian romantic comedy movie directed by Fatin Abdel
Wahab and starring Lobna Abdulaziz and Rushdy Abaza. The screenplay was written by
Muhammed Abu Youssof. The heroine, ‫,أٍِشج‬ is a feminist shrew and she has a younger
sister who is not allowed to get married until her elder sister, the feminist shrew does.
Their grandfather asks the hero, ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ , to tame the shrew and marry her so that her
younger sister can get married to her fiancée.
Shakespeare‟s The taming of the shrew and normally all its adaptations are good
choices for an (im)politeness analysis as they are rich in impoliteness acts of the shrew,
the heroine, and are also rich in politeness strategies of the tamed shrew at the end of the
plot. There are over twenty-five movies or television versions of Shakespeare‟s The
Taming of the Shrew (Hyson, n.d.). There are different adaptations in different languages
and dialects such as Italian, Indian, Tamli, Korean, Australian, British, American and
Egyptian. These two movies were selected for this CA study as their plots match each
other regarding the main events, characters, and hero-heroine relationships, as it is clear
from their above-presented overviews. Other adaptations were found inappropriate for
the study for many reasons. For example, older American versions use traditional
Elizabethan English that is not used now (Hyson, n.d.). The modernist movie, produced
in 2010 is Indian. Other Egyptian movies such as ‫اسراوٛصا‬ starring ً‫صو‬ ‫أدّذ‬ and ‫سغذج‬
have different plots.

3. Page 3 of 16
1.1. Research question
- According to Brown's and Levinson's model, what are the (im)politeness strategies used
in the conversations of the two American and Egyptian movies?
1.2. Research sub-questions
- Which (im)politeness strategies used in the American and Egyptian movies can be
described by Brown‟s and Levinson's model?
- Which (im)politeness strategies used in the Egyptian movie cannot be described by
Brown‟s and Levinson's model?
1.3. Delimitations
The study limits itself to the minutes examined and the quotes extracted. The
samples of the study are neither large nor representative of the two dialects of the movies.
2. Literature review
Regarding the literature review of the last 3 years, 2014-2017, few CA studies
tackling politeness in English and Arabic and using Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model are
found.
A CA study entitled Offering and hospitality in Arabic and English done by
Karen Gainger, Zainab Kerbam, Fathia Mansour and Sara Mills and published in Journal
of Politeness in 2015 compares English and Arabic focusing on positive politeness
strategies. A qualitative analysis of the data reveals that, while there are similarities in
offering behavior in both English and Arabic, in Arabic, the interactional moves of
insisting and refusing are slightly more conventionalized. This however does not
constitute a radical difference between the offering norms of these two cultural groups.
There is another CA study that compares American and Egyptian politeness
strategies entitled Refusals in Egyptian Arabic and American English done by Nader
Morkus and published in Journal of Pragmatics in 2014. The study investigated how
native speakers of Egyptian Arabic and native speakers of American English realized the
speech act of refusal in equal and unequal status situations. It highlights five main results.
First, Egyptians tend to be more verbose and less direct than Americans. Second,
Americans are more assertive when interacting with someone higher in status. Third,
Egyptians prefer family oriented excuses while Americans prefer personal excuses.
Fourth, Americans use expressions of regret and gratitude more frequently. Fifth,
Egyptians use religious expressions and proverbs more frequently.

4. Page 4 of 16
Interestingly, there is a study on interactive robots used in receptions. The study is
entitled Marhaba, how may I help you?: effects of politeness and culture on robot
acceptance and anthropomorphization done in Qatar in 2014 by Maha Salem, Micheline
Ziadee, and Majd Sakr, and it is published in the proceedings of 9th ACM/IEEE
International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. It investigated how politeness
strategies and cultural aspects affect robot acceptance and anthropomorphization across
native speakers of English and Arabic. Results suggest that Arab participants perceived
the robot more positively and anthropomorphized it more than English speaking
participants.
All of the studies found assume that Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model can fully
describe all politeness strategies and impolite acts in Arabic. None of the studies found
tried to examine whether Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model can always describe politeness
strategies and impoliteness acts in Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic or any other
Arabic dialect. This study aims at filling this gap.
