Minimize praise of self; maximize dispraise of self. Agreement Maxim: Minimize disagreement; maximize agreement. Sympathy Maxim: Minimize antipathy; maximize sympathy. Key Frameworks
Minimize cost to others; maximize benefit to others.
Leech views pragmatics as a set of conversational goals. He divides this into the Cooperative Principle (focused on efficiency/truth) and the Politeness Principle (focused on social relationship maintenance). Principles of Pragmatics (Longman Linguistics L...
Leech outlines six "maxims" of politeness that govern social interaction:
Minimize dispraise of others; maximize praise of others. Minimize praise of self; maximize dispraise of self
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The text distinguishes between the resources a language provides for conveying meaning (pragmalinguistics) and the social rules that dictate when those resources are appropriate (socio-pragmatics). Key Frameworks Minimize cost to others; maximize benefit
Leech’s work shifted pragmatics from a purely philosophical study of logic and truth into a sociolinguistic study of human behavior. It remains a standard reference for students and researchers in linguistics, communication, and cross-cultural studies.