From Local Javanese Priyayi’s Etiquette to Universal in Linguistic Politeness.

Abstract

Long before the publication of Brown & Levinson (1978) on the universal theory of politeness, Geertz (1960) has published an article on linguistic etiquette based on the Javanese data. Brown & Levinson's theory is not based on the Javanese language but I would like to argue in this paper that Javanese local knowledge as evoked by Geertz is not essentially different from sociological variables used by Brown & Levinson as the basic foundation of their theory. The etiquette that Geertz has concentrated on is the one belonging to the Javanese Priyayi social group. Thus, the provocative argument is whether, socio-culturally speaking, the local etiquette practiced by the Javanese speakers may be quite similar to the research finding of Brown & Levinson in their theoretical discussion on universal politeness of language use. keywords: Javanese, Priyayi's etiquette, politeness thory, linguistic politeness, local knowledge.