3. Method
This study is a qualitative one. It uses Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model of
politeness to describe politeness strategies and impolite acts in the quotes under study
(Brown & Levinson, 1978, pp. 62-71).
Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model summarizes their politeness model in two
concepts: positive face and negative face. Positive face is the H‟s (hearer) self-image; H‟s
desire that his/her self-image and possessions are loved, liked, or respected. Negative
face is H‟s freedom of whatever imposition or interruption by anyone, for example
requests. Any verbal or non-verbal acts that threaten any of the two faces are impolite
acts, Face Threatening Acts (FTAs).
Impolite acts threatening the positive face investigated by this study include
expressions of disapproval, criticism, contempt or ridicule, complaints, accusations,
insults, disagreements, disruptively interrupting H‟s talk, making non-sequiturs or
showing non-attention and use of address terms and other status-marked identifications.
Impolite acts threatening the negative face investigated in the study include
orders, requests, suggestions, advice, threats, warnings and dares.
There is an overlap in this classification of FTAs because some FTAs
intrinsically threaten both negative and positive face (e.g. complaints, interruptions,
threats, strong expressions of emotion and requests for personal information).

5. Page 5 of 16
Figure 1 shows different strategies to do FTAs and politeness degrees of these
strategies (Brown & Levinson, 1978, p. 69).
Figure 1. Strategies of doing FTAs (Brown & Levinson, 1978, p. 69)
Positive politeness strategies that redress positive face when threatened include
compliments, claims to agreement and friendship, endearments and offers (Simpson,
1989, pp. 188-189).
Negative politeness strategies that redress negative face when threatened include
minimizing oppositions; hedges; indicating deference by humbling oneself or possession
and honorific address terms; apologizing by admitting impingement, asking for
forgiveness or giving overwhelming reasons; impersonalization; acknowledging the debt;
pessimism (indicating that speaker does not expect H would accept the imposition)
(Simpson, 1989, pp. 176-179).
Off-record politeness strategies include metaphors, irony, rhetorical question,
understatement and tautologies (Brown & Levinson, 1978, p. 69).
3.1. Data Collection
The movies are very well-known and can be found on Youtube website on the
following links
10 Things I hate about you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1VThOGwFBY

6. Page 6 of 16
‫دٛا‬ ِٓ ٖ‫آ‬ : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXEX44uvzH4
3.2. Data Analysis
In both movies, only the quotes of the heroine and hero were analyzed.
Sometimes additional quotes of their interlocutors were analyzed if the strategies or acts
are significant. The hero‟s and heroine‟s quotes are rich in (im)politeness strategies such
as insults and compliments.
In 10 things I hate About You, the heroine, the shrew, is Kat and the hero is
Patrick. In ‫دٛا‬ ِٓ ٖ‫آ‬ the heroine, the shrew, is ‫أٍِشج‬ and the hero is ٓ‫دس‬ ‫د‬ .
3.2.1. Answering the main and the first research sub-questions
The first 10 minutes. In both movies, I analyzed the first 10 minutes because
they are rich in impolite acts done by the shrew and sometimes by the hero or their
interlocutors. The first 10 minutes also have few purely polite acts without threatening
any faces and few negative and positive politeness strategies redressing threatened faces.
Impolite acts
The American movie
 Kat gives a group of girls listening to a pop song in car a look of contempt
when she and they are waiting for the green traffic light. Her contempt look
threatens their positive face and negative face as it stops them from having
fun.
 Kat tears a prom poster in the school threating the positive and negative faces
of the girl who fastened the prom poster.
 Miss Perky, school head teacher, to Patrick criticizing him: “I see we're
making our visits a weekly ritual.” She gives him a disapproving glance
asking him to stop making troubles and threatening his positive and negative
faces
 Miss Perky to Patrick accusing him and threatening his positive face: “Says
here you exposed yourself in the cafeteria?”
 Patrick‟s offensive act of exposing himself threatens the positive face of
whoever is present in the cafeteria.
