Application of politeness strategies in year naming practices: A case of the Ruhaya language in Tanzania

Abstract

Comprehending the applicability of politeness in the course of naming years broadens the linguists’ grasp on the way the language is used in the social context. This study investigates politeness strategies employed in Ruhaya year-naming practices among the Bahaya communities of Tanzania. Year-naming in Ruhaya is a distinctive Bantu tradition that goes beyond timekeeping, reflecting the society’s values and historical events. Despite its cultural significance, no prior research has investigated how politeness is encoded in Ruhaya’s year names. To address this gap, the study identifies and analyses the linguistic strategies through which politeness is expressed in the Ruhaya year naming. Data were collected through documentary reviews and face-to-face interviews with 16 participants selected from the Ruhaya native speakers using a purposive sampling technique. The collected data were subsequently analysed using a thematic content analysis. Drawing on Brown and Levinson’s linguistic politeness theory, the findings reveal four politeness strategies: positive politeness, negative politeness, bald on record, and off-record strategies. Positive politeness came out as a predominantly employed strategy, occurring in 26 year names. This was followed by bald-on-record strategies with 15 year names, negative politeness with 14 year names, and off-record strategies with 13 year names. These findings demonstrate that Ruhaya year names are not assigned randomly; rather, their creation is influenced by polite communication within a specific social context. Additionally, the year names in the Ruhaya function not only as time indicators but also as culturally rooted practices that promote the Bahaya community cohesion. The study contributes to broadening the scope of politeness research in Bantu languages and thereby emphasising the importance of documenting indigenous naming systems that reflect unique cultural identities, like year naming. The study recommends further studies on the application of politeness strategies in other Bantu and non-Bantu languages’ names, particularly personal names and year names, to come up with a plausible conception of politeness and naming.