Brno Studies in English

Volume 35, No. 2, 2009

ISSN 0524-6881

KARIN AIJMER

PLEASE: A POLITENESS FORMULA VIEWED

IN A TRANSLATION PERSPECTIVE

Abstract
Many languages have a marker of politeness such as please associated with the
making of a request (e.g. German bitte, French s’il vous plaît). Swedish on the
other hand does not have a routinised politeness marker corresponding to please.
The present paper studies the correspondences of please in Swedish in order to
get a closer picture of its different functions in English and its translation cor-
respondences. It is shown on the basis of translations that please is used both
DVDVWDQGDUGLVHGVWUDWHJ\LQVRFLDOVLWXDWLRQVDQGDVDZD\RIDYRLGLQJFRQÀLFW
by being tactful. When please is associated with social politeness it is translated
by var så god. The tactful or strategic please signals intensity, emphasis and
power and has emotional side-effects. It is never translated as var så god. It is
shown that the functions of please depend both on the social situation and on
the patterns where it occurs (e.g. position in the utterance and the grammatical
context.

Key words
6RFLDOSROLWHQHVVLOORFXWLRQDU\IRUFHSUDJPDWLFPDUNHUFRQWUDVWLYHSDUDOOHO
corpus; tact

1. Introduction

The little word please has recently attracted considerable interest (House 1989,
Fraser 1996, Wichmann 2004, Sato 2008).1 According to Fraser (1996), please is
a pragmatic idiom signalling illocutionary force: “[w]hen please occurs before an
imperative structure, it signals that the speaker intends the utterance to be taken
as a request, and only as a request” (Fraser 1996: 174). In addition to (illocution-
ary) force it has been suggested that please marks politeness. According to Wich-
64 KARIN AIJMER

mann (2004: 1524) “the word please in contemporary usage is […] undeniably
associated very closely with being ‘polite’”. We can conclude that please occurs
‘with a varying degree of politeness and directive force’ (Sato 2008: 1250).
A cross-linguistic analysis based on the comparison between English and
Swedish will be the starting-point for discussing the politeness and illocutionary
force expressed by please. Translations can focus on the illocutionary force as-
sociated with please or on its use as a politeness marker depending on different
linguistic and non-linguistic features present in the speech situation.
Many languages have a marker such as please associated with requests (es-
pecially the imperative) and with politeness (e.g. German bitte, French s’il vous
plaît). Swedish differs from German or French in that it does not have a routinised
politeness or force marker corresponding to please. Ohlander (1985) refers to ‘the
chronic shortage’ of a universal politeness marker in Swedish of the same type
which is found in English and in many other languages. The rules of usage may
also be different. For example, German speakers use bitte more frequently than
English speakers use please in everyday request situations (House 1989: 97).
There is no direct correspondence of please in Swedish. However we can look
at its translations into Swedish (as well as looking back at the Swedish sources
when please is used in English translations). Translators have to make decisions
about what please means on the basis of analysing its functions in the source
language. Their decisions are based on the relationship between the speaker and
hearer, degree of formality and the extent to which the situation has become routi-
nised.
The outline of the paper is as follows. The distribution of the correspondences
in the material will be discussed in Section 2. Section 3 deals with the functions
of please on the basis of the translations. The conclusion in Section 4 discusses
the two types of politeness signalled by please.

2. Material

We can study the ways in which please is translated on the basis of the English-
6ZHGLVK3DUDOOHOFRUSXV (63&  $OWHQEHUJDQG$LMPHU 7KHFRUSXVFRQ-
sists of roughly 3 million words of English texts translated into Swedish and
D VLPLODU DPRXQW RI 6ZHGLVK WH[WV ZLWK (QJOLVK FRUUHVSRQGHQFHV %RWK ¿FWLRQ
DQG QRQ¿FWLRQ WH[WV KDYH EHHQ FROOHFWHG LQ URXJKO\ WKH VDPH SURSRUWLRQV 
texts each of 10,000–15,000 words).
Translations will be the raw material for the discussion of please and polite-
ness. The direct confrontation involved in translating from one language to an-
other makes it possible to establish (translation) paradigms displaying the ways
in which a particular element has been translated. Table 1 shows the paradigm
resulting from extracting the translations of please in the ESPC.
The examples of please in the English originals can be assumed to be rep-
resentative of how the word is used in English although the examples are few.
 PLEASE: A POLITENESS FORMULA VIEWED IN A TRANSLATION PERSPECTIVE 65