 Miss Perky to Patrick ridiculing him threatening his positive face and giving
him orders threatening his negative face: “Next time keep it in your pouch,
okay? Scoot!”

7. Page 7 of 16
 Kat, giving a classmate a look of disgust threatening her positive face, says:
“Romantic?! Hemingway?! He was an abusive alcoholic misogynist who
squandered half his life hanging around Picasso trying to nail his leftovers.”
She threatens the positive face of her classmate by insulting her favorite
writer.
 Mr. Brown, the teacher, reacts to Kat‟s comment with looks and gestures
explaining contempt threatening her positive face.
 Joey, Kat‟s classmate, to Kat ridiculing and insulting her threatening her
positive face: “As opposed to a bitter self-righteous hag who has no friends?”
 Kat‟s classmates giggle ridiculing her threatening her positive face.
 Kat to Joey insulting him with an offensive word threatening his positive face:
“I guess in this society being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our
time.”
 Patrick interrupts the lesson without permission then leaves without
permission threatening the positive face of the teacher.
 Kat to Patrick criticizing the teacher and her classmates who are fond of
Hemingway threatening the positive face of all of them: “The oppressive
patriarchal values that dictate our education.”
 Joey ridiculing Kat threatening her positive face: “Uh, Mr. Morgan. Is there
any chance we could get Kat to take her Mydol before she comes to class?
 Kat‟s classmates‟ snickers ridicule her and threaten her positive face
 Mr. Brown to Kat threatening her both faces: “Go to the office; you‟re pissing
me off.”
 Kat beats Joey as she going out threatening her positive face.
 Miss Perky to Kat accusing her and threatening her positive face: “So I hear
you were terrorizing Mr. Morgan‟s class. Again.”
 Miss Perky to Kat ridiculing her and threatening her positive face: “The point
is, Kat... she suddenly makes a connection between Kat‟s name and the
picture of a cat on her coffee mug. She finds it amusing and points to the mug
saying: “Cat!” She giggles, then turns back to Kat.
 Miss Perky to Kat insulting her with an offensive word and threatening her
positive face: “People perceive you as somewhat ... „heinous bitch‟ is the
term used most often.”
 Kat to Miss Perky ridiculing her and threatening her positive face: “As
always, thank you for your excellent guidance.”
 Kat to a schoolmate riding a bike ridiculing him and threatening his positive
face: “Remove head from sphincter, then drive!”

8. Page 8 of 16
The Egyptian movie
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ ‫د‬ criticizing him threatening his positive face: “ ‫أفٕذي‬ ‫ٌا‬ ٌٗ‫ا‬ ٖ‫د‬ ‫تاضا‬
!‫تطٕة‬ ‫لذاِه‬ ًٕ‫ضاٌف‬ !‫”أد‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ ridiculing him threatening his positive face: " ٛ٘ !ً‫أخ‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫ٔثا٘ره‬ ‫ٌا‬
‫اٌشجاٌح‬ ‫إال‬ ‫ِاٌٍثسٙٛش‬ ٍْٛ‫"!اٌثٕط‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ ordering him and ridiculing his car, threatening his both faces:
‫إ‬ ًٍ‫"ض‬".‫ساوثٙا‬ ‫أد‬ ًٌٍ‫ا‬ ‫اٌذٍح‬ ‫عٍى‬ ‫اذططش‬ ‫سٚح‬ !‫ٌذن‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ ‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ ridiculing her car threatening her positive face: ً‫ذّط‬ ًٌٍ‫ا‬ ‫"اٌذٍح‬
