A Pragmatic Analysis of The Politeness Principle In Extreme Contexts

— Taking Communication Cases in The Three-Body Problem as Examples

Abstract

The politeness principle in pragmatics is a core norm that sustains interpersonal communication and ensures social balance via fixed criteria in conventional contexts. Its form and function, however, undergo prominent variations in extreme contexts. Adopting Leech’s six maxims of politeness and Brown & Levinson’s face theory as the analytical framework, this paper selects three extreme communication scenarios from the science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem—the initial cross-civilization communication, the power game involving Wallfacers, and the campaign speech of the Swordholder—to examine the variational patterns and operational logic of the politeness principle. The findings indicate that in extreme contexts, the politeness principle departs from superficial etiquette norms and turns into a functional strategy for survival early warning, power balancing, and moral image construction, with its core lying in the dynamic adjustment between face maintenance and communicative goals. This study unveils the contextual adaptability and instrumental nature of the politeness principle, offers empirical support for the research on pragmatic behaviors in unconventional contexts from the perspective of science fiction texts, and also points out the limitation to the universality of the conclusions imposed by fictional settings in science fiction.