There were 65 examples of please in English original texts, eight of which were
examples of the verb please (including one example of LI\RXSOHDVH) and there-
fore not counted. In order to study the polite please ,KDYHXVHGRQO\¿FWLRQWH[WV
The examples can be taken to represent natural speech since all (except three) ex-
DPSOHVRFFXULQGLUHFWTXRWDWLRQV7KH¿FWLRQDOFKDUDFWHUVKDYHGLIIHUHQWVSHDNHU
and hearer roles (involving more or less power) and several types of social situa-
tions and scenarios are represented.

Table 1. Swedish translations of please LQ ¿FWLRQ WH[WV LQ WKH (63& (English
originals Æ Swedish translations)

(Åh) snälla (X) with the variants var snäll och, snälla du/ni, är ni snäll; 29
kära
(oh dear (X), be so kind and, dear you, are you kind, dear)
-DWDFN JlUQD with the variant gärna 4
(yes thank you willingly)
9DUYlQOLJRFK with the variants var bussig och, är ni hyggliga (be kind 5
(and), are you kind)
Kan kanske (perhaps) 1
6nVNDQLInK|UDVlJHUMDJ (I say, listen to this) 1
9DUVnJRG with the variant var god ‘be so good and’, ‘be good’ 2
Ø 10
Other 5

A comment on the translations:

Swedish has no politeness marker corresponding to (all the functions of) Eng-
lish please. As a result there is not a single translation correspondence.
The translations can be distinguished by their different meanings although this
LVQRWFOHDUIURPWKHPHDQLQJRIWKHDGMHFWLYHVXVHG snäll, vänlig, god). The fol-
lowing invented examples (translations of please sit down) have different mean-
ings depending on several different factors such as the authority of the speaker
and whether the situation is regarded as routinised or negotiated by the speaker
and hearer.

a. Var snäll och sätt dig (I urge you to sit down)

b. Var så god och sitt ner (do sit down)

We can also change the translation direction and study please in translations from
Swedish. Table 2 shows the words and constructions in the Swedish source texts.
If please is translated by a construction with snäll(a) (var snäll och), vänlig (var
vänlig och), or var så god we would expect these constructions to be the source
of please in the Swedish original texts. This is indeed the case. The translator has
66 KARIN AIJMER

also used please when the Swedish original explicitly marks illocutionary force
(jag ber dig ‘I ask you’).

Table 2. Please LQ (QJOLVK WUDQVODWLRQV RI 6ZHGLVK RULJLQDOV LQ ¿FWLRQ WH[WV LQ
ESPC (Swedish originals Æ English translations)

Please added with no correspondence in the source text 16

Snälla (including snälla snälla counted as one example) 3
9DUVnJRG D with the variant var god(a) ‘be (so) good’ 3
9LOOGX (will you) 2
Gärna with variant I|UDOOGHO ‘willingly’, ‘by all means’ – only as 2
a response
9LOOQLYDUDVnYlQOLJDRFK with the variant vill du vara vänlig och ‘will 2
you be (so) kind and’
Det går bra att (‘it goes well to’) 1
Så ber jag dig (‘so ask I you’) 1
-DJYLOODWW (‘I will that’) 1
Säger jag (‘I say’) 1

The frequencies of the correspondences should also be noted. Johansson (2007:

32) mentions please as an example of a word which does not have a straightfor-
ward counterpart in Norwegian and is therefore underused in translations from
1RUZHJLDQ:H ¿QG D VLPLODU LPEDODQFH ZKHQ ZH FRPSDUH WKH GLVWULEXWLRQ RI
please in English originals and English translations in the ESPC. A comparison
between Table 1 and Table 2 shows that snälla is used less frequently in Swed-
ish originals than in the translation. (29 examples in translations, 3 examples in
Swedish originals).
Moreover please has been added in a large number of examples (i.e. the op-
posite of omission in translations from original texts). Addition (like omission) is
interesting from a typological or cross-linguistic perspective.