".‫اٌسىح‬ ً‫ف‬ ‫ذثٍظ‬ ًٌٍ‫ا‬ ‫اٌىادٌالن‬ ِٓ ٓ‫أدس‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ insulting him and threatening his positive face: ً‫ف‬ ‫أد‬ ‫فّٙه‬ ‫إٌص‬ "
ٌ‫اٌىاد‬"!ً‫غث‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫الن‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ insulting him and ordering him to leave threating his both faces:
"!ًٕ‫ع‬ ً‫د‬ ‫سٚح‬ !‫ٚلخ‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫أفٕذي‬ ‫ٌا‬ ٌٗ‫إ‬ ًٕ‫ٌع‬ ًٍٕ‫"ذٛص‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ ordering him and criticizing him threatening his both faces: ‫"اسّع‬
.‫ٕ٘ا‬‫ا‬‫اذعٍّد‬ ‫افٕذي‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫ٔد‬".!ً‫ِاض‬ ٚ ًٕ‫ساٌث‬ !‫فٍٓ؟‬ ‫اٌزٚق‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ ordering him and insulting him threatening his both faces: ‫"ِص‬
".‫عٍطٛي‬ ‫اِص‬ ،‫ضغٍه‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ ordering him threatening his negative face: ".‫ضٌٛح‬ ‫"تسشعح‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ ordering him threatening his negative face: ًٌٍ‫ا‬ ‫اٌىٛتشي‬ ‫عٍى‬ ‫"دٛد‬
".ٌٍٍّٓ‫ا‬ ‫إٌذن‬ ‫عٍى‬ ‫جاي‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ ordering her to keep silent threatening her negative face: "‫"ضص‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ ordering him threatening his negative face: ‫ٚال‬ ‫٘طٙا‬ ‫أفٕذي‬ ‫ٌا‬ َٛ‫"ل‬
"‫اٌسىح‬ ِٓ ‫ضٍٍٙا‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ ridiculing her threatening her positive face: ‫أد‬ ٚ ‫أ٘طه‬ ًٍ‫"ذمث‬
"!‫ترٌٛذي؟‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ insulting him and his car and threatening his positive face: ‫"اٌذك‬
"‫ِٕه‬ ‫أتشد‬ ‫ٚعشتٍره‬ ...‫صٌه‬ ‫تاسد‬ ‫ٚادذ‬ ‫ِع‬ ‫سوثد‬ ًٌٍ‫ا‬ ًٍ‫ع‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to a cart driver ordering him threatening his negative face: ".‫عٕذن‬ ‫"ٚلف‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to the servant ordering him and insulting him threatening his both faces:
ٌٍٗ ‫ٚالف‬ .‫داال‬ ‫ٕ٘ا‬ ًٌٛٙ‫٘اذ‬ ‫اٌٍّح‬ ‫طشِثح‬ ً‫تٍطغ‬ ًٌٍ‫ا‬ ‫اٌذّاس‬ ًٍ‫ضٛف‬ ‫سٚح‬ .ً‫ِاض‬ ًٌٍ‫ٌا‬ ٍُٙ‫ت‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫"أد‬
".‫دّاس‬ !‫اذذشن‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to her grandfather ordering him and then ignoring him threatening his
both faces: ".ٚ‫جذ‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫أد‬ ‫"اسىد‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ insulting him threatening his positive face: .‫دضشخ‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫أد‬ "
‫تطذ‬ ٗ‫ساس‬ ‫عٍى‬ ًٌٍ‫ا‬ ً‫أخ‬ ‫ٌا‬ ...!‫اٌثشٚد؟‬ ‫تّٕرٙى‬ ٖ‫وذ‬ ‫ٚخاسج‬ ‫تٛدٔه‬ ‫ضرٍّره‬ ‫ساِع‬‫ٚال‬ ،‫تٍٙا‬ ‫تٍذس‬ ‫داٌّا‬ ‫ح‬
"!‫أتذا؟‬ ‫ِثرذسص‬ ‫أد‬

9. Page 9 of 16
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ insulting her threatening her positive face: ‫تثعض‬ ‫ٔرعشف‬ ‫األٚي‬ ‫ِص‬ "
"!‫سدح‬ ٚ ‫ضرٍّح‬ ‫ٌثعض‬ ً‫ٔذخ‬ ٌٓ‫ٚتعذ‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ insulting him threatening his positive face: ‫ٌا‬ ‫أفٕذي‬ ‫ٌا‬ ٌٗ‫ا‬ ‫"سدح‬‫ل‬ًٍٍ
‫األدب‬.‫ِرشتٍرص‬ ًٌٍ‫ٌا‬!‫داجح‬ ‫لٍد‬ ‫وٕد‬ ‫اذىٍّد‬ ‫وٕد‬ َ‫د‬ ‫عٕذن‬ ْ‫وا‬ ٌٛ ‫أد‬ .."
