44 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture ISSN 1923-1555[Print] ISSN 1923-1563[Online] www.cscanada.net www.cscanada.org Studies in Literature and Language Vol. 18, No. 2, 2019, pp. 44-49 DOI:10.3968/10981 Politeness Strategies and Address Terms in Igbo and Igala Kinship Cultures Chinwe Ezeifeka [a],* ; Joseph Sunday Ojonugwa [b] [a] Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. [b] PhD., Department of English Language and Literature, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. * Corresponding author. Received 8 January 2019; accepted 14 April 2019 Published online 26 April 2019 Abstract The work aims at investigating politeness strategies in Igbo and Igala cultures with a view to finding out how these two cultures handle the various strategies, honorifics and address terms in kinship relationships. The theoretical bases of the work are Brown and Levinson’s face-saving view of politeness which draws heavily from Goffman’s concept of face and interaction order. Our findings show that the two cultures under review are conscious of affronts to positive and negative face, favours indirectness and off-record strategies more than bald-on-record strategies. The two cultures also employ culture-specific honorifics and address terms especially in relating with parents, spouses, elder relations, siblings and peers. It is evident from the findings that contrary to what the present day so –called “civilization” may de-culturize people into especially in the use of first names, these two cultures still uphold the inbuilt cultural respect in observing politeness strategies, honorifics and address terms. Key words: Politeness strategies; Face; Face- threatening acts; Honorifics; Face-saving view; Address terms; Igbo and Igala cultures. Ezeifeka, C., & Ojonugwa, J. S. (2019). Politeness Strategies and Address Terms in Igbo and Igala Kinship Cultures. Studies in Literature and Language, 18 (2), 44-49. Available from: http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/sll/article/view/10981 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/10981 INTRODUCTION Human interaction is a complex phenomenon that requires conscious efforts of the interactants to work out intersubjective understandings, connect with one another, enact and maintain strong individual and group relationships. To achieve this requires tact, what Goffman (1974) calls “interaction order”. Goffman claims that the maintenance of “self” and “face” is a condition for interaction in conjunction with the needs of “self” and “other” which can take these forms: interpersonal rituals; which includes avoidance and presentational rituals; and institutional rituals which are social establishments that determine the construction of private and public self- image. In interpersonal rituals, avoidance rituals are forms of deference which lead the actor to keep at a distance from the recipient. For example, “self” as a public figure requires maintaining distance; but as a private person, intimacy is preferred. Presentational rituals are acts through which the individual makes specific attestations to a recipient concerning how they regard them, for example, honorifics and address terms. Presentational and avoidance rituals are directly related to institutional rituals: social establishments/institutions people find themselves which can symbolize certain favoured aspects of self and face. As mentioned earlier, institutionally or culturally allocated roles as well can physically divide self into public and private, making interaction restricted and formal or casual and informal respectively. For instance, my father, a high court judge, assumes two different selves at home and in office. Our concern in this work is to study observed politeness strategies, honorifics and address terms in selected areas of Igbo and Igala cultures in order to find out how these two cultures mitigate affronts to face needs in kinship relationships; how people who are related by blood observe politeness when talking to one another, what address terms are reserved for each kinship status