Addition can be interpreted as the translator’s response to the whole

FRQWH[WUHÀHFWLQJFURVVOLQJXLVWLFGLIIHUHQFHVLQWKHVRUWRIPHDQLQJVWKDW
are conventionally expressed in natural discourse. (Johansson 2007: 26)

The reason for the addition of please in ‘back-translations’ may be that formulaic
politeness markers are needed in some situations in English when they are not
needed in Swedish.
The translations are interesting because they give an indication of when polite-
QHVVLVSXUHO\IRUPDODQGZKHQLWLVXVHGVWUDWHJLFDOO\WRDYRLGFRQÀLFW7KH\DOVR
indicate that please is not only a politeness marker but a marker of illocutionary
force linked to the speaker’s authority. The patterns with please will be further
analysed in Section 3.
 PLEASE: A POLITENESS FORMULA VIEWED IN A TRANSLATION PERSPECTIVE 67

3. Analysing patterns with SOHDVH

Please occurs with imperatives and with indirect requests. There were 12 differ-
ent patterns shown in the table below:

Table 3. Please in different patterns in English original texts

Please + Imperative 26
Imperative + please 3
Could you please 1
&RXOG,«SOHDVH 1
Please would NP VP 1
Please will you 1
Would NP VP please 1
Please + wh question 1
Wh-question + please 1
NAME + please 2
Yes please 2
Please 1

Please FDQEHSODFHGLQLWLDOO\¿QDOO\DQGPHGLDOO\ RUDORQH ZKLFKH[SODLQVWKH

large number of patterns. We can see that although many patterns are represented,
the pattern ‘please + imperative’ is dominant. 26 out of 57 examples occurred
with an imperative (29 out of 57 examples if the pattern ‘imperative + please’ is
LQFOXGHG 7KLVLVVLPLODUWRWKHKLJK¿JXUHVIRXQGE\6DWR2 (2008) for American
DQG1HZ=HDODQG(QJOLVK FIDOVR$LMPHUZKRIRXQGWKDWplease was more
frequent with imperatives than with indirect requests in the London-Lund Cor-
pus). Indirect requests in the form of a question included FRXOG\RXFRXOG,(abil-
ity), would NP, will you (willingness), (so-called query-preparatory requests).
The pattern yes please is restricted to formulaic responses to offers.
Please was rarely used with indirect requests. However many examples from
QRQ¿FWLRQ QRWSDUWRIWKHVWXG\ KDYHDQLQGLUHFWIRUPwill you please, would
you please, could you please which suggests that stylistic differences such as
degree of formality are involved. In the rest of the paper I will use translations to
unpack the functions of please.

3.1. Please and imperatives

Please tends to be neglected as a linguistic item because it is above all associated

with social behaviour. It is formulaic and is used in social situations “character-
L]HGE\URXWLQHDQGUHFXUUHQFH´ $LMPHU $FOHDUH[DPSOHRIDVRFLDOVLWXD-
tion where the polite ‘please’ is expected is in the response to an offer. People are
68 KARIN AIJMER

expected to say yes please (or yes thank you) when they are offered something
because it is socially appropriate.

Social politeness is rooted in people’s needs for smoothly organized

interaction with other members of the group. As member of groups,
people must behave in more or less predictable ways in order to achieve
social coordination and sustain communication. One way of doing this
is to follow conventional or social politeness. (Janney and Arndt 2005:
22–23)

Other recurrent social situations are for instance asking someone to sit down, to
come in, to have something more to eat, to wait on the telephone, etc. In recurrent
social situations please has little meaning although its absence might be noticed
and associated with sanctions.
The translations of please preceded or followed by an imperative show that
there are several different uses of please. To express social conventionalized po-
liteness the translator has used var så god.

(1) “You’re letting the cold in.”

Listen to how his wife spoke to him.
No respect.
Diana smiled and said, “Please come in.”
Normally, nothing would have induced Wilf to leave the doorstep and
enter a house full of Hell Close women, but he had to see Diana, listen
to her lovely voice.
(ST1)3

“Du släpper in kylan.”