 Grandfather to ‫أٍِشج‬ criticizing her threatening her positive face: ٌٗ‫ا‬ !ً‫تٕر‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫"عٍة‬
"!‫دي؟‬ ‫ترمٌٍٛٙا‬ ًٌٍ‫ا‬ ‫األٌفاظ‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ insulting her threatening her positive face: ‫ِص‬ ًٍ‫أص‬ ‫"أٔا‬ًٍٍ‫ل‬
".‫األدب‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ insulting him threatening his positive face: ".‫األدب‬ ٌُ‫عذ‬ ‫"أد‬
 Grandfather to ‫أٍِشج‬ ordering and insulting her threatening her both faces:
"ً‫األل‬ ‫عٍى‬ ‫أٔا‬ ً‫دسات‬ ًٍّ‫اع‬ .‫ضٌٛح‬ ‫ٌسأه‬ ًٌّ ،‫تمى‬ ‫ِعان‬ ٌٓ‫"ٚتعذ‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to her grandfather insulting ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ and then to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ threatening his
positive face: ".ْ‫وّا‬ ‫عٍٍه‬ ‫ضٌٛح‬ ٌٍّٓ‫ٚأ‬ ...ٌٍّٓ‫أ‬ ٗ‫خذذ‬ ‫وٕد‬ ‫أا‬ ‫ٚجٛدن‬ ‫ٌٛال‬ ‫"أد‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ ridiculing ‫أٍِشج‬ threatening her positive face: ‫ساوثٙا‬ ً٘،ٍِٓ‫أ‬ ‫سٍذ‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫سٍثٙا‬ "
ًٌٕ‫خذ‬ ،ًٍ‫اذفض‬ ،‫ذرفص‬ ‫خٍٍٙا‬ ،ً‫اٌعصث‬"!‫اٌٗ؟‬ ‫ِسرٍٕح‬ ،ٌٍّٓ‫أ‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ gives ‫أٍِشج‬ looks of ridicule in many scenes threatening her positive
face
 ‫أٍِشج‬ gives ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ looks of contempt and scorn in many scenes threatening his
positive face.
Positive politeness strategies
The American movie
 Patrick to Miss Perky flirting with her and addressing her positive face: “Only so
we can have these moments together.”
 Miss Perky to Patrick praising him and addressing his positive face: “Oh very
clever.”
 Mr. Morgan, the teacher to Kat thanking her addressing her positive face: “I want
to thank you for your point of view.”
The Egyptian movie
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ offering her help addressing her positive face: "‫تاضا؟‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫خذِح‬ َ‫"ٌٍض‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ offering her help addressing her positive face: "‫"ذسّذً؟‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ offering her help addressing her positive face: "‫أٚصٍه؟‬ ً‫"ذذث‬

10. Page 10 of 16
Negative Politeness strategies
The American movie
 Patrick to Miss Perky requesting a date redressing her negative face with the hedging
modal and mumbling: “Should I, uh, get the lights?”
The Egyptian movie
 ٓ‫دس‬ ‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ apologizing to her using deference term of address to redress her
negative face: “ ‫ِرأ‬ُٔ‫٘ا‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫سف‬ ”
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ asking her about her destination using a deference term of address:
"‫فٍٓ؟‬ ‫عٍى‬ ‫ساٌذح‬ ‫"دضشخ‬
 ‫ٔادٌح‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ asking him about his identity using a hedge and a deference honorific
term redressing his negative face: ‫دضشذه‬ ‫"أفرىش‬"‫دسٓ؟‬ .‫د‬
 The servant to ‫أٍِشج‬ using deference honorific terms and humbling himself with
bowing: ".َ‫فٕذ‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫داضش‬ ...ُٔ‫٘ا‬ ‫ٌا‬ َ‫"أفٕذ‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to the heroine‟s grandfather asking for permission to leave redressing the
negative face of the speaker using an honorific address term and a bow: ‫ٌا‬ ‫أٔا‬ ْ‫أسرأر‬ "
".ٍِٓ‫أ‬ ‫سٍذ‬
Off-record strategies
The American movie
 Miss Perky to Kat criticizing her indirectly using a rhetorical question: “The way
you expressed your opinion to Bobby Ridgeway?”
