Face Threatening Act (fta)

Goffman's concept of face is defined as something that is emotionally and socially related; and could be lost, maintained or enhanced and must be constantly attended to in interaction. In other words, what it means by face is the public self-image of a person or an organization. There are two aspects of face: positive face and negative face. Positive face is the need to be accepted, liked by others, to be treated as a member of the same group, and to know that his/her wants are shared by others. In other words, positive face is the need to be connected with people which also involves the need to be accepted and to belong. Whereas negative face is the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and not to be imposed on by others.

In the review, few of the face threatening acts such as the face threatening act (FTA) which threaten the hearer's positive face, FTA which threaten the hearer's negative face, occur with or without people realizing it.

Let's first touch on the first identified face threatening act which is the FTA which threatens the hearer's positive face. In the review, the hearer or the receiver of the complaint which is the manager of the hotel is threatened by the complaint made by one of their guest. This is because the guest is negatively evaluating the hotel's positive face by not only criticising and complaining about them but also disapproving how the hotel functions or does its job. By doing so, the guest was obviously threatening the hearer's (hotel's) positive face because he/she is blamed for having done something badly which will tarnish the self-image of the hotel. Also in the conclusion of the review which states that "we will not stay at this hotel anymore", it shows that the speaker or the sender does not care about the ‘public self-image' of the receiver (hotel), thus threatening the hotel's face. For a hotel, reputation is very important in staying