Hör bara hur hans fru talade till honom.
Ingen respekt.
Diana log och sa: “Var så god och stig in.”
I vanliga fall skulle ingenting ha kunnat få Wilf att lämna trappan och
gå in i ett hus fullt av kvinnor från Lusgränd, men han måste se Diana,
lyssna till hennes underbart vackra röst.

Other situations where please corresponds to ‘var så god(a) och’ are (2) ‘asking
someone to sit down’ and (3) asking someone to (sit down and) have a bun.

(2) Wallander was surprised by the man’s forthright statement.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” he said.
“Please sit down.”
I’m afraid the chair’s a bit old.
(HM2T)
 PLEASE: A POLITENESS FORMULA VIEWED IN A TRANSLATION PERSPECTIVE 69

Wallander blev överraskad av mannens direkthet.

9LInUWDGHWKHODIUnQE|UMDQVDKDQ
Var så god och sitt.
Tyvärr år stolen dålig.

(3) “They’ve no sense of humour,” said Igor.

“May I have a bun?”)
“Yes, of course, please do, and please do take a seat,” said Elsa.
 ³,¶OOMXVWJRDQGIHWFKWKHFRIIHH´
(ARP1T)

— Dom har ingen humor, sa Igor.

Får man ta en bulle?
— Ja varsågoda och slå er ner, sa Elsa.
Jag ska hämta kaffepannan.

9DUVnJRGis the only conventionalized politeness marker in Swedish.4 The trans-

lation shows if the translator has regarded politeness as purely conventional or as
more strategic. In (4) the choice of an indirect request in the translation suggests
that the speaker considers the hearer’s face needs:

(4) But at that moment the mirrored door at the rear of the shop opened and
/RXLV=DEORQVN\FDPHRXW+HZDVDVKRUWZL]HQHGPDQRI¿IW\VL[EXW
looked older.
“Mr James,” he beamed, “how nice to see you.”
3OHDVHFRPHLQWRP\RI¿FH.
“How have you been keeping?”
(FF1)

Men i det ögonblicket öppnades den spegelklädda dörren längst in i

affären, och Louis Zablonsky kom ut.Han var en kortväxt och skrumpen
femtiosexåring, men han såg äldre ut.
“Mr James,” sa han och log brett, “så trevligt att se er igen.
Vill ni inte stiga in på mitt kontor?
Hur har ni haft det?”
OLWHUDOO\ZLOO\RXQRWVWHSLQWRP\RI¿FH

In the following example the translator has added please going from the Swedish
source text to the English target. Please is enforced by the social situation and
social rules for what is appropriate. The absence of a correspondence in Swedish
UHÀHFWVWKHIDFWWKDW6ZHGLVKGRHVQRWQHHGWRXVHDSROLWHQHVVPDUNHU

(5) “Can’t you say who it is you want to talk to?”

“No, no, that’s not necessary... please excuse me.”
70 KARIN AIJMER

It sounded as if the receiver had been put down.

(MG1T)

— Kan du inte säga vem du vill tala med?

²1HMQHMGHWEHK|YVLQWHXUVlNWDPHM.
Här lät det som om luren lades på.

As has been observed by Ohlander (1985) var så god och and var vänlig och (var
snäll och) are quite different as translations. Using Sato’s (2008) terms we can
refer to var så god as ‘submissive’ and var snäll och (and variants) as volitional
or intentional. The politely submissive variant has become associated with social
appropriateness (in Swedish) rather than var snäll och which is used for strategic
politeness or ‘being tactful’. 9DUVQlOORFKexpresses the speaker’s involvement
and assertiveness:

(6) Miss Honey looked carefully at the tiny girl with dark hair and a round
serious face sitting in the second row.
“Wonderful,” she said.
“Please stand up and recite as much of it as you can.”
Matilda stood up and began to say the two-times table.
(RD1)

)U|NHQ+RQXQJEHWUDNWDGHLQJnHQGHGHQOLOODÀLFNDQPHGGHWP|UNDKnUHW
och det runda allvarliga ansiktet som satt i andra raden.
“Vad bra!” sa hon.
“Var snäll och res dig upp och läs upp tvåans tabell så långt du kan.”
 0DWLOGDUHVWHVLJXSSRFKE|UMDGHUDEEODWYnDQVWDEHOO
(RD1T)

Please in the volitional meaning can be impolite and brusque even when polite-
ness is signalled: “The speaker manipulates the recipient’s knowledge of please
as a courtesy token, thereby using politeness as a warrant for delivering the as-
sertive act” (Sato 2008: 1273–1274). When please is used strategically it can be
associated with power and authority. In (6) ‘Miss Honey’ is in a position of au-
thority or power in relation to the ‘tiny girl with dark hair’ because of the teaching
situation. Authority and power with implications such as urgency or insistence,
impoliteness, annoyance are suggested by the translations.
Urgency can be suggested by the translator’s JO|PLQWH(‘don’t forget’):

(7) “Please let old Victor know our troubles.

