Face-Threatening Acts (FTAs)

Facework, according to Goffman, is made up of “the actions taken by a person to make whatever he is doing consistent with face” (1967: 12). Any action – though Brown and Levinson almost always discuss speech acts – that impinges to some degree upon a person’s face (e.g. orders, insults, criticisms) is a face-threatening act (hereafter, FTA). Facework can be designed to maintain or support face by counteracting threats, or potential threats, to face. This kind of facework is often referred to as redressive facework, since it involves the redress of an FTA. Facework, in Brown and Levinson’s (1987) model, can be distinguished according to the type of face redressed, positive or negative. One might say that positive facework provides the pill with a sugar coating in that one affirms that in general one wants to support the other’s positive face (e.g. in saying Make me a cup of tea, sweetie, the term of endearment expresses in-group solidarity with and affection for the hearer, thereby counterbalancing the FTA). In contrast, negative facework softens the blow in that one specifically addresses the FTA (typically, in British culture, this is achieved by being less direct, as in I wondered if I could trouble you to make me a cup of tea).