Politeness Theory sa Konteksto ng Mamasapano-Era Senate Hearing: Pagsusuri ng Interaksyon ng mga Senador at Resource Speaker (Politeness Theory in the context of the Mamasapano-era senate hearing: Examining interactions between senators and resource speakers)

Abstract

Senate hearings are defined as a type of public political discourse that is rich in interpersonal communication. Among of the characteristics of a senate hearing are senators’ adopting of the roles of investigator and interrogator; prevalence of interactivity between senators and resource persons; dominance of formality, which is palpable especially in status-related differences between senators and resource persons; and accessibility to the general public through live broadcasts on traditional and social media. This study is anchored on Brown and Levinson’s Politeness, which focuses on positive and negative politeness strategies. The data used consisted of transcripts from the senate hearing on the Mamasapano incident in 2015, and these were examined in terms of the dominant politeness strategies. The results generally revealed that the majority of the politeness strategies were negative, which are due to the formal orientation of senate hearings, the requirement that resource persons narrate events truthfully, and the presence of explanations. The study recommends that other senate hearings be examined and that face-threatening acts be examined in order to investigate other aspects of politeness.