 +HFDQ¶W¿[ZKDWKHGRHVQ¶WNQRZ
And — please — wish Victor Happy Birthday from us all.”
(JC1)
 PLEASE: A POLITENESS FORMULA VIEWED IN A TRANSLATION PERSPECTIVE 71

“Ni kan väl tala med Victor om saken är ni snäll.

 +DQNDQMXLQWHJ|UDQnJRWnWGHWRPKDQLQWHInUUHGDSnGHW
Och glöm inte att gratulera honom från oss alla!”

Irritation and impatience are expressed by the translation in (8):

 ³,IWKHUH¶VDQ\ZD\,FDQKHOSZLWKWKDWMXVWOHWPH²´
“Andrew!
Please be serious.”
“Can’t.”
(AH1)

 ³2PMDJNDQKMlOSDGLJPHGGHWSnQnJRWVlWWlUGHWEDUDDWWVlJDWLOO«´
“Andrew!
Försök vara allvarlig.”
“Det går inte.”
Lit. ‘Try to be serious’

Please is assertive, involved and emotional. The translator has used I|UV|N D 
‘try’ which suggests that the hearer does not want to make an effort. Please in
the example above is associated with ‘being tactful’ (Janney and Arndt 2005),
i.e. with a more strategic use of politeness in communication. “The speaker does
not only behave in a socially appropriate way but uses please strategically to
DYRLGFRQÀLFWVDQGWRHVWDEOLVKSRVLWLYHVRFLDOUHODWLRQV´7UDQVODWLQJplease in-
volves more than simply looking for a correspondence in the other language. The
translator has to consider who the speaker is, the social goal as well as intended
or non-intended effects in order to choose the appropriate translation. As shown
by the example above ‘the tactful’ please can also be impolite when it displays
emotion.
The translation can also render the illocutionary force associated with please.
Please is used to make a strong demand as suggested by the translation jag måste
be er ‘I must ask you’ (not to do something).

(9) “How can you call it customer service when you don’t do shit?”
Her mouth turned prim.
“Please don’t use language like that around me.
It’s very offensive.”
(SG1)

 ³+XUNDQQLNDOODGHWNXQGWMlQVWQlUQLLQWHKMlOSHUWLOOPHGHWWVNLW"´
Hennes mun drogs till en pryd grimas.
“Jag måste be er att inte använda sådant språk.
Det är mycket obehagligt.”
Lit. ‘I have to ask you’
72 KARIN AIJMER

Please expresses both illocutionary force and (im)politeness as shown by the

translations. In (10) the translator has chosen säger jag (I say this) to emphasise
that the speaker will not tolerate a refusal:

(10) Please order a taxi.

(MS1T)
Vill du beställa en taxi, VlJHUMDJ

A ‘strong’, authoritative request needs to be distinguished from an appeal (a per-

suasive demand or a plea). In (11) the speaker uses the appealing please because
the hearer is unwilling to comply with the speaker’s wishes. The translator has
chosen the vocative snälla du (‘kind you’, ‘dear’) to render appeal.

(11) “I don’t think I want to say it, Miss Honey.”

“Please tell it,” Miss Honey said.
“I promise I won’t mind.”
(RD1)

 ³-DJWURULQWHDWWMDJYLOOOlVDXSSGHQIU|NHQ+RQXQJ´
“Snälla du, gör det,” sa fröken Honung.
“Jag lovar att inte bli förnärmad.”

3.2. Translations of indirect requests

An indirect request pays attention to the social relationship with the hearer (stra-
tegically tactful behaviour). Please was never translated as snälla suggesting that
please is not used for appeal in this context. Could you please and &RXOG,«
please are used for requests and not for questioning. Please is therefore primarily
a request marker.

