The roles of social status, age, gender, familiarity, and situation in being polite for bugis society

Abstract

This paper examines the important roles of social status, age, gender, familiarity, and situation in being polite for Bugis people. This paper is based on my study on politeness in Bugis society, conducted in 2005 in two different Bugis communities in South Sulawesi: the first was in Awangpone, a rural area a few kilometres north of the regional peninsula of South Sulawesi; the second was in Parepare, the second city of the province located on the west coast, about 155 km north of Makassar. The result of the research shows that the choice of being polite for Bugis people is influenced by differences in social status, age, gender, familiarity, and situation. In both areas of the study, there is a different practice of being polite influenced by those above factors. In rural area, social status differences become the most important factor whereas in urban area, gender differences can become the higher priority in encoding their politeness.