Face

What is face? Notions such as reputation, prestige and self-esteem, all involve an element of the folk notion of face. The term is perhaps most commonly used in English in the idiom losing face, meaning that one’s public image suffers some damage, often resulting in humiliation or embarrassment. Such reactions are suggestive of the emotional investment in face. Much modern writing on face draws upon the work of Goffman (e.g. 1967). Goffman (1967: 5) defines it thus: “the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact. Face is an image of self-delineated in terms of approved social attributes.” Brown and Levinson’s conception of face consists of two related components, which they assume are universal: “every member wants to claim for himself” (1987: 61) [our italics]. One component is labelled positive face, and appears to be close to Goffman’s definition of face, as it is defined as “the want of every member that his wants be desirable to at least some others ... in particular, it includes the desire to be ratified, understood, approved of, liked or admired” (1987: 62). One may assume, for example, that you want your existence acknowledged (e.g. people to say Hello), approval of your opinions (e.g. You’re right about that student), or the expression of admiration (e.g. I thought you did a good job). Note that positive face clearly involves particular attitudes. The other component, negative face, is defined as: “the want of every ‘competent adult member’ that his actions be unimpeded by others” (1987: 62). One may assume, for example, that you want people to let you attend to what you want, do what you want and say what you want (hence, requests that inconvenience you are tentatively worded). Incidentally, the words “positive” and “negative” in the labels for these two kinds of face carry no implications of good and bad; they are simply technical terms for different kinds of face.