About face: comparing positive politeness in Dummies and conventional software documentation

Abstract

Previous researchers have noted rhetorical differences between primary manuals (i.e., those produced by the manufacturer) and secondary (i.e., after-market) manuals such as those in the Dummies series. Three manuals for Dreamweaver 4 software - the primary manual, the Dummies manual and another secondary manual - were compared for their use of positive politeness strategies identified by Brown & Levinson within the theory of linguistic pragmatics. The Dummies manual uses a large variety and number of positive politeness strategies. These strategies account in large part for the unique tone of the Dummies manual. In addition, because positive politeness strategies serve to build rapport, these strategies may account for the popularity of the Dummies series. The theory of positive politeness provides a well-developed, systematic method for describing and explaining the way that tone is achieved through the use of specific linguistic features.