  &HOLDVWDUWHGWRVD\³'RZHKDYHWLPH"´EXWZDVXQDEOHWR¿QLVKEHFDXVH
Andrew was kissing her.
Moments later, he murmured, “Could you please clear that bed?”
Reaching behind, without looking and with one arm around Andrew,
&HOLDEHJDQWRWKURZFORWKHVRQWKHÀRRU
(AH1)

&HOLDE|UMDGHVlJD³+LQQHUYL"´PHQKRQNXQGHLQWHDYVOXWDPHQLQJHQ
eftersom Andrew kysste henne.
Några ögonblick senare mumlade han: “Kan du ta bort de där sakerna
från sängen?”
Hon sträckte handen bakåt utan att se sig om och med andra armen runt
$QGUHZRFKE|UMDGHVOlQJDQHUNOlGHUQDSnJROYHW
 PLEASE: A POLITENESS FORMULA VIEWED IN A TRANSLATION PERSPECTIVE 73

Kan kanske (‘can perhaps’) suggests that please can in addition be used as a miti-
gating politeness marker:

(13) “Wonderful,” Macon said.

He cleared his throat.
“So could I have him back, please?”
(AT1)

“Underbart,” sade Macon.

Han harklade sig.
“Då kanMDJkanske få honom tillbaka.”

3.3. Translation of elliptical forms

Please with elliptical forms is only found in recurrent social situations, for exam-
ple to ask a person to wait on the telephone or to ask for a drink at a restaurant.
Please is used as a force idiom which need not be translated since the (institution-
alised) context makes it clear that a request is made.

(14) “Yes, that’s me.”

“One moment, please.
I have a call for you from the village of Frankenstein.”
(ARP1T)

 ²-DGHWlUMDJ
— Ett ögonblick.
Det kommer samtal från byn Frankenstein.

In (15) the translator’s choice of the imperative conveys the requestive function:

(15) Oh dear, I think I caught a chill sitting there watching out for hares.
Innkeeper, a glass of mulled wine, please.
(ARP1T)
2MMDJWURUMDJEOHYNDOOQlUMDJVDWWRFKOXUDGHSnKDUHQ²Krögare, ge
PHMHWWJODVYDUPJO|JJ

3.4. Translations of the pattern (yes) please

Yes please occurs in the response to an offer with a softening function. The translation
(ja tack ‘yes thank you’) indicates the close similarity between please and thanking.
Gärna expresses the hearer’s willingness to accept the offer (gärna ‘willingly’).
74 KARIN AIJMER

(16) “That never occurred to me.

More champagne?”
“Yes, please.”
(AH1)

 ³'HWKDUMDJDOGULJWlQNWSn
Mer champagne?”
“Ja tack.”

3.5. Translations of freestanding SOHDVH

When please occurs alone it can be preceded by oh, it can be repeated, and ac-
companied by a name referring to the person addressed. Please in this function
has been described as an attention-getter (Sato 2008). Its main function is to in-
ÀXHQFH DQRWKHU LQGLYLGXDO¶V EHKDYLRXU ,Q WKH H[DPSOH EHORZ LW H[SUHVVHV WKH
speaker’s desperation:

  1RWIURPH[FLWHPHQWEXWIURPDQ[LHW\WKDWVKHZRXOGQ¶WEHDEOHWR¿QG
WKHULJKWZRUGVRISUDLVHZKHQVKH¿QDOO\JRWWKHZUDSSLQJVRIIDQG
opened the box.
She didn’t pray to God, because she hadn’t heard about him yet, but she
repeated over and over again to herself:
“Please, please, I must be pleased, I must be pleased… pleased.”
(MR1T)

,QWHDYVSlQQLQJXWDQDYlQJVODQI|UDWWKRQLQWHVNXOOHNXQQD¿QQDGH
UlWWDJODGRUGHQQlUKRQlQWOLJHQKDGHO\FNDWVInDYK|OMHWRFK|SSQDW
asken.
Hon bad inte till Gud, för hon hade inte hört talas om honom utan
XSSUHSDGHW\VWI|UVLJVMlOY
— Snälla, snälla,MDJPnVWHEOLJODG«MDJPnVWHEOLJODG«JODG

Please does not have a mitigating or illocutionary force function but is strongly
emotional (as indicated by snälla).

