Cross Cultural Pragmatic Analysis of Pakistani and American Political Talkshows

The fundamental goal of politeness is to ensure that the discourse between the interlocutors proceeds smoothly, free from conflict and misunderstanding, and the addressee's face desires are given significant weight in a given context. This research centers on the pragmatic examination of the selected one political talk show from Pakistan and one from the United States. The current study aims to investigate the cross-cultural variations in the use of different politeness tactics and maxims. The impact of disobeying the speech maxims was examined by applying Leech's (1983) conversational maxims. This research also investigated the use of certain politeness strategies which are employed to avoid damage or risk to the face. Furthermore, different impoliteness strategies employed in order to attack the face of the hearer were also analyzed and discussed in detail in both Pakistani and American talk shows. It is expected that the present study will highlight some preponderant features of both the Pakistani and American politicians’ realization of politeness strategies.