 Miss Perky to Kat criticizing her indirectly using irony: “By the way, his testicle
retrieval operation went quite well, in case you're interested.”
The Egyptian movie
No strategies were found
The tamed-shrew scenes. These are love and reconciliation scenes in both
movies, and they are preceded by scenes of fake polite strategies in the Egyptian movie;
fake politeness is found in the scenes in which the hero and heroine are pretending they
are married. The tamed-shrew scenes are supposed to be rich in politeness strategies.
However, they still have impolite acts. According to Jonathan Culpeper, no part of any of
the movies can be totally free of impolite acts that are simply conflicts that are necessary
for any plot (1998, p. 86). Nevertheless, only politeness strategies were extracted and

11. Page 11 of 16
analyzed from these scenes. Not surprisingly, they are not that many as any plot depends
heavily on conflicts even within reconciliation scenes, according to Culpeper (1998, p.
86). The tamed-shrew scenes, from which the following quotes were extracted, start in
the last 27 minutes in the American movie and in the last 22 minutes in the Egyptian one.
Positive politeness strategies
The American movie
 Patrick to Kat complimenting her expressing his love and asking for a hug
redressing her positive face: “You're just too good to be true. I can't take my eyes
off you. You'd be like heaven to touch. I wanna hold you so much.”
 Patrick to Kat complementing her and addressing her positive face: “At long last
love has arrived. And I thank God I'm alive. You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.”
 Patrick to Kat asking her to trust him and redressing her positive face with love
words or endearmnets: “I love you baby; trust in me when I say it‟s okay.”
 Patrick to Kat asking her for a love affair redressing her positive face with
compliments and love words: “Oh pretty baby; don't bring me down I pray; oh
pretty baby; now that I've found you stay, and let me love you, baby; let me love
you.”
 Patrick to Kat asking her to join him redressing her positive face with praise:
“You never disappointed me. Are you up for it?”
 Kate to her sister redressing her positive face in order to persuade her: “I do
care.”
 Kate to her sister redressing her positive face in order to persuade her: “I‟m a
firm believer in doing something for your own reasons, and not someone else‟s.”
The Egyptian movie
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to guests and ‫أٍِشج‬ offering them seats using deference honorific terms
showing respect: ".ًٍ‫اذفض‬ ...َ‫فٕذ‬ ‫ٌا‬ ً‫اذفض‬ ...ُٔ‫٘ا‬ ‫ٌا‬ ًٍ‫اذفض‬ "
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ offering him different services addressing his positive face: ‫"عٕه‬
‫ِمطعح؟‬ ‫ذأٍح‬ ‫داجح‬...‫ٌٍغسًٍ؟‬ ‫داجح‬ ‫أي‬ ً‫ف‬...‫اٌّضٍفح؟‬ ‫أوٕس‬ ‫ذذة‬...‫اٌثالط؟‬ ‫أِسخ‬ ‫ذذة‬...‫ذأٍح؟‬ ‫أٚاِش‬ ‫أي‬
"‫أصذٍه؟‬ ‫تذسي‬ ً‫آج‬ ‫ذذة‬ ...

