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Chapter1.Onculture,faceandpoliteness.Again
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AsIhopehasbecomeclear,faceisrelational,andhasindividual,in-
teractionalandcollectiveaspects,5reflectingSpencer-Oatey’s(2007,p.644)
suggestionthat,incognitiveterms,facerelatestothenotionof“self-image,”
whichincludesindividual,relationalandcollectiveconstrualsofself,andis
perceivedasamoreglobalandlong-termconstrual(seeLim,2010)akinto
identity(Garcés-ConejosBlitvich,2013).So,inGreek,faceisnotunderstood
assimplyanimageco-constructedinspecificencountersbutassomethingthat
extendsbeyondanyofthem.
5.Discussionandconcludingremarks
Inthispaper,Ihaveattemptedtoexploretheconceptoffacethroughtheuse
ofanumberofrelatedexpressionsinGreek.Tothisend,Ilookedatmetaphors
usedinface-to-faceandinternetinteractionswhichincludethetermface,and
Ialsoconsulteddictionaryentries.Eventhoughtherearenumerouscolloca-
tionalpossibilities,Iconcentratedonthosewhichrelatetothehumanbeingas
awholewhoexperiencesnegativeemotionssuchasshameandembarrassment,
andeitherverbalisesorself-reflectsonthem.Thisaccountisbynomeansex-
haustivebecausethatwouldrequirealengthyprojectandanextensivecorpus,
whichisunavailable.
Fromtheabovediscussion,threeissuesemerge:First,faceinGreekseems
tobeconceptualisedasataken-for-granted,personalpropertywhichoneshould
upholdinlifeandthusininteractions,butwhichonemaydecidetodropin
specificinstances.Beingconceptualisedasanindividual’spossession,face
seemstoexistoutsideactualinteractionsaswellaswithinthem.Thediscom-
fortresultingfromone’sface“fallingdown”maybeanoutcomenotonlyof
participatinginaninteractionbutalsoofself-reflection,orasaconsequenceof
empathy(Spencer-Oatey,2011).Obviously,self-reflectionandempathypresup-
poseanawarenessoftheco-existenceofsocialbeings.Thus,faceisunder-
stoodasrelationalbutnotexclusivelyinteractional.Theterms“relational”and
“interactional”havebeenvariouslyandsometimesinterchangeablyused,but
whatImeanhereby“relational”issomethingverybroadincomparisonto“in-
5
InGreek,facecanbeassociatedbothwithindividualsandwithgroupsanindividual
belongsto,suchastheircloseandextendedfamily,theirworkgroup,eventheirperceived
nationalitygroup.Duetospacelimitations,Icannotexpandonthis(butseeSifianou,2011).
Therelativepriorityofgroupfaceobviouslydependsonthedegreetowhichtheindividual
identifieswithaspecificgroup,buttheveryexistenceofgroupfaceindicatesthatfacecannot
merelybeaconstructofanycurrentinteraction.