4. Conclusion

Please LVERWKDVWUXFWXUDOO\DQGIXQFWLRQDOO\ÀH[LEOHHOHPHQWDVVKRZQE\WKH
many patterns in which it occurs. Sato (2008) has for instance shown that please
has different functions depending on its position in the utterance. Another im-
portant factor is the type of sentence pattern (e.g. whether please occurs with an
imperative or an indirect requestive form). The close analysis of the correspon-
 PLEASE: A POLITENESS FORMULA VIEWED IN A TRANSLATION PERSPECTIVE 75

dences of please suggests that politeness can be realized in different ways. The
use of please is regulated by ‘politeness conventions’ providing a ‘framework of
standardised strategies for getting gracefully into, and back out of, a recurring
social situation’ (Janney and Arndt 2005: 23). This is social politeness illustrated
in the Swedish translation ‘var så god’. Please can be idiomatic but it can also be
used strategically in a number of ways including being impolite in a polite way.
This type of politeness has been described by Brown and Levinson (1987) and
also by Janney and Arndt (2005) who speak about ‘tact’ rather than face-saving.
Tact is not governed by social conventions but involves the strategic calculation
RIKRZFRQÀLFWFDQEHDYRLGHG³%HLQJWDFWIXOLVQRWVLPSO\DPDWWHURIEHKDYLQJ
in a socially ‘correct’ way – i.e., following rules of social usage; rather it is a mat-
ter of behaving in an interpersonally supportive way” (Janney and Arndt 2005:
 ([DPSOHVRIFRQÀLFWDYRLGLQJVWUDWHJLHVDUHIRULQVWDQFHLQGLUHFWIRUPVUDWK-
er than direct ones, clustering of polite ‘mitigating’ features, a special prosody,
repetition, use of names, etc.
The distinction between please as a conventionalised politeness marker in re-
current situations and please imposing on the hearer to do something is supported
by translations. Swedish var så god signals empty or social politeness in recur-
rent social situations. It cannot be replaced by var snäll och (or a variant) which
is assertive or brusque rather than polite. On the other hand, var snäll och can
signal intensity, emphasis and power and has side-effects such as impatience and
urgency (strategic or volitional tactful behaviour). The use of please to make per-
suasive appeals is at the most volitional end of tactful uses (indicated by transla-
tions such as snälla du/ni, snälla + name).

Notes

1 For an overview of the extensive literature on please see Sato (2008).

2 40 out of 100 examples (AmE) and 34 out of 100 examples (NZE).
3 ST refers to the name of the author (Sue Townsend).
4 However Ohlander (1985) shows that there are examples in presentday colloquial Swedish
where snälla has become a routinised politeness marker (without any meaning of ‘appeal’).

Primary sources

English originals

AH Arthur Hailey, Strong Medicine. Michael Joseph Ltd. London 1984.

AT Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist. Alfred A. Knopf. New York 1985.
FF Frederick Forsyth, The Fourth Protocol. Hutchinson. London 1984.
JC Jim Crace, Arcadia. Jonathan Cape. London 1992.
RD Roald Dahl, Matilda3XI¿Q%RRNV/RQGRQ
76 KARIN AIJMER

SG Sue Grafton, ³'´LVIRU'HDGEHDWPan Books Ltd. London 1990.

ST Sue Townsend. 7KH4XHHQDQG,. Methuen London 1992.

Swedish originals

ARP Allan Rune Pettersson, )UDQNHQVWHLQVIDVWHU±LJHQ Bonniers Juniorför-

lag. Stockholm 1989.
HM Henning Mankell, Den vita lejoninnan Ordfront. Stockholm 1993.
MG Maria Gripe, Agnes Cecilia. Bonniers Juniorförlag. Stockholm 1981.
MR Maud Reuterswärd, Flickan och dockskåpet. Bonniers Juniorförlag
Stockholm 1979.
MS Maria Scherer, Kejsarvalsen. Albert Bonniers Förlag. Stockholm 1983.