12. Page 12 of 16
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ greeting her using endearment: "ً‫سٚد‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫أ٘ال‬ ،‫أٍِشج‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫"أ٘ال‬
 An aunt to ‫أٍِشج‬ greeting her using endearment: "‫دثٛتح‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫"أ٘ال‬
 An uncle to ‫أٍِشج‬ complimenting her addressing her positive face: ".‫اٌذٍٛج‬ ‫تعشٚسرٕا‬ ‫"أ٘ال‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ praising him using endearment to address his positive face: ‫ذعثه‬ "
".ً‫دثٍث‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫سادح‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ complimenting her using an endearment: ".ً‫دثٍثر‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫إٌذٌه‬ ٍُ‫ذس‬ ،‫أوثش‬ ‫"هللا‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ greeting him showing respect: "‫"سعٍذج‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ friends to ‫د‬ .‫د‬ٓ‫س‬ greeting him using and honorific address term showing
respect: "‫دورٛس‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫"اصٌه‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ friends greeting them using an honorific address term showing
respect: "َ‫فٕذ‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫ٌخٍٍه‬ ‫"هللا‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ thanking her showing approval of what she is doing using an
endearment: ".‫ٌٍا‬ ‫ٌخٍٍه‬ ‫ستٕا‬ ،ً‫دثٍثر‬ ‫ٌا‬ ً‫"ِشس‬
 ‫ٔادٌح‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ thanking her showing approval of what she is doing for her: ‫ٌا‬ ً‫"ِشس‬
".‫تجٛصن‬ ‫ٌٍٕٚٙه‬ ‫ٌٍا‬ ‫ٌخٍٍه‬ ‫ستٕا‬ ،‫أٍِشج‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to the heroine‟s sister and his groom congratulating them and showing
approval of their marriage: ".‫عشاٌسٕا‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫"ِثشٚن‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ complementing her: ".‫ِعان‬ ُٙ‫لضٍر‬ ًٌٍ‫ا‬ ٌٍٓٛ‫اٌذ‬ ٌٍٍِٓٛ‫ا‬ ‫٘أٔسى‬ ‫ِا‬ ‫عّشي‬ ‫"أٔا‬
Negative politeness strategies
The American movie
 Patrick to Kat asking her for a love affair and redressing her negative face with
hedges: “And if it's quite all right, I need you baby.”
 Kat to a teacher asking him for a talk, redressing his negative face with a deference
honorific address term and a hedging modal and minimizing the opposition with “a
second”: “Mr. Chapin, can I talk to you for a second?”
 Patrick to Kat thanking her asking indirectly for more talk and redressing her
negative face by humbling his own thanks: “I can‟t thank you enough for helping me
sneak out of detention.”
 Kat to Patrick asking for forgiveness and redressing his negative face with
apologizing and admitting her mistake: “I‟m really sorry that I questioned your
motives. I was wrong.”
The Egyptian movie
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ redressing her negative face by admitting impingement: ‫ِعاٌا‬ ‫ذعثره‬ ‫"أٔا‬
".‫أٍِشج‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫أٚي‬ ٖ‫إٌٙاسد‬

13. Page 13 of 16
 ‫أٍِشج‬ greets her uncle by a deference strategy showing distance and respect and
humbling herself by bowing and kissing his hand.
 ‫اٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ responding to his non-verbal request and humbling herself with a
lowered head and a low voice: "‫"داضش‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to her sister asking her to hurry up and redressing her negative face with a
hedge: "‫اٌطشدح؟‬ ‫أٌثسه‬ ْ‫عطا‬ ‫ٔادٌح‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫تمى‬ ً‫ذخٍص‬ ‫"ِص‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ requesting something and minimizing the imposition using the
particles underlined: ".‫طٍة‬ ‫آخش‬ ،‫صغٍش‬ ‫طٍة‬ ‫ٌٍا‬ ‫أٔا‬ ،‫فضٍه‬ ِٓ"
 ٓ‫دس‬ ‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ responding to her request by humbling himself and raising her:
"‫"أؤِشي‬
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ asking him to stop ridiculing her and minimizing the imposition
using the underlined particle: ".‫ِاذررشٌأش‬ ‫"أسجٛن‬
 ٓ‫دس‬ .‫د‬ to ‫أٍِشج‬ apologizing and asking her for forgiveness: "‫أٍِشج‬ ‫ٌا‬ ‫آسف‬ ‫"أٔا‬
Off-record strategies
The American movie
 Patrick to Kat inviting her to accompany him indirectly using the rhetorical question:
“Where‟d you get a tux at the last minute?”
