The politeness form as too high a cost for the protection of the negative face of the speaker in Italian.

The politeness form as too high a cost for the protection of the negative face of the speaker in Italian.

While in many languages ​​the use of politeness seems to be a routine practice, in Italian the use of some politeness marks still seems to be very "subjectivized" because they are felt as a form of threat to the speaker's need to protect his need of negative despite the production of the request. In short, the speaker do not intend to pay the cost for the act of request. In other words, the politeness form such as "per favore" ( please) can be perceived as a threat to my need for a negative face, as a form of "caporetto" of my private territory while the request in Italian can also means "I trust you "and for this I allow myself to ask you such a request. The politeness form intended as enhancement of the positive face of the other interlocutor is perceived as a less threatening act by the speaker who produces this act. For example, the production of "ti ringrazio" ( thank you)  is a way to avoid paying too many costs for your negative face and at the same time it allows you to give the other interlocutor a positive face.

In making requests in Italian, justifications, probing the ground, unpacking are all pragmatic moves to achieve the goal by trying to pay as little as possible in terms of cost for our negative face.

 Lexical modifiers such as "maybe, perhaps, by any chance" have the function of creating that feeling of mitigation in the production of a request.

Probability also helps to reduce the cost for the positive face of the requesting speaker.

Generic requests for information are another valid way to probe the terrain in Italian in harmony with the reduction of costs for the negative face.

For examples:

verresti al cinema stasera?
vuoi venire al cinema stasera?
Ti piacerebbe venire al cinema stasera?
Sarei molto felice se tu venissi al cinema stasera. Che fai vieni?

Laura mi presti un attimo il cellulare?
Scusami Laura mi presteresti un attimino il cellulare?
Laura potrei chiederti gentilmente il tuo telefonino?

These examples are a way of highlighting the possibility of working on such linguistic acts as a way of achieving greater pragmatic awareness on the part of the learner.