References

$LMPHU .DULQ   &RQYHUVDWLRQDO 5RXWLQHV LQ (QJOLVK &RQYHQWLRQ DQG &UHDWLYLW\. London:
Longman.
$OWHQEHUJ%HQJWDQG.DULQ$LMPHU  µ7KH(QJOLVK6ZHGLVK3DUDOOHO&RUSXV$UHVRXUFHIRU
contrastive research and translation studies’. In: Mair, Christian and Marianne Hundt (eds.) Cor-
SXV/LQJXLVWLFVDQG/LQJXLVWLF7KHRU\3DSHUVIURPWKHWK,QWHUQDWLRQDO&RQIHUHQFHRQ(QJOLVK
/DQJXDJH5HVHDUFKRQ&RPSXWHUL]HG&RUSRUD (ICAME 20) Freiburg im Breisgau, 1999. Am-
sterdam & Philadelphia: Rodopi, 15–33.
Brown, Penelope and Stephen C. Levinson (1987) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Us-
age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fraser, Bruce (1996) ‘Pragmatic markers’. Pragmatics, 167–190.
House, Juliane (1989) ‘The functions of please and bitte’. In: Blum-Kulka, Shoshana, Juliane
House, and Gabriele Kasper (eds.) &URVVFXOWXUDO 3UDJPDWLFV 5HTXHVWV DQG $SRORJLHV. Nor-
wood: Ablex, 96–119.
Janney, Richard W. and Horst Arndt (2005) ‘Intracultural tact versus intercultural tact’. In: Watts,
Richard J., Sachiko Ide, and Konrad Ehlich (eds.) Politeness in Language. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter, 21–41.
Johansson, Stig (2007) 6HHLQJWKURXJK0XOWLOLQJXDO&RUSRUD2QWKHXVHRI&RUSRUDLQ&RQWUDVWLYH
Studies$PVWHUGDP 3KLODGHOSKLD-RKQ%HQMDPLQV
Ohlander, Sölve (1985) ‘“Snälla ta med brickan!” Om ett nytt uttryck för hövlighet i svenskan’.
Språkvård 3, 4–15.
Sato, Shie (2008) ‘Use of ‘please’ in American and New Zealand English’. -RXUQDORI3UDJPDWLFV
40, 1249–1278.
Wichmann, Anne (2004) ‘The intonation of please-requests: a corpus-based study’. -RXUQDO RI
Pragmatics 36, 1521–1549.

KARIN AIJMER is professor emerita of English linguistics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Her research interests focus on spoken English, corpus linguistics, contrastive analysis, modality,
GLVFRXUVHPDUNHUVDQGSKUDVHRORJ\6KHLVHQJDJHGLQYDULRXVUHVHDUFKSURMHFWVRQOHDUQHUFRUSRUD
and on parallel corpora. She is the author of &RQYHUVDWLRQDO5RXWLQHVLQ(QJOLVK&RQYHQWLRQDQG
Creativity, Longman (1996), (QJOLVK 'LVFRXUVH 3DUWLFOHV (YLGHQFH IURP D &RUSXV %HQMDPLQV
 PLEASE: A POLITENESS FORMULA VIEWED IN A TRANSLATION PERSPECTIVE 77

(2002), co-author of 7KH6HPDQWLF)LHOGRI0RGDO&HUWDLQW\$6WXG\RI$GYHUEVLQ(QJOLVK(2007),

editor of 'LDORJXH$QDO\VLV9,,,8QGHUVWDQGLQJDQG0LXQGHUVWDQGLQJLQ'LDORJXH6HOHFWHG3D-
SHUVIURPWKHth,$'$&RQIHUHQFH*|WHERUJ, Niemeyer (2004), and co-editor of Discourse
Patterns in Spoken and Written Corpora%HQMDPLQV  Advances in Corpus Linguistics. Pa-
SHUVIURPWKHUG,QWHUQDWLRQDO&RQIHUHQFHRQ(QJOLVK/DQJXDJH5HVHDUFKRQ&RPSXWHUL]HG&RU-
SRUD ,&$0( *|WHERUJ0D\, Rodopi (2004) and Pragmatic Markers in Contrast,
Elsevier (2006). She has had a large number of articles published in the areas of spoken English,
pragmatics and discourse.

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