The Egyptian movie
 No strategies were found
3.2.2. Answering the second research sub-question
Other politeness strategies in the Egyptian movie
 ‫أٍِشج‬ to her sister disagreeing with her redressing her positive face threatened by
disagreement by using negative politeness strategies, mumbling and hedges,
underlined: ".ٚ‫تشد‬ ‫دك‬ ٖ‫عٕذ‬ ٚ‫جذ‬ ‫افرىش‬ ... ‫آ‬ ‫"آ‬

14. Page 14 of 16
4. Results and conclusion
As a qualitative study, results and conclusion should be presented hand in hand;
they cannot be separated.
I chose to name positive and negative acts addressing non-threatened faces as
“acts” , not “strategies”, as they are single acts not accompanying other threatening acts.
On the other hand, I kept the term “strategy” for redressive acts that accompany other
threatening acts.
The analysis part answering the main and the first research questions shows that
both movies have numerous impolite acts. Impolite acts threatening positive face include
non-verbal acts of beating, tearing, offensive acts, ridicule giggles in the American
movie; looks of disgust, scorn and contempt in both movies; verbal acts of contempt,
disagreement, insults, offensive words, criticism, ridicule, accusations and interruptions
in both movies. Impolite acts threatening the negative face include interruptions and bald
orders in both movies. All impolite acts in both movies can be described by Brown‟s and
Levinson‟s model.
Positive politeness strategies redressing the positive face when threatened or
addressing it without any threats include flirting in the American movie; offers showing
care, greetings showing respect, congratulations showing the speaker‟s respect and
interest in the addressee‟s interests in the Egyptian movie; praise, compliments,
endearments and thanks showing the speaker‟s approval in both movies. All positive
politeness strategies redressing the positive face or acts addressing the positive face
without being threatened, for example, congratulations and greetings, can be described
by Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model.
Negative politeness strategies redressing the negative face when threatened by
requests include minimizing oppositions, hedges, apologies, asking for forgiveness,
admitting mistakes or impingement, humbling oneself in both movies. Negative
politeness acts addressing the negative face without being threatened include deference
acts, honorific address terms, humbling oneself in both movies. All negative politeness
strategies redressing the negative face or acts addressing the negative face without being
threatened can be described by Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model.
As for off-record strategies, rhetorical questions and irony were found only in the
American movie extracts. No strategies were found in the Egyptian movie quotes. All
American off-record strategies can be described by Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model.
The analysis part addressing the second research sub-question shows that negative
politeness strategies redressing the negative face when threatened, hedges and mumbling,
are used once in the Egyptian quotes to redress the positive face threatened by

15. Page 15 of 16
disagreement. The only example is when ‫أٍِشج‬ talks to her sister disagreeing with her
redressing her positive face threatened using mumbling and hedges strategies underlined:
".ٚ‫تشد‬ ‫دك‬ ٖ‫عٕذ‬ ٚ‫جذ‬ ‫افرىش‬ ... ‫آ‬ ‫"آ‬ This use of negative strategies to redress a threatened positive
face cannot be described by Brown‟s and Levinson‟s model.
As far as the quotes under study are concerned, Brown‟s and Levinson's model
can describe all the Egyptian strategies except for one usage
Tentative hypothesis
These results suggest that Egyptian and the American politeness strategies and
impolite acts are similar to a great extent.
Further research
Researchers are recommended to examine larger and more representative samples
to test the tentative hypothesis of this study. They are also recommended to do
quantitative studies to reach statistical results about the extent to which American and
Egyptian politeness strategies and impolite acts are similar or different.

16. Page 16 of 16
References
Brown, P. & S. Levinson (1978). “Universals in language usage: Politeness phenomena”
in E. N. Goody (ed.) Questions and politeness: Strategies in social interaction.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 56-289.
Culpeper, J.1998. (Im)politeness in dramatic dialogue. In Culpeper, J., M. Short & P.
Verdonk (eds.) Exploring the Language of Drama. London: Rutledge, 83-95.
Hyson, Samantha. (n. d.). “Three Versions of The Taming of the Shrew.” Retrieved from
http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/shrew/shyson.htm
Simpson, P. (1989). “Politeness Phenomena in Ionesco's The Lesson.” Language,
discourse and literature: An introductory reader in discourse stylistics, 171-193.