Explicitness for Requests Is a Politer Strategy than Implicitness in Korean

Abstract

This paper argues that 'impositives' and explicit request forms including imperatives, interrogatives and suggestions which contain the core request or the head act are considered politer than hints, in particular, in close relationship or when the size of the request act is not big. The use of imperatives with request markers jom and juda is considered polite because jom and juda are polite markers as well. Thus, Korean speakers employ direct directives more freely than English speakers. In English, to decrease imposition on hearer negative politeness strategies such as hedging, indirectness, giving option, and hints should be employed. 'Off-record' strategy, e.g., hints, is claimed as the politest strategy, but the long inferential path created by indirectness can be a cognitive burden. Hints can also be exploited for deniability or risk avoidance (Weizman 1993). Blum-Kulka (1987) assumes that the interactional balance achieved between the need for pragmatic clarity and the need to avoid coerciveness is important and thus clarity can be an essential part of politeness. This paper shows that the use of direct and explicit request forms is necessary for successful communications and can be politer than implicit ones in Korean.