'Face' and polite verbal behaviors in Chinese culture

This discussion note evaluates Mao's (1994) debate with Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) about their politeness theory based on the notion efface. The conclusion is that Mao's arguments against their theory are not convincing, Two points are clarified during the discussion. First, for face to operate as a motivating factor for politeness at all, it must be related to every one in a community as a self-image. Second, the nature of politeness strate gies favored by a particular culture should be established on an empirical basis rather than from the alleged connotations of certain words. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.